Supersonic Parachute Jump

Check out this video about the highest parachute jump ever. "Fearless Felix" is a record breaking parachute jumper who is now trying to break the speed of sound, performing a jump from 23 miles above the earth.

Worldly Internet

We all enjoy fast internet, right? We expect that when we google something, our 10 million search results will pop up in the blink of an eye. For some, this is expected. Personally, I have friends in other countries who have been extremely surprised at how 'amazing' our internet is in the US. Some of them just have 50kb/s download speeds (and they think that is fast), while others even have a maximum amount that they are allowed to download per month. However, according to a recent CNN article, net speeds in the United States are only about 1/4 of the speed of those in South Korea. Why is this? Although there are a number of reasons why internet is both faster and cheaper in South Korea, as well as some other countries, Robert Faris, a research director at Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, stated:

We probably won't ever be South Korea. The whole political and social climate is so different, the geography is different, the history is so different. It's all pretty different.

The 'Diverse' Tea Party

Well, apparently I haven't "seen the light" yet. How tragic.

Subatomic Exploration has Begun

After 16 years and over $10 billion, the worlds largest physics machine, the Large Hadron Collider is finally up and running, following a stressful morning and two false starts, due to electrical failures. Once running, the collider sped protons to more than 99% of the speed of light. Energy levels soared with a record-high 3.5 trillion electron volts raced around a 17-mile magnetic track. A NY Times article described the scene:

They crashed together inside apartment-building-size detectors designed to capture every evanescent flash and fragment from microscopic fireballs thought to hold insights into the beginning of the universe.

For the scientists at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, some of their top goals include finding the identity of the dark matter that seems to shape the cosmos.

Hubble 3D

This is an interesting video with Michael Massimino, an astronaut from NASA who is discussing his mission and the work that's been done on the Hubble Space Craft.

Dark Matter Uncovered

Recent studies by an international team of physicists could have possibly discovered the first signs of dark matter. Dark matter accounts for roughly 90% of the universe, particles that are hypothesized about, but not yet observed. The hypotheses are inferred from the rotational speed of galaxies, which are spinning faster than just gravitational forces can account for. The particles that the researchers found showed as "two tiny pulses of heat" which were found over the course of two years in pieces of geranium and silicon that had been cooled nearly to absolute zero. Although they say there is still a 20% chance that the pulses came from background radioactivity from the surrounding area, the results were "tantalizing, but not definitive".

Happyness Comes with...Intelligence?

The National Center for Health Statistics recently published an interesting new analysis on marriage and cohabitation. Researchers gathered a nationally representative sample of the population, men and women aged 15 to 44. There were a number of variations among racial and ethnic groups. According to this article about the survey,

The higher the level of education, the more likely people were to wed, and the less likely they were to live together. More than 60 percent of people with a college degree or higher were married.

The religion of the participants also played a role.

Among white men, 55 percent of those who said religion was “very important” were married, compared with 35 percent of those for whom it was “not important.”

Interestingly, it seemed like for black women only, the importance of religion made no difference.

Its all In the Passed

President Obama finally signed the health care bill, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. It is considered the most expansive social legislation that has been enacted in several decades. Speaking to an audience of almost 300 people, the President stated,

The bill I’m signing will set in motion reforms that generations of Americans have fought for and marched for and hungered to see. Today we are affirming that essential truth, a truth every generation is called to rediscover for itself, that we are not a nation that scales back its aspirations.

After being interrupted numerous times with cheering, applause, and the occasional standing ovation, he seated himself and signed- left-handed I must add-using 20 pens that he intended to hand out as mementos to a number of people.

Missing Something?

German astronomer Samuel Heinrich Schwabe was the first person to note the changing cycle of sun-spots. Occuring usually in a roughtly 11 year cycle, it seems like the sun is in fact becoming less-spotty than is usual. According to David Hathaway, a solar physicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center,

It’s been as dead as a doornail.

This solar cycle is predicted to be much smaller and calmer than previously recorded, with its maximum expected around May of 2013.

Hubble Space Repair

This is an interesting video about the amazing work that went into repairing the Hubble Space Telescope, and the immense amount of planning that the mission required.

Chat Roulette

Although perhaps intended as an innocent way to pass the time, networking sites like this seem to have tendency of being a bit shifty. However, as for the creator's intention, I fully support his idea of branching out into other cultures. Perhaps if there was a definite way of safe and effective communication, the world would be a more peaceful place.

Twelve-year-old Boy Facing Life Imprisonment...Sound a little Strange?

What would you do? Personally, I find it hard to believe that a simple jealousy issue would be enough to condone murder, even to a young child.

Democrats Lose 11 More Votes for Health Care

It seems that the house votes for the Health Care bill are slowly sliding away. Tuesday of this week, 5 more House Democrats stated that they would not vote for the bill, with a total of only 11 votes missing of the 216 needed. Rep. Mike McIntyre of North Carolina, who is also against the bill, explained:

Health care reform is needed, but the bill before us is too expensive, does not adequately address rising medical costs and skyrocketing insurance premiums, and tries to do too much too soon.

He went on to say,

We simply cannot afford to create a new federal bureaucracy that costs nearly $1 trillion when our national debt is $12 trillion and there is no plan in place to address it. I will not vote for it.

Although this is a valid point, one may also argue that, over time, the debt may be reduced with the addition of the health care program.
As the standings are now: Democrats hold 253 seats in the house, 216 of which are needed to pass the bill.

The Hubble Man To the Rescue

Check out this interesting slide show with the audio of John Grunsfeld, a NASA astronaut describing his mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Interactive Astronomy Quiz

This is a fun little quiz to test your knowledge of our cosmos. Considering I'm slightly obsessed with everything to do with space, I didn't do very well.

Farewell To The Good Old Glory Days

The new NASA budget, recently unveiled this month, is calling for outsourcing of rocket development for manned space flights to commercial companies. As this was historically a great strength of NASA, an approval from Congress on this point will be a sore spot for the organization. Although some cuts were expected, such as the Constellation Program to send humans back to the Moon by 2020, the cutting of rocket development was a huge shock. Although I find it understandable that these cuts were made, due to the extraordinary amount of debt that the US has fallen into, I think that the priorities for national spending should be carefully examined before the easiest programs are simply shunned into the corner.

Is Your Urinal Looking a Bit Drab?

I thought this was amusing, though perhaps a bit pricey.


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The New Wonderkid

Wow....This makes me feel really unexciting. 15-year old author and proud Conservative, Jonathan Krohn.


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Are the Millenials Copping Out?

A recent study by the Harvard Institute of Politics has shown some interesting and surprising news. This study of 18-29 year old's shows that only 41% of young Republicans have stated that they 'definitely will be voting' in the upcoming midterm elections, while a mere 35% of Democrats stated such. It seems like at least some younger voters are losing enthusiasm, which may prove detrimental to upcoming elections - President Obama's election used a high turnout of young supporters as a critical support system.