Explanations for ball lightning

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 09 June 2007 11:31:07 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

Hiya CR4'rs What's your theory concerning ball lightning, or do you have one? There have been many sightings of this phenomenon over the years...

Read The Full Article:
http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/8779/Explanations-for-ball-lightning?from_rss=1

Add to del.icio.us

Digg this

Post to Furl

Add to reddit

Add to myYahoo!

62nd Skeptics Circle is up

post from Bad Astronomy Blog on 09 June 2007 10:23:57 PM. © Bad Astronomy Blog

For those not in the know, a blog carnival is where someone posts links to the best recent entries on a topic from like-minded blogs. The Skeptics Circle is one such carnival, and the 62nd version is up at Polite Company.

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/123586235/

Digg this

SuperGrrl Beats the Boys!

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 09 June 2007 08:35:41 PM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Rags to Riches (7), ridden by John R. Velazquez, won the 139th Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York on Saturday, June 9, 2007. Curlin, ridden by Robby Albarado, background, finished second. Rags to Riches is the first filly to win the Belmont in 102 years since Tanya won in 1905.

Image: Jason DeCrow (AP Photo)

Rags to Riches, the bright chestnut-colored superfilly, beat six colts to win the Belmont Stakes today. Her winning time for the mile-and-a-half race was 2:28.74. The world and track record for this distance, 2:24, was set by one of her famous grandfathers, Secretariat in the Belmont Stakes 34 years ago.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/grrlscientist/~3/123564006/supergrrl_
beats_the_boys.php

Digg this

Give Ham the Scalzi treatment

post from Pharyngula on 09 June 2007 08:03:23 PM. © Pharyngula

John Scalzi lives right near the Creation "Museum," and he refuses to go. Good for him, I say — we're going to have to start starving Ken Ham soon. On the other hand, if anyone could mock Ham's Folly effectively, it's Scalzi … it's also so much fun to torment him. So his readers are teaming up to compel him to go.

Here's the deal: Scalzi has a price. If people send him at least $250, which he will turn around and donate to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, he'll suffer through the cheesy dinosaurs and silly lies, and also write an amusingly snarky summary of the visit. If he gets a thousand dollars or more, he'll reward everyone a bonus prize or two.

This is brilliant. Rather than sending a scientist to that joke of an exhibit, send a comedian. Laughing at these clowns is the best way to expose them. So go ahead, get on over there and chip in a few bucks, and let's get an appropriate commentator to review the show.

Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/123560425/give_ham_the_
scalzi_treatment.php

Digg this

Rags To Riches Adds Spice To Belmont Stakes

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 09 June 2007 06:55:16 PM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Rags to Riches, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing

Rags to Riches will be the 22nd filly to ever attempt to win the Belmont Stakes, and the fifth since 1980.

Image: NYTimes

Often, when the first two races of the Triple Crown of Horse Racing have been split between two different winners, the Belmont Stakes usually serves as a Derby/Preakness winner rematch. However, that will not be the case this today, because the Derby winner, Street Sense, was not entered in the race. But there is an entrant who is just as interesting: a filly will run in this demanding mile-and-a-half race.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/grrlscientist/~3/123550855/rags_to_ri
ches_adds_spice_to_b.php

Digg this

Need help on an Electric Go-Cart Project

post from CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries on 09 June 2007 06:44:44 PM. © CR4 - Recent Forum Threads and Blog Entries

I'm a Physics teacher and just received a grant to buy an Electric Go-Cart. I've assembled it and it's ready to go but now I want to make some modifi...

Read The Full Article:
http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/8778/Need-help-on-an-Electric-Go-Cart-Project?fr
om_rss=1

Digg this

God hates you, Paris, but it's OK, he hates us
all

post from Pharyngula on 09 June 2007 06:42:25 PM. © Pharyngula

I really don't give a damn about Paris Hilton, but doesn't this just break your heart?

Friends said that she was not eating or sleeping in jail, and that she had been crying a lot. Some reports suggested that this was because she had not been allowed to wax or use moisturiser.

For Ms Hilton, here's a little song to cheer her up.

video details and more

Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/123549057/god_hates_you
_paris_but_its_ok.php

Digg this

Secretariat Wins The Triple Crown

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 09 June 2007 06:29:04 PM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: Secretariat, Belmont Stakes, Triple Crown, Horse racing

Since the Belmont Stakes will be run soon today, I thought I'd show you a streaming video of the great Secretariat winning the mile-and-a-half Belmont Stakes in 1973, and smashing the old record. This particular race is probably one of the most famous ever seen.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/grrlscientist/~3/123550856/secretaria
t_wins_the_triple_cr.php

Digg this

Another Christian Wackjob Protests Harry Potter

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 09 June 2007 04:42:05 PM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

Every time I hear about a teacher quitting his or her job because a kid dares to read a Harry Potter book, I automatically think this person is a religious wack-job working somewhere in the United States. So it was surprising to me to learn that this basic scenario occurred recently in south London. I didn't know they had religious wingnuts in Great Britain: the Brits strike me as being so sensible.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/grrlscientist/~3/123530359/another_ch
ristian_wackjob_prot.php

Digg this

Delaware Horseshoe Crab Harvest Moratorium
Reversed

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 09 June 2007 04:18:57 PM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: horseshoe crab, Limutus polyphemus, red knot, Delaware Bay

Horseshoe Crab, Limutus polyphemus,
a living fossil.

Image: Pier Aquarium, FLorida [larger].

In a controversial ruling, a Delaware Superior Court judge partially rolled back the two-year ban on the horseshoe crab harvest by limiting it to males only. The decision was a reaction against John Hughes, secretary of the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, who was actually doing his job. However, according to the judge, Hughes had already decided to enact a complete moratorium on horseshoe crab harvests after only considering scientific data, but before hearing any input from fishermen. Hughes imposed the two-year moratorium after seeing a decline in populations of migratory shorebirds that feed on horseshoe crab eggs.

Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/scienceblogs/grrlscientist/~3/123527952/delaware_h
orseshoe_crab_harves.php

Digg this