Wow!
Via Jerry Pournelle
Scientists using archaeological and astronomical evidence have pinpointed the most likely date for the return of Odysseus to his wife Penelope, April 16, 1178 B.C ( about noon). The accuracy was due to the fact that only one total eclipse was visible from Greece during any time in the ballpark for an actual war between Greece and Asia Minor. Additionally several other astronomical events (some quite rare)  occurred about this time that seem to be alluded to in the Odyssey.



The date given  is fairly close to the most likely time frame of the fall of Illos/Troy and in any event astronomical cycles are likely a more precise dating system than some of the archaeological dating techniques.

More here, here and here.

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The FDA is expanding its warning about Salmonella tainted Tomatoes.
The local WAWA seems to be pulling their salads as well.

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Girl Duo to Represent Japan in 'World Cosplay

Summit'

We can only stand by and hope that Mothera will be appeased...
 

Via Wonderduck...
(who says he is too tired to blog about this...while denying any involvement with vampires.)
UPDATE: I should have known...this innocuous tip from the Duck...it was a trap.

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Dr. Buzzo has an excellent overview of the "precautionary principle" and how it has been twisted by some into a fear of absolutely everything.

Read the whole thing.

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Doctor Buzzo has lunch.....



DU may not be terribly dangerous but it does seem to be a troll attractant.

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Scientists have discovered that the Milky Way is about twice as big as initially thought. that makes it bigger than Andromenda and therefore he biggest in our galactic neighborhood.





So when Andromenda comes over here to cause trouble in a little while....we'll kick her butt!

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One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes ^(tm)points the way to better living through chemistry with this report from Brian Wang on recent carbon nanotube developments. It looks like commercial grade resins may be able to significantly bring down the cost of these light strong structures! w00t!

Chemistry doesn't always lead to breakthroughs...sometimes it just reminds us of the bleedingly obvious and tries to dissuade us from doing something stupid...like burning food. Yes, it seems that...(shock!!)....using food crops for fuel is bad...even if you are a green. More here.

Chemistry is founded upon the first law of thermodynamics which enables chemistry to point out even more fundamental stupidity. Like passing a law that violates...said law. Sacramento...meet science. California homes are NOT going to be able to generate as much power as they receive from the grid...even if you pass a law.  

But enough chemical idiocy....

Chemistry happens on a nano-scale and now we are approaching the ability to do chemistry sort of like an erector set. Via the Blogfather comes this report on DNA scale pliers and construction equipment that will enable nano-engineersand future chemists to create nano-scale machines and exotic compounds...one molecule at a time (hopefully in very rapid succession or it'll take ferever').....and they will be able to look at their handy work with this atom scale microscope!

Good Lord look! Those little dotty things...they are ATOMS! Its an actual picture of ATOMS! Unbelievable! Of course Atoms can be split and that segues into one of the favorite topics here at Brickmuppet Blog,

You see, while atomic power is not strictly speaking chemistry, (it's physics) it involves doing physics stuff to chemicals...like uranium (or preferably thorium)...Said elements, in order to be used in most reactors must be refined...and refining is...a CHEMICAL PROCESS. Well, not all reactors are alike in this regard as the Mysterious Dr. Buzzo tells us with this post on the many merits of the Canadian CANDU reactor. This is a nuclear reactor which can actually run off unrefined uranium. This is a huge advantage! In fact the CANDUs are virtually flexfuel reactors in that they can run off a fairly wide range of nuclear fuels including some types of nuclear waste (!!) as well as abundant thorium. Here is CANDU...the motion picture! 

Finally, unrelated to space or energy matters, comes this bit of chemical innovation. 

A professor at UC Berkeley has invented a tape-like substance that has so much adhesive strength that a person clothed in such a sticky suit could conceivably scale a building like Spider-Man.

_{Sorry, Brickmuppeteers, I've no idea who the miniskirted science babe is....but she cried out for a chemistry post.}

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1

Sounds to me like that hypothetical spiderman could at least take the first step up the side of the building.

But if that adhesive is as strong as described, how does he get his hands and feet loose to take step 2? He wouldn't be "spiderman", he'd be "flypaperman", and he's the one who would get stuck to the first thing he ran into.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Feb 13 01:35:13 2008 (+rSRq)

2 Hi Brickmuppet.

That URL seems to make the BBCode parser choke. I should be able to fix it, but in the meantime, you can shorten it to

youtube=-YhHNjjFqb0

Let's see if that works:



(I hate Youtube video IDs.  I know they're base-64 or something like that, but bleah.)

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Wed Feb 13 08:31:10 2008 (PiXy!)

3 Wow...problem fixed from the other side of the world in just a few hours!

Thanks Pixie! 

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Feb 13 13:03:51 2008 (ZRqDn)

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All of history and invention have led to this point.

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1 Yes!!! Now incompetent people can have cheeseburgers if they can't cook.

Posted by: Marina at Fri Feb 1 20:26:15 2008 (MpYXu)

2 Man. Someone had to come up with that caption. Groan.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Sat Feb 2 00:38:24 2008 (+rSRq)

3 Yeah...It took me days to think that one up.

Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Sat Feb 2 20:47:45 2008 (gwUM9)

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 Via Stephen Den Beste comes this neat primer for Moyashimon. Moyashimon is apparently, this Anime seasons much anticipated attempt to tap the huge prokaryote demographic. (Yes, I know yeast are eucaryotic...but they're just tokens for EEOC rules).

No, I won't explain,....go read the whole thing.

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...except different in every way, and smellier.


Ah hear tell that this rock from beyond the southern lights has fallen like a cannon shot upon some town in Pizarro's old tramping grounds.
  But that don't be the worst of it.
  The scurvy thing smells worse than a 4 day ole' glowin' mackerel in August....and it be makin' the locals sicker'n a bunch of choirboys in a skipjack in a hurricane.


Keep yer powder dry, cause if this yarn be trutheful, there may be zombies on the horizon!


A Tip o' me tricorner to the good ship Chizumatic!

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It's CYLON MICE!!

 

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1 Yay mouses!

Thanks for the note on my leekspin post. Worked fine in Firefox and Opera, broke horribly in IE and Safari. All fixed now.

I'm a little surprised; I've done similar tricks before that worked in Firefox and IE but broke in Opera. Oh well.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at Sun Sep 16 08:03:29 2007 (PiXy!)

2 Muppet, your categories are red-X'd again...

Posted by: Wonderduck at Mon Sep 17 23:27:55 2007 (Hrqgp)

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Look people...the killogram is unstable!


OK....all silliness aside, it is actually it is an interesting story....

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9 out of 10

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Via Rand Simberg:

10 politically incorrect truths about human nature.

Reaction from the College of Arts and Letters in 3...2...1... 
                

Ouch...

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A Babe in the Universe reports on the massive dust storm that is springing up on Mars right now.

More here....

This happens just as Opportunity is set to attempt a fairly perilous descent into an impact crater.

Tangentially related, in that they involve Mars, dust, and weather is this cool clip of some dust devils taken by Spirit....courtesy of Space.com

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Wow!
If this pans out it's really cool!

Update: via the Blogfather....more here.

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This is beyond cool! The University of Virginia has put online a computer recreation of ancient Rome!

Go and browse. This is really nicely done.

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Water...possibly liquid water...may have been photographed by one of the Mars rovers!
                      

UPDATE:  I've been unable to blog most of this week, but as Stephen Den Beste points out in the comments, this story has been thoroughly debunked by the fact that the "puddles" are at what appears to be a greater than 25 degree angle. See here and here. The stuff may be ice, but it is not liquid water....

unless....
more...

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  DNA in Incan chicken bones indicates that Polynesians were present in pre-Columbian South America.

  The late Norwegian anthropologist, adventurer and war hero Thor Heyerdahl  had  theorized  a relationship between  South American culture and Pacific Islanders...Though he apparently got the direction of travel backwards (he thought the flow of people was from east to west , hence Kon Tiki) this does give evidence that his observations were otherwise correct.

Go Thor!

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