The Van Allen Belts
The Van Allen belts are two strips surrounding the Earth composing of radiation trapped by the Earth’s geomagnetic field. They’re doughnut-like (toroidal) in shape and the outer belt extends about 60 000 km above the Earth’s surface. Due to their composition of charged particles they can pose a major hazard to satellites that spend too much time within them by disturbing their electrical components.The closest the inner Van Allen Belt makes it to Earth is in a region called the South Atlantic Anomaly. Satellites that pass through this region need extra shielding to cope with this, the Hubble does not take pictures when passing through and astronauts have reported seeing phosphenes (lights in your eyes) when in this region. Aside from electrons, protons and various ions, it’s also suspected that the Van Allen belts could contain traces of antimatter
The image above shows simulated Van Allen belts in a 1966 Electric Propulsion laboratory experiment.
Sopa plans set to be shelved as Obama comes out against piracy legislation
The news is a major blow for Sopa’s backers in Hollywood, who had enjoyed broad support in Congress. But the Motion Pictures Association of America, one of the bill’s biggest sponsors, said it would continue to press for new laws.
Newly restored scans of Hasselblad photos shot on Gemini’s 1965-1966 missions.
These galleries include outtakes, underexposures, overexposures, double exposures, light leaks, etc. Even astronauts make photo mistakes.
Read all about the scans.
Newly Restored Hasselblad Scans from Gemini’s Space Missions
Photos: NASA/JSC/Arizona State University; via BoingBoing
Don't believe Atheists are the most distrusted group? This link makes me sad to even post.
This link is NOT referencing the study that is referred to in the last video post I made. This study is even more recent than that and even more unfortunate.
“Religious believers distrust atheists more than members of other religious groups, gays and feminists, according to a new study by University of B.C. researchers.
The only group the study’s participants distrusted as much as atheists was rapists, said doctoral student Will Gervais, lead author of the study published online in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.”
Go ahead and read that line a few times if you need to. Atheists fall in line with rapists on the level of trust. Rapists, a sub-class of scum I find so reprehensible and disgusting it honestly makes me ashamed to even post this link. Yes, polls can not always be trusted but people distrusting Atheists is not an isolated finding. I assure you, I wish this was a gross exaggeration.
I am not posting these things in the hopes of having a pity party for the poor treatment of Atheist but simply to share the information. The fact that some people seem so distrusting of these results shows even more that there is so much left to do in raising awareness of the discrimination against Atheists. I am doing it show that Atheists are struggling to be accepted. I am not posting this to marginalize any other persecuted groups. I am not looking to turn this in to a competition but perhaps the outrage a few people are expressing in comments at these result is even more reason to find these results disturbing.
Another Godless Goddess: This is What Theocracy Looks Like
Three Indiana state senators, all Republicans, have introduced a bill that would allow schools to require the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer every morning, if they want to. Doug Masson writes on Masson’s Blog:
[T]his type of attempt at having government sanctioned prayer looks like…
Oh Canada, Oh Canada.
Thousands of LGBT couples across the world awoke this morning to learn that they are no longer married.
Couples like Dan Savage and his husband (now boyfriend) are astonished to find themselves divorced so abruptly.
Canada has always been proud of it’s liberal laws and civil rights stances. However this sudden change in law has clearly not made anyone happy.
The City Weekly - Losing Faith: Finding a New Path Without God
A Mormon missionary who loses his faith while out in the field has picked a strange time to abandon his beliefs. Yet, for Andrew Johnson, this is precisely what happened.
Andrew Johnson is a friend of mine and one of main persons involved with the large growth of secular free thinkers in Utah Valley, including the large number of Atheists on Brigham Young University campus. Even with the growing number of secular groups in Utah the publicity is low, extremely low. This article and a few others, including a recent sit in by a journalist at the Atheist Sorority House, are some of the only publications about the movement.
Sadly, the lack of word getting around hasn’t aided in the growth. Many of the secular groups are frightened about coming out as Atheist or just secular. BYU students fear for their careers both professionally and in college.
However, people like Andrew Johnson are speaking up and the community of free thinkers here in Utah are listening. Eager to lead the charge there a many, including myself, that want to push awareness and capture the public’s attention about our cause. Even then, the few that have stepped up to the plate are growing less from the extreme burden of being the face of secularism in Utah.
Most of the problems with being secular in Utah derive from the major influence and power of the local religion. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) has certain guidelines and rules on how to deal with disenfranchised members and rebellious youths.
Such rules appear in Bishop’s Handbooks, given to local ward Bishops, and are even sometimes kept under lock and key. These books are straight from the top and tell bishops what they’re supposed to do in certain situation such as these. Even with such precautions of secrecy the handbook, the first and second editions, have been leaked and spread across the internet.
Bishops and their counselors must take exceptional care when issuing recommends to members whose parents or other close relatives belong to or sympathize with apostate groups. Such members must demonstrate clearly that they repudiate these apostate religious teachings before they may be issued a recommend.
The fears of ex-mormons and non-associated secular people in Utah are real. One of the largest teenage homelessness problems in America is directly related to the LDS church’s stance on homosexuality. Even though the church has tried to reconcile their relationship with the LGBTQ community their teaching practices have not changed and many LGBTQ teenagers find themselves disowned and on the streets.
-Sam
good:
A Cut Above the Rest: Non-Surgical Circumcision Could Help Fight AIDS in Africa
A device to facilitate non-surgical adult male circumcision could revolutionize the fight against the spread of HIV. Enter PrePex, a simple device that consists of three rings: two plastic, one elastic. The innovation, which is patent pending, allows for a “virtually painless” adult male circumcision that can be performed by low-cadre nurses almost anywhere.
Government effectively bans teaching of creationism in free schools
Good news via the British Humanist Association, who have pointed out that the government’s recent revisions to the “model funding agreement” for free schools mean that it would not be possible to establish a school that would teach creationism and Intelligent Design as science. The relevant revision, which can be found on page 11 of the model funding agreement document, states that free schools:
“… shall not make provision in the context of any subject for the teaching, as an evidence-based view or theory, of any view or theory that is contrary to established scientific and/or historical evidence and explanation.”The revision, which has been welcomed by the BHA, follows a long campaign to ensure that the coalition government’s free schools policy did not lead to the opening of academies that would teach creationism as science. The Department for Education had previously stressed that the teaching of creationism would not be tolerated, and in October last year an application by the evangelical Everyday Champions Church was rejected on account of creationism, but campaigners argued that this stance should be made clear in the rules governing free school applications.
