Stephan: Here is the latest on what science understands about the mysterious world of dark matter. Fascinating.
Scientists at Durnham University found first signs that dark matter interacts with forces other than gravity, suggesting that dark matter may have a bigger role in the universe than what was thought before.
It is generally believed that dark matter comprises the entire universe’s mass and it’s what keeping the stars and the planets in their respective galaxies. Its substantial impact may be seen through telescopes as it bends light around galaxies that results to “gravitational lensing”, or the creation of starlight ring.
The scientists at Durnham University have spotted an uncommon curvature in one of the rings that suggested that a cluster of dark matter is out of alignment with its respective galaxy which show that a force other than gravity is hindering the dark matter from settling in its correct placement.
According to Dr. Richard Massey of the Institute for Computational Cosmology in Durnham University, if the dark matter’s movement slows down, this action maybe the first evidence that it may probably be interacting very weakly with clouds of gasses and other particles that the rest […]
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Alexander Smoltczyk, - Der Spiegel (Germany)
Stephan: While the U.S. has been squandering its money on war, China has been quietly building a trading network. Here is the latest, and it is quite extraordinary that one nation would essentially own the harbor of another nation not directly in its orbit.
A Chinese executive with shipping company Cosco has helped transform part of Athen’s Port of Piraeus into a success story. The multinational firm now has a controversial plan to acquire the whole facility and put it on track to join the ranks of Hamburg and Rotterdam.
Credit: Corbis
One could argue that China’s long path to Piraeus, Greece, began on April 27, 1961. It’s the day Mao Zedong founded the communist state’s first freight company, the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). The Great Leap Forward, Mao’s plan for industrialization, had proven to be a disaster at the time, leaving millions dead or starving. With Cosco, China had its eyes on overseas markets.
Almost 54 years later, the company is steering toward a major prize in Greece. After […]
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Thursday, April 16th, 2015
Paul Buchheit, Lecturer DePaul University - Alternet
Stephan: I find the lie that America tells itself and the world, that we care about our children, particularly heinous and pernicious. By any measure the U.S., as a society — of course you love your children — doesn't give a damn about the next generation. We should be ashamed of ourselves. That we do not care for and nurture our young is a serious national character flaw. One that will shape our future in ways great and small.
Homeless teenage boy and girl begging in street
Credit: dreamstime.com
America’s wealth grew by 60 percent in the past six years, by over $30 trillion. In approximately the same time, the number of homeless children has also grown by 60 percent.
Financier and CEO Peter Schiff said, “People don’t go hungry in a capitalist economy.” The 16 million kids on food stamps know what it’s like to go hungry. Perhaps, some in Congress would say, those children should be working. “There is no such thing as a free lunch,” insisted Georgia Representative Jack Kingston, even for schoolkids, who should be required to “sweep the floor of the cafeteria” (as theyactually do at a charter school in Texas).
The callousness of U.S. political and business leaders is disturbing, shocking. Hunger is just one of the problems of our children. Teacher Sonya Romero-Smith told about the two little homeless girls […]
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Thursday, April 16th, 2015
Eric Zuesse, - Washingtonblog
Stephan: Here is some excellent news about the transition out of carbon-based energy.
On April 14th, Tom Randall of Bloomberg News bannered “Fossil Fuels Just Lost the Race Against Renewables,” and reported that:
“The race for renewable energy has passed a turning point. The world is now adding more capacity for renewable power each year than coal, natural gas, and oil combined. And there’s no going back. The shift occurred in 2013, when the world added 143 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity, compared with 141 gigawatts in new plants that burn fossil fuels, according to an analysis presented Tuesday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance annual summit in New York. The shift will continue to accelerate, and by 2030 more than four times as much renewable capacity will be added.”
The article’s graphs of electrical generation show that, from now till at least 2030, solar will soar around five-fold, and wind will double, while coal and also oil will shrink about threefold. These are the major reasons why fossil fuels will shrink and be increasingly replaced by renewables. By 2030, the renewably-produced electrical power is projected to be 4.36 […]
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Thursday, April 16th, 2015
Stephan: Here is some actual data about the American electorate. Reading it will make it obvious why the Republican Party is so committed to voter suppression, and why I speak of the Theocratic Right.
Democrats hold advantages in party identification among blacks, Asians, Hispanics, well-educated adults and Millennials. Republicans have leads among whites – particularly white men, those with less education and evangelical Protestants – as well as members of the Silent Generation.
A new analysis of long-term trends in party affiliation among the public provides a detailed portrait of where the parties stand among various groups in the population. It draws on more than 25,000 interviews conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2014, which allows examination of partisan affiliation across even relatively small racial, ethnic, educational and income subgroups. (Explore detailed tables for 2014 here.)
The share of independents in the public, which long ago surpassed the percentages of either Democrats or Republicans, continues to increase. Based on 2014 data, 39% identify as independents, 32% as Democrats and 23% as Republicans. This is the highest percentage of independents in more than 75 years of public opinion polling. (For a timeline of party affiliation among the public since 1939, see this interactive feature.)
When the partisan leanings of independents are taken into account, […]
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Scientists at Durnham University found first signs that dark matter interacts with forces other than gravity, suggesting that dark matter may have a bigger role in the universe than what was thought before.
