Current Events
It’s amazing that we’ve never had a thread on this topic before. Requested by Syllabub.
Date: December 7, 2008
Categories: Life, Non-Muse news, The Universe
Comments RSS TrackBack 70 comments
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1
The Man For Aeiou
in December 7th, 2008 @ 18:28It’s snowing.
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2
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 7th, 2008 @ 18:481–
I’m not sure that was the sort of “current event” they were looking for. Perhaps I’m wrong. 
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3
KaiYves
in December 7th, 2008 @ 18:58They’re flying Space Shuttle Endeavour back to Florida on the special carrier jet tomorrow.
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4
Piggy
in December 7th, 2008 @ 19:10Can we keep this thread away from politics? Please discuss that on the Hot Topics thread or something.
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5
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 7th, 2008 @ 19:134–aye, aye, Capt’n Piggy!
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6
Purple Panda
in December 7th, 2008 @ 20:21KaiYves (3): Cool! Endeavor has been around for awhile. What was its latest mission?
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7
The Guy Your Parents Warned You About
in December 7th, 2008 @ 20:52How come the shuttles don’t land at Kennedy anymore? I’m starting to miss the sonic booms as they fly across the state to land…
And to think I live a few hours from the Cape and have never seen a shuttle launch.
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8
Juicebox
in December 8th, 2008 @ 11:00(7) – You know, I’m wading into dangerous waters here, but I’m going to venture someone complained…
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9
KaiYves
in December 8th, 2008 @ 11:136-Endeavour is actually the newest space shuttle in the fleet, having been created as the replacement for Challenger (May she rest in peace) and first flying in 1991 (Atlantis and Discovery were both built in the 80s).
Anyhoo, on this mission, Endeavour took up some goodies for the International Space Station, including a water recycling mechanism and an Italian module that doubles the living space, meaning that now six people at a time can stay on the station, as opposed to three.7- Actually, the space shuttles usually do land at Kennedy, Endeavour only landed in California because the weather in Florida was bad last weekend.
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10
Syllabub, who LOVES the GAPAs!!!!
in December 8th, 2008 @ 14:32Yes! Thank you GAPAs!!!
4-I think that’s a good idea. And politica does get a little old. But I do think we should be able to talk about other countries politics.
So, this isn’t exactly a worldwide event, but oh well.
On Black Friday in NH, two incredibly stupid things happened, that just disgust me. The 1st is that at a Wal-Mart, a salesperson opened the doors to let the crowds in, and the crowd trampled him and he died. No one even stopped to see if he was okay.
The 2nd is at some store (don’t know what store it was) 2 girls got into a fight. Somehow 2 other men got involved, and one of the men had a gun. He ended up shooting a sales person.
What is the world coming to? *distress*
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11
Zallie
in December 8th, 2008 @ 17:05.4 – No politics? I thought this name was just another name for a Hot Topicsish thread. I mean, it doesn’t have to be exclusively politics (and it probably shouldn’t be), but a lot of the current events lately have been political in at least one aspect.
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12
♫ Agrrrfishi {Aggie}♫
in December 8th, 2008 @ 21:0610- Something similar happened at Best Buy when I was THERE and it was absolutely terrible. My mom and I arrived a bit late to get my new iPod headphones, and there were police cars and an ambulance and everything. Some poor man had gotten trampled by other people eager to get into th store and died of a crushed skull. It’s absolutely terrible. How could people notnotice that they were running someone over, for pete’s sake! It makes me so sad and angry.
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13
The Guy Your Parents Warned You About
in December 8th, 2008 @ 21:489- Well, I realize that, but it just hasn’t landed there in a long time. Oh well, we’ll just have to blame Mother Nature.
10/12- Unfortunately, that is what society has turned into. It’s terrible.
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14
☼Zinc the sorceress☼
in December 8th, 2008 @ 21:51I’m depressed again.
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15
Vendaval
in December 8th, 2008 @ 22:09If you’re in a huge antsy crowd that’s been waiting four hours to enter a store, you aren’t going to enter slowly. Then, if you do collide with someone, how are you, one person, going to stop the massive rolling crowd? You’ll probably just get pulled under too.
I think politics should be open for discussion, but if a topic gets too hot, it should be immediately moved to the nearest Hot Topic Thread. That shouldn’t be too hard.
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16
Kagcomix
in December 9th, 2008 @ 13:25I think I should be able to talk about my politics. because canadian politics of late have been a bit dramatic of late. Not that you would know. Our primeminister Stephen Harper has perogued the house (is that the right word). Which was really smart from his perspective because the other parties were forming a coalition (sp?). And then Harper would have had to go to the Governor General and resign because of him not having the power in the house. Harper has a minority government which means he has less than half the seats in the Government. The governor general is the most powerful person in Canadian Politics and she happens to be a woman right now. The Governor General represents the queen in our fair land. Yep. We are still under the rule of Queen Elizabeth II, queen of Canada. Yeah. When she comes to Canada she is addressed as the queen of Canada. Back to the govenor general. The govenor general could, in theory, do what ever she wanted because, seriously, there is nothing that can stop her. But ofcourse, if she did something that was unfavourable with the public The people in the government would just vote to have the position of governor general remouved. I have no real opinion on whether or not Canada should be it’s own nation, without a queen. (changing the topic) Stephan Dion is going to resign as the Liberal leader so everyone is intersted as to who the new leader will be. (changing topic again) If a prime minister has a majority government then there is very little that can stop him because he has majority, so any law he wants passed will pass. Yep. That about concludes today’s lesson in Canadian politics. Of course i am not entirely accurate on this stuff because it is really confusing.
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17
bookgirl_me
in December 9th, 2008 @ 13:44my french teacher just canceled our exchange.
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18
Vendaval
in December 9th, 2008 @ 14:0916- I have copied and pasted onto the Canada thread.
How is the Governor General appointed? If the position as voted out, would the Queen still have power? Here in the US we can have a President from one party, with a Congress majority from another, but it won’t cripple the President completely. Do you usually have one party majority in both PM and Parliament?17- Any specific reason?
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19
Kagcomix
in December 9th, 2008 @ 14:1918- no one even visits it, except me. what’s the point? yeah, usually the PM has majority of the house.
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20
♫ Agrrrfishi {Aggie}♫
in December 9th, 2008 @ 14:59Coincidentally, my next speech is persuasive which means I have to take a stand on an issue and explain why I feel that it is right/wrong. Any ideas?
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21
Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in December 9th, 2008 @ 16:26If I were giving the speech, I’d pick a hard topic — one that I don’t even believe in myself — and then be very persuasive about it. But that’s just me.
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22
♫ Agrrrfishi {Aggie}♫
in December 9th, 2008 @ 16:3921- I was thinking of doing organic vs.regular foods and taking the organic side, which I don’t personally believe, so it seems we’re on the same page.
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23
Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in December 9th, 2008 @ 16:41What is the issue there, though? Whether people should eat only organic foods? Whether organic foods should be available at all? It seems to me that there must be more interesting topics. That one doesn’t strike me as particularly controversial.
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24
Zorgon
in December 9th, 2008 @ 17:18This looks very interesting I’ll check in later. Thanks, GAPAs!
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25
Robert Coontz (Administrator)
in December 9th, 2008 @ 17:54Now, genetically modified food is a real issue. Europeans won’t eat it; Americans already do. It’s not even labeled here.
Or you could pick a local issue, something in your own community that affects your life directly. Those topics tend to be real and concrete — good speech material.
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26
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 9th, 2008 @ 17:5925–speaking of genetically engineered food, I’ve always wondered something. Say a person is allergic to a certain plan/animal, such as fish. Then say this fish to which they are allergic is used to make genetically modified….strawberries. Is it possible for this individual to therefore be allergic to the strawberries? If so, I have to wonder how it is legal (ethical, anyway) for genetically modified food to be wold unlabelled. I mean, foods that have even been processed in the same processing plant as peanuts must be labelled, so why not genetically engineered food, as it may contain something to which somebody is allergic.
Of course, this is all assuming that the individual would be allergic to something containing genes from their allergen……..which is what I was asking in a roundabout way…..
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27
Purple Panda
in December 9th, 2008 @ 18:19Kag (16): I’ve been closely following the Canada parliament issue. Quite interesting, indeed!
Aggie (25): I think local issues are good, too, because it provides a good reference point and is a good way to focus on a specific problem, and not get too broad (which can definitely complicate things).
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28
Koko's Apprentice
in December 9th, 2008 @ 18:3810-I think the store you are talking about would be a Toys R Us store in California.
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29
Rainbowstar
in December 9th, 2008 @ 18:5328 – Oh, I heard about that. It’s sad that people would shoot each other over a toy.
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30
YodaShmoda
in December 9th, 2008 @ 19:007- don’t feel bad. Last year I knew this kid who lived an hour from Mound Everest and never went to see it.
10- Wow. I was watching the news that night and they were showing footage and one guy was like pressed against the glass but still trying to get in. *sigh* why do people think stuff is important? I mean if you think about the people who die from being trampled I can understand the people trampled because they tripped while a huge group was running from a fire or somthing. But a huge group running to buy somthing does NOT strike me as fair.
20/21- Yeah. I had to argue FOR cloning once. It was the hardest thing in my life but I ended up with a 110.
26- oh wow. Good point.
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31
♫ Agrrrfishi {Aggie}♫
in December 9th, 2008 @ 19:0723- It’s basically over whether organic foods are better for you, make you live longer, what effect they have on the environment, etc… Actually, organics cost more to make and are less safe for human consumption because they still contain some amounts of deadly pesticides. It would be hard to stand on the pro side, but I guess I could.
30- Actually, I was thinking of doing cloning cons. What’s the issue with cloning? Is it similar to embryonic stem cell research?
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32
Rainbowstar
in December 9th, 2008 @ 19:1030 – What’s wrong with cloning? Nothing strikes me as particularly bad about copying an organism’s DNA to make an identical organism.
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33
Zorgon
in December 9th, 2008 @ 19:5910- I think it is horrible that people would trample each other for stuff. I mean it is just stuff and a deal is not as valuable as someones life.
32- I don’t neccesarily see anything wrong with cloning, but I don’t think that it should be developed to use on humans though.Is anyone else interested in the car bailout battle that is happening in the U.S. I think it’s very interesting. I’m not sure which side I’m on because I can see where it would hurt us to not bail them out and lose hundreds of jobs, but I also don’t think we should use even more money to bail companies out when that could hurt the value of the dollar.
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34
KaiYves
in December 9th, 2008 @ 20:0313- Depends on how you define “a long time”.
Shuttle missions since June 2007 and landing sites:
STS* 117- California
STS 118- Florida
STS 120**- Florida
STS 122- Florida
STS 123- Florida
STS 124- Florida
STS 126 (The one that just ended)- California
*Space Transportation System, fancy name for the shuttle.
** Flights are in the order the mission is approved, not necessarily the order in which they fly, so there are “gaps” between numbers.
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35
The Guy Your Parents Warned You About
in December 9th, 2008 @ 20:2534- Are you serious? What are the dates? I could’ve sworn… Maybe I’m just going crazy.
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36
bookgirl_me
in December 10th, 2008 @ 11:2310) That is so sick !
18) She was trying to get us back for hating her (long,long story).
She’s been teaching at the school almost 30 years and thats gone to her head.25) As a European, I must say that genetically engeniered foods are banned because their effects are largely unknown. In Austria GFs are treated with mistrust, though I must say that old-fashioned agriculture is encouraged here. So called Bio-Bauern are very common. Bio-Bauern are farmers who, to keep up with having comparatively little fields, don’t use chemical fertilizer e.t.c.… Since the state pays them extra for this, bio-products are comparatively cheap.
In a way, Austria is a very old-fashioned country, but hey;
most of the stuff still works. The only problem is, of course, that A. s so small that it’s not really important… Major drawback- no shuttles or space missions.
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37
KaiYves
in December 10th, 2008 @ 11:2935- Well, 124 was in May and there weren’t any flights over the summer, so that’s why you haven’t heard any sonic booms since May. But in all likelyhood the next mission to take off (Discovery in February) will land in Florida, so you’ve got something to look forward to!
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38
Kagcomix
in December 10th, 2008 @ 18:5932- I agree. a friend of mine was outraged that they would sell cloned meat unmarked in supermarkets. I don’t see the difference.
I have no current events to report.
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39
The Guy Your Parents Warned You About
in December 10th, 2008 @ 21:1437- Good. I get concerned, you know, when the paper says the shuttle will be landing but the sky remains silent.
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40
KaiYves
in December 11th, 2008 @ 20:2339- I sympathize. Lest we forget…
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41
Zallie
in December 13th, 2008 @ 15:17.32 – Well, cloning and genetic modification are relatively new processes, so there could be some nasty side effects no one knows about yet. There’s also the argument that genetically modified food is tampering with the environment, that it’s ‘unnatural’ and therefore something we should stay away from. I’m not sure how I feel about this issue. :/
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42
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 13th, 2008 @ 15:5641–yeah, I’m not entirely decided, either. However, I do think it seems advisable, espcially at this point, that genetically modified food be labelled…..
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43
RoseQuartz (formerly LadyGaladriel)
in December 13th, 2008 @ 17:2910- Oh yeah, this annoying guy Andrew at my school told me about that and at first I thought it was just an urban legend. Then later my mom told me about it and I was like “wtf that was real??? That’s SAD.”
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44
The Bookworm & Lurline (410 piepoints and three B-Day Points and 42 KAG Points! And 5 Wung Points!)
in December 15th, 2008 @ 20:12What’s wrong with cloning? It seems like a good idea to me…
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45
marfwarrior
in December 15th, 2008 @ 21:01i have nothing against cloning christmas trees and stuff like that but cloning people dosent sound good and i’m not sure about cloning animals.
i think it’s a little funny that that one iraqi reporter threw his shoes at george bush.
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46
Syllabub
in December 17th, 2008 @ 14:51Well, for current events, NH is in a State of Emergency. (Declaired by Gov. Lynch on Friday, I think.) We just had a really bad ice storm and some people might still be out of power on Christmas! Luckily, my power came back after 2 days. To top it all off, we had a snowstorm today (luckily not a big one, only 4-5 inches of snow) and there is another storm coming in on Friday or Saturday.
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47
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 17th, 2008 @ 15:1546–what about MissSwann? Do you know if her power has come back on yet?
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48
YodaShmoda
in December 17th, 2008 @ 15:35This sounds bad, I know. But I wish we here in CT we had goten more snow. It seems everywhere, even in neighboring towns people got some snow or ice, we got rain. Rain is nice in the summer, beautiful in the spring, and okay in the fall. But rain in the winter is quite annoying. Of course I feel your pain those in the more northern regions of New England. Power outages, iced roads, and ice in general is pretty annoying becuase we get out fair share here too. I feel bad for those with the ice actulay, probably would be complaining if we DID have… no never mind, I like weird weather, it entertains me to watch others complain about it. Alll of my well wishes to those without or used to be without power.
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49
♫ Agrrrfishi {Aggie}♫
in December 17th, 2008 @ 16:1046- We got hit, too, but not as hard. Currently, there’s about five inches of snow and ice, and we still have power, but the roads were blocked so i had a snow day today. But good luck, I sure hope your power comes back!
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50
Syllabub
in December 17th, 2008 @ 16:2447-She emailed me on Friday? Sometime around then. But she was @ a friend’s house, so I’m assuming that she didn’t have power. She hasn’t emailed me back yet. But most of the area where she lives has power so…….hmm. It might just be her computer though, because she said it was being weird.
49-Where do you live? (What state, I mean.) Because you must be fairly close to NH to have been hit.
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51
YodaShmoda
in December 17th, 2008 @ 16:3349- currenly have a centemeter of crush ice as my sister calls it. basicaly, the ice just crushes under your feet and isn’t danjorus at all.
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52
Capricious the Elusive
in December 18th, 2008 @ 09:5145 – I’m pretty sure you can’t clone a christmas tree, considering trees don’t have ovaries or sperm…
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53
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 18th, 2008 @ 10:1552–actually, plants do have ovaries and sperm. For instance, angiosperms. All flowering plants have ovaries–the large, bulbous structure in the center of the flower (assuming it is either a “complete” flower, or else a female flower). this ovary contains–I think it was 1 viable egg, and three polar bodies. Then, on the stamen, the male structure on the flower, you ahve the pollen grains. Inside each pollen grain are two viable sperm cells, one of which fertilizes the egg, the other fertilizes the polar bodies, forming endosperm, which nourishes the embryo. (Also what the white fluffy part of popcorn is). So…..
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54
Kagcomix
in December 18th, 2008 @ 12:17don’t most plants also asexually reproduce? which is essentially cloning.
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55
Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 18th, 2008 @ 12:2554–many do, which, yes, is essentially cloning, because both sets of DNA are from the same “parent”. Of course, many do not asexually reproduce as well, because if the DNA comes from two different plants, then there is much more diversity in the offspring, allowing for great survival.
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Luna the Lovely (11.5 Potterpoints!)
in December 18th, 2008 @ 12:2655–*greater survival
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KaiYves
in December 18th, 2008 @ 13:33The crew of STS-126 will be in Mr Obama’s inagural parade.
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The Man For Aeiou
in December 18th, 2008 @ 18:3151- I hated that when i lived out in CT.
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KaiYves
in December 29th, 2008 @ 19:03Two rock-cut ancient Egyptian tombs have been discovered in Saqqara, including a royal musician!
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YodaShmoda
in December 29th, 2008 @ 21:0358- You lived in CT? Where are you now?
59- KOOLIO!!!!! A royal musicion. What instiment did he play? Anyone know?
Okay not so much current but: Did you know the so called “Templar Cross” wasn’t really first made by the Templar Knights? It was first created in the African civilization called Axum.
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bubbles
in December 30th, 2008 @ 18:1360. He (OR SHE!, but probably a he) could have played
a flutey thing
a drum
a sort of string instrument.
= me = everyone else
GUESS WHAT????
What?
My very own website is up and running! I can’t post a link to it. *mopes*
yippee.
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Vendaval
in January 3rd, 2009 @ 22:38(CNN) — NASA’s Mars rovers are celebrating their fifth birthday on the Red Planet, exceeding their original life span by four years and nine months, with no end in sight to their history-making work.
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KaiYeves
in January 8th, 2009 @ 17:5561- According to the press release, they were a singer and chorus supervisor.
62- An Internet feature from Spirit and Opportunity’s early days:
www . nasa.gov/ m2k4/ frameset. html
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YodaShomda
in January 8th, 2009 @ 20:50sorta kinda current:
Astronemers now figure that black holes came BEFORE galexies. They figure this becuase the blackholes are much larger then the galaxies they are in and apparently the black holes and galaxies grow at the sameish pace. I don’t know it has to do with math, here’s the delinkafied link if you wish to learn more:
http ://news.yahoo. com/s /afp/20090108/sc_afp/usscience astronomy_news mlmmd
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KaiYves
in January 9th, 2009 @ 20:38Our new president is considering candidates for the office of NASA Administator (Basically, the head of the agency) and Dr. Sally Ride is one of the front-runners!
Woo, go Sally!
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KaiYves (Delta V)
in January 14th, 2009 @ 17:33Looks like my cheering was for nothing, as Obama has instead picked retired Air Force General Scott Gration for the job. Well, then, welcome Mr. Gration!
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Vendaval
in February 2nd, 2009 @ 18:36The HMS Victory — the predecessor to a historic British flagship of the same name — was found “far from where history says it was lost,” Odyssey Marine Exploration said in a news release Monday.
~CNN
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KaiYves
in March 11th, 2009 @ 12:33Space Shuttle Discovery takes off tonight at nine-twenty Eastern!
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KaiYves (Delta V)
in March 12th, 2009 @ 20:37Scratch that, it’s been postponed to Sunday.
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Tessera Rose
in May 6th, 2010 @ 22:14BP oil spill. God.
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