Toon: Leaving not a moment too soon

Comet Lovejoy Survives Close Encounter with Sun

Incredibly, sungrazing Comet Lovejoy has survived its close encounter with the sun. Lovejoy flew only 140,000 km over the stellar surface during the early hours of Dec. 16th. Experts expected the icy sundiver to be destroyed. Instead, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the comet emerging from perihelion (closest approach) apparently intact:



SDO also recorded Comet Lovejoy's entry into the sun's atmosphere: movie.

Comet Lovejoy began the week as a chunk of dusty, rocky ice more than 200 meters in diameter. No one can say how much of the comet's core remains intact or how long it will hang together after the searing heat of perihelion. "There is still a possibility that Comet Lovejoy will start to fragment," says researcher Karl Battams in a NASA news release. "It’s been through a tremendously traumatic event; structurally, it could be extremely weak."

New images received on Dec. 16th from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory confirm that Comet Lovejoy survived perihelion and show the comet receding from the sun:


http://spaceweather.com/

Bradley Manning Case Advances Despite Defense Objections

By Kim Zetter


FORT MEADE, Md. — The defense attorney for suspected WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning opened a pre-trial hearing on Friday morning with a bang — by calling for the investigating officer presiding over the hearing to recuse himself, immediately forcing the proceeding into recess while the government prepares a response and the officer reviews the details of the motion.

Defense attorney David E. Coombs called on Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, a reserve military judge who also works for the Justice Department, to recuse himself on several grounds including bias and conflict of interest.
Almanza was appointed the investigating officer in August 2010, but has worked as a career prosecutor with the DoJ since 2002 until Dec. 12 this year, when he went on reservist military leave to devote himself to the Manning case.

Coombs proceeded to put Almanza on trial after the first recess, asking why the Army picked someone who works for the Justice Department to preside over the hearing and pointing out that Alamanza is still using his DOJ e-mail account, even though he’s now on reservist leave.

“That simple fact alone … would cause a reasoable person to say ‘I question your impartiality’,” Coombs said.

more
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/12/manning-attorney-presiding/

Autism hidden in plain sight

As more children are diagnosed with autism, researchers are trying to find unrecognized cases of the disorder in adults. The search for the missing millions is just beginning.

Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times
December 16, 2011

When autism researchers arrived at Norristown State Hospital near Philadelphia a few years ago, they found a 63-year-old man who rambled on about Elvis Presley, compulsively rocked in his chair and patted the corridor walls.

Ben Perrick, a resident of the psychiatric institution for most of his life, displayed what the University of Pennsylvania researchers considered classic symptoms of autism. His chart, however, said he was schizophrenic and mentally retarded.

Delving into the file, the researchers learned that as a 10-year-old, Perrick had seen Dr. Leo Kanner, the psychiatrist who discovered autism. In his notes from 1954, Kanner described Perrick as “a child who is self centered, withdrawn, and unable to relate to other people,” and recommended that he be committed.

Later, other doctors relabeled Perrick. The autism diagnosis was forgotten.

The researchers found 13 other patients with unrecognized autism in the Norristown hospital — about 10% of the residents they evaluated. It was a sign of how medical standards and social attitudes toward the disorder have shifted.

more (4 part story)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/autism/la-me-autism-day-four-html,0,6403471.htmlstory

Newt Gingrich supported $27 billion of President Obama’s stimulus for electronic medical records

By Christopher Rowland, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON – Newt Gingrich seized the TV airwaves in 2009 to bash newly elected President Obama’s stimulus package, calling it “entirely a pork-barrel bill’’ that would do little to solve the recession.

Later, in a separate web video, the former House speaker stepped back from his blanket criticism. He explained that he strongly supported spending $27 billion of stimulus funds to encourage doctors and hospitals to create electronic medical records for their patients. Left unsaid was that his private consulting business in Washington has received large payments from medical technology companies that stand to profit from the federal money.

The contrast captures the contradictions Gingrich must grapple with as he seeks to maintain his position as front-runner in the GOP presidential primary contest.

In debates, on Fox News, and on the stump, he provides the potent, anti-Obama, anti-Washington rhetoric that conservatives crave. He is appealing to angry, libertarian-minded voters who seek less government influence in the lives of individuals and business. The result: He has soared in the polls.

more

http://www.boston.com/Boston/politicalintelligence/2011/12/gingrich-firm-benefited-from-his-support-stimulus-funds/IoXiAqmY1h1A74SYCwckdJ/index.html

Friday TOON Roundup 4- The rest

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Environment

Friday TOON Roundup 3- Generally Obnoxious Republicans

Friday TOON Roundup 2- Newt and Mitt

Friday TOON Roundup 1- Merry Xmas, War (in Iraq) is Over

Hubble Captures Violent Birth Pangs of Enormous Star

Adam Mann December 15, 2011 | 3:06 pm | Categories: Space


NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has spotted a young star undergoing violent birth.

The star, named S106 IR, has a mass of about 15 times that of our sun and lies approximately 2,000 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, the Swan. Formed from a cloud of gas and dust with more than 25,000 times the sun’s mass, the star is just about to mature and settle down to what astronomers call the main sequence portion of its life, where it will glow steadily like our sun.

But before it grows up, the star is releasing a fierce torrent of ultraviolet radiation, heating up the surrounding cloud to temperatures greater than 18,000 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes the hydrogen gas to glow blue. The cooler, red dust lane in the center partially hides the star from view but it can still be seen shining near the lower part of the image.

Most young stars blast tons of energy and dust, creating gigantic butterfly-wing lobes on their sides like the ones seen here. Within about a million years, the object will end this forceful stage and become a giant blue star, shining brightly as it burns hydrogen into helium.

While its birth has clearly been fierce, the end of its life will be marked by an even more violent explosion: a supernova that will outshine galaxies.

http://www.spacetelescope.org/videos/heic1118a/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/star-birth-pangs/