bananas
bananas's JournalStephen Hawking: Research on the 'God particle' could cause space-time to collapse
Source: Raw Story
In the preface to a new book, Starmus, acclaimed theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking writes that the so-called “God particle” could become unstable and cause a “catastrophic vacuum decay” that would lead to the collapse of time and space, The Sunday Times reports.
“The Higgs potential has the worrisome feature that it might become metastable at energies above 100bn gigaelectronvolts,” Hawking writes. “This could mean that the universe could undergo catastrophic vacuum decay, with a bubble of the true vacuum expanding at the speed of light.”
“This could happen at any time and we wouldn’t see it coming.”
The successful discovery of the Higgs particle has led to calls from within the scientific community to create larger, more powerful supercolliders than the Large Hadron Collider at Cern, where scientists discovered the Higgs boson.
Many in the scientific community are upset with Hawking — not because he is incorrect, but because such statements from a scientist of his eminence could dissuade the public from funding experiments like those at Cern in the future.
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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/07/stephen-hawking-research-on-the-god-particle-could-cause-space-time-to-collapse/
Researchers reel from defunding of only UC-owned observatory
Facing a waning future
Researchers reel from defunding of only UC-owned observatory
By Virgie Hoban | Senior Staff
Alex Filippenko feels betrayed.
The world-renowned astronomer and nine-time winner of UC Berkeley’s best professor award is sitting behind a plate of steaming hot food, but he’s too worked up to eat.
“I’ve been a loyal faculty member here for about three decades, despite many more lucrative offers from private institutions that I’ve rejected in part because of my great support in the principle of a great public university,” Filippenko said during an interview in May. “That’s what hurts — I feel betrayed. I feel betrayed by the University of California. I feel betrayed by the Office of the President.”
His sense of betrayal stems from the university’s abrupt decision last year to terminate all funding for the university’s only fully owned observatory — the only one where graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from across the UC system can design and execute their own research projects.
For Filippenko and others, Lick Observatory, perched just east of San Jose, California, on Mount Hamilton, represents the university’s fundamental contract with the people of California to cultivate the next generation of scientists and humanists. Yet, last September, to the outrage of many UC astronomers, students and lawmakers, the UC Office of the President announced it would be withdrawing all funds from the observatory by 2018 to shift these resources to newer facilities like the Thirty Meter Telescope, a $1.2 billion international collaboration currently under construction.
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If Police Come To Your Door Without a Warrant, Shut Them Down Like This Guy
If Police Come To Your Door Without a Warrant, Shut Them Down Like This Guy
By Matt Agorist on September 2, 2014
If police come to your door and you don’t need their help, you can simply decline to answer. They cannot come into your home without a search warrant.
Even if the police have probable cause, they cannot come in your home without a search warrant.
You might even be a suspect in a criminal investigation. In such a case you should remain silent — except to say “Officer, I can’t let you inside without a search warrant.” Following such an encounter, you should immediately contact a lawyer before speaking to police again.
The fact is that police can legally lie to try and gain access into your home and knowing how to deal with police at your door can go a long way.
A video uploaded to facebook last week by Avel Amarel, shows Amarel doing a great job at shutting down the two officers who tried to gain access to his house. Notice that in the beginning of the video, police try to get Amarel to stop filming. Mission number 1, reduce accountability. Cheers to Amarel for standing his ground.
The Actor Who Inspired Putin Has Died
Source: Daily Beast
How the Actor Donatas Banionis Inspired Vladimir Putin to Become a Spy
The Russian president apparently joined the KGB after seeing the Lithuanian, who went on to star in Solaris and died Thursday at 90, in a Soviet-era spy flick.
Why did Vladimir Putin go to work for the KGB? Same reason any of us do anything: He saw a movie.
The Russian president was reportedly inspired, at least in part, to get into the repression and spook biz after seeing Dead Season, a 1968 Soviet spy flick directed by Savva Kulish and starring the Lithuanian actor Donatas Banionis as a James Bond-esque intelligence agent. When Banionis met Putin at the Kremlin, the actor asked if it was true that his character influenced his choice of profession. Putin laughed and said, “Yes, I suppose you can say that.”
The acclaimed Soviet-era actor died Thursday at the age of 90, and Putin expressed his condolences to Banionis’s son: “Russians sincerely share your deep sorrow,” he said in a message. “We all remembered and loved Donatas Banionis, valued his talent, amazing acting technique and personal charisma, and his inimitable theatric and cinematic works.”
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Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/05/how-the-actor-donatas-banionis-inspired-vladimir-putin-to-become-a-spy.html
Note: The article title on google news is "The Actor Who Inspired Putin Has Died" so I've used that as the title for this post.
Al-Qaeda Chief Announces Start of Jihadi Operations in India
Al-Qaeda Chief Announces Start of Jihadi Operations in India
By Kartikay Mehrotra 2014-09-04T08:51:47Z
Al-Qaeda will start a new wing dedicated to waging jihad in the Indian subcontinent and beyond, the terror group’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri announced in a 55-minute video posted online.
Al-Zawahiri said the group would help expand al-Qaeda attacks in India as well as work to end what he called the suffering of Muslims throughout the region, including in Kashmir, Myanmar and Bangladesh. The video indicated the new group would be led by two Pakistani militants from Pakistani territory.
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The announcement risks adding to tensions between India and Pakistan as border skirmishes intensify between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, further dimming initial hopes that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s May election victory would spur peace talks and enhance economic collaboration. The two countries have fought four wars since 1947, with most of the violence stemming from disputes over the Muslim-majority territory of Kashmir where the Modi government intends to end the special rights awarded to its minority population.
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Sons of Anarchy - Final Season - Premieres this Tuesday Sept 9, 2014
Just saw an ad on tv.
Why Do Doctors Commit Suicide?
"Physicians are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as nonphysicians (and female physicians three times more likely than their male counterparts)."
Why Do Doctors Commit Suicide?
By PRANAY SINHASEPT. 4, 2014
NEW HAVEN — TWO weeks ago, two medical residents, in their second month of residency training in different programs, jumped to their deaths in separate incidents in New York City. I did not know them, and cannot presume to speak for them or their circumstances. But I imagine that they had celebrated their medical school graduation this spring just as my friends and I did. I imagine they began their residencies with the same enthusiasm for healing as we did. And I imagine that they experienced fatigue, emotional exhaustion and crippling self-doubt at the beginning of those residencies — I know I did.
The statistics on physician suicide are frightening: Physicians are more than twice as likely to kill themselves as nonphysicians (and female physicians three times more likely than their male counterparts). Some 400 doctors commit suicide every year. Young physicians at the beginning of their training are particularly vulnerable: In a recent study, 9.4 percent of fourth-year medical students and interns — as first-year residents are called — reported having suicidal thoughts in the previous two weeks.
Hospitals and residency programs recognize the toll residency takes on the mental stability and physical health of new doctors. In 2003, work hours were capped at 80 hours a week for all residency training programs. Residents are provided confidential counseling services to help cope with stress. My residency program offers writing workshops and monthly reflection rounds. We have a wellness committee that organizes social events such as bonfires on the beach and visits from therapy dogs.
But despite these efforts, people still fall through the cracks. While acute stress, social isolation, pre-existing mental illness and substance abuse may be obvious factors to consider, we must also ask if there are aspects of medical culture that might push troubled residents beyond their reserves of emotional resilience.
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North Korean nuclear reactor may be operational
Source: Deutsche Welle
A new report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog says North Korea may be operating a reactor at its main nuclear facility in Yongbyon. The site has previously been associated with the production of nuclear weapons.
In the document seen by news agencies on Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had detected signs the reactor in the country's north was undergoing tests that suggested it was being prepared for a restart.
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According to news agency AFP, the reactor is capable of giving the isolated regime around six kilograms (13 pounds) of plutonium per year - enough for one nuclear bomb. The reactor is also thought to have produced the material used in North Korea's nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.
In its report, the UN agency noted there had been "further renovations" at a second, bigger, reactor at Yongbyon, suspected to be for the purposes of enriching uranium. But the IAEA added it could not confirm this, and that although it appeared the building had been completed, there had been little activity at the site over the past year.
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Read more: http://www.dw.de/north-korean-nuclear-reactor-may-be-operational/a-17904551
Iran 'misses' nuclear probe deadline
Source: BBC
Iran has missed a deadline to answer questions about its nuclear programme, the IAEA global nuclear watchdog says.
Iran had agreed to provide information to help allay concerns about a military dimension to its programme, but had failed to do so, the IAEA reported.
These include suspected work on detonators which can set off nuclear bombs and high explosive charges.
It comes weeks before a deadline for Iran and world powers to reach a final deal to resolve the nuclear issue.
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Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29081998
'Java Juggs' owner pleads guilty to operating coffee-stand brothels
Source: Reuters
The owner of Seattle-area drive-up coffee stands that offered caffeine and sex acts and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in tips for her baristas pleaded guilty to felony charges of fraud and promotion of prostitution, the county prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday.
Carmela Panico, 52, must forfeit some $250,000 that police seized from her home last year and surrender her five coffee businesses in the Seattle area, the Herald of Everett newspaper reported, citing the Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
A paralegal with the office confirmed the plea deal but did not provide specifics.
“The business was popular,” an affidavit filed late last month in Washington state Superior Court in Snohomish County said.
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Watch this video report posted online by KIRO-TV:
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Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/03/java-juggs-owner-pleads-guilty-to-operating-coffee-stand-brothels/
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