One of my claims to fame is being the only Hamilton College Russian Studies major of 2005. Everyone asks me: “Why Russian studies?” And I answer: “Because there’s all sorts of weird and cool shit going on there. And Putin is hot.”

Here’s another reason why Russia is awesome (despite shutting down AllOfMP3.com… it’s being re-routed, so be easy). After you read the article, be sure to watch the accompanying video (linked up in the article). The news source, Pravda (“Truth”), has been around since Soviet times, so their reputation is dubious, but they’re pretty much the only news game in town.

Anyway – some fishermen found an alien fish with a face and ate it.

Source: Pravda Online

I love reading about the universe because all the information we get sounds totally made-up by really bored physicists in labs world wide.  Although I highly doubt that Stephen Hawking is making sh*t up on a regular basis, just for kicks, sometimes I just cannot wrap my head around the concepts presented by modern physics in relation to the universe.  I find the chaos and string theories to be incredibly interesting, and various theories of what is “out there” (besides Klingons… everyone knows that they are out there fighting the Romulans) to be mind-blowing because so much of what we hold as “truth” is based on hypotheses and suppositions.

One such example: dark matter.

I was prompted to think about this astral conundrum today by an article in the Science section of CNN.com.  Scientists have recently discovered a ring of dark matter left behind by a collision of two galaxies over 1 billion years ago. 

First off, I can’t imagine anything existing before 1983, the year I was born and the start of human history for me, let alone comprehend that stuff existed 1 billion years ago.  Think about it for a moment.  Generally, we just accept the concepts of time and space as truth – because they simply are and we can’t imagine them not being.  But I’ve found that if you really take a second, sit back, and try to comprehend the expansiveness of the universe in which we happen to find ourselves, you will find that you really can’t entirely understand it (unless you are Stephen Hawking or Jean-Luc Picard). 

An example that I’m not alone… a quote from the aforementioned CNN.com article from astronomer Richard Massey of the California Institute of Technology:

“‘Given that dark matter is the most common stuff in the universe, the fact that we know almost nothing about it at the moment is really rather embarrassing,’ Massey said.”

For as far as we’ve come as a species, maybe there are just certain things we’re not meant to know.  I mean, we’re still trying to figure out how people got from one land mass to another and if we evolved from one or many versions of ancient humanoid man.  We’ve had numerous scientific advancements in the thousands of years since our inception – you’d think we’d have our own history down pat by now.  I don’t fault science for a lack of answers because I think the questions are way cooler to think about.  I thank scientists everyday for taking the time to explore this stuff that my history-major brain just can’t comprehend. 

“You’re not seriously eating that off the floor, are you?”

“It’s cool, 5-second rule.”

We’ve all seen it, we’ve all done it. You drop the ever so tempting piece of food on the floor and grab it as fast as you can so that you can still bask in its yummy goodness. The “5-second rule” is surely one of the most commonly practiced urban legends. The so-called “theory” behind it is that if your food is on the ground for less than 5 seconds, it is still safe to eat. Past that 5 seconds, and you are, perhaps, entering a bacteria infested gray area.

However, a handful of curious students at Connecticut College have begun to do some “serious academic research” into the true safety of ground laden food. Using their campus dining hall, the students have found that “people can wait as long as 30 seconds to pick up wet foods and even longer for dry foods.”

Personally, while I rejoice in the knowledge that my sometimes questionable eating habits are seemingly safe, I wonder exactly who leaves fallen food on the ground for such an extended time. Granted, you might be deep in conversation or getting lost in your lovers’ eyes, but I am sure they would understand if you bent down to save your lost nourishment.

After this research is done, perhaps they can answer the “how long does pizza stay fresh in the box on the coffee table” mystery.

More Info: Boston Dot Com

I will freely admit that I am openly skeptic about the abilities of modern medicine. I have very little faith in the true abilities of doctors and rarely find the information from those in the medical profession of any true value. As I see it, they’ve read some books and are simply guessing. Yes, they can fix a broken bone, but insofar as illnesses are concerned, I find their diagnoses about as professional as the guy who guesses your weight at amusement parks.

Case in point, for a majority of the last decade, medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies have forced the benefits of multi-vitamins and lycopene down our throats (no pun intended). They constantly reminded us that lycopene was essential for men in the fight against prostate cancer.

Well, once again, medical professionals across the globe are retreating as fast as they can as new studies have shown that taking a multi-vitamin in excess of 7 times a week had nearly a 100% INCREASE in likelihood of developing prostate cancer. Furthermore, the studies showed that an increase in lycopene had no measurable impact on the development or suppression of the cancer.

So, what does this tell us?

1. Doctors are, for the most part, sheep. They take what companies tell them and use it as fact.
2. The pharmaceutical companies, though nothing new, will do whatever it takes to sell their product.
3. Eating smart and exercising is still probably the top way to stay healthy…what a concept!

More Info: WebMD
More More Info: Healthcare Republic

We (and by ‘we’ I mean people who are significantly smarter than I) found another planet that we might maybe someday once we find the technology could possibly feasibly almost live on.

Right.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s awesome that we’re exploring space, mostly because there’s 1) a ton of it and 2) we have no freaking clue what’s out there. And I agree that we should explore it as much as possible while Stephen Hawking is alive so he can explain all of the discoveries to us. But should the focus of space exploration really be so that we can find another planet to destroy? I mean, we’re already doing a pretty good job of cycling through destroying and attempting to conserve this one. And if you’ve ever read anything on the rise of life and evolution and climate change, you’ll understand that it was basically a one in a bazillion (ref: a “bazillion” is roughly the same as the number of Starbucks in Seattle) chance that we even exist, let alone have existed this long without either blowing ourselves up or dying of influenza.

So what makes us think that we could sustain life on another planet? We’d also have to send 14 year olds there, because it took this space satellite thing 27 years to get to this pseudo-earth. And, seriously, the Klingons probably already called dibs on it.

Source: BBC News