Einstein’s “Biggest Blunder” May Turn Out to Be His Greatest Success

 A new project is revealing that Einstein was probably wrong about being wrong. In other words, Einstein was right even though he didn’t know it. His self-proclaimed “biggest blunder” was a postulation of a cosmological constant (a force that opposes gravity and keeps the universe from collapsing) may actually be completely correct, according to the research of an international team of scientists. That means Einstein was so damn smart that even his biggest failure will likely turn out to be true.

( Read more... )

Einstein’s “Biggest Blunder” May Turn Out to Be His Greatest Success

 A new project is revealing that Einstein was probably wrong about being wrong. In other words, Einstein was right even though he didn’t know it. His self-proclaimed “biggest blunder” was a postulation of a cosmological constant (a force that opposes gravity and keeps the universe from collapsing) may actually be completely correct, according to the research of an international team of scientists. That means Einstein was so damn smart that even his biggest failure will likely turn out to be true.

( Read more... )

Einstein’s “Biggest Blunder” May Turn Out to Be His Greatest Success

 A new project is revealing that Einstein was probably wrong about being wrong. In other words, Einstein was right even though he didn’t know it. His self-proclaimed “biggest blunder” was a postulation of a cosmological constant (a force that opposes gravity and keeps the universe from collapsing) may actually be completely correct, according to the research of an international team of scientists. That means Einstein was so damn smart that even his biggest failure will likely turn out to be true.

( Read more... )

Diamonds are forever...

A Diamond Bigger than Earth Discovered in Constellation Centaurus 

Like an episode out of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has announced the discovery of a mass of crystallized carbon formerly known as star BPM 37093, now known as the biggest diamond in the galaxy, fifty light years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

The star, named "Lucy" after the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," is estimated to be 2,500 miles across and weighs approximately 10 billion-trillion-trillion-carats – a one, followed by 34 zeros. Travis Metcalfe, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the team who discovered the gem, says “You would need a jeweler’s loupe the size of the sun to grade this diamond. Bill Gates and Donald Trump together couldn’t begin to afford it.”

The diamond is actually the crystallized interior of a white dwarf – or the hot core of a star that is left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon and is coated by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases.

Five billion years from now, our sun will die and become a white dwarf. Approximately two billion years after that, its ember core will crystallize as well, leaving a giant diamond in the center of our solar system. A paper announcing this discovery has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters for publication. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. Scientists within the organization are classified into six research divisions where they study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.

Diamonds are forever...

A Diamond Bigger than Earth Discovered in Constellation Centaurus 

Like an episode out of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has announced the discovery of a mass of crystallized carbon formerly known as star BPM 37093, now known as the biggest diamond in the galaxy, fifty light years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

The star, named "Lucy" after the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," is estimated to be 2,500 miles across and weighs approximately 10 billion-trillion-trillion-carats – a one, followed by 34 zeros. Travis Metcalfe, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the team who discovered the gem, says “You would need a jeweler’s loupe the size of the sun to grade this diamond. Bill Gates and Donald Trump together couldn’t begin to afford it.”

The diamond is actually the crystallized interior of a white dwarf – or the hot core of a star that is left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon and is coated by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases.

Five billion years from now, our sun will die and become a white dwarf. Approximately two billion years after that, its ember core will crystallize as well, leaving a giant diamond in the center of our solar system. A paper announcing this discovery has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters for publication. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. Scientists within the organization are classified into six research divisions where they study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.

Diamonds are forever...

A Diamond Bigger than Earth Discovered in Constellation Centaurus 

Like an episode out of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has announced the discovery of a mass of crystallized carbon formerly known as star BPM 37093, now known as the biggest diamond in the galaxy, fifty light years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

The star, named "Lucy" after the Beatles song, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," is estimated to be 2,500 miles across and weighs approximately 10 billion-trillion-trillion-carats – a one, followed by 34 zeros. Travis Metcalfe, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the team who discovered the gem, says “You would need a jeweler’s loupe the size of the sun to grade this diamond. Bill Gates and Donald Trump together couldn’t begin to afford it.”

The diamond is actually the crystallized interior of a white dwarf – or the hot core of a star that is left over after the star uses up its nuclear fuel and dies. It is made mostly of carbon and is coated by a thin layer of hydrogen and helium gases.

Five billion years from now, our sun will die and become a white dwarf. Approximately two billion years after that, its ember core will crystallize as well, leaving a giant diamond in the center of our solar system. A paper announcing this discovery has been submitted to The Astrophysical Journal Letters for publication. The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. Scientists within the organization are classified into six research divisions where they study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.

RPF goes professional?

Sorry for Spamming.

Link to article provided by petzipellepingo
'Kansas' imagines Truman Capote-Harper Lee rift

By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

When Truman Capote was asked about his research for In Cold Blood, his 1966 masterpiece about the murders of a Kansas farm family, he liked to say, "Every word is true."

Which it wasn't. Books and movies (Capote in 2005 and Infamous in 2006) make that clear. Capote, who died in 1984, would argue he was reaching a deeper truth.

Now comes Kim Powers' novel, Capote in Kansas: A Ghost Story, an uneasy blend of fact and fiction about perhaps the greatest back story in American literature.

( Rest of the article )

Okay, this bothers me a little.  Nelle Lee isn't a historical figure.  Dude, she's still alive!   

Fictionalized speculation on the life of someone who is around to read the fictional account of her life seems weird to me, especially since she does not react well to these sorts of things. When she discovered that autographed copies of her books were being sold for exhorbitant amounts on ebay, she stopped signing books for anyone but close personal friends.  When Monroeville began doing yearly "To Kill A Mockingbird" plays in the old county courthouse (now a museum) she wasn't happy about it.  She's very reticent about that sort of thing.  Writing a fictional account of her life while she's still around to react to it seems quite odd (albeit she had a stroke last month so her health has declined recently.)

RPF goes professional?

Sorry for Spamming.

Link to article provided by petzipellepingo
'Kansas' imagines Truman Capote-Harper Lee rift

By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

When Truman Capote was asked about his research for In Cold Blood, his 1966 masterpiece about the murders of a Kansas farm family, he liked to say, "Every word is true."

Which it wasn't. Books and movies (Capote in 2005 and Infamous in 2006) make that clear. Capote, who died in 1984, would argue he was reaching a deeper truth.

Now comes Kim Powers' novel, Capote in Kansas: A Ghost Story, an uneasy blend of fact and fiction about perhaps the greatest back story in American literature.

( Rest of the article )

Okay, this bothers me a little.  Nelle Lee isn't a historical figure.  Dude, she's still alive!   

Fictionalized speculation on the life of someone who is around to read the fictional account of her life seems weird to me, especially since she does not react well to these sorts of things. When she discovered that autographed copies of her books were being sold for exhorbitant amounts on ebay, she stopped signing books for anyone but close personal friends.  When Monroeville began doing yearly "To Kill A Mockingbird" plays in the old county courthouse (now a museum) she wasn't happy about it.  She's very reticent about that sort of thing.  Writing a fictional account of her life while she's still around to react to it seems quite odd (albeit she had a stroke last month so her health has declined recently.)

RPF goes professional?

Sorry for Spamming.

Link to article provided by petzipellepingo
'Kansas' imagines Truman Capote-Harper Lee rift

By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY

When Truman Capote was asked about his research for In Cold Blood, his 1966 masterpiece about the murders of a Kansas farm family, he liked to say, "Every word is true."

Which it wasn't. Books and movies (Capote in 2005 and Infamous in 2006) make that clear. Capote, who died in 1984, would argue he was reaching a deeper truth.

Now comes Kim Powers' novel, Capote in Kansas: A Ghost Story, an uneasy blend of fact and fiction about perhaps the greatest back story in American literature.

( Rest of the article )

Okay, this bothers me a little.  Nelle Lee isn't a historical figure.  Dude, she's still alive!   

Fictionalized speculation on the life of someone who is around to read the fictional account of her life seems weird to me, especially since she does not react well to these sorts of things. When she discovered that autographed copies of her books were being sold for exhorbitant amounts on ebay, she stopped signing books for anyone but close personal friends.  When Monroeville began doing yearly "To Kill A Mockingbird" plays in the old county courthouse (now a museum) she wasn't happy about it.  She's very reticent about that sort of thing.  Writing a fictional account of her life while she's still around to react to it seems quite odd (albeit she had a stroke last month so her health has declined recently.)