News Briefs 26-11-2009

You're welcome ^_^

• Something to whet your appetite in preparation for that humongous Thanksgiving dinner: Video of an orca devouring a white shark —Hmmm... Carcharodon.
• Researchers find new species of chameleon in the darnedest of places...
• I'm feeling حظيظ: Iraq's national museum to showcase its treasures online with aid of Google [Video].
• New film supports claim that Jesus was taught by ancient druids in England. Egypt, Britain, Kashmir, Japan, Mexico... the J-man was quite the globe-trotter!
• Rare Darwin book found in toilet —and NO, it wasn't the toilet of the Discovery Institute ;-)
• Z-Brush, a 3D modeling sofware, brings our hominid ancestors to life —or at least to your screen, where you're spending most of your life anyway.
• But if you scoff at fancy CGI stuff & prefer good ol' fashioned sculpting, then check out the hyper-realistic hominid reconstructions of Elisabeth Daynès (H/T Loren Coleman).
• X-ray film of human mouth speaking is both mesmerizing... and a bit disturbing.
• The splitting Time from Space is a divorce that would have traumatized poor Einstein —but might lead us to a theory of quantum gravity.
• Martian meteorite surrenders new secrets of possible life. Déjà vu anyone? (H/T Alan Boyle).
• Robbie Williams goes to Greg's turf to hunt for a property to hunt UFOs.
• Whitley Strieber doesn't think anything note-worthy will happen on Dec 21, 2012 —however...
• Let a Hundred Futures Bloom. Because Transhumanism shouldn't be viewed as an "either/or" option —right, Mac?
• Hello Unobtainum! 5 Materials that will make the world as we know it obsolete.
• Rocket faaaail! Yves Rossy unsuccesful in his attempt to cross the strait of Gibraltar [Video]. And I think it's going to be a long long time... before he gives it another try.
• Harry Potter inspired 2 British inventors to create a "magic wand" remote control —though I suspect a desire to perform the Cruciatus spell on Simon Cowell might have also played a part in it :-P
• No car chases, no explosions of the White House, and not one close-up of Megan Fox's derriere. New film features nothing but philosophers talking... and it works!
• Study finds link between civil wars and warmer years. Is climate change responsible, or interplanetary hunters?
• "What nail?": More insight on those leaked Climate Change e-mails —with a choke-full of links for the masochists among you.
• And yet it warms: The Copenhagen Diagnosis reports that, contradicting assessments by some scientists that there has been a recent cooling, the global warming trend has continued over the past decade.
• Video: It's raining bears —Holy s*$t! @_@

A nice slice of dark meat & pumpkin pie for Rick & Kat.

Quote(s) of the Day:

"Science doesn’t work because we’re all nice. Newton may have been an ass, but the theory of gravity still works."

Gavin A. Schmidt, climatologist at NASA

"A lie travels halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its boots."

Mark Twain