Category Archives: cool stuff

Alcohol abuse…in space!

1445869708280I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of hashers suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced:

Comet Lovejoy appears to be a well-stocked bar in space

If you are looking for a good time, it might be worth stopping by Comet Lovejoy.

That’s because the famous comet is releasing huge amounts of alcohol as well as a type of sugar in space, according to NASA. This marks the first time that ethyl alcohol, the same type found in alcoholic beverages, has been observed in a comet.

“We found that comet Lovejoy was releasing as much alcohol as in at least 500 bottles of wine every second during its peak activity,” Nicolas Biver of the Paris Observatory, France and the lead author of a paper on the discovery published in Science Advances, said in a statement.

It also raises the prospect that comets could have been a source of the complex organic molecules required for the emergence of life. The team found 21 different organic molecules in gas from the comet, including ethyl alcohol and glycolaldehyde, a simple sugar.

Hadn’t thought of this

random-shite-2015-10-01-09

Then again, lately I’ve just had Malibu’s nails trimmed by the vet when she’s in there for something else (like boarding).  That way, they’re the ones she bites, not me. :-)

Besides, it looks like you need more than two hands to make this work.

h/t: Wirecutter

5-year-old girl throws out Orioles’ first pitch with 3D-printed prosthetic hand

11358057_737370126409201_796156267_nI don’t normally do sports stories, but this one’s cool: (1) a little girl with a problem gets to live a better life and (2) it’s UNLV that made it happen:

5-year-old girl throws out Orioles’ first pitch with 3D-printed prosthetic hand

At the Baltimore Orioles game on Monday, the work of UNLV and its engineering students will be center stage as 5-year-old Hailey Dawson will throw out the first pitch using the Flexy-Hand 2, which is a 3D-printed prosthetic device created by the UNLV engineering department.

“[Hailey’s] excited because this is her wish. I think the best part for her is she gets to meet Manny Machado,” said Hailey’s mom, Yong Dawson.

Hailey was born with Poland Syndrome, a rare congenital disease that causes underdevelopment in the pectoral muscle and oftentimes also affects fingers on one side of the body. In Hailey’s case, her right pectoral muscle is completely flat and her right hand is deformed in a way that makes it near impossible for her to grip things, such as a baseball. Fortunately she isn’t in much pain at all, according to her mom.

She’s already thrown out a first pitch for the Rebels…looks like she’s moving up. :-)

Top Gear crew moves to Amazon

One last item for the cool wall:

Jeremy Clarkson, Former ‘Top Gear’ Host, Announces Deal With Amazon

Jeremy Clarkson, a popular British TV personality and the former host of BBC’s “Top Gear,” said on Twitter on Thursday that he would film a new car-themed show for Amazon.

Mr. Clarkson, whose relationship with the BBC ended acrimoniously in March, said that he had signed a deal, and that he would be joined by his former co-stars, Richard Hammond and James May. The first show will go into production soon, and it will be available to Amazon Prime users next year, according to Amazon.

End of an error

LV_BlueCard_FrontGuess I can go fish the guns I never registered out of Lake Mead now:

Gun enthusiasts shred blue cards in North Las Vegas

A sense of triumph overpowered the scent of rain in the wind for the hundreds of Second Amendment enthusiasts gathered at a North Las Vegas gun shop on Saturday.

A decades-old handgun Clark County registration program was shot down by the Nevada Legislature earlier this summer.

Those who gathered celebrated the program‘s demise at a community barbecue and blue card shredding party at the New Frontier Armory, 150 E. Centennial Parkway, near North Fifth Street.

Nevada Firearms Coalition President Don Turner said about 250 people came, including many families, and they were happy to celebrate the end of the program.

“A lot of people were taking pictures as they shred their blue cards,” he said, adding that the 3-foot-tall shredder people used was probably filled.

Full lives

Dammit…must’ve gotten dusty in here all of a sudden:

2A2F0E0200000578-3144803-image-a-2_1435874534767The dying embrace of husband and wife who were married for 75 years and died just hours apart as they held hands in bed

A poignant photo has emerged which shows an elderly couple who were married for 75 years fulfilling their final wishes to die together.

Jeanette Toczko, 96, and her 95-year-old husband, Alexander Toczko, from San Diego, California, died just hours apart as they held hands in bed.

The pair spent their lives in love after becoming boyfriend and girlfriend when they were only eight years old.

But several weeks ago, Mr Toczko suffered a broken hip in a fall and was left bed-bound. A local hospice delivered a special bed to his home, which staff pushed up next to his beloved wife’s bed.

As Mr Toczko’s condition quickly declined, Mrs Toczko’s own health took a turn for the worse. The couple had always said they wished to die ‘in their own bed, holding hands, in each other’s arms’.

…and that’s exactly what happened.  The rest of us should be as lucky.

It Was Only Logical: An Asteroid for Spock

Out in the asteroid belt, orbiting roughly once every four years:

It Was Only Logical: An Asteroid for Spock

I am pleased to learn that actor Leonard Nimoy has been given a singular honor: The asteroid 4864 Nimoy has been named after him.

The asteroid is very roughly 10 km across and is in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter. It orbits the Sun once every 3.9 years.

Oh, how I wish it had a seven year period!

News you can use

Free beer for all the hashers…for your health and longevity:555ca2a02e755.image

A beer a day is 110-year-old Nebraska man’s secret to a long life

A can of beer every day is Mark Behrends’ secret to a long life.

The Nebraska City man turned 110 years old on May 16, making him Nebraska’s oldest living person and possibly the oldest man living in the United States.

“He always told everybody the reason he has lived so long is drinking one can of beer, every day at 3 p.m.,” said his daughter Lois Bassinger of Nebraska City. “He always joked that that was his medicine since he takes very little medicine.”