Feeling Like a Bit of Fluff?

George Smoot, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Physics, explains that our view of the universe has become exponentially more complex in just the past decade. Smoot's work is part of a revolution that has forced cosmologists to confront a universe wholly unlike any they've ever known - one where only 4% is the kind of matter we have always assumed it to be; that is, the kind that makes up you, me, all the planets and stars in our galaxy, and in all 125 billion galaxies beyond. Let me repeat that; 4%. The other 96% is . . .?
Cosmologists refer to it as "dark" - meaning unknown for now, and possibly forever.

Here's what that means: we are not at the center of anything. We're not even made up of the same stuff as most of the rest of everything.

Lawrence Krauss, a theorist at Case Western University, put it bluntly; "If you got rid of us, and all the stars and all the galaxies and all the planets and all the aliens and everybody, then the universe would remain largely the same. We're completely irrelevant."

So, how important are you feeling right about now?

Thought for March

Whatever you are,
be a good one.
A. Lincoln

Have You Googled Yourself Lately?

It helps to have a slightly uncommon name, but in any event, it can be quite an experience to see what googling your name elicits. One thing that mystifies me; I usually get differeent results. I've published numerous articles in periodicals, and posted several requests for genealogical leads, and sometimes quite a few of them pop up. Other times the stuff is quite different. Of course, my name isn't that unusual; I've found quite a bit that pertains to total strangers. But the most intriguing is that my name shows up on German (at least Germanic) porno sites. I don't even want to delve into that one.
So, go check up on yourself - it might be a real eye-opener.

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