This week in science: No more blues for a Red
Planet

post from Daily Kos on 14 April 2012 09:00:05 AM. © Daily Kos

The Utopian Plain on Mars as seen by the Viking 2 lander in 1976. Scientists believes this image represents the true colors of the aptly name Red Planet. Credit 1976 NASA/JPL

If recent cuts to planetary science weren't drawing blood before, they are now. Because this week a group of scientists reexamined data from the 1976 Viking Landers and announced we had indeed found strong evidence of microbial life on Mars at that time:

One of the three experiments, which were known as the ?Labeled Release? experiment, hinted to the presence of life on Mars, while the others did not. A mathematical analysis of the samples found that salts in the soil on Mars ?threw off? initial estimates, and that the soil samples show strong evidence of microbial life. The new analysis looked for ?complexity? in the samples, which the scientists claimed to have found.
?This suggests a robust biological response,? the researchers wrote in the International Journal of Aeronautic and Space Sciences (PDF). ?These analyses support the interpretation that the Viking LR experiment did detect extant microbial life on Mars.?

This is an extraordinary claim, as such it will require extraordinary evidence (We miss you Carl). Ergo, all eyes are now on NASA's Mars programs and especially the Mars Science Laboratory already en route to the red planet with the flagship rover, Curiousity, on board. ETA 6 Aug 2012. But Curiousity does not have either of the two items that might solve this issue once and for all: a high power microscope or return sample capability.

We humans aren't the only ones who pick up habits, good or bad, when everyone else is doing it. Our closest evolutionary cousins the cimpanzee's appear to do the same thing, probably for the same reasons. And baboons can distinguish lots of word (But they still won't read blogs)
So, freaking, cool: Canada rolls out a glow-in-the-dark, dino-skeleton, coin, and it's real money, not some fake "collectors edition".
The ancient mariner's star Fomalhaut and its retinue of millions of planet forming comets were resolved into dusty brilliance this week by the ESA:
Fomalhaut is a young star, just a few hundred million years old, and twice as massive as the Sun. Its dust belt was discovered in the 1980s by the IRAS satellite, but Herschel?s new images of the belt show it in much more detail at far-infrared wavelengths than ever before.
I'm sorry, I just can't let this go: two missions that would follow-up on any Martian leads generated by Curiosity are jointly funded by NASA and the European Space Agency, and they could get the ax. Guess how much they cost us?
In other words, the amount of money being cut from Mars exploration is equal to what we were spending on the War on Terror in just 15 hours. ... You might want to read that again. For the cost of less than a single day on the War on Terror, we could have a robust and far-reaching program to explore Mars, look for signs of life on another planet ...
If you want those exciting missions and others, you'd better let your elected representative know. Because, if proposed cuts go through, we will be postponing the projects that could settle the most important question in science, indeed for our very species, by decades.

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No-more-blues-for-a-Red-Planet-

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Open Thread And Fracking Cartoon Of The Week

post from ThinkProgress on 14 April 2012 09:00:04 AM. © ThinkProgress

Ten cyberpennies for your thoughts.

And how about crowd-sourcing some real pennies for cartoonist, Stephanie McMillan, who has kindly given me permission to reprint her cartoons. She notes that ?cartoonists are struggling and economically collapsing along with the newspapers that used to be our living.?

So I said I?d post the link to Paypal where you can donate to her if you like her cartoons. CLICK HERE (then click where it says DONATE).

Shale Shocked: ?Remarkable Increase? In U.S. Earthquakes ?Almost Certainly Manmade,? USGS Scientists Report

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"We just need some Republican politicians to get
on board with where the country is. "

post from They gave us a republic... - Front Page on 14 April 2012 09:00:00 AM. © They gave us a republic... - Front Page

By @KYYellowDog

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stop! You're killing me!

video details and more

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On This Day In History April 14

post from Docudharma - Front Page on 14 April 2012 09:00:00 AM. © Docudharma - Front Page

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteThis is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.Find the past "On This Day in History" here.April 14 is the 104th day of the year (105th in leap years)[...]

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Another Non-Controversy Controversy (Update)

post from Where's the Outrage? on 14 April 2012 08:54:59 AM. © Where's the Outrage?

Republicans are masters at faux outrage. They will take something that is usually relatively minor[...]

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Another Non-Controversy Controversy

post from Where's the Outrage? on 14 April 2012 08:54:59 AM. © Where's the Outrage?

Republicans are masters at faux outrage. They will take something that is usually relatively minor[...]

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Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Whither the
ultra-wealthy

post from Daily Kos on 14 April 2012 08:09:08 AM. © Daily Kos

_{Visual source: Newseum}

ZOMG! A policy discussion broke out in the Washington Post!

Perhaps no one has more at stake in this year?s presidential election than the ultra-wealthy.
If Republican front-runner Mitt Romney reaches the White House, he will push for the top 1 percent of American earners to save an average of $150,000 in taxes, according to an analysis of his tax plan by the Tax Policy Center. In a second Obama administration, these Americans would pay about $83,000 more than they do now.

Cue the fake mommy wars. We need a distraction from all this policy talk about the ultra-wealthy.

Kathleen Parker:

Rosen vs. Romney: A faux girl fight
Stay-at-home moms (SAHMs) allegedly were insulted. Working mothers who allegedly envy SAHMs recoiled from the blinding truth of Rosen?s observation. Single moms with mouths to feed and no jobs allegedly were furious at the Romneys? apparent cluelessness.
Regular folks, meanwhile, who know better than to argue about ?women issues? when the political masses are engaged, somehow managed to get through another night without pondering whether the gender gap can ever be bridged.

NY Times on a NYC housing rebound:

Even though the most recent market reports show Manhattan real estate prices holding steady, as they have for more than two years, other signs indicate that the New York City market may finally be willing to stop flirting with recovery and commit wholehearted.

Don't choke on your coffee when you read about the prices. it's a different world in NY.

Charles Blow:

This is a moment when America should be proud. The wheels of justice are finally turning. The State of Florida has taken up the cause of the dead boy. His life is no more, but his legacy will live forever.
The state will vigorously prosecute, and Zimmerman will be vigorously defended as is his constitutional right.

NY Times editorial notes the one-sided politics at the NRA:

Polls show Republicans enjoy heavy support and donations from gun owners. In return, the gun lobby has had steady success in weakening gun laws ? especially in the two dozen statehouses that followed Florida in enacting new self-defense laws to allow the instant use of deadly force in a confrontation rather than retreat from danger. These laws are fostered by the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council, with heavyweight business supporters like Walmart, a major gun retailer.

Adam Winkler:

But if gun control is dead politically, it remains alive and well in the courts, despite a few high-profile Supreme Court rulings. For all the talk of America?s gun culture, we also have a gun-control culture. Gun control is as much a part of America?s DNA as the Second Amendment and the six-shooter.

Chris Mooney tries to make sense of it all:

?Open people everywhere tend to have more liberal values,? said psychologist Robert McCrae, who conducted voluminous studies on personality while at the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health.
Conservatives, in contrast, tend to be less open ? less exploratory, less in need of change ? and more ?conscientious,? a trait that indicates they appreciate order and structure in their lives. This gels nicely with the standard definition of conservatism as resistance to change ? in the famous words of William F. Buckley Jr., a desire to stand ?athwart history, yelling ?Stop!???
I call myself a liberal, so this description of openness resonates with me. But I think it?s vital for everyone to understand, and it needn?t be seen as threatening or a put-down; it seems to be part of the nature of politics.

Chris' new book, The Republican Brain: The Science of Why They Deny Science ? and Reality will be reviewed Sunday by DarkSyde.

Don't forget to clean out the freezer before you go on vacation.

With the clock ticking down to Tax Day, money is on the minds of many Americans. When it comes to the ?mad? money they keep in their homes, where do they like to stash it? More than one in four Americans ? 27% ? reports they hide their money in the freezer. 19% of residents ?sock? their green away while 11% sleep well at night with their cash stuffed under their mattress. One in ten ? 10% ? buries their dough in the cookie jar while 9% leave their loot in some other household location. 17% say there is no good place in the home to hide their money, and 7% are unsure..

Atrios: WANKER OF THE DECADE - Runner Up #3 Joe Klein.

He's a fairly typical Democrat who hates Democrats, liberal who hates liberals, the real problem with the Democrats being unions, hippies, people who hate the military, people who vote for Democrats, the Democrats they vote for. The usual.

He spent years being America's Concern Troll when it came to Iraq. He opposed the war except, you know, he didn't really bother to tell anybody. He wasn't all that much of a fan of how things were playing out, but the real problem, of course, were the Democrats who were trying to kill off all of our troops by cutting off funding.

Wankers 4 thru 9 are here.

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und-up-Whither-the-ultra-wealthy-

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Pull Up a Chair

My place is small, and feeling like a bit much even at that, as many of you have experienced. My, how times have changed since the sixties, when desirable lifestyle was measured like carpeting, by the square foot.[...]

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Mike's Blog Round Up

Real American Liberal: Is a little critical thinking too much to ask?

We Are Respectable Negroes: What would W.E.B. Du Bois do, and why the right can't fully attack Zimmerman.

Naked Capitalism: "Reprehensible" accounting abuses on mortgages.

Whiskey Fire: Conservative "comedy."

World O' Crap: Jimmy Carter, World's Greatest Monster?

Guest post by Batocchio. Email tips to mbru AT crooksandliars DOT com.

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Et Tu, Howard

Cross posted from The Stars Hollow GazetteGaius Publius at AMERICAblog is not alone in "hating this stuff". Money buys the world, both the Dem side and the other. In fact, I've said far too many times - the goal of Money is to enable Republicans and[...]

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