As the faux conservative pundit Stephen Colbert warned President Bush, reality has a bias to the left. And interestingly enough, so does all life on Earth. We’ve know that all amino acids, the essential components for any terrestrial organism, have left-handed chiralities. Or to translate from science-speak, their molecules wind to the left. This is why genetic engineering experiments can splice genes from very different species in a lab. The molecules will line up and assemble correctly because they’re all wound in the same direction.

But for many years, there’s been a nagging problem. Why does all life on our planet have these left-handed amino acids? You could very easily wind them to the right and they’d work just as well. In fact, you could get an identical biosphere with a different chirality. Of course you would have a very hard time finding a viable organism with both chiralities since the molecules it had to produce couldn’t match up. It would be like fitting together two different jigsaw puzzles and that means somewhere along the line, there had to be a process which resulted in our present day left-hand chirality gaining dominance over its rightward-wound counterparts. Could it be one the earliest cases of natural selection at work? Actually, it seems that primordial chemistry in the vacuum of space played a major role in what life could evolve on our world.

This is the conclusion of NASA astrobiologists Daniel Garvin and Jason Dworkin who examined meteorites rich in carbon to find the amino acid isovaline. Since isovaline isn’t actively used by living things on Earth and maintains the same chirality over billions of years, scientists can use it to take a look back at the dawn of the solar system and determine the ratio of left-handed to right-handed molecules without the threat of biological contamination. As it turns out, when a meteorite is rich with water, it has up to 18% more left-handed isovaline so when meteors with disproportionate amounts of left-handed amino acids fell to Earth and deposited their organic cargo, they would’ve created a bias towards organisms with our current chirality.

Once again, we’re finding evidence of life on our world coming from the depths of outer space as organic compounds ready to combine into functional organisms and just take it from there. And that raises some curious questions. Could life on other planets be very similar to ours? Is there a chance that alien and terrestrial hereditary mechanisms would be similar since they’re built from the same pool of left-handed organics? To be perfectly clear, being made of similar compounds doesn’t mean aliens would look anything like us. Evolution and the environment of their home world would shape their anatomy. Just look at the variety of life that evolved on our planet from the same 20 amino acids. Who knows what the conditions on another planet could do with the same basic mix of chemical compounds?

Glavin, D., & Dworkin, J. (2009). Enrichment of the amino acid L-isovaline by aqueous alteration on CI and CM meteorite parent bodies Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106 (14), 5487-5492 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0811618106

from: World of Weird Things

see also: Life’s 20 Amino Acids - What all life from earth came from

The Bible must be either 100% true or 100% false.
The Bible says the Earth is was created by God in 4004 BC.

Ten Commandments of Evolution/Atheism:
Thou shalt have no theories before me, for they are pseudoscience.
Thou shalt be sexy and pass on thy genes to thy species, but not to thine immediate nor extended family.
Thou shalt adapt and overcome problems.
Thou shalt live in harmony with thy fellow beings.
Thou shalt not overproduce.
Thou shalt not genocide other creatures.
Thou shalt be intelligent and not gullible.
Thou shalt live only a short time, and better creatures shall take thy place.
Thou shalt spread throughout the universe.
Thou shalt not make the world inhospitable for other creatures.

“Otzi was frozen 5,300 years ago and he was found in an unprecedented conservation state for its age. Researchers took 150,000 high definition images from 12 different angles, including 3D and UV views.” (icemanphotoscan.eu)

Ötzi the Iceman (pronounced  [ˈœtsi] (help·info)), and Similaun Man are modern names of a well-preserved natural mummy of a man from about 3300 BC (53 centuries ago).[1] The mummy was found in 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier in the Ötztal Alps, near Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. The nickname comes from Ötztal (Ötz valley), the region in which he was discovered. He is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans. The body and his belongings are displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, northern Italy.

Great concepts, but I’d bet it’ll be nothing like that…

Joe the Multi-Faceted Hat-Wearer puts on his "Writin’ Hat" to sign autographs last night at a Borders in DC, where "about 11 people wandered into the rows of seats set up hopefully in the basement" who he addressed "from behind a lectern and with a microphone … that seemed unnecessarily formal."

Never have I longed to be in DC so much as reading about this splendid event:

The only heat generated by Joe’s appearance last night came when a young man named Jabari Zakiya recounted great moments in American racism (slavery, annihilation of Native Americans, segregation, etc.) and asked Wurzelbacher if the "hegemony" of the white man in America is "doomed" now that five states and the District of Columbia have majority minority populations.
Joe replied that he believes "our American heritage is being torn apart" by flag burners, critics of the military, and those who mock Christian values. He expressed his admiration for patriotic immigrants, and said he dislikes terms like African American and Asian American ("We’re all Americans," he said). For some reason, he concluded by saying, "America has always been a kick-butt, take-names kind of country."

Wow.
The event was scheduled to last three hours, but ended after 55 minutes, with Joe having sold a total of five books.

from: Alternet

Its just hard to feel sorry for this guy, on TV he looks so confident, then he opens his mouth, he’s just another media joke….

This is what News Outlets do here in America.

Being rated "number 1" doesn’t make your product good, just popular.

Britney Spears, Jonas Brothers, Kelly Clarkson, are pop stars for the same reason. and of course, the TRUTH is NEVER popular.

So, how quickly would you burn through half a million?

When President Barack Obama last week announced a $500,000 salary cap on pay for top brass at institutions receiving federal bailout funds, a collective shudder went through the corner offices of Manhattan. And the private clubs. And the trading floors.

You see, an estimated 75,000 New Yorkers earn more than $500,000 a year, according to 2007 data compiled by the Manhattan Institute, an economic think tank. Few of them carry the august C-suite titles targeted by the anti-exec crowd in the government bailout debate. Most are simply managing directors, partners and senior vice presidents of something or other.

The Big O vows to change the "culture of excess." In light of the crusade against seven-figure incomes, Crain’s conducted a highly unscientific survey of the typical expenses of a Manhattan banking Brahmin to see how far $500,000 would take him or her. While half a million won’t punt anyone to skid row, the results were not pretty.

Federal, state and city taxes cut that $500K nearly in half. The remainder is all but gone before groceries touch the granite countertop in the Park Avenue apartment or back-to-school clothes arrive for the two kids attending Brearley and Harvard. Never mind medical bills, holiday presents or the therapy sessions needed to adjust to the new regime.

"No doubt: If you were the guy who was making $20 million, and starting a month from now you’ll only be making $500,000 for the rest of the year, that is a huge, huge adjustment," says Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

It’s an adjustment some top brass may be unwilling to make. Within a day of the president’s announcement, Goldman Sachs announced intentions to opt out of the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program and repay its $10 billion federal loan in short order. The salary caps are not retroactive, but Goldman nonetheless cited a desire to limit government "scrutiny and pressure."

Plenty of other executives may have reason to be wary. "If the person has no capital to withstand this financial ‘limitation,’ then he’s in deep trouble," says Neil Berkow, a CPA whose New York area practice mostly serves high-net-worth individuals. "He’s going to have to move out, sell things, especially someone who works in the $1 million range. He’s using that money just to live."

Some may wonder what part of their lives must change. Will the weekend home in Connecticut get the ax? (Good luck dumping it in today’s market.) Perhaps the membership at the Westchester Country Club? A recent survey of the Metropolitan Golf Association’s 200 clubs showed that 75% of respondents expect a big spike in leave-of-absence requests from members this year. Birdies and eagles won’t be the only endangered species in New York.

LIFE ON A FERRAGAMO SHOESTRING BUDGET

INCOME: $500,000

TAXES: $201,070
You’re the top—tax bracket, that is. Washington, Albany and City Hall together
gobble up about 40% of your paycheck.

REMAINING: $298,930

HOUSING: $75,000
Figure $4,000 a month maintenance fees for the Park Avenue co-op and $15,000 a year in property taxes for the second home. Garage: $12,000.

REMAINING: $223,930

CHILDREN: $106,275
Includes tuition at Brearley ($33,025) and a year at Harvard ($52,650). Music lessons, sports teams and tutors quickly add up to another $8,000.

REMAINING: $117,655

CHARITIES: $25,000
Civic involvement is typically part of a top executive’s job description. A common charitable benchmark is 5% of your gross income.

REMAINING: $92,655

SOCIAL: $33,000
Harvard Club dues are $2,000 a year per couple, and Westchester County golf clubs typically charge $16,000; food and entertaining tabs are another $15,000.

REMAINING: $59,655

VACATIONS: $36,000
Three weeks at $12K a week for a family of four.

REMAINING: $23,655

FOOD: $15,000
Groceries for four ($10,000 a year), plus meals out (fancy and kidfriendly) two to three times a week.

REMAINING AMOUNT: $8,655

CLOTHING: $16,700
Total includes two new men’s suits per year at $3,000 a pop.

FINAL: $-8,045

Figures are rounded and assume that tax deductions have offset any investment income.

Sources: NYS Dept. of Tax and Finance, school Web sites, Manhattan Institute, National Retail Federation, U.S. Census Bureau, Zagat, Metropolitan Golf Association

from Crains New York

What makes this video amazing is that not only does it address what was once a taboo subject at NASA (embracing innovation) but in a bold step towards transparency NASA is making this video public and putting it on YouTube for the entire world to see. I applaud this as the agency has been facing criticism of being too bureaucratic, and this video shows the right stuff to having the correct mindset to change.

The video was produced by astronaut Andrew Thomas for an agency retreat last month and it follows an engineer who gets hit at every turn when trying to suggest something better. The script is based on existing accounts from NASA employees and contractors, and in some cases events that Thomas witnessed himself. Speaking for myself I hope NASA does more of this — it would help build political support for the organization when it needs it the most.

Found via Space.com. via fanboy.com

"You hereby grant Facebook an irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense) to (a) use, copy, publish, stream, store, retain, publicly perform or display, transmit, scan, reformat, modify, edit, frame, translate, excerpt, adapt, create derivative works and distribute (through multiple tiers), any User Content you (i) Post on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof subject only to your privacy settings or (ii) enable a user to Post, including by offering a Share Link on your website and (b) to use your name, likeness and image for any purpose, including commercial or advertising, each of (a) and (b) on or in connection with the Facebook Service or the promotion thereof."

W00t! check it out here