SCIENCE: Over 5,000 planets including 'super-Earths,' NASA says

 As a scientist who also enjoys astrophysics news, you should know that NASA has already cataloged over 5, 000 exoplanets (planets in other solar systems). Here's the story:

What lies beyond our solar system? Over 5,000 planets including 'super-Earths,' NASA says

USA Today, March 2022 

The universe is officially crowded with plenty of strange, new worlds to explore.

Scientists have now found more than 5,000 planets existing beyond our solar system, NASA has announced.

The Kepler Space Telescope, launched in 2009 and retired in 2018, led to the discovery of more than 2,600 planets. As space telescopes become more advanced, scientists will find more planets – and learn more about those already discovered.

“It’s not just a number,” said Jessie Christiansen, a research scientist with the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech in Pasadena, in the announcement of the milestone on Monday. “Each one of them is a new world, a brand-new planet. I get excited about every one because we don’t know anything about them.”

Since the first exoplanet – the term for a planet found outside our solar system – was discovered in 1995, scientists have found a variety of planets including "small, rocky worlds like Earth, gas giants many times larger than Jupiter, and 'hot Jupiters' in scorchingly close orbits around their stars," NASA said in its announcement of the milestone on Monday.

Also found: “super-Earths,” similar to but bigger than our planet, and even the planet Kepler-16b, which is similar to Tatooine, the home of Luke Skywalker in the "Star Wars" films, in that it orbits two stars.

VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qDg5uHk-4c

"When I started research, there were no known #exoplanets... I feel like I've had a front row seat to this new field being born and then also becoming part of it," said Natalie Batalha, an astrophysicist at NASA Ames Research Center near Mountain View, California, in a NASA interview posted on Twitter and YouTube.

Among other interesting finds, scientists using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile discovered an exoplanet – called either b Centauri (AB)b or b Centauri b – 10 times as massive as Jupiter orbiting a pair of stars in another solar system 325 light-years from Earth.

Back in 2020, NASA also found an Earth-like planet among the exoplanets discovered using observations from the Kepler Space Telescope.

“I get a real feeling of satisfaction, and really of awe at what’s out there,” said astronomer William Borucki, who came up with the idea for the Kepler Space Telescope, in a statement. “None of us expected this enormous variety of planetary systems and stars. It’s just amazing."

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New space missions including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which NASA expects to launch no later than 2027, has been designed to find new exoplanets, and The European Space Agency's Ariel Space Mission, scheduled to launch in 2029, will study exoplanet atmospheres and carries a NASA instrument to investigate exoplanet atmospheres.

Meanwhile, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), launched in 2018, is continuing NASA's hunt for new planets and the James Webb Space Telescope, launched in December 2021, will help tell whether some planets are habitable.

With this continued exploration, it is likely scientists will discover signs of life on other planets eventually, said Alexander Wolszczan, who was the lead author on the paper 30 years ago describing the first exoplanets, in a statement as part of NASA's announcement.

“To my thinking, it is inevitable that we’ll find some kind of life somewhere – most likely of some primitive kind,” he said.

Our Review: The Batman (2022), Starring Robert Pattinson

We finally got a chance to watch the new Batman movie (2022). As a huge Batman for about 40 years, I enjoyed it, but it was way too long. There are a lot of great things about it though. Here's my take on it.

THE ACTORS/CHARACTER PORTRAYALS- All were outstanding. Robert Pattinson as Batman/Bruce Wayne, and Zoe Kravitz as the Catwoman were fantastic. I didn't know what to expect, but they BOTH got their characters down perfectly, in relation to the comic books.  One surprise was Colin Farrell as the Penguin -I had no idea it was him! Paul Dano was the main villain, Riddler and played a good psychopath (they made him much more deadly than the comics do). Jeffrey Wright played a convincing Gotham City Police Commissioner Jim Gordon.

(Photo: HOT!  Robert Pattinson as Bruce Wayne/Batman in "The Batman." Warner Bros.)

MY TAKE ON THE FILM - Loved the fact that this film was one that finally depicted Batman as a great detective. In comics, he's also called "The World's Greatest Detective" - but that's never been evident in any Batman film until now. It was dark and gloomy like Gotham, and the characters were amazing. BUT, By the end of Hour #2, once the Riddler was taken care of, it should have ENDED THERE. We had to stop watching after that and pick it up another day, and frankly, the movie was great without the destruction of part of the city at the end. Why directors do that is maddening. Superhero films don't have to always result in the destruction of a city.  OVERALL- I give it a "B/B+" - but Tom thought less of it. 

MY FINAL THOUGHTS - If you watch it, turn it off after the Riddler is taken out of commission and you'll like it better. If that happened, I would have given it an "A." 

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FILM SUMMARY:  Batman ventures into Gotham City's underworld when a sadistic killer leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues. As the evidence begins to lead closer to home and the scale of the perpetrator's plans become clear, he must forge new relationships, unmask the culprit and bring justice to the abuse of power and corruption that has long plagued the metropolis.

Dogs, Mythology and Domestication

Here's a fascinating article from Science News about Dogs, Mythology and the domestication of dogs in history.

How mythology could help demystify dog domestication 

A family tree of myths supports the theory that dogs were first domesticated in Asia

Science News / Sept 8, 2022

“With mythology, we can have explanations of archaeology, we can have reasons for domestication, we can test hypotheses,” says Historian Julien d’Huy of the College of France in Paris.

d'Huy found three core storylines for the earliest myths related to dogs: The first links dogs with the afterlife, the second relates to the union of humans and dogs, and the third associates a dog with the star Sirius. Versions of these stories are found in many cultural regions around the world. He then borrowed statistical tools from biology to create family trees of myths, showing how the stories evolved as they followed humans from one region of the world to another.

Folktales about dogs stemmed from Central and Eastern Asia and spread to Europe, the Americas and later Australia and Africa, d’Huy reports in the June journal Anthropozoologica. This mythological travel route parallels a proposed path of dog domestication borne out by genetic and fossil evidence.  

“This was a surprise,” d’Huy says. He wasn’t sure if dogs and our mythology about them would migrate together.

“It is certainly arguable that dogs were first domesticated in Asia,” says Pat Shipman, a retired paleoanthropologist and author of Our Oldest Companions: The Story of the First Dogs. Using mythology is a clever way to peer into the past, she says, because it can provide insight into how ancient humans valued dogs.

DOGS AS AFTERLIFE GUIDES! 

The prevalence of ancient myths identifying dogs as guides to the afterlife hint that our ancestors initially domesticated wolves not for hunting partners, as commonly believed, but for spiritual and symbolic reasons, d’Huy argues. This hypothesis fits with certain archaeological finds, he says, such as a 14,000-year-old grave in Germany containing a couple and two dogs. The woman was found with her hand resting on one of the dogs’ heads.

D’Huy is applying these methods to study how ancient myths can inform what we know about our connection with other animals such as sheep — their mythological link with the sun could have led to domestication. Symbolic, rather than utilitarian, reasons for domestication could explain a lot of data, he says.

“Comparative mythology has something to say in the world of research,” he says. “Something very precious to say, I think.”

Fantastic Gay Sci-Fi Novel: Skeletons in the Closet by R.D. Noland

Recently I connected with paranormal/sci-fi author R.D. Noland on Instagram and learned about his two books in the "Tales of a Gay Witch" series. I ordered them and just finished first novel and thoroughly enjoyed it - It's called "Skeletons in the Closet" and it's about a teenager named Jason, who not only has to come as a gay man out to his mother and other relatives, but finds he has to also "come out" and ask about weird abilities he seems to be developing... 

   As I read the book, I could identify with Jason through his struggles with coming out (as I had my own). Jason is a very likable character that any gay man would relate to.  

Note: There are some graphic Male/male scenes in the book- so if you're squeamish... Anyway, I found the book a Wonderful read- and the characters, the plot, and the story all left me wanting a sequel to find out where Jason goes from here. Bottom line:  if you love the supernatural, fiction and gay-themed books. 5 of 5 Stars 

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OVERVIEW: So what's a young gay boy from suburbs of Dayton, Ohio to do, when he comes out to his family, only to finds out his family has been keeping their own secrets. Jason Wynwood just turned 18 finding out he is in a long bloodline of witches. As Jason searches for love, he falls for a mysterious black haired gentleman named Damien. Jason is thrown into a dangerous world of magic with witches, vampires and werewolves, and a glittery nightlife sexual pleasures. He also discovers Young gay men have been turning up dead at rest stops all over surrounding areas. Police suspect that it's the work of a serial killer. But when a friend ends up dead it becomes personal. Can Jason find the killer before anyone else turns up dead?

Northern Ireland: Belfast: The hidden castles under the city's shops

It's amazing how much history continues to be uncovered in the United Kingdom. Recently, this discovery in Northern Ireland highlighted hidden castles. Here's the story from the BBC.

Image: A castle built under the command of Sir Arthur Chichester in the early 1600s was destroyed by fire a century later

But in one block, under the feet of shoppers, there is a story which dates back several hundred years.

Castle Lane, Castle Arcade, Castle Place and Castle Buildings.

Each pays tribute to the site of not one, but three Belfast castles, and archaeologists believe their foundations and artefacts could still lie below the surface.

Part of the area is the former British Homes Stores (BHS) site, which is now to be converted into a complex of leisure and retail units.  It will be called The Keep, a nod by developers to a past which was first referenced in 1262.

'Strategic base' - Then it was an Anglo-Norman castle, believed to consist of an earthen mound, similar to mottes that remain visible in townlands such as Dundonald.

It was a "critical part of the medieval Norman settlement of Belfast", striding the Farset River, which we now know as High Street, archaeologist Ruairí Ó Baoill told BBC News NI. However, the site was destroyed in the 1300s, as power shifted to the Gaelic lords in Ireland, such as the Clandeboye O'Neills.

The O'Neills in turn built a new castle, a "strategic base", Mr Ó Baoill explained.

"We know there was a castle there because there are references to it being attacked in the 1400s and the 1500s in both Irish and English histories and it's actually shown in two maps," he said.

Medieval burials have also been documented in Cornmarket, an area which is now home to shops, cafes and buskers.

According to Queen's University academic Dr Colm Donnelly, the O'Neill castle would have looked like a tower house, "a small building, maybe four storeys high", with rooms stacked on top of one another, connected by a spiral staircase.

Similar stone towers from this period have survived, such as Audley's Castle and Kilclief Castle, close to Strangford. "They were abandoned by and large in the 17th century, but they survive in the Irish landscape," Dr Donnelly said.

The Clandeboye O'Neill building is believed to have resembled tower houses such as the 15th century Kilclief Castle, near Strangford.

"They're really well constructed, but they're not immune from the forces of nature, such as frost getting into the walls." This second Belfast castle was also replaced, but not entirely.

"At the end of the 16th century the Gaelic lords went into revolt and they were defeated by the forces of Queen Elizabeth I, one of whom was Arthur Chichester," Mr Ó Baoill said. "He was given land all over the place, including the town of Belfast."

The Chichester castle features prominently to the top right of Thomas Phillips' map of Belfast in 1685.

 A report by the plantation commissioners in 1611 gives an account of shops being built in the new Chichester town, with 120,000 bricks being used by masons. Among the writings is a reference to the old "decayed" castle, the O'Neill building, part of which was retained and linked to the new Chichester castle via a staircase.

The third castle survived for a century, but burnt down in 1708, killing four people, including three sisters of the 4th Earl of Donegall.

The Plantation of Ulster explained It can be seen in a map of Belfast in 1685, however, along with the city's walls, which were ground-made ramparts that partly enclosed the town. "It was smack in the centre of Belfast, around Cornmarket and Castle Arcade," Mr Ó Baoill said. "Underground are the remains of at least two castles side by side, and possibly the Anglo-Norman one as well, but it's really frustrating because you can't see them." 

 More: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-62167256 

Idiot of the week: Dunkin’ worker takes customers’ ‘pay it forward’ money — and keeps it as a tip

This week's idiot is a teenage employee of Dunkin Donuts who has pocketed (read: Stolen) money given to him to pay for orders for people behind a patron at the drive through. Then this idiot thief posted it on TikTok.

 

Dunkin’ worker takes customers’ ‘pay it forward’ money — and keeps it as a tip

NY POST August 1, 2022

A Dunkin’ worker has sparked a heated debate after claiming he pockets customers’ well-intentioned “pay it forward” money as a tip.

TikTok user Sahmir shared a seven-second clip of himself working behind the Dunkin’ counter, writing, “me after a customer tried to pay for the person behind them in drive thru but I took the money as a tip.”

He captioned the clip — which has been viewed 767,000 times — “I wish I was joking,” prompting a wave of various responses.

Some slammed the TikToker for taking the money, labeling it “unethical” as it was intended for someone else, with others agreeing that workers should be making more money.

“Did this once and they came back [’cause] they were together,” one person wrote of their unsuccessful attempt.

“WAIT I NEVER THOUGHT OF THIS,” another mused.

“Nah fr why they paying the other car behind them when I’m the one making drinks,” pointed out another worker.

Some users issued a word of warning for anyone thinking of doing it.

“Sometime they are together and they are paying for their friend/family behind them. never know,” someone pointed out.

Others were horrified by the TikToker’s confession.

“Yet another reason not to go to Dunkin’,” someone wrote.

“My grandma found out they was doing this and got the whole place fired,” commented one user.

The Post has reached out to Dunkin’ for comment.

“Paying it forward” in restaurants is when a customer gives the cashier money to cover the cost of the next person in line. Although the idea is thoughtful, workers in the past have come forward to say it can be difficult to keep track of orders and payments.

Heroes of the Week: The People of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts

The people of the island of Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts came together and treated refugee migrants with respect, care and compassion when they were flown out of Florida and dumped into the democratic state.  The residents of Martha's Vineyard are this week's heroes.   

    Two weeks ago, when that vile Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to commit the crime of human trafficking and ship people to a Democratic state to get them out of the Republican-held state of Florida. Texas' Republican governor Greg Abbott did the same thing by shipping migrant refugees here to Washington, DC and to the Vice President's house - How VILE, how inhuman. At least the people who DO live in Democratic states have respect for people and care for them. Let that sink in. Here's the story of the heroes of the week.  

(Photo: The migrants gather outside the church on Wednesday, the day they arrived on Martha's Vineyard. Juan Ramirez said he and the other migrants "came upon kindhearted people who have supported us with everything we need." Ray Weing/Vineyard Gazette) 

‘They enriched us.’ Migrants’ 44-hour visit leaves an indelible mark on Martha’s Vineyard

  CNN Sept 18, 2022

After sharing hugs and teary goodbyes with roughly 50 migrants who had arrived unexpectedly by plane on this affluent vacation island, the volunteers who sheltered them at an Episcopal church carried out tables and chairs, packed food onto trucks and folded portable cots.

A familiar quiet had descended by Friday afternoon on the tree-lined downtown block on Martha’s Vineyard, where Jackie Stallings, 56, could not stop thinking about a young Venezuelan – she was 23 but looked 15 – who sat with her in the St. Andrew’s Parish House the night before.

The asylum seeker showed Stallings cell phone video taken during the journey across a remote Central American jungle, pointing out migrants who died along the way.

“It was like she was showing me cat videos but it was actually their journey and what they endured to get here,” said Stallings, a member of the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services nonprofit. “There were bodies and moms with babies trying to get through mud that was like clay.”

“The heartbreaking part is seeing these beautiful young ladies become desensitized,” said her husband, Larkin Stallings, 66, an Oak Bluffs bar owner who sits on the nonprofit’s board. “For them, they just flip and show you a picture.”

“She was like, look, this one died, part of their original party. And he died and this one died. The mud is like to up to here to them,” she said Friday in the shade of the parish house porch, pointing to her thigh. “And you see them, they literally have to lift their legs out the mud. They die because they get stuck.”

During their whirlwind 44-hour visit this week, migrants like the young Venezuelan woman left an indelible mark on their accidental hosts in this isolated enclave known as a summer playground for former US presidents, celebrities and billionaires.

They were flown from Texas on Florida’s dime 

The guests, including young children, boarded buses Friday morning around the corner from St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church.

Days of uncertainty on the small island off the coast of Massachusetts and a massive effort by locals to provide for them ended with a new odyssey – a ferry ride and then another bus caravan to temporary housing at Joint Base Cape Cod.

Texas Flew Them to Florida, who Flew & Dumped Them in Massachusetts 

The asylum seekers – most of them from Venezuela – had been flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday under arrangements made by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – part of a series of moves by Republican governors to transport migrants to liberal cities to protest what they describe as the failure of the federal government to secure the southern border.

Martha’s Vineyard had not been expecting them but a small army of activists mobilized to help people who had become pawns in the contentious debate over America’s broken immigration system.

DeSantis’ move was sharply denounced by the White House, Democratic officials and immigration lawyers who vowed legal action on grounds, they said, the migrants were lured north with promises of work, housing and help with immigration papers and ultimately misled about their final destination.

Florida’s governor denied the migrants did not know where they were going. He said they had signed a waiver and had been provided with a packet that included a map of Martha’s Vineyard. “It’s obvious that’s where they were going,” he said, adding that the move was voluntary.

Lisa Belcastro, winter shelter coordinator for the Harbor Homes nonprofit, was close to tears about an hour after the migrants left the island on Friday, with volunteers beginning to clean up the parish house and church hall where the newcomers slept. “I want them to have a good life,” she said. “I want the journey they experienced and the hardships they experienced to have been worth it for them and their families. I want them to come to America and be embraced. They all want to work. And I just I want their journey to have a happy ending.” 

 FULL STORY:  https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/17/us/marthas-vineyard-migrants-journey-desantis/index.html

An Inside Look at Where Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest

 Back in 2012, we visited Windsor Castle and St. George's Chapel that is on the palace grounds. I remember seeing a large rectangular tile on the floor marking Henry VIII's body resting in a vault under the Quire in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle near his third wife, Jane Seymour. In today's blog (thanks to Tom, resident England amateur historian), you'll see the vault where Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and others are buried in that church.

(Photo: Tom in front of St. George's Chapel in 2012) 

ABOUT ST. GEORGE'S CHAPEL: St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar and the Chapel of the Order of the Garter. St George's Chapel was founded in the 14th century by King Edward III and extensively enlarged in the late 15th century.  

 (Photo: St. George's Chapel - we took this picture in 2012 when we visited) 

WHO IS BURIED IN ST. GEORGE'S? There are too many people to name, all buried in various locations within the church including King Edward IV & VII, Henry VIII, George V & VI, Charles I, George III and more.. For a full list and their locations, visit: https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georges/royal-connection/royal-burials/royal-burials-chapel-location/

WHERE IS QUEEN ELIZABETH GOING?  The queen’s and Prince Philip’s remains, when lowered into the floor below the quire, will be stored here in the crypt of St George’s Chapel.

 

       

 

Eventually their remains will be moved to the small George VI Memorial Chapel, located on the north side of the church.  The chapel was commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in 1962 as a burial place for her father, King George VI. It holds the final resting places of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the ashes of Princess Margaret. It was designed by George Pace. Construction of the chapel was completed in 1969.

 

           

Constructed between the buttresses of the original church, the chapel is located here: