Science is Cool: Big Bang Gets a Boost!

I'm not going to pretend I truly "get" all of this. I'm a science fan, not a scientist after all. But it sounds really cool. Sure to tick of a few of the usual suspects though, don't you think?

[Excerpt]

Space Ripples Reveal Big Bang’s Smoking Gun
 
One night late in 1979, an itinerant young physicist named Alan Guth, with a new son and a year’s appointment at Stanford, stayed up late with his notebook and equations, venturing far beyond the world of known physics. He was trying to understand why there was no trace of some exotic particles that should have been created in the Big Bang. Instead he discovered what might have made the universe bang to begin with. A potential hitch in the presumed course of cosmic evolution could have infused space itself with a special energy that exerted a repulsive force, causing the universe to swell faster than the speed of light for a prodigiously violent instant. . .

Read more at: New York Times

Jim Parsons if The Big Bang Theory Officially Has The Gay!

Jim Parsons, from HuffPo

And now, we know what Sheldon's "deal" is. And while many of us with functional gaydar already knew this (and were secretly wishing it were Johnny Galecki), it's always nice to have it confirmed. Jim Parsons has very likely been open about it behind the scenes, and it is a shame that gay celebrities have this dual coming out business. But now--unlike the rest of us, whenever we move or get new jobs--he never has to do it again! There will be militants who will harumph and say, "sure, now that The Big Bang Theory is going into year six, he had nothing to lose." To which I say, exactly. And so what? Everybody hopes to have ideal circumstances when they come out. Don't begrudge the man. Support him!

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Jim Parsons Comes Out As Gay: 'Big Bang Theory' Star's Sexuality Officially Revealed In New York Times

Actor Jim Parsons has revealed he is gay and in a committed relationship in a new interview. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post 

And here's Penny's question about Sheldon's "deal". . .

What's Wrong With Tennessee? Creationism In Schools Allowed

Pssst. . .creationists: Darwin didn't claim to know the origin of
the universe! Image from source.

Insanity. I don't care how fervently you believe that God created the universe, the idea doesn't belong in science class. As hard as they've tried to separate "creationism" from "intelligent design," there is no difference, other than taking the "Christianity" brand off of it. It's still taking the idea of an all-powerful magical being, and inserting it into science class. There isn't a scintilla of science in that. Not to mention that evolution makes no claim to the origins of the universe.

I know that I'll never convince a true believer that there is no God. But there is no denying that positing a "creator" into evolution or the big bang just makes the whole thing more complicated, not less. If you disbelieve the idea of the universe having always existed in one form or another, how is it so easy to believe that an omnipotent, invisible, intangible, omnipresent, omniscient, all-loving, vengeful, jealous God has always existed? You've just inserted a doozy of a claim into the story! And we won't even get into how this mega-creature, creator of the vastness of all that is, cares what we individual humans on this little speck called Earth, do with our private parts.

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TN science bill protects teachers who allow debate over evolution

Senators voted 24-8 to pass a bill that says schoolteachers cannot be punished for "helping students to understand, analyze, critique and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories" taught in public schools. . .


Read more at: WBIR.com