(no subject)

Glory is one of those movies I can watch again and again.

What's one of your "timeless" movies?

(no subject)

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything about the polygamist sect in Texas. That's because I'm waiting for actual facts to come out instead of innuendo.

If nothing else, though, the whole thing has highlighted a loophole in Texas' sex laws: "Under Texas law, children under the age of 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult. A girl can get married with parental permission at 16[.]"

Edit: And now three children have been taken from a New Mexican church, although the state won't give the reasons why.

(no subject)

16-pound tumor removed from girl's face -- That poor girl. She does not look fifteen.

More limb amputations among Chicago blacks: Minorities were 5 times more likely to lose a limb than whites, study says

N.Y. bans anal electrocution of animals for fur -- Yes, the article title says what you think it says.

University dean resigns in degree scandal: Flap over West Virginia governor's daughter did in provost on Sunday

seen in physics

Superkick: Black hole expelled from its parent galaxy

When two black holes merge, waves of gravitational radiation ripple outward through the galaxy at the speed of light. Because the waves are emitted mainly in one direction, the black hole itself is pushed in the opposite direction, much like the recoil that accompanies the firing of a rifle or the launching of a rocket. The black hole is booted from its normal location in the nucleus of the galaxy. If the kick velocity is high enough, the black hole can escape the galaxy completely.

[...] The new discovery is also important because it indirectly proves that black holes do in fact merge and that the mergers are sometimes accompanied by large kicks. This process had been postulated by theory, but never before confirmed via direct observation. Another implication of the discovery is that there must be galaxies without black holes in their nuclei - as well as black holes which float forever in space between the galaxies. This raises new questions for the scientists: Did galaxies and black holes form and evolve jointly in the early Universe? Or was there a population of galaxies which had been deprived of their central black holes? And if so, how was the evolution of these galaxies different from that of galaxies that retained their black holes?

(no subject)

Australian scientists develop apple that doesn't go brown -- and it's not genetically altered

Inspector General: Conflict of interest on NASA review board -- "A board set up to review construction of the spaceship to return astronauts to the moon is loaded with employees of the very contractors they are supposed to scrutinize, breaking federal law, a government watchdog says."