New ‘Last Supper’
Theory Crashes Web Sites
Amateur scholar claims
Leonardo painting reveals mysterious figures
Associated Press
MILAN, Italy - A new theory that
Leonardo’s “Last Supper” might hide within it a depiction of
Christ blessing the bread and wine has triggered so much
interest that Web sites connected to the picture have crashed.
The famous fresco is already
the focus of mythical speculation after author Dan Brown based
his “The
Da Vinci Code” book around the
painting, arguing in the novel that Jesus married his follower,
Mary Magdelene, and fathered a child.
Now Slavisa Pesci, an information
technologist and amateur scholar, says superimposing the “Last
Supper” with its mirror-image throws up another picture
containing a figure who looks like a Templar knight and another
holding a small baby...
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What Happened
Before the Big Bang?
by
Martin Bojowald, Penn State
"My paper introduces a new
mathematical model that we can use to derive new details about
the properties of a quantum state as it travels through the Big
Bounce, which replaces the classical idea of a Big Bang as the
beginning of our universe," said Martin Bojowald, assistant
professor of physics at Penn State. Bojowald's research also
suggests that, although it is possible to learn about many
properties of the earlier universe, we always will be uncertain
about some of these properties because his calculations reveal a
"cosmic forgetfulness" that results from the extreme quantum
forces during the Big Bounce.
The idea that
the universe erupted
with a Big Bang explosion has been a big barrier in scientific
attempts to understand the origin of our expanding universe,
although the Big Bang long has been considered by physicists to
be the best model.
As described by Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, the
origin of the Big Bang is a mathematically nonsensical state --
a "singularity" of zero volume that nevertheless contained
infinite density and infinitely large energy. Now, however,
Bojowald and other physicists at Penn State are exploring
territory unknown even to Einstein -- the time before the Big
Bang -- using a mathematical time machine called Loop Quantum
Gravity.
This theory, which combines Einstein's Theory of General
Relativity with equations of quantum physics that did not exist
in Einstein's day, is the first mathematical description to
systematically establish the existence of the Big Bounce and to
deduce properties of the earlier universe from which our own may
have sprung. For scientists, the Big Bounce opens a crack in the
barrier that was the Big Bang...
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Meditators Predict
Dow 17,000, Near U.S. Utopia
by Haley Edwards, Seattle Times
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks
had a tough week with the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffering
its worst one-week point drop in five years, but a group of
meditators promise their good vibrations will send the index
past 17,000 within a year.
A group called the Invincible America Assembly made that claim
and more on Friday, insisting they have America's prosperity
under control and their positive vibes will bring fewer
hurricanes and better U.S.-North Korean relations.
Through group transcendental meditation the assembly -- which
has 1,800 people meditating daily in Iowa since it was formed in
July 2006 -- releases harmonious waves which benefit all aspects
of U.S. life, spokesman Bob Roth told Reuters.
And the group's leader, John Hagelin, said when that number
reaches 2,500 within the next 12 months, America will see a
major drop in crime and the virtual elimination of all major
social and political woes...
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Some Laser
Printers as Bad as Secondhand Smoke
by Warren McLaren,
Tree Hugger
Such were the findings from
research recently undertaking at the Queensland University of
Technology in Australia. The researchers went to a six-storey
office building in the states capital, Brisbane, planning to
test its ventilation system. In the process they tested the
buildings laser printers. About a third of the machines were
considered to be high emitters of ultra fine particles, with 2
medium, 4 low and 23 were non emitters. (see complete list of
models in the SF Chronicle article) The emissions they
discovered both in the office and later in lab tests reveal the
particles were fine enough to infiltrate the lungs, causing
damage equal to
inhaled cigarette smoke. The study found the problem of
indoor quality increased five-fold during work hours due to
printer use. Researchers determined that printers emitted more
particles when new toner cartridge were installed, and when
printing graphics and images, as they require greater quantities
of toner. Their suggestions for improved health: better
ventilation (and we assume that doesn’t mean re-circulated
‘conditioned’ air, chose non-emitting models of printers, place
them as far from peoples desks as possible, and lobby for
government regulated emission standards for laser printers.
Oddly photocopiers were found to be “not nearly as problematic
as the laser printers,” according to researcher, Professor Lidia
Morawska (pictured). Via
ABC Radio,
The Age and
San Francisco Chronicle (the latter also having a link to
the complete study).
Click here to:
Pope Calls
for Halt to Spread of Nuclear Weapons
by Reuters, ENN
CASTELGANDOLFO, Italy -- Pope
Benedict called for a halt to the spread of nuclear weapons on
Sunday, saying nuclear technology should only be used for
peaceful purposes.
Back from his mountain retreat in the Italian Dolomites, Pope
Benedict reminded the faithul that the International Atomic
Energy Agency was set up 50 years ago to the day to promote the
peaceful use of nuclear science.
"The epochal changes of the past 50 years show how, in the
difficult crossroads that humanity finds itself, the pledge to
encourage the non-profileration of nuclear arms is always more
real and urgent," he told a crowd gathered at his summer
residence outside Rome...
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here
for the rest of the story.
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