B&W + 2 ...

Game on ...

Channeling Saturn

D Lion et al

Gradient

Harbor Stage Theatre

Peony + 1

Queen Anne's Lace 

A merger of a different kind ...

This simulation shows how a black hole merger would appear to our eyes if we could somehow travel in a spaceship for a closer look. It was created by solving equations from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity using LIGO data from the event called GW150914. Credit: SXS, the Simulating eXtreme Spacetimes (SXS) project

Seems Einstein was right yet again as a merger of a different kind, i.e. two black holes combining into one, generates a chirp when the two becomes one.

To whit.

If Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity holds true, then a black hole, born from the cosmically quaking collisions of two massive black holes, should itself "ring" in the aftermath, producing gravitational waves much like a struck bell reverbates sound waves. Einstein predicted that the particular pitch and decay of these gravitational waves should be a direct signature of the newly formed black hole's mass and spin.

Now, physicists from MIT and elsewhere have "heard" the ringing of an infant black hole for the first time, and found that the pattern of this ringing does, in fact, predict the black hole's mass and spin—more evidence that Einstein was right all along.

Tilts & Spins

A quick video show spin rates and tilts of our beloved planet that should include Pluto
but does not, for now. :)

Certain death ...

Outside of Earth, certain death awaits when visiting other denizens of our solar system.

To whit.

If Elon Musk has his way, we'll soon be living it up on Mars. But until then, we're all stuck here on Earth. Trust us: You don't want to venture into other parts of the solar system before we have every single safety precaution in place. Neil deGrasse Tyson explained why to Business Insider. In short, being basically anywhere in space without a spacesuit would be catastrophic. (Heck, even being in space in a spacesuit will do you some harm.) There's nowhere besides Earth where you could survive any longer than two minutes.

Enticing is it not?

Frequency of ...

Frequency of ... courtesy XKCD. Note, the real deal blinks according to, you guessed it, the frequency of occurrence of said event. :)

Happiness is ...

On Rottnest Island, off the coast of western Australia, a peculiar marsupial has captivated the hearts of Instagram users worldwide—and supported a booming tourism economy. The quokka, a close cousin of the kangaroo, rocketed to internet fame when tourists began taking selfies with the animal, which is unafraid of humans and appears to smile for pictures.

“They are like living teddy bears,” filmmaker David Freid, who made a short documentary about the mammals and the attendant social-media sensation, told The Atlantic. “When you see one, it's a bonafide heart-melter.”

Yes, happiness is ... :)

The underground market ...

A cubic inch of soil contains about 7 billion fungal lifeforms and 1 billion bacteria. The complex interactions of these entities, in conjunction with their plant partners, is akin to a cutthroat marketplace where ruthless supply and demand dictate how zealously guarded resources are to be used by the parties in question is readily seen by the video above and the text below. Enjoy.

Kiers surrounded some nodules on soybean plants with an almost nitrogen-free air supply, making the bacteria in those nodules useless to the plant. She found that the plant reacted by shutting off the supply of oxygen to those bacteria, drastically reducing their reproduction. It seemed the relationship between the bacteria and the soybeans, far from being a happy friendship, was an uneasy détente, with the plant imposing crippling sanctions on any bacterial partners that failed to earn their keep. 

Kiers then switched from bacteria to fungi. While bacteria might nestle into the roots of select groups of plants, fungi are without question the masters of the underground domain. Certain fungi spread through vast areas and commingle with just about every plant they encounter, even sending thready tendrils known as hyphae directly into plants’ roots. (The name for these fungi — “mycorrhizae” — literally fuses the Latin myco-, meaning “of fungi,” with the Greek rhiza, or “root.”) Indeed, the mycorrhizal world forms a sort of inversion of the vegetable one, with branching fungal networks extending downward, mirroring the branching stems and limbs of the plants reaching skyward.

Factoids ...

But what really distinguishes the fungal world is its diversity and complexity. A spoonful of soil contains more microbial individuals than there are humans on Earth. “It’s the most species-dense habitat we have,” said Edith Hammer, a soil ecologist at Lund University in Sweden. A single plant might be swapping molecules with dozens of fungi — each of which might in turn be canoodling with an equal number of plants. It’s a promiscuous party down there.

By growing carrot roots and fungi in segmented petri dishes that held unequally distributed nutrient resources, Kiers and her colleagues demonstrated that the organisms favor symbiotic partners that have more to offer in nutrient exchanges.

The underground market ... indeed.

300+

If you have beaucoup bucks and are really competent, you too can do this as the Bugatti Chiron is a street-legal car of a different kind.

Ever since the Bugatti Chiron was launched, with a 261-mph speed limiter, we've been desperate to know what it could manage if let off the leash. Now Bugatti has done that at the vast Ehra-Lessien test track in Germany; the car smashed both the production-car record and the 300-mph barrier.

Factory test driver Andy Wallace, who previously set production-car records in both the Jaguar XJ220 and the McLaren F1, drove a slightly modified Chiron to a time, certified by the German TÜV organization, of 304.773 mph.

300+ indeed.

Unicron ... lives!! :)

Unicron, the Transformer of transformers is alive and well as seen by this clip changing his evil eminence from sphere to character. Enjoy. :)

Introducing the first ever Transformers HASLAB project: Transformers War For Cybertron Unicron.

The Lord of Chaos. The Planet Eater. The Chaos Bringer. Unicron stands alone as the most menacing figure in Transformers lore, capable of devouring entire worlds and civilizations. He debuted in the 1986 film Transformers: The Movie and his insatiable appetite nearly brought the entire universe to its knees.

But his legacy transcends both space and time.

“I have summoned you here for a purpose.” - Unicron

Transformers fans may be mere humans, inhabiting a miniscule planet hardly worth consuming, but they are some of the most passionate fans out there. That’s why HASLAB, the Hasbro Pulse crowdsourcing platform, is the place to awaken such a massive project.

“Then it pleases me to be the first.” - Unicron

My son and I enjoy the original, especially when finding out it was Orsen Well's last professional act as the voice of Unicron. :)

Seems the 2020 version will be somewhat different as seen by this clip.

Methinks my son and I will check this out for old times sake. :)

Beyond pitch-black

Carbon nanotubes rule as they are virtually indestructible, possessing unique characteristics that promise to change how man does business on planet earth. When placed vertically on a substrate, said nanotubes create the ultimate black, reflecting just a tiny bit of light, thus resulting in a visual look akin to a black hole, an effect readily seen by the BMW above and a telescope assembly shown below, ready to be equipped with lenses as needs warrant, both of which are coated with Vantablack, the first commercially available carbon nanotube-based material being used for any application requiring the kind of absolute blackness that only this tech can provide.

Vantablack, first announced in 2014, is a rare real-life special effect, a coating so black that it sucks in almost every photon that hits it. It makes any three-dimensional object basically look like a hole has been cut in the universe. Painted in this array of infintessimally small carbon nanotubes, everything loses its appearance of shape, because there's no light or shade to define it. It's incredibly unnerving to look at, and since the moment it was first announced, people have been saying "for the love of all that's holy, put this stuff on a car, it would be the sickest thing in history."

Beyond pitch-black indeed.

Rotating single-walled zigzag carbon nanotube

Here's a video showing the origin and properties of this unique material.

Happy accident indeed.