The Hypatia stone is not only out of this world, it's literally from outside our solar system. The stone was discovered in western Egypt by a geologist named Aly Barakat in 1996. Compounds including polyaromatic carbons, silicon carbides, and nickel phosphide believed to predate the solar system have been detected within the rock. The basic elements are the same as materials commonly found within our solar system, but the ratios are all wrong. For example, a chondritic meteorite is normally composed of a small amount of carbon and more silicon. In the Hypatia stone, the composition is mostly carbon with a very small amount of silicon. Most of the rock includes the opposite ratios of carbon to silicon than we would expect to find on Venus, Mars, Earth, or the asteroid belt, for that matter. The discovery calls into question the theory of how our solar system was formed. The existing theory calls for a nebula of material to collapse into the sun while the residual material formed the planets and asteroid belt. The unique features of the stone suggest that the solar nebula wasn't composed from a consistent form of dust, which causes some problems for the generally accepted view of the formation of our solar system. The Hypatia stone is a unique meteorite with compounds that scientists have never found anywhere else in the solar system. It is a once-in-a-lifetime sort of discovery, but one that asks as many questions as it answers. … [Read more...]
The empty bowl
Amazing Gracie took her final breath Wednesday morning at 5:22 a.m. I know because I was right there beside her until the bittersweet end, comforting and stroking her through the night. Gracie had suffered a heart attack around 10 p.m. I knew this because she suddenly dropped to the floor and couldn't get back up. Her muscles would no longer support her, so I carried her outside and held her up while she did her business, then brought her back in next to my chair and put her down on the most comfortable dog bed in the house. Gracie had always been a tough little girl, a dwarf of a Norwegian Elkhound among a pack of giant German Shepherds but she ruled supreme among them. I nicknamed her the "Chupacabra" because of her fearless nature, because she would boss around our much bigger dogs. Gracie was an inspiration in more ways than one, and the subject of multiple short stories for Always a Next One. Even our Great Pyrenees gave Gracie a wide berth, barking at me until I gave him a protective escort into my office because Gracie lay by the door and prevented his entry. The big baby. When she tried to get up, I assumed that Gracie needed water and brought a small bowl to her, so she could drink while laying down. I knew it wouldn't be very long. We had reached the point where the only thing a vet could do would be to expedite her death, but Gracie wasn't suffering more than minor discomfort. I knew this because she wasn't whimpering, not even a little bit. If she'd been in any serious pain, we would not have been at home; we would have been at hte emergency vet … [Read more...]
On Being a Bulldog
Unfortunately, it seems that I must write the same article about once per year. The theme of the article never changes. It seems to have become my job to teach people how to act like a Georgia Bulldog. Alabama won the 2021 SEC Championship game, fair and square. The zebras weren't a factor this time. Unlike the National Championship game of 2017, we don't have any reason to complain about the officiating. Their players were better than our players, at least on that day. Our coaches didn't have our team prepared well enough, and the players didn't execute to the same standards as previous weeks. And yes, sports fans, we have standards. We have a couple of very easy admission questions if you want to join one of our fan clubs, and once you've passed that rather low bar, we have administrators who monitor our Bulldog groups and police content to the best of our ability. We have filters and we use them to weed the knuckleheads out as fast as we can find them. Like Sisyphus and his oversized boulder he continuously pushed uphill only to have it roll back to the bottom at the last moment, it seems that I am destined to perform this same task for eternity. However, Sisyphus was being punished for being a murderer and deceitful. I'm not sure what I've done to deserve my fate. I just write stuff like articles, essays, and books. Perhaps the reference to Sisyphus is too sophisticated for the particular Bulldog fan whom I seek to address. In my opinion, the average Bulldog fan isn't an average person, by and large. And I am not your average fan; I am an … [Read more...]
Stetson Bennett and Earl Morrall: a Comparison
In 1972 (before many of you were born), Miami Dolphins starting QB Bob Griese broke his leg while playing against the San Diego Chargers in the fifth game of the season. His backup Earl Morrall came off the bench and completed 8 of 10 passes, throwing for 2 touchdowns as well. Over the next ten weeks, Morrall proceeded to complete 83 of 150 passes for 1,360 yards and 11 touchdowns, continuing the Dolphins winning streak while Griese's leg healed. Morrall led the Dolphins to nine more regular season wins and victory in the AFC semi-final game before Griese returned for the AFC Championship and then the Super Bowl. Earl Morrall even looked old in 1965 Morrall had a reputation as a clutch player. Two years earlier, he had come off the bench in relief of injured Johnny Unitas and led the Colts to victory in Super Bowl V, but he wasn't a guy who was going to light up the scoreboard, even though he could throw the ball to Hall of Fame wide receiver Paul Warfield or tight end Jim Mandich, who averaged one touchdown for every fifth catch that season. Miami had an awesome running attack led by Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Eugene "Mercury" Morris. They just didn't need to throw the ball very often. Their defense became known as the "No-Name" defense, anchored by NFL Hall of Fame defensive lineman Bill Stanfill and Super Bowl MVP safety Jake Scott, both outstanding former Georgia Bulldogs. The No-Name defense earned its moniker from Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry because their high-powered offense received so much more publicity. In a fourteen game regular season, Miami … [Read more...]
Ring species
The PBS Evolution Library has an entry called Ring Species: Salamanders. The article discusses the breeding patterns of the Ensatina salamanders found on the Pacific coast and describes them as, "all descended from a common ancestral population. [of salamander]" The ring species of Ensatina salamanders is described as, "From one population to the next, in a circular pattern, these salamanders are still able to interbreed successfully. However, where the circle closes -- in the black zone on the map in Southern California -- the salamanders no longer interbreed successfully. The variation within a single species has produced differences as large as those between two separate species." To which I say, so what? There is a big difference between "don't" and "can't." One wonders if these different types of salamanders no longer interbreed by choice or if they became biologically incapable of mating. Why do they stop interbreeding? Do we know, or only think we know? Besides, whether they interbreed or not, these creatures all have the same salamander genome. We see the exact same behavior with dog breeding -- most people know that you can put together two (male and female) dogs of the same breed and you'll get purebred puppies, but if you put together two dogs of different breeds and allow them to mate, you'll get a mutt. Chihuahuas and Great Danes don't successfully mate very well due to physical limitations, and yet we still say we only have one species of canine. Yet with wild species, the slightest variation in kind can result in the declaration by … [Read more...]
