559246
submission
CaptainCarrot writes:
Defined in a very broad sense, that is. Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer has summarized for his readers the new results released by NASA from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which has been surveying the 3K microwave radiation left over from the Big Bang. Some of the most interesting results: - The age of the universe is now known to unprecedented accuracy: 13.73 billion years old, +/- 120 million.
- Spacetime is flat to within a 2% error margin
- Ordinary matter and energy account for only 4.62% of the universe's total energy.
Plait's comment on the age result: "Some people might say it doesn't look a day over 6000 years. They're wrong."
156001
submission
CaptainCarrot writes:
Writer/IT contractor Matt Boyd, formerly the man who made up the words for webcomic Mac Hall and who now does the same for his and Ian McConville's new comic Three Panel Soul, was recently fired from his government job. His conversation with a co-worker about a gun he intended to buy for target shooting was overheard by someone in a nearby cubicle. As it was unfortunately the day of the Virginia Tech shootings, the eavesdropper panicked and reported him to management.
That was bad enough. But when he used the comic to document the meeting where the reason for his firing was explained, he was visited by representatives of local law enforcement investigating him on suspicion of making a "terroristic threat" using the Internet. No charges have been filed. Yet.
Matt's interview at FLEEN about the incident is online.
