Now It's Obama Leading Joe Away When he Freezes

Last month, NASA announced development progress of the Pulsed Plasma Rocket, a new type of thruster that could help enable one of the coolest astronomy projects ever dreamt up.First proposed by Einstein (somewhat reluctantly), the idea is actually fairly simple, and based on a concept we use fairly frequently in astronomy these days known as "gravitational lensing". As implied by Einstein's general theory of relativity, giant objects in the universe bend space-time, altering the path of light. Astronomers use this handy feature of the universe to see light beyond stars and black holes, but we are limited by where these massive objects are placed. However, we do have a (relatively) nearby object that can produce this effect in our old, reliable Sun."The gravitational field of the sun acts as a spherical lens to magnify the intensity of radiation from a distant source along a semi-infinite focal line," Von Russel Eshleman, who first expounded on this idea, wrote in a 1979 paper. "A spacecraft anywhere on that line in principle could observe, eavesdrop, and communicate over interstellar distances, using equipment comparable in size and power with what is now used for interplanetary distances. If one neglects coronal effects, the maximum magnification factor for coherent radiation is inversely proportional to the wavelength, being 100 million at 1 millimeter."How gravitational lensing works.Image credit: NASA,ESA, and Goddard Space Flight Center/K. JacksonThis is a pretty cool concept, and one not entirely out of the realm of achievable space projects in the not-too-distant future. But a similar concept might be even more achievable, requiring us only to travel around 85 percent of the distance to the Moon, rather than the 550 astronomical units (AU) required by the Sun telescope idea (with one AU being the distance between the Earth and the Sun).This is the "terrascope", proposed by David Kipping, assistant professor of astronomy at Columbia University. In a 2019 paper, Kipping – known for his YouTube channel Cool Worlds – proposed that we could use refraction of light by the Earth's atmosphere to achieve a similar effect.Though you might not be aware of this refraction, you see evidence of it on a clear day. When the Sun has just dipped below the horizon, or just before it comes up in the morning, you can see it seemingly appear above the horizon due to the refraction of light."Imagine a distant star setting on the horizon. Light from that star enters the Earth's atmosphere and deflects by half a degree it skims the surface and makes its way back out of the atmosphere giving another half a degree of bend, so one degree in total," Kipping explains in a Cool Worlds video."Light from that same star will also shine upon the opposite hemisphere and the two rays will converge together at a distance given by the radius of the earth divided by one degree, so that's a distance just interior to the orbit of the moon. This is a focus point."Kipping continues: "If the ray were any closer to the Earth, it would strike the surface and thus be lost. If the ray were a bit higher in altitude, then it would bend a little bit less, since the atmosphere is thinner as altitude increases. So this means that not only do you get a focus for surface skimming rays, you will also get a focus at every point more distant than that too. In other words, you have a focal line."Place a telescope along this line, and you should be able to see a lot further than you could with regular telescopes, as you are essentially using a natural telescope the size of the planet.            To account for the effects of clouds, you could use light that passes higher up in the atmosphere, though this would require traveling further out than the Moon. Using such a system, Kipping suggests that it could be possible to achieve around 10-40,000 amplifications, equivalent to having a 150-meter (492-foot) space telescope, far larger than the 6.5-meter (21.3-foot) JWST mirror.Though a neat concept, and a great potential test run for using the Sun as a telescope, there are plenty of problems to overcome, such as airglow, thermal emission and scattering from Earth, and interference from the Sun's light. It could be possible that we can overcome these problems, but for now, it remains a fun idea, rather than an achievable project.The study is published in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

On June 20, 2024, the summer solstice will occur at its earliest point in 228 years – but this is just the start. Over the next 72 years, the annual event will get progressively earlier every four years. So what’s going on?The summer solstice tends to occur on June 21 every year. This is the point when the Earth’s north pole has its maximum tilt towards the Sun, which also leads to that day having the most hours of sunlight and the shortest night. This event is caused by the Earth’s axis, which is tilted to 23.5 degrees with respect to its orbit around the Sun. In contrast, as the Northern Hemisphere experiences its longest day, the Southern Hemisphere has its shortest day – its winter solstice. This year, however, something interesting is happening. The summer solstice will occur earlier than usual, on the 20 June at 8:50 pm UTC (4:50 pm EDT/1:50 pm PDT). This will be the earliest summer solstice since 1796. Or, to put it another way, the last time the solstice occurred this early was at a time when George Washington was president, and the French Revolution was still in full force. Essentially, the variation happens because of the Gregorian calendar and how we mark the transition of time. To be clear, the Gregorian calendar is pretty good, especially when compared to its predecessor, the Julian calendar. The Earth’s journey around the Sun each year is not exactly 365 days. Instead, it is more like 365.242189 days. To account for this, the Gregorian calendar spaces leap years to make the average year 365.2425 days long. In every normal year – non-leap year – we experience 365 days, which means that the solstices (and equinoxes) fall a little later each year than they did on the previous ones. Then, every four years, we have a leap year which is 366 days long – the extra day appearing on February 29. This means the dates of the solstices and the equinox are 18 hours, 11 minutes, and 14.87 seconds earlier in the year than the year before.      So far so good, but then there is another complication when it comes to how the Gregorian calendar accounts for leap years. To make it work, the system was set up so that every leap year is one that is divisible by four. But if the year ends in “00”, as in the turn-of-the-century year (1800, 1900, 2000), then it can only be a leap year if it is divisible by 400. The year 2000 was one such year. It was divisible by both 4 and 400, but 1900, 1800 and 1700 were not. By not including leap years for these centuries – which amounts to dropping three leap years every 400 years – we are able to correct for the actual speed of the planet hurtling through space. What this means is that every four years in a century that does not start with a leap year, we cumulatively count 365.25 days per year for four years and not 365.242189 days per year. This results in us keeping time “too fast” by around 45 minutes. As such, the summer solstice this year is about 45 minutes earlier than the one in 2020. It also means that this trend will continue through the century until 2096 when the solstice will occur at 06:32 am UTC on June 20. After this, the solstice will flip back to being later in the year as the cycle resets.[H/T: Big Think]

Analysis of data from 4,700 people recovering from a bout of COVID-19 has revealed more insights into who may be most at risk from lingering chronic illness. Referred to as long COVID, scientists are still not clear on exactly what causes the debilitating symptoms – with possibilities numbering into the hundreds – but this new study does shed more light on who may be affected.Long COVID describes a chronic condition that is present for at least three months after an infection with SARS-CoV-2. Symptoms may be progressive or may come in relapsing and remitting waves. Some people will recover after a period of time, while some have not seen their symptoms fully resolve since developing the condition in the early days of the pandemic in 2020. A huge amount of scientific effort has gone into understanding the causes of long COVID and the search for potential treatments that could make a difference, not just for these patients but potentially those with other post-viral syndromes as well. Many unknowns still remain, however, with some of the biggest questions surrounding who may be most at risk of developing long COVID. A new study, led by a team at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, may just have some answers.“Our study clearly establishes that long COVID posed a substantial personal and societal burden,” said lead author Professor Elizabeth C. Oelsner in a statement. “By identifying who was likely to have experienced a lengthy recovery, we have a better understanding of who should be involved in ongoing studies of how to lessen or prevent the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection.”The 4,700 people included in the study had agreed to be part of the Collaborative Cohort of Cohorts for COVID-19 Research, or C4R, which comprises a total of more than 50,000 individuals from across the US who are engaged in long-term research to help us understand as much as possible about the many facets of the COVID-19 pandemic.The participants were asked to report how long it took them to recover after they had caught COVID. For infections between 2020 and 2023, the median recovery time was found to be 20 days, with more than one in five adults experiencing symptoms for at least three months.Of those, women and people with preexisting cardiovascular disease were found to make up the greatest proportion. American Indian and Alaska Native participants also more frequently had severe initial infections and longer recovery times.Infection with an omicron lineage variant, typically associated with milder disease, was linked to a quicker recovery, as was being vaccinated against the virus. “Our study underscores the important role that vaccination against COVID has played, not just in reducing the severity of an infection but also in reducing the risk of long COVID,” said Oelsner. Other preexisting conditions that are typically associated with worse outcomes from COVID, such as diabetes and chronic lung disease, were found to be linked to longer recovery times, but this was no longer a statistically significant finding when sex, cardiovascular disease status, vaccination status, and variant exposure were accounted for. Interestingly, the study also found no significant link with mental health disorders. “Although studies have suggested that many patients with long COVID experience mental health challenges, we did not find that depressive symptoms prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection were a major risk factor for long COVID,” Oelsner explained.The main takeaway is that vaccination continues to be the best way of not only avoiding infection in the first place, but of limiting your risk of having a rougher ride with COVID. The current circulating variants are largely offshoots of omicron, which may also be cause for some optimism as these variants were associated with shorter recovery periods. Updated vaccines are currently in development to match the latest variants, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publishes detailed guidance about when people in different age groups and risk categories should consider their next booster. Vaccine availability varies in different countries, but your local health authority should be able to advise on whether you’re eligible to get a shot. The study is published in JAMA Network Open.

A group of physicists was able to produce a measurement of the Earth’s rotation employing photons – the particles of light – experiencing a peculiar quantum phenomenon called entanglement. This allows them to push the precision of the measurement up 1,000 times, and it could be used to explore questions of fundamental physics.You might be wondering why this had not been employed before. The answer is that quantum entanglement is a very delicate state. Two particles are entangled and they suddenly belong to a single state. No matter how far apart they are, interaction with one will affect the other – but the state can be disturbed and the particles go back all unconnected.A way to measure rotations using light is with an instrument called the Sagnac interferometer. Light is sent through a loop in opposite directions, and due to the rotation of the system, one side will get back to the beginning at different times. If the light in question is a pair of entangled photons going in opposite directions, something very peculiar happens. It is like sending the same light in both directions at the same time and the time delay between the two doubles.To take advantage of this property called, super-resolution, researchers at the University of Vienna sent entangled photons through a 2-kilometer (1.24-mile) long fiber optic organized in a loop. They were able to keep the noise of the system low and stable for several hours, allowing entangled photons to survive the journey through it.Such a device is made to actively measure rotation, and there is a source of rotation underneath our feet. The Earth. This device finally brings quantum mechanics to a level of sensitivity that was achieved only with standard non-entangled light before."That represents a significant milestone since, a century after the first observation of Earth's rotation with light, the entanglement of individual quanta of light has finally entered the same sensitivity regimes," co-author Haocun Yu, who worked on this experiment as a Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow, said in a statement.But actually, measuring the Earth’s rotation was not the goal of this device. The Sagnac interferometer is designed as a way to precisely measure the rotation of systems independently of the Earth’s spinning. For this reason, the team had to find a way to isolate the rotation that comes from being on a spinning planet.The Sagnac interferometer in the experiment. Two kilometers (1.24 miles) of optical fibers are coiled around a 1.4-meter sided square aluminum frame.Image credit: Raffaele Silvestri"The core of the matter lays in establishing a reference point for our measurement, where light remains unaffected by Earth's rotational effect. Given our inability to halt [Earth] from spinning, we devised a workaround: splitting the optical fiber into two equal-length coils and connecting them via an optical switch," lead author Raffaele Silvestri explained.This solution, which essentially boiled down to having a switch on the apparatus, allowed them to cancel out the rotational signal of the Earth. "We have basically tricked the light into thinking it's in a non-rotating universe," continued Silvestri.The breakthrough is the first step into a new way to measure rotation, and not just that; the researchers have great expectations for possible future applications."I believe our result and methodology will set the ground to further improvements in the rotation sensitivity of entanglement-based sensors. This could open the way for future experiments testing the behavior of quantum entanglement through the curves of spacetime," added senior author Philip Walther.The study is published in the journal Science Advances.

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer (R) slammed United States Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas for the ongoing and worsening burglary tourism crisis, according to a recent press release from Spitzer’s office.Southern California has been plagued with an uptick in burglary tourists exploiting the Electronic System for Travel Authorization System Visa Waiver Program to enter the United States without proper vetting. The waiver program allows foreign nationals from certain countries to enter the U.S. for up to 90 days at a time. Within 72 hours of submitting an application, the individuals are granted access.'Mayorkas’ inaction is resulting in Americans continuing to be terrorized by criminals.'To participate in the ESTA visa waiver, foreign countries are required to provide criminal background checks for their citizens. However, Chile, whose residents are eligible for the program, refuses to provide such information to the U.S. government, Spitzer noted. As a result, Chilean nationals, including some with criminal histories, are granted access to the U.S. without background checks.Spitzer’s Friday press release noted that 350,000 Chilean nationals entered the U.S. through the waiver program in 2022. Despite violating the ESTA requirements, the DHS has not removed Chile from the program. Spitzer’s office noted that two Chilean nationals were recently “charged in connection with a head-on collision while driving the wrong way on the freeway while being pursued by law enforcement after burglarizing a San Juan Capistrano home.”Jorge Navarretecorvalan, 32, and Alejandro Tobarfuentes, 32, allegedly crashed their Mini Cooper into a Toyota Camry on June 8. The press release noted that the two suspects, who were driving northbound in southbound lanes, “narrowly” missed an Orange County Sheriff’s deputy.“Navarretecorvalan has been charged with one felony count of first-degree burglary, one felony count of evading a peace officer while driving opposite of traffic, one felony count of driving the wrong way on a divided highway causing injury or death, and one felony count of possession of a forged identification card. Tobarfuentes has been charged with one felony count of first-degree burglary, one felony count of possession of a forged identification card, and one misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools,” Spitzer’s office wrote.“Navarretecorvalan faces a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison while Tobarfuentes faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in state prison,” the press release added.Before the head-on crash, the two suspects reportedly broke into a home and stole a safe containing designer handbags and jewelry. The two men allegedly provided law enforcement with fake Venezuelan identification cards.The press release noted that Spitzer has been calling on the DHS since May 2023 to close the ESTA loophole that continues to be exploited by foreign crime rings.“Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has the power to immediately and unilaterally suspend Chile from the ESTA visa waiver program until it complies with the requirement to provide criminal background checks for their citizens,” Spitzer stated. “Instead of holding Chile accountable and preventing a direct pipeline for organized crime to shuttle thieves into the United States, Secretary Mayorkas’ inaction is resulting in Americans continuing to be terrorized by criminals who are stalking them in their homes and waiting for the perfect moment to break their back sliders and steal their most prized possessions. With every pane of shattered glass, they are shattering another family’s sense of security and they are putting everyone on the road at risk as they will do anything and everything to escape from law enforcement. This has to stop — and it has to stop today.”In April, the DHS told CNN that it is “deeply concerned with some individuals who travel to the United States and engage in criminal activity.” It claimed that the Chilean government has been “improving operational cooperation with DHS to prevent travel ... by known criminal actors.” Additionally, CNN reported that the department is speeding up biometric information sharing between the U.S. and Chile.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Just one week after left-wing employees of a Philadelphia coffee shop decided to unionize, all three of the shop's locations closed down — and then the employees actually staged a protest against the closures.More than 30 former employees of the OCF Coffee House shops were out in force Tuesday outside one of the shuttered locations, WPVI-TV reported.'Didn't even know what we were asking for before he decided to shut down all three stores, leaving us completely in the lurch through an email.'Some told the station the abrupt closures were due to the former employees' announcement a week prior that they intended to unionize and join Workers United Local 80."We wanted better pay and stability and part-time health benefits, not only full-time," former employee Stephanie Slaughter told WPVI.Video showed the out-of-work folks holding signs and shouting chants on the sidewalk; the object of their displeasure was owner Ori Feibush, the station said."Ori, Ori, you can't hide! We all see your greedy side!" one of the chants rang out.Last Monday afternoon, employees got an email stating that all three shops were closed effective immediately, WPVI reported.Feibush in a letter to employees and patrons said increasing costs and decreasing sales sparked the decision to close down after 13 years in business, the station reported. He also pointed to administrative and legal costs in connection with the staff's desire to organize, WPVI added."Very, very disheartening. We didn't even get to start the bargaining process," former employee Ava Alabiso told the station. "Didn't even know what we were asking for before he decided to shut down all three stores, leaving us completely in the lurch through an email."OCF Coffee House told WPVI it will continue to provide health, vision, and dental benefits to employees for the next three months, but former employees are pushing for severance pay as well.How are observers reacting?A number of observers on X aren't exhibiting a lot of sympathy for the former employees:"Instead of protesting the closure, they should be job searching," one commenter said."Unionizing a job you can train high school students to do in a week is always a bad idea," another user noted."I don’t understand ... protesting a store closure? What are they expecting to accomplish with this? Hoping for the owners to change their minds and go broke paying your new wages?" another commenter asked. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

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