Interstellar hydrogen would be lethal for warp drive travellers

Assuming that we could ever figure out how to travel faster than the speed of light, there may not be a heck of a lot that we could do with it. That's what Professor William Edelstein of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (dude sounds like a polymath for having a good head about medicine and high-energy physics) has determined.

The problem is hydrogen, which exists in interstellar space on average of two atoms per cubic centimeter. Which ain't a whole lot. But if a spacecraft were to accelerate toward lightspeed those scarce atoms would start bombarding the ship like a hail of bullets...

As the spaceship reached 99.999998 per cent of the speed of light, "hydrogen atoms would seem to reach a staggering 7 teraelectron volts", which for the crew "would be like standing in front of the Large Hadron Collider beam".

This is a very bad thing, because humans in the path of this ray would receive a dose of ionising radiation of 10,000 sieverts, and as Bones McCoy would doubtless confirm, the lethal dose is 6 sieverts.

The result? Death in one second.

The spacecraft's structure would do little to mitigate the effects of the killer hydrogen. Edelstein "calculates that a 10-centimetre-thick layer of aluminium would absorb less than 1 per cent of the energy", and the intense doses of radiation would damage the ship's structure and fry its electronics.

Edelstein grimly concluded: "Hydrogen atoms are unavoidable space mines."

Kinda makes you have whole new appreciation for them forward shields on the U.S.S. Enterprise, aye? :-)

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TSA agent makes 4-year old kid remove leg braces

Ryan Thomas, a four-year old lad who is developmentally disabled and must wear metal leg braces because of low muscle tone, was considered enough a potential terrorist threat that a Transportation Security Administration goon forced Ryan's parents to remove said leg braces while the family was en route to a vacation at Disney World.

Words fail.

Oh yeah, by the way, ten thousand TSA agents will now have access to classified information.

What the hell is happening to our country?

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"The Substitute": Reaction to tonight's LOST

Anyone else go "Ewwwww..." when they saw that spider creeping off of dead Locke's face?

I thought last week's episode, "What Kate Does", better than many have given it credit for. Tonight's episode of Lost, "The Substitute", was all-around solid and oughtta placate darn near everybody. 'Twas great to see the dynamic between Sawyer and Locke again (even though Sawyer knew pretty much immediately that it wasn't the real Locke). I think that tonight's show also answered many questions about the lists and the numbers (even though we still don't know what the numbers are supposed to mean).

One thing that's starting to bug me though is the deal about the "flashsideways". We're three episodes into the final season and we barely know anything about what's going on with them. Hope this starts to get addressed soon.

I'll give "The Substitute" an 8.5 out of 10. And I might even resolve that higher the more I think about it.

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Thinking of doing Lent. Any ideas?

A few years ago I gave up blogging for Lent. It turned out to be an incredibly refreshing experience, and I came back reinvigorated and full of excess creativity.

More than a passing thought had crossed my mind to do it again starting tomorrow. But my friends aren't too keen on the idea. The Knight Shift, it seems, has become "too valuable a source of information".

(I'll let the merits of that argument be an exercise for the reader.)

I'm still considering doing something this Lenten season, however. I'm open to suggestions. What could I give up for the next forty days?

No, I'm not a drinker. And I haven't done drugs since... nevermind :-P

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Let's see Hallmark make a card out of this

Saint Valentine was a Christian who was imprisoned, brutally tortured and finally beheaded on orders from Emperor Claudius II of Rome on February 14th, 270 A.D. 

How we came to remember the occasion by giving cards, candy and flowers, is anyone's guess... HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY anyway!

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Beaker's Ballad: Another new video from the Muppets!

What happens when Beaker attempts a cover of "Dust in the Wind" by Kansas? In a word: "BURNINATION!"

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Think I figured out a big LOST mystery

Yah, maybe. Like a few days ago when I posted the "Dark Entity is trying to escape God's judgment" notion.

Here it is this time: "Adam and Eve" are going to turn out to be Sawyer and Juliet.

Go back and watch this past week's episode "What Kate Does" again. Trust me it is not a "filler" episode like too many are saying it is. After going through it for a third time I can't help but think that there are some huge chunks of Lost mythos - that we have been hungering for - that were laid bare at last.

Here's a hint to help you along: you also need to go back to "Not In Portland", which was the first Juliet-centric episode. 'Cuz the two episodes kinda, sorta go hand in hand.

If y'all are seeing the same thing that I am, feel free to post a comment :-)

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How the Tea Party is being co-opted by those it's fighting against

In his latest essay "A Warning To The Tea Party Nation", Chuck Baldwin signals both profound encouragement about the Tea Party movement... and a caution about how it is being quietly taken over by the very sort that the Tea Party began in opposition to.

Here's a clip, beginning with a comparison to the "Republican Revolution" of 1994...

Spurred mostly by the election of Bill Clinton in 1992, a host of young, energetic freshman Republicans marched into Washington, D.C., determined to return a burgeoning and out-of-control federal leviathan to the constitutional precepts of limited government. I'm talking about then-freshman House members such as Helen Chenoweth, Steve Largent, Bob Barr, Joe Scarborough, Sonny Bono, John Shadegg, J.C. Watts, etc. These young conservatives went to Washington, D.C., determined to reduce the growth and size of the federal government.

The vehicle used to transport these young conservatives from grassroots activism to US House and Senate seats was the highly touted "Contract with America" (CWA), which was orchestrated by House Speaker-to-be, Newt Gingrich. The CWA included a promise to the American people that if they would give the GOP a majority in Congress, they would eliminate up to 5 federal departments--such as the Departments of Energy and Education--and many federal agencies.

Obviously, not only did the GOP-controlled Congress not eliminate a single federal department or agency--or even shrink the size of the federal government at all--it expanded the size and scope of the federal government at every level. And there is one reason for it: Big Government neocons posing as champions of conservatism co-opted and destroyed the Conservative Revolution of 1994.

If one wants to put names to these treasonous wretches (and I do), I'm talking about charlatans such as Newt Gingrich and Trent Lott. Anyone who thinks that Newt Gingrich is a real conservative or that he will do anything to reduce the size and scope of the federal government needs to speak with any of those Republican members of the freshman class of 1994. (Sadly, too, some of the members of that great freshman class went on to become Big Government toadies themselves. Such is the power of that Putrid Province by the Potomac.)

The Tea Parties of 2010 remind me very much of the Conservative Revolution of 1994. And if the Tea Party Nation is not very careful, they will succumb to the same fate. The signs of a silent takeover of the movement are already appearing.

My gut feeling is that we're going to be watching the Tea Party wax brilliantly throughout 2010 and it's going to no doubt be a factor in winning a bunch of seats in Congress for the GOP. And then come this time in 2011 the Tea Party will be a fast-fading memory: its purpose as a ready-made vehicle for the Republicans fulfilled. That's if the Tea Party continues to make the mistake of hitching its wagon to "stars" like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and the like. The Tea Party is supposed to be a movement about an idea: that government must be limited by the Constitution in deed as well as in word. That's a different thing than being led around by ideologists who have proven well enough that they have not this country's best interests in mind.

On a related note, my good friend Danny de Garcia II out of the Big Island of Hawaii has in the past 12 hours started up what he calls a "conservative splinter" faction of the Tea Party...

The Coffee Party is born! Here's the official (well as official as a political party less than half a day old) description of the Coffee Party...

The TEA Party has been hijacked by big government, pro-globalist, pro-finance oligarch, pro-war, pro-police state, anti-liberty candidates and spokespeople who are interested only in putting the American people BACK TO SLEEP with their tranquilizing chamomile tea of propaganda.

We on the other hand are awake, we realize that the TEA Party movement began with a distrust of big government, a desire to repeal the USA Patriot Act, to end the Federal Reserve, to stop the illegal wars and to return America to a land of the people, by the people and for the people. Americans drink coffee more than their British cousins because after the Boston Tea Party, they learned to live without Tea. Well, it's time to switch from the tainted TEA and get a dose of reality.

The TEA Party was fathered by men like Ron Paul who believed in a return to the Bill of Rights and Constitution, not phonies who want to expand the powers of the state. Now, "TEA Party" candidates are opposing Ron Paul and others and replacing the message with a false revival that promotes totalitarianism. As any REAL conservative knows, our question is not one of left or right, but up or down - up to liberty, or down to the ash heap of liberty. Join the Coffee Party!

I love it! :-) And if you want to join the Coffee Party too, here's the Coffee Party's page on Facebook. I was member #6 ("I am not a number, I am a free man!!") 'Twould be great if this thing cracked double or even triple digits by the end of the weekend! :-)

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It is snowing. Again.

I have decided that Winter 2010 is officially going to be recognized as "The Fell Winter".

Look it up if you've never read Tolkien :-)

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The most popular article on The Knight Shift lately...

...has been my report on visiting a Seventh Day Adventist church and what I learned about my fellow followers of Christ known as Adventists. There's not a day that goes by now that a nice e-mail doesn't comes in about that write-up (including from places as far away as Singapore and Russia).

I don't usually do this but in light of the huge amount of traffic that's come in during the past few weeks and months about it: I'm very much in awe at how well this seems to have resonated with so many people, and if perhaps God has used it in His own wide and mysterious ways then I am thankful to have played some small part in that.

Anyway, if you haven't read it yet, feel free to check it out!

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A thought in rhyme...

A greater wisdom is seldom taught, but ever always must be sought.

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See Eric Smith in AN EVENING OF SHORT PLAYS #22 at the Greensboro Fringe Festival this weekend!

Good friend and colleague in fighting the good fight Eric Smith, hot off his portrayal of Reverend Hopkins in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever a few months ago, wants y'all to know that he'll be appearing in "An Evening of Short Plays #22" this weekend, presented by the Greensboro Playwrights Forum as part of the Greensboro Fringe Festival. The show runs tonight through Sunday in the City Arts Studio Theatre at the Greensboro Cultural Center. Admission is free but a $5 donation is encouraged (and no doubt more would be appreciated if you enjoy it... as you no doubt will :-)

Wanna know what to expect? Here's the rundown of one of the plays...

"Viewer's Like You by Tommy Trull"

In a highly meta-theatrical play, a snowman actor struggles to find his motivation in a film about snowman porn.

Heck, I'd pay full admission just to see that one :-P

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Iran is now a "nuclear state"

So declared Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today in Tehran on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the revolution that put the current regime in power.

Ahmadinejad's basis for this announcement is that Iran is "capable" of producing weapons-grade uranium.

By the same token, the fact that I used to launch Estes model rockets as a kid means that I can declare myself to be a space-borne superpower.

(I'm just sayin'...)

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Is a gift of the Magi a cure for cancer?

Frankincense, the precious fragrance that was among the gifts that the wise men from the East brought to the infant Jesus, is now being studied intensely for its cancer-fighting properties. There's something in frankincense that compels cancerous cells to "reject" nuclei and reset back to what the normal governing gene sequence should be.

It's a very educational and intriguing read, especially if you've ever read the Christmas story out of the Bible and wondered what the heck frankincense is supposed to be :-)

(And although that painting has nothing to do with frankincense specifically, I'll give props to whoever can tell me the name of it, who painted it and what its historical significance is ;-)

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Newly released 9/11 photos show World Trade Center collapse from aerial viewpoint

Eight and a half years later and new material of the 9/11 attacks is still coming out.

Look at this image of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers, taken from a New York City Police helicopter...

And eight years later, the same words come out of my mouth upon seeing it: "My God..."

Click here for many more photos.

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"Subversive" groups in South Carolina must be legally registered

What. The. Hell. ?!?

If you are a "subversive" person - i.e. if you are honked-off enough with the government that you think it should be overthrown or even coerced in any way whatsoever (which could mean anything) - and you happen to live in South Carolina, you must now register with that state's government or else get slapped with a $25,000 fine and up to ten years in prison.

Hit here for the full text of the "Subversive Activities Registration Act", which is now codified in the South Carolina law books.

Right off the top of my head, this law violates the First Amendment (right of peaceable assembly), the Fifth Amendment (protection against self-incrimination) and damn near everything that the Founders had in mind when they wrote the Declaration of Independence.

Who the hell in the South Carolina legislature voted for this abomination? Whoever they are, they should be dragged out into the street and horsewhipped most heinously. Followed by a good tar 'n featherin'!

EDIT 8:52 a.m.: It just hit me what South Carolina's lawmakers really have in mind with this thing. Let's start calling it for what it is: a dissent tax! South Carolina like most other states right now are having a bigtime budget crunch, so they've hit on a new channel of revenue. And right now there's beacoups of anger at the government, so South Carolina's legislators are attempting to tap into that as a lucrative source of income.

Dissent tax. That's what I'm gonna start calling it anyway...

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Robertson the Lesser is all kinds of incoherent tonight (and PROVES that Methodists, Presbyterians and Catholics are biblical!)

Yah, talking about Micah Robertson, son of local cult leader Johnny Robertson of the so-called "Martinsville Church of Christ". Someone sent me an e-mail saying that Robertson the Lesser was doing daddy's show tonight (why is it that Micah seems so ashamed to acknowledge that Johnny is his father?) and I was about to work on a video project and needed some background noise, so I dialed up the Martinsville feed of WGSR for chuckles.

Even while busy authoring a DVD, I was able to poke tons of holes in Robertson the Lesser's alleged "presentation".

First of all, I'm not at all convinced that Micah Robertson is completely confident in what he professes to believe. The guy comes across as too nervous, too insecure. He drones on and on like a monotone robot.

Well, when I tuned in Micah Robertson was claiming that pianos and guitars were carved idols and shouldn't be brought into churches. Ummm... ohhhkaaaaay...

Then a little later on Micah Robertson condemned churches that vote on memberships, saying that it's not scriptural. He then immediately followed that up by talking about how his so-called "Church of Christ" denies the Lord's Supper to those who the church believes doesn't deserve it. How is that at all NOT judging someone as being unworthy of fellowship?! Heck, even if there's not much scriptural basis for voting on church membership, what Johnny Robertson and his cult are doing is worse and even more un-biblical!

But as outrageous as that is, that's nothing compared to what took place a few minutes earlier, when Micah Robertson himself demonstrated that the Methodist churches, the Presbyterian churches and the Roman Catholic churches are scriptural and how his own "Church of Christ" is not!

Robertson the Lesser was using some Old Testament verses out of context to build up his cult's usual twisted case for legalism. As is often the case, this involves water baptism, without which the cult believes one is going to Hell (but you're probably going to go to Hell anyway).

And then Micah Robertson cited Ezekiel 36:25.

What does Ezekiel 36:25 say, per the King James Version that Robertson quoted from?

"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

WHOA!!! "SPRINKLE" water?! You mean it DOESN'T have to be full immersion in water in order for one to be "clean"?!

That is what the Bible says, folks.

Now, who among our brethren in Christ are most known for sprinkling water? The Methodists, the Presbyterians and the Roman Catholics come most to mind, and there are a number of others.

In fact, nowhere in scripture are we told that a person must be dunked at all. We're told that people "came up" from the water, but that could mean any number of things.

The only logical conclusion, if we are adhering to a strict interpretation of scripture, is that Micah Robertson has proven tonight, if nothing else, that his own church is not biblical and has instead shown that Methodist, Presbyterians and Catholics are on very firm scriptural foundation. No doubt he didn't mean to, but hey: God can even work through the foolish.

I would say that I'm waiting for that $5,000 check from Johnny Robertson for showing how his son has proven that "denominations" are in the Bible, but I'm not gonna hold my breath...

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