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February 7, 2013

When galaxies collide – the enormity of space

Two Galaxies Collide

Amazing photo from Hubble space telescope depicts the enormity of space. When two galaxies pass through or close by each other the competing gravitational fields tear the galaxies apart. The upper left galaxy used to be a normal spiral galaxy until about 100 million years ago when the one on the right approached too close. You get an idea of the scale when you consider that each of the pin-pricks of light is an individual star with its own solar system.

Our own Milky Way galaxy contains between 100 billion and 400 billion stars, but even galaxies are dwarfed by massive superclusters. Fraser Cain at Universe Today explains:

The supercluster we live in is known as the Virgo Supercluster. It’s an enormous collection of more than a million galaxies, stretching across a region of space 110 million light-years across. Our Sun is just one member of the Milky Way, and the Milky Way is part of a collection of galaxies known as the Local Group. This contains three large spiral galaxies: the Milky Way, Andromeda, and the Triangulum Galaxy, as well as a few dozen dwarf galaxies. The Local Group is just one member of the Virgo Cluster. This is a collection of 1200-2000 galaxies that stretch across 15 million light-years of space. And then, the Virgo Cluster is just one cluster in the Virgo Supercluster.

……The Virgo Supercluster is just one of millions of superclusters across the Universe.

If the average galaxy is only 1/100th of the size of the Milky Way (i.e. between 1 and 4 billion stars) and the average supercluster contains a million galaxies, then the universe contains at least 1 Sextillion (or 10^18) stars.

See more photos at BuzzFeed: 18 Astounding Hubble Photos Released In 2012 | Donna Dickens

February 5, 2013

Getting the Property Problem Wrong | David D. Friedman | Libertarianism.org

David D. Friedman, in his reply to Matt Zwolinski, says that the solution to the conflict between individual freedom and property rights lies with distinguishing between ownership rights over uncreated property, such as land, and ownership over created property, such as a crop of wheat (or a railroad train):

….You wish to stand on a certain piece of common property. I am there already. You have the same right as I do to stand there, but you do not have a right to move or injure me, hence you cannot exercise your right to stand there without acting unjustly. I have not appropriated the land I am standing on in the usual sense of the term, but I have “de facto” appropriated it for as long as I stand there, not by altering the nature of your right to the land but by making it impractical for you to exercise it without violating other rights.

…..I plant wheat in a field. You come and want to plant wheat in the same field. I point out to you that the field is common property which you are welcome to use, but the wheat I have planted is my property (the result of my labor in gathering seeds, watering them so they would sprout, etc.) and you do not have the right to disturb it. Any way you can figure out to exercise your right to the field without violating my right to the wheat is fine with me.

Taking the last example, a problem arises if one individual plants the entire common area with wheat, preventing anyone else from doing so and causing them to starve. There have to be conventions in the use of common property — which have evolved over time into property rights.

February 5, 2013

Liberty and Property | Matt Zwolinski | Libertarianism.org

Interesting discussion from Matt Zwolinski on the conflict between individual freedom and property rights, the two basics tenets of Libertarianism:

A property right in land is a right to control access to that land. It is a “right to say ‘No’.” But if all land is privately owned, and all landowners have a right to say “No” to all non-landowners, then non-landowners are not equally free with landowners. They exist in a state of dependence. Like feudal serfs or the most abject slaves, they live only by the consent of those in command……

January 20, 2013

Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Source: Hubblesite.org

Hubble Space Telescope composite image of a portion of the Tarantula Nebula’s central cavity. The flood of UV light and gusts of hot particles flowing freely from the young stars of 30 Doradus have hollowed out a bubble in the gaseous nebula. Only with Hubble’s exceptional resolution could the intricacy and three-dimensionality of these features be revealed.

The Hubble data have been combined with ground-based observations that trace hydrogen gas (in red) and oxygen (in blue). Together, this region can be appreciated as a microcosm of the larger nebula: a swirling palette of gas, dust, and stars in the midst of tumultuous upheaval.

Stars in the nebula number more than half a million.

Hat tip to Barry Ritholz.

December 24, 2012

Wishing you peace and goodwill

Christmas

Wishing you peace and goodwill over the Christmas season and prosperity in the year ahead.

I am on vacation until mid-January but will continue to post if I see anything important.

Regards,
Colin Twiggs

November 13, 2012

Stopping the Runaway Train: The Case for Privatizing Amtrak | Randal O'Toole | Cato Institute

Interesting analysis by Randal O’Toole on the future of Amtrak:

When Congress created Amtrak in 1970, passenger-rail advocates hoped that it would become an efficient and attractive mode of travel. More than 40 years of Amtrak operations have disappointed them, as Amtrak has become the highest-cost mode of intercity travel and remains an insignificant player in the nation’s transportation system. Nationally, average Amtrak fares are more than twice as much, per passenger mile, as airfares. Despite these high fares, per-passenger-mile subsidies to Amtrak are nearly nine times as much as subsidies to airlines, and more than 20 times as much as subsidies to driving. When fares and subsidies are combined, Amtrak’s costs per passenger mile are nearly four times as great as airline costs…….

via Stopping the Runaway Train: The Case for Privatizing Amtrak | Randal O’Toole | Cato Institute: Policy Analysis.

November 10, 2012

What Good Are Republicans if They Can't Protect Us from Class Warfare? | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary

Jim Powell of the Cato Institute gives his view on why Romney lost the election:

Romney lost for several reasons. The bulk of his primary advertising seems to have been spent attacking opponents, rather than defining himself, with the consequence that by the time the primaries were over, his reputation was a blank slate as far as the general public was concerned — an irresistible target for Obama’s early advertising blitz that defined him as an out-of-touch rich guy who destroyed American jobs. Romney was on the defensive from the get-go……

via What Good Are Republicans if They Can't Protect Us from Class Warfare? | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: Commentary.

November 7, 2012

Tesla electric car beats BMW M5

Tesla Model S v. BMW M5 in drag race.

Hat tip to car nut Barry Ritholz

November 6, 2012

The other candidate

Scott Sumner writes on Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson:

When he ran for governor as a Republican in heavily Democratic New Mexico. He had no prior political experience. He won by a 10-point margin. (By poetic coincidence, he beat a competitor for the GOP nomination named Dick Cheney.) Johnson spent his first term slashing taxes and reining in the growth of the state budget. Then he won a second term, and spent that crusading for school vouchers and marijuana legalization. He set a record for vetoing bills—750 of them, more than all other 49 governors combined during the same period—and left a budget surplus in his wake…..

via TheMoneyIllusion.