Bad Astronomy

Actually, Zodiac Signs Always Change and We’ve Always Known This

by James Plafke | 12:41 pm, January 14th

My friend called me last night and while we were discussing (what else?) Minecraft, she interjected with excitement, informing me about some crazy thing where everyone’s Zodiac signs are now different. I’m not a Taurus anymore, apparently I’m an Aries. I don’t care about astrology so much, but thought it was kind of weird that I now have to tell people who do care something different. It’s kind of like when you write dates after the New Year and keep messing up the year for a couple of months: Weird, but whatever, you get over it. I did, however, have fun for five minutes thinking, “I AM NOW ARIES, GOD OF WAR.” This new astrological sign reassignment took the Internet by storm and everyone thought this was some crazy new thing. It’s not, if you were wondering. Humans have apparently known about this all along. Allow us to explain.

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New Satellite Picture of the Gulf Oil Disaster: It’s Even Worse Now

by Robert Quigley | 12:00 pm, June 23rd

Way back in April, we posted some then-alarming satellite photos of the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, we wrote that it was geting worse, and fast; we had no idea what was in store, though. This latest picture from the MODIS instrument on NASA’s Terra satellite paints a much grimmer picture of the devastation wrought by the oil in the two months since it started leaking.

Meanwhile, in a week jammed with political posturing, BP has had little to say about actual progress in containing the spill.

(Bad Astronomy via TDW)

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This Exists

A Living Planet: Avalanches on Mars

by Susana Polo | 11:34 am, March 15th

We usually think of the other planets in our solar system as relatively peaceful, unchanging. It’s sort of a “tree falls in the forest” situation. If there’s no life, how active can they really be? The storm on Jupiter is a swirling maelstrom, sure, but it’s a swirling maelstrom that’s been around for over two hundred years.

And yet… spring is approaching the northern hemisphere of Mars, thawing the carbon dioxide ice that’s built up along cliff faces. And when you get thawing ice on cliff faces, you also get…

Avalanches.

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14 of the Best Geekiest Beers

Given beer's pervasive place in human history, it's not surprising that the geeky pastimes of drinkers would eventually rub off on the beers themselves. The result is a veritable cornucopia of nerdy beers, 14 of which are right here.

Tweetosystem

Eric Limer I'm trying to come up with a control scheme where I can use my xbox 360 controller for leisurely web surfing. It's....interesting.
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James Plafke For a show about a sport I don't really dig, Friday Night Lights is an alright show.
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Eric Limer Just spent a few hours playing Kyntt. Stunning, cute little game. Highly recommended.
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Max Wanna create work flows, wanna make it all work work work.
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James Plafke I am jealous Elmo got to make out with Kristin Chenoweth.
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Eric Limer I swear under my breath A LOT. This must make people near by me very uncomfortable. That being said, I have no intentions of stopping.
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Max Court is now in session at the Burp Castle.
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Eric Limer I don't look at my finances as often as I should which is the main reason why I don't often want to look at my finances.
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Max Desert PolyBus: The game where you drive to Reno and then die.
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Eric Limer If I wrote a webcomic, every strip would be titled "Get it? GET IT?!"
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Max Got chili oil on my hands and face. It hurts. A lot.
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Eric Limer Suddenly I remember what I hate about PC gaming. Mainly never having a computer that can actually do it.
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James Plafke The halftime show taught me that football-watching men drinking beer who love seeing muscular men beat each other up really like to vogue.
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Max Pestering your friends at 8am is how you show you care, right? #hopeso
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Eric Limer Twitter is like RiffTrax for EVERYTHING.
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James Plafke I know global warming is scary, but not having a winter was pretty cool. I didn't have to spend money on shoes for the snow.
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Eric Limer I hereby apologize to all persons --past, present and future-- who have the misfortune of hearing me "sing" dubstep songs.
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Max Even Facebook's Timeline thinks I could have done more with my life.
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Max I did that thing where Facebook turns your Timeline into a movie. Mine had pictures of ducks and foliage set to really dramatic music.
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Max "But I don't wanna go to the dog show!"
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