Astronomers Compile Most Detailed Map of Nearby Universe

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A new detailed map of the nearby Universe reveals not only where local galaxies are currently, but where they are heading, how fast and why. “It’s like taking a snapshot of wildebeest on the African plain,” said Dr. Heath Jones of the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO), lead scientist for the Six-Degree Field Galaxy Survey (6dFGS), the most detailed survey of nearby galaxies to date. “We can tell which waterholes they’re heading to, and how fast they’re traveling.” it has recorded the positions of more than 110,000 galaxies over more than 80% of the Southern sky, out to about two thousand million light-years from Earth, Galaxies are tugged around by each other’s gravity.

By measuring the galaxies’ movements, the researchers were able to map the gravitational forces at work in the local Universe, and so show how matter, both seen and unseen, is distributed. Giant superclusters of galaxies are huge concentrations of mass, but they can’t be weighed accurately by looking at their light alone.

“Light can be obscured, but you can’t hide gravity,” said Dr. Jones.

The survey shows strings and clusters of nearby galaxies on large scales in unprecedented detail, and has revealed more than 500 voids—”empty” areas of space with no galaxies. The special aspect of this survey is that it will let the researchers disentangle two causes of galaxy movements. As well as being pulled on by gravity, galaxies also ride along with the overall expansion of the Universe. For about 10% of their galaxies, the 6dFGS researchers will tease apart these two velocity components: the one associated with the Universe’s expansion, and the one representing a galaxy’s individual, “peculiar”, motion.

Source: Universe Today

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Sam

God Exists

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A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects. When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said, “I don’t believe that God exists.”

“Why do you say that?” asked the customer.

“Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn’t exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can’t imagine a loving God who would allow all of these things.”

The customer thought for a moment, but didn’t respond because he didn’t want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop.

Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and unkempt. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber, “You know what? Barbers do not exist.”

“How can you say that?” asked the surprised barber. “I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!”

“No!” the customer exclaimed. “Barbers don’t exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside.”

“Ah, but barbers DO exist! That’s what happens when people do not come to me.”

“Exactly!” affirmed the customer. “That’s the point! God, too, DOES exist! That’s what happens when people do not go to Him and don’t look to Him for help. That’s why there’s so much pain and suffering in the world.”

Source: Fr Eugene Lobo SJ

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Sam

How To Be Successful

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Every day, we fight the fight.
Every day we play the game.
Every day we expect good things.
Every day we want to do our best.
So what's the secret? Where's the answer?

Well here it is. There isn't one.

No matter how long you live, all you can do is improve upon the mistakes and reap the success. That's it.

That's your job. So instead of searching for the magic waters, live for now. Wake up with that smile, that energy, that goal, and strive on. It might not happen or work today, so what. Guess what, it probably didn't for the next person either.

So you take what you have, and try again. Because every day is another chance, another opportunity. There will always be a next time. Remember that.

"Can't" is an excuse and giving up is not an option. So get out of your comfort zone and get something done. Nobody can make you do it but YOU! Not this quote, or anything else you read. It's you.

So find that personal motivation. Make it happen. Because the magic potion is somewhere very few people look, with-in you.

"I'm not in competition with anybody but myself. My goal is to beat my last performance." - Celine Dion

Source: Curt Bachman

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Sam

Warp Drives Probably Impossible

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Just when I was getting excited about the possibility of traveling to distant worlds, scientists have uncovered a deep flaw with faster-than-light-speed travel. There appears to be a quantum limit on how fast an object can travel through space-time, regardless of whether we are able to create a bubble in space-time or not. We have no clue about how to generate enough energy to create a “bubble” in space-time.

This idea was first put on a scientific grounding Michael from the University of Mexico in 1994, but before that was only popularized by science fiction universes such as Star Trek. However, to create this bubble we need some form of exotic matter fuel some hypothetical energy generator to output 10⁴⁵ Joules.

If a advanced human race could generate this much energy, we would be masters of our Universe.


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According to new research on the subject, quantum physics has something to say about our dreams of zipping through space-time faster than it. What’s more, Hawking radiation would most likely cook anything inside this theoretical space-time bubble anyway. The Universe does not want us to travel faster than the speed of light.

In short, Hawking radiation (usually associated with the radiation of energy and therefore loss of mass of evaporating black holes) will be generated, irradiating the occupants of the bubble to unimaginably high temperatures. The Hawking radiation will be generated as horizons will form at the front and rear of the bubble. Remember those big numbers physicists aren’t afraid of? Hawking radiation is predicted to roast anything inside the bubble to a possible 10³⁰K (the maximum possible temperature, the Planck temperature, is 10³²K).

Source: UniverseToday

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Sam

World's Worst Password 123456

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'123456' is the most common world's worst password by people on the Internet. Names of fast cars, even ncc1701 - the ship number for Star Trek's Starship Enterprise, have made it to the list of top 500 worst passwords of all time.

Compiled by whatsmypass.com, the list features passwords most commonly used by Internet users. And topping the list of the most common password is "123456", "dragon", followed by "password" in third place. Other popular password choices were first names, repeated letters and numbers, pop-culture references. Even batman, bond007 and cocacola made it to the list.

The website said that almost one out of nine people use at least one of the passwords mentioned on the list, and one out of every 50 people use one from the top 20. In fact, a study commissioned by digital communications agency @www found that an average adult had as many as 15 passwords to remember. But 61 per cent of people used the same passwords for as many different accounts as possible in order to make life easier.

Source: Yahoo

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Sam

Excellence

A German once visited a temple under construction where he saw a sculptor making an idol of God. Suddenly he noticed a similar idol lying nearby. Surprised, he asked the sculptor, "Do you need two statues of the same idol?" "No," said the sculptor without looking up, "We need only one, but the first one got damaged at the last stage." The gentleman examined the idol and found no apparent damage. "Where is the damage?" he asked. "There is a scratch on the nose of the idol." said the sculptor, still busy with his work. "Where are you going to install the idol?"

The sculptor replied that it would be installed on a pillar twenty feet high. "If the idol is that far, who is going to know that there is a scratch on the nose?" the gentleman asked. The sculptor stopped his work, looked up at the gentleman, smiled and said, "I will know it."

The desire to excel is exclusive of the fact whether someone else appreciates it or not. "Excellence" is a drive from inside, not outside. Excellence is not for someone else to notice but for your own satisfaction and efficiency.

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Sam

Six Keys To Success

1. Attitude
Bloom where you are planted. You have a choice to get back up after temporary set backs. Attitude is a small thing that makes a big difference!

2. Direction
If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there. Write your short term goals down on paper. I have discovered and continue to discover that putting your dreams and goals down on paper lock in or focus your belief that they can be achieved -- even if you have to take a course correction in achieving your goals. Success comes in cans, failure comes in can'ts.

3. Values
Explore what is important to you. Maybe it is family, friends, your spirituality or working hard at any given task. I can assure you that your priorities will change as you grow older. Very important that you value yourself and treat yourself like the valuable gift from God that you are.

4. Interests
Birds of a feather flock together. This is to say that if you are hanging around winners or others with a "can do" mind-set, you'll likely adapt to this same kind of thinking. Remember -- "SUCCESS LEAVES CLUES!

5. Commitment
Feelings may change, commitments do not. "Success is getting up one more time than you fall." I have often wanted to give up, and then I must think to myself about what the consequences of giving up will be. Generally, this is more than enough of a motivation to make us stick to the task at hand even if we don't feel like it. When the task is achieved, Whow! -- IT FEELS GREAT!

6. Encouragement:
Be an encourager and comforter to friends that are feeling discouraged. I promise that you will not regret this as you will be encouraged by one, if not many, when you are feeling down. Encouragement and love are contagious qualities that can change the minds of the most stubborn and "hard-to-get-along-with" people you know. I have seen it happen over and over again.

Source: motivateus

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Sam