Eight-foot shark caught in the Potomac
A Maryland fisherman says he caught an eight-foot shark while cruising on the Potomac River in St. Mary’s County, NBC 4 reports.
And Willy Dean was smart enough to snap pictures.
Dean told NBC 4 that he put out a net Monday at Cornfield Harbor in the Potomac three miles north of Point Lookout hoping to catch cow-nosed rays for a Solomons Island marine biologist. When he checked the net Monday night everything seemed normal. But when he checked again Tuesday morning, he made a startling discovery: In the net was an eight-foot-long shark.
Read more about Willy Dean and his eight-foot shark at NBC 4.
30 minutes ago
September 2, 2010
Oil Rig Leaking After Explosion: Another Gulf Oil Spill?
The Coast Guard is reporting that a mile-long oil sheen is spreading from the site of today’s oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, according to the Associated Press.
…
Luckily, there’s some good news: Even if the situation becomes severe, the cleanup process would be much easier on this platform than during the BP debacle. The AP reports that this well was dug in shallow water, unlike BP’s rig, and this makes cleaning oil off the ocean floor much simpler.
During an initial flyover of the area, officials did not spot any oil spilling, though this new sheen may change reports.
1 hour ago
September 2, 2010
Not sure if she was channeling Sarah Palin or Trig Palin.
This comment is extremely offensive, backward, ignorant and incredibly counter-productive. Making disparaging remarks about people with disabilities does nothing but make it clear that your opinion isn’t worth listening to. If you are actually interested in making persuasive arguments in favor of your political beliefs, try to find something a little more intelligent and forward-thinking than a “joke” about a person with Down syndrome. Because this? Not doing anything for you…or anyone else.
(re this)
Agree 100%.
1 hour ago
September 2, 2010
reblogged via 
Just, FYI: today’s exploding rig is not BP’s.
I’m no big-oil apologist (ahem, Joe Barton) but BP doesn’t deserve blame for today’s assplosion.
That blame goes to Mariner Energy, based in Amurrica’s very own Houston, Texa$.
2 hours ago
September 2, 2010
Fundamental Physics Laws Change Depending on When and Where You Are, New Study Says
A team led by John Webb at the University of New South Wales, Australia, has been studying whether the fine structure constant, otherwise known as alpha, changes over time. Alpha is a special number that essentially describes the strength of the electromagnetic force. The famous physicist Richard Feynman called its value “one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics.” If it is not 1/137.036, things fall apart.
If alpha was different in the past, the universe might have looked different, too, which could be determined by looking at distant interstellar gases and how they absorb light. Observations by Webb and others at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii suggest that this is exactly the case — over time, alpha has changed ever so slightly.
…So, to recap: in one direction, alpha was once smaller; in exactly the opposite direction, it was once bigger. This implies that alpha continuously varies throughout space. As Technology Review’s physics blog puts it, that’s a mind-blowing result. If it’s true and can be verified, it could mean the universe is much larger than what we can see, and that the laws of physics vary within it.
It would not be possible for our type of life to exist in a place where alpha were any different. So here’s to here and now.
o.O
3 hours ago
September 2, 2010
Oil rig explodes 80 miles off Louisiana coast; 12 people reported overboard and one missing, the Coast Guard says.
What? It’s Earth Day again already?!
3 hours ago
September 2, 2010
Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s opening statement in last night’s debate reflects either an amazing lack of preparation, or sheer panic.
(h/t Politico)
4 hours ago
September 2, 2010
F22 Double Rainbow by Bernardo Malfitano
An F-22 at Miramar at the top of a loop. He is pulling so many Gs, the low pressure air over the fuselage (that is “sucking” the airplane into the loop) gets cold enough for the water to condense… And the angle is just right for sunlight to undergo total internal refraction and make rainbow colors around the airplane (although I had to under-expose quite a bit for the effect to be visible).
The picture won second place in the Museum of Flight photo contest.
(via: likecool)
It’s so beautiful. What does it MEAN?!?!?
4 hours ago
September 2, 2010
reblogged via 
8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize New York City A Horrible Place To Live
(via onefootinthegrave)
This is gold, Jerry. GOLD!
4 hours ago
September 2, 2010
reblogged via 
[B]ut let us acknowledge that Palin is on a roll. She’s got her own TV show, not counting Fox News. And she twitters! Or somebody does it for her. Hard to tell which. Her twit on the president’s Iraq speech was: “may make u want to dig out ur old Orwell books so rewritten history can be deciphered.”
On the one hand, the sentence construction does have that Sarah ring to it. On the other, how many of you think that Palin has old Orwell books hanging around the house? May I see a show of hands?
On the one hand, the sentence construction does have that Sarah ring to it. On the other, how many of you think that Palin has old Orwell books hanging around the house? May I see a show of hands?
4 hours ago
September 2, 2010
Dear Washington Post Dot Com:
This has gone on long enough and I feel the time has come to say something. I like your publication, I really do. In fact, you are my homepage. So every morning, first thing, I see your headlines. I read your articles. I go to you for my news every day.
Here’s the thing though: the links on your homepage really piss me off. Pardon my french, but they do.
I’m sorry, but if you have something that’s “BREAKING NEWS” or a story you deem critical enough to be at the top of your home page, when I click on that link, please take me to that story. Don’t take me to the “Post Local” or “Post Politics” page where I then have to search and search to find the actual story you were promoting on your home page, just infuriating me that I’m wasting time trying to navigate to what I thought was supposed to be a pretty important story.
It’s simple. Take me to the story, and at the top of that page have a link to “more stories like these” or something which will then direct me to the specialty pages you’d like to promote. Your current incarnation has me not even wanting to click the headlines you advertise as important because I now know that I’m going to have to spend more time trying to find what I’m actually looking for than what it’s worth.
Your site should not be this difficult. It isn’t rocket science, it’s the death of journalism.
Warmest wishes,
NTKG
5 hours ago
September 2, 2010
If this is what the coverage is going to look like, bring it, Earl.
5 hours ago
September 2, 2010
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