http://www.physorg.com/news161960925.html
This morning, at precisely 8:57 a.m. ET, a carefully orchestrated maneuver was carried out 350 miles above the Atlantic coastline of Africa, marking the successful end of the fifth and final shuttle servicing mission.

Ever so gently, the Atlantis crew released the grapple fixture on the shuttle’s robotic arm, allowing Hubble to resume orbiting Earth on its own, as it has done since its deployment in April 1990. After Hubble’s thousands of orbits, thousands of images, five tune-ups and countless discoveries, a space shuttle crew is leaving this great observatory for the last time.

It's not just any water, it's water exposed to a high-voltage electric field, still very awesome and weird though.

I do like the light they throw on the process for fusion. There are ALOT of answers to physics at the extremes: temperatures(hot/cold), pressure, quantum mechanical "tricks", speeds, etc...

There is still alot of work to be done! That is what keeps me going, is that singular hope. These are things iconic physicists and sci-fi writers have given us: ie, Carl Sagan.

I like the Gnarls Barkley "Reckoner" cover at the start.

Always probe the extremes; that is where we can see the Universe and it's "rules" fundamentally tested because everything involved is beholden to "physical" controls that even the Universe can't break. It helps our understanding immensely. A good site to keep up to speed is Physorg.

New discoveries, everyday...

>> ^fissionchips:
Twisted is an understatement. It's even blacker than this.

But is it as black as this?

Good timing, there was just a bunch of articles in the news a couple days ago about "MIT experimentally demonstrates wireless power transfer", some of them even mentioning Tesla.
http://www.physorg.com/news100445957.html
and
"Scientists have been playing with this for a while; Nikola Tesla experimented with long-range wireless energy transfer, but his most ambitious attempt - the 29m high aerial known as Wardenclyffe Tower, in New York - failed when he ran out of money."
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/06/no_more_power_c.php (video about Tesla here too)

yeah I've never seen the video either. It's probably not really that exciting though, the flashover lasts mere microseconds.

In reply to your comment:
“Hey gluonium, the Z machine is getting new electrical circuits that will do away with the cool light show depicted in your avatar, kinda sad in a way, but good in so far as yeilded efficiency:
http://www.physorg.com/news96730015.html

If you ever find a video of a test firing of the Z machine, prior to the upgrade, I would be eternally grateful, I've looked to no avail. ”

Hey gluonium, the Z machine is getting new electrical circuits that will do away with the cool light show depicted in your avatar, kinda sad in a way, but good in so far as yeilded efficiency:
http://www.physorg.com/news96730015.html

If you ever find a video of a test firing of the Z machine, prior to the upgrade, I would be eternally grateful, I've looked to no avail.

January 4, 2007

A Russian rocket that broke up re-entering Earth's atmosphere over the United States had ferried a French telescope into orbit, U.S. military officials said.

Early risers in Colorado and Wyoming could see glowing trails of space debris from the rocket, launched recently from Kazakhstan, the Denver Post reported Thursday.

Rocket pieces as large as boulders broke off but disintegrated into shards before they hit the two states just before sunrise, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Sean Kelly, spokesman for U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense.

"It's not a big deal at all," Kelly told the Post. "It lit up the sky over Colorado. This is a routine occurrence. This happens every day. It's just that it's not over Colorado. Most of the time these things hit the ocean."

No damage was reported. The debris wasn't thought to be hazardous.

Copyright 2007 by United Press International