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Astronomers have captured a spectacular, ongoing collision between at least three galaxy clusters. Data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA’s (European Space Agency’s) XMM-Newton, and a trio of radio telescopes is helping astronomers sort out what is happening in this jumbled scene. Collisions and mergers like this are the main way that galaxy clusters can grow into the gigantic cosmic edifices seen today. These also act as the largest particle accelerators in the universe. The giant galaxy cluster forming from this collision is Abell 2256, located 780 million light-years from Earth. This composite image of Abell 2256 combines X-rays from...

Thanks to skyrocketing electricity prices, it now costs more to drive the average electric vehicle 100 miles than it does to drive a gas-powered car the same distance. A report from the Anderson Economic Group (AEG) shows that driving a gas-powered car 100 miles costs an average of $11.29. However, the cost for people who drive electric vehicles and charge up at home is $11.60 per hundred miles. A little more expensive. But. For those electric car owners who use recharging stations, the average cost for 100 miles is substantially higher at $14.40. But at least you’re saving the planet,...

Benedict's death has certainly accelerated the aggressiveness Vatican expert Politi: attacks on Francis will increase Just after the death of Benedict XVI, more and more conservative bishops voiced their criticism of Pope Francis. Just coincidence - or is there more to it? In the katholisch.de interview, Italian Vatican expert Marco Politi gives his assessment. Since the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, voices from the College of Bishops have been piling up criticising Pope Francis. Archbishop Georg Gänswein's memoirs, in which he reports on his time with Benedict XVI, contain passages that at least indirectly criticise decisions made by the...

Partial view of Jupiter as seen by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Stormy swirls are visible in muted shades of blue and blush pink. NASA's Juno spacecraft used its JunoCam to capture this view of Jupiter's southern hemisphere on Jan. 22 after the camera returned to normal operation. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS If you see a glorious new view of Jupiter or its fascinating moons, you can probably thank NASA's Juno spacecraft for the imagery. Juno's JunoCam has been delivering stunning looks at the swirling gas giant planet since its arrival there in 2016. But JunoCam now has a mysterious problem. In a statement on...

Utility companies in the U.S. have disconnected customers an estimated 5.7 million times since 2020, according to a new report. The disconnections have come even as those companies have paid billions to shareholders and executives, according to a report published on Monday by the Center for Biological Diversity, BailoutWatch and the Energy and Policy Institute. “No one should ever have to choose between having food on the table and keeping the heat on,” Selah Goodson Bell, a campaigner with the Center for Biological Diversity’s energy justice program, said in a statement. “It’s inexcusable for utility executives and shareholders to profit...

Flight LogFlight 41 Sol 689 Date Jan. 27, 2023 Horizontal Distance 183 m ~600 ft Max. Altitude 10 m ~33 ft Max. Groundspeed 3 m/s ~6.7 mph Duration 109.1 seconds Route of Flight Airfield BetaFlights 41 (as of 1/27/23)Distance Flown 8,191 meters (~26,875 ft)Highest Altitude 14 meters (~46 ft)Fastest Ground Speed 5.50 m/s (12.3 mph)Flight Time ~67.7 minutes (4,060 seconds)Raw Images (Sol 689)

Okay, I'm not really into guns. But wow ran across this and was blown away. Video at AA-12 Fully Automatic Shotgun Comments? Thoughts?

Distant Galaxy The image of the most distant galaxy, GHZ2/GLASS-z12. (NASA/ESA/CSA/T. Treu, UCLA/NAOJ/T. Bakx, Nagoya U) A galaxy whose light has traveled nearly 13.5 billion years to reach us has just been confirmed as the earliest galaxy found to date. By studying the oxygen content of the galaxy with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), astronomers have precisely dated it to just 367 million years after the Big Bang, a time when the first lights in the Universe were still switching on and starting to propagate freely through space. The result confirms observations made by JWST, and offers new information...

It was a cold Wednesday evening in late January, and Curtis Lyons of Maywood, age 37, was allegedly in the nearby west suburban Chicagoland town of Villa Park to sell drugs, with $7000 in cash and a supply of controlled substances at hand, along with a 9mm Glock that had been modified to allow automatic fire. For reasons not yet clear, during his Wednesday visit to Villa Park, he allegedly sprayed the neighborhood with bullets, firing at least 30 shots in a matter of seconds, at least one round entering a residence. Curtis Lyons has a rap sheet. A quick...

30 January 2023 Monday of week 4 in Ordinary Time Assumption of the Virgin Catholic Church, Budslav, Ukraine Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green. Year: A(I).First readingHebrews 11:32-40 ©The example of the Old Testament saintsGideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel and the prophets – these were men who through faith conquered kingdoms, did what is right and earned the promises. They could keep a lion’s mouth shut, put out blazing fires and emerge unscathed from battle. They were weak people who were given strength, to be brave in war and drive back foreign invaders. Some came back to their wives from...

Whoopi Goldberg asked her co-hosts Monday on ABC’s “The View” if “white people” needed to be beaten by police before there was police reform. Discussing the death of Tyre Nichols, Goldberg said, “Peaceful protests continued nationwide after Friday’s release of police footage showing officers savagely beating Tyre Nichols in Memphis. So far, five cops have been charged with second-degree murder and kidnapping. I asked this question way too many times at this table, but you know, when will the brutality finally lead to some police reform from the ground up? Because clearly, it doesn’t matter if it’s a white policeman...

New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said Monday on “CNN This Morning” that racism was involved in the death of Tyre Nichols. Host Don Lemon asked, “Much has been made about the officers, all of them being black. You said that diversifying police departments would allow us to have a level of policing we deserve. These five officers are all black. Is there an entrenched police culture of aggression towards black people?” Adams said, “Clearly, we could not ignore the ethnicity of the officers that are involved. That is the pink elephant in the room. And people talked about...

The New Jersey attorney general has announced an investigation into the 2022 general election in Monmouth County after some votes were double-counted, possibly flipping the outcome of a local school board race. Democrat Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Civil Rights Director Sundeep Iyer said last week that the state retained former Attorney General Peter Harvey and his law firm on a pro bono basis to investigate Monmouth County's administration of the November election and provide recommendations to improve future elections. "Based on public reports regarding the 2022 General Election in Monmouth County, a full investigation is warranted to encourage and...

Megyn Kelly blasted the first lady after she was introduced on Fox as “Dr. Jill Biden” during the NFC Championship Game on Sunday, calling her a “wannabe” for not having a “real” degree and for “insisting on this fake title.” Biden was sitting next to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell in a luxury suite at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, where the first lady was rooting for her beloved Eagles during their decisive rout of the undermanned San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. When Fox cameras showed Biden and Goodell in the box, the television network’s graphics introduced her as “Dr. Jill...

Take it as a sign of the progress our country has made. In thinking about the Super Bowl, it's likely that relatively few people are focused on the fact that, for the first time, it will feature two black starting quarterbacks: Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles, and Patrick Mahomes (whose mother is white) of the Kansas City Chiefs. But count CNN's Don Lemon as someone who has made the race of the QBs his Super Bowl obsession. After some chit-chat at the top of the show, here's how Lemon formally introduced today's episode: "Good morning, everyone. For the first...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has repeatedly assured the public that President Biden is committed in the classified document scandal to move forward in “a very transparent way.” Putting aside the refusal to share any information beyond a desire to be transparent, Biden has one major test awaiting him on his pledge: his senatorial records. There has been much discussion of a classified document being found in his personal library in Wilmington, but there is a huge library of Biden documents sitting in the University of Delaware. The university is sitting on Biden documents due to a cynical 2012...

The Supreme Court allowed this unconstitutional and anti-freedom regime to proliferate while pretending to check it.Colorado cake artist Jack Phillips is going on 11 years of being harassed by LGBT activists and government authorities for being a practicing Christian. It was 2012 when Phillips was first hauled before his state’s speech tribunal for telling a gay couple he’d happily sell them anything in his shop but he couldn’t create a custom wedding cake celebrating sexual activities that his religion says are wrong. Last Thursday, Colorado’s Court of Appeals ruled he must bake a transgender celebration cake or face legal consequences...

American conservatives love to imagine immigrants as secret Republicans desperate to flee the Democrat barrio. The fantasy goes something like this: “Immigrants are hard-working, God-fearing people who love America more than any native! We just need to stop being bigoted and speak to these people in Spanish.” This line has been propagated for as long as I’ve been alive. Despite the billions Republicans have spent on outreach, they only started doing well with immigrant communities when they were led by a guy who called them criminals and rapists. Can immigrants save America? The answer is obviously no. By any metric,...

Shortly before Christmas, FTX founder Samuel Bankman-Fried, indicted on federal charges of fraud and money laundering, was released on a $250 million bail bond that was secured by his parents’ Palo Alto-area home. The size of the bail bond — 25 times bigger than Bernie Madoff’s — garnered considerable attention. The prosecution termed it “the largest ever pretrial bond.” What hasn’t drawn notice is the fact that Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are professors at Stanford Law School, are not typical homeowners. Their property is a faculty home on the Stanford campus itself. Stanford owns the land, and Bankman...

Let’s start with a scenario that your church has an average worship attendance of 100. I use that number for simplicity. The median worship attendance is 65.Now, let’s ask a simple question. How many attendees do you have to add to your attendance in a year to stay even?The answer for a typical church is 32 with a worship attendance of 100. You can double the number to 64 if the church’s attendance is 200.Did you get that? A church has to increase the number of attendees by 32 percent each year just to stay even.In a church with 100...