ADAMANT

How To Dress A Moose

Once well-dressed , the moose may be enrolled

 in the Tina Fey School Of Moose Dressage 

Stay tuned for appointment of Danish cartoonist

      as Alaskan Ambassador to Kazakhstan

Another Flavor Of Thunderbolt

The atmospheric chemistry of the largest planet in the solar system, and the other gas giants as well, has taken an oddly solid turn with the announcement that ,at what pass for moderate pressures in the outer reaches of Jupiter's atmosphere ( there's metallic hydrogen further down ) , ammonia undergoes a phase transition that disproportionates it into solid ammonium amide --  so  NH3 rain  may turn to sleet even when falling into warmer regions.-

Nature Materials 7, 775 - 779 (2008) 
Published online: 24 August 2008 | doi:10.1038/nmat2261

Subject Category: Computation, modelling and theory

Highly compressed ammonia forms an ionic crystal

Chris J. Pickard¹ & R. J. Needs²

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Ammonia is an important compound with many uses, such as in the manufacture of fertilizers, explosives and pharmaceuticals. As an archetypal hydrogen-bonded system, the properties of ammonia under pressure are of fundamental interest, and compressed ammonia has a significant role in planetary physics. We predict new high-pressure crystalline phases of ammonia (NH₃) through a computational search based on first-principles density-functional-theory calculations¹. Ammonia is known to form hydrogen-bonded solids^{2, 3, 4, 5, 6}, but we predict that at higher pressures it will form ammonium amide ionic solids consisting of alternate layers of NH₄⁺ and NH₂^- ions. These ionic phases are predicted to be stable over a wide range of pressures readily obtainable in laboratory experiments. The occurrence of ionic phases is rationalized in terms of the relative ease of forming ammonium and amide ions from ammonia molecules, and the volume reduction on doing so. We also predict that the ionic bonding cannot be sustained under extreme compression and that, at pressures beyond the reach of current static-loading experiments, ammonia will return to hydrogen-bonded structures consisting of neutral NH₃ molecules.

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1. Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9SS, UK
2. Theory of Condensed Matter Group, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK

Correspondence to: Chris J. Pickard¹ e-mail: [email protected]

Red State Liebensraum?

 In 1751, Ben Franklin  shrewdly observed that that America’s low population density meant higher wages and lower land prices, incentives to  earlier marriages and more children. The Palin nomination may signify that this has not been lost on Carl Rove, for  Steve Sailer points out in this month's American Conservative that only Mormon Utah exceeds  vast  Alaska rivals  Mormon Utah in white  fertility , with a birth rate  38 percent higher than crowded California. He notes :

This Baby Gap helps paint the electoral map red or blue. In 2004, Bush carried 25 of the top 26 states in the total fertility rate (expected number of babies per woman per lifetime) among whites, while Kerry was victorious in the bottom 16. It’s all about the ratio of land and resources to people. Even excluding Alaska, the counties that Bush carried in 2004 are four times as large in area as Kerry’s counties.

Ye Arts & Pirates Daily

Avast ye Literary Lascaradoes ! Being of a mutinous Difposition,Ye Editor hath hoift thif Blogges true Colours to ye royal-top , to get the weather Gage of ye Burgee of Bones  for tis Talk Like A Pirate Day , and here bee

  

                                        

Arts         Letters    0f Marque If the Kayak Corsairess Mifstress Palin's raid on the Potomac mifcarries, will she run for  Governor of the Spanish Main like a born- again Joan Bonney, or end up pleading her belly in   Execution Dock to please pro-life palaeo-pyrates? The quarterdeck of Obama Reis begala is abuzz with scuttlebutt of sinning badly.. more»  In Prince-Towne up the Delaware, where Richard Rorty  did avast himself a “syncretist hack.” the scurvy scrivner caulked a  philosophical mosaic  fair and bye... more» Robert Trivers loves the logic o' evolution.That dead men tell no tales be bilge- Philosopher's Mate Darwin o'ye barque Beagle dead reckoned a geometry o' time yar as the geometry o' space that lubber Newton or that Leghorno Bos'n Galileo ..Aaaarrh! more>>  Should local folk rebuild N'Orleans as she was? By Cap’n Lafitte’s bones, No!   Probably it be not a bad idea, says Carlin Romano. (Aaarrhhh, me parrot!)   Quite possibly, it be a catastrophic one... (Bilge!)    Academic anthropology be in   crisis, says Dan Sperber, who be not alarmed. (Yarrr, into the futtock   shrouds ) “It deserves t' be in crisis. (Weigh anchor!) It deserves t'   explode, let it do so”... (Bloody privateers!) more»           “The semicolon be   ugly, ugly as a tick on a dog’s belly, I pinch 'em out o' me prose,” says   Donald Barthelme. (Blimey!) Other writers disagree...  more»           What they’re readin' at the   kitchen table. (Gangway!) Home-schoolers o' all stripes find common   ground in superb but nearly forgotten books... (Sink me!)         Piracy has a long 'n brutal ahoystory. (Bilge!) How it has   been treated in law makes a useful precedent for terrorism... (Prepare to   dance the hempen jig, matey!)   Translate the Bible, but don’t try t' “explain” it with yer   translation: you’ll just trivialize its grand solemnity 'n epic sweep...T’is   mostly fit for a Black Spot (Aaarrrrhhh!) more»                           Ye  &Pyrates    New-Captured .......Logs......... A  warmin' earth ? We be for it! The fig of Spain for all the monsoon, mega-drought, n' malaria scuttlebutt-  if it be mild as the Bight O’Benin, make after them polar bears through the  Northwest Passage, and  plunder the China Trade ! more>   Till the 18th century,   Scots, like other Europeans, saw distilled spirits as medicine. (Shiver me   timbers!) Then a few Jockoes started t'drink whisky for fun... (Pass the Demerara, mate)       From Voltaire 'n David Hume   t' Rob Ingersoll 'n Clarence Darrow, atheism used t' be on the march,   religion on the aft foot. (Blimey!) Times change...  more»         Th’doxy  was dazzled by Sartre’s brilliance as a   philosopher. (Blimey!) For Simone de Beauvoir, terms like “essence” or   “contin'ency” worked like a chest O’gold pistoles'... (Aaarrhhh, )       Belay yer blubbering of hurricanoes,New Orleens! that City o' floods, graceful Venice has survived such calamities as fires, plagues 'n  Keelhauling of its poxy gondoliers: Nay U.S city has ever had t' endure the like... “Can somethin' be achieved  upstream O Hormuz worthy o' the sacrifice ? ” George Packer badly   wants that the Iraq answer will turn out t' be yes...  (Prepare to gybe)?   Hilde Kschessinska: prima ballerina   assoluta, mistress o' Czar Nicholas II – a poppet o' vast skill, massive   energy, 'n implacable willfulness... (Dead men tell no tales.)  If we ever   find out that a basic tenet o' Buddhism be shown false by science, we simply   must give it up. Who said it? The Dalai Lama... The kirtled   lubber. more»   Don’t be shocked at the sad   fate o' the Big Easy. (Be ye ready to walk the plank?) history be littered   with “eternal” cities brought low by flood, plague, or   man-made disaster... (Weigh anchor!)   Christopher Hitchens be a man whose passion outruns 'is reason.   (Blimey!) He can be fun t' read 'n t' argue with, but.smart as paint? Sink   me! more»     Søren Kierkegaard , The scurvy quacksalver,rebuked the Christianity   o' 'is day: rather than get rid o' the whorehouse, it preferred t' baptize   it... (Arrgh!) more»   The FDA bans absinthe, as it be  adulterated” with wormwood. (Arr!) Still, customs agents will typically ignore a   bottle or two in yer suitcase... (Yarrr, more grog, wench!) (Aaaarrrhhh!!!)  Most Utopias are   odorless, antiseptic futures, intolerably streamlined 'n sensible, with   splendid plumbin'... (Bilge!) more» However baggywrinkle 'is   private life,Arthur Koestlerport behind an absorbin' body o' work   for anyone who enjoys the battle o' ideas...      Editin' be a bloody trade.   (Arrgh!) But knives aren’t the exclusive property o' butchers. (Aaarrrrhhh!)   Surgeons use 'em too. (Yo-ho-ho!)Blake Morrisondefends editors   wi’rusty cutlasses... (Aarhh!) more»  Sure, it’s naive t' think   that all moral beliefs be universal. (The chase is making full sail, matey!)   But thar may be an innate “moral sense” across cultures... (Damn me   eyes.) If Michel Houellebecq   calls Islam “the stupidest religion in the world,” well, aft all, he was   drunk. (Yaaarrrr!) It’s when he writes 'bout sex... (Yo-ho-ho!)  Should local folk rebuild N'Orleans as she was? By Cap’n Lafitte’s bones, No!   Probably it be not a bad idea, says Carlin Romano. (Aaarrhhh, me parrot!)   Quite possibly, it be a catastrophic one... (Bilge!)  Curst be the Bones o’the scurvy  dog who reprinteth this but as by the Articles of ye  ALD’s  permission for  editin be thirsty work requiring of   costly Zacapa rum   So stand ye  Readers, and by the Code, deliver doubloons  to ye  Paypal account of [email protected] Copyright MMVII         Daily     Essays  and   Affadavys Be quotation marks the new boldface? Arrh,'tis as  a grog shop sign hailing “FINE FOOD”? Aye , but don’t expect such usage to overhaul Bristol fashion English... more»  How can yer Arab left openly embrace  Muslims listing far to starboard? , says  Hussein Ibish, (By the Black Spot, A Salee Cap'n sure) such matey gestures  be never returned except by a  poxy kiss o'Davey Jones ... more» Al-Qaeda's hard aground  upstream o'Basra, so the lascars be moving the jihad to Europe... more»... Turn Turk, Osama says, and  the Grand Porte will discount its scurvy  port dues dockside !! Antarctica be a red state. March o' the Penguins ‘affirms    norms O The Code like monogamy   sacrifice'n child rearin'” says a critic. But some o' those penguins be   gay... (Bilge!)   “Nay iron can pierce the   heart with such force as a period put just at the starboard place” Raymond   Carver above all loved precise writin'... (Aaaarrrhhh!!!) more»           Thar be genuine intensity   in the sufferin' o' Frida Kahlo. Yet thar be somethin' vaguely repulsive in the adulation she receives.   Victimhood, aft all, be not beatitude... (Bloody landlubber!) more»           “Booty doesn’t   buy happiness.” Oh, aye? (Yaaarrrr!) A strong correlation exists between   the wealth o' a country 'n its general level o' happiness. (Gangway!) But as   Aristotle. (Bloody Turkadoe !) knew... more» Democracy? (The chase is  making full sail, matey!) Good governance can include many components besides   democratic participation, says Francis Fukuyama. (Bloody landlubber!)   Consider the case o' Sin'apore ,  ye   Lascar dogs!)       God looks after bilge rats, drunks, children, 'n the USA.  Did  God shanghai Palm Beach voters in 2000, in order t' push a neocon   agenda aloft into the riggin ? more»   “I have felt it meself,” Freeman Dyson said.   (Aaaarrrhhh!!!) “The glitter o' nuclear weapons. (Aaarrrrhhh!) It be   irresistible if ye come t' 'em as a scientist: an illusion o' illimitable   power.”...  more»

 

Two Thirds Airborne

And still getting warmed up , in the flat water reach off Anacortes , in Puget Sound :"This trimaran is the only one of its kind. She is fairly extreme and has enormous potential. We're gradually taming her".  says   French sailor Franck Cammas, Designated as helmsman by Russell Coutts, the  America's Cup skipper during these initial outings, the skipper of  the  smaller but  equally formidable multihulls of the  Groupama design  series has been collaborating with the American Team as a coach and consultant for over a year.

On the water, this trimaran 's 50 meter high,  500 m2 mainsail drives the  the boat hard enough to  fly two hulls in under 10 knots wind-- but this is no Hobie-- it is ninety feet wide , and  the  canting carbon fiber wing  mast can also carry  a 700 M2 genniker. The result is all the power of a J-boat warped into propelling less than 10% of the mass.  At two-thirds her size, and a quarter her sail plan, the 1988 catamaran Cup defender, Stars & Stripes was pretty hairy to sail even in the mild conditions prevailing off San Diego.

 Only this beast of a boat's enormous beam and phenomenally  stiff construction allow her to face open water , yet though pride goeth before a fall, she may see close to forty knots beforehand. Lord knows what the Swiss defense will counter with if the New York court ruling on her legality  under the AC  Deed of Gift's  " ... shall meet with a like boat  any challenge by a vessel less than 90 feet on the waterline" clause  tells Geneva to quit litigating , and  get on the water to let God and the racing rules sort it out. I hope it doesn't come to this :

Palaeo Ontonology

The ever-philosophical American Spectator blog wonders if Alaska's born again Governatrix will be John McCain's answer to  Aspasia :

"Matt Damon's Single Issue: Dinosaurs - Thursday, September 11, 2008 @ 1:09:23 AM
Who knew that Matt Damon was a single issue voter? 

"I need to know whether she thinks that dinosaurs existed 4,000 years ago. That's important. I want to know that. I really do. Because she's going to have the nuclear codes."

To believe that Patton thought he was a reincarnation of Pericles and we still let him command soldiers in World War II." 

Pericles I can handle. It's Alley Oop I worry about. 

Reweaving The Rainbow

If you're wondering what 's next in non-linear optics:

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Nature Physics 4, 716 - 720 (2008)
Published online: 31 August 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphys1056

Linked and knotted beams of light

William T. M. Irvine^1,2 & Dirk Bouwmeester^2,3

Maxwell's eqations allow for curious solutions characterized by the property that all electric and magnetic field lines are closed loops with any two electric (or magnetic) field lines linked. These little-known solutions, constructed by Rañada¹, are based on the Hopf fibration. Here we analyse their physical properties to investigate how they can be experimentally realized. We study their time evolution and uncover, through a decomposition into a spectrum of spherical harmonics, a remarkably simple representation. Using this representation, first, a connection is established to the Chandrasekhar–Kendall curl eigenstates², which are of broad importance in plasma physics and fluid dynamics. Second, we show how a new class of knotted beams of light can be derived, and third, we show that approximate knots of light may be generated using tightly focused circularly polarized laser beams. We predict theoretical extensions and potential applications, in fields ranging from fluid dynamics, topological optical solitons and particle trapping to cold atomic gases and plasma confinement.

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1. Center for Soft Condensed Matter Research, Department of Physics, New York University, New York 10003, USA
2. Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
3. Huygens Laboratory, Leiden University, PO Box 9504, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands

Correspondence to: William T. M. Irvine^1,2 e-mail: [email protected]

The Shadow Cabinet

Another Pterodactyl On Steroids

This Time With A J-Boat Mast !

Once more, the America's Cup  challenge and defense may come down to the question of who can build the fastest boat in the world? Here is the BMW/ Oracle entry.

The 1851 race led to a 19th century Deed of Gift that says any challenge from a boat  under 90 feet  on the waterline must be met, and thanks to its reverse bow rake, this carbon fiber bird of prey is exactly that. The carbon fiber wing section mast has an I measurement of 158 feet, same as the hallowed J class, although I shudder to think how this thing will accelerate with a 5,000 square foot main,since it can['t weigh much more than 20 tonnes soaking wet. 

Judging by the performance of the last multihull to race for the Cup, Stars and Stripes  in 1988, expect this one to reach  at close to, if not above ,three times wind speed in the light air prevailing on the Valencia AC course.