Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

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davesmith_au
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Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by davesmith_au » Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:07 pm

July 25 ~ Guest contribution ~ Liam Scheff

Astronomers may have discovered the cause for a long-sought and troubling mystery - the cause of small bright fires in low to mid-sized mountainous regions worldwide, especially during warmer seasons.

NASAPS scientists have determined that a new and startling breed of micro-mini rogue black holes may be responsible for generating these spectacular, but contained, light shows. “We never thought this sort of thing was possible,” said David Prill, of the University of Gloucester, “but we've been wrong before.” ... [More...]
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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by MGmirkin » Sat Jul 25, 2009 3:32 pm

Disclaimer: One should probably note, in case it's not obvious to somebody happening upon the site or forum, that the article is satire...

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by davesmith_au » Sat Jul 25, 2009 5:39 pm

Michael wrote:Disclaimer: One should probably note, in case it's not obvious to somebody happening upon the site or forum, that the article is satire...
Yes, but I thought the word "parody" in bold above the headline was a bit of a give-away, especially up in that white space where it would be easy to notice... :?

Cheers, Dave.
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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by Liam_Scheff » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:16 pm

Well... mea culpa, I guess!

I had been reading and reviewing some 30 or 40 mainstream journal articles on black holes, and the wonder of it all finally sunk in:

"Black Holes, They're Anything We Need 'Em to Be." NASA can brand that on their satellites, till they figure out that they've been looking up the wrong address...

In reading, I swear, lines such as those in the bit of light satire above, repeated themselves over and over, and over again. How many grand surprises and mysteries abound! As many as are needed, (until they decide to look at it through a better theoretical lens).

Going through the mainstream black hole stuff was as eye-opening and jaw-dropping an experience as I've had in a long time. I had no idea people could so willingly convince themselves of such absolute nonsense, such lucid, wonderful outer-space fairy tales and supernatural stories, until I walked into the land of the 'black hole.'

Hope it entertains a bit, and tweaks the mainstream ever so slightly on the nose. Gosh, it'd be nice if they'd pay attention to such a concept as 'repeatable, testable, and in evidence.'

Thanks for the opportunity to learn something, and well, have some fun at the same time. (Who knew astronomy was such a riot! Maybe NASA can market itself in a new way - Big Bang Cosmology: We Make Outer Space Funny!)

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by StevenJay » Sat Jul 25, 2009 6:28 pm

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Dave, I'm telling ya, man, you gotta don a lab coat with some sort of official-looking insignia and take this shtick on the road. You're a natural! :D Plus, your timing is impeccable. A bit of comedy relief now and then is always a good idea, IMO.

Although on second thought, your typical audiences would likely just stare in rapt, dreamy-eyed wonderment. . . except for the EU geeks at the table right up front who'd be laughing their asses off, much to the bewilderment of everyone else. :?

And since the article read just like so many of the loopy official press releases of late, it was kind'a hard to tell the difference at first. :shock: So, I can see where the disclaimer was probably a good idea too, Michael (although, it might have been fun to watch something like this grow legs and see where it. . . oh, never mind).
It's all about perception.

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by nick c » Sat Jul 25, 2009 8:01 pm

Smokey the Bear says...Prevent Forest Fires! Always extinguish your black holes :shock:

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by davesmith_au » Sat Jul 25, 2009 9:58 pm

Steven, Liam Scheff (who's post is above yours) is a real live investigative reporter who wrote that blog. It's not a pseudonym (of mine anyhow...) so whilst I can take credit for publishing it, it's entirely Liam's work. We have an understaning. I like funny shit. He can write funny shit. It's a win-win situation!

Cheers, Dave.
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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by mharratsc » Sun Jul 26, 2009 6:58 am

LOLOL @ Liam! :lol:

Of course- I was reading this over coffee first thing in the AM at work, and being that there was too much blood in my coffee stream I completely missed the PARODY label at the top! Many of my co-workers came by asking if they needed to call me an ambulance as I spontaneously attempted to learn how to breathe coffee... :shock:

Good stuff, Liam! I couldn't agree with you more!

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by StevenJay » Sun Jul 26, 2009 3:24 pm

davesmith_au wrote:Steven, Liam Scheff (who's post is above yours) is a real live investigative reporter who wrote that blog. It's not a pseudonym (of mine anyhow...) so whilst I can take credit for publishing it, it's entirely Liam's work. We have an understaning. I like funny shit. He can write funny shit. It's a win-win situation!

Cheers, Dave.
Sheesh, I can't believe I missed that. :oops: I guess I got too caught up in the shtick! Nothin' like a good symbiotic relationship, though, eh? (Thanks, Liam!) :D
It's all about perception.

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by MGmirkin » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:10 pm

davesmith_au wrote:Yes, but I thought the word "parody" in bold above the headline was a bit of a give-away, especially up in that white space where it would be easy to notice... :?

Cheers, Dave.
Hmm, strangely enough, I completely missed that bit. Guess my eyes are just naturally drawn to the title... ;) My bad.

For some reason it looked a lot like the text for "Guest Contribution." Brain tuned it out. Maybe if it was in red? Err, maybe blue, to set it off from the Thunderblog red? Maybe that would make the page too rainbow colored, though?

Flashing? Spinning? Giving seizures? I dunno. ;) Kidding mostly.

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by MGmirkin » Mon Jul 27, 2009 3:19 pm

nick c wrote:Smokey the Bear says... Prevent Forest Fires! Always extinguish your black holes. :shock:
:twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I'll try to remember my black hole extinguisher the next time I'm out camping or barbecuing in the back yard... Just in case, mind you! :D

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by Liam_Scheff » Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:40 pm

All things considered, I would've liked nothing more than for this to have been sucked into the news-stream par accident, only to have shame-faced Yahoo or Google news discover too late that 'this black hole article' was a parody.. (and then, it would be asked, why did it seem so 'real?' Answer: Because it's about as real as all the rest!)

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Re: Astronomers Discover Mini Black Holes in Mountains

Unread post by Tina » Tue Sep 01, 2009 5:03 am

Liam_Scheff wrote:Well... mea culpa, I guess!
I got the parody bit in the title - but the tragedy is that the mindset exhibited in your text is not far removed from the mindset of actual 'Black Hole' devotees.

funny funny funny

Thanks - I usually feel like crying after reading about Black Hole discoveries.

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