Fantasy Baseball Cafe Forums

by **StlSluggers** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 10:06 am

90-year old man didn't know he was putting up a ridiculously rare watch for sale on eBay

Good for him ;-D

by **Art Vandelay** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:29 am

My grandpa was stationed at Kwajalein Atoll in '57 and '58. If they were selling Rolexes at the Navy Exchange, I may have some drawers and boxes to go through next time I visit my grandma.

by **Art Vandelay** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:12 pm

They're here.
http://gizmodo.com/5704158/nasa-finds-new-life

At their conference today, NASA scientist Felisa Wolfe Simon will announce that they have found a bacteria whose DNA is completely alien to what we know today. Instead of using phosphorus, the bacteria uses arsenic. All life on Earth is made of six components: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulfur. Every being, from the smallest amoeba to the largest whale, share the same life stream. Our DNA blocks are all the same.

But not this one. This one is completely different. Discovered in the poisonous Mono Lake, California, this bacteria is made of arsenic, something that was thought to be completely impossible. While she and other scientists theorized that this could be possible, this is the first discovery. The implications of this discovery are enormous to our understanding of life itself and the possibility of finding beings in other planets that don't have to be like planet Earth.

by **StlSluggers** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 1:48 pm

While this is neat, they had me hoping for at least something extraterrestrial, what with the announcement that they're astrobiology expert would be involved and all...

:-[

Also... Voyage of the Space Beagle, part one ;-D

by **StlSluggers** » Thu Dec 02, 2010 11:08 pm

[T]hey had discovered an earthly life form that used a radically different chemistry. I was dubious, even at that. And then I finally got the paper from Science, and I'm sorry to let you all down, but it's none of the above. It's an extremophile bacterium that can be coaxed into substituting arsenic for phosphorus in some of its basic biochemistry. It's perfectly reasonable and interesting work in its own right, but it's not radical, it's not particularly surprising, and it's especially not extraterrestrial. It's the kind of thing that will get a sentence or three in biochemistry textbooks in the future.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010 ... d_life.php

by **StlSluggers** » Fri Dec 03, 2010 1:02 pm

headline of the day

by **Art Vandelay** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 8:44 pm

This guy is awesome. Literally.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has officially changed his name to Captain Awesome.

The former Douglas Allen Smith Jr. is a Lane County native and a 2002 graduate of Willamette High School in Eugene.

But The Register-Guard reports the out-of-work cabinet installer officially became Captain Awesome last month, when a Lane County judge approved his name change petition.

He says the name change was inspired by the nickname for a character on the NBC television show "Chuck" — Dr. Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb.

The new Captain Awesome says he thought it was funny the father of the TV show character always called his son "Captain Awesome" because — in Awesome's words — "a poor nickname builds good character."

by **The Artful Dodger** » Mon Dec 06, 2010 9:43 pm

Should have gone with Captain Charisma instead. The "Awesome" surname should only be reserved for the late Mike Awesome.

by **Metroid** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:38 am

Art Vandelay wrote:This guy is awesome. Literally.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has officially changed his name to Captain Awesome.

The former Douglas Allen Smith Jr. is a Lane County native and a 2002 graduate of Willamette High School in Eugene.

But The Register-Guard reports the out-of-work cabinet installer officially became Captain Awesome last month, when a Lane County judge approved his name change petition.

He says the name change was inspired by the nickname for a character on the NBC television show "Chuck" — Dr. Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb.

The new Captain Awesome says he thought it was funny the father of the TV show character always called his son "Captain Awesome" because — in Awesome's words — "a poor nickname builds good character."

Haha...only in Eugene. :-b

by **bigh0rt** » Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:14 am

Metroid wrote:
Art Vandelay wrote:This guy is awesome. Literally.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — An Oregon man has officially changed his name to Captain Awesome.

The former Douglas Allen Smith Jr. is a Lane County native and a 2002 graduate of Willamette High School in Eugene.

But The Register-Guard reports the out-of-work cabinet installer officially became Captain Awesome last month, when a Lane County judge approved his name change petition.

He says the name change was inspired by the nickname for a character on the NBC television show "Chuck" — Dr. Devon "Captain Awesome" Woodcomb.

The new Captain Awesome says he thought it was funny the father of the TV show character always called his son "Captain Awesome" because — in Awesome's words — "a poor nickname builds good character."

Haha...only in Eugene.

I actually thought it was about you... 8-o