subtle science

rhamphotheca:

Giant Black Hole Devours Star, Fires Beam at Earth

A powerful beam of energy has been spotted blasting out from the center of a massive black hole as it rips apart and devours a star in a rare sight that astronomers say likely happens only once every 100 million years, a new study finds. When a NASA satellite first detected the intensely bright flash deep in the cosmos, astronomers initially thought it was a powerful burst of gamma rays from a collapsing star, one of the most powerful types of explosions in the universe. But, when the tremendous amount of energy could still be seen months later, they realized something more mysterious was going on.

“This is a really, really unusual event,” study co-author Joshua Bloom,assistant professor of Astronomy at University of California, Berkeley, told SPACE.com. “It’s now about two-and-a-half months old, and the fact that it just continues on and is only fading very slowly is the one really big piece of evidence that tells us this is not an ordinary gamma-ray burst.”…

(read more: Live Science)

Adele @ NPR’s Tiny Desk. Adele totally blows me away. She is hardly “news” at this point, but if you haven’t heard her perform live, give a listen. It’s just as amazing, and in some ways better than, the produced material. Sweet holy hell, what a voice.

nationalgeographicmagazine:

The First Grader: The Story

In a small, remote, mountaintop primary school in the Kenyan bush, hundreds of children are jostling for a chance for the free education newly promised by the Kenyan government. One applicant causes astonishment when he knocks on the door of the school. He is Maruge (Oliver Litondo), an old Mau Mau veteran in his 80s, who is desperate to learn to read at this late stage of his life. He fought for the liberation of his country and now feels he must have the chance at the education so long denied—even if it means sitting in a classroom alongside six-year-old children.

Moved by his passionate plea, head teacher Jane Obinchu (Naomie Harris) supports his struggle to gain admission, and together they face fierce opposition from parents and officials who don’t want to waste a precious school place on such an old man.

Full of vitality and humor, the film explores the remarkable relationships Maruge builds with classmates some 80 years his junior. Through Maruge’s journey, we are taken back to the shocking untold story of British colonial rule 50 years earlier, when Maruge fought for the freedom of his country and eventually ended up in the extreme and harsh conditions of the British detention camps.

The First Grader is a heartwarming and inspiring true story of one man’s fight for what he believes is his right in order to overcome the burdens of his past. It is a triumphant testimony to the transforming force of education.

These would be the most excellent absinthe spoons ever, no?

(via vulpes--velox-deactivated201108)

Skeletons are such hipsters.

These sassy Skull & Fringe Earrings are $28 in the Etsy shop!

Mount Moriah, “Lament.”

Ran across this while walking the dog today. I found it oddly compelling.

mineralia:

Boulder Opal from Austalia

embroidered photograph by Mi Figues.

yes.