{"id":12944,"date":"2014-11-22T10:13:08","date_gmt":"2014-11-22T15:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=12944"},"modified":"2014-11-22T10:27:41","modified_gmt":"2014-11-22T15:27:41","slug":"thankful-for-the-information","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2014\/11\/22\/thankful-for-the-information\/","title":{"rendered":"Thankful for the information"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many folks at this time of year, I try to give some thought to the things for which I have cause to be grateful. And I can immediately tick off the usual: life, health, a modicum of comfort, a bit of sanity, a loving family, good friends, interesting work. Any man who had nearly as much should show a little gratitude.<\/p>\n

But I have other needs and occasions for gratitude, too. I\u2019m a bit of a propeller-head–a little nerdy, a little ovoid in the noggin, if you will. So I was pleased to spot this headline in my daily EarthSky e-newsletter: \u201cGravity and Higgs boson interacted to save the universe<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Time<\/a>

Time line of the universe via NASA\/WMAP Science Team<\/p><\/div>\n

Physicists had been scratching their heads since the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012. Their numbers said the Big Bang should have been a Big Bust\u2014one second of expansion, then out like a cheap lighter. But gravity came riding to the rescue. Interaction with the curve of spacetime itself was enough to overcome the \u201cHiggs instability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whatever that<\/i> is when it is at home I couldn\u2019t say. As a lowly English major, my main source of cosmological data in my formative years was Firesign Theater:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the beginning there were hot lumps. Noiselessly they sang in the dense void.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Anyway, thanks gravity. You\u2019re a peach.<\/p>\n

I also love me a good infographic, and the NASA one accompanying the article? Also a peach–13.7 billions years of history at a glance. According to it:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the beginning there was quantum fluctuation. Following faster-than-light inflation the afterglow lasted 380,000 years. Then 400 million years of darkness until the first stars appear.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wowsers, makes my head inflate at a ferocious rate. Pretty dramatic, too. So we should be grateful that we live in the era of\u00a0 \u201cDark Energy Accelerated Expansion.\u201d One season of winter will be darkness enough.<\/p>\n

Thank you, dark energy. Thank you, NASA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like many folks at this time of year, I try to give some thought to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[6128],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12944"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12944"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12947,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12944\/revisions\/12947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}