Boston Legal Quotes

Alan [leaving bathroom stall] Shirley.
Shirley: Alan.
Alan: You're in the men's room again.
Shirley: I need a favor.
Alan: Certainly, My stall or yours?

NASA Announces Hubble Mission Schedule

via Space.com, NASA has announced the scheduled launch of the shuttle Atlantis on Oct. 8 for the fifth and last Hubble Space Telescope maitenance mission. The mission is expected to last 11 days and has five spacewalks planned.

"shuttle astronauts will install two new science instruments plus a set of gyroscopes to help stabilize the telescope, as well as batteries and thermal blankets to keep the observatory operating until at least 2013.

Astronauts will also install a soft capture mechanism that will allow a future unmanned spacecraft to dock with Hubble in about 2020 and de-orbit it for a controlled plunge and disposal in the ocean."

The mission is also expected to attempt the repair of two failed instruments that have not previously been attempted in orbit. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which failed a year ago this month, have both been instrumental in confirming a number of scientific discoveries.

"STIS separates incoming light into its constituent colors, giving astronomers a chemical map of distant objects. Since its deployment, STIS has been critical in the confirmation of black holes at the centers of galaxies, made the first discovery of an atmosphere around an exoplanet and helped confirm the age of the universe."

The mission is also adding two instruments to the observatory, the Wide Field Camera 3, a "panchromatic" camera, and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), which will examine the 'cosmic web' of dark matter strands connecting various galaxies throughout the universe.

Boston Legal Quotes

Alan: Why does Shirley get to skip the staff meeting?
Paul: She's got a trial in New York later this week so she has a busy day.
Brad: Some of us have trials today, so if you don't mind, and like to cut out.
Laurie: What's your case about, Brad?
Alan: What is it about?
Brad: It involves interference with contractual relations.
Alan: You mean lesbians?
Paul: Where are you?
Brad: Today they're calling Tracy to testify that her ex-lover-
Alan: Lesbian ex-lover.
Brad: to testify that her ex-lover was scamming her for money. Tracy was not an actual bonafide -
Alan: Lesbian?
Brad: You like saying it.
Alan: I do.
Brad: Say it again.
Alan: Lesbian. Lesbian, lesbian -
Brad: Keep going.
Alan: Lesbian, lesbian, lesbian. All together now!
Entire staff: Lesbian.
Alan: I also like to watch. How many people -
Paul: That's enough, this is a staff meeting, I'll ask you all to conduct yourselves appropriately and professionally.

Exoplanet Totals Nearing 300

The Universe Today examines one of the newest members of astronomic exoplanet discovery community, the COROT (Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) spacetelescope, which has discovered two new 'hot Jupiter' type planets, and another very interesting anomolous object believed to be an extremely small brown dwarf, only 20 Jupiter masses. If it is a star, it would be the smallest ever detected. There are also some indications it may have a small planet, perhaps just 1.7 Earth masses.

"COROT launched in December 2006, with operations beginning in February of 2007. So far the mission has found four exoplanets. The mission started observations of its sixth star field at the beginning of May this year. During this observation phase, which will last 5 months, the spacecraft will simultaneously observe 12,000 stars."

The current confirmed number of exoplanets today is 287.

Boston Legal Quotes

Denny: ''Who would you rather have as your attorney? Me? Or Hacky McGuilty Verdict here?''

Boston Legal Quotes

Denny: ''She is the sexiest woman on earth. Unless of course you go for preggos, in which case, it's Angelina.''

Boston Legal Quotes

Denny: ''Well, you know, Brian, given our relationship, I feel entitled to be honest, the way friends are during difficult times. Can I be honest with you, Brian? You're a bastard, and a greedy one at that... This is about ambition, not morality, you greedy, sniveling, little wop.''

How Coffee Changed the World

The latest from Livescience on items/events that changed the world examines the role and history of the little bean that changed the world, coffee. I've always said the productivity of the American economy is probably more dependent on drinking coffee than any other piece of technology or substance. Coffee is the second most important commodity worldwide (oil is the first) and employes nearly 500 million people worldwide. Coffee was discoverd almost one thousand years ago in Ethiopia by a farmer whose goats kept him up all night after eating a quantity of the beans. A monastary then began to brew it into a hot drink, aiding the monks to stay awake during long prayer vigils, then the drink crossed the Red Sea into Yemen, where it spread like wildfire throughout the Islamic world, and then on to Europe.

"Romantic exaggeration or not, by A.D. 1000 the bean with a buzz was a favorite among those needing a boost in East Africa as well as across the Red Sea in Yemen, where the crop had migrated over with slaves.

If Ethiopia was the birthplace of coffee, Yemen was where it grew up. The brew first took hold among clerics there too, but spillover into the secular crowd didn't take long and skyrocketing demand soon led to the world's first cultivated coffee fields there in the 1300s. The entire Arabian peninsula became a hotbed of coffeehouse culture, with cafés – called kaveh kanes – on every corner.

By the 15th-century, Mecca resembled a medieval incarnation of Seattle, men sipping steaming mugs over games of chess and political conversations. Coffee houses were such an important place to gather and discuss that they were often called Schools of the Wise. Coffee had much the same effect in Europe when it was introduced there in the 1600s. Cafés were the center of social life, where people with similar interests could gather and talk. The British insurance company, Lloyd's of London, began as a café popular with sailors who often discussed insurance matters."

The Muslim world had careful export restrictions for hundreds of years preventing the the export of mature beans until an intrepid pilgrim to Mecca arrived from India and smuggled some out of the country back home, leading to an agricultural revolution on the subcontinent. The Dutch later managed to acquire a plant, from which they cultivated crops in their colonies in Southeastern Asia islands like Java and Sumatra. Beans followed European conquests worldwide, entering areas such as Brazil, Central America, Jamaica, and Hawaii. There are as many as 25 million small farmers world wide raising coffee today.

Boston Legal Quotes

Denny: ''Waive reading Judge. And ask that these ridiculous charges be dismissed on the grounds of ridiculousness.''

Boston Legal Quotes

Denny: ''Canada. Japan. England. Any number of those pinko countries, I'd be in jail for shooting somebody''