What Caught My Eye Today - Netherlands, Russia, Asteroid, Numerology

Netherlands - Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, 74,  is stepping aside to let her son rule. Following a Dutch tradition of making room for a younger monarch, the queen will abdicate her throne in April so her son, Prince Willem-Alexander, 45, can begin his reign. Thirty-two years is good run, wouldn't you say? And the queen is following in her mother's footsteps. Mommy dearest (or Queen Juliana, if you prefer) handed the crown to Beatrix in 1980. Alright lad (or King Willem, if you prefer), let's see what you got. Britain's Prince Charles, won't be so lucky. You don't say. Queen Elizabeth, 86, is unlikely to follow Beatrix' example. Again, I'm stunned. Wearing the British crown is considered a lifetime commitment, and abdication is seen as a scandal. Last time I checked, being a member of the royal family was not exactly a scandal-free lifestyle. I've lost track of how many tabloid headlines the House of Windsor has accounted for. Speaking of which, anyone know what Prince Harry is up to these days? He just got back from another tour in Afghanistan, which must be music to the ears of the daily rags.

Russia - I'm not saying the U.S. Government is the model of efficiency, but one thing we don't get hung up on is time.  Too bad Russia cannot say the same thing. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued a decree that Russia would observe year-round DST. Under the decree, all clocks in Russia were advanced one hour on 27 March 2011 as usual, but are not to change back the following October, effectively making Moscow Time UTC+4 permanently. The move he made in 2011 when he was president has been widely unpopular as it has plunged the sprawling nation into darkness until late morning throughout the winter. Medvedev's mentor, Vladimir Putin, who returned to the presidency in May after spending four years in the premier's seat due to term limits, has indicated that Russia could switch back the time soon. Putin said in December that sticking permanently to summer time would make it difficult for TV audiences in Europe to watch the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia's Black Sea resort of Sochi. As it turns out, Russia has been tinkering with its time zones for several years now. In 2010, Russia reduced its number of time zones from 11 down to 9, and would have gotten rid of more, if not for the vehement protests of residents in Eastern Russia. I guess Russians aren't quite as amiable as the Chinese are. Since 1949, all of China has only had a single standard time.

Okay, boys and girls. Time to get your geek on for these last two items.

Asteroids - A 150-foot-wide asteroid, Asteroid 2012 DA14, will come remarkably close to Earth next week, even closer than high-flying communication and weather satellites. Really? "Asteroid 2012 DA14" is the best name we could come up with? How is one supposed to get excited about something call "Asteroid 2012 DA14"? It will be the nearest known flyby for an object of this size. Scientists promise the megarock will be at least 17,100 miles away when it zips over Indonesia at 17,400 mph next Friday (February 15). Of course it would be Indonesia that would have been impacted if the asteroid were to collide with the planet. It's not like those poor bastards haven't suffered enough at the hands of Mother Nature. Might as well have extra-terrestrial forces pile on. Impossible to see with the naked eye, the asteroid is considered small as these things go. By contrast, the one that took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was 6 miles wide. If it impacted Earth, it would release the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wipe out 750 square miles. The likelihood of something this size striking Earth is once in every 1,200 years. A close, harmless encounter like this is thought to occur every 40 years.

Numerology - I wish I could explain my fascination with stuff like this. I wish I could, but I can't. The largest prime number yet has been discovered — and it's 17,425,170 digits long. The new prime number crushes the last one discovered in 2008, which was a paltry 12,978,189 digits long. The number — 2 raised to the 57,885,161 power minus 1 — was discovered as part of a giant network of volunteer computers devoted to finding primes. The network, called the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) harnesses about 360,000 processors operating at 150 trillion calculations per second.  GIMPS, huh?  I'm not even going to attempt to figure out how they overlooked the unfortunate acronym they created. Seriously, this is why no one aspires to careers in science. Honestly, would you really want to be associated with something called GIMPS? STUDS maybe, but GIMPS...I think not.  In addition, the number is the 48th example of a rare class of primes called Mersenne Primes. Mersenne primes take the form of 2 raised to the power of a prime number minus 1. Since they were first described by French monk Marin Mersenne 350 years ago, only 48 of these elusive numbers have been found, including the most recent discovery. The person who made the discovery is eligible for a $3,000 GIMPS research discovery award. Again, where's the love for science?  I guess it isn't bad enough to have socially awkward acronyms for otherwise extraordinary mathematical discoveries. The poor schmucks who make these discoveries get stiffed as well.