The Zincan Slate

The last refuge for Martian life, if it exists, might be deep below the planet’s surface–and beyond the reach of any currently planned missions, according to a new study.

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Kaprekar’s Constant is 6174. Now lets have some fun with this number.

Follow this simple algorithm to see the magic of this number.

1. Pick a four digit number. Each digit should be unique; no repeating digits. ex. 4367
2. Order the digits from largest to smallest. This is your large value. ex. 7643
3. Order the digits from smallest to largest. This is your small value. ex. 3467
4. Subtract the small value from the large value. ex. 7643-3467=4176
5. Return to step two unless the result is 6174 ex. 7641-1467=6174

The process can take up to seven iterations and will always give a result of 6174.

Once 6174 is reached, the answer will always be 6174.

Why is this so? Plus magazine! has the detailed explanation.

The Sun is midway through its stable hydrogen burning phase known as the main sequence. But when the Sun enters the red giant phase in around 5 billion years things are going to get a lot rougher in the Earth-Moon system…..

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I was reading about Ben Franklin today and found his “Poor Richards Almanac” on the web presented as a WordPress blog.

http://www.poorrichardsalmanac.info/

Researchers are reexamining the data from the Mars Viking mission. Once again they are looking for signs of life, but it’s not the kind the probes were originally designed to find. Most of us have read or heard about researchers recently studying organisms in extreme environments. Any organisms that would have evolved and survived to present day on Mars would have had to adapt to a relatively extreme environment. The researchers believe that organisms on Mars may have developed a water/hydrogen peroxide solution instead of the water/salt solution that organisms on Earth developed.The original test that the Viking probe used would not have detected signs of life if the organisms were made of a water/hydrogen peroxide solution.

New Analysis of Viking Mission Results Indicates Presence of Life on Mars from PhysOrg.com
We may already have ‘met’ Martian organisms, according to a paper presented Sunday (Jan. 7) at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.