This week in science: Showboats

I finally turn on the TV only to see some of the same people who were aiding and abetting heavily armed tea party lunatics raving about Obama taking away their guns for the last three years scolding that lazy, shiftless Obama for never so much as lifting a finger to take away anyone's guns. But until an unusually supple wingnut playing right-wing Twister figures out how to start in Connecticut, step all over blame, and end up pointing both fingers at Time Mag's Person of the Year, the NRA-GOP nexus of evil may have to settle for an interim scapegoat. Take it away, John Cole!

[T]he Bushmaster rifle used to execute 26 kids and teachers was purchased in 2010. Grand Theft Auto's last release was in 2008. But somehow, it was the 5 year old game and not the easy access to the weapon responsible for the massacre... I guess we should all just be happy that Lanza didn't use an automatic crossbow like Van Helsing, because then we'd be blaming Demon Hunters in Diablo III and hunters in WoW and Blizzard would be in a world of shit.

• World still here!? Well, for all you disappointed preppers, here's four ways it really could end.
• Sorry Alice, resistance is futile, no one can resist the mighty super massive black hole, you will be incinerated.
• The Panda's Thumb busts a creationist conman -- err conwomen I mean -- doing the usual creationist tricks, i.e., trying to fool honest if-less-than informed people about science.
• Speaking of conpersons, I think I speak for millions when I say I am so, so tired of having my home state run by a collection of devious assholes and potentially dangerous lunatics. Check out what this great bastion of Small Government ^tm has cooked up for the new year.
• A nearby star familiar to any stargazer or sci-fi reader, may be loaded:

  A planet with conditions that could support life orbits a twin neighbour of the sun visible to the naked eye, scientists have revealed. The world is one of five thought to be circling Tau Ceti, a star just 12 light years away that is almost identical to the sun.