Climategate’s one year anniversary
What a difference a year makes! Tomorrow will the one year anniversary of the release of the climategate emails.
Year: 2010
Lawsuits filed against TSA
the problems of human waste management in space
Sometimes going is hard: The engineering challenge of human waste management in space.
Kazakhstan security summit forces astronauts to return early from ISS
More security madness: A security summit in Kazakhstan is demanding the Russians bring home three astronauts from ISS a week early so as to keep the air space clear during the conference.
Penn at airport threatens to press charges against TSA for assault
A blow for freedom! Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) called the cops and threatened to press charges against a TSA security agent for assault during his airport screening. Fun quote:
I tell the cop the story, in a very funny way. The cop, the voice of sanity says, “What’s wrong with you people? You can’t just grab a guy’s crank without his permission.” I tell him that my genitals weren’t grabbed and the cop says, “I don’t care, you can’t do that to people. That’s assault and battery in my book.”
The story gets even crazier afterward, when a pr gal from the TSA calls Penn and tries to placate him. This quote is especially telling:
“If you give me your itinerary every time you fly, I’ll be at the airport with you and we can make sure it’s very pleasant for you.”
Update: I just realized that this event occurred in 2002, so it isn’t part of the recent TSA craziness, only past TSA craziness that is as unacceptable as the new TSA craziness.
Stars merging
Astronomers have identified a dozen new binary star systems, where the two stars are tiny white dwarfs. Of even more interest is that a half dozen are spiraling into each other and will eventually merge, the ensuing collision likely producing a supernova explorsion.
Is the TSA backing down?
Is the TSA backing down?
Why a hypersonic test vehicle disappeared last April
DARPA has completed its investigation on why a hypersonic test vehicle (HTV), launched on April 22, disappeared about 9 minutes into its flight. Key quote: “The HTV wobbled too much. Rather than risking an out-of-control flight, the bot self-destructed.”
A ten foot wide asteroid will zip by the Earth tonight
At 10:44 pm (Eastern) tonight a ten foot wide asteroid will zip by the Earth at a distance of only 24,000 miles.
Paul Zerdin ventriloquist
An evening pause:
TSA Now Putting Hands Down Fliers’ Pants
I thought I was joking in my post earlier today, but the TSA actually is requiring agents to put their hands down fliers’s pants!