Faced with the loss of the space shuttle yet committed to the ISS at least through 2020, the European Space Agency is moving forward in its plans to upgrade its Automated Transfer Vehicle, which is only able to bring cargo to ISS, to what they call an Advanced Re-entry Vehicle, which will be able to also bring cargo back.
We won’t know if the Japanese probe Hayabusa actually brought asteroid materials back to Earth until spring 2011. Key quote from the project scientist:
Kawaguchi said his science team found “tens of particles” in Chamber A of the canister. The tiny particles are being removed one-by-one in an extraction process that is stretching longer than anticipated.
Note that they still have not opened Chamber B, which is thought to have had a better chance of capturing asteroid material because it was the chamber in contact with the asteroid Itokawa.
Crystal ball alert: Eleven correct predictions about 2010 that the Simpsons television show made in 1995.
At a press briefing today my congressman, Steny Hoyer, said that he thinks Americans are “conflicted”, have “a lot of angst and anxiousness”, and are “not sure” which party will move the country forward. Steny is partly right about the first two points, but quite wrong about the third, considering his party’s dismal poll numbers.
I also suspect that Steny has a lot of his own angst and anxiousness, considering the momentum his opponent, Charles Lollar, is building.
Obama is asking the court for the right to assassinate American citizens, without due process, and in total secret. Key quote:
Both the Bush and Obama administrations have repeatedly insisted that their secret conduct is legal but nonetheless urge courts not to even rule on its legality. But what’s most notable here is that one of the arguments the Obama DOJ raises to demand dismissal of this lawsuit is “state secrets”: in other words, not only does the President have the right to sentence Americans to death with no due process or charges of any kind, but his decisions as to who will be killed and why he wants them dead are “state secrets,” and thus no court may adjudicate their legality. [emphasis in original]
The Bush administration was wrong when it tried to imprison an American citizen without trial. The Obama administration is even more wrong now to claim it has the right to kill an American citizen without trial. Such behavior is unconscionable.
A Russian company says it plans to launch its own commercial space station by 2016.
Back from the dead! A new study has found that scientists are significantly over-estimating the number of animal extinctions, with approximately one third of the so-called “extinct” species turning up alive. This quote makes one wonder if politics have been a factor:
The mistakes cannot be blamed on primitive technology or old fashioned scientific methods. “Mammals missing in the 20th century were nearly three times as likely to be rediscovered as those that disappeared in the 19th century.”
Two violent incidents against innocent citizens, exercising their first amendment rights, have occurred in the past week. The first video shows a man being attacked because he is filming the Democratic candidate for governor at a public event.
Details about this incident can also be read here.
In the second incident, a Republican staffer and Iraqi war veteran was filming at a rally for Ted Strickland, Democrat candidate for Ohio governor, when a Strickland supporter came up behind him and poured a cup of hot coffee down his back.
Details can be found here.
Note that in both cases, it is the Democrat that is committing the violence. This has been the pattern since the Tea Party protests started in April 2009. In almost every case, it has been a liberal/Democrat/union employee who has attacked a conservative protester.
To put it mildly, such stormtrooper behavior by Democratic operatives is not the smartest way to win votes.
An evening pause: Hand dance by Up and Over it.
New world speed record — 96.5 miles per hour — for lawnmowers.
The United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) today denied any plan to name an “ambassador” to act as a point of contact with extra-terrestrials.
NASA climate scientist James Hansen was arrested yesterday in a Washington, D.C. protest against mountaintop mining.
Victory for freedom of speech: Charges have been dismissed against a Maryland man for videotaping a policeman who pulled him over for speeding.
Vile dishonest congressman alert! A comparison of Congressman Alan Grayson’s (D-Florida) campaign commercial with the actual facts demonstrates clearly that Grayson should be digging ditches rather than representing American citizens in Congress.
The launch of China’s next lunar probe, Chang’e 2, could occur as soon as this Friday.
Lost video footage of Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon found in Australia.
Volcanic activity in northwest Saudia Arabia.
The space war appears to be over. Based on several news reports, the House will vote this week on the Senate plan for NASA, not on the House plan.
Despite this agreement in Congress, the future of NASA remains murky, at best. As written, this plan forces NASA to continue construction of some form of heavy lift rocket similar to the Ares I and Ares V it was building under Constellation, but gives the agency less money and time to do it. It also hands out a lot of money to commercial companies for so-called launch services, but outlines few details about how that money should be spent.
This article suggests that the Republican victory in November is going to be far greater than any polls have indicated. Key quote:
Only about 160 of the Democrats’ 239 Congressional Districts are even remotely considered to be in play. But that playbook is badly out of date. The Republican message has raced far ahead of the GOP campaign and put a lot of new seats in play. We just have to work these districts to win them.
In fact, there are no polls to analyze in most of these 160 districts. Nobody considered them in play enough to poll them. We just don’t know how vulnerable these extra incumbents are. But, given the surprising vulnerability of the first eighty seats, we believe that a substantial number of these formerly invincible Congressmen can be ousted. [emphasis mine]
I strongly suspect that my home district, the 5th Congressional district of Maryland, is one of these 160 unknown districts. My congressman, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, is running against Republican Charles Lollar. For years this district has been considered safe for Steny. No more.
Lollar, a black conservative with Tea Party connections, has run an aggressive campaign, raised lots of money, and has been unafraid of taking the race into the hardcore Democratic areas near Washington. His signs are up everyone, only a week after clinching the nomination in the primary.
Come November 2, I think that the results from this district will be a stunning upset. I also think these results will only be one example among many others.
Full disclosure notice: In all my life, I had never given money to any political candidate. I considered such contributions a waste of my money. This year, however, I broke that string. Soon after the healthcare bill passed Congress (under Steny Hoyer’s leadership), I contributed $200 to Charles Lollar’s campaign. Not only do I believe this contribution will not be a waste of money, I think the fact that I did it is another indication that the results of this coming election will be very surprising.
