Month: August 2012
Massachusetts has passed a law that places the state in control of every doctor and everything they do.
Coming soon to a country near you! In order to control the out-of-control costs of RomneyCare, Massachusetts has just passed a law that places the state in control of every doctor and everything they do in the practice of medicine.
It’s worse than you think:
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Flying over America
An evening pause:
Astronomers have found what they believe is the first evidence of a planet consumed by its star as the star expanded and aged.
Astronomers have found what they believe is the first evidence of a planet consumed by its star as the star expanded and aged.
Sadly, for those of you out there who like the idea of watching planets getting destroyed, the event happened a long time ago, and all the astronomers have is circumstantial evidence that is most likely explained by such an event.
Curiosity flexed its robot arm today for the first time.
The invader prepares its attack: For the first time today Curiosity flexed its robot arm.
Astronomers have now confirmed 41 new exoplanets, first pinpointed by the Kepler space telescope
Astronomers have now confirmed 41 new exoplanets, first pinpointed by the Kepler space telescope.
One paper, by Jiwei Xie at the University of Toronto, confirms 24 new planets in 12 systems. Another study, by Steffen and his colleagues, confirms 27 planets in 13 systems. Five of the systems, and 10 of the planets, are the same in both papers. All in all, the new research adds 20 new planetary systems to the 47 that Kepler had previously confirmed, marking a more than 40 percent increase.
Among the Kepler candidates are five Earth-sized planets in the habitable zone, according to the vidoe at the link. However, this announcement does not tell us if any of those candidates were confirmed by these two papers.
NASA has announced its next planetary mission, a lander to Mars that will drill down thirty feet into the planet’s surface
NASA has announced its next planetary mission, a lander to Mars that will drill down thirty feet into the planet’s surface.
Though exciting in its own right, this mission is far less ambitious than the two missions which competed against it, a boat that would have floated on the lakes of Titan and a probe that would have bounced repeatedly off the surface of a comet. I suspect the reason this mission was chosen is the tight budgets at NASA, combined with Curiosity’s success which makes it politically advantageous to approve another Mars mission. As the NASA press release emphasized,
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Scaled Composites has posted the results of its latest test firing of the rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo.
The competition heats up: Scaled Composites has posted the results of its latest test firing of the rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo.
Though the test is dated August 9, more than a week ago, I expect the number of engine tests to go up in the coming months as the company works toward the first powered flights of SpaceShipTwo.
On August 13, 2012, Voyager 2 became the longest-operating spacecraft in history, finally topping Pioneer 6, which was launched on Dec. 16, 1965, and sent its last signal back on Dec. 8, 2000.
On August 13, 2012, Voyager 2 became the longest-operating spacecraft in history, finally topping Pioneer 6, which was launched on Dec. 16, 1965, and sent its last signal back to Earth on Dec. 8, 2000.
And Voyager 2, along with its partner Voyager 1, are still working, and engineers hope they will still be working for another eight to twelve years, enough time for them to leave the solar system and enter interstellar space.
A man was arrested in Toronto on Saturday for walking his dog in a public park, because the dog offended some Islamic demonstrators.
A man was arrested in Toronto on Saturday for walking his dog in a public park, because the dog’s presence offended some Islamic demonstrators.
A sofa that doubles as a cat tower.
News you can use: A sofa that doubles as a cat tower.
Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a robot hand that costs less than $10,000.
Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a robot hand that costs less than $10,000 and is capable of replacing a flashlight battery.
The researchers were able to scrimp in a number of clever ways. “One was scouring the globe for the least expensive, highest-performing components like motors, gears, etcetera,” says Curt Salisbury, the project’s principal investigator. “Another was to build the entire electronics system from commodity parts, especially those found in cell phones. We also moved from metal structural elements to plastic, being careful to design the structures so plastic would provide adequate strength.”
The article focuses on the potential of using such a robot hand to defuse bombs. I see it as a first step in providing amputees a replacement hand that is fully functional. And that their goal is to bring the cost down to $1,000 is even more exciting.
A new poll of registered voters in Cook County, Illinois has Obama leading by only 7 percent, 49 to 36.
What does this tell us? A new poll of registered voters in Cook County, Illinois, has Obama leading by only 7 percent, 49 to 36.
Cook County is where Chicago is located, and is Obama’s home base.
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The man who invented the first programmable computer.
The man who invented the first programmable computer.
Todd Akin, the Republican running for the senate in Missouri, tried to explain his opposition to all abortion, even in instances of rape, by saying that “legitimate rape” rarely leads to pregnancy.
The stupid party: Todd Akin, the Missouri Republican running for the Senate, tried to explain his opposition to all abortion, even in instances of rape, by saying that “legitimate rape” rarely leads to pregnancy.
Note that this is more evidence that Republicans should listen to Sarah Palin, who endorsed and campaigned for one of Akin’s opponents in the primary. It is also evidence that for voters to favor a tea party candidate is not necessarily a big risk.
The 1006 AD supernova, thought to be the brightest in recorded history, apparently left no star behind.
The 1006 AD supernova, thought to be the brightest in recorded history, apparently left no star behind.
More cool slow motion
An evening pause: How about some more slow motion.
The door to hell.
You’ve almost certainly seen pictures of this geological formation, but this article gives the background.
Faced with small crowds at their campaign events, the Obama campaign is now claiming that they are intentionally limiting crowd size at rallies to save money on security.
They can’t seriously think anyone will believe this? Faced with small crowds at their campaign events, the Obama campaign is now claiming that they are intentionally limiting crowd size at rallies to save money on security.
More embarrassing is the original New York Times article, which goes out of its way to sell this absurd claim.
A detailed, fact-based look at the successes and failures of the Obama administration.
A detailed, fact-based look at the successes and failures of the Obama administration.
Sadly, they are mostly failures. What is significant to me is that this article is from liberal Newsweek of all places. It is another data point indicating that even the intellectuals on the left are beginning to realize how much of a failure Obama has been.