Scaled Composites successfully completed a 45 second burn of the engine for SpaceShipTwo last Thursday.
The competition heats up: Scaled Composites last Thursday successfully completed a 45 second test burn of the engine for SpaceShipTwo.
Year: 2012
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken its deepest image yet.
The Hubble Space Telescope has taken its deepest image yet.
This long exposure picture of a tiny patch of sky in the constellation Fornax spotted about 5,500 galaxies from the very beginning of the universe. Take a close look, because you will see that these early galaxies are often strange looking. I have cropped out one just example to the left to give you an idea.
“It’s my in-kind contribution to the Mondale campaign.”
Seething midwest explodes over Lombardi cartoons
The next great comet?
Amateur astronomer Jason Lewis sent me an email today describing how the amateur astronomy community is abuzz with the discovery of a new comet, presently dubbed C/2012 S1, that is due to make its dive around the Sun in late November 2013 and pass closest to the Earth in January 2014 at a distance of about 37 million miles. Based on the preliminary numbers, this comet might be one of the brightest in years, almost certainly a naked eye object and visible to everyone from both the northern and southern hemispheres.
To quote the comments from one astronomy forum:
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The fastest snooker break ever
An evening pause: The rules of snooker are not clear to me, but it appears that this man, Ronnie O’Sullivan, is one of the world’s best players. Do a youtube search and you’ll come up with dozens of videos of him doing amazing things at the pool table. Below, he clears the table in less than five minutes, getting the maximum possible score for this game by dropping alternatively differently colored balls. To quote the youtube webpage, “The aim is to pot a red followed by๏ปฟ a colour, any colour. Reds = 1Yellow = 2Green = 3Brown = 4Blue = 5Pink = 6Black = 7. So the 147 is only possible if you go red, black, red, black etc.” O’Sullivan gets 147 and does it in record time.
Curiosity has zapped its first rock and moved on.
Curiosity has zapped its first rock and moved on.
“A pompous, self-absorbed, often-in-error-but-never-in-doubt blowhard impervious to facts and logic.”
Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have found that the Milky Way is surrounded by a halo of hot gas.The uncertainty of science: Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have found that the Milky Way is surrounded by a halo of hot gas.
The uncertainty of science: Astronomers using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory have found that the Milky Way is surrounded by a halo of hot gas.
This is the key quote:
The estimated mass of the halo is comparable to the mass of all the stars in the galaxy. If the size and mass of this gas halo is confirmed, it also could be an explanation for what is known as the “missing baryon” problem for the galaxy.
“Missing baryon” is another way to say “dark matter.” In other words, this discovery might prove that it isn’t necessary to invent exotic unknown particles of physics, such as the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) to explain the missing matter. The missing matter might simply be this hot gas, previously undetected.
More than a thousand pastors have resolved to defy the IRS and preach politics from the pulpit before the election.
Good for them: More than a thousand pastors have resolved to defy the IRS and preach politics from the pulpit before the election.
โThe purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit,โ Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. โIt is a head-on constitutional challenge.โ Stanley said pastors attending the Oct. 7 โPulpit Freedom Sundayโ will โpreach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for officeโ and then โmake a specific recommendation.โ The sermons will be recorded and sent to the IRS.
โWeโre hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened,โ he said. โWe have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. We donโt think itโs going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.โ
First of all, the IRS has always enforced this oppressive regulation very selectively. Black churches for example have been allowed to preach Democratic Party politics for decades, without any threats from the IRS.
Second, the regulation really does make no sense. What right does the IRS have deny these religious leaders the freedom to participate in the political debate? Free speech is free speech. To threaten their tax status just because they express their opinions for or against a candidate seems quite oppressive, the kind of thing petty dictators do when they want to shut their opponents up.
In fact, when you think about it, the regulation’s basic consequence was to shut these religious leaders up. Much like the “equal time” regulation that was used for decades to shut up conservative thought on the radio and television airwaves, this IRS regulation has effectively banned religion from the political process. Our Constitution might forbid Congress from setting up an official religion, but it does not forbid people of religion from using their moral teachings to try to influence elections. As I say, free speech is free speech. They are citizens like everyone else, and have the right to express their ideas and to try to persuade people. And in a free society, no one is obliged to listen to them or be convinced by them,
Insane Clown Posse – Miracles
An evening pause: The miracle of the universe as seen by two rappers. Worth watching and listening to, even if you are not a fan of rap. They get it.
Rod Stewart & Amy Belle – I Dont Want To Talk About It
An evening pause: