Year: 2013

Israel today issued a strong warning about the possibility that Iran could have enough uranium within a month to produce a nuclear bomb.

9:33 pm

Another day of reckoning looms: Israel today issued a strong warning about the possibility that Iran could have enough uranium within a month to produce a nuclear bomb.

“We have made it crystal clear – in all possible forums, that Israel will not stand by and watch Iran develop weaponry that will put us, the entire Middle East and eventually the world, under an Iranian umbrella of terror,” Danny Danon, Israel’s deputy defense minister told USA TODAY.

This is not good. For Israel, Iran is a real and present threat. They have made it repeatedly clear that they wish to destroy Israel. Soon, very soon, they will have the capability. For Israel to stand by and let them get that capability would be insane.

What Israel can do, however, is unclear. As strong militarily as Israel is, it does not really have the ability to invade Iran and destroy its developing nuclear facilities. I fear that the only choice it might have is to use its own nuclear arsenal to hit Iran first.

As I said, this is not good. The options before us are truly frightening.

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Russian owned International Launch Services today successfully used its Proton rocket to launch a commercial satellite.

4:55 pm

The competition heats up: Russian owned International Launch Services (ILS) today successfully used its Proton rocket to launch a commercial satellite.

This is the second successfully Proton launch since July’s spectacular failure. The company seems to be recovering, which of course means that the competition for launch services will get hotter in 2014.

Which is excellent news. The competition will keep these companies on their toes, and force them to innovate in order to stay in business. In the long run this will lower the cost to orbit and make space more accessible to everyone.

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Using a warrant to search for guns, Homeland security officers and Maryland police confiscated a journalist’s confidential files.

10:01 am

Fascists: Using a warrant to search for guns, Homeland security officers and Maryland police confiscated a journalist’s confidential files.

The reporter had written a series of articles critical of the TSA. It appears that the raid was specifically designed to get her files, which contain identifying information about her sources in the TSA.

“In particular, the files included notes that were used to expose how the Federal Air Marshal Service had lied to Congress about the number of airline flights there were actually protecting against another terrorist attack,” Hudson [the reporter] wrote in a summary about the raid provided to The Daily Caller.

Recalling the experience during an interview this week, Hudson said: “When they called and told me about it, I just about had a heart attack.” She said she asked Bosch [the investigator heading the raid] why they took the files. He responded that they needed to run them by TSA to make sure it was “legitimate” for her to have them. “‘Legitimate’ for me to have my own notes?” she said incredulously on Wednesday.

Asked how many sources she thinks may have been exposed, Hudson said: “A lot. More than one. There were a lot of names in those files. … This guy basically came in here and took my anonymous sources and turned them over — took my whistleblowers — and turned it over to the agency they were blowing the whistle on,” Hudson said. “And these guys still work there.”

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Data from the Census Bureau reveals that in 2011 the number of people working full time was outnumbered by those getting government aid.

9:40 am

The day of reckoning looms: Data from the Census Bureau reveals that in 2011 the number of people working full time was outnumbered by those getting government aid.

Many of those getting aid according to these numbers could also be full time workers. Nonetheless, the data is stark and depressing, as it illustrates how American culture has declined. Once it was considered shameful to be “on the dole.” Now everybody does it. You can’t have a robust healthy society under those conditions.

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The number of Democratic senators calling for a delay in the Obamacare mandate has now grown to nine.

9:33 am

The number of Democratic senators calling for a delay in the Obamacare mandate has now grown to nine.

So, where were these fools only three weeks ago, when the Republicans offered this very same proposal? Had they voted with the Republicans then, they might have put sufficient pressure on Obama to sign the budget bill. The shutdown wouldn’t have happened and the delay would have gone into effect then.

In other words, three weeks ago this position might have made a difference. Now, it is merely political posturing, intended to give them cover in next year’s election but allowing them to support and keep Obamacare in effect. The voters in their states should note this and dump them accordingly.

Update: The number of Democratic senators calling for a delay has now grown to ten.

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Thousands of elderly New York patients have been told by their insurance company that, because of Obamacare, they will have to find another doctor.

9:25 am

Finding out what’s in it: Thousands of elderly New York patients have been told by their insurance company that, because of Obamacare, they will have to find another doctor.

And I am sure that these blue-state seniors, most of whom are usually knee-jerk Democrats, are pleased that the Democratic Party shut the government down rather than revise Obamacare even a teeny-weeny bit.

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Some new details about SpaceX’s new Raptor rocket engine are revealed.

9:19 am

The competition heats up: A key new detail about SpaceX’s new Raptor rocket engine is revealed.

The only detail about the engine in the release noted it will be capable of generating nearly 300 tons of thrust in vacuum, around four times more powerful than the Merlin 1D. However, it is possible a Raptor engine set could become the baseline for a huge future rocket to be used by SpaceX for missions to Mars, along with a potential role with a Mars ascent stage. [emphasis mine]

It appears that the engine might be intended to replace the Merlin engine entirely, thus giving the Falcon 9 (and other future SpaceX rockets) significantly more power, both for putting payload into orbit as well as returning to the ground.

Meanwhile, it also appears the Chinese, who are SpaceX’s biggest competitor in terms of price, are developing their own methane-oxygen engine with likely similar capabilities.

Ain’t competition wonderful?

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The investigation into the spacesuit leak in July is now awaiting the return of equipment from ISS.

9:09 am

The investigation into the spacesuit leak in July is now awaiting the return of equipment from ISS.

The station astronauts removed a cooling system pump and small contaminants found in the garment’s Primary Life Support System plumbing. The old fan pump separator and the preserved contaminants, including a 1-cm. piece of plastic, will return to Earth aboard Russia’s TMA-09M crew transport late Nov. 10 with Parmitano, NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg and ISS Russian commander Fyodor Yurchikhin. The hardware and contaminants will then be flown by NASA transport from the Kazakh landing site to Johnson Space Center, where a Mishap Investigation Board (MIB) hopes to quickly complete its probe of the worrisome incident.

Though it appears they have narrowed the problem to a small number of components, the need to return these components to Earth illustrates an overall design flaw with the space spacesuit. When the shuttle was flying regularly these components were easy to return to Earth, which is why NASA designed its suit for maintenance on the ground. Now that the shuttle is gone, however, it is difficult to get components returned, which makes spacesuit maintenance difficult if not impossible.

Spacesuits need to be repairable in space. If you are orbiting Mars and one fails, you can’t call in a repairman from Earth to fix it.

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Animal lovers discover that Obamacare will cost them money too.

2:38 pm

Finding out what’s in it: Animal lovers discover that Obamacare will cost them money too.

It seems the 2.3% medical device tax imposed by Obamacare is the culprit.

Luckily, however, when House Republicans suggested that this Obamacare tax be repealed, Obama and the Democrats stood firm and shut the government down rather than consider any revisions to Obamacare.

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