Year: 2013

Utah has forced an agreement with the federal government to reopen its national parks.

6:02 am

Utah has forced an agreement with the federal government to reopen its national parks.

The article says that Utah negotiated this agreement, but the only way I can imagine Utah got the Obama administration to agree to this was to tell them that Utah was going to open the parks one way or the other, and that the Obama administration would look really bad if it resisted local authorities as they protected citizens who wished to visit these parks.

Update: More information here. It appears the Obama administration is backing down across the board. They have not only announced that they will let the parks open if the states pay for their operation, they have removed the barricades at Mount Rushmore, as well as in the Great Smoky Mountains.

0 comments

Except for a troublesome fan, the first Cygnus cargo capsule to dock with ISS is performing perfectly.

5:52 am

Except for a troublesome fan, the first Cygnus cargo capsule to dock with ISS is performing perfectly.

The fan has been a minor issue. The astronauts have simply turned it off periodically when it started to act up. What is really important is this:

The next Cygnus – along with its Antares launch vehicle – is already being processed at Orbital’s Wallops facility, with a target launch date of December 15, with an available launch window through to December 21.

1 comment

An eleven year old’s experiment in brewing beer in space will fly to ISS on the next Cygnus cargo flight in December.

6:17 pm

An eleven year old’s experiment in brewing beer in space will fly to ISS on the next Cygnus cargo flight in December.

The tiny brewery is set up inside a 6-inch-long (15 centimeters) tube, filled with separated hops, water, yeast and malted barley — all of the key ingredients used to make beer — and will be delivered to the station by the commercial firm NanoRacks. An astronaut aboard the station will shake up the mixture to see how the yeast interacts with the other ingredients in the beer. “I really didn’t expect this from the start,” Bodzianowski told KDVR, a Fox affiliate in Denver. “I really just designed my experiment to get a good grade in my class.”

2 comments

Astronomers have found evidence of the remains of an exoplanet that they think was once wet and rocky.

6:12 pm

Astronomers have found evidence of the remains of an exoplanet that they think was once wet and rocky.

Using observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope and the large telescopes of the W. M. Keck Observatory , they found an excess of oxygen – a chemical signature that indicates that the debris had once been part of a bigger body originally composed of 26 per cent water by mass. By contrast, only approximately 0.023 per cent of the Earth’s mass is water.

From what I can gather, the actual data here is somewhat skimpy, requring a lot of assumptions for the scientists to come to this conclusion. Nonetheless, the data is interesting and very tantalizing.

Posted from Memphis, Tennessee.

0 comments

“Look at these radicals who are blatantly defying the federal government by having a stroll and eating lunch in a CLOSED PARK.”

10:26 am

“Look at these radicals who are blatantly defying the federal government by having a stroll and eating lunch in a CLOSED PARK.”

Click on the link. Lots of hilariously captioned pictures of evil tourists defying their righteous government which is so sincerely trying to protect its property from those disgusting “little people.”

Posted as we pass Knoxville, Tennessee.

0 comments

A Iowan Mennonite couple that owns an art gallery has filed suit against the state’s Civil Rights Commission after being threatened with punishment for refusing to host a same-sex wedding on their property.

10:14 am

Jack-boot thugs: A Iowan Mennonite couple that owns an art gallery has filed suit against the state’s Civil Rights Commission after being threatened with punishment for refusing to host a same-sex wedding on their property.

Posted from Tennessee.

2 comments

“The Obama Administration’s behavior during the first week of the shutdown has been the best argument against Obamacare anyone has ever made.”

7:43 am

Another reasonable thought: “The Obama Administration’s behavior during the first week of the shutdown has been the best argument against Obamacare anyone has ever made.”

The American people do not want Obamacare, and they are demanding that Washington act to protect them from the harmful effects of this unfortunate law. The president’s response has been to ignore them, allow the government to shutdown, and then use his power to close national parks and monuments, stop paying veterans’ benefits, and cut off cancer research. This is exactly why we should not expand the government’s power over our health care choices. What power the government has, it will use – and misuse – to advance its own interests, even if that means punishing the American people along the way. [emphasis mine]

Just think what any power-hungry politician, from either party, might do if he or she had unfettered access to your personal health records. If you express any opposition to them, they might even use that information to attack and destroy you.

3 comments

Jaxa, the Japanese space agency, announced today its management goals for the future.

7:22 am

JAXA, the Japanese space agency, announced today its management goals for the future.

Management Philosophy

  • To realize a safe and affluent society using space and the sky.
  • By utilizing leading technological developments, we will succeed and deliver our achievements along with broader wisdom to society.

    • Action Declaration

  • Jubilation for human society
  • We will provide enjoyment and surprise to people by evolving our lives. [emphasis mine]

    • They then added this important note: “The above management philosophy and action declaration in English are a tentative translation version, thus the original Japanese version shall take precedence if any inconsistency arises.”

    Posted as we drive past rainy Roanoke, Virginia.

    0 comments
    1 … 47 48 49 50 51 … 178