China’s second lunar orbiter, Chang’e 2: still in operation after 180 days.
Unfortunately, little of its scientific results have been released.
It’s a trend! Ohio and New Hampshire have followed Wisconsin, their legislatures passing laws limiting union power.
Note that in New Hampshire, the law still has to be approved by the state Senate.
After seven years of work, the Soyuz launch site in French Guiana is finally ready for its first launch.
This idiotic thing has got to be repealed: Nearly $2 billion already paid to unions, state public employee systems, and big corporations under Obamacare.
The program began making payouts on June 1, 2010. Between that date and the end of 2010, it paid out about $535 million dollars. But according to the new report, the rate of spending has since increased dramatically, to about $1.3 billion just for the first two and a half months of this year. At that rate, it could burn through the entire $5 billion appropriation as early as 2012. [emphasis mine]
More on the storms hitting Endeavour launchpad today.
A 26-year-old woman has been charged for sending the email death threats in Wisconsin. More details here. It turns out she’s a teacher with a degree in early childhood education!
A new species of freshwater stingray has been discovered in the Amazon.
The squealing is now getting idiotic: The administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development claimed on Wednesday that GOP budget cuts for the 2011 budget “would lead to 70,000 kids dying.”
“These Aren’t Serious People.” Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit today puts the whole budget mess in clear perspective. As usual, the charts are what make his point so clearly.
Shipwreck of 60-foot, single-masted sloop from 1830s found in Lake Michigan.
The ripples in the rings of Saturn and Jupiter were caused by comet impacts decades ago.
Comparing the view of Earth, interpreted differently by Russian and American satellites.
More proof it’s nothing but pork: Witnesses at House committee hearing express strong concerns about the heavy-lift rocket plan (the-program-formerly-called-Constellation) imposed on NASA by Congress.. Key quote:
“We simply do not know what is next,” said Maser, president of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, which builds the space shuttle’s main engines. “We are in a crisis.”
Hail storm hits Endeavour on launchpad.
A cautionary tale: Adventures in federal budget cutting.
The experience has been difficult and has caused me some personal problems. I am afraid this will be the case for anyone who tries to cut spending — in the face of an entrenched bureaucracy that thrives on ever-increasing budgets.
Gotta have your KGB: Homeland Security accused of witness tampering, political manipulation of FOIA requests, and the attempted theft of Congressional committee documents.
So this is why they lobbied for the crappy bill: AARP’s billion dollar Obamacare windfall.
Almost half of the $500 billion in ObamaCare’s Medicare cuts come out of Medicare Advantage. The cuts don’t kill the program, but they mortally wound it. CBO estimates that the Medicare Advantage program will be cut in half, causing over 7 million seniors to lose their health care coverage. They will be forced to return to traditional Medicare and, in most cases, will need to purchase Medi-Gap coverage.
Using very conservative assumptions (AARP keeps its current share of the Medi-Gap market and premiums don’t rise), this increase in the Medi-Gap market will generate more than $100 million a year in additional license fee revenue for AARP. Over a billion dollars every decade. Keep in mind, this revenue is simply for using AARP’s name, so it is almost pure profit.
Dreamliner: a nightmare for Boeing.
Now CNN reports a deal in Congress calling for $73 billion in cuts for this year.
Once again, though these amounts are minuscule, I like the political trend, which is blowing increasingly in the direction of cuts, and cuts only.
Got $4.5 million? A new private commercial jet flew at 489 mph on a test flight March 11.
Ancient books uncovered in Jordan may date from the start of Christianity. Then again, they may be forgeries.
The books are currently the subject of a dispute between authorities, archeologists and an Israeli Bedouin who smuggled the books into Israel and hid them, claiming they were found by his great-grandfather, The Telegraph reports. Authorities in Jordan want the books returned, since under Jordanian law, they are property of the Kingdom of Jordan, according to the news release. Archeologists in Israel claim the books are forgeries, while British archeologists are committed to saving and studying the ancient scrolls.
The reckoning is about to arrive: The federal treasury is down to $58.6 billion in cash with only $130.5 billion in borrowing authority.
Meanwhile former Democratic operative George Stephanopoulos reports that a tentative deal between the parties in Congress will finalize the cuts from last year’s budget at $33 billion.
As I said, the reckoning is about to arrive.
Above, an annotated version of the first orbital image, showing areas of the south pole never before seen.
From the press conference about the first Messenger images from Mercury orbit:
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A quick summary of the legal situation in Wisconsin.
