Author: Robert Zimmerman
Gallup reports that since Obamacare became law 4.5 million Americans have lost their employer sponsored health insurance.
Repeal the damn thing! Gallup reports that since Obamacare became law more than 4.5 million Americans have lost their employer sponsored health insurance.
Repeal the damn thing! Gallup reports that since Obamacare became law more than 4.5 million Americans have lost their employer sponsored health insurance.
A millionaire has purchased two tickets on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and is looking for a woman to join him
Want a date? A millionaire has purchased two tickets on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and is looking for a woman to join him on the flight.
Want a date? A millionaire has purchased two tickets on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and is looking for a woman to join him on the flight.
Scientists have released a new 28 frame movie of asteroid 2005 YU55
Scientists have released a new 28 frame movie of asteroid 2005 YU55, created as the asteroid zipped past the Earth this past week.
Scientists have released a new 28 frame movie of asteroid 2005 YU55, created as the asteroid zipped past the Earth this past week.
From Here to Eternity – Reverly
An evening pause: In honor of this Armistice Day, the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year: Montgomery Clift plays revelry, from the 1953 classic movie, From Here to Eternity.
Toxic Russian Mars probe aims for Earth
It now looks like the stranded and toxic Russian Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, is likely aimed at Earth.
We are looking at an uncontrolled toxic reentry scenario. Phobos-Grunt . . . is fully-laden with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide; that’s ten tons of fuel and oxidizer. The probe itself weighs-in at only three tons. . . . Phobos-Grunt’s batteries are draining and its orbit is degrading. It looks as if the probe will reenter later this month/early December. NORAD is putting a Nov. 26 reentry date on Phobos-Grunt.
It now looks like the stranded and toxic Russian Mars probe, Phobos-Grunt, is likely aimed at Earth.
We are looking at an uncontrolled toxic reentry scenario. Phobos-Grunt . . . is fully-laden with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide; that’s ten tons of fuel and oxidizer. The probe itself weighs-in at only three tons. . . . Phobos-Grunt’s batteries are draining and its orbit is degrading. It looks as if the probe will reenter later this month/early December. NORAD is putting a Nov. 26 reentry date on Phobos-Grunt.
Supernova may have kicked off solar system
A supernova may have kicked off the birth of our sun.
I have a article awaiting publication at Sky & Telescope on this same subject, though my piece also asks the question: What was the star cluster like in which the sun formed? And can we find that star cluster today?
A supernova may have kicked off the birth of our sun.
I have a article awaiting publication at Sky & Telescope on this same subject, though my piece also asks the question: What was the star cluster like in which the sun formed? And can we find that star cluster today?
New data says scientists must look underground for life on Mars
New data says scientists must look underground for life on Mars.
New data says scientists must look underground for life on Mars.
The manufacturer of artificial hips and knees will cut its workforce by five percent next year to reduce costs in the face of new fees required by Obamacare
Repeal the damn thing: The manufacturer of artificial hips and knees will cut its workforce by five percent next year in the face of new fees required by Obamacare.
Repeal the damn thing: The manufacturer of artificial hips and knees will cut its workforce by five percent next year in the face of new fees required by Obamacare.
Fired Penn State president had a habit of squelching embarassing investigations
Now we now why the Penn State investigation of global warming scientist Michael Mann was a whitewash: The Penn State president — fired over the child abuse scandal there — had a habit of squelching embarrassing investigations.
Now we now why the Penn State investigation of global warming scientist Michael Mann was a whitewash: The Penn State president — fired over the child abuse scandal there — had a habit of squelching embarrassing investigations.
Are cows magnetic?
The uncertainty of science: Are cows magnetic?
The uncertainty of science: Are cows magnetic?
Supercommittee to the rescue
The Supercommittee to the rescue!
They’re the new superhero group of Superfriends from the Supercongress who are going to save America from plummeting over the cliff and into the multitrillion-dollar abyss. There’s Spender Woman (Patty Murray), Incumbent Boy (Max Baucus), Kept Man (John Kerry) and many other warriors for truth, justice and the American way of debt. The Supercommittee is supposed to report back by the day before Thanksgiving on how to carve out $1.2 trillion dollars of deficit reduction and thereby save the republic.
The Supercommittee to the rescue!
They’re the new superhero group of Superfriends from the Supercongress who are going to save America from plummeting over the cliff and into the multitrillion-dollar abyss. There’s Spender Woman (Patty Murray), Incumbent Boy (Max Baucus), Kept Man (John Kerry) and many other warriors for truth, justice and the American way of debt. The Supercommittee is supposed to report back by the day before Thanksgiving on how to carve out $1.2 trillion dollars of deficit reduction and thereby save the republic.
The fastest spinning normal star
Astronomers find the fastest spinning normal star.
Astronomers find the fastest spinning normal star.
Astronomers find clouds of primordial gas from the early universe
Astronomers find clouds of primordial gas from the early universe.
And in related news, a new computer simulation suggests that the very first stars were not the giant monsters scientists had predicted.
Astronomers find clouds of primordial gas from the early universe.
And in related news, a new computer simulation suggests that the very first stars were not the giant monsters scientists had predicted.
New data suggests that the asteroid Lutetia is a Rare Survivor from the Birth of the Earth
A new analysis of data suggests that the asteroid Lutetia is a leftover fragment from the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury.
A new analysis of data suggests that the asteroid Lutetia is a leftover fragment from the same original material that formed the Earth, Venus and Mercury.
It looks bad for Phobos-Grunt
It looks bad for Phobos-Grunt.
“Overnight, several attempts were made to obtain telemetric information from the probe. They all ended with zero result,” Interfax quoted a source in the Russian space sector as saying. “The probability of saving the probe is very, very small,” added the source, who was not identified.
It looks bad for Phobos-Grunt.
“Overnight, several attempts were made to obtain telemetric information from the probe. They all ended with zero result,” Interfax quoted a source in the Russian space sector as saying. “The probability of saving the probe is very, very small,” added the source, who was not identified.
Man shot and killed “near” Occupy Oakland camp
Peace and love: A man was shot and killed at the Occupy Oakland camp today. Plus, an immediate effort by the protesters to squelch the press:
Reporter Aimee Allison of the Chronicle says she was attacked when she tried to take a cell phone photo. And she wasn’t the only one: “A few feet away a TV cameraman was shooting footage and a crowd of twenty or so men attacked and punched him, forcing him over the railing of the 14th Street BART Station.” Which means, even in the best-case scenario, there was an unconnected murder right next to the camp and a mob of protesters decided to do “damage control” by beating the hell out of journalists who were trying to report on it. That’s where we’re at here.
Peace and love: A man was shot and killed at the Occupy Oakland camp today. Plus, an immediate effort by the protesters to squelch the press:
Reporter Aimee Allison of the Chronicle says she was attacked when she tried to take a cell phone photo. And she wasn’t the only one: “A few feet away a TV cameraman was shooting footage and a crowd of twenty or so men attacked and punched him, forcing him over the railing of the 14th Street BART Station.” Which means, even in the best-case scenario, there was an unconnected murder right next to the camp and a mob of protesters decided to do “damage control” by beating the hell out of journalists who were trying to report on it. That’s where we’re at here.
NASA picks the Delta 4 Heavy to launch Orion into orbit on its first test flight
NASA has chosen the Delta 4 Heavy rocket to launch the Orion capsule into orbit for its first test flight in 2014.
So, tell me again why NASA needs to spend $18 to $62 billion for a new rocket, when it already can hire Lockheed Martin to do the same thing? Though the Delta 4 Heavy can only get about 28 tons into low Earth orbit, and only about 10 tons into geosynchronous orbit — far less than the planned heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket — Boeing Lockheed has a variety of proposed upgrades to Delta 4 Heavy that could bring these numbers way up. Building these upgrades would surely be far cheaper than starting from scratch to build SLS.
Corrected above as per comments below.
NASA has chosen the Delta 4 Heavy rocket to launch the Orion capsule into orbit for its first test flight in 2014.
So, tell me again why NASA needs to spend $18 to $62 billion for a new rocket, when it already can hire Lockheed Martin to do the same thing? Though the Delta 4 Heavy can only get about 28 tons into low Earth orbit, and only about 10 tons into geosynchronous orbit — far less than the planned heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket — Boeing Lockheed has a variety of proposed upgrades to Delta 4 Heavy that could bring these numbers way up. Building these upgrades would surely be far cheaper than starting from scratch to build SLS.
Corrected above as per comments below.
How much does the internet weigh?
Violence and hatred in the Occupy “Whatever” movement
These four stories, all in today’s news, all suggest that the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement is strongly intolerant, filled with angry hatred, and prone to violence. Sadly, they appear to a small subset of a much larger sampling of similar stories.
In Oakland Occupy protesters have withdrawn a resolution to remain peaceful.
A small number of the protesters have openly called for the use of violence as a tactic to get their message out.
In Berkley, dozens of Occupy protesters were arrested yesterday. The cause:
The university reported earlier that an administrator had told the protesters they could stay around the clock for a week, but only if they didn’t pitch tents or use stoves or other items that would suggest people were sleeping there. The protesters voted not to comply with the demand and to go ahead with setting up a tent site they dubbed “Occupy Cal” to protest financial policies they blame for causing deep cuts in higher education spending.
In New York, a man was arrested for assaulting a paramedic and breaking his leg Wednesday night.
And finally, there is this eight minute video, where a Occupy Portland protester curses and threatens a news crew repeatedly until the police finally arrive to escort him away.
The New Madrid fault might be turning off
According to GPS data gathered over the past two decades, it appears that the New Madrid fault in Missouri might be shutting down.
According to GPS data gathered over the past two decades, it appears that the New Madrid fault in Missouri might be shutting down.
Disgraced Dutch Pyschologist Returns Doctoral Degree
The Dutch scientists who faked the data on dozens of papers has given up his doctoral degree.
The Dutch scientists who faked the data on dozens of papers has given up his doctoral degree.
Taming lightning
No, TSA, I will not lift my skirt for you.
Lightning!
Lightning! With pictures and video.
Lightning! With pictures and video.
NASA successfully test-fired today the upper stage engine of its heavy-lift rocket
NASA successfully test-fired today the upper stage engine of its heavy-lift rocket, part of the Space Launch System, formerly called the Constellation program.
NASA successfully test-fired today the upper stage engine of its heavy-lift rocket, part of the Space Launch System, formerly called the Constellation program.
Escape from Berlin
An evening pause: In honor of the fall of the Berlin Wall on this day in 1989, I post below Part 2 of a documentary on the history of the Wall’s construction and the many escape attempts by East Germans. Though the documentary does a poor job of explaining why East Germans desperately made attempt after attempt to flee to the west (a wish to escape from oppression and go somewhere where they could freely live their lives), it does include some incredible film footage showing the various escape attempts. Part 1 outlines the Wall’s initial construction, during which many people could easily break through.
Part 2, embedded below, describes the first deaths, when the communist East German government gave its guards orders to “shoot to kill.” Part 3 is even more fascinating, showing the effort by West Germans to dig tunnels under the 150 foot death strip in order to get friends and relatives out. Parts 4 and 5 show later attempts, when the Wall had become more impregnable, including one escape using an arrow (!) and another using two ultralight airplanes. Part 6 shows the Wall’s fall in 1989.
For twenty-eight years a government decided it had the right to imprison its citizens because they longed for freedom. In the end, all that government really achieved was to prove that freedom is better, and that good intentions — based on intellectual ideology and imposed on people by force — lead nowhere but hell.
Russia has two weeks to save Phobos-Grunt
Russia has two weeks to save Phobos-Grunt.
Russia has two weeks to save Phobos-Grunt.
More info on the failure of Phobos-Grunt
More info on the engine failure of Phobos-Grunt, and what might still be done to save the mission.
More info on the engine failure of Phobos-Grunt, and what might still be done to save the mission.
A fired up Sun
As it does every month, NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center today released its monthly update showing the ongoing changes of the Sun’s solar cycle sunspot activity. I have posted the graph below the fold.
For the fourth month in a row the Sun’s sunspot activity has leaped upward. In fact, for the first time since I have been tracking sunspot activity, beginning in 2008, the Sun’s sunspot activity exceeds the predicted activity by a significant amount. Since the end of the previous maximum, the Sun had consistently failed to meet the expectations of solar scientists by producing far fewer sunspots than expected.
In the past few months, however, the Sun has recovered, its activity firing upward, including some of the most active and largest sunspots in years.
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