Repeal the damn bill! Maine has asked the Obama administration to be exempted from certain provisions of ObamaCare.
Tolerance from the religion of “peace”: Bomb attacks on fourteen Christians homes in Baghdad kill two and wound twenty. Note that though no one has yet come forward to claim responsibility for the attacks, an Islamic group had threatened to do exactly this one week ago.
Though I have been saying that the Sun’s lack of sunspots the last two years suggests the possibility of that we might be facing an extended period without solar activity, I am not a solar scientist. Today, in a paper published today on the Los Alamos astro-ph website, a solar scientist says just that. Key quote:
One method that has yielded predictions consistently in the right range during the past few solar cycles is that of K. Schatten et al., whose approach is mainly based on the polar field precursor. The incipient cycle 24 [on-going right now] will probably mark the end of the Modern Maximum, with the Sun switching to a state of less strong activity.
Brazil has become the first non-European partner in the European Southern Observatory.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin has sued Topps for using his likeness in their trading cards.
Updated and bumped: The inspections reveal four additional cracks on Discovery’s external tank.
NASA engineers have finished a series of x-ray scans of Discovery’s external tank.
“Zombie” satellite comes back to life.
Russian space officials are fired over rocket failure.
The pilot who was threatened by the TSA because of his YouTube video goes public.
After six blank days, the Sun is once again showing spots. As I have mentioned several times in 2010, this might be the last time the Sun is blank for years to come as it ramps up to solar maximum. However, don’t bet on it, as the Sun’s activity has been way below all predictions. The upcoming solar maximum might very well be the first in centuries with blank days interspersed throughout.
Why I use Linux: Hilarious Windows error messages. This is typical:
Windows has detected that you have moved your mouse. Please restart your computer.
Buy your very own Batmobile! Key quote: “The car also has a fully functioning flame thrower.”
A vast storm rages across the face of Saturn.
The SOHO spacecraft, in space monitoring the Sun since 1995, has discovered its 2000th comet!
Want to know what’s going to happen? What the 1930s tell us about today.
Nor am I alone is wanting the damn bill repealed: Support for the repeal of ObamaCare remains at 60%.
Repeal the damn bill! Health plans for high-risk patients under ObamaCare are attracting fewer customers while costing far more than expected. Key quote:
Last spring, the Medicare program’s chief actuary predicted that 375,000 people would sign up by the end of 2010. In early November, the Health and Human Services Department reported that just 8,000 people had enrolled.
The war between Texas and the EPA over carbon-emission rules heats up.
Numbers to scare you: The just ended 111th Congress added more debt than the first hundred Congresses combined.
Want to become an astronaut? The private company Astronauts4Hire is taking applications.
As I’ve said, it’s all pork: NASA’s Ares rocket is supposingly dead, but the continuing resolution from Congress requires NASA to spend $500 million more for it.
It is also a mess, but I’ve said that before also!
The lawless Obama administration. Key quote:
Obama uses his control over Executive Branch agencies to do what Congress or the courts have forbidden. It’s worked, sometimes, for him over the past few years. But he’s out of time now: the GOP-led House can defund many of these efforts, even if it can’t put a stop to them completely.
Just so no one has any doubts, doing something that both Congress and the courts say is forbidden is breaking the law. And it appears that the Obama administration has a fetish for this sort of thing.
An evening pause: As we approach the end of the this first decade of the 21st century, let’s take a look back at the progress of the past two hundred years, illustrated by the progress of a single graph and animated in a way you’ve never seen before.
The government solution to everything: A Texas district attorney says that funeral processions should be banned.
Researchers think they have found a way to use DNA to kill the mite that is killing bees in Britain, without harming the bees themselves.
Oink! “Nonprofit groups, for-profit businesses, the University of Hawaii, and state and local governments” in Hawaii are faced with a loss of funding due to the end of earmarks in Congress.
What is most interesting about this article isn’t just that it gives a great deal of space to those who oppose earmarks and spending (something you don’t see that often in an AP article), but that the comments are almost universally in favor of eliminating earmarks as well as cutting the federal government. A truly hopeful sign.
