NASA successfully completed today a parachute drop test of its Orion capsule.
NASA successfully completed today a parachute drop test of its Orion capsule.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
How Americans sound to British people
An evening pause: Who says we can’t communicate?
A proposal by three Republican senators to avoid a “lame-duck looting session” after the November election.
A proposal by three Republican senators to avoid a “lame-duck looting session” after the November election.
DeMint, Graham and Johnson want their House GOP counterparts to act before the August recess to fund the government through early next year. That would avoid the threat of a government shutdown before Sept. 30 and leave it in the hands of a new Congress and, perhaps, a new president.
What a concept! A proposal that the present Congress do its job now, rather than wait.
The ten tallest skyscrapers now under construction
Higher and higher: The ten tallest skyscrapers now under construction.
Cassini has photographed daytime lightning on Saturn.
Cassini has photographed daytime lightning on Saturn.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have found the most distant spiral galaxy ever seen.
Using the Hubble Space Telescope astronomers have found the most distant spiral galaxy ever seen.
“He stands there at the front of the mob, in his shirt sleeves, swinging that government hammer, exhorting the crowd to use its votes and take what it wants.”
British police have closed their investigation trying to find out who leaked the climategate emails.
British police have closed their investigation trying to find out who leaked the climategate emails.
“We are naturally disappointed that those responsible for this crime have not been caught and brought to justice,” said Edward Acton, [University of East Anglia]’s vice chancellor, in a statement. “The misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating following the publication of the stolen emails – including the theory that the hacker was a disgruntled UEA employee — did real harm to public perceptions about the dangers of climate change.”
Phil Jones, research director of CRU … said he hoped the end of the case would “draw a line under the stressful events of the last two and half years”.
How can the release of these emails be “misinformation” when both UEA and Phil Jones have admitted the emails are actually their emails? They can’t. Nothing was faked, and the content of those emails was chilling, as they showed a scientist (Phil Jones) willing to fake data, delete evidence, and destroy the careers of his critics. That East Anglia did not investigate and then fire Phil Jones after reading these emails tells us that East Anglia has no interest in the honest pursuit of science.
sNASA’s Space Launch System is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
Another opinion: NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) is costing 320 times more than NASA’s commercial space program.
In other words, having NASA build a rocket and capsule makes no financial sense. At these numbers, SLS cannot survive.
Scientists have failed to detect one of the leading theoretical candidates for dark matter.
Null result: Scientists have failed to detect one of the leading theoretical candidates for dark matter.
Astronomers have discovered the first exoplanet smaller than Earth.
Astronomers have discovered the first exoplanet smaller than Earth.
The University of Central Florida has detected what could be its first planet, only two-thirds the size of Earth and located right around the corner, cosmically speaking, at a mere 33-light years away. The exoplanet candidate called UCF 1.01, is close to its star, so close it goes around the star in 1.4 days. The planet’s surface likely reaches temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The discoverers believe that it has no atmosphere, is only two-thirds the gravity of Earth and that its surface may be volcanic or molten.
What is especially remarkable about this discovery is that the scientists used the Spitzer Space Telescope to do it, detecting the planet’s transits across the star’s face, just like Kepler. Spitzer was not designed to be able to do this.
Outlining the optimal military tactics for taking the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.
Knowledge is power: Outlining the optimal military tactics for taking the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.
Above all, we can all agree on this secondary objective:
While in Fantasyland we will have the opportunity to take down the menace of all parents everywhere. The “It’s a Small World” ride will be within our reach. Our secondary objective is to eliminate the ride with extreme prejudice. This isn’t a capture mission like the castle, but one of complete annihilation. Expect heavy casualties as their adorable repetitiveness burns into your skulls like white phosphorous in the jungle. Our sacrifices will be great, but our suffering is in the name of protecting others.
A Virginia police officer shot a family’s pet dog as he arrived to tell a family that their son had been murdered.
Does this make you feel safer? A Virginia police officer shot a family’s pet dog as he arrived to tell a family that their son had been murdered.
In Columbia County, Georgia that means a law enforcement official can enter your home without permission, bang on your bedroom door, wake you up, and yell at you about it.
Your grass is too long? In Columbia County, Georgia that means a law enforcement official can enter your home without permission, bang on your bedroom door, wake you up, and yell at you about it.
A woman got the shock of her life when she woke up to find a stranger in her bedroom, yelling at her to wake up because her grass was too long. Erica Masters was asleep when Columbia County Code Compliance Officer Jimmy Vowell entered her Martinez, Georgia, home without permission to serve a violation notice for her overgrown lawn. After knocking on the woman’s door a few times, Vowell let himself and made his way into her bedroom, which was captured on surveillance video.
Click on the link to watch the video. What’s worse is that the county says it needs to investigate this more. I’d say it’s pretty cut and dried, especially as they have it on tape. Any law enforcement official who thinks he has the right to do such a thing should fired.
Gilbert & Sullivan – I am the Monarch of the Sea
An evening pause: From Gilbert & Sullivan’s HMS Pinafore.
I always voted at my party’s call,
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all.Chorus.
He never thought of thinking for himself at all.I thought so little, they rewarded me
By making me the Ruler of the Queen’s Navee!
Scientists think they have found the cause of the inexplicable slow down in the speed of the two Pioneer spacecraft, and it isn’t due to some previously unknown force of nature.
Scientists think they have found the cause of the inexplicable slow down in the speed of the two Pioneer spacecraft, and it isn’t due to some previously unknown force of nature.
The preliminary plans for rebuilding the Titanic were released today.
The preliminary plans for rebuilding the Titanic were released today by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer.
The flamboyant billionaire said Titanic II’s first voyage remained set for late 2016, with the boat due to sail from China to England ahead of her maiden passenger journey to North America. Interest was “overwhelming”, he said.
Because of a single complaint a retirement home has forbidden its residents from praying.in common areas.
Land of the free? Because of a single complaint a retirement home has forbidden its residents from praying in common areas.
The complaining resident, Wanda Hughes told DePetro that she wrote a letter to the property management group because she finds the Rosary to be “an in your face ritual.” In the letter she threatens to bring the issue to the ACLU if it is not addressed.
What I find disgusting is that this person, Wanda Hughes, somehow thinks that just because she doesn’t like prayer she has the right to shut it down. The rights of others mean nothing to her.
What is also disgusting is the cowardice of Brook Village Retirement Home in North Providence, which immediately bowed to her wishes while grinding its fist into the faces of everyone else.
Video of a 71-year-old man using his concealed carry pistol to shoot two armed robbers.
Sweet: Video of a 71-year-old man using his concealed carry pistol to shoot two armed robbers.