Stanley Brothers – It Takes A Worried Man
An evening pause: How about some classic bluegrass?
Author: Robert Zimmerman
Solar scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center have once again adjusted their prediction for the upcoming solar maximum.
Solar scientists at the Marshall Space Flight Center have once again adjusted their prediction for the upcoming solar maximum.
The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24 gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 70 in May of 2013. We are currently over two and a half years into Cycle 24. Five out of the last six months with average daily sunspot numbers above 40 has raised the predicted maximum above the 64.2 for the Cycle 14 maximum in 1907. This predicted size still make this the smallest sunspot cycle in over 100 years.
This new prediction is slightly higher than their prediction of 63 from two weeks ago. As they note, even this new number leaves us with a very weak solar maximum.
SpaceX’s dress rehearsal countdown and fuel test of the Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral today was a complete success.
Good news: SpaceX’s dress rehearsal countdown and fuel test of the Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral today was a complete success.
A commercial project to refuel and repair communication satellites with an unmanned robot, recently killed due to lack of interest from the U.S. government, might get the needed additional funding from DARPA.
Back from the dead? A commercial project to refuel and repair communication satellites with an unmanned robot, recently killed due to lack of interest from the U.S. government, might get the needed additional funding from DARPA.
For the fourth year in a row, President Obama has defied a law that demands he take action on Medicare.
The law is such an inconvenient thing: For the fourth year in a row, President Obama has defied a law that demands he take action on Medicare.
This paragraph sums up why Obama has been so negligent:
Why won’t Barack Obama put forth a Medicare proposal? Simple. If he does, Democrats lose the opportunity to demagogue the issue in the run-up to the 2012 election.
The only politicians to propose any reasonable plan to make Medicare solvent have been the Republicans, led by Paul Ryan. I don’t like all the details in Ryan’s plan, but at least he’s proposed something. All Obama and the Democrats have been doing is fiddling while Rome burns, while blaming others for the fire.
Senate Democrats reject religious exemption in Obamacare.
Telling us who they really are: The Democrats in the Senate today rejected any religious exemption to anyone who does not wish to pay for someone else’s contraceptives or abortion drugs.
Personally, I have no problem with anyone who wants to use contraceptives or abortion drugs. What I and all free-thinking individuals have a problem with is the idea of the government forcing someone to pay for this, against their religious beliefs.
I guarantee that if this Obamacare requirement does not fall, people will end up choosing jail to honor their personal conscience.
Cover story: Finding the Sun’s lost nursery
Twitter Hate: The Left’s Breitbart Memorial
Twitter Hate: The Left’s Breitbart memorial.
Even in death, especially in death, the left makes Andrew Breitbart’s case for him. They never seemed to understand that while the right is his audience, the left itself is his most potent ally — they prove everything he says with each hateful remark, each “ur a fag why don’t you get AIDS and die” tweet.
The left makes all of his arguments for him. All Breitbart had to do was add two letters: “RT” [re-tweet].
The left had a chance to prove Andrew Breitbart wrong today. Instead, they proved him right. [emphasis in original]
Saving one of the world’s largest insects, thought extinct for 80 years.
Saving the tree lobster, one of the world’s largest insects, thought extinct for 80 years.
What if Catholic bishops aren’t bluffing?
Andrew Breitbart, 43, has died
R.I.P. Andrew Breitbart has died unexpectedly at 43. More here.
Seven Republicans demand increased NASA supervision of the new commercial launch companies.
Seven Republicans demand increased NASA supervision of the new commercial launch companies.
This is what I call shooting yourself in the foot. One reason the tea party movement started is because Republicans during the Bush years had sometimes become as unreliable as Democrats when it came to some basic political issues. If we want private enterprise and the free market to rule, then the last thing a bunch of Republicans should be doing is demanding greater supervision by government agencies.
At a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, NASA’s inspector general outlined more than five thousand security lapses at the agency in 2010 and 2011, including the theft of a laptop with the control codes for ISS.
At a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, NASA’s inspector general outlined more than five thousand security lapses at the agency in 2010 and 2011, including the theft of a laptop with the control codes for ISS.
“My only purpose today is that this event is shut down.”
Islamic freedom of speech: “My only purpose today is that this event is shut down.” With video.
This happened, not in Egypt or Syria or Iran or Iraq, but in California, on the campus of the University of California-Davis. And while it happened the police did nothing.
Comparing all the global warming climate models for the past twenty years with the actual data.
A scientist compares all the global warming climate models developed during the past twenty years with the actual data:
We’ve checked all the main predictions of the climate models against the best data. The climate models get them all wrong. … Therefore:
- The climate models are fundamentally flawed. Their assumed threefold amplification by feedbacks does not in fact exist.
- The climate models overestimate temperature rises due to CO2 by at least a factor of three.
Read the whole article. Not only does Evans outline the failures of all the climate models, he also clearly and distinctly describes the actual debate that has been going on in the climate field for the past three decades. It isn’t the effects of carbon dioxide that climate scientists have been arguing about, but, as Richard Lindzen explained to the UK Parliament last week, whether other climate factors, called feedbacks, will amplify or suppress the warming produced by CO2.
Using its Space Launch System and Orion capsule, NASA is aiming for an unmanned test flight around the Moon in December 2017.
Using its Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion capsule, NASA is aiming for an unmanned test flight around the Moon in December 2017.
Two important tidbits revealed by this article: First, the first test flight of Orion will use a Delta 4 Heavy rocket. Two, NASA hopes to have its heavy lift SLS rocket ready for the 2017 mission.
Forgive me for being cynical, but I will believe the second tidbit only when it happens.
Falcon 9 is on the launchpad in Florida, being prepared for a countdown and fuel test tomorrow.
Fingers crossed: Falcon 9 is on the launchpad in Florida, being prepared for a countdown and fuel test tomorrow.
What is the International Space Station’s weakest link?
What is the International Space Station’s weakest link?
Mark Mulqueen, ISS vehicle director for Boeing Co., said keeping the station’s environmental control and life support systems, or ECLSS, functioning over the next decade will likely be engineers’ toughest challenge. “I don’t think it’s sparing or the structure to get to 2020,” Mulqueen said. “It’s probably continued refinement of how we successfuly operate our ECLSS system on-orbit. There has been a lot of effort going into understanding that.”
The article outlines a number of other areas of concern, none of which appear to be serious, for now, but could be a problem as the years pass.
A $35 computer
The Page Turner
An evening pause: Rube Goldberg would be proud.