Animator vs Animation
An evening pause:
Author: Robert Zimmerman
Photos of X-37B After Landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base
Photos of the X-37B after landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Islamic cleric offers reward to kill Christian woman
The religion of peace! An Islamic cleric offers a $6000 reward to anyone who will kill a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy against Islam.
Snowbound England
Images of a snowbound England.
I know it’s weather and not climate, but Europe is experiencing its second cold winter in a row, despite predictions by many in the global warming community that such things would never happen again. My point here is that their claims in the late 1990s that hot streaks and big storms were proof of global warming were patently dishonest, and it is worthwhile to remind ourselves of this fact.
White House wants transfer authority on appropriations?
This must not happen! There are hints that the White House is asking the lame-duck Congress for the authority to transfer appropriations from one account to another, without Congressional approval. As Ed Morrissey notes
[This request] all but demands a blank check from Congress as a budget plan and ends their ability to direct funding as it sees fit. It’s a carte blanche for runaway executive power. Senate Republicans must pledge to filibuster any budget with that kind of authority built into it. In fact, every member of Congress should protest this demand to surrender the Constitutional prerogative of budgeting and the check on power it represents. Otherwise, they will consign the people’s branch to a mere rubber stamp for executive whims.
Congress passes bill to lower volume of television commercials
Focused like a laser on the really important stuff! Congress today passed a bill requiring the FCC to regulate the volume of television commercials!
Deficit commission fails to pass its recommendations
Sadly, the pigs appear to be winning. Obama’s deficit commission has failed to pass its recommendations.
Build a warning system for asteroids
Astronomers are proposing that an early-warning system be built to warn us a week in advance should an asteroid be heading our way.
Power from poop?
Discovery launch delayed until February
It’s official: The launch of Discovery is delayed until February.
CNN Reporter Put On Watch List After Criticizing TSA
Is this what we hired the TSA for? A CNN Reporter was put on the TSA’s security watch list after he criticized the security agency.
SpaceX to offer NASA its own plans for a heavy-lift rocket
SpaceX is putting together its own plans to provide NASA a heavy-lift rocket. Key quote:
Fast-track development, multi-use and low cost are key, says [SpaceX owner Elon] Musk. “The development timeframe is on the order of five years and would come to fruition before Obama’s likely second term ends. It has got to fit within a NASA budget that fits in 2008 levels, and it’s got to have operational costs when functioning that is as close to zero as you can make it. That latter point demands that whatever components are in use for super-heavy lift must be in use for launching other satellites for say, geostationary commercial and government customers. If not, then the likelihood of success in my opinion is zero.”
More info on man in prison in NJ for owning legal guns
Demonstrations planned in support of New Jersey man in prisoning for legally owning two guns.
A Croatian space mission to the Moon?
A Croatian space mission to the Moon?
Root cause of shuttle external tank cracks still not clear
Bad news for the space shuttle: The root cause of the cracks on Discovery’s external tank is still not identified.
X-37B has returned successful to earth
After more than seven months in orbit, the unmanned X-37B space plan has successfully returned to Earth. Key quote:
“Boeing and the Air Force are building another X-37B vehicle scheduled for launch in the spring of 2011.”
Update: Since several different reports are listing slightly different totals for the number of days in orbit, I’ve edited my note above to be less precise. I could add up the days myself, but that involves more math than I prefer to do!
More caves on Mars
And damn, do I want to rappel into them!
This week’s release of images from the HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter included these spectacular photos of two deep pits, approximately 180 and 310 meters in diameter and located aligned with a series of depressions that suggest additional passages at their base.
The first image shows the pits in the context of the surrounding terrain. From the caption:
These pits are aligned with what appears to be larger, degraded depressions. The wispy deposit may consist of dark material that has been either blown out of the pits or from some other source and scattered about by the local winds.
The next two images are heavily processed close-ups of each pit in order to bring out the detail within. From the caption:
The eastern most and smaller of the two pits contains boulders and sediment along its walls and brighter aeolian dune sediments on its floor. The larger, western most pit contains sediment and boulders with faint dune-like patterns visible on the deepest part of the floor. Both pits have steep eastern walls and more gently sloped western walls that transition gradually into the pit floor. Steep resistant ledges containing boulders that overhang and obscure the pit floors form the eastern walls.
Hang gliding in upstate New York
An evening pause:
The next to go — astronauts!
White House initiates a study on whether astronaut corps should be trimmed.
This story is more evidence that I was right when I said Obama was lying when he claimed he loved manned spaceflight. If he was serious about sending humans to asteroids and beyond, he wouldn’t be so eager to find ways to shrink the astronaut corp.
Update: I should emphasize that I am not criticizing the idea of trimming the astronaut corp. I just want it clear that Barack Obama is clearly not a supporter of manned space, and that I believe his proposals (the commercial space subsidies) are merely window-dressing to placate his opponents while he dismantles the program.
Woman Strips Down to Her Lingerie, Gets TSA Pat Down Anyway—Twice
More TSA abuse: A woman strips down to her lingerie and still gets a TSA pat down. And it happens twice, the first time forcing her to miss her flight!