Judi Dench – Send in the Clowns
An evening pause: From a 1995 television profile of Dame Judi Dench, ending with her performance of “Send in the Clowns” from a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.
Author: Robert Zimmerman
NASA’s Deep Space Network has captured a radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55
NASA’s Deep Space Network has captured a radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55, set to buzz past the Earth tomorrow.
NASA’s Deep Space Network has captured a radar image of asteroid 2005 YU55, set to buzz past the Earth tomorrow.
A breathtaking view of the Apollo 15 landing site
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter team has released a wide angle side view image of the Apollo 15 landing site, showing the lunar module and the areas around Hadley Rille and the Apennine Mountain range that the astronauts explored using their lunar jeep. Below is a cropped close-up, showing the landing site near the top of the image with Hadley Rille near the bottom. Below the fold is a second image showing a wider view that includes the Apennine mountain slope that the astronauts drove their rover up.
New conservative website: Not Mitt Romney
On another campaign note, a new website, put together by some noted conservative Republicans, has just appeared called Not Mitt Romney. An explanation can be found here.
Remember how Nancy Pelosi said we need to pass Obamacare “so you can find out what’s in it?” Well, is it any different with Mitt Romney? Does anybody really have the slightest idea what he’d do as President? Nobody can even reasonably predict where the guy will be on any issue six months from now, much less what he’ll do if he becomes the leader of the free world.
On another campaign note, a new website, put together by some noted conservative Republicans, has just appeared called Not Mitt Romney. An explanation can be found here.
Remember how Nancy Pelosi said we need to pass Obamacare “so you can find out what’s in it?” Well, is it any different with Mitt Romney? Does anybody really have the slightest idea what he’d do as President? Nobody can even reasonably predict where the guy will be on any issue six months from now, much less what he’ll do if he becomes the leader of the free world.
Before and after pictures in Japan, six months after the March 11 tsunami
Before and after pictures in Japan, six months after the March 11 tsunami.
Before and after pictures in Japan, six months after the March 11 tsunami.
Watch asteroid 2005 YU buzz the Earth tomorrow with your backyard telescope
Watch asteroid 2005 YU55 buzz the Earth tomorrow with your backyard telescope.
Watch asteroid 2005 YU55 buzz the Earth tomorrow with your backyard telescope.
Federal agency has ruled that thousands of lakefront homes in Missouri must be removed, despite being built legally and having been in place for decades
We’re here to help you: A federal agency has ruled that thousands of lakefront homes in Missouri must be removed, despite being built legally and having been in place for decades.
We’re here to help you: A federal agency has ruled that thousands of lakefront homes in Missouri must be removed, despite being built legally and having been in place for decades.
Sports images of the 20th century
A fragment of human jaw unearthed in a prehistoric cave in Torquay is the earliest evidence of modern humans in north-west Europe
A fragment of human jaw unearthed in a cave in Britain appears to be the earliest evidence of modern humans in north-west Europe.
A fragment of human jaw unearthed in a cave in Britain appears to be the earliest evidence of modern humans in north-west Europe.
An international team of astronauts recently completed a six day underground cave mission
An international team of astronauts recently completed a six day underground cave mission in an effort to simulate some of the aspects of space exploration on another world.
I, along with my cave exploration friends, find this article somewhat humorous, as these astronauts weren’t doing anything that unusual from our perspective. Routinely we have teams going underground for three to five days to do exploration and survey work as part of the Germany Valley Karst Survey in West Virginia. The result has been more than fifty miles of virgin passage in the past eight years.
But, if these astronauts want to join us and do some exploration, they’d be welcome!
An international team of astronauts recently completed a six day underground cave mission in an effort to simulate some of the aspects of space exploration on another world.
I, along with my cave exploration friends, find this article somewhat humorous, as these astronauts weren’t doing anything that unusual from our perspective. Routinely we have teams going underground for three to five days to do exploration and survey work as part of the Germany Valley Karst Survey in West Virginia. The result has been more than fifty miles of virgin passage in the past eight years.
But, if these astronauts want to join us and do some exploration, they’d be welcome!
Finally some substance in the Presidential campaign
Up until tonight I had not watched any of the Republican Presidential debates. To me, the game show formats of each debate were such that I had no expectation of seeing any substance. Quick one-liners and gotcha attacks — the only thing that generally comes from these formats — can’t tell me anything about the deeper philosophical underpinnings of each candidate. And without that knowledge I can have no idea whether or not the candidates will follow through with what they say they’ll do.
Tonight however I did watch the Herman Cain-Newt Gingrich debate, which CSPAN has made available to watch in its entirety. The format was basically Cain and Gingrich for an hour and a half, answering a variety of questions about the three big entitlement programs, Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid. Each man could essentially take as much time as he desired to say what he wanted.
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Rather than gliding, the first flying bats used their wings to flutter down on their prey
Rather than learning to fly by gliding, a new theory proposes that the first flying bats learned how to fly by fluttering down on their prey.
Rather than learning to fly by gliding, a new theory proposes that the first flying bats learned how to fly by fluttering down on their prey.
Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova – Falling Slowly
Iranian officials have been pressuring a jailed pastor to return to Islam as he waits for the nation’s supreme leader to decide whether he should be executed for converting to Christianity
The tolerance of Islam: Iranian officials have been pressuring a jailed pastor to return to Islam rather than be executed for converting to Christianity.
The tolerance of Islam: Iranian officials have been pressuring a jailed pastor to return to Islam rather than be executed for converting to Christianity.
An inside look at NASA bureaucratic madness
An inside look at NASA’s bureaucratic madness.
Much of the time NASA appears to be a loose confederation of 10 quasi independent fiefdoms, each pretty much in charge of their own business. People often ask me what would I do if I were king of NASA for a day. They expect me to say something like: build this rocket, launch that satellite. Rather I think how I would standardize the procurement processes, or the human resources procedures, or the engineering standards used across the agency. But then I always was a dreamer, tilting at impossible windmills. Launching rockets is easy; getting engineers to agree on standards is hard.
And people wonder why I strongly oppose NASA’s heavy-lift rocket (which I think will never get built), or worry that NASA’s interference will choke to death the new independent commercial space companies.
An inside look at NASA’s bureaucratic madness.
Much of the time NASA appears to be a loose confederation of 10 quasi independent fiefdoms, each pretty much in charge of their own business. People often ask me what would I do if I were king of NASA for a day. They expect me to say something like: build this rocket, launch that satellite. Rather I think how I would standardize the procurement processes, or the human resources procedures, or the engineering standards used across the agency. But then I always was a dreamer, tilting at impossible windmills. Launching rockets is easy; getting engineers to agree on standards is hard.
And people wonder why I strongly oppose NASA’s heavy-lift rocket (which I think will never get built), or worry that NASA’s interference will choke to death the new independent commercial space companies.
The largest sunspot in years released the largest flare in years on Thursday
The largest sunspot in years released the largest flare in years on Thursday.
The largest sunspot in years released the largest flare in years on Thursday.
Brian Malow – Nobel, Edison & the Speed of Light
Occupying vs. Tea Partying
The first in orbit tests of Robonaut halted because the robot did not carry out its commands as expected.
HAL lives! The first in-orbit tests of Robonaut were halted today on ISS because the robot did not carry out its commands as expected.
NASA robot operator Phil Strawser said joint movements in the weightless space environment have proven to be different than those performed in normal gravity on Earth. Consequently, software used to operate the robot needs to be “fine-tuned,” he said.
HAL lives! The first in-orbit tests of Robonaut were halted today on ISS because the robot did not carry out its commands as expected.
NASA robot operator Phil Strawser said joint movements in the weightless space environment have proven to be different than those performed in normal gravity on Earth. Consequently, software used to operate the robot needs to be “fine-tuned,” he said.
Russia heads for Mars
Russia heads for Mars: a detailed look at the Phobos/Grunt sample return mission, set to launch on November 8.
I really wish the Russians good luck with this project. Not only would it herald their return to planetary science since the fall of the Soviet Union, success here would break their long string of failures to the red planet. Though their unmanned planetary program had some remarkable achievements during the Soviet era, of the 19 missions they flew to Mars in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, all were failures, producing almost no useful data.
Russia heads for Mars: a detailed look at the Phobos/Grunt sample return mission, set to launch on November 8.
I really wish the Russians good luck with this project. Not only would it herald their return to planetary science since the fall of the Soviet Union, success here would break their long string of failures to the red planet. Though their unmanned planetary program had some remarkable achievements during the Soviet era, of the 19 missions they flew to Mars in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, all were failures, producing almost no useful data.
Get ready for another government shutdown battle
Get ready for another government shutdown battle.
Get ready for another government shutdown battle.
The 520-day simulated mission to Mars has been completed
The 520-day simulated mission to Mars has been completed.
The 520-day simulated mission to Mars has been completed.
Vintage leather football helmets are often as protective as modern hard football helmets
Newer is not always better: A study has found that vintage leather football helmets used in the early 1900s can be as good if not better than modern hard football helmets in protecting the head.
Newer is not always better: A study has found that vintage leather football helmets used in the early 1900s can be as good if not better than modern hard football helmets in protecting the head.
The Mars rover Opportunity has spotted a geological formation not previously seen anywhere on Mars.
The Mars rover Opportunity has spotted a geological formation not previously seen anywhere on Mars.
The Mars rover Opportunity has spotted a geological formation not previously seen anywhere on Mars.
A NASA senior review of all planetary missions?
Here’s a tidbit I just spotted on the EPOXI (formerly Deep Impact) status website, buried in a November 1, 2011 update::
Meanwhile, NASA has decided that there will be a senior review of all operating planetary exploration missions. That will likely include a review of the status of the Deep Impact Flyby spacecraft to determine whether an additional extended mission should be approved. Decisions will not occur until early 2012.
Though Deep Impact is still a functioning spacecraft in orbit around the sun, up until this notice I had not heard of any plans to use it again after its flyby of Comet Hartley-2 in 2010. However, there is no reason its cameras could not be used for astronomy, though unfortunately its high resolution camera has a focus problem which prevents it from taking the sharpest images.
However, the timing of this review of planetary missions, combined with the story last week that the Obama administration might end all funding for future planetary missions, is intriguing. I wonder if they are tied together in some way. That the notice above says the decision will be made in “early 2012” — the moment when the Obama administration will unveil its 2012 federal budget recommendations — strongly suggests that they are linked.
Could that the administration be thinking it can salvage the bad press it will receive for shutting down all future planetary missions by spending a small amount on extending missions already in space? Or is this planetary review another indication that the rumors are true and the administration plans to end the planetary science program entirely?
Unfortunately, I am speculating here, without any real information. Stay tuned to find out.
Robot obstacle course
An evening pause: The robot obstacle course at the 2006 ROBO-ONE competition in Kawasaki, Japan. Very impressive, for a machine, though this does illustrate how difficult it is to artificially duplicate what life does so naturally.
The largest sunspot in years appears on the sun
The largest sunspot in years has appeared on the sun.
The largest sunspot in years has appeared on the sun.
The Obama administration has failed to meet more than half the deadlines in its own healthcare law
Repeal the damn thing! The Obama administration has failed to meet more than half the deadlines in its own healthcare law.
Repeal the damn thing! The Obama administration has failed to meet more than half the deadlines in its own healthcare law.
For the first time in a half-century, Cubans will be allowed to buy and sell real estate openly
Communism fails again: For the first time in a half-century, a new law will allow Cubans to buy and sell real estate.
Communism fails again: For the first time in a half-century, a new law will allow Cubans to buy and sell real estate.
The global output of atmospheric carbon dioxide jumped in 2010 by the biggest amount on record, according to the U.S. Department of Energy
The global output of atmospheric carbon dioxide jumped in 2010 by the biggest amount on record, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
In 2007 when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its last large report on global warming, it used different scenarios for carbon dioxide pollution and said the rate of warming would be based on the rate of pollution. Boden said the latest figures put global emissions higher than the worst case projections from the climate panel.
And yet, the global temperatures are not rising, as also predicted by those same IPCC models.
The global output of atmospheric carbon dioxide jumped in 2010 by the biggest amount on record, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.
In 2007 when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its last large report on global warming, it used different scenarios for carbon dioxide pollution and said the rate of warming would be based on the rate of pollution. Boden said the latest figures put global emissions higher than the worst case projections from the climate panel.
And yet, the global temperatures are not rising, as also predicted by those same IPCC models.