Shaved bat wings show sensory hairs help manage flight
Tiny little hairs on the wings of bats help control their flight.
Tiny little hairs on the wings of bats help control their flight.
Category: Behind The Black
Shaved bat wings show sensory hairs help manage flight
Help pick the Kuiper Belt targets of New Horizons after it flies past Pluto
Citizen astronomers: Help pick the Kuiper Belt targets that New Horizons will visit after it flies past Pluto.
Citizen astronomers: Help pick the Kuiper Belt targets that New Horizons will visit after it flies past Pluto.
Cryosat releases its first map of the thickness of the Arctic icecap
Cryosat releases its first map of the thickness of the Arctic icecap.
Cryosat releases its first map of the thickness of the Arctic icecap.
ATV burns up, Progress launched
Busy day for travel to and from ISS: The European unmanned ATV freighter Johannes Kepler burned up in the atmosphere even as a Russian Progress freighter was launched.
In related news, the U.S. and ESA are in negotiations to merge the European unmanned ATV freighter program with NASA’s manned Orion derivative. At the same time, Europe has announced its plans to test fly a reusable space plane.
Busy day for travel to and from ISS: The European unmanned ATV freighter Johannes Kepler burned up in the atmosphere even as a Russian Progress freighter was launched.
In related news, the U.S. and ESA are in negotiations to merge the European unmanned ATV freighter program with NASA’s manned Orion derivative. At the same time, Europe has announced its plans to test fly a reusable space plane.
The first Soyuz launch from French Guiana is set for October 20, 2011
The first Soyuz launch from French Guiana has now been scheduled for October 20, 2011.
The first Soyuz launch from French Guiana has now been scheduled for October 20, 2011.
Astronaut Mark Kelly retires
Joe Hisaishi Live – Summer ( from Kikujiro )
Conservative lawmakers push for pledge cutting spending across the board, capping government spending, and requires a balanced budget amendment.
Conservative lawmakers are coalescing behind a pledge to cut spending across the board while requiring a balanced budget amendment.
This story once again suggests to me that the political winds are definitely favoring big cuts in government spending. Woe to the politician of either party who ignores these winds.
Conservative lawmakers are coalescing behind a pledge to cut spending across the board while requiring a balanced budget amendment.
This story once again suggests to me that the political winds are definitely favoring big cuts in government spending. Woe to the politician of either party who ignores these winds.
President Barack Obama’s Complete List of Historic Firsts
President Barack Obama’s complete list of historic firsts.
Take some time to look at the list closely, including the links that back up each “first.” You might remain skeptical of some of the stories, but the weight of numbers is surely suggestive of the kind of president Obama really is.
President Barack Obama’s complete list of historic firsts.
Take some time to look at the list closely, including the links that back up each “first.” You might remain skeptical of some of the stories, but the weight of numbers is surely suggestive of the kind of president Obama really is.
King County, Washington, requires life vests for swimmers
Big Brother rules! King County, Washington, has voted to require life vests for swimmers.
[The law] applies to people intertubing, rafting, using a surfboard, canoe or kayak. Swimmers or people wading more than 5 feet from shore or in water more than 4 feet deep would also have to wear life vests. The new ordinance does not apply to people at designated public beaches or for people who are skin diving.
Big Brother rules! King County, Washington, has voted to require life vests for swimmers.
[The law] applies to people intertubing, rafting, using a surfboard, canoe or kayak. Swimmers or people wading more than 5 feet from shore or in water more than 4 feet deep would also have to wear life vests. The new ordinance does not apply to people at designated public beaches or for people who are skin diving.
ATHEISTS WANT SIGN HONORING 9-11 FIREFIGHTERS REMOVED
Talk about intolerance: Atheists demand the removal of a sign honoring seven firefighters who died on 9/11 because it includes the word “heaven.”
Talk about intolerance: Atheists demand the removal of a sign honoring seven firefighters who died on 9/11 because it includes the word “heaven.”
Energia not to produce Soyuz spaceship for space tourists
According to the chief of the Russian space agency, it presently does not have the capacity to produce additional Soyuz capsule for tourist flights.
According to the chief of the Russian space agency, it presently does not have the capacity to produce additional Soyuz capsule for tourist flights.
Mann and company write more science fiction
Junk science: Michael Mann and associates have just released a paper claiming “The rate of sea level rise along the U.S. Atlantic coast is greater now than at any time in the past 2,000 years–and has shown a consistent link between changes in global mean surface temperature and sea level.” You can read the paper itself here.
For many, many, many reasons, I agree here with scientist Richard Mueller, who believes in global warming but also believes in good science, “I now have a list of people whose papers I won’t read anymore.”
Nonetheless, I have looked at this new paper by Mann and crew, and find its evidence so weak it ain’t worth the paper it’s written on. To look at the record of a single fossil and claim it is a sufficient proxy for sea level rise is downright laughable.
Flying over Mars
The failed predictions of global warming activists
The failed predictions of global warming activists.
In 2005 “the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations University declared that 50 million people could become environmental refugees by 2010, fleeing the effects of climate change.” Three years later . . . Srgjan Kerim, president of the UN General Assembly, said it had been estimated that there would be between 50 million and 200 million environmental migrants by 2010. A UNEP web page showed a map of regions where people were likely to be displaced by the ravages of global warming. It has recently been taken offline but is still visible in a Google cache.
The failed predictions of global warming activists.
In 2005 “the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations University declared that 50 million people could become environmental refugees by 2010, fleeing the effects of climate change.” Three years later . . . Srgjan Kerim, president of the UN General Assembly, said it had been estimated that there would be between 50 million and 200 million environmental migrants by 2010. A UNEP web page showed a map of regions where people were likely to be displaced by the ravages of global warming. It has recently been taken offline but is still visible in a Google cache.
Theft by TSA employees of passenger valuables a nationwide problem
Doesn’t this make you feel safer? Theft by TSA employees of passenger valuables has become a nationwide problem.
According to TSA records, press reports, and court documents . . . some 500 TSA officers . . . have been fired or suspended for stealing from passenger luggage since the agency’s creation in November of 2001. The airports servicing New York City—John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty—harbor the most flagrant offenders, but virtually no city in the nation is safe from the TSA’s sticky fingers.
In 2009, a half dozen TSA agents at Miami International Airport were charged with grand theft after boosting an iPod, bottles of perfume, cameras, a GPS system, a Coach purse, and a Hewlett Packard Mini Notebook from passengers’ luggage. Travelers passing through the airport’s checkpoints reported as many as 1,500 items stolen, the majority of which were never recovered.
In May of this year alone, TSA agents were arrested on the suspicion of theft at airports in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
Doesn’t this make you feel safer? Theft by TSA employees of passenger valuables has become a nationwide problem.
According to TSA records, press reports, and court documents . . . some 500 TSA officers . . . have been fired or suspended for stealing from passenger luggage since the agency’s creation in November of 2001. The airports servicing New York City—John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, and Newark Liberty—harbor the most flagrant offenders, but virtually no city in the nation is safe from the TSA’s sticky fingers.
In 2009, a half dozen TSA agents at Miami International Airport were charged with grand theft after boosting an iPod, bottles of perfume, cameras, a GPS system, a Coach purse, and a Hewlett Packard Mini Notebook from passengers’ luggage. Travelers passing through the airport’s checkpoints reported as many as 1,500 items stolen, the majority of which were never recovered.
In May of this year alone, TSA agents were arrested on the suspicion of theft at airports in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago.
NJ Senate passes public employee benefits bill
Another state moves to limit union power: The New Jersey Senate has passed a public employee benefits bill that suspends union bargaining over healthcare while increasing the costs to union members.
Note that the vote was not partisan, 24-15 with 8 Democrats voting in favor.
Another state moves to limit union power: The New Jersey Senate has passed a public employee benefits bill that suspends union bargaining over healthcare while increasing the costs to union members.
Note that the vote was not partisan, 24-15 with 8 Democrats voting in favor.
A gladiator’s tombstone tells tale of death
A gladiator’s tombstone reveals a tale of death and bad refereeing.
A gladiator’s tombstone reveals a tale of death and bad refereeing.
The battle between global warming and the sun
The revelation last week that the sun is very likely about to go into a period of little or no sunspot activity has made a lot of global warming advocates, both scientists and journalists, very nervous. For years these climate activists have declared that the Earth’s climate is getting warmer, and that this warming trend was going to do us great harm. Putting aside whether these claims are based on fact (they are not), the possibility that the Earth might instead become cooler because of a dimming of the sun puts this political agenda under threat, and requires some form of immediate action to defuse that threat. See for example this short podcast (with full transcript) from Scientific American. The key quote:
A cooler sun might mean a drop in global average temperatures of at most 0.3 degree Celsius. But the carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere today will add 0.6 degree Celsius to global average temperatures by the end of the century. And more, since greenhouse gas emissions show no signs of diminishing. So the slightly cooler sun won’t counteract a much hotter Earth.
In order to discredit the threat that solar variation poses to global warming, the journalist here acts to minimize any danger from a dimming sun. Unfortunately, he does so by extrapolating a result (warmer climates) based on a very weak foundation: an unproven theory and our very limited knowledge of the climate.
» Read more
The legal store of stolen objects
The legal store of stolen objects.
The legal store of stolen objects.
Companies Leaving California in Record Numbers
Will the last one out please turn off the light? Companies are leaving California in record numbers.
Will the last one out please turn off the light? Companies are leaving California in record numbers.
Cool images from Mars and Mercury
Here are two image releases of interest, one from Mars and one from Mercury.
First the Mars image. This close-up image of a pit, requested by a seventh grade Mars student team at Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, California, shows more evidence of underground voids on Mars. The pit is located on the flank of one of Mars’ larger volcanoes, and suggests that there is a lava tube below it. At some point the roof over the tube at this point became unstable and collapsed, producing the surface pit.
A close-up image of the shadowed part of the pit with the exposure turned way up unfortunately shows that there is no skylight in the pit into the lava tube.
Next, the Mercury image, from Messenger.
» Read more
House panel tells Dept of Energy to cull underperforming research grants
A House panel has told the Department of Energy to get rid of underperforming research grants.
Though this article focuses on what it considers “whopping” cuts, I must point out that the total cuts to the DOE simply bring its budget back to its 2008 level, hardly a draconian cut.
A House panel has told the Department of Energy to get rid of underperforming research grants.
Though this article focuses on what it considers “whopping” cuts, I must point out that the total cuts to the DOE simply bring its budget back to its 2008 level, hardly a draconian cut.
How the recently dissolved California Space Authority wasted millions of dollars in federal earmarks and grants
How the recently dissolved California Space Authority wasted millions of dollars in federal earmarks and grants.
Sadly, this story is typical of many quasi-public/private authorities, most of which have nothing to do with the aerospace industry. There is a lot of one hand washing the other, using money the federal government nonchalantly gives away as if it is water.
How the recently dissolved California Space Authority wasted millions of dollars in federal earmarks and grants.
Sadly, this story is typical of many quasi-public/private authorities, most of which have nothing to do with the aerospace industry. There is a lot of one hand washing the other, using money the federal government nonchalantly gives away as if it is water.
Hadrian built his country estate with the buildings aligned with the sun
The Roman emperor Hadrian built his country estate with the buildings aligned with the sun.
For centuries, scholars have thought that the more than 30 buildings at Hadrian’s palatial country estate were oriented more or less randomly. But De Franceschini says that during the summer solstice, blades of light pierce two of the villa’s buildings.
In one, the Roccabruna, light from the summer solstice enters through a wedge-shaped slot above the door and illuminates a niche on the opposite side of the interior (see image). And in a temple of the Accademia building, De Franceschini has found that sunlight passes through a series of doors during both the winter and summer solstices.
The Roman emperor Hadrian built his country estate with the buildings aligned with the sun.
For centuries, scholars have thought that the more than 30 buildings at Hadrian’s palatial country estate were oriented more or less randomly. But De Franceschini says that during the summer solstice, blades of light pierce two of the villa’s buildings.
In one, the Roccabruna, light from the summer solstice enters through a wedge-shaped slot above the door and illuminates a niche on the opposite side of the interior (see image). And in a temple of the Accademia building, De Franceschini has found that sunlight passes through a series of doors during both the winter and summer solstices.
The cost of rare earth metals has soared as China limits supplies
The cost of rare earth metals used in electronics has soared to record levels in the past two weeks as China clamps down on illegal mining and limits supplies.
The cost of rare earth metals used in electronics has soared to record levels in the past two weeks as China clamps down on illegal mining and limits supplies.
Unmanned sail prototype prepares for launch
A prototype of an unmanned sailing ship will begin a test voyage this fall.
Although Harbor Wing will operate without a captain and crew by sailing on a pre-programmed course, “the man is always in the loop,” Ott said. An operator, seated at a computer that could be hundreds of miles away, can control the craft with keystrokes that relay commands via satellite. The transmission gap, from order to receipt, is only 18 seconds, which “on the open ocean is not much,” he said, “so you have very close control.”
A prototype of an unmanned sailing ship will begin a test voyage this fall.
Although Harbor Wing will operate without a captain and crew by sailing on a pre-programmed course, “the man is always in the loop,” Ott said. An operator, seated at a computer that could be hundreds of miles away, can control the craft with keystrokes that relay commands via satellite. The transmission gap, from order to receipt, is only 18 seconds, which “on the open ocean is not much,” he said, “so you have very close control.”
Deep well inspection
An evening pause: Let’s take a strange journey, down 275 feet deep into a well. No sound, but fascinating nonetheless.
Daley can’t defend Obama’s ‘indefensible’ economic policies
White House chief of staff can’t defend Obama’s “indefensible” (his word) economic policies.
White House chief of staff can’t defend Obama’s “indefensible” (his word) economic policies.
Research Center Under Fire for ‘Adjusted’ Sea-Level Data
A university research center is under attack for arbitrarily adjusting its sea-level data upward.
A university research center is under attack for arbitrarily adjusting its sea-level data upward.