A truck 400 feet long with 192 wheels crosses California to Utah
A truck 400 feet long with 192 wheels crosses California to Utah.
A truck 400 feet long with 192 wheels crosses California to Utah.
Category: Behind The Black
A truck 400 feet long with 192 wheels crosses California to Utah
A Bell for Adano
An evening pause: This lovely and poignant scene from the 1945 film, A Bell for Adano, showcases the superb acting of Gene Tierney and John Hodiak. He is an American commander of Italian descent put in charge of an Italian village now under U.S. rule near the end of World War II. She is a local Italian girl longing to find her sweetheart who went off to fight for Italy and is now missing.
The movie was based on a short but profound book by John Hersey. And what I remember most from that book is this speech by the Hodiak character in trying to explain to the Italians the right way for government officials to act:
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Getting closer to Vesta
The Dawn mission team released another image today of the giant asteroid Vesta, this time taken from about 2,300 miles away. At this distance the resolution is still somewhat coarse, with the smallest visible detail about 0.43 miles in size.
To the right is a cropped section of the full image, focusing in on what appears to be a very strange geological feature, indicated by the arrows. From what I can tell, the dark meandering streak looks like a rille or flow coming out of the mound or peak near the bottom of the image. Yet, this dark meander continues directly across a crater as if it were a wind-blown dust streak.
I really have no idea what geological process created this. I also suspect that the scientists don’t quite know yet either, though I am sure they have some good theories, mostly based on the very light gravity that should exist on a world only 330 miles in diameter. As I’ve already noted, however, it is going to take them a couple of months to digest the data they are getting and come up with some reasonable conclusions. It will be fun to finally find out what they have learned.
“Total fear.”
More evidence that there are active flows of water on Mars
More evidence that there are active flows of water on Mars.
Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars’ southern hemisphere.
Though there are a number of unsolved issues about these features, the best explanation appears to be a liquid brine.
Saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water. Sites with active flows get warm enough, even in the shallow subsurface, to sustain liquid water that is about as salty as Earth’s oceans, while pure water would freeze at the observed temperatures.
Go here to see the full image.
More evidence that there are active flows of water on Mars.
Dark, finger-like features appear and extend down some Martian slopes during late spring through summer, fade in winter, and return during the next spring. Repeated observations have tracked the seasonal changes in these recurring features on several steep slopes in the middle latitudes of Mars’ southern hemisphere.
Though there are a number of unsolved issues about these features, the best explanation appears to be a liquid brine.
Saltiness lowers the freezing temperature of water. Sites with active flows get warm enough, even in the shallow subsurface, to sustain liquid water that is about as salty as Earth’s oceans, while pure water would freeze at the observed temperatures.
Go here to see the full image.
Boeing confirms that it has chosen the Atlas 5 rocket to launch is manned capsule
Boeing has now officially chosen the Atlas 5 rocket to launch is manned capsule.
Boeing has now officially chosen the Atlas 5 rocket to launch is manned capsule.
It’s the coverup, not the crime
A new Rasmussen poll finds that 69% of the public now believe that climate scientists falsified data to support their own theories about global warming. Moreover, these numbers are up ten points since December 2009, which happens to be just after the climategate emails were released.
These terrible numbers are further evidence that the willingness of the scientific community to whitewash their investigations of the climategate scientists, what I consider to be the equivalent of a community-wide cover-up, has done serious harm to science and its reputation.
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The Government War On Kid-Run Concession Stands
The government war on kid-run businesses. With a map.
The government war on kid-run businesses. With a map.
Five insurers cancel their healthcare coverage in Indiana due to Obamacare regulations
Repeal it: Five insurers have announced they are canceling their healthcare coverage in Indiana due to Obamacare regulations. The reason?
Aetna was leaving the Indiana individual market over a rule in the federal health care overhaul that insurers essentially must dedicate 80 percent of the premiums they collect to medical care. Anything less than 80 percent would be paid as rebates to policyholders the following year.
In other words, Obamacare tries to legislate the percentage of overhead a company spends, something that in the real world is simply impractical. Under this kind of regulation, every private company will eventually go out of business, leaving us stuck with a nationalized healthcare system run by our government.
And we all can see how efficiently the government runs things, right? Imagine a visit to the doctors’ office being like going to the motor vehicle administration.
Repeal it: Five insurers have announced they are canceling their healthcare coverage in Indiana due to Obamacare regulations. The reason?
Aetna was leaving the Indiana individual market over a rule in the federal health care overhaul that insurers essentially must dedicate 80 percent of the premiums they collect to medical care. Anything less than 80 percent would be paid as rebates to policyholders the following year.
In other words, Obamacare tries to legislate the percentage of overhead a company spends, something that in the real world is simply impractical. Under this kind of regulation, every private company will eventually go out of business, leaving us stuck with a nationalized healthcare system run by our government.
And we all can see how efficiently the government runs things, right? Imagine a visit to the doctors’ office being like going to the motor vehicle administration.
The importance of a large moon to a habitable planet
New research on the influence of a large moon to a habitable planet.
New research on the influence of a large moon to a habitable planet.
Gun groups to sue over new Obama gun regulations in the southwest border states
Gun groups to sue over new Obama gun regulations in the southwest border states.
Gun groups to sue over new Obama gun regulations in the southwest border states.
Two Russians complete spacewalk at ISS
Two Russians have completed a spacewalk today at ISS. They not only prepared the station for future Russian upgrades, they released an amateur radio microsat.
Two Russians have completed a spacewalk today at ISS. They not only prepared the station for future Russian upgrades, they released an amateur radio microsat.
Cost issues might force Europe to downsize its 2016 Mars mission
Cost issues might force Europe to downsize its 2016 Mars mission.
Cost issues might force Europe to downsize its 2016 Mars mission.
Downhill mountain biking in southern Utah
Did the Earth once have two moons? And did they collide?
Did the Earth once have two moons?
Both satellites would have formed from debris that was ejected when a Mars-size protoplanet smacked into Earth late in its formation period. Whereas traditional theory states that the infant Moon rapidly swept up any rivals or gravitationally ejected them into interstellar space, the new theory suggests that one body survived, parked in a gravitationally stable point in the Earth–Moon system.
This new model also posits that the two moons eventually collided, producing the moon we have today.
Did the Earth once have two moons?
Both satellites would have formed from debris that was ejected when a Mars-size protoplanet smacked into Earth late in its formation period. Whereas traditional theory states that the infant Moon rapidly swept up any rivals or gravitationally ejected them into interstellar space, the new theory suggests that one body survived, parked in a gravitationally stable point in the Earth–Moon system.
This new model also posits that the two moons eventually collided, producing the moon we have today.
Israeli doctors protest their working conditions
The future of American medicine: Israeli doctors protested their socialized working conditions last week, closing clinics and delaying treatment in emergency rooms.
The future of American medicine: Israeli doctors protested their socialized working conditions last week, closing clinics and delaying treatment in emergency rooms.
Getting to know the Atlas 5
The Atlas 5 is the rocket that Boeing, Blue Origin, and Sierra Nevada plan to use to get astronauts into orbit.
The Atlas 5 is the rocket that Boeing, Blue Origin, and Sierra Nevada plan to use to get astronauts into orbit.
Lack of U.S. government interest in commercial refueling mission causes problems
A lack of U.S. government interest in a privately designed satellite refueling technology has caused the company to pull back its plans.
MDA had signed a contract with the communications satellite company Intelsat to refuel some of its orbiting satellites, but needed additional customers to make a go of it. It had hoped the U.S. Defense Department would show interest, but they have not.
This is exactly where the government should be investing its capital, and that it is not tells us a lot about the real lack of sincerity behind the Obama administration’s claims that it wants to encourage private space. I also suspect that the turf war with satellite companies and defense contractors helped discourage Defense Department interest.
A lack of U.S. government interest in a privately designed satellite refueling technology has caused the company to pull back its plans.
MDA had signed a contract with the communications satellite company Intelsat to refuel some of its orbiting satellites, but needed additional customers to make a go of it. It had hoped the U.S. Defense Department would show interest, but they have not.
This is exactly where the government should be investing its capital, and that it is not tells us a lot about the real lack of sincerity behind the Obama administration’s claims that it wants to encourage private space. I also suspect that the turf war with satellite companies and defense contractors helped discourage Defense Department interest.
Moody Blues – Your Wildest Dreams
An evening pause:
And when the music plays
And when the words are
Touched with sorrow
When the music plays
I hear the sound
I had to follow
Once upon a time
Once beneath the stars
The universe was ours
Love was all we knew
And all I knew was you
I wonder if you know
I wonder if you think about it
Once upon a time
In your wildest dreams
“To Hell with You People”
Dow dives below 12,000
The Dow today dived below 12,000, a nine-month low.
The report above tries to look past the just signed debt agreement, but I wonder if maybe it was the debt deal itself that worried investors, since the deal really did little to gain control of the federal government’s out-of-control spending.
The Dow today dived below 12,000, a nine-month low.
The report above tries to look past the just signed debt agreement, but I wonder if maybe it was the debt deal itself that worried investors, since the deal really did little to gain control of the federal government’s out-of-control spending.
A look at the more than 450 tourists who have paid a deposit to Virgin Galactic to fly in space
A look at the more than 450 tourists who have paid a deposit to Virgin Galactic to fly in space.
They include comedian Russell Brand, Dallas star Victoria Principal, film director Bryan Singer, designer Philippe Starck, scientist Professor Stephen Hawking, property developers the Candy brothers, and PayPal developer Elon Musk.
A look at the more than 450 tourists who have paid a deposit to Virgin Galactic to fly in space.
They include comedian Russell Brand, Dallas star Victoria Principal, film director Bryan Singer, designer Philippe Starck, scientist Professor Stephen Hawking, property developers the Candy brothers, and PayPal developer Elon Musk.
The drought has uncovered a possible part of shuttle Columbia in Texas lake
The drought in Texas has uncovered in a lake a possible piece from the destroyed shuttle Columbia. More here.
The drought in Texas has uncovered in a lake a possible piece from the destroyed shuttle Columbia. More here.
The state of the new commercial manned space efforts
Chris Bergin at NASAspaceflight.com today wrote a report on the four companies NASA is subsidizing to build manned capsules. The status of each company tells us something of whether they can eventually provide the United States with a replacement for the shuttle, and do it soon. Let’s take a look at each.
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Judy Garland – Pretty girl milking her cow
Tea Partiers like “terrorists.”
Leftwing civility: Joe Biden accused the tea party Republicans today of “acting like terrorists” in the negotiations over the debt limit.
And why? Because they simply refused to back down to those who want to spend us into oblivion.
Then there’s this quote from Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania): “We have negotiated with terrorists. This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”
Impossible to spend any money? What kind of fantasy world does this idiot live in? The federal budget has doubled in the past ten years. Meanwhile, this debt ceiling bill does nothing to reduce the size of government. On the contrary, the so-called reductions in the deficit merely slow the growth of government. Under the agreed plan, in each of the next ten years the federal government’s budget will still grow, and it will do so at a rate far exceeding inflation in an dying economy choked by regulation and government interference.
How is it even possible to deal with this problem if you have to deal with people like this, who are so divorced from reality and consider anyone who disagrees with them the worst sort of monster? Sadly, it is impossible. Until we see a wholesale change in government, with most of these idiots thrown from office, we will see no change in how our government is operated.
Leftwing civility: Joe Biden accused the tea party Republicans today of “acting like terrorists” in the negotiations over the debt limit.
And why? Because they simply refused to back down to those who want to spend us into oblivion.
Then there’s this quote from Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania): “We have negotiated with terrorists. This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money.”
Impossible to spend any money? What kind of fantasy world does this idiot live in? The federal budget has doubled in the past ten years. Meanwhile, this debt ceiling bill does nothing to reduce the size of government. On the contrary, the so-called reductions in the deficit merely slow the growth of government. Under the agreed plan, in each of the next ten years the federal government’s budget will still grow, and it will do so at a rate far exceeding inflation in an dying economy choked by regulation and government interference.
How is it even possible to deal with this problem if you have to deal with people like this, who are so divorced from reality and consider anyone who disagrees with them the worst sort of monster? Sadly, it is impossible. Until we see a wholesale change in government, with most of these idiots thrown from office, we will see no change in how our government is operated.
Oxygen molecules detected in star-forming region
Oxygen molecules have been detected for the first time in space, and they were found in the Orion nebula, a giant molecular cloud where stars are being born. More here.
Oxygen molecules have been detected for the first time in space, and they were found in the Orion nebula, a giant molecular cloud where stars are being born. More here.
Dawn begins science operations in orbit around Vesta
The Dawn science team today released what they are calling “the first full-frame image” of Vesta. The image is shown below the fold.
The picture was taken from 3,200 miles, and shows a pockmarked irregularly shaped world. While many features that resemble the Moon (the craters, the rays radiating out from those craters), that Vesta itself is not spherical makes it very much unlike the Moon. It is probably going to take scientists several months at least to decipher the data they are getting and come up with some concrete conclusions about this strange dwarf planet.
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Cancer-stricken WTC worker gets $0 settlement check from lawyers
No wonder lawyers have a such a bad reputation: A cancer-stricken World Trade Center worker received a check for $0 after his lawyers deducted their fees and other unspecified “liens.”
No wonder lawyers have a such a bad reputation: A cancer-stricken World Trade Center worker received a check for $0 after his lawyers deducted their fees and other unspecified “liens.”
Guess what happened to that Obama recovery?
Guess what happened to that Obama recovery?
There never was one. And this graph from the article says it all. The Obama recession stands out as the worst by far.
Guess what happened to that Obama recovery?
There never was one. And this graph from the article says it all. The Obama recession stands out as the worst by far.