Researchers think they have found a way to use DNA to kill the mite that is killing bees in Britain, without harming the bees themselves.
Oink! “Nonprofit groups, for-profit businesses, the University of Hawaii, and state and local governments” in Hawaii are faced with a loss of funding due to the end of earmarks in Congress.
What is most interesting about this article isn’t just that it gives a great deal of space to those who oppose earmarks and spending (something you don’t see that often in an AP article), but that the comments are almost universally in favor of eliminating earmarks as well as cutting the federal government. A truly hopeful sign.
An evening pause: Scrooge awakes on Christmas Day. From probably the best movie version of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (1951), starring Alastair Sim in an astonishing performance.
Bad news for India’s space program: It’s geosynchronous rocket, GSLV, failed today less than two minutes after launch. Key quote:
[The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)] has had a troubled past with GSLV, with only two of the seven launches so far claiming total success. Though ISRO claims that four launches had been successful, independent observers call at least two of them either failure or partial success. When it comes to launching its workhorse PSLV, ISRO has had 15 consecutive successes.
Iowahawk: So You Lost Your Election: An outplacement transition guide for unemployed Congressmen. Key quote:
The road to your new non-Washington career begins with an inventory of your personal strengths and competencies. Read the critical skill list below, and circle the ones that you possess.
* Telling other people what to do
* Demanding money
* Peddling influence
* Talking loudly over others
* Condescension / arrogance
* Threatening, browbeating, arguing
* Narcissism
* Evading responsibility
* Spin controlAs a former Washington professional, you probably circled four or more of the above. Yes, there are some private sector industries where these skills are valued – such as journalism, bill collection, professional wrestling, higher education, and carnival barking. Unfortunately, these are all declining industries with low wages and/or fierce job competition. In order to maintain your standard of living, you will probably have to seek employment in other industries where you will find surprisingly little demand for your skills.
Maybe Shakespeare was right about lawyers: A San Francisco bookshop owner is being forced to close her store because of an ADA lawsuit.
An evening pause: The Christmas eve telecast by the Apollo 8 astronauts from lunar orbit, December 24, 1968, probably the most listened to space telecast in history. The story behind how and why these men said what they did is the central theme of my first book, Genesis, the Story of Apollo 8.
Democratic tolerance: Al Sharpton, in his effort to get the FCC to outlaw conservative speech on the airwaves, says it is arrogant to “allow people to say what they want.”
Islamic tolerance: The cross is banned in Bethlehem for Christmas.
Flying on empty to a comet.
The new colonial movement: For the first time China has matched the U.S. in space launches. Note that though the above article implies it, the U.S. has quite often not been the yearly leader in launches, as Russia has often topped the list. Nonetheless, with China now becoming more competitive the future of space travel can only get bettter.
For those who would are curious to hear me talk about the past year and what’s to come as well as celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the Christmas Eve reading of Genesis by the astronauts of Apollo 8, I will be appearing on David Livingston’s long running radio show/podcast, The Space Show, today at 9:30 am Pacific time (12:30 pm Eastern time). The interview is scheduled to last 90 minutes, but David and I usually end up going far longer.
Dr. Livingston has produced more than 1000 shows, interviewing almost every single important figure in the aerospace industry. As he noted recently:
The Space Show/One Giant Leap Foundation is a non-profit 501C3 and your contributions are deductible from your U.S. tax liability. But more important, your help is needed in getting the space message out there to as many as possible, including the movers and shakers in society and the space industry. Not only do we provide a platform for many of you and your own material, we play an increasingly larger and more important role in getting space development to go viral. However, we can’t do it without your help so if you are able to make a contribution to The Space Show/OGLF this year, not only will it be appreciated, it will be most beneficial in helping to achieve Space Show goals and objectives.
To this I heartily say, amen! If you want to find out what’s going on in the aerospace community, The Space Show is undeniably one of the best places to go. The show deserves our support, and for that reason I want to give it a enthusiastic plug. You can make contributions by Pay Pal on The Space Show website here or on the One Giant Leap Foundation website. Checks made payable to One Giant Leap Foundation, Inc. can be mailed to P.O. 95, Tiburon, CA 94920.
Oink! Scientists rail against senator who belittled research.
In its 14 mile multi-year trek to Endeavour Crater — now about half completed — the Mars rover Opportunity has stopped to take a short rest stop at a small crater.
The crater, dubbed “Santa Maria Crater” by the scientists who operater Opportunity, is about the size of a football field. What makes it especially interesting are the sharp rocks piled up on its rim, as they are probably debris ejected from the crater at impact. Since this material probably came from deep below the Martian surface, it is also likely to hold information about the Martian geological past, thereby making it a prime research site.
More TSA abuse: A rape-survivor is arrested for refusing an enhanced pat-down at Texas airport.
The space war over NASA: The continuing resolution puts NASA where it was back in February, with everything uncertain.
Our government at work: For the past seven years, Maryland has used prisoners, some with fraud and theft convictions, to process Social Security numbers and other personal information of low income residences.
An asteroid discovered more than 100 years ago is actually an extinct comet. And it is coming back to life!
Power grab! The EPA has taken from Texas regulators the permitting process for air quality on major industrial facilities.
More on that Sacramento-area pilot who is being threatened by the TSA for posting a video showing airport security flaws.
Urban caving in Berlin’s underground bunkers.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) experienced a disk controller failure on December 21, preventing it from sending near-real-time images. Unfortunately, the SDO website provides little additional information, so I can’t tell you the extent or seriousness of the problem.
Update: The problem appears to be with ground equipment. See this screen capture:
Recent monitoring of the Sun’s brightness as it went from maximum to minimum in its solar cycle has found that, surprisingly, the changes in brightness across different wavelengths do not necessarily vary in lockstep. Key quote:
SIM suggests that ultraviolet irradiance fell far more than expected between 2004 and 2007 — by ten times as much as the total irradiance did — while irradiance in certain visible and infrared wavelengths surprisingly increased, even as solar activity wound down overall. The steep decrease in the ultraviolet, coupled with the increase in the visible and infrared, does even out to about the same total irradiance change as measured by the TIM during that period, according to the SIM measurements.
The stratosphere absorbs most of the shorter wavelengths of ultraviolet light, but some of the longest ultraviolet rays (UV-A), as well as much of the visible and infrared portions of the spectrum, directly heat Earth’s lower atmosphere and can have a significant impact on the climate. [emphasis mine]
Alabama town’s failed pension is a warning.
A pilot videotapes what he thinks are serious airport security flaws and immediately gets threatened by the TSA for doing it. Key quote:
Three days after the pilot posted his airport security tour on YouTube, four federal air marshals and two sheriff’s deputies arrived at the pilot’s house, which he also recorded. They were there to confiscate his federally-issued handgun. A letter later arrived saying, “An FFDO [Federal Flight Deck Officer] must not engage in… conduct that impairs the efficiency of TSA… or causes the loss of public confidence in TSA…”
The pilot’s attorney believes the feds sent six people to the pilot’s house to send a message. “And the message was you’ve angered us by telling the truth and by showing America that there are major security problems despite the fact that we’ve spent billions of dollars allegedly to improve airline safety,” says Don Werno, the airline pilot’s attorney.
When will the left learn? A big tax hike in Oregon results instead in substantially less revenue for the state.
The uncertainty of science: Did the Martian methane signal come from Earth?
