Hi-Fidelity as a Star Trek Barbershop Quartet
An evening pause: Kirk, McCoy, Spock, and Scotty as barbershop quartet.
Category: Behind The Black
Court throws out Dearborn leaflet ban
A victory for freedom: The court has thrown out the ban on Christian leafleting in Dearborn, Michigan.
The world’s worst PowerPoint slides
Go for launch time lapse movie of shuttle assembly and launch
An evening pause: Saying goodbye to the shuttle. A time-lapse movie showing the assembly and then the night launch of a shuttle.
Note that the film is silent until the end.
New data suggests the water content of lunar magma is 100 times higher than previously thought
A new analysis of a moon rock brought back by Apollo 17 has suggested that the water content of lunar magma is 100 times higher than previously thought.
The secret lives of cats
The un-owned feral cats had larger territories than the house cats, but both had larger territories than expected. One of the male feral cats had a home range of 1,351 acres, while the pet cats had a mean home range of about 5 acres.
GOP Senators to WH: Better start planning for a $2.6 trillion budget
GOP Senators to the White House: Better start planning for no debt ceiling increase and making do on a $2.6 trillion budget.
Astronomical Deficit Forces Downsizing of U.S. Telescope Projects
Budget deficits signal a decline in spending for astronomy telescopes, both on the ground and in space, for the next decade.
False Fire Alarm Blares Out At Space Station
Life in space: A photo-op was interrupted today when a false fire alarm blared out on the International Space Station.
Did Quiet Sun Cause Little Ice Age After All?
Did a spotless sun cause the Little Ice Age after all?
Obama budget receives zero votes in Senate
Obama’s budget request for 2012 received zero votes today when it came up for a vote in the Democratic controlled Senate. Meanwhile, the House budget, proposed by Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) was also rejected, but by the much closer vote of 40-57.
I’m not sure if this is good or bad. It suggests that there is increasing recognition in the Senate that cuts must happen, and that Obama’s budget failed in this regard. It also suggests that the Senate is also not ready to make those cuts.
Provincial official in Algeria orders churches to close
Tolerance in the Middle East: A provincial official in Algeria has ordered seven Christian churches to close.
In 2008 the government applied measures in accordance with Ordinance 06-03 to limit the activities of non-Muslim groups, ordering the closure of 26 churches in the Kabylie region because they were not registered. No churches had been closed down since then. [Protestant Church of Algeria] members argue, however, that the law is impossible to implement as officials refuse to register their churches despite efforts to comply. They said the authorities apply the law when they want to harass churches.