Category: Behind The Black
The end of LightSquared
“No big plane will ever be taken that way again, because the passengers will fight back.”
Bringing an asteroid home in a bag.
The NASA shuttle simulator for training astronauts is going to at Texas A&M
The NASA shuttle simulator for training astronauts is going to Texas A&M.
Valasek said it won’t be a static display for viewing but a functional flight simulator. Visitors will be able to sit in the seats and cockpit and manually fly a simulated re-entry as the shuttle astronauts did. “When operational again, the SMS will be the centerpiece of many educational, outreach, and research activities for a long time to come,” Valasek said. “And it will be accessible. Until now, 355 astronauts have trained on the Shuttle Motion Simulator and flown on a space shuttle mission. Now the rest of us can experience at least a part of the excitement of space exploration, just the way the astronauts trained for it.”
The simulator will be used in aerospace engineering courses and accessible to all Texas A&M students, staff, and faculty. Spaceflight enthusiasts and fans of technology, whether affiliated with the university or not, will also be able to enjoy it.
Now, this is what an engineering school should be focused on, rather than the skin color of its students.
The NASA shuttle simulator for training astronauts is going to Texas A&M.
Valasek said it won’t be a static display for viewing but a functional flight simulator. Visitors will be able to sit in the seats and cockpit and manually fly a simulated re-entry as the shuttle astronauts did. “When operational again, the SMS will be the centerpiece of many educational, outreach, and research activities for a long time to come,” Valasek said. “And it will be accessible. Until now, 355 astronauts have trained on the Shuttle Motion Simulator and flown on a space shuttle mission. Now the rest of us can experience at least a part of the excitement of space exploration, just the way the astronauts trained for it.”
The simulator will be used in aerospace engineering courses and accessible to all Texas A&M students, staff, and faculty. Spaceflight enthusiasts and fans of technology, whether affiliated with the university or not, will also be able to enjoy it.
Now, this is what an engineering school should be focused on, rather than the skin color of its students.
Bigotry on campus
The newly named “associate dean for equity and inclusion” at the College of Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, is promising “disruptive progress” in his effort to increase minorities at the school.
The plan [pdf] includes more money for staffing and facilities for the “equity and inclusion” department, plus more money and power for student organizations. Sadly, this is money and facilities that will no longer be available for actual education or research.
» Read more
Volcano boarding in Nicaragua
Putting the chill on global warming skeptics
Government thugs: Putting the chill on global warming skeptics.
Government thugs: Putting the chill on global warming skeptics.
At last, a close look at Vesta
Focusing in on the theft of customer funds at MF Global
Focusing in on the theft of customer funds at MF Global.
Not surprisingly, this article from the liberal New York Times plays the game of “Name that party!”, conveniently forgetting to mention anywhere that Jon Corzine and all his associates just happen to big-time Democratic Party players. To remind them, and everyone else, here’s a little video illustrating how closely linked the Democrats and Jon Corzine are:
Focusing in on the theft of customer funds at MF Global.
Not surprisingly, this article from the liberal New York Times plays the game of “Name that party!”, conveniently forgetting to mention anywhere that Jon Corzine and all his associates just happen to big-time Democratic Party players. To remind them, and everyone else, here’s a little video illustrating how closely linked the Democrats and Jon Corzine are:
Giant tsunami-shaped clouds in Alabama
Giant tsunami-shaped clouds in Alabama. With pictures.
Giant tsunami-shaped clouds in Alabama. With pictures.
Obamacare abominations
You would think a piece of legislation more than a thousand pages long would at least be clear about the specifics. But a lot of those pages say: “The secretary will determine …” That means the secretary of health and human services will announce the rules sometime in the future. How can a business make plans in such a fog?
Repeal this abomination already before it destroys the country.
You would think a piece of legislation more than a thousand pages long would at least be clear about the specifics. But a lot of those pages say: “The secretary will determine …” That means the secretary of health and human services will announce the rules sometime in the future. How can a business make plans in such a fog?
Repeal this abomination already before it destroys the country.
A Sun-like Star with Three Sub-Neptune Exoplanets and Two Earth-size Candidates
Want to read the actual paper, “A Sun-like star with three sub-Neptune exoplanets and two Earth-size candidates,” describing the discovery announced yesterday of two Earth-sized planet? You can download it here.
The paper’s closing paragraph sums the discovery up nicely:
A striking feature of the Kepler-20 planetary system is the presence of Earth-size rocky planet candidates interspersed between volatile-rich sub-Neptunes at smaller and larger orbital semi-major axes, as also seen in Kepler candidate multi-planet systems. Assuming that both [Kepler-20e] and [Kepler-20f] are planets, the distribution of the Kepler-20 planets in orbital order is as follows: Kepler-20b (3.7 days, 1.9 Earth radii), [Kepler-20e] (6.1 days, 0.9 Earth radii), Kepler-20c (10.9 days, 3.1 Earth radii), [Kepler-20f] (19.6 days, 1.0 Earth radii), and Kepler-20d (77.6 days, 2.8 Earth radii). Given the radii and irradiation fluxes of the two Earth-size planet candidates, they would not retain gas envelopes. The first, second, and fourth planets have high densities indicative of solid planets, while the other two planets have low densities requiring significant volatile content. The volatile-rich third planet, Kepler-20c dominates the inner part of the Kepler-20 system, by holding much more mass than the other three inner planets put together. In the Solar System, the terrestrial planets, gas-giants, and ice giants are neatly segregated in regions with increasing distance from the sun. Planet formation theories were developed to retrodict these Solar System composition trends. In the Kepler-20 system, the locations of the low-density sub-Neptunes that are rich in water and/or gas, and the Earth-size planet candidates does not exhibit a clean ordering with orbital period, challenging the conventional planet formation paradigm. In situ assembly may form multi-planet systems with close-in hot-Neptunes and super-Earths, provided the initial protoplanetary disk contained massive amounts of solids (∼ 50–100 Earth masses) within 1AU of the star.
Want to read the actual paper, “A Sun-like star with three sub-Neptune exoplanets and two Earth-size candidates,” describing the discovery announced yesterday of two Earth-sized planet? You can download it here.
The paper’s closing paragraph sums the discovery up nicely:
A striking feature of the Kepler-20 planetary system is the presence of Earth-size rocky planet candidates interspersed between volatile-rich sub-Neptunes at smaller and larger orbital semi-major axes, as also seen in Kepler candidate multi-planet systems. Assuming that both [Kepler-20e] and [Kepler-20f] are planets, the distribution of the Kepler-20 planets in orbital order is as follows: Kepler-20b (3.7 days, 1.9 Earth radii), [Kepler-20e] (6.1 days, 0.9 Earth radii), Kepler-20c (10.9 days, 3.1 Earth radii), [Kepler-20f] (19.6 days, 1.0 Earth radii), and Kepler-20d (77.6 days, 2.8 Earth radii). Given the radii and irradiation fluxes of the two Earth-size planet candidates, they would not retain gas envelopes. The first, second, and fourth planets have high densities indicative of solid planets, while the other two planets have low densities requiring significant volatile content. The volatile-rich third planet, Kepler-20c dominates the inner part of the Kepler-20 system, by holding much more mass than the other three inner planets put together. In the Solar System, the terrestrial planets, gas-giants, and ice giants are neatly segregated in regions with increasing distance from the sun. Planet formation theories were developed to retrodict these Solar System composition trends. In the Kepler-20 system, the locations of the low-density sub-Neptunes that are rich in water and/or gas, and the Earth-size planet candidates does not exhibit a clean ordering with orbital period, challenging the conventional planet formation paradigm. In situ assembly may form multi-planet systems with close-in hot-Neptunes and super-Earths, provided the initial protoplanetary disk contained massive amounts of solids (∼ 50–100 Earth masses) within 1AU of the star.
Russia launches three astronauts to ISS
Doing the work NASA can’t do: Russia successfully launched three astronauts to ISS this morning.
Doing the work NASA can’t do: Russia successfully launched three astronauts to ISS this morning.
Global warming is good for you!
Here are two stories that illustrate why we shouldn’t be in a panic over climate change. Though it is important to study the climate and to learn as much as we can about it, it is at this time inappropriate to impose draconian regulations on the world’s populations so that whole economies are destroyed out of fear of climate change. We just don’t know enough about the consequences of climate change. Global warming might even be beneficial!
First, from Nature this story: Global warming wilts malaria. It appears that the assumption that warmer climates would increase malaria epidemics is completely wrong. Instead, warmer temperatures act to hinder the survival of the malaria parasite in mosquitoes.
» Read more
Obamacare: 2011 in review
The disaster of Obamacare: 2011 in review.
The Daily Caller does an excellent job reviewing the key events during 2011 relating to Obamacare. In toto what this history tells me is that this law continues to be serious political problem for Democrats: the law isn’t doing what it was touted to do while doing serious harm to both the economy and the healthcare industry, the public hates it and wants it repealed, and everyone knows that it was the Democrats who forced it on us.
The disaster of Obamacare: 2011 in review.
The Daily Caller does an excellent job reviewing the key events during 2011 relating to Obamacare. In toto what this history tells me is that this law continues to be serious political problem for Democrats: the law isn’t doing what it was touted to do while doing serious harm to both the economy and the healthcare industry, the public hates it and wants it repealed, and everyone knows that it was the Democrats who forced it on us.
Miniatur Wunderland – largest model railway in the world
Government spending at its stupidest.
Government spending at its stupidest: the top ten projects.
I like #6 the best, $484,000 to help finance a pizza restaurant in Arlington, Texas, because every business should get its own free pile of cash from the government!
Government spending at its stupidest: the top ten projects.
I like #6 the best, $484,000 to help finance a pizza restaurant in Arlington, Texas, because every business should get its own free pile of cash from the government!
For as yet unexplained reasons, scientists have been finding isolated colonies of little brown bats — once the most common bat species in the region and the hardest hit by white nose syndrome — surviving and healthy.
Hope for North America’s bats: For as yet unexplained reasons, scientists have been finding isolated colonies of little brown bats — once the most common bat species in the region and the hardest hit by white nose syndrome — surviving and healthy.
In Vermont, biologists have identified 15 colonies in the western part of the state where the numbers of little brown bats, while still far fewer than before white nose appeared, are surviving, said Vermont Fish and Wildlife Biologist Scott Darling. “We visited each and every one of those colonies and to some degree, much to our surprise, they seem to be healthy,” Darling said. “It begged the question, ‘Why are you the lucky ones?'”
Hope for North America’s bats: For as yet unexplained reasons, scientists have been finding isolated colonies of little brown bats — once the most common bat species in the region and the hardest hit by white nose syndrome — surviving and healthy.
In Vermont, biologists have identified 15 colonies in the western part of the state where the numbers of little brown bats, while still far fewer than before white nose appeared, are surviving, said Vermont Fish and Wildlife Biologist Scott Darling. “We visited each and every one of those colonies and to some degree, much to our surprise, they seem to be healthy,” Darling said. “It begged the question, ‘Why are you the lucky ones?'”
First Earth-sized planets found
Big news: The first Earth-sized planets have been found by Kepler.
The two planets, dubbed Kepler-20e and 20f, are the smallest planets found to date. They have diameters of 6,900 miles and 8,200 miles – equivalent to 0.87 times Earth (slightly smaller than Venus) and 1.03 times Earth. These worlds are expected to have rocky compositions, so their masses should be less than 1.7 and 3 times Earth’s.
Both worlds circle Kepler-20: a G-type star slightly cooler than the Sun and located 950 light-years from Earth. (It would take the space shuttle 36 million years to travel to Kepler-20.) Kepler-20e orbits every 6.1 days at a distance of 4.7 million miles. Kepler-20f orbits every 19.6 days at a distance of 10.3 million miles. Due to their tight orbits, they are heated to temperatures of 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and 800 degrees F.
Once again, this is only the beginning. The announcement of an Earth in the habitable zone is only a matter of months away.
Big news: The first Earth-sized planets have been found by Kepler.
The two planets, dubbed Kepler-20e and 20f, are the smallest planets found to date. They have diameters of 6,900 miles and 8,200 miles – equivalent to 0.87 times Earth (slightly smaller than Venus) and 1.03 times Earth. These worlds are expected to have rocky compositions, so their masses should be less than 1.7 and 3 times Earth’s.
Both worlds circle Kepler-20: a G-type star slightly cooler than the Sun and located 950 light-years from Earth. (It would take the space shuttle 36 million years to travel to Kepler-20.) Kepler-20e orbits every 6.1 days at a distance of 4.7 million miles. Kepler-20f orbits every 19.6 days at a distance of 10.3 million miles. Due to their tight orbits, they are heated to temperatures of 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit and 800 degrees F.
Once again, this is only the beginning. The announcement of an Earth in the habitable zone is only a matter of months away.
The spread of anti-semitism and censorship at European universities.
Returning to the 1930s: The spread of anti-semitism and censorship at European universities.
Returning to the 1930s: The spread of anti-semitism and censorship at European universities.
Using Hubble astronomers have found evidence that complex molecules lie on the surface of Pluto.
Using Hubble, astronomers have found new evidence that complex molecules, such as hydrocarbons, lie on the surface of Pluto.
Using Hubble, astronomers have found new evidence that complex molecules, such as hydrocarbons, lie on the surface of Pluto.
Another Obamacare surprise: As of January 1, 2012, the government will begin sharing your Medicare data with others, unless you opt out.
Another Obamacare surprise: As of January 1, 2012, the government will begin sharing your Medicare data with others, unless you opt out.
Another Obamacare surprise: As of January 1, 2012, the government will begin sharing your Medicare data with others, unless you opt out.
FBI sees drop in violent and property crimes in every region of the U.S.
Some good news: The FBI is reporting a drop in violent and property crimes in every region of the U.S for the first half of 2011.
As the report above notes, this drop has occurred during “tough economic times,” illustrating once again that the leftwing claim that “tough economic times” causes violence and crime is dead wrong. If a society knows the difference between right and wrong while respecting property rights, poverty by itself will not lead to crime. What will lead to crime is a rejection of these values, which not only promotes bad behavior (stealing and violence) but also leads to more poverty and the collapse of society.
With this in mind it is therefore interesting to reflect on many of the actions and ideas of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Is this what we really want for America?
Some good news: The FBI is reporting a drop in violent and property crimes in every region of the U.S for the first half of 2011.
As the report above notes, this drop has occurred during “tough economic times,” illustrating once again that the leftwing claim that “tough economic times” causes violence and crime is dead wrong. If a society knows the difference between right and wrong while respecting property rights, poverty by itself will not lead to crime. What will lead to crime is a rejection of these values, which not only promotes bad behavior (stealing and violence) but also leads to more poverty and the collapse of society.
With this in mind it is therefore interesting to reflect on many of the actions and ideas of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Is this what we really want for America?
Why Are Indian Reservations So Poor?
Why are Indian reservations so poor? (Link fixed. Sorry.)
The vast majority of land on reservations is held communally. That means residents can’t get clear title to the land where their home sits, one reason for the abundance of mobile homes on reservations. This makes it hard for Native Americans to establish credit and borrow money to improve their homes because they can’t use the land as collateral–and investing in something you don’t own makes little sense, anyway.
…
“Markets haven’t been allowed to operate in reserve lands,” says [Manny Jules, a former chief of the Kamloops Indian band in British Columbia]. “We’ve been legislated out of the economy. When you don’t have individual property rights, you can’t build, you can’t be bonded, you can’t pass on wealth. A lot of small businesses never get started because people can’t leverage property [to raise funds].
Hat tip Ace of Spades.
Why are Indian reservations so poor? (Link fixed. Sorry.)
The vast majority of land on reservations is held communally. That means residents can’t get clear title to the land where their home sits, one reason for the abundance of mobile homes on reservations. This makes it hard for Native Americans to establish credit and borrow money to improve their homes because they can’t use the land as collateral–and investing in something you don’t own makes little sense, anyway.
…
“Markets haven’t been allowed to operate in reserve lands,” says [Manny Jules, a former chief of the Kamloops Indian band in British Columbia]. “We’ve been legislated out of the economy. When you don’t have individual property rights, you can’t build, you can’t be bonded, you can’t pass on wealth. A lot of small businesses never get started because people can’t leverage property [to raise funds].
Hat tip Ace of Spades.
LightSquared is running out of cash
That LightSquared’s broadband technology interferes with GPS and that it’s CEO is under investigation from the SEC aren’t it’s only problems: the company is running out of cash.
That LightSquared’s broadband technology interferes with GPS and that it’s CEO is under investigation from the SEC aren’t it’s only problems: the company is running out of cash.
Bugs Bunny – Racketeer Rabbit
Harvard Faculty Fires Economics Professor over Political Article Published in India
Modern academic freedom: Harvard has fired an economics professor over a political op-ed he wrote that was published in India.
Modern academic freedom: Harvard has fired an economics professor over a political op-ed he wrote that was published in India.
Scientists have located one of the quarries used by the builders of Stonehenge
Scientists have identified the quarry used by the builders of Stonehenge to build its first circle, 160 miles from the ancient monument.
Scientists have identified the quarry used by the builders of Stonehenge to build its first circle, 160 miles from the ancient monument.
Swallowed pen still works 25 years later
Good engineering: A swallowed pen, stuck in a 76-year-old woman’s stomach for 25 years, still worked after it was removed.
Good engineering: A swallowed pen, stuck in a 76-year-old woman’s stomach for 25 years, still worked after it was removed.