Category: Behind The Black
“Moon will be in the focus of our activity this decade.”
Lava tubes on Mars.
Despite protests from the U.S. and South Korea, North Korea is continuing preparations for the launch an Earth observation satellite.
Despite protests from the U.S. and South Korea, North Korea is continuing preparations for the launch an Earth observation satellite.
North Korea recently entered into a food aid agreement with the U.S., which requires the Asian nation to halt long-range rocket launches in exchange for critical resources to stem the country’s widespread poverty and famine.
Officials from the U.S. and South Korea have said that the Unha-3 launch is a violation of this agreement, and could carry significant consequences. South Korean officials have said they may even shoot down parts of the Unha-3 rocket if they breach the state’s borders.
Despite protests from the U.S. and South Korea, North Korea is continuing preparations for the launch an Earth observation satellite.
North Korea recently entered into a food aid agreement with the U.S., which requires the Asian nation to halt long-range rocket launches in exchange for critical resources to stem the country’s widespread poverty and famine.
Officials from the U.S. and South Korea have said that the Unha-3 launch is a violation of this agreement, and could carry significant consequences. South Korean officials have said they may even shoot down parts of the Unha-3 rocket if they breach the state’s borders.
Another volcano in Iceland shows signs of coming to life.
Another volcano in Iceland shows signs of coming to life.
Another volcano in Iceland shows signs of coming to life.
Clues to North Korea’s rocket program
Clues to North Korea’s rocket program.
Clues to North Korea’s rocket program.
Mathilda’s solo
SpaceX is planning its own spaceport about three miles north of Mexico at the southern tip of Texas.
SpaceX is planning its own spaceport about three miles north of Mexico at the southern tip of Texas.
SpaceX had been looking at sites at various potential sites, including ones in Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Company officials have said they plan to operate out of Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base as well. A third, commercial launch site frees them from range restrictions that exist at the other two locations.
SpaceX is planning its own spaceport about three miles north of Mexico at the southern tip of Texas.
SpaceX had been looking at sites at various potential sites, including ones in Florida, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Company officials have said they plan to operate out of Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base as well. A third, commercial launch site frees them from range restrictions that exist at the other two locations.
Something new found on the Sun
Something new found on the Sun.
Something new found on the Sun.
The collapse of traditional journalism and why that is good news
The collapse of traditional journalism and why that is good news.
And the good news is probably not what you think.
The collapse of traditional journalism and why that is good news.
And the good news is probably not what you think.
The virtual aircraft museum
Passover 2
Thank you all for your comments and good wishes. I am still traveling, will return late today, and will resume full posting by tomorrow.
Thank you all for your comments and good wishes. I am still traveling, will return late today, and will resume full posting by tomorrow.
What happens when you put a koosh ball in liquid nitrogen?
Issy Emeney – Appalachian Flatfooting
Boney M – Rivers of Babylon
Passover
For the next two days posting will be light. I am in Chicago visiting family for Passover, the annual Jewish holiday celebrating the release of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. During the Seder meal, Jews read the Haggadah, which retells the story of the Jewish slavery in Egypt and their escape, with the idea of reminding each person what is like to be a slave, and then to be free. As it says in the Haggadah,
In every generation each individual is bound to regard himself as if he had gone personally forth from Egypt.
Tonight, this is what Jews do. It would be nice if all people reflected on this and did the same.
Twenty doctors disciplined for giving out fake sick notes at Wisconsin demonstrations last year
Slap on the wrist: Twenty doctors have been fined $500 to $4001 and made to attend ethics training for giving out fake sick notes at the Wisconsin union demonstrations last year.
Slap on the wrist: Twenty doctors have been fined $500 to $4001 and made to attend ethics training for giving out fake sick notes at the Wisconsin union demonstrations last year.
The actual cost to launch
In writing this short post on the efforts of Lockheed Martin and Orbital Sciences to launch rockets for the small satellite market, Clark Lindsey made this comment:
It costs around $50 million to launch a Orbital Sciences Minotaur 4, which can put 1,730 kg into LEO while the Lockheed’s Athena 2 will cost around $65 million to put 1,712 kg into LEO. SpaceX currently posts charges $54M – $59.5M for launching to LEO 10,450 kg (equatorial) and 8,560 kg (polar). If SpaceX is able to sustain these prices in routine operation, it will obviously result in some disturbance to the launch industry.
Let’s deconstruct these numbers again, this time listing them by the cost per kilogram:
» Read more
U.S. credit rating downgraded again
The day of reckoning looms: The credit rating of the United States government has been downgraded again.
The day of reckoning looms: The credit rating of the United States government has been downgraded again.
Is that an elephant on Mars?
Henry Dagg – Somewhere over the rainbow
How to make water float on oil.
How to make water float on oil.
How to make water float on oil.
The Obama administrations Treasury Secretary admitted Wednesday that the federal government’s debt is “unsustainable,” but then added that solving the problem shouldn’t be a top priority, because the government still needs to “do things.”
Modern doublethink: The Obama administration’s treasury secretary admitted Wednesday that the federal government’s debt is “unsustainable,” but then added that solving the problem shouldn’t be a top priority, because the government still needs to “do things.”
Geithner’s refusal to confront what he admits is a looming disaster illustrates for all to see the normal operating policies of this administration.
Modern doublethink: The Obama administration’s treasury secretary admitted Wednesday that the federal government’s debt is “unsustainable,” but then added that solving the problem shouldn’t be a top priority, because the government still needs to “do things.”
Geithner’s refusal to confront what he admits is a looming disaster illustrates for all to see the normal operating policies of this administration.
“The bear population is not in crisis as people believed.”
“The [polar] bear population is not in crisis as people believed.”
The number of bears along the western shore of Hudson Bay, believed to be among the most threatened bear subpopulations, stands at 1,013 and could be even higher, according to the results of an aerial survey released Wednesday by the Government of Nunavut. That’s 66 per cent higher than estimates by other researchers who forecasted the numbers would fall to as low as 610 because of warming temperatures that melt ice faster and ruin bears’ ability to hunt. The Hudson Bay region, which straddles Nunavut and Manitoba, is critical because it’s considered a bellwether for how polar bears are doing elsewhere in the Arctic. [emphasis mine]
The study here illustrates again the unreliability of another prediction by scientists advocating global warming. The polar bear population might be under threat, but the evidence so far doesn’t yet support that theory.
“The [polar] bear population is not in crisis as people believed.”
The number of bears along the western shore of Hudson Bay, believed to be among the most threatened bear subpopulations, stands at 1,013 and could be even higher, according to the results of an aerial survey released Wednesday by the Government of Nunavut. That’s 66 per cent higher than estimates by other researchers who forecasted the numbers would fall to as low as 610 because of warming temperatures that melt ice faster and ruin bears’ ability to hunt. The Hudson Bay region, which straddles Nunavut and Manitoba, is critical because it’s considered a bellwether for how polar bears are doing elsewhere in the Arctic. [emphasis mine]
The study here illustrates again the unreliability of another prediction by scientists advocating global warming. The polar bear population might be under threat, but the evidence so far doesn’t yet support that theory.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced plans today to sink the tsunami-drifting derelict Japanese ship recently spotted off the coast of Alaska.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced plans today to sink the tsunami-drifting derelict Japanese ship recently spotted off the coast of Alaska.
Update: the deed is done.
The U.S. Coast Guard announced plans today to sink the tsunami-drifting derelict Japanese ship recently spotted off the coast of Alaska.
Update: the deed is done.
Despite lacking a magnetic field of its own, scientists have discovered magnetic storms surrounding Venus.1
Despite lacking a magnetic field of its own, scientists have discovered magnetic storms occurring in the space surrounding Venus.
The finding, reported today in Science1, suggests that magnetic reconnection may generate auroras on Venus, and could have contributed to the loss of a thick, water-rich atmosphere that scientists believe surrounded the planet during its early history, some 4 billion years ago.
Despite lacking a magnetic field of its own, scientists have discovered magnetic storms occurring in the space surrounding Venus.
The finding, reported today in Science1, suggests that magnetic reconnection may generate auroras on Venus, and could have contributed to the loss of a thick, water-rich atmosphere that scientists believe surrounded the planet during its early history, some 4 billion years ago.
The world’s quietest room.
The poster child of the Democratic Party: Marion Barry.
The poster child of the Democratic Party: Marion Barry.
Celebrating his victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday night, Barry spoke up about the prominence of businesses owned by Asians in the District. “We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops,” Barry said in remarks first reported by WRC-TV. “They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.” [emphasis mine]
The important thing to note here is that Barry won his Democratic primary, and was cheered by his supporters when he made these remarks. Thus, while Barry’s comments are clearly bigoted, it is the voters in the Democratic Party that are providing him aid and comfort.
The poster child of the Democratic Party: Marion Barry.
Celebrating his victory in the Democratic primary on Tuesday night, Barry spoke up about the prominence of businesses owned by Asians in the District. “We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops,” Barry said in remarks first reported by WRC-TV. “They ought to go. I’m going to say that right now. But we need African-American businesspeople to be able to take their places, too.” [emphasis mine]
The important thing to note here is that Barry won his Democratic primary, and was cheered by his supporters when he made these remarks. Thus, while Barry’s comments are clearly bigoted, it is the voters in the Democratic Party that are providing him aid and comfort.
The Giant Magellan Telescope project has decided it will not participate in a funding competition offered by the National Science Foundation.
The 24.5 meter Giant Magellan Telescope project (GMT) has decided it is not interested in competing for funds offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
With just US$1.25 million available to the winner, the NSF competition was less about money and more about prestige. The NSF has been adamant that it has no significant money to support either project until the early part of next decade. But the Thirty Meter Telescope, which will still respond to the NSF’s solicitation, believed that a competition would at least demonstrate the NSF’s intention to eventually support one project — and that the winner would have an easier time attracting international partners.
But the GMT says it can go it alone, at least for now. On 23 March, the group began blasting at its mountaintop site in Chile. And they say they are nearly halfway towards raising the $700 million they need to complete construction.
If the GMT has already raised almost $350 million without NSF support, it makes perfect sense for them to thumb their noses at this piddling funding from the NSF, especially since the bureaucratic cost of getting that money will probably be far more than $1.25 million.
The 24.5 meter Giant Magellan Telescope project (GMT) has decided it is not interested in competing for funds offered by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
With just US$1.25 million available to the winner, the NSF competition was less about money and more about prestige. The NSF has been adamant that it has no significant money to support either project until the early part of next decade. But the Thirty Meter Telescope, which will still respond to the NSF’s solicitation, believed that a competition would at least demonstrate the NSF’s intention to eventually support one project — and that the winner would have an easier time attracting international partners.
But the GMT says it can go it alone, at least for now. On 23 March, the group began blasting at its mountaintop site in Chile. And they say they are nearly halfway towards raising the $700 million they need to complete construction.
If the GMT has already raised almost $350 million without NSF support, it makes perfect sense for them to thumb their noses at this piddling funding from the NSF, especially since the bureaucratic cost of getting that money will probably be far more than $1.25 million.
Japanese Dragon Painter
Paleontologists in China have unearthed fossils of the largest feathered creature ever found, a 1.4 ton dinosaur that was an early cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex.
Paleontologists in China have unearthed fossils of the largest feathered creature ever found, a 1.4 ton dinosaur that was an early cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex.
Paleontologists in China have unearthed fossils of the largest feathered creature ever found, a 1.4 ton dinosaur that was an early cousin of Tyrannosaurus rex.