Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
A computer is going to take on two Jeopardy! champs for $1 million. Two comments from this story:
The computer was finally defeated when it said “Windows has finished updating your computer. Rebooting in 14 seconds.”
and
“Just what do you think you’re doing, Dave?”
This has got to stop: The death threats against Sarah Palin are at an “unprecedented level,” according to her aides.
Vicious liberal hate: Fifteen quotes. (Several of these have been noted in previous posts, but most have not.)
The bands that scientists attach to penguins to track them actually do harm. The data also suggests that certain climate research might also be skewed because of this. Key quote:
Overall, the team found, bands were bad for penguins. Banded penguins had a 16% lower survival rate than unbanded birds over the 10 years, the researchers report online today in Nature. Banded birds also arrived later at the breeding grounds and took longer trips to forage for food. As a result, they produced 39% fewer chicks. . . . [The researcher noted] that his team’s results suggest that research using banded penguins may be biased. For example, he says, several high-profile studies have used banded penguins to investigate the impact of climate change on the birds. The findings of those studies aren’t necessarily wrong, but the numbers need to be reconsidered, he says.
A new deal has been announced to fly tourists to ISS using Russian Soyuz capsules. According the arrangement between Space Adventures and the Federal Space Agency of the Russian Federation (FSA) and Rocket Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia), three seats will be made available on Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station (ISS), beginning in 2013.
These seats will be made available through the increase of Soyuz production, from four to five spacecraft per year. Each flight will be short duration, approximately 10 days, and will contribute to the increase of launch capacity to the ISS.
Is this an example of toning down the rhetoric? The Facebook Group “I Hate It When I Wake Up & Sarah Palin Is Still Alive” has more than 2,000 members.
So you have no doubt about the ugly tone of this Facebook group, here is a screen capture from the page. Note the desire to kill Palin (and Bush) in several images.
Washington’s five most ridiculous reactions to the Arizona shooting.
Which Democrats objected to the use of mass murder as a vehicle for disseminating propaganda?
Sadly, not very many.
The money is not there, and Treasury Secretary Geithner agrees. On January 6 he wrote a letter to Congress, stating that the US will go into default if the debt ceiling is not raised.
NASA has submitted its Heavy Lift rocket proposal to Congress. However, NASA also noted bluntly that:
“Neither Reference Vehicle Design currently fits the projected budget profiles nor schedule goals outlined in the Authorization Act.”
In other words, they can’t build it for the money or in the timeframe they’ve been given by Congress.
Didn’t someone say this already? Several times?
NASA, confident that they have pinned down the cause of the cracks on the external tank, has set February 24 as the date for Discovery’s launch.
The competition moves forward: Russia allocates $3.8 billion for its space programs in 2011.
Once again, who should tone the rhetoric down? A former Democrat Congressman who called for a GOP Governor to be put against a wall and shot now pleads for civility.
The touchdown that shook the Earth.
And they say the right should tone it down? A list of Hollywood’s many hateful attacks on the right.
So, who should tone it down? A list of violent incidents which the press tried to blame the right, and was completely wrong.
Is this toning down the rhetoric? Media pivots to blame gun laws, sloppy reporting ensues.
The Krakatau volcano in Indonesia has become active, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands residents.
