Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Climate satellite launched to survey the saltiness of the Earth’s oceans
The climate satellite SAC-B was successfully launched today, designed to survey the saltiness of the Earth’s oceans.
SpaceShipTwo’s test program ramps up
Scaled Composites continues to ramp up the test flight program of SpaceShipTwo. More here.
Utility decides to close five coal plants to comply with EPA regulations
In order to comply with EPA regulations a utility has decided to shut down five coal-fired power plants.
Apollo spacesuits head to the museum
The modern American space effort: Apollo spacesuits head to the museum.
is preparing for large crowds next week as the Legislature begins the process of approving the governor’s budget
Wisconsin is preparing for new protests next week as the Legislature begins the process of approving the governor’s budget.
The Republicans here must stay the course, remembering always that they won the election handily and still represent the majority.
Israeli rocket victims sue Gaza flotilla organizers
I like this: Israeli victims of the Gaza rocket attacks are suing the Gaza flotilla organizers.
The complaint argues that since supplies that are delivered to Gaza run the risk of being seized by the Hamas government for use by its military wing, the defendants’ acts “amount to both a conspiracy to injure and a conspiracy to use unlawful means,” and that “the defendants are acting in concert with Hamas to achieve harm on the plaintiff.”
Scientists may have licked the allergy to cats
Scientists may have licked the allergy to cats.
House Panel Slams Obama’s Decision to Shut Yucca Mountain
A House panel today slammed President Obama’s decision to shut the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste storage facility.
The House committee’s report challenges the basis for the Administration’s rejection of the site, which was submitted for licensing review in 2008. “Despite numerous suggestions by political officials—including President Obama—that Yucca Mountain is unsafe for storing nuclear waste, the Committee could not identify a single document to support such a claim,” it says. The report includes a number of documents to support its charge that career government officials and scientists opposed the decision to close Yucca Mountain but were not consulted. In recent testimony to the committee, a former acting director of the Yucca Mountain program, Christopher Kouts, said of Secretary of Energy Steven Chu’s decision to terminate the program, “Technical information was not part of the secretary’s decision making process.”
The report highlights a section of an unpublished safety evaluation report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on the facility’s potential long-term effects. The evaluation, according to the committee, found that, in most details, the project proposed by the Department of Energy (DOE) met the government’s technical, safety, and environmental requirements—including the need to safeguard the site 200,000 years into the future.
Special Needs Son Harassed by TSA at Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Don’t you feel safer? TSA agents confiscate toy hammer.
The TSA took away one toy hammer, but they were still able to take another toy hammer on board the airplane. How did that happen? Drew’s mother, always prepared, had another one in her backpack and that backpack passed through security with no problem.
China’s lunar probe leaves lunar orbit
China’s second lunar probe, Chang’e 2, has been boosted out of lunar orbit and beyond.
Second X-51 hypersonic flight scheduled for week of June 13
The second X-51 hypersonic flight is now scheduled for the week of June 13.