Category: Points of Information
Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Gouges and dings found on the tiles on Endeavour’s belly
Seven damage sites, mostly small gouges and dings, have been found on the tiles on Endeavour’s belly.
“This is not cause for alarm, it’s not cause for any concern,” said [LeRoy Cain, chairman of NASA’s Mission Management Team]. “We know how to deal with these things in terms of how to assess them. We know that if we get to the point where we need some more data for our assessment, we have a plan for going and doing that.”
Endeavour has docked with ISS
Endeavour has docked with ISS.
Testing beer in zero gravity
Video and images from the zero gravity beer test Plus some results!
Social Security deficits now “permanent”
More thrilling budgetary news: The Social Security deficit is now “permanent.”
Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund is now slated to run out of money in 2024, or five years earlier than last year’s projection, while Social Security’s trust fund will be exhausted by 2036, a year earlier than the prior projection.
Netflix now uses 29.7 percent of the peak internet traffic in North America
Netflix now consumes 29.7 percent of the peak internet traffic in North America.
White House shuts out Herald scribe
Obama transparency: The White House has shut out a reporter because it disliked the slant of the newspaper’s news coverage. In the administration’s own words:
“I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters,” White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for full access to the presidential visit. “My point about the op-ed was not that you ran it but that it was the full front page, which excluded any coverage of the visit of a sitting US President to Boston. I think that raises a fair question about whether the paper is unbiased in its coverage of the President’s visits,” Lehrich wrote.
Astronomers, Kepler, and SETI@home team up to find exoplanets
Astronomers, Kepler, and SETI@home team up to find exoplanets.
Napolitano: “Very, very, very few” people get TSA patdowns
Napolitano: “Very, very, very few” people get TSA patdowns. NOT!
PolitiFact Georgia therefore took the TSA figures and did some math. The TSA’s Allen told us that “on an average day, about 2 million people are screened at TSA checkpoints.” Three percent of 2 million is 60,000 people. That means that over the course of a month, roughly 1.8 million people receive a pat-down. That’s more than four times the population of Atlanta.
Is Gliese 581d habitable? Maybe
Is the extrasolar planet Gliese 581d habitable? Maybe.
Private citizen commits $25 million for Giant Magellan Telescope
Private citizen has just donated $25 million for the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope.
This is how it used to be done all the time: All the early giant telescopes built in the United States before World War II were financed by individuals or private foundations, with no or little government investment.
Replacements for 100 watt incandescent bulbs cost $50 each
The proposed green replacements for the banned 100 watt incandescent bulbs, LEDs, cost $50 each.