Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
Clark Lindsey has written a very nice and short summary of the present political battles over NASA’s budget and its future manned space rockets.
Update: Power finally returned at about 11:50 pm Sunday.
Power is still out here in DC (as of 11:43 pm Sunday), so my posting must remain light.
Why it takes Pepco so long to restore power to our area, and why this seems to happen ever time there is a storm of any kind, remains a very annoying mystery to me.
Al Gore calls climate skepticism the same as racism and calls for treating skeptics the same.
“There came a time when friends or people you work with or people you were in clubs with — you’re much younger than me so you didn’t have to go through this personally — but there came a time when racist comments would come up in the course of the conversation and in years past they were just natural. Then there came a time when people would say, ‘Hey, man why do you talk that way, I mean that is wrong. I don’t go for that so don’t talk that way around me. I just don’t believe that.’ That happened in millions of conversations and slowly the conversation was won. We have to win the conversation on climate.”
In other words, no expression of skepticism is to be permitted, in any conversation.
I’ll have more to say about this later today or tomorrow.
The space station could be abandoned in November if the Russians haven’t solved their rocket problems by then.
It appears that payback by the Obama administration against its political opponents is the main reason the Justice Department raided the Gibson guitar company. Its CEO donates to Republicans, while Gibson’s main competitor – never raided – donates to Democrats.
A citizen rebellion overturns a township’s plan to build a $1.5 million headquarters for itself.
The sun, cosmic rays, and the politics of climate change.
The government’s war on freedom and children: Police in Massachusetts shutdown a twelve-year-old’s green tea stand.
Archeologists may have found King Arthur’s round table in Scotland.
The new survey — funded by Historic Scotland and Stirling City Heritage Trust — used the latest scientific techniques to showing lost structures and features up to a metre below the ground. It also revealed a series of ditches south of the main mound, as well as remains of buildings, and more recent structures, including modern drains which appear at the northern end of the gardens.
Mr Harrison, who has studied the King’s Knot for 20 years, said: “It is a mystery which the documents cannot solve, but geophysics has given us new insights. “Of course, we cannot say that King Arthur was there, but the feature which surrounds the core of the Knot could explain the stories and beliefs that people held.”
Both the FAA and European regulators have certified Boeing’s new 787 airplane for its first commercial flight
Get out those binoculars! Two comets, Elenin and Garradd, are now showing in the night sky.
It’s not just space where we are dependent on the Russians: The National Science Foundation has just hired a Russian icebreaker “to escort resupply and refueling ships into McMurdo Station,” the hub of U.S. activities on Antarctica.
Because of this week’s Progress freighter launch failure, Russia plans two unmanned test launches of its Soyuz rockets before flying crews on them to ISS.
One of these test launches will carry a new Progress freighter, with supplies for ISS.
The government’s war on guitars and musicians.
The rebellion by the states against Obamacare.
This article suggests strongly that the opposition to Obamacare remains strong, angry, and determined. It also tells me that the law as it presently stands will not survive the next election cycle. And hopefully, that means full repeal.
A pro-life activist was beaten and arrested by Franklin, Massachusetts police for handing out pro-life flyers at a church event.
Astronomers have spotted the closest supernovae in almost 25 years, only 21 million light years away.
The supernova, dubbed PTF 11kly, occurred in the Pinwheel Galaxy, located in the “Big Dipper,” otherwise known as the Ursa Major constellation. It was discovered by the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) survey, which is designed to observe and uncover astronomical events as they happen. “We caught this supernova very soon after explosion. PTF 11kly is getting brighter by the minute. It’s already 20 times brighter than it was yesterday,” said Peter Nugent, the senior scientist at Berkeley Lab who first spotted the supernova. Nugent is also an adjunct professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley. “Observing PTF 11kly unfold should be a wild ride. It is an instant cosmic classic.”
Astronomers expect the supernova to continue to brighten over the next two weeks, when it should be visible to anyone using binoculars.
If you are on the east coast, this post is for you: Preparing for Hurricane Irene.
Asteroid dust from Hayabusa have been linked to the origin of the most common meteorite types found on Earth.
The CEO of Starbucks, a big time contributor to past Democratic candidates, is organizing an end to all campaign contributions until a long term solution to the federal debt is solved.
Astronomers have discovered a planet literally made of diamond.
The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.
Divers have recovered the telegraph and some of the steering equipment from the Lusitania.
The immediate consequences of the Progress freighter failure:
The longer term consequences? Congress will anguish over the lack of a shuttle. Some will demand more money for the program-formerly-called-Constellation, while others will demand more money for the new commercial companies. In either case, they will ignore the reality of a bankrupt federal government that simply can’t afford either at the moment.
Depending on the survey, from 9 to 30 percent of all businesses are considering dropping their employer-sponsored healthcare plans when Obamacare goes into effect in 2014.
In other words, Obama was lying when he said you could keep your plan under Obamacare.
Note too that poll numbers continue to show a solid majority of the public wants Obamacare repealed.
The alarming significance of culture.
During a recent conversation with a close Jewish friend I asked him what he thought separated Jews from most other ethnic groups. I was expecting him to talk about how a shared history of oppression had strengthened Jews and brought them closer together. But his answer was both surprising and controversial. “Unlike gentiles, especially Christians,” he said, “Jews do not believe in an after life as such. There is no God up there dictating your lot in life. We don’t believe the meek shall inherit the earth. We truly believe in the power of an individual’s free will, guided of course by right principles.” [emphasis mine]
Freedom of speech alert: Cops confiscate cameras at Ohio Republican congressman’s town hall. With video.
According to the cop on the video, he was following instructions from the Congressman. Either way, the cop should be fired for violating these citizen’s rights.
And it doesn’t matter if a Democrat or Republican does this. It is wrong, it is disgusting, and it is inexcusable. Such politicians should be kicked out of office immediately.
Watching a black hole devour a star, 3.9 billion light years away.
The launch of a Progress freighter to ISS today has failed, with the freighter ending up crashing into Siberia.
This is very bad news for the station. Everyone in the space industry knows that with the shuttle gone, it will be a challenge to maintain supplies to the station’s the six-person crew. Losing just one supply ship will strain the station’s supplies, if not now in the long run for sure.
Worse, this is the first launch failure of the Soyuz rocket that puts both Progress and manned Soyuz capsule into orbit in more than eleven years. The next manned crew is scheduled for launch on September 21. Whether this failure will delay that launch remains unknown.
The geology behind the Virginia earthquake of August 23. And an even better analysis, with maps, can be found here.
