Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
The two Democratic senators from New Jersey have proposed a new NY-NJ rail tunnel plan in response to the one that Governor Chris Christie canceled.
These pigs just don’t get it: The government is broke, it has no money for this stuff.
Oink-oink! Senate Democrats met with lobbyists and special interest groups in a big closed-door meeting on January 24 to plan their opposition to any spending cuts. Key quote:
The Jan. 24 meeting was attended by approximately 400 people, sources told ABC, and served as a “call to arms” for those determined to fight Republican budget cuts.
The new colonial movement heats up: Ahmadinejad said today that by March 2012 Iran plans to launch a host of home-built satellites on its own home-built rocket.
The first post-2010-election House appropriations committee hearing on NASA’s budget will take place this week. Key quote:
“The goal of the hearings is to help identify top management challenges and find ways to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in these respective departments and agencies,” the chairman of the CJS subcommittee, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)
The NBC employee who distributed the “What is the internet?” video was fired this week for doing so. First, if you haven’t seen it, here’s the video:
Though this video is hilarious, and does illustrate how completely contemptuous TV news anchors can be about new things they haven’t bothered to do any research about, it is also unfair to laugh at them with 20-20 hindsight. At one point or another we were all as ignorant as they are. Note also that we do not know the whole story about why NBC fired this employee.
One of the competitor’s for the Google Lunar X prize has signed a contract with SpaceX to use the Falcon 9 to get its spacecraft to the Moon. Key quote:
The Falcon 9 upper stage will sling Astrobotic on a four-day cruise to the Moon. Astrobotic will then orbit the moon to align for landing. The spacecraft will land softly, precisely and safely using technologies pioneered by Carnegie Mellon University for guiding autonomous cars. The rover will explore for three months, operate continuously during the lunar days, and hibernate through the lunar nights. The lander will sustain payload operations with generous power and communications.
The liberal way of toning down the rhetoric: A speech by Sarah Palin honoring soldiers and their families has been canceled due to “an onslaught of personal attacks against Governor Palin and others associated with her appearance.”
Robots in action! The robot arm Dextre did its first work on ISS this week, unloading two payloads from the Japanese unmanned freighter that docked with the station last week.
We need more of this: An American Muslim community has launched a campaign expressing its loyalty to the US while condeming Islamic terrorism.
The former NASA employee whose home was raided two days ago is being investigated for stealing and selling shuttle tiles on eBay.
On February 4 a very small asteroid, about a yard in diameter, zipped past the Earth at a distance of only 3,400 miles, closer than any previously recorded asteroid.
While NASA retreats to building a capsule, two private companies push commercial spaceplane concepts.
This nicely illustrates the contrasting levels of innovation between NASA and the private sector.
A Roman super-highway, built 1,900 years ago, has been uncovered in England.
Secrets of the Soviet N1 Moon rocket.
If you’re interested, seats are available for a tourist trip around the moon in a Soyuz capsule. And the Russians say the Soyuz is ready to go!
Fed chairman Bernanke issued a grim warning yesterday about the federal government’s overwhelming debt. Key quote:
The national debt is currently about 60 percent of the economy, or Gross Domestic Product, [Bernanke] said, adding that it is projected to reach 90 percent of GDP by 2020 and 150 percent of GDP by 2030. But Bernanke’s citation of $9.5 trillion in national debt didn’t include the $4.6 trillion owed by the government to trust funds for things such as Social Security and Medicare, which have paid out cash to the Treasury in exchange for promisory notes. The full national debt – when both forms of debt are included – is already just under 100 percent of GDP, which is currently around $14.6 trillion.
How’s this for toning down the rhetoric? A Wisconsin liberal theater group is putting on a play whereby liberals get to kill some conservatives.
Go Rand Go! Senator Paul accuses Republicans of being too wimpy in their recent budget proposals.
Mark Kelly, Congresswoman Giffords’ astronaut husband, has decided to fly his shuttle mission.
Should the U.S. agree to the European Union’s space code of conduct?
This closer look at the GOP’s proposed budget cuts will give you an idea which pigs are about to squeal.
Update: In fact, the squeals have already started, among Senate Democrats.
Scientists have discovered a treasure trove of 250-million-year-old fossils in limestone layer in China. Key quote:
The 50-foot-thick (16 meters) layer of limestone that held these fossils dates back to when south China was a large island just north of the equator with a tropical climate. A smattering of fossil land plants suggest this marine community lived near a conifer forest. The fossils are exceptionally well-preserved, with more than half of them completely intact, including soft tissues. Apparently they were protected across the ages by mats of microbes that rapidly sealed their bodies off from decay after death.
The pigs are winning! A GOP budget proposal offered today only proposes $32 billion in budget cuts for this year, rather than the $100 billion they promised during the campaign.
Just what the new space industry needs, more regulations! The EPA has decided it has the right to regulate perchlorate, a chemical used for rocket fuel as well as fireworks and other explosives.
Scientists have discovered significant seasonal changes to the northern martian sand dunes, including a number of large avalanches.
The contractor who manages the shutte program for NASA, United Space Alliance (USA), has proposed taking over two shuttles and flying them privately for NASA through 2017. Key quote:
USA’s current estimated price tag of $1.5 billion per year would represent a substantial drop from previous funding levels, which have seen shuttle program costs rise as high as $4 billion per year. United Space Alliance says its plan would take advantage of shuttle infrastructure and a workforce already in place. Some shuttle production lines would have to be restarted — for example, the operation that builds the shuttle’s external fuel tanks. But USA says the first commercial shuttle flights could take place in 2013. That would beat the 2016 deadline specified in last year’s legislation, as well as the development schedule laid out by SpaceX and USA’s other commercial competitors.
Federal and NASA agents raid the home of two former United Space Alliance employees.
The right response: After a video sting posted on youtube showed a Planned Parenthood manager helping a supposed pimp operate his sex ring of underage girls, the organization has fired that manager. Key quote:
“We were profoundly shocked when we viewed the videotape,” Phyllis Kinsler, chief executive of the agency’s central New Jersey branch, said in a statement. Ms. Kinsler said the tape “depicted an employee of one of our health centers behaving in a repugnant manner that is inconsistent with our standards of care and is completely unacceptable.”
Update: Youtube is threatening to remove the video due to so-called “privacy violations.”
What crap. The only person whose privacy was invaded was the manager who was breaking the law. Such behavior does not deserve protection, and youtube should know better.
