Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
As if budget cuts and budget overruns are not enough, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Technology committee announced today it will hold a hearing on NASA’s future on November 18. More here.
Orbital Sciences today successfully completed the first test of the first stage engine for its Taurus II rocket, the rocket the company plans to use in sending cargo to ISS.
Bad news for that November 30 shuttle launch date: Two cracks have been found on the aluminum body of Discovery’s external tank.
The James Webb Space Telescope is in trouble again, requiring an addition $1.5 billion and an additional year to get finished.
Am I clairvoyant? Clark Lindsey notes how Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is recommending a $1.2 billion cut from NASA’s private commercial space budget.
The EPA is being sued by oil and grocery organizations over its decision to allow more corn-based ethanol in gasoline. Too bad the EPA didn’t listen to environmental organizations like Greenpeace, who say ethanol in gasoline is bad for the environment.
And people wonder why I now drive from Maryland to Chicago: It appears that no one is happy with new TSA airport security checks, requiring either a full body scan or a full body pat down. Protests are coming from pilots, flight attendants, passengers, and the airlines. Key quote from the “passenger” link above:
The aggressively enhanced TSA pat down involves over-the-clothes searches of passengers’ breast and genital areas. You can opt not to go through the backscatter body scanners, and thereby keep your genitalia private from pictures, but then a TSA screener will use a front-of-the-hand, slide-down body screening that Ars Technica called “nut-busting pat-downs.”
And there’s National Opt-Out Day, November 24, 2010. (I wish I could participate, but as I said, I will be driving to Chicago for Thanksgiving, mostly to avoid the police-state of the TSA.)
Engineers expect to get Cassini, which went into safe mode on November 2, back in operation by next week.
The up and down state of the Iranian space program.
At least one expert claims that the mystery missile launch off the California coast on was merely an optical illusion. Key quote:
John Pike of the security analyst group globalsecurity.org said the video shot by a news helicopter owned by KCBS is an optical illusion. Pike said the video is of an airplane heading toward the camera and the contrail is illuminated by the setting sun. He said the object can’t be a rocket because it appeared to alter its course.
The uncertainty of science, again! The three-horned dinosaur triceratops might never have existed, paleontologists say. Instead, it might simply have been the youthful stage of another less well know dinosaur called torosaurus.
The uncertainty of science! Eris, the distant planet in the Kuiper belt, had been thought to be larger than Pluto. Now astronomers have doubts.
Feel the hate: Leftist cartoonist Ted Rall calls for armed revolution against conservatives. The quote below from Rall’s writing nicely summarizes what he thinks of people who disagree with him:
The millions of partisans who follow Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and right-wing televangelists happen to be the best-armed people around, and they despise just about everyone who doesn’t think and pray like them. They will see collapse as affirmation of their beliefs that secular liberalism is destructive. They will also see it as an opportunity to create a new, ordered world atop the ashes. They will act to stop teenage sluts from getting abortions, teach niggers a lesson, and slaughter those spics, dots, and everyone else who doesn’t fit into their vision of what and who is right. [emphasis mine]
Mystery rocket launch yesterday off of the California coast.
Why does this sound fishy? A UN panel on Friday called for new taxes — on carbon emissions, air and sea transport, and international bank transactions — for a UN fund to help poor nations combat climate change.
More squealing! The chief of NPR (who fired Juan Williams because he spoke honestly about Islam) said Sunday that the threat by Republicans to defund NPR would be “devastating to public broadcasting.”
In addition to the hydrogen leak on Discovery, NASA is now dealing with a crack in the foam insulation on the shuttle’s external tank.
The squealing begins! NIH director warned researchers on Saturday that the House Republican budget plans could slash by half the funding rates for biomedical researchers.
The second test launch of the Falcon 9, with the first flight of the Dragon capsule, has been postponed again. It is now set for December 7.
This appears to be an abuse of power: Since August Florida police have conducted two warrentless sweeps, raiding nine barbershops and arresting 37 people (for “barbering without a license,” a misdemeanor), using the state’s business regulations as a cover. Key quotes:
The operations were conducted without warrants, under the authority of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation inspectors, who can enter salons at will.
With the exception of two misdemeanor marijuana charges and Vasquez’s arrest, deputies were unable to connect any of the illegal activity to anyone. Meanwhile, store owners reported property damage from the raids, including a large hole employees said deputies busted into a wall at 809 Barbershop in Ocoee. However, several owners said the damage to their businesses and reputations has been much worse.
I think this is good news: The American Geophysical Union today is denying its climate science project, Climate Q&A, is an attack on skeptics, as reported yesterday.
The law of unintended consequences strikes again! Nine environmental groups have found that the European Union’s plan to promote the use of biofuels over fossil fuels will actually damage the environment. Key quote:
The extra biofuels that Europe will use over the next decade will generate between 81 and 167 percent more carbon dioxide than fossil fuels, says the report.
China today released the first photos taken by Chang’e 2, its second lunar orbiter launched on October 1. More here, including one image.
The market speaks: The Chicago Climate Exchange, created for the sole purpose of trading carbon credits, ended all carbon trading as of October 21.
What could go wrong? The American Geophysical Union is going to announce tomorrow a public campaign by 700 scientists to attack any skepticism of global warming.
More technology disruption! Cable companies are losing subscribers, and it appears they are shifting their video viewing to the internet. Key quote:
Consumers who use the Internet to get their movies and TV shows bypass not just the cable companies, but the cable networks that produce the content. The move could have the same disruptive effect on the TV and movie industries as digital downloads have had on music.
The eruption of Mount Merapi continues to build, with the death toll now over 150 and over 200,000 people displaced from their homes. Heavens, it might even cause President Obama to cancel his visit to Indonesia.
