Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
The top five Obama regulations that American businesses hate most. Note that 3 of 5 concern the EPA.
Which exoplanet should we go to first?
The competition to build rockets continues to heat up: A U.S. and European partnership is proposing its own new cargo rocket for NASA, using the Ares I first stage and the Ariane 5 second stage. Key quote:
Dubbed Liberty, the launcher looks similar to the Ares I rocket that was being developed for NASA’s Project Constellation, which was cancelled by the Obama Administration. For its first stage it employs the same advanced, five-segment version of the shuttle’s solid rocket booster. But in a move that significantly lowers development costs, the second stage of the rocket is based on the flight-proven core stage of Europe’s Ariane 5 rocket.
The bigotry among social psychologists. Key quote:
Dr. Haidt (pronounced height) told the audience [at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology’s conference] that he had been corresponding with a couple of non-liberal graduate students in social psychology whose experiences reminded him of closeted gay students in the 1980s. He quoted — anonymously — from their e-mails describing how they hid their feelings when colleagues made political small talk and jokes predicated on the assumption that everyone was a liberal.
“I consider myself very middle-of-the-road politically: a social liberal but fiscal conservative. Nonetheless, I avoid the topic of politics around work,” one student wrote. “Given what I’ve read of the literature, I am certain any research I conducted in political psychology would provide contrary findings and, therefore, go unpublished. Although I think I could make a substantial contribution to the knowledge base, and would be excited to do so, I will not.”
Repeal the damn law! Twenty-one governors have sent a letter to the Obama Administration, describing how Obamacare is going to cripple their states.
Meanwhile, more evidence that among Democrats at least there is no middle ground: The middle-of-the-road Democratic Leadership Council, a major player under Clinton, is about to fold.
A new poll says that almost 70% of all Americans are dissatisfied with the size and power of government.
It is polls like this that make me wonder why more politicians aren’t flocking to the tea party banner. Please note this poll as well.
The caldara of the erupting Japanese volcano Mount Shinmoe now appears to be filled to the brim. More photos here.
Wait ’til next year! The Russian effort to drill into Lake Vostok buried under the Antarctica icecap has fallen short by only a hundred feet, stopped by the end of summer.
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.
