Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
An Israeli team has entered the Google Lunar X Prize competition, hoping to land a nanosat on the moon for only $8 million.
Russia regains contact with missing military satellite, finds that it was placed in the wrong orbit.
White nose syndrome, a fungus that is linked to the death of approximately a million bats throughout the eastern United States, has now been confirmed on two Indiana bats. You can read the actual Indiana Department of Natural Resources press release here. [pdf]
The bats are thus finally spreading the fungus north, as has been expected.
Government stupidity in action: FEMA considered then canceled (thank goodness) a proposal to spend more than a billion dollars on Meals-Ready-to-Eat on the very slim chance that the New Madrid fault in the midwest might produce a major earthquake sometime in the three years.
Unfortunately, they still haven’t canceled plans to buy 7 million emergency blankets and 550 million gallons of water in individual 1-liter plastic bottles.
More McCarthyism from the left: How a university professor was threatened, then lost his job, because he disagreed with the mayor of Chicago.
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, WISE, has completed its four month extended mission, finishing a scan of the heavens that discovered more than 33,000 asteroids and comets.
The fossil of a female pterodactyl has been found in China, including an about-to-be laid egg. Key quote:
The egg indicates this ancient flying reptile was a female, and that realisation has allowed researchers to sex these creatures for the first time.
Russia loses contact with newly launched military satellite.
Want to know what the academic elite think is or is not politically correct? Make two different Freedom of Information Act requests at the same university for two scientists who just happen to be on opposite sides of the global warming debate and see how the university responds.
Not surprisingly, the university was glad to do whatever it could to hurt the global warming skeptic, while stonewalling any requests for information about the global warming advocate.
An intriguing idea: A Georgia lawmaker proposes doing away with driver’s licenses.
A Senate vote to repeal Obamacare could come as early as this week.
Repeal it already! From the courts to the White House, everyone knows this law is a turkey.
Using fishing nets to catch space junk.
Discovery has once again rolled out to the launch pad for its final mission.
A proposal to bypass the effort of Egypt (or any government) to shut down the internet.
Here’s the right way to respond to the Tucson shootings: Less restrictions on gun use proposed in Arizona.
The Air Force’s second X-37B space plane is now scheduled for a March 4 launch. Key quote:
“We want to be able to put an object up into space, materials, technology and so forth, test them out, bring them back and examine them,” said Richard McKinney, deputy under secretary of the Air Force for space programs. “In that respect, this is a test vehicle.”
Chicken Little was right! The sky is falling!
Big news! A Florida judge today has ruled the entire Obamacare law is unconstitutional. Key quote:
In his ruling, Judge Roger Vinson, a Republican appointee, said that the law’s requirement to carry insurance or pay a fee “is outside Congress’ Commerce Clause power, and it cannot be otherwise authorized by an assertion of power under the Necessary and Proper Clause. It is not constitutional.” The ruling also said that the entire law “must be declared void,” because the mandate to carry insurance is “not severable” from the rest of the law. [emphasis mine]
The Republicans in Congress are considering laws to force internet companies to record user data.
God damn it, that is not what they were sent there to do. We have an out-of-control federal budget issuing out-of-control regulations, and these turkeys want to expand their ability to pry into our private lives?
A look back at the V2 rocket.
Hollywood: the land of intolerance.
More proof this bill stinks: The Obama administration has given Obamacare waivers to 28 union locals that spent almost $700,000 to get Obama elected.
Surprise, surprise! A poll has found that an overwhelming majority of Americans from both parties want politicians to pay attention to tea party demands.
Repeal it already! Another US judge is expected to rule on Obamacare today. Key quote:
The judge, Roger Vinson of the U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida, was expected to rule on a lawsuit brought by governors and attorneys general from 26 U.S. states, almost all of whom are Republicans. Obama is a Democrat. The plaintiffs represent more than half the U.S. states, so the Pensacola case has more prominence than some two dozen lawsuits filed in federal courts over the healthcare law.
Freedom of speech alert: As Egypt goes offline some members of the US Congress are getting their own internet ‘kill switch’ bill ready.
Indiana teenager has built a “Solar death-ray” that can literally burn through almost anything!
The chimp that took America into space.
Bring on those private space stations! Bigelow Aerospace has signed an agreement with Dubai and United Arab Emirates.
