Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.
California prosecutors say they’ll charge TSA agents if pat-downs are inappropriate.
How to properly fight terrorism at airports.
Freedom of speech alert! Al Sharpton wants the FCC to threaten stations with a loss of their license if they carry Rush Limbaugh.
The law, a living document! The Federal Labor Relations Authority has given TSA staffers permission to unionize, despite the fact that the law creating the TSA expressly forbids such action. More here.
NASA management is reviewing the “flight rationale” for Discovery’s next mission, considering the cracks in the external tank. Key quote:
Troubleshooters are assessing the structural integrity of the tank and its foam insulation to develop the necessary flight rationale, or justification, for proceeding with another launch as early as Nov. 30.
The dying stars that look like jellyfish.
For the first time scientists succeed in trapping atoms of anti-matter. Key quote:
The team know the trap worked because they made about 10 million antihydrogen atoms which promptly obliterated themselves. Then they turned off their new trap and saw 38 more obliterations — meaning those 38 antihydrogens stuck in the trap.
Despite the howls of panic over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill this past summer, sea life is flourishing in the gulf. Key quote:
A comprehensive new study says that in some of the most heavily fished areas of the Gulf of Mexico, various forms of sea life, from shrimp to sharks, have seen their populations triple since before the spill. Some species, including shrimp and croaker, did even better. [emphasis mine]
Government marches on! Budget disagreements in the EU could delay construction of an experimental fusion reactor.
The space war delayed: The Senate has postponed its hearing on NASA’s future until December 1.
Feel the hate: A man shot his television in outrage over Bristol Palin’s success on Dancing with the Stars, then held off the police for fifteen hours.
Analyzing the actual and very minimal risks of terrors. And as I like to say: Live in fear, die in tyranny.
What a difference a year makes! Tomorrow will the one year anniversary of the release of the climategate emails.
Sometimes going is hard: The engineering challenge of human waste management in space.
More security madness: A security summit in Kazakhstan is demanding the Russians bring home three astronauts from ISS a week early so as to keep the air space clear during the conference.
A blow for freedom! Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) called the cops and threatened to press charges against a TSA security agent for assault during his airport screening. Fun quote:
I tell the cop the story, in a very funny way. The cop, the voice of sanity says, “What’s wrong with you people? You can’t just grab a guy’s crank without his permission.” I tell him that my genitals weren’t grabbed and the cop says, “I don’t care, you can’t do that to people. That’s assault and battery in my book.”
The story gets even crazier afterward, when a pr gal from the TSA calls Penn and tries to placate him. This quote is especially telling:
“If you give me your itinerary every time you fly, I’ll be at the airport with you and we can make sure it’s very pleasant for you.”
Update: I just realized that this event occurred in 2002, so it isn’t part of the recent TSA craziness, only past TSA craziness that is as unacceptable as the new TSA craziness.
Astronomers have identified a dozen new binary star systems, where the two stars are tiny white dwarfs. Of even more interest is that a half dozen are spiraling into each other and will eventually merge, the ensuing collision likely producing a supernova explorsion.
Is the TSA backing down?
DARPA has completed its investigation on why a hypersonic test vehicle (HTV), launched on April 22, disappeared about 9 minutes into its flight. Key quote: “The HTV wobbled too much. Rather than risking an out-of-control flight, the bot self-destructed.”
At 10:44 pm (Eastern) tonight a ten foot wide asteroid will zip by the Earth at a distance of only 24,000 miles.
I thought I was joking in my post earlier today, but the TSA actually is requiring agents to put their hands down fliers’s pants!
Freedom of speech alert! The TSA, not content to stick its hands in our pants, is going to investigate the man who refused a body scan and recorded the whole event.
Go to sleep for science and space exploration.
The first asteroid sample return! Japanese scientists announced today that their probe Hayabusa did capture asteroid dust in its visit to the asteroid Itokawa.
Chinese female astronaut identified.
Except for the failure to install a video camers, two Russian astronauts successfully completed a six hour spacewalk on ISS today, doing a variety of construction tasks on the station’s exterior.
National Opt-Out day at the airports is November 24. One commentator is suggesting that men wear kilts, just to drive the TSA even more crazy.
