Category: Points of Information

Very brief descriptions, with appropriate links, of current or recent news items.

Opossums overrun Brooklyn

10:47 pm

We’re here to help you! The New York city government, in an effort to control its rat population (the small rodent kind), decided to release opossums in Brooklyn to eat rats. Instead, the opossums have ignored the rats, and now Brooklyn is overrun with both rats and opossums. More here. Key quote:

“Didn’t any of those brain surgeons realize that the opossums were going to multiply?”

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More caves on the Moon

5:28 pm

Check out these newly posted images of lunar cave pits, taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The depth estimates range from 100 to 300 plus feet.

[Ed. I should note that some of these images have already been posted on behindtheblack. For example, the center image found here) was first discovered by reader James Fincannon and posted by me on July 15 and July 26, when I discussed the challenges of accessing the bottom of these pits. I also posted an image of the Mare Ingenii pit on July 13.]

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Bolden cleared by IG of ethical violations

10:18 am

Though NASA’s Inspector General has cleared [pdf] NASA administrator Charles Bolden of ethical violations in connection with his communications with the Marathon Oil corporation during discussions about awarding research money to a Marathon competitor, the IG also noted that Bolden’s actions were inappropriate. Key quote:

We concluded that Bolden’s contact with Marathon regarding OMEGA did not violate federal laws or regulations pertaining to conflicts of interest. However, we found that the contact was not consistent with the Ethics Pledge he, as an Administration appointee, had signed, and that it raised concerns about an appearance of a conflict of interest involving the NASA Administrator and a large oil company to which he had financial ties.

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NASA outreach to the Arab world

10:21 pm

Keith Cowing and Frank Sietzen at SpaceRef report that NASA administrator Charles Bolden will soon be heading to Saudia Arabia, ostentively to continue NASA outreach to the Muslim world, with other less obvious motives pertaining to Israeli/Palestine peace negotiations. Key quote:

According to one of several sources knowledgeable on the subject “expect to see a wave of mid-level Administration appointees embarking on a round of carrot-and-stick sweetener overtures” to Saudi officials to entice them to join the Obama effort. For their part, the Saudi government wants the U.S. to exert greater pressure on Israel to stop construction of settlements in occupied territories that might someday be a key in a peace accord. In the meantime the Obama administration is trying to give the Saudis every incentive to craft a stronger relationship with the U.S.

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Global topography of the Moon

2:34 pm

New results from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, including a new global topographic map.

Global topography of the Moon

From the caption: A lunar topographic map showing the Moon from the vantage point of the eastern limb. On the left side of the Moon seen in this view is part of the familiar part of the Moon observed from Earth (the eastern part of the nearside). In the middle left-most part of the globe is Mare Tranquillitatis (light blue) the site of the Apollo 11 landing, and above this an oval-appearing region (Mare Serenitatis; dark blue) the site of the Apollo 17 landing. Most of the dark blue areas are lunar maria, low lying regions composed of volcanic lava flows that formed after the heavily cratered lunar highlands (and are thus much less cratered).

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Artist goes into hiding

10:35 am

Lost freedom, compounded! The artist who had first proposed the idea of “Everybody Draw Mohammad Day”, then backed off out of fear of attack, has now been forced to abandon her life and career and go into hiding.

It is just this kind of event that makes me wonder: Why would anyone consider Islam a “religion of peace?”

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China continues satellite maneuvers

10:15 am

China is continuing the mysterious maneuvers of the two satellites that might have actually touched earlier this month. Key quote:

The maneuvers, which appear to involve rendezvous operations between the SJ-06F satellite and the more recently launched SJ-12 craft, could amount to practice for space station dockings or coordinated satellite observations from orbit. Few folks would have a problem with that. But they also could be aimed at developing the expertise for lurking near someone else’s satellte and eavesdropping, or even knocking that satellite out of commission in the event of a crisis. That’s the worrisome part.

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Ohio Town forbids Tea Party to Celebrate U.S. Constitution in Town Square

1:02 pm

Freedom of speech alert! Ohio town forbids celebration of U.S. constitution in town square because of the “political affiliation” of the event’s organizers. Key quote:

Several residents of the small central Ohio town formed the Andover Tea Party in May 2010, and in that same month, they asked to use the square for a rally to commemorate Constitution Day, which celebrates the anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. But on July 19, a trustee informed one of the tea party organizers, Margaret Slingluff, that they would not be allowed to hold the event, which would have included singers performing patriotic songs and public policy-related speakers, in the square.

A court suit has already been filed.

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How blind cave fish find food

9:10 am

How blind cave fish find food. Key quote:

“Vibration Attraction Behavior” (or VAB) is the ability of fish to swim toward the source of a water disturbance in darkness. Postdoctoral associate Masato Yoshizawa measured this behavioral response in both wild caught and laboratory raised cave and surface-dwelling fish using a vibrating rod at different frequencies as a stimulus. Most cavefish displayed VAB and would swim toward the vibrating rod and poke at it, while few surface fish did.

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