Cannibalism survivors talk to Chilean miners
This is not how I would try to boost their morale: Cannibalism survivors of plane crash talk to Chilean miners. Key advice from one of the crash survivors:
“They are much luckier than we were because they didn’t have to make the terrible decision to eat their friends.”
This is not how I would try to boost their morale: Cannibalism survivors of plane crash talk to Chilean miners. Key advice from one of the crash survivors:
“They are much luckier than we were because they didn’t have to make the terrible decision to eat their friends.”
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Bart Gordon responds to Nobel laureates
The space war continues: On Friday the chairman of the House committee of Science and Technology responded negatively to the letter by 30 Nobel laureates demanding the House revise its budget authorization for NASA and accept the Obama administration’s plans for the agency. Two key quotes from Gordon’s response:
The hard reality is that the Administration has sent an unexecutable budget request to Congress, and now we have to make tough choise to the nation can have a sustainable and balance [sic] NASA program.
Reluctantly, the Committee came to the conclusion that the president’s new human space flight program, much like the current Constellation program, was unexecutable under the current budget projections and other NASA priorities we all agree must be addressed.
The space war continues: On Friday the chairman of the House committee of Science and Technology responded negatively to the letter by 30 Nobel laureates demanding the House revise its budget authorization for NASA and accept the Obama administration’s plans for the agency. Two key quotes from Gordon’s response:
The hard reality is that the Administration has sent an unexecutable budget request to Congress, and now we have to make tough choise to the nation can have a sustainable and balance [sic] NASA program.
Reluctantly, the Committee came to the conclusion that the president’s new human space flight program, much like the current Constellation program, was unexecutable under the current budget projections and other NASA priorities we all agree must be addressed.
Danish launch scrubbed
The first test launch of that privately funded Danish suborbital rocket had to be scrubbed on Sunday when a valve jammed.
The first test launch of that privately funded Danish suborbital rocket had to be scrubbed on Sunday when a valve jammed.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
Kittens on vacuum
The best Johnny Carson show ever
An evening pause: This clip is only one segment from what Johnny Carson himself considered the best Tonight Show of all time. George Gobel comes on last and steals the show. Also, watch Dean Martin closely during the segment.
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
Notre Dame fires employee
Notre Dame fires employee for attending pro-life rally protesting Obama’s speech at the Catholic university.
Notre Dame fires employee for attending pro-life rally protesting Obama’s speech at the Catholic university.
Danish test flight set for tomorrow
That test flight of a Danish privately built suborbital rocket has been delayed from today till tomorrow due to weather, with tomorrow’s flight having a 70% chance.
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That test flight of a Danish privately built suborbital rocket has been delayed from today till tomorrow due to weather, with tomorrow’s flight having a 70% chance.
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Life on Mars?
New research now suggests that it was premature to conclude that Mars has no life, based on the data from the Viking missions to Mars in the 1970s. This is vindication for Gilbert Levin, one of the chief scientists for those missions, who had said so then and was subsequently pilloried for it.
New research now suggests that it was premature to conclude that Mars has no life, based on the data from the Viking missions to Mars in the 1970s. This is vindication for Gilbert Levin, one of the chief scientists for those missions, who had said so then and was subsequently pilloried for it.
Spacewalk on ISS deferred
NASA managers have decided to defer that spacewalk to finish up the work items leftover from the spacewalks to repair the station’s cooling system, leaving the work to the space shuttle astronauts during the upcoming the November shuttle flight.
NASA managers have decided to defer that spacewalk to finish up the work items leftover from the spacewalks to repair the station’s cooling system, leaving the work to the space shuttle astronauts during the upcoming the November shuttle flight.
The limbo of the extra shuttle flight
Bill Harwood gives a good write-up of the uncertain status of the extra shuttle flight, approved by the Senate but not by the House.
Bill Harwood gives a good write-up of the uncertain status of the extra shuttle flight, approved by the Senate but not by the House.
Marriage break up scene in Best Years of Our Lives
Chilean miner, wife, and mistress
This won’t be good for home life: The wife and mistress of one of the Chilean miners happened to meet, at the entrance of the mine.
This won’t be good for home life: The wife and mistress of one of the Chilean miners happened to meet, at the entrance of the mine.
Scientist fired at UCLA because research politically incorrect
UCLA has fired a scientist after 36 years because according to them, his “research is not aligned with the academic mission” of his department. In other words, his research uncovering flaws in the such politically correct subjects as secondhand smoke and diesel emissions is something the academic community at his campus cannot stomach. Key quote:
[The fired scientist] questions the science behind the new [California diesel] emissions standards, and he has raised concerns about the two key reports on which they were based – exposing the author of one study as having faked his credentials and the panel that issued the other study as having violated its term limits.
UCLA has fired a scientist after 36 years because according to them, his “research is not aligned with the academic mission” of his department. In other words, his research uncovering flaws in the such politically correct subjects as secondhand smoke and diesel emissions is something the academic community at his campus cannot stomach. Key quote:
[The fired scientist] questions the science behind the new [California diesel] emissions standards, and he has raised concerns about the two key reports on which they were based – exposing the author of one study as having faked his credentials and the panel that issued the other study as having violated its term limits.
IPCC fail
Meltdown of the climate ‘consensus’. Key quote:
What does the best evidence now tell us? That man-made global warming is a mere hypothesis that has been inflated by both exaggeration and downright malfeasance, fueled by the awarding of fat grants and salaries to any scientist who’ll produce the “right” results. The warming “scientific” community, the Climategate emails reveal, is a tight clique of like-minded scientists and bureaucrats who give each other jobs, publish each other’s papers — and conspire to shut out any point of view that threatens to derail their gravy train.
Meltdown of the climate ‘consensus’. Key quote:
What does the best evidence now tell us? That man-made global warming is a mere hypothesis that has been inflated by both exaggeration and downright malfeasance, fueled by the awarding of fat grants and salaries to any scientist who’ll produce the “right” results. The warming “scientific” community, the Climategate emails reveal, is a tight clique of like-minded scientists and bureaucrats who give each other jobs, publish each other’s papers — and conspire to shut out any point of view that threatens to derail their gravy train.
Totoro
An evening pause: My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Hayao Miyazaki’s classic animated film. This short segment near the film’s beginning, showing the family’s arrival in a new home, illustrates Miyazaki’s incredible ability for creating real characters in a real story, even if that story has a fantasy element.
No cigarettes or wine for Chilean miners
Congressman sues veterans group for opposing him
Here’s another Congressman who has a problem with free speech, and it appears he wants [pdf] to use campaign laws to silence his opponents.
Here’s another Congressman who has a problem with free speech, and it appears he wants [pdf] to use campaign laws to silence his opponents.
South Korea in conflict with Russia over rocket
“It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t.”
Here is what one elected governor thinks of freedom of speech: “It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t.”
Here is what one elected governor thinks of freedom of speech: “It’s a free country. I wish it weren’t.”
NASA and Islam
Lawrence of Arabia
An evening pause: Lawrence of Arabia (1962). One of the greatest epic films ever made. And though the story is heavily dramatized, it captures quite accurately the substance and reality of T.E. Lawrence’s time in the Middle East during World War I. Sadly, I wonder if anything has changed.
Man threatens to shoot pro-life demonstrators
Not my idea of reasoned debate: A man was arrested on Saturday after he threatened to shoot two pro-life demonstrators outside an abortion clinic.
Not my idea of reasoned debate: A man was arrested on Saturday after he threatened to shoot two pro-life demonstrators outside an abortion clinic.
Leash law for cats?
Government gone wild! The town of Barre, Vermont, is about to pass a law requiring all cats to be on a leash.
Government gone wild! The town of Barre, Vermont, is about to pass a law requiring all cats to be on a leash.
Nobel Laureates chime in on NASA
The space war continues. Now a group of 30 Nobel Laureates, astronauts, former NASA officials, and others have sent a letter to the House Science Committee, supporting Obama’s proposals for NASA’s budget and criticizing the House’s own budget plans.
The space war continues. Now a group of 30 Nobel Laureates, astronauts, former NASA officials, and others have sent a letter to the House Science Committee, supporting Obama’s proposals for NASA’s budget and criticizing the House’s own budget plans.
IPCC needs reform
Second test of Ares I
The solid rocket first stage of the Ares I rocket successfully completed its second test fire yesterday.
The solid rocket first stage of the Ares I rocket successfully completed its second test fire yesterday.
Chinese rendezvous test?
It appears that the Chinese have successfully maneuvered two unmanned satellites to a rendezvous in space. It is even possible that they might have touched!
It appears that the Chinese have successfully maneuvered two unmanned satellites to a rendezvous in space. It is even possible that they might have touched!
Bugs Bunny — Water Water Every Hare
An evening pause: Bugs Bunny in Water Water Every Hare. “In my business you meet so many interesting people.”
Engineering in the Columbia River Gorge
Because yesterday’s hike up Eagle Creek to Tunnel Falls (see picture below) was particularly long, 12.5 miles, I took a break from posting when I got home. Today (Monday), however, was a more easy-going day, as we did more ordinary tourist stuff, driving from place to place with only short strolls at each stop.
The most fascinating tourist stop of the day was by far Bonneville Dam. Just as the security guard at the gate let the car in front of us through, her phone rang. When she was finished and came up to our car, she explained that we would have to wait about a half hour before going to the visitor center, as they needed to open the swing bridge so that a barge could go through the locks. At first I thought this was very unfortunate timing. In the end, it turned out to be fortuitous indeed. We parked at the viewing area above the locks and watched five barges, tied tightly together as a unit and pushed upstream by a tug, slide gently into the lock with barely inches on either side. Neither Diane or I could believe how little spare room the tugboat captain had to pilot this massive object. The gigantic downstream doors then closed (while I quipped that music from Star Wars should be playing) and the lock was quickly filled with water, raising the barges/tugboat up almost a hundred feet. The upstream doors than opened and the barge headed out. All told, the whole operation took less than 45 minutes.
We then took a tour of the dam’s first power station, with its ten turbines all in a row. Unfortunately, none were operating at the moment. Nonetheless, whenever I see places like this (such as when I visited Hoover Dam back in 2005), I can’t help but be reminded of the scene from the science fiction movie Forbidden Planet, when Walter Pigeon gives us a tour of the Krell underground machine. Unlike the Krell, however, it didn’t take millions of years for us to learn how to build such breath-taking big dams and power stations. We did it less than 150 years after the discovery of electricity!
