How a high school band triumphed over a bureaucracy and union that tried to kill it.
How a high school band triumphed over a bureaucracy and union that tried to kill it.
The kids took to their social media of choice, Facebook, condemning the teacher’s union with harsh, sometimes obscene, language. On the afternoon they were supposed to report to the school library instead of the band room, they staged a mass sit-in on the concrete steps that led to the band room. The local newspaper went wild with letters of complaint from parents and community members.
The union reps went on damage control. Their goal, they insisted, was not to hurt the kids. They told the local volunteer choir director, whose class they had also forced into cancellation, that they did it “for the good of the kids,” arguing that only credentialed teachers should be allowed to teach children.
But here’s where this sad saga turns more sensible. [emphasis mine]
I want to note the anger the teenagers felt toward the union. Seems the union kinda shot itself in the foot. These kids will think badly of unions for the rest of their lives.
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. If you buy it from 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
Seven horrifying aircraft landings in which no one died.
Seven horrifying aircraft landings in which no one died.
Sunjammer, NASA’s next solar sail experiment.
Sunjammer, NASA’s next solar sail experiment.
Though the article headline focuses on the addition of space weather instruments to this solar sail, the article says very little about those instruments. One, Swan, is described as a “wind instrument”, which probably means it would study the solar wind. The other instrument would study the Earth’s magnetic field. Both instruments are needed to track the effect of the Sun on local space weather, since the one satellite we have to do this, Ace, is now more than a decade past its expiration date.
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.
The Wow! signal: An intercepted alien transmission?
The Wow! signal: An intercepted alien transmission?
Detected in 1977, this short signal has puzzled SETI investigators for decades. The article gives a good overview of the mystery.
Coming: A two-tiered health care system.
Coming: A two-tiered health care system.
As the article notes, this process is only being accelerated by the implementation of Obamacare, and is the result of third-parties interfering in the relationship of doctors and patients. Obamacare, however, will finish the process, condemning most Americans to bureaucratic medicine. slow, inefficient, and badly done.
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
Heart – These Dreams
An evening pause: A song about dreams.
These dreams
Go on when I close my eyes.
Every second of the night
I live another life.
These dreams
That sleep when it’s cold outside.
Every moment I’m awake
the further I’m away
The House Ways and Means committee request for information from anyone targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is apparently bearing fruit.
The House Ways and Means committee request for information from anyone targeted by the IRS because of their political beliefs is apparently bearing fruit.
Rep. Pat Tiberi, R-Ohio, a member of Ways and Means, confirmed to The Washington Examiner on Thursday that the evidence being sent to the committee includes secret recordings with IRS officials. This information comports with legal sources who have clients who believe they were targeted by the IRS because they are politically active conservatives who opposed President Obama’s re-election.
Solar Impulse has completed the second leg of its journey to fly across the United States powered only by the sun.
Solar Impulse has completed the second leg of its journey to fly across the United States powered only by the sun.
The Solar Impulse has broken its own record for the longest distance flight of a solar-powered aircraft following the second leg of its journey across the USA. Solar Impulse touched down in Texas at 1:08 a.m. local time after a flight of 18 hours 21 minutes having covered at least 868 miles (1,397 km). Two different distances have been reported for the flight. The Solar Impulse website says the flight “amounted” to 868 miles (1,397 km). However, according to a Phys.org report, Solar Impulse covered a distance of 1,541 km (which it rounds to 950 miles, though this is not the precise conversion).
It is thought the two distances exist because the plane actually lost ground during part of its flight due to headwinds.
New details about Stratolaunch, its gigantic carrier airplane, the largest ever built, and the rocket that it will carry.
New details about Stratolaunch, its gigantic carrier airplane, the largest ever built, and the rocket that it will carry.
Like SpaceX’s Grassshopper, the goal here is to make the first stage completely reusable, thereby reducing the cost of launch significantly.
The IRS has created eight different offices, as well as an undetermined number of enforcement teams, to enforce the Obamacare regulations.
O goody: The IRS has created eight different offices, as well as an undetermined number of enforcement teams, to enforce the Obamacare regulations.
Despite a demand by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to shut up, the sheriffs of New York have joined a lawsuit against the state’s new gun control law.
Pushback: Despite a demand by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to shut up, the sheriffs of New York have joined a lawsuit against the state’s new gun control law.
Did the IRS also target the Conservative Hispanic Society for harassment?
Did the IRS also target the Conservative Hispanic Society for harassment?
NOAA today was forced to activate a back-up weather satellite when its GOES-13 weather satellite suddenly shut down.
NOAA today was forced to activate a back-up weather satellite when its GOES-13 weather satellite suddenly shut down.
The Russian deputy prime minister told students at the Moscow Aviation Institute on Thursday that they expect their first launch from their new spaceport in Vostochny to occur in November 2015.
The competition heats up: The Russian deputy prime minister told students at the Moscow Aviation Institute on Thursday that they expect their first launch from their new spaceport in Vostochny to occur in November 2015.
He also said that they want to name the new town they are building at the site after Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.
Sea Launch announced it plans four launches in 2014.
Sea Launch announced today it plans four launches in 2014.
The article gives a nice thumbnail summary of the history of the company, including the launch failures that put it into bankruptcy and forced Boeing, the U.S. partner, to get out, leaving the company mostly in the hands of the Russian company Energia.
A Russian paid 1.2 million euros to fly on SpaceShipTwo with actor Leonardo DiCaprio at a charity auction at the Cannes film festival on Thursday.
A Russian paid 1.2 million euros to fly on SpaceShipTwo with actor Leonardo DiCaprio at a charity auction at the Cannes film festival on Thursday.
Check out this official IRS organizational chart of the Tax Exempt Government Entities division
Want a clear idea of the chain of command for the IRS scandal? Check out this official IRS organizational chart of the Tax Exempt Government Entities division.
A series of letters signed by IRS official Lois Lerner show that she was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.
A series of letters signed by IRS official Lois Lerner show that she was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups.
I want to make one point that I haven’t read anywhere about this scandal. The problem here really isn’t that the IRS was investigating the legitimacy of giving these conservative organizations tax exempt status. The problem is that they specifically chose to only investigate conservative organizations. Leftwing organizations got a pass.
Either investigate all, or none. I prefer none. But either way, playing favorites for the sake of politics is a partisan corruption of the tax code, and a misuse of the power of government.
Ecuador’s first satellite, launched last month, has been hit with debris from an old Russian rocket.
Ecuador’s first satellite, launched last month, has been hit with debris from an old Russian rocket.
It is unclear yet how much damage was caused.