The comet that vanished
The comet that vanished.
The TSA is pulling its invasive X-ray scanners from the country’s busiest airports.
Good news: The TSA is pulling its invasive X-ray scanners from the country’s busiest airports.
Unfortunately, they aren’t getting rid of them, only moving them to less busy airports. Nonetheless, this action suggests that the refusal of many people (such as myself) to submit to these machines slowed things down enough that the TSA was forced to abandon them. This suggests that more people should refuse and force them to do as many body searches as possible. In the end we get rid of them all.
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
This is the first time since 1988 that climate hasn’t been mentioned in the presidential debate cycle
When you try to sell government policy based on crisis, and that crisis doesn’t take place as predicted, and in fact is shown to be based on fraud and dishonesty, the sales job will eventually fail. Thus, better to forget the whole thing and make believe it never happened.
The first mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope has been completed.
The first mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope has been completed.
This is the first of seven. It is also the largest single mirror ever polished, at 8.4 meters, or 27.5 feet across. When completed the GMT’s segmented mirror will be 25 meters across, or more than 82 feet.
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.
An ode to the beauty of nature in 23 images.
An ode to the beauty of nature in 23 images.
The death threats against Mitt Romney continue to pour out from Twitter.
Leftwing civility: The death threats against Mitt Romney continue to pour out from Twitter.
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
Early today a Soyuz rocket successfully lifted ISS’s next crew into orbit.
Early today a Soyuz rocket successfully lifted ISS’s next crew into orbit.
Using modern technology scientists think they have a chance of decoding the oldest known undeciphered writing.
Using modern technology scientists think they have a chance of decoding the oldest known undeciphered writing.
In a room high up in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, above the Egyptian mummies and fragments of early civilisations, a big black dome is clicking away and flashing out light. This device, part sci-fi, part-DIY, is providing the most detailed and high quality images ever taken of these elusive symbols cut into clay tablets. This is Indiana Jones with software. It’s being used to help decode a writing system called proto-Elamite, used between around 3200BC and 2900BC in a region now in the south west of modern Iran.
The supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way is about to get a snack.
The supermassive black hole in the center of the Milky Way is about to get a snack.
Update: The recently launched NuStar telescope in July detected its first flare from the central black hole (which by the way is called Sagittarius A* and is pronounced Sagittarius A-star). If the gas cloud produces any fireworks as it whips past the black hole in the coming year then NuStar should see it.
On Friday Blue Origin successfully tested the launch abort system for its New Shepard manned capsule.
The competition heats up: On Friday Blue Origin successfully tested the launch abort system for its New Shepard manned capsule.
Florence and the Machine – Cosmic Love
An evening pause: I especially like the harp.
A Christian group has been banned at Tufts University for demanding its members believe in Christianity.
Freedom of religion for me but not for thee: A Christian group has been banned at Tufts University for demanding its members believe in Christianity.
An Italian court has convicted seven earthquake scientists of manslaughter for their failure to properly warn the public prior to the L’Aquila earthquake.
An Italian court has convicted seven earthquake scientists of manslaughter for their failure to properly warn the public prior to the L’Aquila earthquake.
The court also sentenced the men to six years in prison, which is two years more than the prosecutor recommended.
The more I have read about this case, the less I have been in sympathy with the scientists. While it is absurd to expect any scientist to be able to precise predict the occurrence of an earthquake, in this case some of the individuals convicted had issued statements that actually go against basic earthquake science in order to give the public a false sense of safety. They claimed that the increased level of seismic activity suggested a reduction in the risk of an earthquake, when all research actually indicates the exact opposite.
Some additional details here.
The filmmaker who made the anti-Islamic movie falsely blamed by the Obama administration for the Libya attack has now been in jail for a month.
Freedom of speech is so 20th century: The filmmaker who made the anti-Islamic movie falsely blamed by the Obama administration for the Libya attack has now been in jail for a month.
The movie had nothing to do with the Libya attack. And even if it caused the riots in Egypt, who cares? I thought there was something called the First Amendment, a law to protect the speech rights of U.S. citizens. Yet, Barack Obama and his entire administration have done everything they can to blame the movie, not their own foreign policies, while going out of their way to squelch this man’s freedom.
But remember those binders!
The unreality of the past four years.
The unreality of the past four years.
For me, this unreality began during the Clinton years, continued during George Bush’s administration, and reached its height at the 2008 election. The country chose to be delusional, making its choices not based on facts but solely on emotion and good intentions.
The first piece of a meteor that fell over San Francisco on Wednesday has been found.
The first piece of a meteor that fell over San Francisco on Wednesday has been found.
The 2.2-ounce meteorite hit the roof of Rev. Kent and Lisa Webber on St. Francis Avenue on Thursday night, but they didn’t realize at the time what it was, according to Novato Patch.
Virgin Galactic has begun the installation of SpaceShipTwo’s engine in preparation for its first powered test flights.
The competition heats up: Virgin Galactic has begun the installation of SpaceShipTwo’s engine in preparation for its first powered test flights.
The article also provides some details about the status of XCOR’s Lynx suborbital craft.
Hexaflexagons
An evening pause: In honor of Martin Gardner’s birthday today. To find out the connection, make sure you also watch part 2.
The Four Quarters – Pachelbel’s Canon in D
An evening pause:
Pumpkin carving with a 1911
An evening pause: The right way to carve a pumpkin for Halloween!