The view of New York City from ISS on September 11, 2001.
The view of New York City from ISS on September 11, 2001.
Cairo protesters today scaled the U.S. Embassy wall in Egypt and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad.
Feel the love! Cairo protesters today scaled the U.S. Embassy wall in Egypt and pulled down the American flag to protest a film they say is insulting to the prophet Mohammad.
In related news, a television station has canceled the airing of a documentary on Islam because of threats it and the filmmaker have received.
Several points:
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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
The federal budget deficit has exceeded one trillion dollars for the fourth year in a row.
The day of reckoning looms: The federal budget deficit has now exceeded one trillion dollars for the fourth year in a row.
Obama, too busy to attend half his daily intelligence briefings — has made up for it by missing all of his daily economic briefings.
What does this tell us? Obama — too busy to attend half his daily intelligence briefings — has made up for it by missing all of his daily economic briefings.
Focused like a laser, eh?
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.
Under the Obama administration regulations have increased by 7.4%, totaling 11,327 pages of new rules.
No wonder the economy is stalled: Under the Obama administration regulations have increased by 7.4%, totaling 11,327 pages of new rules.
I should add that these numbers were only slightly better under Bush or Clinton. In general, our federal government has done everything it can for the past two decades to stifle freedom and innovation.
The media’s one-sided coverage.
The media’s one-sided coverage.
Ramirez provides this wonderful comparison of the press’s coverage of past gaffes:
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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
T-shirts being sold at a union event celebrate the future death of Margaret Thatcher.
Leftwing civility: T-shirts being sold at a union event celebrate the future death of Margaret Thatcher.
The Russian space agency has ordered the recall and inspection of every Briz-M upper stage used in their Proton rocket.
The Russian space agency has ordered the recall and inspection of every Briz-M upper stage used in their Proton rocket.
This is part of the on-going shake-up of the Russian rocket industry following the recent failures of the upper stage during several commercial launches. One interesting and positive note is that they expect to resume launches in October, which is extremely fast.
The Japanese solar sail experiment IKAROS is apparently still alive, years after launch.
The Japanese solar sail experiment IKAROS is apparently still alive, years after launch.
Amateurs astronomers have once again captured images of an impact of something on Jupiter.
Amateurs astronomers have once again captured images of a major impact of something on Jupiter.
Astronomers have measured the most powerful magnetic field ever found around a star.
Astronomers have measured the most powerful magnetic field ever found around a star.
The star’s magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger than the Sun’s, and almost 10 times stronger than that detected around any other high-mass star. At about 35 times the Sun’s mass, the O-type star NGC 1624-2 lies in the open star cluster NGC 1624, about 20,000 light-years away in the constellation Perseus.
The view of Vesta in Dawn’s rear view mirror.
The view of Vesta in Dawn’s rear view mirror.
Under just released language, the federal government required 18 pages of regulations to define the term “full time employee.”
Repeal it! New regulatory language under Obamacare and just released requires 18 pages of regulations just to define the term “full time employee.”
There’s a Light – We Choose to go to the Moon
An evening pause: A song by a band called There’s a Light, from their 2012 album Khartoum, expressing nicely in words, music, and images the human insistence on doing great things.
Journalism’s summer of sin: marked by plagiarism, fabrication, obfuscation.
Journalism’s summer of sin: marked by plagiarism, fabrication, obfuscation.
It is so nice these mainstream news outlets have their layers of editors and fact-checkers to prevent these things from happening!
New computer models now suggest that the the habitable zone for life is far larger than previously estimated.
New computer models now suggest that the the habitable zone for life is far larger than previously estimated.
“What the ‘blank’ could possibly go wrong?”
“That’s a direct attack and a smear on my reputation as a reporter.”
Three super weird homes
Mars’ clay minerals might have been formed by volcanic processes, not standing liquid water as generally believed.
The uncertainty of science: Mars’ clay minerals might have been formed by volcanic processes, not standing liquid water as generally believed, according to a new study.
Data collected by orbiting spacecraft show Mars’ clay minerals may instead trace their origin to water-rich volcanic magma, similar to how clays formed on the Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia and in the Parana basin in Brazil. That process doesn’t need standing bodies of liquid water. “The infrared spectra we got in the lab (on Mururoa clays) using a reflected beam are astonishingly similar to that obtained on Mars by the orbiters,” lead researcher Alain Meunier, with the University of Poitiers in France, wrote in an email to Discovery News. The team also points out that some of the Mars meteorites recovered on Earth do not have a chemistry history that supports standing liquid water.
If correct, this alternative explanation would mean that Mars was not that wet in the past, and would have been far less likely of ever having sustained life.