Bugs Bunny – Racketeer Rabbit
An evening pause: The proper way to treat gangstas.
Harvard Faculty Fires Economics Professor over Political Article Published in India
Modern academic freedom: Harvard has fired an economics professor over a political op-ed he wrote that was published in India.
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
Scientists have located one of the quarries used by the builders of Stonehenge
Scientists have identified the quarry used by the builders of Stonehenge to build its first circle, 160 miles from the ancient monument.
Swallowed pen still works 25 years later
Good engineering: A swallowed pen, stuck in a 76-year-old woman’s stomach for 25 years, still worked after it was removed.
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.
“It’s the Obama, stupid”
A telescope to go where no telescope has gone before
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
Russia’s GPS system, Glonass, has reached full operational capability for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union
Russia’s GPS system, Glonass, has returned to full operational capability, lost shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.
The Supreme Court sets the dates for hearing arguments for and against Obamacare
Clear your calendar: The Supreme Court has set aside March 26, 27, and 28 for hearing arguments for and against Obamacare.
Five ridiculous gun myths promoted by movies
Five ridiculous gun myths promoted by movies. I like this one:
It’s an old joke by now that nobody runs out of bullets in action movies (unless it’s suddenly convenient to the plot, that is). Hollywood shows some restraint with revolvers–usually no more than 10 or 11 shots per six-shot cylinder–but damn, do they go hog-wild with anything that fires full-auto. So much so that that most of us have wound up with an utterly ridiculous concept of how those guns work. They’re seriously depicting these things firing a hundred times more bullets than they can actually hold.
A new kind of metal in the deep Earth
EPA ponders expanding its regulatory power in the name of “sustainable development”
We’re here to help you: The EPA is considering expanding its regulatory power in the name of “sustainable development.”
In related news: New EPA pollution rules will force the shutdown of dozens of coal-fired power plants.
Former astronaut John Grunsfeld is to take over NASA’s science post from Ed Weiler
Excellent choice: Former astronaut John Grunsfeld has been picked to take over NASA’s chief science post from Ed Weiler.
Not only is Grunsfeld an excellent choice, his experience as an astronaut repairing Hubble will help improve relations between the science and manned space programs. In the past, scientists have often argued against manned space, trying to get that money for their unmanned research probes. Instead, when manned space got cut, so did science, and no one won. Grunsfeld’s leadership I think will forestall these short-sighted complaints.
The bar at the center of the Milky Way
The bar at the center of the Milky Way.
Seven predictions for the year 2011 from 1931
Seven predictions made in 1931 for the year 2011.
The states have shed thousands of public employees since the beginning of the recession
State governments have eliminated thousands of public employees since the beginning of the recession.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, 69, has died
Good riddance: North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il, 69, is dead.
The astonishing collapse of MF Global
The astonishing collapse of MF Global.
The failure of broker MF Global is a unique event in the annals of American corporate history: To my knowledge, it’s the first time a CEO singlehandedly bankrupted his firm through actions that the board of directors was not only knowledgeable of, but had indeed expressly sanctioned. “That takes some talent!” quipped Roderick Hills, a former chairman of the SEC.
The article is long, detailed, and thorough. It describes a deep corruption that should chill the spine of anyone who has money in the investment world.
I must note that I do not advocate more regulations to eliminate this corruption. Such regulations never work. Take for example this quote from the article, describing the accounting systems that are required by law to prevent a client’s funds from being misused:
As noted above, it’s a major part of the CEO’s job to put the proper systems in place. In fact, regulations implemented through Sarbanes-Oxley — a bill that Corzine co-wrote while he was a senator — require that the CEO and CFO sign off on the effectiveness of the controls over financial reporting. … If those proper “controls and procedures” were in place, a breach of segregated client funds should have set off loud, blaring, obnoxious alarms that would have alerted management to that breach.
In the case of Jon Corzine and MF Global, those controls were obviously not in place, and thus the Sarbanes-Oxley bill wasn’t worth the paper that Corzine used to write the bill.
Rather than more regulations, what works is very simple and can be summed by two words: “Buyer beware.” Investors (as well as voters considering the political ambitions of Corzine and his friends) have to be more skeptical of whom they put their trust in. You have to protect yourself. You can’t ask others to do it for you.
Festive Mechanized Holiday Cat Accessories
An evening pause: Some advice from engineers on how to prepare for the holidays.
Egyptian Islamists have been accused of kidnaping Christian girls and forcing them to convert to Islam under threat of rape.
Islamic romance: Egyptian Muslims have been accused of kidnapping Christian girls and forcing them to convert to Islam under threat of rape.
Deficit may be biggest threat to ObamaCare
Well duh! Deficit may be biggest threat to ObamaCare.
I always opposed ObamaCare because I oppose the use of government to run our lives. But putting that minor point aside, it made absolutely no sense for the government to add this entitlement to the nation’s balance sheet at a time when that balance sheet is so completely in the red. The only time these kinds of government programs can possible work (if ever) is when there is lots of spare cash in the bank, something we definitely don’t have right now.