Obamacare rule demands all medical records be made available to the federal government
Finding out what’s in it: Obamacare requires that everyone’s private medical records be made available to the federal government.
Obama Administration Set to Ban Asthma Inhalers Over Environmental Concerns
We’re here to help you! The Obama Administration is banning the only over-the-counter asthma inhaler because of environmental concerns.
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
UARS crash updated
The most recent prediction now says that the UARS satellite will come down tonight between 9 pm and 3 am Eastern time, during one of four orbits, all of which pass over North America, Europe, and Africa. One orbit also passes over Australia.
Monty Python – The Cheese Shop sketch
An evening pause: An ideal metaphor describing modern telephone customer service.
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.
Senate rejects House funding bill; shutdown looms
Senate rejects House funding bill; shutdown looms.
While we chatter about superficial election debates and a falling satellite, the federal budget continues to crash and burn. What I find disturbing about the events in the Senate is this quote:
Democrats in the Senate, who are in the majority, oppose Republican efforts to roll back “green” energy programs to pay for aid for victims of Hurricane Irene and other disasters. They say disaster aid, usually a bipartisan issue, should not require cuts elsewhere — especially to programs creating green jobs — as the GOP majority in the House now demands. [emphasis mine]
So how do the Democrats expect to pay for this disaster aid? Will the money grow on trees?
Update on UARS reentry
The crash time of the UARS climate satellite has now been updated to a window lasting from 6 pm (Eastern) to 4 am (Eastern) tonight.
According to the map at the link, the U.S., Europe, Africa, and Middle East are all potential crash sites.
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
A second large satellite will rain debris down in October
Even if UARS misses you today, don’t relax! A second large satellite, the 2.4 ton ROSAT X-Ray space telescope, is going to rain debris down late in October or early November.
On its ROSAT website, DLR estimates that “up to 30 individual debris items with a total mass of up to 1.6 tonnes might reach the surface of the Earth. The X-ray optical system, with its mirrors and a mechanical support structure made of carbon-fibre reinforced composite – or at least a part of it – could be the heaviest single component to reach the ground.”
Couple hit with fines for holding a Bible study in their home
A California couple has been hit with fines for holding a Bible study session in their home.
The first global map of the ocean’s saltiness
Astronomers argue about the legitimacy of the first exoplanet to be directly imaged
Astronomers question the legitimacy of the first exoplanet to be directly imaged.
Moody Blues – Forever Autumn
An evening pause: For the arrival of fall.
Times Atlas has backed down on its Greenland map and issued an apology
The Times Atlas has backed down on its false claim of a 15% loss to the Greenland icecap due to global warming and has issued an apology.
An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles traveling faster than light
An international team of scientists said on Thursday they had recorded sub-atomic particles that travel faster than light.
A total of 15,000 beams of neutrinos — tiny particles that pervade the cosmos — were fired over a period of 3 years from CERN toward Gran Sasso 730 (500 miles) km away, where they were picked up by giant detectors. Light would have covered the distance in around 2.4 thousandths of a second, but the neutrinos took 60 nanoseconds — or 60 billionths of a second — less than light beams would have taken. “It is a tiny difference,” said Ereditato, who also works at Berne University in Switzerland, “but conceptually it is incredibly important. The finding is so startling that, for the moment, everybody should be very prudent.”
a new study shows that 790,000 Ohioans will lose their private health insurance and premiums will rise 55%-85% when Obamacare takes full effect in 2014
Repeal it: A new study shows that in Ohio, 790,000 people will lose their private health insurance and premiums will rise 55%-85% when Obamacare takes full effect in 2014.
Lost Arkansas moon rock found among Governor Bill Clinton archives
Long lost Arkansas moon rock found among Governor Bill Clinton archives.
High school student suspended for saying “I’m a Christian. I think being a homosexual is wrong.”
Freedom of speech alert: A high school suspended a student earlier this week for merely saying “I’m a Christian. I think being a homosexual is wrong.”
I could hear Andrey saying it was like an American amusement park
Coming home in a Soyuz capsule: “I could hear Andrey saying it was like an American amusement park.”
UARS re-entry update
The forecast of when and where the climate satellite UARS will re-enter the atmosphere has been narrowed to the afternoon/evening of Friday, September 23.
Archaeologists uncover evidence of large ancient shipyard near Rome
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of an ancient shipyard near Rome, “the largest of its kind in Italy or the Mediterranean.”
The rover Opportunity as seen from Mars orbit
The image to the right was taken by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, with the white arrow showing the Mars rover Opportunity perched on the rim of Endeavour Crater.
The rover’s scientists hope that the rocks found on the crater rim, dredged up from deep below when the crater impact occurred, will be the oldest rocks so far touched on the Martian surface, and thus give them a peek at ancient Martian geology.