Peter Paul & Mary – The first time I ever saw your face
An evening pause:
Republicans showing more earmark restraint than Democrats
Giving credit where credit is due: Ed Morrissey notes that the Republicans have shown significant progress in reducing the number of earmarks requested by their members, while the Democrats have not.
Not only do the Republicans have to continue to improve their numbers, now is the time for Democrats to see the writing on the wall and get with the program. Cut spending!
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
TSA’s airport security a failure
In a related note: Loaded gun slips past TSA screeners.
Federal examiners Force Oklahoma Bank To Remove Crosses and Bible Verse
Freedom of speech alert: Federal bank examiners have forced an Oklahoma bank to remove all Christian symbols. Key quote:
The examiners . . . deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say “Merry Christmas, God With Us.” [as] inappropriate. The Bible verse of the day on the bank’s Internet site also had to be taken down.
What these things have to do with auditing the financial practices of a bank I really don’t know.
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.
Tank tests today for cause of cracks in shuttle external tank
NASA will be conducting tank tests today on the Discovery’s external tank in an effort to find the cause of the recently discovered cracks.
The omnibus 2000 page trillion dollar budget bill is dead
Amen! The omnibus 2000 page trillion dollar budget bill is dead.
This is only a start. The spending must come down, by a lot!
Note also that yes, Congress will still be forced to pass a continuing resolution, but that will freeze spending at last year’s level, rather than the gobs of additional spending including in the omnibus bill. Like I said, this is a start.
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
Kepler data now available for anyone to study
Want to discover an exoplanet? A portion of the data being gathered by Kepler is now available online for anyone to peruse.
‘Human-rating’ document hits the Web with new name
O joy! NASA, in releasing its preliminary regulations for “human-rating” a manned spacecraft., has also given the regulations a new name. They should not be called “human-rated.” This should solve everything! Also:
The five 1100-series documents outline mandatory crew transportation certification requirements, technical, safety and crew health specifications, the roles of NASA and industry and how to achieve government certification, design reference missions and goals for a space station human transportation system, and ground and flight operations processes. While the broad certification document released Dec. 10 only runs 39 pages, the 1100-series specifications reportedly run hundreds of pages each.
Russian mission control loses communications with ISS for three hours
This is more a kerfuffle in the press than a real emergency: for about three hours today Russian mission control had problems communicating with either ISS or the Soyuz spacecraft that is on its way to it. Neither spacecraft was in any danger during the down time.
Beethoven’s Fur Eliese
An evening pause: As it is Beethoven’s birthday…
Scientist makes the first measurements of the magnetic field at the Earth’s core
A scientist has made the first measurements of the strength at the Earth’s core of its magnetic field. What’s most fascinating is that he used the Moon and distant quasars to do it! First he used radio observations of the quasars to get very precise measurements of the Earth’s rotation axis and how the Moon was tugging at that axis and thus affecting its magnetic field. Then,
By calculating the effect of the moon on the spinning inner core, Buffett discovered that the precession makes the slightly out-of-round inner core generate shear waves in the liquid outer core. These waves of molten iron and nickel move within a tight cone only 30 to 40 meters thick, interacting with the magnetic field to produce an electric current that heats the liquid. This serves to damp the precession of the rotation axis. The damping causes the precession to lag behind the moon as it orbits the earth. A measurement of the lag allowed Buffett to calculate the magnitude of the damping and thus of the magnetic field inside the outer core.
EPA Document Shows It Knowingly Allowed Pesticide That Kills Honey Bees
Want to know what’s been killing our honeybees? It appears the EPA has known all along and looked the other way: A leaked EPA document shows that it knowingly allowed use a pesticide, despite warnings from its own scientists that it would kill honeybees.