Much has been made in the past few days of this NYT/CBS poll that found the Presidential race to be a dead heat.

10:41 am

Oversampling Democrats: Much has been made in the past few days of this NYT/CBS poll that found the Presidential race to be a dead heat. This article however is the first I’ve found that notes this key fact about the poll:

Among registered voters, the NYT/CBS poll also oversamples Democrats and Independents: D-33/R-27/I-41. There’s no way the 2012 electorate will only be made up of 27% Republicans.

That’s right, this NYT/CBS poll purposely skewed the results by polling 6% more Democrats than Republicans. In other words, the race is likely not such a dead heat. Obama is significantly behind, especially since all polls have consistently found that voting enthusiasm is far higher among Republicans than Democrats.

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Russia has announced it has begun construction on a lunar lander, set for its first unmanned test flight in 2015.

10:21 am

The competition heats up: Russia has announced it has begun construction on a manned lunar lander, set for its first unmanned test flight in 2015.

There have been many such announcements from Russia over the past decade with few ever coming true, since such announcements are generally nothing more than a public relations lobbying effort to get funding.

The most intriguing part of this article however was this quote:

Last week, head of the Lavochkin Scientific and Production Corp. Victor Khartov said Russia must “return to the Moon in 2015 in a Soviet style, to prove everyone and ourselves that we remember all the Soviet Union could do” at the Farnborough air show in Britain.

I would interpret this statement as a desire for Russia to compete more aggressively with the U.S. and others, as they did back in the days of the Soviet Union. It was also in that time period that the Lavochkin center was in its heyday, with lots of money and research work.

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Genesis cover

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 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

Russia is considering shortening the time it takes for its Progress and Soyuz capsules to reach ISS after launch, from 50 hours to 6.

10:14 am

Russia is considering shortening the time it takes for its Progress and Soyuz capsules to reach ISS after launch, from 50 hours to 6.

The long travel time was designed to save fuel at launch — thus increasing payload — by allowing orbital mechanics to bring the capsule and station together. I wonder then why the Russians are considering this change. Have the figured out a way to save the fuel in other ways?

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Conscious Choice cover

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.

Despite a court order one year ago requiring them to “promptly” hold public hearings on the use of x-ray scanners, the TSA still refuses to comply.

9:45 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: Despite a court order one year ago requiring them to “promptly” hold public hearings on the use of x-ray scanners, the TSA still refuses to comply.

And I agree with Ham: Everyone should opt out of being scanned by these porn machines, and make the TSA feel them up each time. If enough people do that, they will be forced to abandon these x-ray scanners, which don’t work, have health risks, and are fundamental invasion of our constitutional right against unreasonable search.

In a related story, watch the video below the fold, in which an American citizen successfully refuses to answer any questions at two Border Patrol checkpoints, because in truth, he has the right not to answer those questions. And not only does he not answer the questions, he refuses to participate in a vehicle search, and is eventually allowed to go on his way.
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Leaving Earth cover

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 proposal by three Republican senators to avoid a “lame-duck looting session” after the November election.

3:46 pm

A proposal by three Republican senators to avoid a “lame-duck looting session” after the November election.

DeMint, Graham and Johnson want their House GOP counterparts to act before the August recess to fund the government through early next year. That would avoid the threat of a government shutdown before Sept. 30 and leave it in the hands of a new Congress and, perhaps, a new president.

What a concept! A proposal that the present Congress do its job now, rather than wait.

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British police have closed their investigation trying to find out who leaked the climategate emails.

9:47 am

British police have closed their investigation trying to find out who leaked the climategate emails.

“We are naturally disappointed that those responsible for this crime have not been caught and brought to justice,” said Edward Acton, [University of East Anglia]’s vice chancellor, in a statement. “The misinformation and conspiracy theories circulating following the publication of the stolen emails – including the theory that the hacker was a disgruntled UEA employee — did real harm to public perceptions about the dangers of climate change.”

Phil Jones, research director of CRU … said he hoped the end of the case would “draw a line under the stressful events of the last two and half years”.

How can the release of these emails be “misinformation” when both UEA and Phil Jones have admitted the emails are actually their emails? They can’t. Nothing was faked, and the content of those emails was chilling, as they showed a scientist (Phil Jones) willing to fake data, delete evidence, and destroy the careers of his critics. That East Anglia did not investigate and then fire Phil Jones after reading these emails tells us that East Anglia has no interest in the honest pursuit of science.

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Astronomers have discovered the first exoplanet smaller than Earth.

9:19 am

Astronomers have discovered the first exoplanet smaller than Earth.

The University of Central Florida has detected what could be its first planet, only two-thirds the size of Earth and located right around the corner, cosmically speaking, at a mere 33-light years away. The exoplanet candidate called UCF 1.01, is close to its star, so close it goes around the star in 1.4 days. The planet’s surface likely reaches temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The discoverers believe that it has no atmosphere, is only two-thirds the gravity of Earth and that its surface may be volcanic or molten.

What is especially remarkable about this discovery is that the scientists used the Spitzer Space Telescope to do it, detecting the planet’s transits across the star’s face, just like Kepler. Spitzer was not designed to be able to do this.

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Outlining the optimal military tactics for taking the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.

10:37 pm

Knowledge is power: Outlining the optimal military tactics for taking the Magic Kingdom’s Cinderella Castle.

Above all, we can all agree on this secondary objective:

While in Fantasyland we will have the opportunity to take down the menace of all parents everywhere. The “It’s a Small World” ride will be within our reach. Our secondary objective is to eliminate the ride with extreme prejudice. This isn’t a capture mission like the castle, but one of complete annihilation. Expect heavy casualties as their adorable repetitiveness burns into your skulls like white phosphorous in the jungle. Our sacrifices will be great, but our suffering is in the name of protecting others.

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In Columbia County, Georgia that means a law enforcement official can enter your home without permission, bang on your bedroom door, wake you up, and yell at you about it.

10:20 pm

Your grass is too long? In Columbia County, Georgia that means a law enforcement official can enter your home without permission, bang on your bedroom door, wake you up, and yell at you about it.

A woman got the shock of her life when she woke up to find a stranger in her bedroom, yelling at her to wake up because her grass was too long. Erica Masters was asleep when Columbia County Code Compliance Officer Jimmy Vowell entered her Martinez, Georgia, home without permission to serve a violation notice for her overgrown lawn. After knocking on the woman’s door a few times, Vowell let himself and made his way into her bedroom, which was captured on surveillance video.

Click on the link to watch the video. What’s worse is that the county says it needs to investigate this more. I’d say it’s pretty cut and dried, especially as they have it on tape. Any law enforcement official who thinks he has the right to do such a thing should fired.

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Because of a single complaint a retirement home has forbidden its residents from praying.in common areas.

10:08 am

Land of the free? Because of a single complaint a retirement home has forbidden its residents from praying in common areas.

The complaining resident, Wanda Hughes told DePetro that she wrote a letter to the property management group because she finds the Rosary to be “an in your face ritual.” In the letter she threatens to bring the issue to the ACLU if it is not addressed.

What I find disgusting is that this person, Wanda Hughes, somehow thinks that just because she doesn’t like prayer she has the right to shut it down. The rights of others mean nothing to her.

What is also disgusting is the cowardice of Brook Village Retirement Home in North Providence, which immediately bowed to her wishes while grinding its fist into the faces of everyone else.

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Julie Andrews – Feed the Birds

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Once, a long time ago, the concept of charity was something that you gave voluntarily, not forced upon you by the will of others.

A technical aside: If you listen closely to the soundtrack to Mary Poppins (1964), you will discover hints of the melody from this song sprinkled throughout. The composers clearly considered it a central theme on which they wished to link to the rest of the score.

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The cost of launch

5:57 pm

Two news items from NASA today:

What I find most interesting about these stories is the fees charged by the two companies. SpaceX will be paid $82 million for its one launch, while ULA will be paid $412 million for its three launches, or about $137 million per launch.
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