Feb 092009
 

… smack the crap out of them.

From the Times Online:

THE doctor who sparked the scare over the safety of the MMR vaccine for children changed and misreported results in his research, creating the appearance of a possible link with autism, a Sunday Times investigation has found.

Confidential medical documents and interviews with witnesses have established that Andrew Wakefield manipulated patients’ data, which triggered fears that the MMR triple vaccine to protect against measles, mumps and rubella was linked to the condition.

Despite involving just a dozen children, the 1998 paper’s impact was extraordinary. After its publication, rates of inoculation fell from 92% to below 80%. Populations acquire “herd immunity” from measles when more than 95% of people have been vaccinated.

Last week official figures showed that 1,348 confirmed cases of measles in England and Wales were reported last year, compared with 56 in 1998. Two children have died of the disease.

 Posted by at 3:22 am
Feb 072009
 

Remember how every single photo of Bush in an odd position or giving an unfortunate look was an opportunity to mock him/his policies/Republicans/anyone to the Right of Lenin? Well, turnabout’s fair play.

huh.jpg

So I hereby present this new meme for yout Internet enjoyment: The Pedobama.

pedobama.jpg

Lock up your daughters. And your paychecks. And your guns. And your sons, just to be safe.

 Posted by at 9:47 pm
Feb 072009
 

Artwork of a projected development of the Titan III… the Titan IIIL2. “L” for Larger core (note for engine bells, rather than the usual 2), and “2” for having only two solid rocket boosters (could go up to 4). For further info on this sort of booster, check this out. This painting shows the Titan IIIL2 launching an Apollo Command and Service Module. This booster was proposed for orbital logistics for space stations and the like; it would have been the rough equivalent of the ongoing Ares I booster in terms of role and capability.
titaniiil2.jpg

A drawing of a “Titan III 2+2” AKA “Titan IIID,” which was a Titan III core with four boosters. It is, again, available HERE.

And here’s a model of one of a “Titan IVL4,” courtesy commenter Mike Robel…

titan-ivl4.JPG

 Posted by at 8:14 pm
Feb 042009
 

You can see it (and order it) here:

http://www.up-ship.com/eAPR/ev2n2.htm

I also have five new space documents for sale here:

Space Doc 60: NASA/Grumman LEM artwork package (scanned & cleaned from a package of transparencies; as you go through the pages, you “peel off” layers from the LEM. If you print these off on transparencies, you can do the same!)
Space Doc 61: Briefing charts for NASA-MOL. Diagrams showing numerous configurations of the MOL space station for NASA.
Space Doc 62: S-IVb-N Briefing: a Douglas concept for a NERVA (nuclear) engine for the second stage of the Saturn Ib
Space Doc 63: Saturn Mission Payload Versatiliy… advanced versions of the Saturn V, including SSTO and solid-boosted concepts
Space Doc 64: Extended Mission Apollo Study – North American briefing on a space lab to replace the LEM adapter. Detailed drawings!

 Posted by at 8:31 pm
Feb 032009
 

Not, not *that* Orion, *this* Orion:

oriontest5.jpg

Taken with my usual cheapo point-and-click camera. 20 separate photos on “manual” mode, maximum optical zoom (no digital zoom) with an ISO of 1600 and the longest exposure it’ll do (which ain’t long for these cameras, still a fraction of a second… how I wish I had something like a Nikon D80! Anybody wanna donate about $1200 so’s I can buy one?) , then the photos were stacked using “DeepSkyStacker” software. Won’t win any awards, but still kinda nice. At full rez you can just make out that there’s something fuzzy about the Orion Nebula:

oriontest5a.jpg

Weird thing is if I jack up the hue saturation as high as it’ll go in Paint Shop Pro, must of the stars are happily blue-ish, but red supergiant Betelgeuse turns bright green.

oriontest5b.jpg

 Posted by at 5:45 am