NASA has posted some spiffy photos of the night-side of Earth:
Black Marble – City Lights 2012
Dec 072012
Dec 062012
In the age of Google, the human memory doesn’t need to be what humans once needed it to be. So when Google fails… that’s a problem. My problem: I suddenly remembered reading an online discussion, some years back (anywhere from maybe 7 to maybe 19 years back), of the tallest building possible. The context was the nutty idea of using it as a launch pad for a space rocket, and someone mentioned that the USAF (?) had asked an aerospace company (General Dynamics?) to do a study just to see if it was possible. My *vague* memory has it that the answer came in the form of a lightweight carbon fiber structure shaped like a pyramid, something on the order of 10 kilometers tall. But buggered if I can find a single reference to this idea. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Dec 062012
A chart from a NASA briefing from May of this year giving a quick look at three planned configurations of the Space Launch System which some/many in NASA hope to get built and flown in the coming years.
When transitioning from the Block 1 to Block 1A configurations, the plan is to replace the Shuttle-derived five segment solid rocket boosters with all-new advanced boosters, either liquid or solid. But history has shown that if what you’ve got *now* more or less works, replacing it with an expensive new rocket is a somewhat politically dubious prospect.
Dec 062012
Golden Spike space-tourism company: ‘To the moon!’
Short form: new startup formed by former NASA execs wants to fly lunar missions for anyone who can cough up $1.4 billion (except for China, Iran, North Korea, etc.). Most of the infrastructure will be modified versions of existing stuff, like SpaceX launchers and capsules.
Dec 062012
Federal government cancels F-35 fighter purchase: source
Not exactly a shock.
Dec 062012
From the Senator Donne E Trotter Biography:
Senator Trotter ushered in Illinois’ first comprehensive law banning assault weapons.
From the Donne Trotter Wikipedia page:
Senator Trotter is an vocal advocate of gun control laws having cosponsored 31 bills on the issue.
Trotter on a 1995 effort in Illinois to introduce the right to carry concealed firearms:
There’s a lot of individuals out here who do look at this as an opportunity to be that vigilante, to be that support person to the police officer who isn’t there, which is one of the things we addressed just yesterday when we voted for– for — in arming and also in empowering part-time police officers. What you’re doing here just basically creating part-time police officers who have not gone through the extensive training, who have not had the psychological evaluations, who will be getting out there who feel now that they’re–they are stronger, they are badder, they are tougher because they have this nine-shooter on their hip.
And from todays news:
State senator had gun in garment bag at O’Hare, police say
He had a .25 caliber Beretta and ammo in his carryon. Did he have a good excuse for this? Yes. *He* needed the gun for protection, and simply forgot it was there. Why did he need the protection? Because he works as a security guard for Allpoints Security and Detective Inc. You know… a “part-time police officer.” He’s currently earning 84 grand a year in his role as part-time state senator.
You will, I’m sure, be shocked and amazed to read that this corrupt Illinois politician is a Democrat. But then there’s also this from 2000:
“Barack is viewed in part to be the white man in blackface in our community,” says Donne Trotter, who detests Obama. “You just have to look at his supporters. Who pushed him to get where he is so fast? It’s these individuals in Hyde Park, who don’t always have the best interests of the community in mind.” … On the way there, he was asked whether he and his wife would move to Washington if he wins, as Obama would do.
“Aw, heck no!” he exploded. “That’d be suicide. You serving these people. How you gonna know what they need?”
So I have a few doubts about Eric Holder riding to Trotters rescue.
Dec 062012
First trailer. Seems to show the Enterprise crashing into San Francisco Bay.
[youtube diP-o_JxysA]
People are still arguing over whether the bad guy is Khan, Gary Mitchell, or someone else entirely.
Dec 062012
NZ giving unemployed one-way airfares to Australia to get them off dole
The total numbers are small… apparently only 16 in the first year. But imagine if the US instituted a policy of giving people only so many weeks of food stamps or unemployment or such, and then giving them a one-way plane ticket to Elsewhere.
According to Orbitz, one-way tickets from Detroit to London cost about $1500; from Los Angeles to Paris, $1200; from New York to Sydney, $1900 or so. While a bit of a punch in the wallet, these would be one-time expenses, after which the US taxpayers would no longer need to spend another dime. Given the trillions spent annually on things like Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, the criminal justice system, emergency rooms, education, Social Security and the like… giving some people the option to get a free flight to anywhere in the world might be a fantastic way to get the budget under control.
Dec 042012
Silent footage of an A-bomb test with the added bonus of troops nearby. So unlike most a-bomb films, here you get figures in the frame that help to humanize just what’s going on. The end result is about a minute and a half of pure amazement, from about the 3:00 to about the 4:40 marks as soldiers in trenches watch the mushroom cloud grow… and then walk *towards* it.
[youtube 9_vDro76t58]
Dec 042012
One one side of the Atlantic:
Businessman jailed for four years after breaking burglar’s back as he tried to steal quad bikes
In short: a British man who had been violently attacked in 2007 (bad enough that he gets flashbacks) discovered three criminals stealing his property. In the fight that ensued, he wholloped the bejeebers out of one of them… and he gets to spend the next 4 years in prison while the burglar goes free.
And on the other side:
Some feller gets pushed onto the tracks in front of a New York City subway. More than a dozen people are very close by; none help the man as he tries to climb to safety. Fortunately, a photographer is there on the scene… while he couldn’t be bothered to help the guy climb, he helped the guy attain immortality by taking pictures as he’s squished by the train.
What I take from these: high population densities lead to dehumanization of the populations. In the case of Britain, their legal system is set up apparently more to defend criminals from the civilians; I guess the reason must be that if the civvies were encouraged to defend themselves, they might be a bit harder to tax and control. In the case of New York City, the “bystander effect” seems to become magnified. With so many people mashed into so small a space, people seem to see other people not as people, but as – at best – entertaining hindrances.
High population densities may lead to the appearance of “civilization,” but that seems to be mostly via the collection of interesting stuff into a small easily accessible space. It seems to make the actual people there into assholes. And why wouldn’t it? People value those things that are rare and/or useful; when something is ever-present and more trouble than benefit, you get to dislike it. I like cats… but I’d bet that if I couldn’t step out of my home without a herd of cats ramming into me, picking my pocket and voting away my rights, my privacy and my stuff, my fondness for cats would fade.