A photo taken in August, same trip that produced this photo. Anyone guess where? Well, more precisely than just “Alaska.”
You can also download the very much larger version by LOOKING HERE (over at my photo blog), good for printing and such. Permission granted for personal use.
If you like the photo and want to toss a few coins my way… well, here ya go.
Well, here’s a fresh new way to campaign…
[youtube p9Y24MFOfFU]
Heh. So, some practitioners of “alternative medicine” petitioned Wikipedia to change their rules so that they could over-rule skeptical editors. Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales responded thusly:
No, you have to be kidding me. Every single person who signed this petition needs to go back to check their premises and think harder about what it means to be honest, factual, truthful.
Wikipedia’s policies around this kind of thing are exactly spot-on and correct. If you can get your work published in respectable scientific journals—that is to say, if you can produce evidence through replicable scientific experiments, then Wikipedia will cover it appropriately.
What we won’t do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of “true scientific discourse.” It isn’t.
Well said.
Or… maybe it is:
The US will give ten modified cropdusters, made by Thrush Aircraft and Air Tractor to the Yemeni government. While armed and armored cropdusters would be easy meat for modern air defense systems, and are very limited compared to modern systems such as the A-10 or the Reaper… but for a low-tech nation like Yemen fighting low-tech enemies, the concept makes all kinds of sense. Cropdusters can carry heavy loads and maneuver hard without breaking.
A piece of NASA artwork (actually, probably North American Rockwell) depicting the Apollo 8 CSM separating from the S-IVb stage of the Saturn V with the four panels of the LEM adapter section floating away. Date uncertain.
Who here *didn’t* always assume that when The End came it would be Canadas fault? Well, here we go…
And so, Ebola comes to Saskatoon. First Bryan Adams. Then Justin Beiber. Now, Ebola. Will the horrors never end?
Twelve razor blades were glued to playground equipment. Clearly an effort to injure children. Someone needs to have their ass handed to ’em.
It’s a pity there aren’t penal colonies that criminals such as this could be shipped to. Someone who glues razors to jungle gyms and swings is someone society doesn’t need.
The short form: a 19-year -old Temple U student and her 20-year-old boyfriend were out for a walk in Philly when they were surrounded by a group of 8-to-14-year-old children who verbally berated them, assaulted them, and mashed the girl in the face with a brick, doing massive damage. And… that’s pretty much about it. The story gives no description of the high-spirited little scamps. It does not say what they were yelling at the victims. It gives no indication of what the motive of the attack was. You know… the important items that journalists *should* let the public be aware of.
Odd, that.
Well, there’s this:
But with all the back-and-forth sanctioning, at some point it’s virtually certain that the Russians will at least float the notion of cutting off American astronauts from flying on the Soyuz. This would cut off American access not only to the ISS, but to space as a whole.
You know what? Good.
We are entirely too dependent upon others for our space access. Having the Russians shut us down would for the US to turn to ourselves for space access. We’re almost there as it is… the SpaceX Dragon has made it to the station and back several times unmanned; it shouldn’t be long before it can make it there manned (perhaps December 2015). There’s the Boeing CST-100 capsule, which has undergone some considerable design work and pre-prototype testing. There’s the Orion “Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle” capsule being built by NASA & LockMart, and appropriate for a government effort, is not due out for years (manned flight in 2021, maybe). There’s the Sierra Nevada “Dream Chaser” lifting body spaceplane, an aerodynamic test vehicle of which has been drop-tested; an orbital flight may occur in November 2016.
Within a few years, the US should be able to fly our own astronauts into space again without having to hitch a ride with someone else. But what if by the time we do so, the Russians have changed the locks on the doors of the ISS?
Well… good.
The ISS is a serious disappointment. The crew is too small to do a whole lot more than maintenance; they’re certainly not building Mars-bound spacecraft at the ISS. There’s no rotating section for artificial gravity, something any self respecting space station should have. And it’s freakin’ expensive. Imagine what NASA could achieve *IF* it didn’t have to pay for ISS operations, but kept the same budget *and* had good leadership (fat chance, I know). NASA would do well to wash its hands of the ISS and devote its attention to, say, a partnership with Bigelow to finally get his “space hotel” built. Rather than building its own space station, NASA could simply rent or lease a few modules on the space hotel.
So, Russia, do us a favor. Cut us off.
Oh, yeah, this aughtta be interesting:
“But when it’s learning time,” Pastor Anderson said, hammering his lecturn, “it’s silence time.”
“So what it’s saying is that they,” the women, “are to learn in silence.” He then quoted 1 Corinthians 14 again, saying that “when the learning is going on, they are not permitted to speak. When the preaching of God’s word is taking place — and first of all, it’s not for a woman to be doing the preaching, and second of all, it’s not for women to be speaking.”
“Even the Bible’s really clear on this,” he said. “Even if they were to have a question, they’re not to ask that question in the church, number one. Number two, even if they want to ask that question to their husband, they should wait until they get home.”
If I’ve learned anything, it’s that nobody really learns in silence, but through active questioning. Sure, you can get “facts” (accurate or otherwise) hammered into you by simply listening, but to really understand, you have to have some sort of back-and-forth. If someone tells you something that you don’t understand – either because the concept escapes you, it’s poorly explained or it conflicts with existing understanding – just letting it skate by is not the path to wisdom.
I’m sure, however, that this pastor will be getting an earful from the ladies.