Potpourri LX

The Ballad of Bill Arcenaux? As Dr. OZMG would put it, "Furreal."

The Supreme Court reversed a ruling by Sonia Sotomayor and the 2nd Circuit Court, which ruled that a group of white firefighters were denied promotions because they passed a firefighter test while minority candidates did not. This won't affect her future career on the high court, but it is interesting to note for future reference.

Father Dan pointed this out to me, though he cited the original Orlando Sentinel story. Another hatchet job by the Sentinel. Is it possible to sell newspapers without sensationalism? Apparently not.

One thing I wish NASA pushed harder was what they (and by extension we, the American taxpayers) plan to do on the Moon. Here are some thoughts by Dennis Wingo and others. I don't always agree with Dennis, particularly on the Constellation architecture, but he has some interesting thoughts regarding the Moon.

The International Space University and Singularity University's opening ceremonies will be on Ustream.com this evening. I presume they'll save the stream after the live feed.

The New Nine: NASA has selected this year's class of nine astronauts. They don't say if those astronauts are to fly for the Constellation Program or Shuttle, just "future space exploration." Frustrating.

A Swiss team is unveiling a solar-powered airplane. Cool! Kinda hard to fly at night, though...