Potpourri CXL

Science, Technology, and Space



Buy James Bond’s car…with gizmos! http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/autos/1006/gallery.james_bond_car/index.html

Down in a hole in Guatemala: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/01/storm-agatha-hole-guatemala

Intriguing question: what will you say if SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch fails? http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1636/1

Interesting NASA spinoff…long-duration underwear: http://online.wsj.com/video/not-quite-rocket-science-2-week-underwear/E670662E-7041-42D3-8FE1-549FFB808FC2.html


Effects of oil spill on wetlands: http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/2010/05/brief-review-effects-of-oil-on-wetlands/

Web 2.0 at the Department of Defense: http://www.sciencecheerleader.com/2010/05/gov-2-0-emerges-at-the-department-of-defense/




Real-life version of Minority Report’s user interface: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/01/real-life-version-of.html


Sony has developed a device that sends Twitter postings for cats by monitoring their activities…at least until the cats figure out a way to remove the things (my guess): http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/01/sony-makes-tweeting.html


Mega projects under consideration in Japan. There was a time Americans thought ambitiously in this manner: http://pinktentacle.com/2010/06/futuristic-mega-projects-by-shimizu/


The Navy is testing a laser weapon: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/innovation/05/31/navy.death.ray.wired/


The Sunlight Foundation has announced the winners of the “Design for America” competition, which was developed to suggest cool things to do with the U.S. Government’s new “open data” feeds: http://sunlightlabs.com/blog/2010/design-america-winners/


There’s a new line of robot vacuum cleaners out there—I really need one of these! http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/msi-robot-vacuums-invade-computex-set-sights-on-roomba/

EA has come out with a hockey stick for the Wii: http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/01/eas-nhl-slapshot-packs-gretzky-approved-wiimote-hockey-stick/


What sorts of space missions could we do if we had unlimited funding? Try this: http://gizmodo.com/5552488/we-could-get-to-neptune-and-back-in-5-years-for-a-mere-4-trillion


The 747-mounted SOFIA telescope has taken its first infrared pictures of Jupiter: http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/flying-telescope-sofia-nasa-photos-100601.html




The U.S. Air Force had the first flight test of the X-51 Waverider aerospace craft, which is powered by a scramjet, flying up to Mach 5: http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2010/05/31/AW_05_31_2010_p27-230271.xml&headline=X-51A%20Team%20Eyes%20Results%20Of%20Scramjet%20Flight&channel=awst


Domestic Politics



Peggy Noonan, Mark Steyn, and Jerry Pournelle on Obama’s handling of the oil gusher: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704269204575270950789108846.html, http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/27/were-too-broke-to-be-this-stupid/, and http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2010/Q2/view624.html#Friday

The Dow dropped 112 points on word that Attorney General Holder is going to start criminal investigations into the BP oil gusher in the Gulf: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9G2N1M00&show_article=1


Foreign Affairs


Iran has enough fissionable material to make two nuclear weapons: http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=177064


Euro hits a new low: http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100601/D9G2FC8O4.html


Canada is reassessing its healthcare model: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100531/hl_nm/us_health_3

So while I was out of town for the weekend, the Israeli Defense Forces intercepted aid ships heading for the Palestinian-controlled Gaza Strip because they were bringing in weapons. The activists who weren’t killed in the raid are to be deported. http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=177178

Culture


A stop-motion animation video game. Cool! http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/01/video-alex-varaneses.html

A man repeatedly called 911 after his mother took his beer. Brilliant. http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/06/01/1657707/pasco-man-charged-after-911-call.html

A psychology professor has written a paper on why “self-experimentation” is unusually effective. Uh, yeah, BUT… http://sethroberts.net/articles/2010%2520The%2520unreasonable%2520effectiveness%2520of%2520my%2520self-experimentation.pdf

So we’ve had it wrong all these years: they’re not mad scientists, they’re mad engineers! http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/01/the-dark-side-of-eng.html

For Doc: a Lovecraftian art exhibition… http://observatoryroom.org/2010/05/26/exhibition-opening-a-love-craft/

SpongeBob Square Pants at age 50: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/31/spongebob-age-50.html

Was there really a need for this? Ewok karaoke: http://www.swtorstrategies.com/2010/05/may-schwartz-be-with-you-ewok-karaoke.html

Here’s something for aspiring SF writers to try: a virtual “write-a-thon.” http://www.theclarionfoundation.org/writeathon/wrtn-home.htm

Actually sorry to hear this: Al and Tipper Gore are separating after 40 years of marriage. Tipper made Gore a nice contrast to Bill Clinton. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-us-gore-separation,0,2616256.story