Science, Technology, and Space
And you thought your job sucked? Check out this accident report from the National Transportation Safety Board: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20060131X00140&ntsbno=DFW06FA056&akey=1
The politics of open government: http://govfresh.com/2010/05/the-politics-of-open-government-free-speech/
Russia is starting a 520-day Mars simulation mission: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100602/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_mission_to_mars
Oil Stories…worst case, the leak might last through Christmas: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPfFTgqayIKY&pos=9
A 21-year-old in NY has a proposed solution for the leak: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/leak_solution_Zw3RdLcmYcdsA4UAz6WMwM#ixzz0phF8fb9b
A little history on the spill…the present mess is not the worst the Gulf of Mexico has seen: http://news.discovery.com/earth/gulf-oil-spill-ixtoc.html, nor is it the largest spill in world history. That distinct dishonor belongs to Saddam Hussein and his troops, who dumped over 400 million gallons of oil into the Persian Gulf: http://employees.oneonta.edu/baumanpr/geosat2/Environmental_Warfare/ENVIRONMENTAL_WARFARE.htm. There is some hope for recovery (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War_oil_spill), though military friends of mine tell me you shouldn’t go swimming in the Persian Gulf anyway. Space-based solar power doesn’t do any of this, folks…but it’s hard to prove until we try to build a satellite.
From Lin, a couple of reports on the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship:
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/06/02/the-navys-new-corvette/?test=latestnews and http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/scitech/2010/06/02/military-tech-action/?test=faces#slide=1. Too bad they're likely to cancel it.
NASA is seeking research proposals for "green" aircraft: http://nspires.nasaprs.com/
From Hu: Coke bottles and Mentos. What could be better? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-hXcRtbj1Y&feature=player_embedded
As Jimmy Durante used to say, "Everybody wants to get in on the act." Dolphins are now using iPads: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/06/01/dolphin-uses-ipad-as.html
Also from ISDC: a great debate turns out to be a bit of a dud: http://www.spacepolitics.com/2010/05/30/the-other-great-debate/
Satellite highlights of the 2009 hurricane season: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=14606692
From Kate Down Under:
- NASA Revives Voyager 2 Probe at Solar System's Edge - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100529/sc_space/nasarevivesvoyager2probeatsolarsystemsedge
- The conspiracy behind the conspiracy: http://www.newsbiscuit.com/2009/08/12/de-classified-documents-reveal-4th-astronaut-%e2%80%98accidentally-left-behind%e2%80%99-after-first-moon-landing/
- This ain't over: Shuttle Atlantis could fly one more mission before retiring. http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20100526/sc_space/shuttleatlantiscouldstillflyonemoremissionbeforeretiring
A golf ball hitting a steel plate at 150 miles per hour. That reminds me, I need to get to the driving range when I'm done blogging here. http://www.wservernews.com/56LS6X/100531-Slow-Motion
The X Prize Foundation is hiring... http://www.xprize.org/about/join-our-team
Speaking of hiring, Doc pointed out this site for people looking for a job in the gaming business: http://www.gamasutra.com/jobs/
From Hu:
- NASA unveils a satellite system for locating lost hikers, boaters, and other lost outdoorsy types: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-satellite-rescue-beacon-20100525,0,2765269.story?track=rss
- Autonomous robots could be used for Homeland Security: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/25/mighty-machines-autonomous-robots-could-be-used-ho/
Here's something new: "Random Hacks of Kindness," putting this interweb stuff to constructive purposes. http://www.rhok.org/events/rhok-1-0/
Another argument for killing Constellation: pollution. http://spacenews.com/commentaries/100524-obama-rocket.html
From @DindraneErin: quantum teleportation. Neato! http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2010/05/quantum-teleportation-achieved-over-ten-miles-of-free-space.ars
Education
The National Academies have a cool podcast series called The Sounds of Science. One of their recent 'casts was about STEM education, alwasy a favorite topic of Your Humble Narrator. Enjoy!
D2 finally got back to me on what she meant by "stealth STEM."
http://water.signtific.org/Thanks!
You take a regular guy/gal. They play a game. They solve an EPIC world problem - or just propose solutions. They get hooked on the topic. They want to know more / do more. And they pursue it.
Like an English major who dreamed of Space.
Teacherrrrs innnn SPAAAAACE! http://www.teachersinspace.org/
A kid-made science kit: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/25/kid-made-science-kit.html
Not sure I hold with all of this, but Lin forwarded the following editorial on how to improve schools: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/05/improving_schools_by_paying_te.html. Lin also provided the following thoughts as well: http://theempressisnaked.blogspot.com/2010/05/yeah-but-never-did-anything-worthwhile.html. (Expecting Sabine not to like these...)
This is sort of a space thing, but it can also fit under the "citizen science" rubric, so I'll do a little relocating. MoonZoo.org wants people to do detailed counts of craters on the lunar surface. http://www.moonzoo.org/about
U.S. Politics
Conservative women are running for Congress in record numbers: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127369770
A TSA critic passes through the airport: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/24/schneier-at-the-airp.html
Foreign Affairs
Someone suggested this as a “solution” for Israel’s problems with their neighbors: http://wargames.co.uk/Poems/Grave.htm. Western military minds don’t think this way anymore.
The U.S. will join South Korea in a military exercise off the North Korean coast: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Media/us-join-south-korea-military-exercise-north-korea/story?id=10807101 ... and North Korea threatens military action: http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NKorea_says_Souths_navy_trespassed_warns_of_military_action_999.html
This is from awhile ago, but it's just a reminder that it's a dangerous world out there (like we needed any more reminders?): http://www.foxnews.com/world/2010/05/24/embassy-jamaica-curtails-service-accused-drug-lords-impending-extradition-spurs/
Culture
From Lin:
- This is kind of cool: a way to give kids toys at low cost: http://www.unplugdesign.com/project2.html
From Anika:
- A podcast of a Star Trek: The Next Generation reunion: http://www.vtwproductions.com/home/2010/5/30/podcast-of-the-star-trektng-reunion.html
- You suck at Craigslist, a site dedicate to people who just can't put decent Craigslist ads together: http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/
- Some interesting artwork involving Muppets and Star Wars characters: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/05/james-hance-channels-our-collective-inner-geek/
- An artist who works with recycled packaging. No, really... http://www15.ocn.ne.jp/~package/package_002.htm
Now on a t-shirt: "I'm an English major, you do the math."
Some words of wisdom regarding your old friend, the #2 pencil: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/57276
Whatever happened to achievements? http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/06/achievement-unlocked/
Three Saudi youths are in trouble with the Saudi Arabian religious police after appearing on an MTV reality show: http://alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6500FV.htm
My buddy Tammie is trying win a $600 writing class. If you have time to vote could you please go to http://www.savvyauthors.com/vb/content.php?242-First-Step-Contest and click #59 "Four demons down ... but how many remained?" Just tryin' to help.
One of D2's friends has a new food and wine blog worth checking out. This site does serious "long form" essays and reviews on food and wine.
D2 also shared this: Star Wars cookie cutters. Because, really, every home should have some. http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/star-wars-cookie-cutter/
Not sure what the point of Wimp.com is, but they have a great video of three teenage kids belting out O Sole Mio. Do they even give American kids vocal lessons anymore? http://www.wimp.com/threetenors/
What, you didn't know? The movie Airplane was a serious sendup of the '50s movie "Zero Hour." http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/26/airplane-side-by-sid.html
Hmmmm...what Disney Princesses supposedly teach girls about life: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/05/24/what-disney-princess.html
From Anthony in Hong Kong: all the comforts of home in a Beijing wet bar. http://8daysshanghaibeijing.posterous.com/all-the-conveniences-of-home
From Martin: another Star Trek fan film: http://videos.startrekphase2media.com/Enemy/
You want information? I don't think so: http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/pdf/welcome.html
The rich are different from you and me, they have more money. …they have more money. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/home/orl-celebrity-home-pictures,0,6820906.photogallery
D2 and I are big fans of TED Talks. Here's a talk that takes a punchy look at things and demystify how to create a create TED talk. D2 also directed me to the site that can make it happen: http://get-tedpad.com/
From the MSN Relationships department, an attempt to "demystify dude theory." Well, maybe. http://glo.msn.com/relationships/debunking-dude-theory-1533313.story?gt1=49000
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