Potpourri CXVIII

Another interesting day! Yes, it's crazy and sometimes depressing in this world, but there are wonders to behold that our grandparents' could scarcely have imagined.

Let's start with space stuff. Space tourists are featured in a Sundance Film Festival movie. Always nice to see that.

From Kelley: a "Big Dream Gathering." Looked interesting.

Given any thought to electromagnetic pulse (EMP) lately? This group has.

Worried about asteroid impacts? Here's a Jeff Foust editorial explaining why the government isn't, so much. Others, however, want to set up an asteroid defense agency. Along those same lines, a doctor in Virginia got a nasty surprise in the form of a meteorite through his office roof.

The number of people on the "no-fly list" attempting to fly is increasing lately. Worried yet? This could be a sign of another al Qaeda attack. Maybe.

A blogger writes a letter to "Astrology." Funny.

Private space stations edging closer to reality...

"Chemical Ali," one of the folks in Saddam Hussein's menagerie infamous for using chemical warfare against Iraq's native Kurd population, has been executed.

I've been taking a much-needed break from conservative talk radio, but I saw that the most famous liberal talk radio network Air America, has filed for bankruptcy.

And now for something completely different: an alternative point of view on the "Twilight" book, which I confess not to have read. I'm good. Not a big vampire fan anyway. (Warning: strong language in this review.)

The rumors continue to swirl about what President Obama will or will not do with the space program. I like one of my customer's takes on the matter: "Those who know are not talking, and those who are talking don't know."

And that'll do for now. Be careful out there, and be good to those around you.

Potpourri CXI

Cleaning out the inbox and getting laundry done this morning...it's an epic morning at Casa de Bart! Why not join in the fun?

The Iranians claim to be behind a crash/hack of Twitter yesterday. Message: "You allow our people to tell the world what we're doing to them, we'll crash your site." Nice.

From Melissa: an alternative to the Diet Dr. Pepper I've been drinking ("That stuff causes kidney damage!")...Zevia Black Cherry Cola. Well, first I'll have to find it locally. Second, I'll have to find out if I'm allergic to it. The reason I shifted from regular to diet was because I liked the caffeine but was allergic to the high-fructose corn syrup. Zevia is sweetened with stevia, a plant-based sweetener that has recently appeared on TV as an alternative to aspartame or saccharine (both old favorites of mine).

Need something fun (toys/treats) for your dog this holiday season? Here's a shameless plug for Bark Avenue Bakery, my friend Christine's dog bakery in southwest Orlando. Chris also takes internet orders for merchandise.

A reflection of sunlight was found on a frozen lake on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Frozen water? Unlikely, given how far out Saturn is from the sun, but interesting nonetheless. Interesting universe out there.

From Pastor: Luther Bible verses in MP3 online. Guess who volunteered to read for the German service this year? That'll teach me to take Spanish in high school...

The Zombie Apocalypse craze continues. Doc ordered one of these shirts--how the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine would look like in the event of the Z.A. Still don't get this zombie thing. Some sort of comment on the quality of acting on television? Our politicians? I'm baffled.

Insurgents in Iraq have occasionally intercepted imagery from overhead drones. Apparently encryption wasn't high on the list? How good would an insurgent feel if the feed they were getting was of themselves just as the missile was being fired? The Department of Defense is working on this issue, presumably.

With the sun's sunspot cycle being very quiet the last few years, NASA has determined that the outermost layer has been cooling dramatically. No word from the global warming crowd if they were going to accuse the sun of being in collusion with oil companies to undermine the proof of global warming.

SpaceX was planning to run its last engine test prior to launching Falcon 9 in 2010. No word on the SpaceX website yet that they've actually run the test, though.

Scientists using data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) presented a paper suggesting that the radiation environment on the Moon might not be any worse than what a nuclear industry or x-ray technician gets exposed to in a year. This is good news for future explorers or settlers, as there are existing protocols and mitigation steps to cope with those levels of radiation. Still, you wouldn't want to be sunbathing out there...

Alerting Bruce Willis...saving the world from an incoming asteroid wouldn't be as simple as NASA sending up a group of roughnecks to take care of business. Former Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart suggests that a certain amount of international diplomacy would be called for first. Why? Well, deflecting an asteroid using some sort of tug would be a very gradual process, and until it was safely out of the risk zone, its trajectory could actually be pointed at various countries on the Earth. Who decides what a safe trajectory is? Who builds the hardware? Sigh. There are times when it helps to take unilateral action.

From Tracy: an article explaining why the trends in new media are hard to track.

NASA is making audio files of space stories available online.

From Lin:

• An editorial on the source of the ongoing problems with the economy. If you've read this blog or Lin's contributions long enough, you probably don't need to guess what direction this editorial is pointing.
• An open letter from the National Taxpayers' Union asking Congress to reject H.R. 4173, "The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009" because of the amount of additional regulation taxes it would impose on an already struggling economy. The Obama administration either doesn't get it or gets it and doesn't care, but if you take more money from businesses by increasing taxes and make it harder for them to operate, they will not create jobs and the economy will remain stuck.
• While salaries might be declining in the private sector, the number of civil servants making big money has increased dramatically in the last two years (note: this implicates Bush AND Obama).

And to end on a more positive note, I've been toying with research for a science fiction novel. Dr. OZMG is a sharp observer of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality types, so I'll probably be pinging her at some point on how the various MBTI types might operate in a space environment. One thing that was interesting to note was that the primary jobs needed to get any mission done up there--astronaut, engineer, scientist, researcher, pilot--tend to fall into two major personality categories: INTJ (my type, incidentally), and INTP. Both of these types are introverted, more focused on abstract principles than exterior/social cues, and thinking (as opposed to feeling). This also describes most of my friends in the space business.

That is not to say that there are not extroverted scientists or engineers (or even technical writers). It's just that folks with this set of personality traits is more drawn to the technical disciplines that make space travel possible. The more social folks will probably end up making money elsewhere and becoming passengers on Virgin Galactic or some other space tourism operation.

Potpourri CIII

The usual mixed bag, so let's get to it. Five days to vacation and counting.

From the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE):

• A suggested reading list for young 'uns. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't read a lot of these, but some of them I wish I hadn't and some I'm probably still glad I haven't, so it might be a wash.
• Also, an overseas source for buying electronic gear.

Some additional second-guessing about Administrator Bolden might or might not have said about Ares I-X. After Mr. Cowing admitted to posting flat-out rumors, I'm beginning to take him less and less seriously.

This struck me as surprising and more than a little disturbing: Boeing is looking to move more of its operations overseas...to China. Not a bright idea--that would make U.S. proprietary technology that much more accessible to a nation that does not have our best interests at heart. And isn't Boeing supposed to be exporting products to China, not itself? I'll be interested to see what the Department of Commerce and the State Department have to say about this.

Here's something interesting from my friends at Science at NASA: could investigating the process of fusion on the Sun allow us to build a better fusion reactor here on Earth? That would certainly be a useful spinoff from astronomy, wouldn't it?

From Father Dan:

• A Fox News story (via YouTube) about Obama's new flyover policy regarding an event that honors America's military service members.
• Father also recommended I check Clark Howard's web site to seek out deals on calling overseas. I'll have to do some more reading here. Clark either assumes that my phone can be easily switched over to use in Europe (something Verizon told me was not doable) or he's offering advice on switching services, which I'm not looking to do. I might just buy a disposable phone or a phone card. I think I've reached the saturation point on helpful advice. I just want to get there, ya know?

A good editorial by one of my fellow NSS Policy dudes, Ryan, on what should be done with NASA. One can only hope we get this lucky.

From another NSSer, Ken, a list of 25 reasons we should go to the Moon. The space advocacy community is getting its message out there, but who's listening?

From Hu: a link to a blogger suggesting "concourse cruising," that is, walking up and down an airport concourse and saying "thank you" to any and all uniformed military personnel you encounter. I'm a fan. If I see any in the airport bar, I try to buy 'em a round. Whatever. They're the ones running around with 80 pounds of gear in 120-degree weather, getting shot at.

From Gwen, a spectacular way for space geeks to humiliate their dog.

Could Kindle and related electronic books spell the end of hardcover books? Maybe, says I.

A school is trying a "no touching" policy to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus. That's going to make joining hands to sing Kum-ba-ya difficult...jeez. Keep your hands washed, don't come into school if you're sick. It's not rocket science.

How much real estate would it require if we wanted enough ground-based solar power to power all of the Earth's needs? This site offers one answer, though it ignores things like night and day, bad weather, etc.

The British have developed a spacecraft to help deflect asteroids. Cool! Now all we need is a launch vehicle capable of lifting it into orbit.