Potpourri LXII

Another action-packed round of surfing. I find this stuff so you don't have to.

The latest Futures Channel video on the Ares Projects has been released.

Interested in what the Augustine Human Spaceflight Panel is up to? Here ya go.

Okay, here's something useful for you Guinness-drinking space fans: drink a Guinness, and possibly win a flight on Virgin Galactic. Brilliant!

Ya know, I've tried to refrain from personal comments about President Obama because there's so much wrong with his policies already. But it's come to my attention--and apparently the Drudge Report, too--that the man doesn't smile a lot. And that he can even look quite mean when he sets his mind to it. I don't think this is a happy guy. But then I recall some of my liberal friends in college thinking that anyone with a positive attitude was obviously an idiot because the world was too grim for anybody to be in a good mood or have a positive attitude. My only answer to that is that I know the world is in a bad state. Optimism, a positive attitude, and a happy disposition takes a lot of work and more than a little leap of faith.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has started taking pictures of the lunar surface. One goal is to scan the Apollo landing sites.

In addition to jet planes, ballistic missiles, and other "wonder weapons," the Third Reich also appear to have built the first stealth bomber. Now recreating ballistic missiles at the time I sort of understand (Huntsville and the Apollo program owe much to the pardoning of Wernher von Braun). But why would anyone recreate a Nazi stealth bomber 60 years later?

Speaking of jets, some gratuitous pictures of American aircraft busting through Mach 1...and some pictures of shockwaves created by atomic bombs.

I am SO glad Obama has followed George W. Bush's diplomatic approach to North Korea. It's done SO much good. It's kept them from speaking hostilly to its neighbor South Korea and from enriching uranium...

And much to my surprise, Five Guys Burgers have been named the best burgers in Northeast Alabama. Now I love their freedom fries, don't misunderstand me--any food that turns the brown bag they're served in a darker brown just HAS to be filled with nutritional goodness--but their burgers have yet to wow me. My military buddies from my life as a highway helper referred to the oil on Five Guys' fries as "70-weight AvLube." We restricted ourselves, ideally, to one visit to Five Guys' per quarter (more realistically per month). Anyhow, congratulations to the chain. I still love their fries, and hope their burgers improve.