Setting Our Sights Lower

First, read this so you understand the context of my next rant. Go ahead, I'll wait... http://www.eco-business.com/opinion/life-degrowth-economy-and-why-you-might-actually-enjoy-it/

Okay, so you had your own reaction to what you read: you shook your head in dismay, nodded in agreement, or shrugged and wondered, "So what?"

For those of you who didn't take the time to read the linked article, here's the author's general thesis:

Earth is getting too overpopulated, we're running out of resources, life is going to become a lot harder, and the concept of economic growth is outdated, unhelpful, and unlikely to continue. As a result, we might as well get used to it, make a virtue of necessity, and learn to live within our means because the future is not going to get any better. We need to share the wealth so that non-Western nations receive an equitable share of the world's wealth. Instead, we should establish a world that involves more local economies and that is less dependent upon international travel. We shouldn't focus so much on new technologies to save us and should learn to "do without" certain luxuries or technologies.

Did anyone just have a flashback to the 1970s? Are we in yet another era of doom and gloom and limited vision?

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
--Franklin Delano Roosevelt

"I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."
--John F. Kennedy

"There's nothing wrong with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America."
--William J. B. Clinton

...and I haven't even quoted the Republicans yet.

The point is, America is a nation founded on a fundamental optimism that says if you give people freedom and a fighting chance, they'll find solutions to their own problems, with or despite the government's intervention. However, the author appears to have already pronounced sentence on the future: we're doomed, we'll never make it, the people are too stupid to solve their own problems, they can only be ruled for their own good and protection, based on a vision shared by the enlightened.

The problem is that "degrowth" is antithetical to the American experiment because of the implications of the author's ideas:

• Who decides what's equitable? Not the people, obviously.
• Who decides what we can "do without?" The diversity of our economy and technologies ensures that nearly anything and everything can be given a fighting chance to succeed, given enough hard work by the inventor. Who's to say what we can or should do without? And who is this author to say that we should dream smaller?
• How would they enforce this "de-growth?" It brings up an interesting notion: do governments worldwide become enforcers of de-modernization of the world? Would they send in armed troops with magnets to destroy unwanted knowledge and explosives to destroy unneeded inventions like cyclotrons, nuclear reactors, CAT scans, or rocket ships?
• Will Those Who Decide still have access to luxuries and world travel? Here's a hint: yes. I recall talking with Les Johnson about the anti-technology forces in our civilization. "They want to send us back to the caves," he said. I don't think so. They want to send us back to the manors and serfdom, where the majority remain ignorant and ruled while the wealthy elite continues to enjoy a high standard of living. The problem is, it won't happen that way; not by a long shot. Read on.
• What happens if individuals or nations opt to stay pro-growth? We're seeing a variation of this with the Kyoto Protocol, which is supposed to curb greenhouse gases. America has the technology to become high-tech without petroleum eventually, I suppose, but China and India are not there yet and are unlikely to comply with Kyoto anyway. So say they stick with the large nation-state approaches to technology and economics. What happens to the hundreds of thousands of small nation-states elsewhere in the world? If human history is any guide, they will either reunite into coalitions and nations as well or get swallowed up one by one.

Decentralization and descoping of the world economy only works if everyone does it. Odds are, everyone won't, unless some external force requires all of them to act simultaneously.

More to the point, as a space and technology advocate I want to live in a future of abundance. I believe we can access the energy and materials of space, combined with nanotechnology and other clean high technology here on Earth to ensure a future where everyone has access to the goods of civilization. Degrowth is not the way to do it. Degrowth assumes a zero-sum game, where we'll never find additional resources, and therefore the only way to have any choices is to be one of those who decides how the pie is divided. That is a recipe for world conflict on a scale we haven't seen in 70 years, and it would include a lot more nuclear weapons.

No matter how politely or benignly worded, a philosophy of low expectations implies a political order where those expectations would be enforced, lest someone question the underlying assumptions. I'm more in line with entrepreneurs like Elon Musk, who want humanity to expand the scope of technology of civilization. Regardless of past errors or current problems, we certainly have enough pride and ambition to believe a better future is possible, don't we?

Jeez, I hope so.

World Building

Lots of information in my brain these days, either from my job or activities related to my job, so I'm starting to get the urge to write science fiction (SF) again. Problem is, I write differently now than I did in my 20s, when I was kicking out a story a month. I want to understand the "universe" (or "world") I'm creating better before I just jump in and write. I ask a lot more questions and try to understand the rules of some future society. Here are some of the questions that are coming to mind as I lay the groundwork for whatever might come next:

• What is the weather/climate like (on Earth)?
• What do dwellings/homes look like?
• What's the world population?
• How do most people get around?
• What's the fastest means of transport?
• What does a ticket to the Moon cost?
• How many people live in space?
• What is the family structure?
• How do people spend their time?
• Is there any violence?
• Why do people leave Earth?
• What do people wear?
• What are the norms for beauty?
• What are the norms for romantic relationships?
• What are the major taboos? Jokes?
• How do people relax?
• Is there any privacy?
• What's considered a luxury?
• How is political power determined?
• Who are the popular people?
• How do people treat their parents?
• Who's at the bottom of the totem pole?
• How do people curse?
• How is depression treated?
• Who cares for the children?
• What is school like?
• What is the primary form of entertainment?
• What (or who) do most people aspire to be?
• What are the most important gadgets?
• Who are the worst villains?
• What do people eat?
• What are the arts like?
• How do people evaluate virtue? Vice?
• What's considered impossible?
• What do they take for granted that we would find a miracle?
• What do we take for granted that they would find horrible or primitive?
• What do they worship and how?

So those questions will form one piece of the puzzle. Other factors include economics and technology. That, and I got the SF bug from attending the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop, so I'm trying to think about the people who would willingly join an interstellar expedition if they live in a world of peace, plenty, and progress. It might be as easy as Jean-Luc Picard saying, "The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our society. We seek to better ourselves and the rest of humanity." However, I find that statement a bit elitist and condescending. Is there another way to say that? Might there be other motivations for seeking out strange, new worlds?

A last piece of my current puzzle? Those actual strange, new worlds that telescopes like Kepler are discovering on an almost-daily basis. They are seriously different from Earth, and not in ways that result in just a slightly greener girl for Captain Kirk to flirt with--I'm talking seriously different: much higher gravities, atmospheres, axial tilts, temperatures, landscapes, resources, chemical bases of life. Are human beings really ready to cope with intelligent aliens that speak in sonar (dolphins) or reproduce by mitosis or that have no concept of the individual ego?

The future will be different--how different? How can a writer living very much in this world conjure up what life will be like for future star travelers who have never known hunger? And what sorts of adventures will those people have trillions of miles away from home? Plenty to think about, which is why I read and write SF in the first place.

Potpourri CLIX

Between the day job and the conference, my mind's been all over the place, so if you don't think my links and reads and thoughts don't quite all fit together, you're probably right.

IMF is one of our biggest beggars. If they're asking for a different currency, you know something is awry.
From Tracy:

• John Irving, business inspiration? Yep.
• An online, collaborative writing tool. Looks interesting, but most writers will tell you that writing with other people is a pain in the neck. It's much easier to just put down what you want to say. Any group document is inherently a compromise or series of compromises, not all of them good.

From Lin: an article about the challenges of interstellar travel. As I put it to Lin:

I'd say he hits the problems of interstellar flight dead on. Star Trek notwithstanding, we have no way to travel faster than light. The author actually understates the case. According to relativity theory, as objects accelerate closer to the speed of light, c, their mass becomes nearly infinite due to dynamics that elude me. Pick up Arthur C. Clarke's "The Songs of Distant Earth" for a realistic portrayal of the interstellar travel engineering problem. (The realism of his characterization or sociology are another matter.) We are, I'm afraid, a long way from warp drive. It would be nice to have something, though.

From my space/libertarian friend Berin, a statement about "Do Not Track" legislation:

WASHINGTON D.C. — The following statement can be attributed to Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom, regarding legislation introduced today by Rep. Jackie Speier that would require the Federal Trade Commission to establish standards for a “Do Not Track” mechanism and require online data collectors to obey consumer opt-outs through such a tool:


Implementing “Do Not Track” without killing advertising won’t be easy. Just as consumers need to be empowered to make effective privacy choices, so too must publishers of ad-supported websites be able to make explicit today’s implicit quid pro quo: Users who opt-out of tracking might have to see more ads, pay for content and so on.

Government cannot design a “marketplace for privacy” from the top down, nor predict the costs of forcing an explicit quid pro quo. It would be sadly ironic if the same FTC that has agonized so much about the future of journalism wound up killing advertising, the golden goose that has sustained free media in this country for centuries.

The market is evolving quickly here, with two very different “Do Not Track” tools debuting in Internet Explorer and Firefox just this week. Ultimately, it is the Internet's existing standards-setting bodies, not Congress or the FTC, that have the expertise to resolve such differences and make a “Do Not Track” mechanism work for both consumers and publishers, as well as advertisers and ad networks.

Other stuff from Lin:

• It's been awhile since I've seen one of these, but it bears repeating: thank our military.
• An intriguing article on the interworkings of science and big universities. The article asks a good question: the universities need science, but does effective scientific research NEED to be performed in a university environment? Before the 20th century, most research was privately funded--think Thomas Edison or Bell Laboratories.
• An editorial on "who fed the tiger" (China). Uh, that'd be us. Or rather, corporate America and their political allies in the White House (Bush I and Clinton). We were told through the '80s and '90s that free trade with the West would moderate Communist China and make them more like us. What happened instead is that it made the Chinese government richer, not more moderate, and while we were selling them the rope with which to hang ourselves, they got a bunch of manufacturing jobs--and technologies--exported to them from the U.S. of A.
• The Navy now has its own carrier-based drone. I wonder if the human pilots pick on the radio-control jockeys for missing that first arresting wire.
• I really liked this one: an obituary for Roger Milliken, a businessman of the old stripe--the kind we're told doesn't exist anymore, so we must depend on government to "take care of the workers." Mr. Milliken's bio will show that such is not always the case.
• An analysis of the Obama Administration's National Security Space Policy. To be fair, I haven't finished reading the Policy yet (it's sitting on top of the pile at work), so I can't comment on the author's arguments. However, I did promise Lin some more thoughts on war in space. Short version: space war would devastate all nations' access to space. Orbital debris of all sizes can whack useful payloads at speeds of up to 20 km/seconds. Without access to space, even basic services like weather or communication satellites would be lost, and we'd be back to 1950s-era tech in some areas.
• Reviewing the state of the world via statistics.

From Kate Down Under: the latest roundtable newsletter on the Battle of Midway.

From a friend who will remain nameless for his own protection, but his attached commentary was too snarky not to share: "Another cleverly disguised study supposedly aimed at helping men but secretly proving women are nuts."
 
And I think I'll end there. At a conservative estimate, I'm processing well over 100 ISDC-related emails a day. N-U-T-S, but making serious progress. Should be a cool conference!

Potpourri CLVIII


Tomorrow's my first day off (from the day job) since last Sunday. I know, I know, be happy you have a job...but jeez, since when is a proposal enough of an "emergency" to miss Da Bears in a championship game against the Packers? Sigh...just whining, don't mind me. There's still lots of interesting stuff going on out there in Cyberland, so I might as well share what bits of junk--er, important and interesting information, that is--I've found in my electronic travels. Enjoy if or as you see fit.

Starting from the top of the pile (most recent), and unfortunately it's a bummer: another warning from Norm Augustine that America is falling behind and in trouble in science and technology. I suppose we need a fire lit under us occasionally to get us moving; still, it'd be nice if Norm would offer more suggestions and fewer warnings, ya know?

From the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE), a little humorous lesson on "things not to do."

My buddy Dar sat for a good interview on the origins of Science Cheerleader. Dar picked on her posture, I was ready to pick on the interviewer: for gosh sakes, if you're interested in your subject, put some effort into showing it! And if you're not interested in your subject, work doubly hard--or change your line of work. Or something. The interview is good from a content standpoint, as I learned a little bit more of the background to this epic I've signed up to do paperwork for, but sheesh, that interviewer could stand to learn a few things.

From Father Dan: a video about...Lala the Penguin? Yep. Also, an elderly married couple who've still "got it."

Here's something else that made me smile, though inexplicably: Sad Star Trek.

From Lin:

• A toy for...um, whoever feels like riding a unicycle but doesn't want to put in the work?
• An article on how more students are attending college, but fewer are seeing a benefit from it. The author suggests a couple of reasons for the hows and whys, most of which will probably annoy educators. But really: I had to go to grad school to get the credentials to convince employers that an English major could work in technical fields like defense or aerospace. A B.A. in English degree and a dozen years in the hospitality biz weren't going to do it: I had to prove myself by spending a serious sum. I did learn useful things, but I was essentially still the same person. Was the degree really NEEDED to work where I am now? Silly question now, as here I am. But I can't help wonder if there were other choices I could have made that might not have cost as much.

A blog by someone who didn't last very long as a food critic. A pity, really, but the writing is hilarioius.

Some of the usual back-and-forth continues in Chicago, as airlines that stand to benefit (in the long run) from an expansion at O'Hare International Airport are suing the city because they're trying to start funding and building NOW, when the economy sucks and no one's got any money. Bottom line? My guess: all the expenses, from construction to legal fees, will end up being paid in large part by those of us foolish or unlucky enough to have to travel through ORD.

I've probably posted this before, but it's still cool: a TED talk translated into a cartoon; this one is on where ideas come from.

From Martin, this is reportedly a good site on space exploration. Gotta confess, I haven't found time to visit it yet. There was a time when I did stuff for fun, not because it was my job or some sort of compulsion.

A rabbi on Sarah Palin and “blood libel.”

From Dar, a suggested method of clearing the system. Hm. Sounds like a science project...not something I'm going to try while I'm in the middle of running a conference.

From BoingBoing.net, Engadget, and other places:

• The life of a “missileer” in the ICBM trenches.
• Don’t count out the F-15 Eagle quite yet.
• Alternate universe movie posters? Why not? 
• A blog on how the states of California and Texas might deal with a coyote problem.
• What does it take to make a planet habitable? This site from JPL offers some interesting food for thought.
• Been awhile since I read Fred on Everything, but he has some thought-provoking prose here on how Americans spend.

This T-shirt crystallizes my thoughts on 2010 rather well:

From my NASA PAO feed: a story that the Fermi Space Telescope has detected antimatter over thunderstorms on Earth. And you wonder why you should be careful around lightning? SHAZAAAAM!!

On the NASA front, there are more layoffs coming, but you have to dig about three paragraphs into this story to learn that...and really, who has time to do that anymore?

So this TSA agent got convicted of planting some sort of malware into the administration's computer system. No telling what the malware DID or WILL DO, however...

My grandparents were Depression-era people, and they still advised me to buy stocks because they believed in the long-term growth of the United States. Younger folks’ pessimism is foolish, short-term and long-term because “buy low, sell high” has been an investment rule since stocks were first sold. And, again thinking long-term, you don't get a prosperous society by depending on the government to "create" prosperity. You get long-term prosperity when the government gets out of the way well enough that private individuals and companies can start enterprises that make a profit and create jobs. Do they teach that anymore?

Avoiding writer’s block by stopping while you’re ahead.Something fun for a change to end this segment: Disney short subject on musical instruments. This is actually really cool.


A skull made out of McDonald’s fries. Why?

Confessions of a Walt Disney World cast member (not me, I hasten to add: I wouldn't be stupid enough to say this sort of stuff on the internet).

A friend found a shirt that conveys my mixed duties at Science Cheerleader: half gofer (gopher), half ninja.


Peace and happy thoughts, y'all.

Potpourri CLVI

Doing a little electronic housekeeping today. Let's just reach our hands into the bucket and see what sort of scary stuff comes out of it, shall we?

First, a little mayhem and humor courtesy of Allstate (via The Deastroyer).

I like these. I shouldn’t, but I do: Killhouettes.


This past week aviation buffs celebrated the 107th year of powered flight by the Wright Brothers. Others, more impressed with mass transportation, celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Douglas DC-3.


Bored? Have some skill with electronics? You, too, can program your Christmas lights to indicate when you have incoming messages.
 
Know a geek you'd like to overspend on this Christmas? Consider one of these gifts.
 
For reasons that elude me, Liberty University decided to put together a choral version of Antoine Dodson's "Hide the wife, hide the kids" rant. Maybe they'll take on the Double Rainbow guy next?
 
Ever felt the urge to drop an asteroid on the planet and see the results? Well, now's your chance. Purdue University has a site made just for you.
 
More YouTube goodness from Father Dan:

• Silent Monks "sing" the Hallelujah Chorus.
• A six-minute video about unbelievable courage and persistence in battle: "Tango Mike Mike." Absolutely worth watching.

From Charlie: a guy who watched Ocean's 11 and learned all the wrong lessons.
 
Awhile ago I tried to explain why it's impossible to calculate the odds of one's employment continuing at NASA. An email I received this morning sort of crystallizes the matter nicely:

Congress has passed a continuing resolution through 12/21 and the President is expected to sign today. We have been advised by the Office of the Chief Financial Officer at NASA Headquarters that all ongoing NASA operations should continue at least through 12/21/10. Additional information will be provided as subsequent funding actions are enacted.

Basically NASA, like the rest of the federal government, is subject to the political debates and whims of elected officials in Washington...which, at present, consists of the lame-duck Democrat-controlled Congress trying to push through as much stuff as they can before the next, Republican-controlled session can take place. New laws are apparently more important than passing the budget, so the budget gets passed in days-at-a-time increments. If the lame-duck Congress can't come to any sort of agreement on what to do with the rest of Fiscal Year 2011 after December 21, the government will "shut down," meaning nonessential personnel like me will be kept at home on furlough until a more complete budget IS passed. Wacky times.

And since it's that season, here's an Irish version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

Here's something interesting...a demographic map of darn near every city in America.

I mentioned the Make A Wish Foundation a few days ago. If you've got some serious spare change, you can buy a Stormtrooper helmet autographed by various Star Wars cast members, with the money going to M.A.W.F. No, really.

In my continuing series of gastronomical challenges, I'm including this link from Yohon on the "worst foods in America."

Jerry Pournelle has had some very thought-provoking essays lately on the recent debates re: renewing the Bush-era tax cuts. He manages to get beyond the rhetoric and consider what sort of society we really want...and what we want the economy to do. Any decision has consequences. Let the tax cuts expire and you make a bad economy that much worse by taking money that belongs to productive citizens and giving it to government. Soak the rich (however you define them), and eventually those folks will either run out of money or take what resources they have and LEAVE the country. Pournelle has other thoughts that, again, are worth thinking about.

I saw these in my internet "travels":

• A Victorian book on how to write fiction, and the then-perceived problems thereof.
• The U.S. Navy has a new gun--and you really don't want to get hit by this one.
• Cold weather isn’t good for electric cars, either.
• Holiday greetings from Jabba the Hutt.
• Googling America…look up a state on Google, and here’s what comes up. Funny!
• C-3PO and R2-D2 swimsuits. Um. Wow?
• While BoingBoing.net finds this letter "thin-skinned," after awhile, you've got to say enough is enough and get the prankster's attention. "Not just no, but heck no!" obviously didn't do it.

From Tracy:

• National Geographic released images of the top most unusual animals discovered in 2010. Some are goofy-lookin', others gross, one or two fascinating. The discovery of these creatures begs the question: how do we "know" how many species exist or have really gone extinct on our planet if new beasties keep creeping up (so to speak)?
• An NPR story about Neil Armstrong and why we should go to the Moon.

From Lin: a two-part article on the role of males in a post-industrial society. I'll read the whole thing eventually, I promise.

 

Potpourri CLV

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, but I thought I'd take a few free minutes to clear out the blog pile, as Sunday Night Football isn't wowing me this evening.

First off: the 50 fattiest foods in America. And for dessert, cupcakes.

On the more serious side, Lin sent the following speech on the state of free speech in Europe.

With the tools of CGI becoming more and more widespread, it is possible for amateurs to create some pretty decent Star Trek movies. I can't vouch for all of the acting.

I need to investigate/discuss this further, but here's a blog in defense of a liberal arts education. This is worth considering, even when everyone in my circle of fellow bloggers is spun up about the state of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. There IS still a place for English majors, after all...

From Stefanie, a little programming humor(?): Prolog haiku.

This is old (2002), but still worth reading: Penn Gillette on getting groped by the TSA. Along the same lines, here's a worthwhile editorial by Salon Magazine on airport security.

I never get tired of these: random moments of opera staged in public areas. This one is in Palermo, Italy.

Economic news so disheartening you'll want to be sitting down to read it.

Randy Olson, our fearless filmmaker, holds forth on the Science Cheerleaders.

Nothing against the U-2, it's a marvelous airplane. But really, if we retired the SR-71, shouldn't we be moving forward with the next generation of spy plane, not going back to stuff our grandparents built?

Video talk by the Air Force One pilot who was flying on September 11.

My buddy Erika appeared recently on the "Faces of Marshall" feature on NASA.gov. When she starts talking about a certain friend who was very passionate about space, that'd be Your Humble Narrator.

From the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE), a collection of peer-reviewed papers on anthropomorphic global warming.

From Doc: a recommended "not stupid" site on football analysis.

Interesting article on why the Singularity won't happen.

I just loved this blog by Allie Brosh. Her humor is wickedly funny and her drawing manages to convey emotion if not exactly Michelangelo.

A guide on how to taste wine.

The MaybeLogic Academy...

I still like this: a force field for IDF tanks. Now we need one!

And I guess that'll do for now. I'm rather busy, so if I'm not posting as often, please know that it's for a good cause: promoting Science Cheerleader.com or the International Space Development Conference.

Salud.

Potpourri CLIV

The blog inbox has gotten seriously out of control, but I'll slog away as best I can. Enjoy my scattershot reading as you see fit.

First up, something from Mom: a site showing 360-degree pictures of the summit of Mount St. Helen's. Note that in the later pictures, MSN is smoking a wee bit more...

Next, something from Father Dan: a multipurpose "clock" of various statistics. A bit sobering, but interesting to watch.

From Lin:

• This story is old, but it amused me. Apple tech guru Steve Jobs reportedly got pulled over by Japanese security personnel from smuggling shuriken (ninja throwing stars) aboard his private jet. That'll teach him.
• Castro tried to retract this statement, but the word already got out there, perhaps via old age, perhaps via Freudian slip: an admission that communism doesn't work.

From Kate Down Under:

• Australians are developing a beer for space. Huzzah!
• A Battle of Midway Roundtable site. The Battles of the Coral Sea and Midway were the first naval battles in the Pacific Theater of World War II, and were of great concern to Australia--if the U.S. had lost, Oz stood a good chance of being invaded by Japan. I once met a veteran from the U.S.S. Lexington, which was sunk at Coral Sea. He had just returned from Australia, where he was given a hero's welcome. Some folks still remember.

From Tracy: 

• A report on commercial space activities.
• NASA's video recruitment YouTube site. The video seems a little long to me, but maybe I just have a short attention span.

Just found this through random surfing: a story about one case where a Muslim woman got more legal protections under sharia law than she could get under the U.S. domestic court system.

Started reading this one, but haven't finished it yet: a Dinesh D'Souza editorial on how Obama approaches economic policy.

Not sure what to make of this: in case of an emergency, ladies, you might want to remove your bra.

Here's an interesting site: an online source for elementary school-level lectures.

In addition to the Dynetics-led team I wrote about awhile back, there is another Huntsville-based team vying for the Google Lunar X Prize.

Caveat visor (fake Bartish Latin for "reader beware"): I haven't read all of this yet, but it's an open letter to Christian leaders on the potential impact of theology on "transhumanism."

This guy reportedly operated alone, but tried to plant a bomb half a block from Wrigley Field. This sort of thing makes my hair stand on end.

Science fiction writer Joe Haldeman has some interesting things to say about "unplugging" in order to do creative writing.

This is a form of technical writing humor to the extent that "humor" equals "terrifyingly bad technical jargon getting in the way of clear communication."

I probably addressed this before, but wanted to add a couple of other comments. This interview with SF writer Kim Stanley Robinson is part of why I've been working with Darlene the Science Cheerleader, who seeks to increase public involvement in the sciences. Robinson, whose Mars trilogy I admire, nevertheless is a dedicated socialist utopian with no serious understanding of how economics works, as this interview makes clear. There are alternative views to how science can be enacted in society, and they are not all leftist. He glosses over so much evil that has been done by communist elites with “science” on their side that it’s truly terrifying. The point I would make to rebut KSR's points is simply that science is a method of understanding the physical world--it is not and should not be--a means of ordering society or concentrating political power. In fact, the more people who have scientific and technical knowledge, the less likely it is that some scientific elite will be able to force their ideas upon the populace.

Speaking of Darlene and citizen science, some amateur astronomers observed objects impacting with Jupiter.
 
And, because I've forgotten why I've cared or I just got tired of looking at them, I've deleted a whole bunch of links for your sanity and mine. Have a pleasant evening.

Potpourri CXLIV

The fun continues...

Culture

From Phil: Let's just call this "stuff" kids have ruined.

From Kate Down Under: European spacecraft approaching an asteroid.

Here's an interesting idea: a fundraiser to create a science fiction novella market.

No WAY! Viggo Mortensen starring in a movie about Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung? Way.

From Tracy: An online program for history writers.

Multi-media visions of life at a lunar settlement.

Evolution as depicted in graffiti.

Star Wars-themed cereals. No, really.

Wonder Woman is getting a remake of her costume/uniform. There were a few alternate suggestions...

For Anika: the Octopus has spoken on the World Cup. Also, be on the lookout for unicorn crossings!

That cat's gonna eat your eyes when you die alone!

Okay, you've got to be a serious geek to appreciate this. I am, so I do. ThinkGeek.com sells t-shirts with logos from fictional companies that are depicted in science fiction stories. For example, Cosa Nostra Pizza is a mafia-run pizza chain in Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. If someone gets the inside joke, you know they're probably someone worth talking to...or so geek social theory goes. 

I'll just tee this up without comment.

Lindsey Lohan going to jail for 90 days. Yawn.

The world’s ugliest footballer (soccer player) http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.7a45d8e08d846949099d5b95a1fa7ea4.871&show_article=1

“Wine product” is to wine what “processed cheese food” is to cheese, apparently. http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/07/06/you-have-now-been-warned-about-wine-product/?hpt=Sbin

Someone has made a satire on domestic terrorism. No, really. 


Oh, cool! Someone has archived Omni Magazine online! I was a fan and subscriber.

Just watch this trailer. I don't usually go in for French films, but this sounds fun!

Education

Kids in the Orlando area are skipping college for other options, including the military and trade schools. I don't think this is a bad thing. College isn't for everyone (or am I not allowed to say that?).

U.S. Politics

From Jerry Pournelle: Arthur Laffer on how to fix the economy. His recommendations, of course, will never be implemented.

After a long battle in Congress, EADS (the parent company of Airbus Industrie) is once again making a bid on the U.S. Air Force tanker contract. Here's another article on that whole fiasco.

Want to irritate the Transportation Security Administration on your next airplane trip? Consider wearing one of these t-shirts.

Cory Doctorow has an interesting piece on the "jobless recovery." With 9+ percent unemployment, how do you even CALL that a recovery?


A reminder on monopsony and that Uncle Sam is currently the largest and most viable customer for the space business. 


What happened to the "Republican attack machine?" Democrats are digging hard for dirt on GOP candidates in the 2010 elections.

Job killing? Nonsense! The administration is pro-business. Didn't you know?

Indiana is one of four states (I believe) that is running in the black. How? Check this out




Science, Technology, and Space
 
From Dar: What the oil spill would look like on Day 360 if it's not stopped by then.
 
No, the government is not developing an internet "kill switch." Here's what they are doing: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704545004575352983850463108.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories Doc's comment: Fascinating. Makes a ton more sense than the earlier article about the government having an Internet "kill switch." Monitor infrastructure networks for signs of intrusion, use crazy-good NSA countermeasures to foil those attempts to shut down power grids, etc. The areas mentioned in the article (utilities, public transit, air traffic control) are already beholden to various government regulatory agencies, so I'm not seeing the "Big Brother" threat here, honestly.

Robots making driving safer? Hm...
 
Work is now progressing on a solar-powered aircraft. They were going for a 24-hour test flight. Still, what do you do if you're based in Seattle or Alaska or a very high load factor? I'd say that we're awhile away from making this standard operating equipment at O'Hare International Airport.

A variety of techno-links:

• Dark skies or church visibility? http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/northnorthwest/ct-x-n-dark-skies-0707-20100707,0,1089791.story
• Want a really, REALLY fast car? http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/07/bugatti-veyron-super-sport-268-mph/
• Hard to believe, but Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been orbiting the Moon for a year now. http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/new-moon-revealed-lunar-reconnaissance-orbiter-100707.html
• A high-end watch…and more. http://gizmodo.com/5581180/this-is-a-watch-believe-it-or-not
• Nice house… http://gizmodo.com/5580961/who-doesnt-want-to-live-in-this-dream-house
• Slow production rates for the GM/Chevy Volt expected: http://money.cnn.com/2010/07/07/autos/volt_production/index.htm?hpt=T2
• A site dedicated to preserving the S.S. United States, once the fastest cruise liner on the seas (back when people cared about such things): http://ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/SSUS/blog/
• A couple off-kilter views on nuclear war: http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/03/yackety-sax-global-t.html and my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TWJt8yUpQw&feature=related
• Oh, speaking of nukes, there has been another suggestion about nuking the oil spill off the Gulf Coast to plug the leak. Right, because THAT won't cause any more environmental damage.

From Lin: an experimental lunar lander being worked on at JSC.


This is weird: apparently food in a virtual environment can trigger stress in people with eating disorders.

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

Potpourri CXXXVI

Busy world out there...here's the small segment of it I could give my attention to today.

Not sure what you’d call this…maybe a clearing house for the most common/popular NASA Twitter feeds?

From Hu (I'll have more on this in a bit): NASA and Congress slog toward a compromise on the 2011 budget.

Are scramjets the future of spaceflight?


Will the X-37 to be used for spying?

A Japanese solar sail mission will be launched this week. Cool!

Just because the U.S. President doesn’t want to go to the moon doesn’t mean India doesn’t. Boeing is in talks with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to help them with a lunar mission. Sigh. Maybe I'd like it in Bangalore. At least there's not much chance of snow and I know they're serious about going to the moon there.

Senator Shelby (R-AL) has inserted language into an Afghanistan emergency spending bill that would prevent changes or cancellations to the Constellation Program. I appreciate the notion, but I still don’t understand why that wouldn’t or shouldn’t be done on a bill dealing with NASA, not the Defense Department. One thing at a time, ya know?

NASA has converted Space Shuttle flight simulator hardware into an educational tool for students.

Well, now I know where my friend George Whitesides went: he's now CEO of Virgin Galactic. Far out.
My buddy Gwen was at Arlington National Cemetary to visit the grave of her father and found the grave of a Medal of Honor recipient who shared the same last name as her husband. While I don't believe he's directly related to Tim, here's the citation for the gentleman of the grave Gwen observed.
 
This year's Nebula Award winners have been announced. Congrats. Wish to heck I could write that well.
 
Here's a short study in cognitive biases because sometimes such things interest me.
 
There was a Star Wars concert in Orlando last week--good timing for the Shuttle launch.
 
An extended set of TED talks from D2 on cancer prevention:
 

I found this TED TALK by Dr. William Li (http://www.angio.org/) very insightful and helpful. It will only take about 20:00 of your time. http://www.ted.com/talks/william_li.html

The cancer &/or obesity you prevent may be your own - or that of someone you love.

Also, the attached tiff file is a screenshot of the list of AA foods he discusses broadly. It can also be found at: blog.ted.com/2010/02/dr_william_lis.php

Please feel free to share this info with people you know who might be interested. Don't assume I sent it to them. If they already received it, they can delete it. If they receive it several times, maybe there's a message there...

If you haven't yet discovered TED TALKS, you are missing some pretty mind-blowing and mind-expanding experiences!

D2

PS - I discovered some research re: Low Dose Naltrexone as a cancer-preventative, as well as some interesting drug trials in the management of certain inflammatory and immune-system diseases. This opiod-blocker drug is usually Rx'd for managing addictions, of alcohol or certain other opiods, but has show efficacy in LD regimens with cancer, pre-cancerous conditions, HIV, etc. It might be something to talk with your Doc about.

See: www.lowdosenaltrexone.org

Sarah from Across the Pond asked me what was going on with my job. And since I can't explain the status of my job these days without explaining the budgeting process of the U.S. federal government, I thought I'd just repeat what I wrote here:

It's not so much that the President hasn't come to a decision. I don't know how the budget/parliamentary process works in the UK, but here the Pres. submits a proposal for the overall federal budget, then it goes through what's called a "pass-back," where some other part of the government reviews the proposal and kicks it back to the President's people to redo it (usually with guidance on what to cut). And after that, the budget is reviewed by the House of Representatives and the Senate. Both houses must write a budget law, and those laws have to match. If they don't, they have to go into a conference committee to sort out the differences. Once that happens, the finalized budgets are voted on and sent to the President for a signature.


So far, we're still in the pass-back and Congressional review portion of the process. The Congress hasn't passed a budget on time (October 1, the beginning of the fiscal year) in a few years, so they'll most likely pass what's called a "continuing resolution (CR)," where they pass a budget for part of the year to keep basic services going and civil servants paid until a final budget can be passed. A CR is usually passed at the same spending level as the previous year, and the agencies receiving a CR are told to continue "business as usual" (no new program directions) until a new budget is passed. Sometimes a CR will last for a whole year. That would be fine by me, because that would mean the Constellation Program gets a reprieve for another year. But the Obama administration is still intent on killing Constellation and redirecting the money to other NASA activities, like environmental monitoring or encouraging U.S. private sector companies to build rockets to launch crew and cargo to the International Space Station. I'm not particularly worried about where I'll end up--NASA always needs good tech writers--but for right now the only thing I know for sure is that I'm good through the end of the fiscal year or whenever Congress finally passes the 2011 budget, which would be anywhere from September 30 to February 1. After that, well, I might be writing for something or someone very different. Stay tuned.

And speaking of folks Across the Pond, I got this YouTube video link from Father Dan: a dear 80-year-old Scottish great-grandmother who just belted out "No Regrets" to the delight of Simon Cowell and the rest of the "Britain's Got Talent" audience. Just marvelous.

Woody Allen thinks Obama should be made dictator for awhile and Republicans should “get out of his way.” Yikes. And FWIW, dude: Republicans cannot stop anything Obama does. They don’t have the votes.


Doubleplusungood: Tar balls have been found off the coast of Key West.

Convinced the end is near? You can always buy a spot in a bunker somewhere.

A female lawyer in France got offended at another woman wearing a burqa and tore it off.

A review is questioning the effectiveness of missile defense.

This amused me: the President signed the Press Freedom Act and then refused to take questions from the press. Just because you have the freedom to ask questions doesn’t mean I have to answer them, pal.

A Democratic candidate for Senator in Connecticut has lied about serving in Vietnam. Dude: if you’re gonna lie about something, try not lying about something that is easily checked: you know, like Bush’s National Guard record or Obama’s place of birth (I kid).

For that seriously geeky wedding party: an AT-AT wedding cake.

But what denomination is it? A humanoid robot presided over a Japanese wedding.

I have this app, but have never used it: Shazam has been voted Gizmodo’s favorite iPhone app. My problem with it? I usually want to know the name of a song while I’m driving!

You can get the Joker added to your iPad. You know: if you really want to.

The Euro has fallen to a new low.

Mark Cuban on making money on the internet and why print is not dead.

Social networking and shopping are converging? Yes.

Hotmail is making some improvements to keep up with other web mail services. About bloody time! I’ve been using Hotmail since 1997. I’m due for an upgrade!

I just found this article title amusing: Facebook and Shutterfly are Now In a Relationship.
 
Kids are teaching about time travel on YouTube. They're learning about this via a service called Ignition Tutoring.

From Doc: the U.S. Air Force is doing serious work in testing "fly-back" rocket boosters. About time someone did it. Fly-back units were originally considered for the Space Shuttle, back when they wanted it to be a fully reusable system.

I'm shocked, shocked...too much TV leads to poor school performance. Jeez, they knew this when I was a kid! Have they heard that the Pope is Catholic? That bears...never mind.

The Obama policy presents a conundrum for conservatives according to Jeff Foust and an op-ed in the Orange County Register. The conundrum being that conservatives generally oppose President Obama's spending policies, often going so far as to call them socialist, but here is one situation where he is trying to reduce the government role (Constellation) and actually trying to privatize (by spending more money on commercial launches to the International Space Station)--a standard plank in the GOP platform. However, I don't see this as a problem for conservatives. If space exploration is looked at as an extension of a strong national defense (a standard part of the conservative platforms of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Regan), which it is, then it is fine as a government expenditure. Paradoxically, an increase in government spending on space--Constellation and COTS--would increase the number of U.S. commercial providers of launch services and keep NASA and U.S. space technologies on the cutting edge by continuing the nation's commitment to exploration of other worlds. Crazy as this sounds, if Obama's policy was passed as is but added Constellation, I'd have no problem with it whatsoever. So sayeth this paleocon and "space moderate."

What would make NASA "cool again?" Consider this blog by my fellow space blogger Nick Skytland.

With the recent news of five soldiers getting killed in Afghanistan, this video from Father Dan of joyous family members greeting returning veterans warms the heart.

From Berin: an event called "Can Government Save the Press?" Reminds me of a quip by Ronald Reagan regarding government thinking: "If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it."

And I think that'll about do for this evening. Stay tuned, sports fans. It's an interesting world out there. You never know what we're going to hear next.

Potpourri CXIV

Extra-long edition of Potpourri ahead, as I haven't written here in a week, but first up, I've got a hot item from Darlene the Science Cheerleader that she wanted me to respond to ASAP.

She referred me to a blog posting (and the report it was based on, but I'm a little behind at the moment to read it) about the state of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education and the workforce. A new report from Rutgers University--which I'll read eventually, really--finds that the "pipeline" of students receiving STEM-related has remained relatively steady over the past few decades. The problem, as Dar notes in her fun, punchy style, is that not enough of them are getting jobs in the STEM disciplines after graduating.

I would take one exception to a suggestion Dar had that STEM-based companies just need to pay more. The amateur economist in me doesn't believe the economy works that way. There are two sides to the issue: supply and demand. If the findings of the Rutgers study are accurate (I've seen some OECD stats at work that might say something different), then the problem is not with supply, but with demand. Compared to the number of STEM grads produced by China and India, regardless of the quality of the educational institutions that produced them, the U.S. is woefully behind countries three or four times our size in population. The common refrain at U.S. tech gatherings is that "India has more honors students than we have students." That statement in itself can probably be scrutinized, but let's assume it's true, and that the U.S. is going to need a lot more STEM student, honors or otherwise. That means the education pipeline/student supply is either fine or below optimum for our needs, so there is still some work to do. The problem must lie on the demand side of the equation.

The demand for STEM students is driven by the U.S. private sector and the technologies they produce. Prior to World War II, most scientific research in the U.S. was funded by private organizations like the Guggenheim Foundation, which funded Robert Goddard's early experiments in liquid-fuel rockets. It was only when the nation found itself in a two-front fight for its life against nations that were directly funding science and engineering research and development (R&D) that the U.S. Government became THE player in funding basic science research, where it remains today, according to a National Science Foundation report my coworker Tracy found.

There are a couple of ways you can increase the money available to STEM careers: you can allow the federal government to spend more (which, on basic science, still isn't a bad idea) or you can provide incentives to the private sector to fund more applied R&D. Or you can do both at once by, say, increasing overall expenditures and research incentives on a space program that does really challenging things, like develop single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicles, space-based solar power satellites, and/or more exotic exploration missions and technologies. Kids will jump at the chance to do something cool, and companies won't mind doing the cool things, since they tend to increase their bottom lines and allow them to recruit high-caliber talent. And yes, there are doubtless other industries you can do this with, like Earth-based energy or biotechnology, but this nation has had serious arguments about both. NASA, on the contrary, enjoys wide appeal and support. Connect that ambitious go-where-no-one-has-gone-before stuff with serious career opportunities, and even the skeptics might agree that science and engineering, not high finance, is the way to personal and financial success in this country. And wouldn't that be great to see!?

*

On to other things, and I've got a lot of 'em...

Actually, I've got a bunch of stuff from Dar. She was participating in the Science Online 2010 conference this week, so she picked up all sorts of useful stuff/sites. I need to go to this next year--it sounds like a hoot!

• The first bit is a blog on how to "take your blog to the next level." If that means I go from 15 to 150 readers, I'll be happy. :-)
• She also provided a link to a blog that discusses the impact of social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) on reporting in Haiti and its potential for assisting science reporting.
• Another link is a directory of every type of collaborative tool available to the general public and various government entities. That doesn't mean that all of these tools will be linked; but at least now people would know, in theory, who's doing what with whom. Progress of a sort.
• Here's an interesting engineering competition for kids: design something using bubble wrap!
• Here's an article that blames mean gym teachers on childhood obesity and later adult resistance to exercise. Gotta confess, while I was on the scrawny side during childhood, it has taken the care of a good woman to make me give a darn about exercise. I sure didn't get motivated to exercise based on my joyful experiences with high school physical education.
• And lastly, Dar has a new video introducing some of the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders who are studying or working in STEM fields. The video is cute, and Dar asks some off-the-wall questions, but trust me, she's playing dumb. Crazy like a fox.

Here's something Tim Bailey from the Florida Space Coast Chapter posted in Facebook: a space "unconference" where, according to the site, "participants decide the topics, schedule, and structure of the event. Well, that might save some folks a lot of work (can I do that for ISDC?).

Saw this on Facebook, but can't remember who posted it...the Patterson School of Diplomacy provides workshops/simulations for students to brainstorm how various organizations would cope with various disasters--the day after Independence Day, an invasion of zombies, or an attack by vampires (this year's hot pop culture phenomenon).

The speculation and swirl around the Constellation Program continue. The speculations might or might not be true. All I know is that from my day job point of view, we've got our heads down with orders to "keep coloring" until we get new direction.

First it was sex (Lisa Nowak), now we've got reports of drugs at NASA. If we can find a way to get Steven Tyler out of rehab and Aerosmith back together for a reunion concert, say, by the Vehicle Assembly Building, we could have rock 'n' roll, too. Then the public would take NASA seriously as a pop culture phenomenon. I kid. Slightly.

New from Hu:

• A 2D trailer for the new 3D movie about the Hubble Space Telescope. That should be fun!
• A Navy Times article about the U.S. relief mission to Haiti, led in part by the U.S.S. Carl Vinson, one of our aircraft carriers.
• An article speculating on the existence of liquid diamond oceans on Uranus and Neptune. This is similar to Arthur C. Clarke's depiction of Jupiter having a diamond core in 2010: Odyssey Two.
• Ah! And speaking of 2010, Hu also forwarded an article lamenting the fact that the world wasn't yet up to the advances Clarke predicted in his novel.

The final competition for the Huntsville edition of the "Future City" competition is this weekend. Alas, I will be out of town, but these kids really come up with some ingenious stuff.

From Father Dan, the Newseum's Flash site for seeing the front pages of newspapers from across the U.S. and around the world.

From D2, a site created by Konica providing, among other things, exquisitve visuals of the Venus de Milo, which I had the privilege of seeing in Paris...and not photographing nearly as well. Also from D2, an article about an iPhone app that senses pressure on your bed and will wake you up at the proper time in your sleep cycle to prevent any jarring wakeups. Sounds great!

From Jason Clark on Facebook, a very long YouTube video (51 minutes) on human computation. Sounds interesting, but I haven't had 51 minutes to spare to watch it yet.

You really need to read Mike Boyd's columns on the Aviation Planning site if you're interested in an alternative perspective on the "whole body scanner" craze now sweeping the federal government after the underpants bomber nearly took out a plane on Christmas Day. If you think TSA is helping make things safer, Boyd will provide you with some good arguments why you should reconsider that perspective. Boyd's page is also a regular link posted on this site as a handy reference. (Warning to my liberal readers: Boyd does not agree with you. Warning to my conservative readers: he isn't too kind to Bush administration appointees, either.)

Speaking of space and education (at least I did in my opening essay), the Space Florida group is worth checking out. They provide resources to teachers--mostly in the Kennedy Space Center area--to get their students engaged in STEM educational subjects.

Miscellaneous links that have piled up in my inbox:

• Oy…Pat Robertson is about as helpful to conservatism as all the racist email “humor” I get re: Obama. Really, the real problems of the world are bad enough—this is not helping. At all.
• Are you rich? Not sure what to do with your bonus this year? CNN Money offers some suggestions.
• “Green” wine?
• Satellite imagery of Haiti earthquake devastation.
• Light from faraway planet detected
• From Martin: an article title "Reagan Was Wrong," attempting to explain how Ronald Reagan's brand of populist conservatism held within it the seeds of its own destruction. Interesting point of view, and I'm not even sure I disagree. However, the author makes a few mistakes about Reagan's philosophy, such as his "mistrust" in the inherent religious character of the American people--nothing could be farther from the truth. What infuriates many on both sides of the aisle today is that Reagan brought serious churchgoers into the Republican "big tent."
• From Twila...this isn't quite a palindrome, which must be spelled the same way coming and going, but it is a piece of writing that can be read forward and backward.
• A poetry recommendation from the ever-delightful Dr. OZMG.
• From the wise gnomes at NeedCoffee.com, an interview with the Wells Fargo VP responsible for the first ATM in Antarctica.
• From Father Dan, an article suggesting that an airport in Jacksonville, FL, could be the next spaceport for horizontally-launched suborbital tourism.
• In-flight wi-fi, etc.
• NASA looking at multiple spacesuit designs
• Russia sets aside money to build a rocket with a nuclear engine (about time someone did!)
• China announces that it has successfully conducted a missile interception test…anti-missile defense advocates take note.
• How did the first man in space die?
• You never know where Moon rocks will turn up…
• From Bruce, some links to Ares I-X images:
  --Ares I-X Development Test: Flight Day Launch Journal (photo gallery) - collectSPACE: Messages
  --Ares I-X: Launch preparations and updates (photo gallery) - collectSPACE: Messages

And believe it or not, that is NOT everything that was in the inbox. However, the stuff I did post is the "freshest" and most interesting. No need to bore you unnecessarily. Salud.