what would keep a late 80's buick skylarks steering wheel from locking with the key in the off position and trans in park??
much thanks
Monthly Archives: January 2010
What Does "Match Rank" Mean on CR4?
Title is pretty much it. What does it mean?
Non-NASA Astronaut Training
First Class of Suborbital Scientist-Astronauts Successfully Complete NASTAR Training Program
"For this diverse group of scientists to invest their own time and money for astronaut training is a true testament to the growing excitement behind the science potential of new commercial spacecraft," said Dr. S. Alan Stern, chairman of SARG and a principal organizer of the scientist training program. "Interest was so high that we've already filled up a second class of a dozen scientists for spring 2010."
Type II Coordination in Power Distribution
In a Power distribution network with 110KV as primary distribution from Electricity Board, 11KV as secondary distribution inside the plant and 415Volts PCC's & MCC's for catering various plant loads. what should be the general philosophy for effective control and reliability of power supply.
Test Format for AWS CWI
how do i get the test format for
aws cwi?
Satellite Pictures – Google, Government and Haiti
Watching the news a few moments ago, some before and after pictures of the earthquake damage in Haiti was shown. These pictures were contributed by Google. The "after" pictures mean they got the pictures within the past couple of days. These pictures were obviously taken from US Government satellite
He hated Jews: Pakistani man, Seattle Shooter of Jewish Center sentenced to Life
by Eric Dondero
In the afternoon of July 26, 2006, Naveed Haq of Pakistan burst into the Seattle Jewish Community Center screaming "Allahu-Ahkbar," and "Death to all Jews." He shot six woman, including the receptionist at the entrance and a pregnant woman. He chased one victim up a flight of stairs shouting: "I hate Jews. You're a Jew. I'm going to kill you. Allahu-Ahkbar."
When it was all over 1 Jewish woman lay dead.
Nationally, it was a one day story. The country was in the midst of Iraq War fatigue. And a crazed radical Muslim man killing Jewish women in the heart of downtown Seattle, didn't fit the politically correct media template. The Seattle media especially jumped through hoops to downplay any Jihadist links.
Yesterday, Haq was sentenced to life in prison in a Seattle courtroom. From the Seattle Times:
Several of the surviving victims and their relatives addressed the court before the sentencing and recounted how the July 26, 2006, shootings indelibly scarred their lives. Haq looked downward as they spoke.
Nicole Waechter, daughter of Pamela Waechter, who was slain in the attack, spoke of how her mother would want her family to react to the attack.
"She would tell us to keep going, not to dwell on this tragedy," she said through tears. "My mom lives on in many of us."
Cheryl Stumbo, 46, who still suffers from the gunshot wound in her abdomen, spoke forcefully, telling Haq "you will spend the rest of your life paying for your choices."
Now, nearly 3 years later, we can see a pattern. Haq was just the first in a long line of radical Islamist terrorists within our borders: Najibullah, the Dallas skyscraper bomber, the Chicago Six, the Arkansas Military Recruiting station shooter, and of course Major Nidal Malik Hassan.
How many more Haqs, Najibullahs, and Hassans will it take before the country wakes up to the extreme threat we face to our personal liberties and securities within our own borders, from these Radical Islamists?
Polarisation – Depolarisation (PDC) and Retuen Voltage Measurement (RVM)
Hello .....
Could you inform me what is the standard references to interpretation of PDC and RVM in relation to water content in the solid insulation for Oil Filled Transformer and how to calculate S/M (Siemens per meter) to % water content during PDC or RVM test..
Thank you for all
R
Update on 1991 Isuzu Pickup
went out today and worked on the truck. I replaced the fuel filter, Distributer cap and rotor and plug wires. I followed the line from the filter to the front it went to the back of Engine to the fuel rail. disconnected the line and cranked it over No fuel comes out, But if I take the line off at th
Satellite Images Show the Extent of Haiti’s Devastation | 80beats
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Satellite photos that have just been released reveal the scope of the physical destruction wrought by the 7.0 earthquake that struck the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. The human toll of is still unknown–but with much of the city reduced to rubble, experts say tens of thousands of people may be dead.
This image shows roads covered with debris from collapsed structures, and the white-colored National Palace with damage visible along the roof line. The image was taken by the GeoEye-1 satellite from 423 miles up in space on Wednesday morning.
Image: GeoEye
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Study: Breathing Like a Bird Helped Dino Ancestors Rise to Power | 80beats
Alligators breathe like birds, with a one-way tube that flows all the way through their respiratory systems. While that might not seem earth-shattering at first, alligators and birds diverged 246 million years ago. And according to a new study in Science, that means this breathing technique goes way, way back, and could even explain how the ancestors of dinosaurs survived the great Permian-Triassic extinction.
Unlike a mammal’s breath, which exits the lungs from the same dead-end chambers it enters, a bird’s breath takes a loopy one-way street through its lungs [Science News]. This breathing technique allows birds to explore high altitudes where oxygen levels drop off significantly.
If the archosaurs—ancestors to birds and alligators—breathed this way, it could have given them an advantage when oxygen level tanked 250 million years ago and lots of species died off. Before the extinction, synapsids, the ancestors to modern mammals, were the dominant group. But after the extinction, the archosaurs dwarfed the synapsids, Farmer said. Prestosuchids, for example, could reach 23 feet in length, while mammals’ ancestors maxed out at just a few feet [Wired.com].
One burning question remains, though: How the heck did we miss this for so long? “People incorrectly believe that you must have avian-style air sacs in order to have unidirectional flow,” says C.G. Farmer of the University of Utah, a coauthor of the new study. “Alligators don’t have air sacs, so no one ever looked” [Science News]. But there it was, hiding in plain sight—presuming you have the stomach to study alligator lungs.
Related Links:
80beats: New Fossil Suggests Dinosaur World Domination Started in South America
80beats: Found: Dino-Munching Crocodiles Who Swam in the Sahara
80beats: Extinct Goat Tried Out Reptilian, Cold-Blooded Living (It Didn’t Work)
80beats: Dinosaurs Ruled the World Because They “Got Lucky,” Say Scientists
Image: C.G. Farmer, Science/AAAS
Deadline for Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference Early Registration
List of Speakers Announced for the Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference in February, Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Keith's note: Early registration deadline is tomorrow, 15 January. Register here.
Cocaine at KSC
Cocaine found in shuttle work area, NASA says, Space.com
"NASA is investigating how a small amount of cocaine ended up in a space shuttle hangar at the agency's Florida spaceport. A bag containing the cocaine residue was discovered in the space shuttle Discovery's hangar at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. The hangar, known as the Orbiter Processing Facility, is a restricted zone for shuttle workers only."
NASA Investigates Illegal Substance Found in Shuttle Hangar, NASA KSC
"NASA has launched an extensive investigation after a small amount of cocaine was found in a restricted area of the processing hangar for shuttle Discovery at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. There are no indications the incident has impacted Discovery's readiness for its planned launch in March."
Boone Pickens Cancels Texas Wind Farm
Pickens Reduces Order for Wind Turbines, Puts Panhandle Wind Farm on Hold . . . . “Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens has cut his massive order for wind turbines from GE by more than half. . . . “
You've been Pickened
Who didn’t see this coming?
The T. Boone Pickens Texas wind farm idea in Texas is now on hold and will not be built until the infrastructure of Texas changes. Instead, he’ll be building smaller wind farms in Canada and Minnesota.
Foreign oil from Canada is no good to Pickens — foreign wind is just fine.
You have to agree that Canada’s dirty oil sands oil (tar sands) are not something we want to use, but the pipeline into Minnesota is already approved and being built. We wish it wasn’t.
Meanwhile, T. Boone Pickens has cut his massive order for wind turbines from GE by more than half. He says it’s because there are no transmission lines in the Texas Panhandle, the same place there were no transmission lines when Boone Pickens came up with his idea of a giant wind farm there. Now it’s obvious this entire wind farm idea was to get a grassroots organization to support his natural gas plan and impress the public and lawmakers with his idea.
If he or any other billionaire really wants to “get the U.S. off of foreign oil” as he continually emphasizes (not a bad idea in itself) then he’d be investing in solar panel factories and planning for solar arrays in Texas along with wind farms. A person like Pickens, with all his money, would make more of an impact by simply investing in the technology of the future. But he really always wanted all American trucks to run on natural gas instead of gasoline made from “foreign oil” and this was his investment gamble, one which got him invited to a lot of environmental meetings with other corporate types and people from the new Obama administration. Boone Pickens has never cared about renewable energy other than as a way for himself to make money. The gullible thousands who signed up for his plans thinking they were supporting green energy now find themselves in the position of supporting one fossil fuel over another. They all emit CO2 when they’re burned and most people would argue that natural gas is a little better than burning diesel. Is it really better? Not so much.
“In spite of trade-offs, many still believe that diesel fuel is a viable alternative to natural gas. Why? Because diesel engines are efficient. They operate at high compression ratios and convert a large percentage of the fuel’s available energy into usable work. Diesel engines’ higher fuel efficiency generally lowers the carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to the greenhouse effect.
Another central subject for this debate is methane emissions. According to Toy, “methane is approximately 20 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.” One study suggests [...]
From Everest to Haiti
Keith's note: Earlier today I had a telecon with Miles O'Brien and David Waters. You have seen them both (along with Leroy Chiao) on SpaceflightNow.com's shuttle launch webcasts. David is headed for Haiti on Saturday - and he is taking the HNS9201 BGAN satellite phone (upper left) that Scott Parazynski and I took to Mt. Everest last year. I will be giving David a quick intro on BGAN ops in remote locations tomorrow morning.
Crustasham | Bad Astronomy
Do you read the web comic Tree Lobsters? It has lots of good skeptical and critical messages, and it’s pretty funny. This panel is from a particularly good one; click it to see the rest.
And who knew Jenny McCarthy had a chitinous exoskeleton?
BPA-Heart Disease Link Confirmed, But Levels in People Have Declined | 80beats
There’s a new addition to the parade of studies investigating potential health problems connected to the ubiquitous plastics ingredient bisphenol A (BPA). But while the new data backs up the connection between BPA and heart disease that appeared in previous studies, the nature of the link still isn’t conclusive, and other links are not clear.
The study in PLoS One analyzed data gathered between 2003 and 2006. The association with diabetes is a bit weaker [than shown in earlier studies], but the one with heart disease remains robust. In fact, the authors are able to show a linear relationship between BPA exposure and cardiovascular disease in both data sets [Ars Technica]. While the authors confirmed that BPA-heart disease link from their 2008 study, they said they still could not sufficiently tell correlation versus causation and called for more study.
They did find another interesting tidbit, though, this one being on the good side. BPA levels in the urine of test participants plunged by 28 percent from the 2003/04 period to the 2005/06 period. That’s odd because it predates the wave of public concern over BPA, though perhaps changed industry practices are responsible, study author David Melzer says. “BPA in baby’s bottles has been very controversial and we speculate that manufacturers may be switching to other plastics for use involving food and beverages” [Scientific American].
Related Content:
80beats: Study: The Chemical BPA, in High Doses, Causes Impotence
80beats: More Bad News on BPA: Linked to Heart Disease and Diabetes in Humans
80beats: BPA Won’t Leave Public-Health Conversation—or Your Body
80beats: Plastic Is More Biodegradable Than We Thought. (That’s Bad.)
80beats: FDA Declares Chemical in Baby Bottles Safe, But Doubts Remain
DISCOVER: The Dirty Truth About Plastic
Image: iStockphoto
Mystery Object is 2010 AL30
Click here to view the embedded video.
Yesterday, January 13, 2010 there was an object that made a rather close pass at the earth. There had been quite a bit of speculation as to what it really was, some thinking it was a piece of space junk, I even heard the rocket from ESA’s Venus Express. The object has an orbit extending roughly from the orbit of Venus to the orbit of Mars and crosses Earth’s orbit at a steep angle the idea of a rocket stage is not considered likely by folks at the JPL NEO program.
The object passed the Earth about a third of the distance of the moon – VERY CLOSE. The You Tube video at the top of the post was done by Patrick Wiggins, you can see the asteroid moving across the central portion of the video. Video link.
Turns out the object is believed to be an asteroid, sized about 30 by 50 feet and is now named 2010 AL30. The object passed very close and JPL points out there are about 2 million such objects and the likelihood of a pass within 1 lunar distance is about once per week. Still, the real exiting thing about this particular object is that it was spotted at all think about it – it’s teeny! Ok so the object was only spotted on Monday but still that’s pretty good for something this small. Add to that the fact that once it was announced and astronomers started looking for it, they were able to see and track it. I wanted to have a go at it, but alas the clouds wouldn’t relent.
Astronomers Ernesto Guido & Giovanni Sostero (Associazione Friulana Di Astronomia E Meteorologia), are some of the best photographers of comets and objects like this. They have more images at their site located at: http://remanzacco.blogspot.com/2010/01/neo-2010-al30-close-approach.html
Oh by the way, I’ve seen reports suggesting this object had something to do with the terrible earthquake tragedy unfolding down in Haiti. These people are crackpots and should be embarrassed from their own thoughtless stupidity. So there.
One other thing, remember the name of this asteroid because it will be back perhaps in riddle form. No Marian might not, but I might 
First Class of Suborbital Scientist-Astronauts Successfully Complete NASTAR Training Program
Washington, D.C. – Showcasing the growing interest in conducting research and education missions aboard commercial suborbital spacecraft, eleven researchers including members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation’s Suborbital Applications Researchers Group (SARG) successfully completed a training program yesterday at The National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center in Pennsylvania.
The training included classroom instruction, altitude chamber training, multi-axis centrifuge training for launch and reentry accelerations, and several distraction factor exercises, simulating the conditions that scientist-astronauts will experience during future missions to 100 km altitude.
“For this diverse group of scientists to invest their own time and money for astronaut training is a true testament to the growing excitement behind the science potential of new commercial spacecraft,” said Dr. S. Alan Stern, chairman of SARG and a principal organizer of the scientist training program. “Interest was so high that we’ve already filled up a second class of a dozen scientists for spring 2010.”
“Just as important was the training success rate from this week,” added Stern. “Of the 11 scientists, a diverse group of men and women ranging from 26 to 52 years old, 100% of them passed the centrifuge training, and all but one passed the altitude chamber training. That’s not only impressive, but bodes well for regular researchers being able to accompany their laboratory equipment to space in the years to come.”
“We are constantly impressed with the enthusiasm of the scientific community for the potential of next-generation commercial reusable spacecraft, such as those being developed by Armadillo Aerospace, Blue Origin, Masten Space Systems, Virgin Galactic, and XCOR Aerospace,” added John Gedmark, Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. “We’ve had tremendous interest at recent science workshops we’ve conducted at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the American Geophysical Union annual conference, and the Aerospace Medical Association annual conference, with over 150 scientists attending in total.”
Brienna Henwood, Business Development and Program Manager for Space and Research at The NASTAR Center, stated, “I am thrilled to add the Suborbital Scientist Course to our current offerings. The course is more than just physiology training, it provides an overview about suborbital research and is ideal for anyone interested in learning more about the growing opportunities that rest within the commercial spaceflight industry.”
Institutions sending researchers, students and graduate students to the inaugural program included Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), Boston University, the Denver Museum of Natural Sciences (DMNS), the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the Universities Space Research Association (USRA).
About the Commercial Spaceflight Federation
The mission of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) is to promote the development of commercial human spaceflight, pursue ever higher levels of safety, and share best practices and expertise throughout the industry. CSF member organizations include commercial spaceflight developers, operators, and spaceports. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation is governed by a board of directors, composed of the member companies’ CEO-level officers and entrepreneurs. For more information please visit http://www.commercialspaceflight.org or contact Executive Director John Gedmark at john@commercialspaceflight.org or at 202.349.1121.
Allegations Surface Regarding NASA Climate Data Manipulation
Judicial Watch Uncovers NASA Documents Related to Global Warming Controversy, Judicial Watch
"According to the NASA email, NASA's incorrect temperature readings resulted from a "flaw" in a computer program used to update annual temperature data. [James] Hansen, apparently frustrated by the attention paid to the NASA error, labeled McIntyre a "pest" and suggests those who disagree with his global warming theories "should be ready to crawl under a rock by now." Hansen also suggests that those calling attention to the climate data error did not have a "light on upstairs."
NASA Caught in Climate Data Manipulation; New Revelations Headlined on KUSI-TV Climate Special
"In a new report, computer expert E. Michael Smith and Certified Consulting Meteorologist Joseph D'Aleo discovered extensive manipulation of the temperature data by the U.S. Government's two primary climate centers: the National Climate Data Center (NCDC) in Ashville, North Carolina and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) at Columbia University in New York City. Smith and D'Aleo accuse these centers of manipulating temperature data to give the appearance of warmer temperatures than actually occurred by trimming the number and location of weather observation stations."
