MONTANA: Republican says he won’t debate unless the Libertarian is included

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From Eric Dondero:

This is a strange twist. Typically, Republicans are concerned that Libertarian candidates will take votes away from them, and tend to oppose their inclusion in debates. While Democrats do the same for Green Party candidates.

But not in Montana. Longtime Republican incumbent Congressman Denny Rehberg is telling MT media that it's a no go, unless perrenial Libertarian candidate for Congress Mike Fellows is included.

From the Missoulian.com "Rehberg insists all parties participate in debates; some in media disagree" Oct. 9:

Another newspaper tried but failed to schedule a debate between just Rehberg and McDonald, on grounds that Fellows wasn't campaigning in its readership area.

Rehberg has refused to debate McDonald unless Fellows is included.

Some news organizations in the past have chosen not to invite third-party, or fourth-party, candidates to their debates. It's an attempt to focus the debate on the Republican and Democratic candidates who likely will draw more than 90 percent of the votes.

Rehberg's campaign manager Evan Wilson condemned this practice.

"As far as some in the media trying to exclude candidates from the debates, Denny thinks that is just plain wrong," Wilson said. "The media shouldn't get to pick and choose which candidates the public gets to hear from."

Note - Fellows also happens to be State Chairman of the Libertarian Party.

Carl Paladino not fond of a certain Libertarian candidate

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LR EXCLUSIVE

From Eric Dondero:

Libertarian Republican consultant and friend of this website Roger Stone of New York City, relayed to us that Republican nominee Carl Paladino doesn't think too highly of Libertarian nominee for Governor Warren Redlich. Last week at a local event, one tea party guy suggested Paladino suspend his campaign and endorse the Libertarian Party candidate for Governor Warren Redlich.

Paladino looked him in the eye and said "I'd rather drink my own piss"

Note - Redlich is an attorney and local town councilman in upstate NY.

Kristin Davis invited to participate in NY Gov’s debate

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Libertarian and former Manhattan Madam Kristin Davis will be a participant in the upcoming debate for New York Governor.

From the NY Times "Cuomo and Paladino to Debate at Hofstra, With 5 Other Candidates" Oct. 7:

Andrew M. Cuomo and Carl P. Paladino will debate after all — but they won’t be alone.

Paladino Tries to Reset His Campaign for Governor (October 8, 2010) Mr. Cuomo, the Democratic nominee for governor, and Mr. Paladino, his Republican opponent, each announced on Thursday that he had accepted an invitation to a debate on Oct. 18 at Hofstra University.

The debate will also include five other candidates for governor who are on the ballot next month, including Kristin Davis, the former madam running on the line of the Anti-Prohibition Party, and Charles Barron, the Brooklyn city councilman running on the Freedom Party line.

The others are Howie Hawkins, on the Green Party line; Warren Redlich, the Libertarian Party candidate; and Jimmy McMillan...

Davis's campaign in managed by libertarian Republican consultant Roger Stone.

Libertarian Republican linked by NY Times, profile on Pamela Geller

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From Eric Dondero:

The NY Times ran an extensive piece on Ayn Randian Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs blog on Sunday in the NY/Region section. The piece was titled, "Outrage and Outrageous." It talked of her rise from obscure rightwing blogger to cable TV News fame. And of course, delved deeply into her most recent activities leading the opposition to the Ground Zero Mosque. In the 16th paragraph Libertarian Republican even got a link. In the following excerpted paragraph at "television program," they linked to our brief news item ad commentary from May about her appearance on Fox about the GZ Mosque.

Two days later, Ms. Geller invited readers to protest the “9/11 monster mosque being built on hallowed ground zero,” in a post that was among the first to spread the misimpressions that the project was at the World Trade Center site and would solely house a prayer space. The next week, The New York Post took up the cause (“Mosque Madness at Ground Zero”). Fox News booked Ms. Geller on Mike Huckabee’s television program. Sean Hannity hosted her on the radio.

Interestingly, Pamela did not like the piece, calling it "an extraordinarily nasty and fallacious piece on me." But the Times did publish an absolutely gorgeous photo of her.

Blocking Malware

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From the Slash-Dot news center:

"Science Daily Headlines reports that a new tool has been developed (funded by the National Science Foundation, US Army Research Office and US Office of Naval Research) to prevent 'drive-by downloads' whereby simply visiting a website, malware can be silently

The folly of the crowds | Gene Expression

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With the big hullabaloo around The Social Network I’ve been reflecting a bit about my incorrect intuition since ~2008 that the Facebook bubble would burst at any moment. The bubble may still burst, or a new competitor may come out of the blue, or Google might actually release a comparable offering, but Facebook is still surfing on the crest of victory (which may be a sign that it has “peaked”). But along the way I stumbled onto this article about the marginalization of Digg:

According to Quantcast, an online audience measurement firm, Digg’s domestic traffic has dropped sharply in recent months, from 27.1 million unique users in April to 13.7 million in July. By contrast, Facebook had 145.2 million domestic users in June, according to comScore. While not giving specifics, Mr. Desai of Digg attributes the decline in domestic traffic to changes in Google’s search function that resulted in fewer Digg stories showing up in Google searches.


When the rate of change goes into negative territory in the USA you’re on the way to becoming Friendster (big in Asia) or Orkut (big in Brazil). Here’s the issue:

Digg executives say the redesign, which has been plagued by technical glitches, is less about limiting power users than it is a response to consumers’ desire for customized content. Keval Desai, vice president for product management at Digg, says that people surveyed by the company loved the site’s wisdom-of-crowds ethos but that they also said, “I want to add something curated from my own crowd.”

I appreciate the readers who submit the stories from this weblog to Reddit, but looking at the comments on the posts it is often shocking how lacking in intelligence or discernment most people on the internet are (or, perhaps they choose not to manifest intelligence and discernment on the internet). In contrast, the core cluster of blogs which I read, people who I allow on Google Reader to recommend links, etc., are narrowed to those who I judge to be intelligent, and whose discernment is aligned with my own.

SpaceShipTwo makes its first glide flight

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SS2 first glide test

SpaceShipTwo during its first glide test on October 10, 2010. (credit: Mark Greenberg/Virgin Galactic)

In a press release this afternoon, Virgin Galactic declared the glide test this morning by SpaceShipTwo a success. The WhiteKnightTwo aircraft VMS Eve released SpaceShipTwo (VSS Enterprise) at an altitude of 45,000 feet (13,700 meters), and SS2 glided to a landing at Mojave Air and Space Port 11 minutes later, shortly after 8 am PDT (11 am EDT). Pete Siebold piloted SS2 with Mike Alsbury as co-pilot; Sieblod, in the release, declared SS2 “a real joy to fly”.

Some details about the flight test activities from the press release:

Other detailed objectives of the flight were successfully completed, including; verification that all systems worked prior and following the clean release of Enterprise; initial evaluation of handling and stall characteristics; qualitative evaluation of stability and control of SS2 against predictions from design and simulation work; verification of performance by evaluating the lift-to-drag ratio of the spaceship during glide flight; practice a landing approach at altitude and finally descend and land.

Virgin also used the flight test to announce a four-part documentary series with the National Geographic Channel about the development of SpaceShipTwo. The first part will air next Monday, October 18, at 10 pm EDT/PDT to cover the work leading to Sunday’s glide test. Later parts of the documentary, according to the announcement, “will include SpaceShipTwo’s first rocket-powered flight; following Rutan, Branson and his two children as they make preparations for their historic flight; and being there as the spaceliner’s first passengers take their incredible trip.”

Finally, a picture below showing the release of SS2. Look carefully at the pylon between the fuselages of WK2 where SS2 was mounted. Have a nice flight?

SS2 immediately after release from WK2

AC Generator Problem

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hi all,

i have problem with three phase ac generator 200kva/380v/50HZ. exciter voltage is 17v/4amps, these informations are from the name plate. i checked the resistance of the exciter stater and it was 4.2 ohms.

the problem is: i fitted new 8 amps AVR and run the generator, i got

NASA’s Mission in Chile is About to Pay Off

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To Design Miners' Escape Pod, NASA Thought Small, AOL

"Clinton Cragg is a NASA engineer on a troubleshooting safety team set up in the wake of the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. He had spent much of his professional life in the Navy, where he served as a submarine captain, accustomed to living in confined space. So when the Chilean rescue authorities settled on a plan for reaching the 33 miners trapped 2,400 feet below a desolate desert, but needed a contraption to bring them to the surface, Cragg would become the perfect man to pitch in. It had to be the smallest possible vehicle for the job, a capsule that would fit into a hole the size of a bicycle tire, with no wasted space for luxury, no elbow room for comfort."

Trapped Chile Miners Eat NASA Diet, Aspirin to Prepare for Coming Rescue, Bloomberg

"The 33 miners in Chile will spend the next few days in tunnels almost half a mile underground eating a special diet recommended by NASA and doing exercises designed to aid their rescue by midweek."

New Exhibition at Observatory: Paradiso Contrapasso, Curated by GF Newland with Lord Whimsy and Susan Crawford, Opening Party this Thursday, Oct. 14!

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Our newest Observatory exhibition "Paradiso Contrapasso"--curated by my boyfriend GF Newland along with our good friends Lord Whimsy and Susan Crawford of Plankton Art Co-- will be opening its doors this Thursday with a free reception running from 8 PM till the wine runs out.

Full details follow; very much hope to see you there!

Paradiso Contrapasso: An exhibition curated by Observatory’s G.F. Newland with Lord Whimsy and Susan Crawford of Plankton Art Co.
OPENING RECEPTION: October 14th, 8:00 PM
ON VIEW: October 14th - November 28th, 2010
HOURS: Thursdays & Fridays 3-6; Saturdays & Sundays 12-6

To compliment the recent opening of Paradise, a year long event at Proteus Gowanus, Observatory explores the theme: Paradiso Contrapasso. In Dante’s Inferno, Paradiso Contrapasso distinguishes each sinner by making his or her punishment uniquely appropriate to the committed sin, so that every soul inhabits a Hell all its own.

For example, consider the story of Paolo and Francesca:
An unlikely marriage is proposed between the beautiful Francesca and the rich, but ugly Gianciotto. Paolo, the handsome brother of Gianciotto seduces the young bride and they become lovers. When Gianciotto discovers their indiscretion, he murders them both. In Hell, Paolo and Francesca are fused together in an eternal embrace, wishing only to be separated.

As Dante journeys through Purgatorio and Paradisio, he does not revisit this technique of contrapasso. For our event, however, Observatory encourages artists to consider divine comedic retribution in all of its possible representations, and from sources such as the Bible and religious and esoteric cosmologies, the ethical philosophies of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, Symbolist poetry, the works of Roald Dahl, the Wizard of Oz, Cautionary Tales, Folklore and Fairy Stories, the Twilight Zone, Modern Dystopias, etc. The emphasis is on “Divine” and “Comedy”, and on our superstitious fear of getting what we wish for!

ARTISTS INCLUDE:
Martin Bland
Erich Carlle
Dennis Corrigan
Matthew Cox
Lord Whimsy / Allen Crawford
John Dilworth
Arlene Ducao
Joanna Ebenstein
Crista Grauer
Andrew Keating
Ilias Koen
Luis Locarno
Heather Masciandaro
Richard Meyer
GF Newland
Alison Overton
Herbert Pfostl
Rebecca Posner
James Prochnik
Rachel Rabhan
R. Sikoryak
Melissa Stern
Alison Termine
Friese Undine

To find out more, click here. You can get directions to Observatory--which is next door to the Morbid Anatomy Library (more on that here)--by clicking here. You can find out more about Observatory here, join our mailing list by clicking here, and join us on Facebook by clicking here.

Image: "Holiday in Hell," Denis Corrigan, Oil on Canvas

Virgin’s VSS Enterprise Makes First Manned Glide Flight

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VSS Enterprise Completes First Manned Glide Flight

"10th October 2010, Mojave, CA. Virgin Galactic, the US company developing the world's first commercial manned space flight system and tourism business, is delighted to announce the successful completion today of the first piloted free flight of SpaceShipTwo, named the VSS Enterprise. The spaceship was released from its mothership at an altitude of 45,000 ft (13,700 metres). During its first flight the spaceship was piloted by Pete Siebold, assisted by Mike Alsbury as co-pilot. The two main goals of the flight were to carry out a clean release of the spaceship from its mothership and for the pilots to free fly and glide back and land at Mojave Air and Space Port in California."

Commercial Spaceflight Federation Congratulates SpaceShipTwo Team for Milestone First Glide Flight

Photo safari – hummingbird | Not Exactly Rocket Science

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There are few experiences better than watching hummingbirds fly over a vineyard while sitting outside in the sunshine eating waffles. My wife and I have just been travelling through California for some much-needed rest and relaxation. We spent the last two days in the incredible Seven Quails vineyard (if you’re looking for accommodation near Paso Robles, stay there) and each morning, we delighted to see hummingbirds flitter between the trees of their back garden, against panoramic vistas of vines and rolling hills.

I’m assuming all of these photos are of the black-chinned hummingbird but if anyone has any other identification ideas, let me know. The money shots of the bird in flight were taken by my wife. The ones in the tree were me.