Well this is it. Our final stretch in Australia. We are leaving Myall Lakes for Sydney. For once it didnrsquot rain during the night and it was nice and sunny when we got up. The benefit of this is that the tent and the ground sheet were dry for the 1st time whilst we packed them away. This was a good thing as we wonrsquot be using them again for about 3 weeks until we get to Christchurch at
Laos
LaosThis will be the last country we will visit on this tour. 6 weeks have flown by pretty quicklyTo say hello here one says Sabaidee. The currency is the ldquoKiprdquo. Approx 8450 Kip per U.S. dollar.Laos was formerly known as the country of one million elephants. It has become the Lao peoplersquos Democratic Republic in 1975. The country that has been opened to tourism for only the las
Spiritual Literacy Blog: Will You Be E-Mailing This Awesome Column?
A fascinating article on how awe is a major factor influencing which articles get emailed to others.
Libertarian Republican Campaign Briefs
From the Editor:
We have a mountain of news to report on the campaign front. It may take a day or two to catch up. So be prepared to see an awful lot of hardcore candidate news in the coming days. It's to be expected, given the season. We're approaching full-fledged GOP primary season in numerous states.
With the unexpected retirment announcement of Birch Bayh of Indiana, keeping up with the latest political developments has become almost dizzying.
Here's a couple briefs to help us all catch up:
* Kennedy is out! If you hadn't heard yet Patrick Kennedy has opted out of a run for re-election in Rhode Island's 1st CD. But that doesn't mean libertarian-leaning GOPer John Loughlin, who we reported on here at LR two weeks ago, now has a clear shot. Two Democrats have already announced including the Mayor of Providence.
* New poll out in Texas, show Governor Perry with a commanding lead for the GOP nomination, now at 45% to Kay Baily at 29% and Medina at 17%.
* You can stick a fork in Democrats chances of picking up a Senate seat in Louisiana. In fact, this was perhaps their only real chance of picking off a GOPer in 2010. (Outside chance at New Hampshire, but that's now way gone for Dems too). Incumbent Republican Sen. David Vitter now ahead of Dem challenger Charlie Menlancon, a relative moderate, 57% to 36% in new Rasmussen.
* There is a poll from Rasmussen just released, showing Republican Dino Rossi, if he runs, ahead of Sen. Patty Murray by 2%.
* Republican Round-up; Republicans look good to gain the Governorship in Iowa. GOP way out ahead for pick-ups in North Dakota of both the Senate seat and the House seat. Finally, Pennsylvania is swinging bigtime GOP all-around. Republican for Governor Tom Corbett, now way out ahead in Rasmussen 52% to 26%.
Finally RED HOT RUMOR! Democrat Rep. William Dellahunt of (southeastern) Massachusetts is being talked about as the next Dem to announce his resignation. Libertarian Republicans have a pony in this race: State Senator Bob Hedlund of Weymouth (photo).
Jim Talent on threats to National Security: Obama putting our country at Risk
REPORT FROM MISSOURI
by Clay Bowler
I had the privilege of listening to former Senator Jim Talent speak last Saturday night at the local GOP Lincoln Day event in Joplin, Missouri. If you are from Missouri, chances are your realize what a loss it was for the state when Claire McCaskill beat Talent in the 2006 elections. I don't want to turn this into an attack Claire McCaskill piece, but let's just say there was a huge IQ drop in January 2007, when Claire McCaskill took office.
Senator Talent has been busy and has proven to be a valuable resource for the Republican party. He also been an asset for the Heritage Foundation, while forming the American Freedom and Enterprise Foundation.
Senator Talent had some alarming words about how little the Obama administration is doing to protect this country. He recently finished reading the US military's Strategic Planning Document. As you know, the United States government in its efforts to provide defense for the American people must lay out a number of strategies and what if scenarios to be prepared for war at all times.
Senator Talent had some alarming statistics in the word counts of the latest document conceived by the Obama administration. The word Iran, which is nearing complete of a nuclear weapon, appears in the document just three times. The word Russia appears in the document four times. The word China appears in the document 11 times. Would you like to take a guess at what threat appears the more in this military document than these three countries?
If you guessed climate change, you guessed right.
According to Senator Talent, the word climate change appears considerably more times. In fact if you add up the number of times the previous countries appeared in the document, the word climate change still outnumbers the combined total of the three previous mentioned countries.
Now considering what you know is happening in the world today. We have had multiple Muslim attacks on this country since Obama took over. This past week, Iran says they now have the capability to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon. Russia, who is friend with Iran and selling weapons to the Iranians, is also building up their military with their petrol dollars. We all know the threat the Chinese military plays in the world. And for the Obama administration, the Mother Nature's army of natural warming and cooling periods is a good chunk of what this military document contains. The Obama administration isn't serious about our defense.
Editor's Note - Clay is of course, otherwise known as Bungalow Bill. His highly popular Libertarian-Conservative blog is Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom linked on our Blog Roll.
Iran Protesters restrained, but not beaten
NEW RAW VIDEO OUT OF IRAN
Shouting "Death to the Dictator" tens of thousands of mostly youth protesters in Tehran turned out over the weekend to protest the government's increaingly repressive policies.
This report from Associated Content News:
Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, announced at the pro-government rally, Iran's expansion of its nuclear program and claims to have enriched uranium to 20% with the ability to achieve 80% purity. According to this CNN report, President Ahmadinejad also denigrated the United States and its relationship with rival Israel during his speech to the people of Iran.
Iran's plain-clothed militia and police successfully prevented protester demonstrations as they prowled the streets of Iran's capital, particularly Azadi Square, using tear gas, guns, batons, and brutal force, as promised...
The weekend government rallies and counter protests marked the 31st Anniversay of the Iranian Revolution to overthrow the Shah.
Observations of a rotating macrospicule associated with an X-ray jet
Authors: S. Kamio, W. Curdt, L. Teriaca, B. Inhester and S. K. Solanki.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 510 , page L1<br />Published online: 19/01/2010<br />
Keywords:
Sun: corona ; Sun: transition region ; Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs) ; Sun: UV radiation .
Cool core remnants in galaxy clusters*
Authors: M. Rossetti and S. Molendi.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 510 , page A83<br />Published online: 09/02/2010<br />
Keywords:
galaxies: clusters: general ; X-rays: galaxies: clusters .
Evidence of a thick disk rotation–metallicity correlation
Authors: A. Spagna, M. G. Lattanzi, P. Re Fiorentin and R. L. Smart.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 510 , page L4<br />Published online: 26/01/2010<br />
Keywords:
Galaxy: disk ; Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics ; Sun:
abundances ; stars: kinematics and dynamics ; surveys.
STEREO observations of quasi-periodically driven high velocity outflows in polar plumes*
Authors: S. W. McIntosh, D. E. Innes, B. De Pontieu and R. J. Leamon.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 510 , page L2<br />Published online: 25/01/2010<br />
Keywords:
Sun: corona ; solar wind ; Sun: transition region.
Detection of N$^\mathsf{{15}}$NH+ in L1544
Authors: L. Bizzocchi, P. Caselli and L. Dore.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 510 , page L5<br />Published online: 25/01/2010<br />
Keywords:
ISM: clouds ; ISM: molecules ; ISM: individual object: L1544 ; radio lines: ISM.
Centers as Settlements
Discussing the new directions contained in the 2011 budget roll-out with employees, Charlie Bolden announced a new Headquarters office called Misson Support, to be lead by Woodrow Whitlow from NASA Glenn Research Center. Mission Support will bring all NASA facilities and their operations under one umbrella, recognizing the important role these groups play in achieving NASA’s mission. This will allow greater insight into operational challenges, and more strategic investments into creating an integrated NASA workforce.
"After the Storm" by Raymond Cassel, 1st place 2009 NSS Art contest
The first Yuri’s Night at NASA Ames Research Center in 2007 was an amazing experience for numerous reasons. Most relevant to this discussion, is that it brought together the Mission Support organizations to do something truly new and innovative at NASA. These guys are amazing – and they can do anything! They understand the facilities, power generators, roads, traffic flow, structures, sound, electricity capacity, safety requirements, machine shops, rules to bend, and rules to not bend. That day/night, we doubled NASA Ames’ normal capacity of 2500 people. In 2008, it was quadrupled.
It takes 2.5 people to operate the International Space Station (ISS), and each person above this makes it possible to perform experiments and other additional construction tasks. A similar thing is true within NASA – it takes quite a bit of effort to run a NASA center and be productive in 70-year-old facilities, complying with all the environmental and safety procedures bestowed from 50 years of processes and regulations. But with these facilities, we can and do, do amazing things.
We may take for granted the amount of infrastructure that is around us to allow us to live and be productive. Think about the infrastructure you need when you are at a NASA Center. Some centers have their own power generators and distribution plants, but there is running water, sewage, large auditoriums for gatherings, heating and air conditioning, Internet, roads, places to eat, places to work. There is NASA security, police service, emergency response, and medical treatment. This is a place of work, but it is also a community and at times acts like a little city.
Kaylee the Mechanic onboard Serenety in television show FireFly
NASA is an aeronautics and space agency, and part of our long-term commitment is to become a multi-planetary species. Government will now invest in creating an industry to support this commitment, while continuing to push the boundaries of knowledge and research to allow colonies/settlements to emerge on other heavenly bodies and space stations. I can imagine a colony on the moon or Mars where there would be 2500 people working productively together, much like the size of NASA Ames. We’ll need the same things in place, and more. We will need electricians, plumbers, technicians, medics, and cooks, in addition to managers, technologists and scientists. In short, our Mission Support teams are probably the first people you’d want to take to space with you.
Perhaps under Dr. Whitlow’s new organization, we can begin to think of Mission Support as more integrated with space missions, and begin to see our NASA Centers through the lens of colonies. We can do some science around the notion of connected cities, put in sensors to measure energy usage, work flow, productivity and happiness. We can track how people use the facilities and feed that back into the planning cycle. All of these things will be necessary when living at a colony on another planet, and it is something that NASA can research with our own workforce and facilities. These studies can feed into current decisions made for our facilities, but also explore requirements for future habitats and colonies.
Space Commerce: Back To The Future
New vision for NASA - Obama plan resets human spaceflight button, Roger Lanius/Mike Green, Florida Today
"In the 1968 film, "2001: A Space Odyssey," astronauts shuttled from the Earth to an orbiting space station aboard a commercial space plane and private firms carried out many other functions in low-Earth orbit, including the Hilton hotel on the station. Flash forward to 2018, and imagine NASA astronauts boarding a commercial space launcher delivering crews to the International Space Station. This may become reality for space exploration if Congress accepts the recently announced Obama administration's approach. This new direction proposes a major shift in the way NASA accomplishes human spaceflight."
Another Orion Parachute Problem
Unlucky Orion crashing out of the space program as drop test fails, NASASpaceflight.com
"Unfortunately, the Orion Project suffered a failure on one of its tests this week, when a boilerplate Orion crashed to Earth after its "parachutes failed to deploy". However, the problem is not believed to be Orion or the parachute system's fault, with the failure memo citing a problem with the rigging associated with the extraction system - although this is yet to be confirmed, as an investigation will be required. "A quick heads up that the Orion test drop failed. Looks like the extraction system failed to release so the Orion chute system never deployed," noted the memo acquired on Tuesday (the day of the failure) by L2. "Still saving the remains but expecting minimal hardware recovery.""
Keith's note: I cannot find any mention whatsoever of this crash at NASA.gov - not at the main exploration page, at the main Constellation page, at the Constellation blog or anywhere else. Why is ESMD PAO refusing to officialy explain what happened? This is not the first time that ESMD has sat on Orion parachute failure information.
- Why Won't ESMD Release Orion Parachute Test Vehicle Crash Photos?, earlier post
- Orion Crash Photos and Videos Online - Finally, earlier post
I Got Shot by Iron Man [We Love Toys]
Unlike Robert Downey Jr.'s take on Iron Man, this version, remote controlled by a wrist-mounted repulsor gauntlet, apparently does not like cameras. It shot me.
It moves pretty quick across obstacle-free surfaces, but it's a bit too clunky for a real roller derby. It's $50, which is pricey, but it does shoot missiles at people.
Toy Fair is the annual event where we get to completely regress back to childhood and check out all of the awesome toys coming out for the rest of the year. And well, we love toys.
Unions Are Also Split on Obama’s Space Plan
Organized labor attacks Obama's space plan, Orlando Sentinel
"Add organized labor to the voices angry at President Barack Obama's decision to scrap NASA's moon program. In a letter sent to Obama on Feb. 4, R. Thomas Buffenbarger, international president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said the White House idea to outsource flying astronauts into low Earth orbit would cost jobs, not create them."
IFPTE: A new day at NASA - a rebirth at Ames
"Although for the thousands of dedicated employees who have been working diligently on Constellation, there will naturally be disappointment and concern, in the end, the Administration has chosen a more realistic and pragmatic path towards a more sustainable and ultimately successful overall mission."
The Snuggie for Stylish People and Home Thespians [Blanket]
Deep in my heart I always wanted a Snuggie or a Slanket, but my innate aversion to these naff devices from hell always stopped me. Not anymore, thanks to these cool full body blanket designs by Icelandic designers Vík Prjónsdóttir.
Yes, I can most definitely do this. I imagine myself in that red and yellow one, standing on my sofa, waxing lyrical on fate, love, and the tragedy that it is when I want to have cereal in the morning and there's no milk left and I'm trapped in the house thanks to the snow blizzard fiercely blowing outside. [Vík Prjónsdóttir via Cool Hunting]
Patent for Hardware Antivirus Device Granted To Russian Inventor [Security]
Kaspersky Labs, a cybersecurity group based in Russia, was recently awarded the patent for a hardware antivirus device that aims to keep your computer secure by attaching directly to the disk drive, below rootkit access.
Software can always be compromised, and solution proposed by the mad geniuses at Kaspersky is to put an antivirus system deeper in your computer than your infected software can reach. Here's the device, as explained the abstract for the patent:
An anti-virus (AV) system based on a hardware-implemented AV module for curing infected computer systems and a method for updating AV databases for effective curing of the computer system. The hardware-based AV system is located between a PC and a disk device. The hardware-based AV system can be implemented as a separate device or it can be integrated into a disk controller. An update method of the AV databases uses a two-phase approach. First, the updates are transferred to from a trusted utility to an update sector of the AV system. Then, the updates are verified within the AV system and the AV databases are updated. The AV system has its own CPU and memory and can be used in combination with AV application.
As some people are pointing out, the device's lack of network access means that it has to be updated via some software, somewhere on your machine, which ostensibly is just as susceptible to attack as anything else.
Still, the idea of putting a teeny tiny shield right at the heart of my computer definitely makes me feel safer from viruses. And it would also probably be a lot less annoying than my current AV software. [PC Mag via CrunchGear]
NCBI ROFL: Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge. | Discoblog
Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials.
“OBJECTIVES: To determine whether parachutes are effective in preventing major trauma related to gravitational challenge. DESIGN: Systematic review of randomised controlled trials. DATA SOURCES: Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases; appropriate internet sites and citation lists. STUDY SELECTION: Studies showing the effects of using a parachute during free fall. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Death or major trauma, defined as an injury severity score > 15. RESULTS: We were unable to identify any randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention. CONCLUSIONS: As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.”
Thanks to Janneke, Eugene, Andy, Christy, and Ann for today’s ROFL!
Image: flickr/The U.S. Army
Related content:
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: Hijacking a plane flown by euthanized pigs: a beginner’s manual.
Discoblog: NCBI ROFL: BMJ week.
Man Confuses Reality With a Verizon Commercial [At&t]
Remember those coverage maps hovering above people's heads in Verizon's "there's a map for that" commercials? What if they existed in the real world? This man decided to find out.
Helmet hair and crappy reception. Poor guy. [Media Bistro]
