Sarah Palin dazzles Daytona

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Hangs out with Richard Petty, Harry Connick and Danica Patrick

From Eric Dondero:

America's sexiest politician turned up the heat at the famous Florida speedway over the weekend. Decked out in "designer jeans and sky-high black stiletto heels" the Alaska Fox met with thousands of adoring fans. And according to numerous media reports, Palin was the most popular attraction.

She addressed the crowd briefly: "It's events like these, that bring all Americans together, and makes us proud to be Americans" (See the 30 second YouTube video)

From the Orlando Sentinnel:

DAYTONA BEACH – Palin-mania easily surpassed Danica-mania at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

While Patrick got all the headlines for the better part of two weeks, she had no stake in the Daytona 500. Palin did, and as a VIP guest for the race, she ate up all the attention.

When she arrived for the drivers meeting, Palin was immediately mobbed.

She took a seat up front next to Harry Connick Jr., who sang the national anthem for the race. When NASCAR president Mike Helton acknowledged her as a special guest, she got the largest ovation from the room, packed from the front to the back with drivers, team members, support personnel and onlookers.

After sitting through the meeting, Palin could not get out the door. Fans mobbed her, asking for pictures and autographs.

An estimated 150,000 spectators showed up for the event.

Photo hat tip of SP at another sports event, to our friends at GOP 12.

ASME VIII-2 2007 Para 4.3.10.1

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Dear members..

I have difficulty in interpreting ASME Section VIII Division 2 2007 paragraph 4.5.10.2. This paragraph is about the requirements to determine design method of vessel whether using part 4 (design by rule requirements) or part 5 (design by analysis).

One of

Surprise Republican candidate emerges for Mississippi Congress 1st Dist.

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One of the biggest surprises to come out of the National Tea Party convention in Nashville two weekends ago, was the pre-announcement of a congressional candidacy of Fox News contributor Angela McGlowan.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Judging from the loud cheers she generated, one of the highlights of last weekend's Tea Party Convention in Nashville was the appearance of Angela McGlowan, a Fox News contributor and former GOP congressional staffer. She electrified the crowd when she hinted she would be announcing her candidacy for Congress from neighboring Mississippi in a few days. If elected, Ms. McGlowan would become only the third African American elected as a Republican to the U.S. House in the past 75 years. "Conservatives advocate policies that recognize the innate value of all humans, as opposed to liberal policies that demean the poor and disadvantaged by encouraging victimhood," she told the enthusiastic crowd.

If she prevails in the somewhat crowded GOP primary, McGlowan will face entrenched Democrat Rep. Travis Childers. Ironically, Childers had been rumored to be a potential party-switcher to the GOP.

In a fiery speech on the steps of Hernando County courthouse, as part of a 5-city tour announcing her campaign, McGlowan told the approximately 75 supporters gathered:

"I'm a conservative, pro-life, pro-gun, pro-small business Mississippi Republican who has taken a high profile stand for working families and against the liberal policies of President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that promote big government spending, record national debt and excessive levels of taxation."

(Source: Desoto Times Feb. 12)

Although State Sen. Alan Nunnelee is the frontrunner and supported by many in the GOP establishment, McGlowan might be emerging as the favorite among Sarah Palin-ites. She was featured recently on the Sarah Palin Blog: "Fox News analyst Angela McGlowan launches House bid."

If elected McGlowan would be the first ever woman to represent Mississippi in the US Congress.

McGlowanforCongress.com

Can entrenched Democrat Rep. Solomon Ortiz be beat? One Latina Republican plans to do just that

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The hometown paper for Texas CD-27 opines:

Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, has had opponents during his nearly 30 years in office but has never faced a serious threat to his incumbency.

But now, with a changed climate favorable to Republicans, and in particular GOPers with a Tea Party message, Ortiz may be facing his stiffest challenge yet.

Jessica Puente Bradshaw is running for the Republican nomination to challenge longtime entrenched Democrat incumbent Rep. Solomon Ortiz. She is one of three candidates vying for the nomination, but considered to be the frontrunner.

From the Corpus Christi Caller Feb. 15:

“He votes with the liberal Democrats,” Bradshaw said. “He is not lowering taxes, which is what businesses need to build a thriving economy. And with health care, he was not meeting with his constituents. He is beatable by the right candidate because there are enough voters upset at him who, given the right candidate, will cross over party-wise.”

She grew up in Brownsville, on the Mexican border. She's a Christian, mother of two, and married for 15 years. Her professional background includes educator and small business entrepreneur.

I am an advocate of personal responsibility, regardless of what color of skin you are blessed with. With your help, my goal is to inspire and empower others to be productive members of their communities and eliminate the idea that we “need” government handouts.

During my teaching career in a California low income school district, I did my best to encourage each student to take advantage of every opportunity available without the need for affirmative action and special preferences.

She's a supporter of Tea Party values:

I am determined and prepared to stand strong in righteousness when it comes to what our Founding Fathers intended for this country.

TexasforJessica.com

Sad day for ’80s New Wavers: the Knack’s lead singer dies

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My Sharona one of George Bush's favorite songs

From Eric Dondero:

Doug Feiger, lead singer of The Knack died on Sunday. He had been suffering from Cancer.

The band hit the scene in 1979 with the monster hit "My Sharona" immortalized in the hit movie "Reality Bites." And later their second chart topper was the risque "Good Girls don't."

He was also known as the brother of the eccentric Michigan lawyer (of Jack Kevorkian fame), and one-time Democrat candidate for Governor Geoffry Feiger.

A side note. Former Republican President George W. Bush was a fan.

From Yahoo News:

"My Sharona" gained attention again in 2005 when it was reported that George W. Bush had the song on the presidential iPod.

Population Control and Resource Usage

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We are running out of planet and there are too many people.  Or, maybe there aren’t.

Americans are only 5% of the world’s population, but use almost 25% of the world’s resources.  People cannot agree on whether climate change is affected by human population.  Maybe the question should be — is climate change affected by the American population and should that be reduced.  Some environmentalists and scientists feel governments could limit the amount of children people should have due to resources being finite on Planet Earth.  Humans now number close to 7 billion.   We may reach 9 billion people  by 2050, and it could happen sooner.  Can the planet handle all these resource-gobbling, atmosphere-changing masses of humanity? I think it could, if we didn’t rely on consumption for our world economies.

Climate and Capitalism feels population is not the problem either; it’s how many resources that population uses.  There is a huge disparity in the amount of resources used and pollution generated by various populations of different countries.  (See stats below and this video: Betsy Hartmann on Climate Change Politics and Overpopulation Propaganda, here for more). I think it’s obvious that people are causing global warming so aiming for fewer people might certainly help — in the wealthier, more polluting countries like the U.S.  especially.   One way to limit the amount of people on earth that would be more natural than others would be to deny couples fertility treatments if they already have one child.  That makes sense to me.  Another is to spread intelligent family planning in countries where this is not available.  (I do not agree with some of what Hartmann says, by the way.  There will be millions of climate refugees some day and there will be border and resource issues).

Unfortunately many Americans don’t know the meaning of the phrase “use less resources”.   We have been brainwashed by various right-wing politicians who have told us and the world that the American lifestyle will not be changed, it’s not negotiable, under any circumstances.  This leads to a feeling of entitlement and a license to consume more.  Other country’s populations may share that mindset too. Have our leaders told us about the dangers of over consumption yet?  Of course not. Consumption is what keeps the economy going in capitalistic countries . More is more! This idea spills over into having children, for some people.

Making Babies . . .

A recent issue of  People magazine showcased an American family called the “Duggars” who have 19 children. They are not ruling out Baby #20. It strikes me that 19 children is beyond the pale, so to speak. Frannie Armstrong, the filmmaker who wrote and directed The Age of Stupid, shares this information: ” The Guardian has brought up the environmental issue which dare not speak its name in a big feature article. . . . . I was interviewed for the piece during the Copenhagen Stupid Show madness and then spent the next few [...]

More Inconsistencies From the Ares 1 Risk Guru

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Adding Rocket Man to His Resume, New York Times

"SpaceX doesn't "fully understand the dramatic difference between a crew launcher and a payload launcher," Dr. Fragola said. For example, the capsule designers have to carefully study the conditions following an accident, including the blast heat, fragments of the disintegrating booster and the pressure wave of an explosion. While they do not matter for cargo, "the crew cares tremendously about what the conditions are, because it relates to their survivability," Dr. Fragola said."

Hanley Changes His Story On Ares 1 Safety - Again, previous post

"With regard to Jeff Hanley's current comments, this is not the first time that Hanley's organization has had problems presenting (or admitting) a consistent view of what Ares 1's safety was relative to Shuttle and other launch systems. Indeed, you only have to look at Joseph Fragola's presentation to the Augustine Committee to see what Constellation knew Vs what it said. Specifically, there was a briefing chart that was withheld from the Augustine Committee - see below for that chart."

Keith's note: I find it the height of hypocrisy for Joe Fragola to make these statement that SpaceX "doesn't fully understand" human rated launch vehicles when Fragola himself was incapable of accurately presenting the true safety numbers for Ares 1 to the Augustine Committee. Why should anyone take anything he says seriously?

Where at The Planet is Rachel?

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Meet Rachel Rogers.

Where is Rachel?

She is our Sales Automation Manager. She keeps our sales department movin’ and groovin’, ensuring that leads are routed correctly, organizing work-flows, and basically giving the sales team all the tools they need to sell, sell, sell.

Rachel is very important to The Planet. She’s also very teeny.

Enter foul weather.

While our friends in the Dallas office experienced a little bit of Snowmaggedon 2010 last week, we here in the Houston office had a couple rainy, nasty, cold days. On Thursday, no one wanted to go out for lunch, so while we munched away on our sammiches and insta-pasta, we decided to have some fun. A while back, in the midst of a late-night work session, we discovered that Rachel could fit in super-small spaces. We set out to find some.

Where is Rachel?
Rachel in a cubicle closet!
(With Graphic Designer Haidy Francis for scale)
Where is Rachel?
Rachel in a file cabinet!
Where is Rachel?
Rachel in the dry-erase easel!
Where is Rachel?
Peek-a-boo Rachel!
Where is Rachel?
Can Kevin fit? Noooo … But Rachel can!

The girl is seriously tiny.

Alright, back to work. Look for us on a rainy day for another edition of “Hiding Employees in Small Spaces!”

-Ali

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A Question of Mutual Attraction

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Basically, gravity is the attractive force between all objects of mass in the universe.  You are drawn by gravity to the Earth, but the Earth is also drawn by gravity (of equal force) to you.  It is a relationship of mutual attraction.


Gravity is more than just a handy thing to have around if you want to stick to the Earth.  Without it, or with it greatly reduced, we wouldn’t have an atmosphere (gravity holds it to the planet), or liquid water (it would boil away).  Escape velocity could be achieved on a trampoline, which is rather horrifying when you stop to think about it.

When we think of the study of gravity through history, modern man tends to think of Sir Isaac Newton sitting in a garden watching apples fall from the trees.  Cute, but… no.  In the first place, gravity was being written about scientifically since Aristotle in the 4th century BC, at least.  It was defined as an attractive force between objects of mass by Indian astronomer Brahmagupta in 628 AD.  What Sir Isaac Newton did (in 1687 AD) was define the concept of gravity to unify the existing concepts of celestial and terrestrial attraction.  Sir Isaac Newton didn’t know how gravity worked (we had to wait for Einstein to figure that one out), but he did put forward a simple, elegant, unified theory of gravity that stood unmatched for nearly 230 years.

Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation Image: Dennis Nilsson

As in all things scientific, the more you know about gravity; the more you realize you don’t know.  Science is still running up against the unexpected and inexplicable in gravity.  If you get to feeling frisky, you can read about some of these “who knows” moments in modern science:

The Fly-By Anomaly – In sling-shot maneuvers, spacecraft got more of a boost than they “should” have.

Accelerating Expansion – Here’s a biggie:  The expansion of space seems to be speeding-up instead of slowing-down.

The Pioneer Anomaly – The Pioneer spacecraft are slowing down.  They aren’t supposed to be.

The Dark Flow – Galaxy clusters are apparently being pulled toward something big.  Too big to have been formed since the Big Bang.  Something we haven’t seen yet.

We all understand the force of gravity at a fundamental level.  You have been aware of it since childhood, when you conducted scientific experiments to study the effect of gravity on your peas at the dinner table.  While our understanding of gravity has become somewhat more sophisticated, you’ll be happy to know that peas still react the same way when dropped from the height of a table.

Except, of course, fresh frozen peas bounce higher than canned peas.

Peas On Earth/Michael5188

Wat More

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A really early start today to see the sunrise at Angkor wat. We arrived in almost pitch darkness although there was already considerable activity at the site. Walking across the causeway was a little hazardous but having successfully negotiated that we parked ourselves at one of the templersquos libraries away from the main buildings and sat in near silence as dawn gradually lit up the sky. It w

Phuket

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HelloThe overnight bus was smooth although they randomly decided to stop at a service station at 1am in the morning We were alo impressed with Bangkok bus station which was more like an airport with a huge complex of shops and restaurants.The bus dropped us off in Phuket town and from there we got a shuttle bus to Kata beach the nicest of the numerous beaches down the Phuket western coast. An

Het land van de reizende zon

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NihaoOp veler verzoek dan nu deel si chinese uitspraak 'sz' en voor de nuchtere hollander 4.Na het soepele verloop van het visum in KL waren de verwachtingen van het grote China toch een beetje hoog gespannen. In aanloop naar ons vertrek kopen in het holst van de nacht voordat we op het vliegtuig stappen op KL international airport van onze laatste ringits een fingertip chinese woordenboekje

Bhuj

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13210The earthquake in 1819 maybe a bit far to remembered but it did changed the course of the Indus River and left behind this salt desert in Kutch. And again another earthquake in 2001 collapsed many of the buildings killed more than 10 thousands people in its capital city Bhuj120m. Love this place as soon as I arrived. Row of food stands lined the busy street not the standard samosa

Sawat dii kha from Bangkok

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First things first we read all the books and heeded all the warnings about the likelihood of being scammed and robbed as soon as we stepped off the plane at Bangkok and so determined it wouldnrsquot happen to us we headed to the taxi rank outside of the airport and managed to get all the way to the Khao San Road without anything untoward happening to us. Good start we thought but we certainl

A busy day touring Melbourne City

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I had bought a 65litre backpack in December for my trip which also had a 15litre day sack attached that you zip on and off. I seem to have collected quite a lot along the way so when I was in Cambodia I bought an extra day sack to stop my backpack from splitting. After routing through my stuff this morning I realised how much I could do without so to lighten the load I decided to pay for a cou

Day 7 Arsenal Visit OMGGGGG

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Today has to be the highlight of all the company visits we had so far we spent 3hrs at arsenal We went through to the diamond room exclusive to all the rich and famous Platinum holders. I guess that's the equivalent to the MCG lifetime membership. I actually felt extremely priviledged and exclusive to be a part of this tour group as I don't think anyone would have had the opportunity to take pic