Thank you, Grandpa
On the 68th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Houston Chronicle observes a sad fact: Read more...
carnaby fudge, Today, 2:14pm
DARPA/EERC green jet fuel wins Popular Science Best of What's New
Dispatches from the Final Frontier, Today, 2:21am
For my teen - who wants to be an engineer
From Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal Via SB7. Read more...
Space For Commerce, by Brian Dunbar, Today, 2:21am
Now that is a good dog
He counted loud he counted long he waited for the shock. Read more...
Space For Commerce, by Brian Dunbar, Today, 2:21am
Nigeria: FG Tasks Education Ministry On French Language - AllAfrica.com
Funmi OgundareLagosThe Curate of Education, Dr. Igwe Aja-Nwachuku have stressed the demand for State Ministries of Education to develop instructors of Gallic in sufficient measure and quality so as to adequately place the Nigerian kid to ran into the challenges of the future.Aja-Nwachukwu, who made this phone call at the commissioning ceremonial of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria Gallic Language Village, Computer Centre and pupils hostelry in Badagry, said his Ministry, as a substance of its policy, have ensured that children acquired basic proficiency in French linguistic communication in the course of study of the basic education. "To this end, State Ministry of Education must be prepared to cardinal into this vision of authorities by taking advantage of the installations for the acquisition of Gallic Language, a core topic at the Junior Secondary school level", he said. For the state to maximise the benefits... Read more...
Apolloera, Today, 2:21am
Unexpected Rainbows (Part 13)
Correspondent Alan Garde pointed me to this cool unexpected rainbow at Spaceweather (you will have to scroll down to see it, but a high resolution image is here). Not only has the glass of the bus stop acted as a prism to produce a spectrum, but you can also see the Fraunhofer lines in the spectrum. Read more...
Astroblog, Today, 2:21am
Everybody sing!
Jake Gissendanner: Every Shuttle is sacred, every Shuttle is great. If a Shuttle is wasted, God gets quite irate. Read more...
Space For Commerce, by Brian Dunbar, Yesterday, 2:14pm
This, Alanis, is ironic.
Lee: Don’t kill people with swords, kill them with plowshares. They’re sharp and heavy and if the wound or infection doesn’t kill them, the irony will. Read more...
Space For Commerce, by Brian Dunbar, Yesterday, 2:14pm
Launching the Space Age in 1926
On this day in 1926, Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid fueled rocket in a field in Auburn, Massachusetts. It reached an altitude of 41 feet and traveled 184 feet downrange. At the time, Goddard was a professor of physics at Clark University in nearby Worcester, MA. He had published papers on rocketry and had discussed the possibility of a rocket reaching the moon. He was ridiculed for these ideas, most famously in a 1920 New York Times editorial which questioned Prof. Goddard's understanding of basic physics, "since there is no... Read more...
Music of the Spheres, Yesterday, 2:13pm
Harvard CS Profs Question Trend
Despite a recent study saying that the figure of pupils countrywide who concentrate in computing machine scientific discipline have hit its last point in the last decade, Harvard University computing machine scientific discipline professors state that the tendency is not troubling. In a study aired on National Populace Radio (NPR) on Wednesday, one letter writer said that computing machine scientific discipline programmes across the state are facing an âenrollment crisis.â NPR reported that since the âdot-comâ roar ended in 2001, the figure of concentrators have been decreasing and now the figure have reached its last national level. But co-director of Undergraduate Studies in Computer Science Steven J. Gortler said the figure of computing machine scientific discipline concentrators have been increasing in recent years. âI donât believe the news is new at all,â Gortler said, adding that although the... Read more...
Apolloera, Yesterday, 2:22am
Education Loans - Enlightens the Path For a Prosperous Future
To prosecute a higher instruction of choice, one have to blast out a immense amount. In recent years, there have been a gradual addition in the cost pertaining to education. This is really concerning as owed to this reason; most of the pupils are not in a place to go on their higher studies. In these conditions, instruction loans can be of great aid as it supplies alleviation by taking attention of all the expenses. This loan installation turns out to be of rewarding option for the pupils in particular.One can easily beginning these loans from authorities federal agencies as well as from private lenders. The pupils also have got the option to help these loans from online lenders. Besides, online application of the loans do it extremely easy for the appliers to obtain the finance in a fuss free manner. The amount thus obtained can be used to take attention of disbursals such arsenic as paying admittance fees, library... Read more...
Apolloera, Yesterday, 2:22am
Degradation of Civility in the Passing Scene
I watched an old movie recently with a throw-away moment that showed how much civil behavior has degraded in this country. (I can't remember the title, but I think it had Fred MacMurray in it.) The scene: A woman reporter is about to enter an area where construction men are working, a tunnel or something, and MacMurray instructs the foreman to warn the men about her arrival "and tell them, for God's sake, to watch their language." Do men do that anymore? Why bother, when women don't watch their language anymore, either. Read more...
carnaby fudge, Yesterday, 2:22am
No
Got a questionnaire in the mail from the RNC yesterday. The questions are supposed to make me think they care about my opinion, but what they really wanted was my "most generous contribution." Here's what I sent them instead. Read more...
carnaby fudge, Yesterday, 2:22am
Finally Seen Comet Lulin
Last night, after waiting most of the week (and being defeated by cloud), I finally got to see comet Lulin. Read more...
davep's astronomy, Yesterday, 2:22am
Carnival of Space #145 is here.
Carnival of Space #145 is now up at Crowlspace. We have crafty telescope builders, handling real bits of the Moon, how impacts form, the 150 kiloton Jules Verne Nuclear Cannon (seriously), volcanoes on Io and much much more. Shoot on over and have a read. Read more...
Astroblog, Yesterday, 2:22am
Cower in Terror....Only not right now.
Gliese 710 hurtles towards an unsuspecting Sun (which is too dim to be seen in this Celestia image) Read more...
Astroblog, Yesterday, 2:22am
My Thoughts on Sarah Palin
I know I don't post on politics that often, and I don't want to turn this site into yet another political punditry place. Quite frankly there's far more than enough blogs like that out there, and the light to heat ratio among political blogs is pretty darned lousy. That said, I wanted to try and write down a few of my thoughts about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin, now that I've had the chance to mull things over a bit. Read more...
Selenian Boondocks, Yesterday, 2:22am
Random Thoughts: SSTOs
Ok, I asked people to put up suggestions on my Skribit account, and I figured it was about time to actually start responding to some of the suggestions. One of the topics someone asked about was if the Saturn S-IVB could be turned into an SSTO launch vehicle. While looking at the mass ratio, it may appear pretty close to an SSTO, it would've required a completely diferent propulsion system. The T/W ratio at takeoff would've been less than 1, and more importantly, the J-2 was designed for vacuum operations, not surface operations. So, no, the S-IVB wouldn't have made a good SSTO without a lot of work. Read more...
Selenian Boondocks, Yesterday, 2:22am
A Little Light Housekeeping
I have a cold, yet EldestOne needs transporting to his debate competition. Iron Chef has a new postdoc over at the RAH, Selenium Gal has won a prestigious award for her honours project, and is now doing a PhD, Frog Lady is also doing a PhD. The Masters Student has yet to start his work. The distant Uni wants it's eagl releases on intellectual property signed before I can start on the joint project. I have to help turn a research cluster into a research centre, and this week the Uni wants all us academics to keep a log of our research hours. Nothing but boredom here :-) Read more...
Astroblog, Mar 16, 2:14pm
Latter-Day Marines
Cory Doctorow watched a video of some guys speed assembling servers [1] Read more...
Space For Commerce, by Brian Dunbar, Mar 16, 2:22am
When More Is Not Enough
-- you need a prescription for Havidol. (Via The Scientist.) Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:22am
Space Access '07
Henry Cate III alerted me that this event is being blogged by several people who are smarter than I am and have more bandwidth besides, so graze on over to: Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:22am
OK, This Is A Month Late
-- and I'm not going into competition with Dan Bush, but here's a terrific submission from occasional contributor Ric Locke (click on image for full-size version, 1024 768): Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:22am
Heart of America Star Party, Tue 12 - Sun 17 Jun
I still wish they called it the Marais des Cygnes Star Party, but anyway, here's the website.You can read my report from last year's event here; pictures here. Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:22am
Lunar Eclipse Followup
(That would be this lunar eclipse.) Various people, including Phil Bowermaster and Rand Simberg, have linked to this amazing presentation of artwork by Rob Gonsalves, who seems to be the MC Escher of our time. I found this piece particularly appropriate: Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:22am
Where I Was, and What I Was Doing
I was at the secure but not undisclosed location from 9-19 March, helping adjacent property owners put in a new water system. Here's some pix (click on images for original size):Future site of Manifold Observatory. Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:22am
Fourteen Years Ago Today
-- was an event whose anniversary we must never forget.UPDATE: Heh. Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:21am
DSS Video
The Dark-Sky Site, venue for the upcoming Heart of America Star Party, is seen from an unusual viewpoint in this 1-minute, 44-second video (warning: 4.4 MB) taken, somehow, by ASKCer Dave Fox, who notes "you might want to turn down your speakers for this (it's loud)" and insists that "no planes or anything at the DSS was hurt in the filming of this movie." Play spot-the-facility, and enjoy! Read more...
¤, Mar 16, 2:21am
Phoenix Lander on Mars
This image of the Phoenix Lander on the surface of Mars was taken with the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter about 22 hours after Phoenix landed on the surface. The insets are closeups that are labeled and show not only the lander, but also the affects the landers rockets had on the surface surrounding the lander and also the heatshield and the backshell and parachute nearby on the Martian surface! You can even see some details in the parachute! Click on the image to see the full resolution version or visit the HiRISE website for this image... Read more...
Apollo, Space & Science, Mar 16, 2:21am
Atheism vs. Christian Theology 101
Some fascinating back and forth at Common Sense Atheism and Vox Popoli over the verity of Christianity and the nature of evil: Read more...
carnaby fudge, Mar 16, 2:21am
Comet Perseid
No, really, that's not a typo. Keep an eye out for Comet Perseid. Read more...
davep's astronomy, Mar 16, 2:21am
Orion's Sword
This is the trapezium in Orions' Sword as imaged with My Canon IXUS (ASA 1600, 1 sec exposure) attached to my 4" reflector using my camera adaptor. Click to embiggen. Read more...
Astroblog, Mar 16, 2:21am
The Sky This Week - Thursday March 18 to Thursday March 25
The First Quarter Moon is Tuesday March 23. Mars has faded but is still easily visible. Saturn is at its biggest and brightest on Monday March 22. It is seen in the evening above the eastern horizon near the bight stars Regulus and Spica. Venus appears low in the twilight. Jupiter is visible in the morning sky. Read more...
Astroblog, Mar 16, 2:21am