New telescope will hunt dangerous asteroids

NASA has already found 80% of the largest near-Earth objects (NEOs). That is a result of a 1998 order by the US Congress to identify 90% of NEOs larger than 1 kilometre across by the end of 2008. These giant space rocks would cause a global catastrophe if one were to strike the Earth (watch a Japanese simulation of the effects of a huge 100-km-wide impactor).

But in 2005, Congress asked NASA to extend the search down to objects 140 metres across, which can wreak havoc on smaller regions of the Earth, by 2020. PS1 is the first telescope built that is capable of turning up these smaller space rocks.

Hmmm - less than one year after my thesis was published... probably a coincidence but still very cool!

Money is Power

Frankly, I couldn't have said it better.

In short, democracy has become too expensive for the majority.... and so it doesn't exist. In practice, our democracy has become a Potemkin, Truman-world, charade – complete with irrelevant flag-burning, gay-bashing, issues to distract the masses.
As things stand, given today's lack of any substantial public campaign finance system, and media access rules, the first monies to seek office and pay for media must be raised primarily from rich and powerful persons and corporations. Under this system it is no surprise that mega-rich persons and leviathan corporations get the favors they need to maintain their stranglehold over our economy and political system - all while raking in billions in campaign ad revenue utilizing the people's own airwaves.

As things stand, with all the important issues and institutions, the rich and powerful control a candidate's ability to run, get nominated, obtain favorable media exposure, and also define his or her agenda as well. In this way the rich and powerful get what they want from a corrupt, money-grubbing, Congress and from both candidates and incumbents forced into a sick, money-is-everything, system....

Your friendly neighborhood Jihadi

This article from TIME makes some interesting points - most importantly, does innocent until proven guilty still apply? These days, I wonder...

Historically, it's been law enforcement's job to separate the genuinely scary people from the goofballs--particularly when the goofballs are American citizens whose eccentricities, however radical, are protected by the Constitution. But times change, and as shown by last week's indictments and dozens of other arrests over the past five years, the Bush Administration appears less focused on trying to gauge the ability of domestic terrorism suspects to carry out their wildest plots and more on rooting out those who may have the intent, though not yet the ability, to harm the United States...

"You find a reversal of the general posit that it is sufficient that 100 guilty men go free so that one innocent man is not convicted. It's now sound that 100 innocent men are swept up so that one guilty man not slip away."

In response to critics who noted that one of the few patterns to emerge from domestic prosecutions is that the suspects seem too incompetent to carry out the deeds they're accused of, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty acknowledged last week that the Department of Justice's goal is "prevention through prosecution."

Two sides of the coin

Let's face it boys and girls - both sides cannot understand the others point of view without spending some time in eachothers shoes. You cannot judge a person because of where he lives (ie - the West) or by to who and how he prays (ie Muslims). It is simple stereotyping and both sides are very guilty of this. Before you condem one side or the other, I must ask if you really know them - or are you just relying on opinions you see on the news or that others tell you. I have been personally friends with Muslims that are not fanatical or violent - I have also been friends with Westerners that are not selfish or immoral. I know first hand that both sides are wrong. Spend a little time trying to understand who you hate and you might find that you lose the basis for that hate. No good can come of blind dislike - the way to a lasting peace is through words - not arms.

Researchers canvassed the opinions of 14,000 people in 13 countries and came up with some good numbers on the gulf between the West and Muslims - and perhaps a bit of hope too.

Many Westerners see Muslims as fanatical, violent and intolerant, according to the study by the Pew Research Center in Washington.

Muslims, for their part, tend to view the West as selfish, immoral, and greedy - as well as fanatical and violent...

Westerners, by large margins, do not regard Muslims as "respectful of women", while majorities in four of the five Muslim countries said the same about the West.

Still don't think the war was politics? Listen to a CIA perspective...

Paul Pillar served for 30 years as an analyst at the CIA, finishing his career as the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia. In that role, he was involved in compiling the intelligence leading up to the Iraq war and afterwards. Since retiring, Pillar has written an article in Foreign Affairs criticizing what he saw as the politicization of intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war. Here, Pillar expands on that point and discusses the writing of the flawed 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq's weapons-of-mass-destruction program; the faulty intelligence that made it into President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address; the 2004 National Intelligence Estimate on the aftermath of the Iraq war, which was leaked in the middle of the presidential campaign; his opinions on controversial practices such as renditions and torture; and changes at the CIA since the resignation of George Tenet.

Read the full interview for more info at the link above or at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/interviews/pillar.html

North Dakota

As our time in ND comes to a close, I thought it might be nice to make a vid to look back...

What's the value of space?

People imagine that when they spend a billion dollars on the space program that we pile a bunch of money under the rocket and burn dollar bills to provide thrust... The fact is that the national space program is a jobs program. We provide high-tech jobs that feed families, support communities and trickle down to sub-contracts in nearly every state of the US. Not to mention the products that are created (ever heard of invisilign braces?, smoke detectors?, bar codes?, temperpedic foam?). Finally - and perhaps most important of all - what is the value of knowledge? Is there a value to knowing who we are and where we come from? How the universe works? Are we alone?

One of the challenges the space community has grappled with for years is raising awareness of space programs with the general public. Jeff Foust reports on a recent forum that discussed the topic, but wonders if this is even the right debate to be having.

Virgin Galactic unveils SS2 details and Space sex

To bad I don't have $200,000 - still, sounds great. Go Burt go! On a related note, did anyone else notice that the latest "girls gone wild" commercial included KC-135 weightlessness? (including a guy with a NASA patch on his jumper...) Sex in space... I really need to change my dissertation to that... now that would be a fun research project...

SpaceShipTwo will be much larger than SS1, carrying 6 passengers and 2 pilots. The vehicles will be carried into the air by bigger versions of the White Knight aircraft. Once they fire their new hybrid rocket motors, the vehicles will be capable of reaching an altitude of 140 km. Brave passengers will experience 5 minutes of weightlessness, where they might be allowed to float around the cabin. They’ll have to hurry back to their chairs; however, as they’ll suffer 7Gs of force as the vehicle decelerates back through the atmosphere.

Scaled Composites is still working on the vehicles, with the first test flights in 2007. Virgin Galactic hopes to have paid customers launched by 2008 or 2009. The company claims they already have 100 founder members who’ve already set aside $200,000 for one of the first flights.

Physics for the aggressive minded

There have been repeated calls from the hawks to weaponize space and create orbiting bombardment platforms to 'maintain US space and land superiority...' - well... other than being a really bad idea - there is that pesky problem of physics... perhaps you've heard of it.... I'm sure somehow you'll get more funding from my tax dollars to persue this type of crazy scheme with no hope of success (and claim you are making me safer somehow...) meanwhile the science budget is getting hacked to bits and the space exploration budget is grossly under funded...

By Whatever Means Necessary...?

It does not speak well to the intentions of the US if we need to become an enemy to liberty and justice to defeat an enemy. No. No excuses. No justifications. It's just wrong. Running a prison that holds people who are not even charged with a crime is NOT what the US stands for. It stinks and stands as an insult to our Founding Fathers and the ideals we are supposed to be fighting to protect.

Lawyers for the detainees, human rights groups and legal associations have increasingly questioned whether many of the prisoners can even rightfully be called terrorists. They note that only 10 of the roughly 465 men held at Guantánamo have been charged before military tribunals, and that recently released documents indicate that many have never been accused even in administrative proceedings of belonging to Al Qaeda or attacking the United States.

Whaling nations set for majority

I'm tempted to make a Star Trek IV reference - but I'll refrain - so you pro-whaling nations want to hunt and kill whales by whatever means you choose for profit - but don't actually want to eat them (and don't tell me there is a viable market for oils when so many other things are cheaper and simpler to make than by catching and extracting whale fat...) - If the prime ministers of Japan and Norway will sit down and eat an entire whale on TV, I'd consider letting this pass...

Though it is unlikely to return to full-scale commercial whaling, a simple majority would be enough to end IWC work on issues such as welfare and killing methods, whale-watching and anything concerning small cetaceans such as dolphins.

Pro-whaling nations insist that a limited return to commercial hunting is possible; stocks of some species are high enough, they maintain, charging that the IWC has become an organisation dedicated to preventing whaling, contrary to its purpose.

Yet...

"None of the pro-whaling nations have markets for the meat; young Japanese, Icelanders and Norwegians don't eat it, consumption is falling."

The US is not a Thoecracy

The Senate voted down a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, but Republicans planned a vote in the House of Representatives to keep a national spotlight on the hot-button issue.

Let's see, we're in the middle of a dubious and never ending war (and several other military 'actions') - our economy is fair at best (unless you are already really rich) - gas prices are through the roof - students can barely afford education without creating an enormous debt (not to mention our education system is failing as scores continue to decline) - our environment is getting trampled in the name of profitability - etc.

Is same sex marriage really worth even talking about - what a lame political stunt. I couldn't care less one way or the other - but I do know that I will vote AGAINST any official who supports this - not because of my views on the issue - but because it is NOT our governments place to limit rights and freedoms through legislated morality. WE ARE NOT A THEOCRACY AND WE NEVER WILL BE. IF YOU WANT THAT - MOVE TO IRAN.

Kids To Space

With seven chapters contributed by Laura and I!

Based on an imaginary trip to space with America's school children, Kids to Space: A Space Traveler's Guide is a comprehensive collection of children's questions about traveling to and living in space. From black holes to possible destinations, from group dynamics to weightlessness, from medical concerns to space communities, internationally recognized experts in each field provide answers to 100 different categories of student questions, making the book a fascinating space guide, not just for kids but for all who have ever wondered about the universe and dreamed of what it would be like to be a space traveler.

North Dakota Space Grant Planetary Spacesuit

A very successful field test showing both mobility and flexibility. Music by Tharsis Drip - live from Mars.

New Horizons Crosses The Asteroid Belt

Holy crap - this thing is really cooking!!

New Horizons has entered the main asteroid belt and will be traversing this part of our solar system through August.

Raiders Of The Lost Dimension

A new state of matter - the Bose Einstein condensate (BEC) - absolutely stunning work (with some potentially stunning implications) from the folks at Los Alamos

A team of scientists working at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Pulsed Field Facility at Los Alamos has uncovered an intriguing phenomenon while studying magnetic waves in barium copper silicate, a 2,500-year-old pigment known as Han purple.
The researchers discovered that when they exposed newly grown crystals of the pigment to very high magnetic fields at very low temperatures, it entered a rarely observed state of matter. At the threshold of that matter state--called the quantum critical point-the waves actually lose a dimension.

That is, the magnetic waves go from a three-dimensional to a two-dimensional pattern. The discovery is yet another step toward understanding the quantum mechanics of the universe.

Marillion: The Damage, Live from the London Astoria 2004



Did you let the genie out of the box?

If you haven't seen Marillion live - what are you waiting for?

Save Net Neutrality and a Free Internet

As the House of Representatives prepares to vote this week on whether to protect Internet freedom, a funny new video about Net Neutrality was released online today by the SavetheInternet.com Coalition and PoliticsTV.com. While corporations like AT&T are spending millions in paid advertising, lobbying, and campaign contributions to convince Congress to give them control over what you see and do online, MoveOn is empowering regular Internet users to fight back by using the magic of the Internet.

Click here to watch Moby take on Washington DC

SavetheInternet.com Coalition members have already collected 750,000 signatures which we will deliver this week—and this number grows every day.


Click here to see how you can help.



How does this threat to Internet freedom affect you?

• Google users—Another search engine could pay dominant Internet providers like AT&T to guarantee the competing search engine opens faster than Google on your computer.
  
• Innovators with the "next big idea"—Startups and entrepreneurs will be muscled out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for dominant placing on the Web. The little guy will be left in the "slow lane" with inferior Internet service, unable to compete.
  
• Ipod listeners—A company like Comcast could slow access to iTunes, steering you to a higher-priced music service that it owned.
  
• Political groups—Political organizing could be slowed by a handful of dominant Internet providers who ask advocacy groups to pay "protection money" for their websites and online features to work correctly.
  
• Nonprofits—A charity's website could open at snail-speed, and online contributions could grind to a halt, if nonprofits can't pay dominant Internet providers for access to "the fast lane" of Internet service.
  
• Online purchasers—Companies could pay Internet providers to guarantee their online sales process faster than competitors with lower prices—distorting your choice as a consumer.
  
• Small businesses and tele-commuters—When Internet companies like AT&T favor their own services, you won't be able to choose more affordable providers for online video, teleconferencing, Internet phone calls, and software that connects your home computer to your office.
  
• Parents and retirees—Your choices as a consumer could be controlled by your Internet provider, steering you to their preferred services for online banking, health care information, sending photos, planning vacations, etc.
  
• Bloggers—Costs will skyrocket to post and share video and audio clips—silencing citizen journalists and putting more power in the hands of a few corporate-owned media outlets.
  

Don't let the big boys ruin the net!

Itokawa asteroid is 40% empty!

We know with reasonable certainty the composition of VERY few asteroids. Mapping orbits to find one heading our way is only step one - without an understanding of their compositions and structure, the chances of moving one, deflecting one, mining one or anything else are zero. There are less than 20 scientists in the world working on this issue directly - looking for an exciting line of work?

"Five years ago, we thought that we would see a big chunk of monolithic rock, that something so small doesn't have the ability to hold onto any pieces," says Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at the University of California in Santa Cruz, US, who is not involved with the mission. "Everything we suspected about it turned out to be wrong."

The spacecraft showed a surface littered with boulders and gravel, suggesting it was made of the debris from a larger asteroid that was shattered in a past collision.