A Scientific Response To The Cancellation Of NASA's Constellation Program

I agree entirely. To quote the great Daniel Burnham: make no small plans.

Bush made lots of expensive (and questionable) small plans regarding space exploration, and his administration was apt at spinning them as a great big plan (a great big plan that was never, in any way, funded to its necessity).

In reality, all that happened was nothing, save the expansion of the quasi-inspiring ISS (neither a space port nor a cost-effective scientific outpost) and the Hubble repair mission. And even the magnificently executed and scientifically invaluable latter, when one ponders it, is a failure to replace a great scientific resource with a better one. For over a decade, our government has failed to invest in a reasonable advancement over the space shuttles. Their proposed threadbare replacement, an over-glorified Saturn V rocket, inspires about as much awe as it does confidence.

NASA can do better; NASA will do better.

Note To John McCain: You Are A Loser

While his wife and daughter support LGBT equality,

Cindy McCain, Wife Of John, Supporting Marriage Equality

John McCain actually said the following this week:

I am immensely proud of, and thankful for, every American who wears the uniform of our country, especially at a time of war, and I believe it would be a mistake to repeal the [don't ask, don't tell] policy.

This successful policy has been in effect for over fifteen years, and it is well understood and predominantly supported by our military at all levels. We have the best trained, best equipped, and most professional force in the history of our country, and the men and women in uniform are performing heroically in two wars. At a time when our Armed Forces are fighting and sacrificing on the battlefield, now is not the time to abandon the policy.

This from the "moderate" and "independent" "rogue" of the Republican Party.

Really? The "most professional force in the history of our country" can execute 2 wars but can't handle honest queers in their midst? And the latter should not be able to list their beloved to be informed should they tragically die in the service of our country? Or to be able to have a partner visit a VA hospital when they return? Or to even comfortably and safely talk with a loved one, not just when on the battlefield, but when captured by the enemy? John McCain, hero of vets and the champion of our current war-fighters, considers this grotesque discrimination and affront to the common morale "successful." And no Republican said a word against him.

FUCK YOU JOHN MCCAIN!!! I would wish that your next cancer gets you good, but I'm not as grotesque and hateful as you. Or your former captors.

I voted for Obama. Don't ever ask me why again.

Veronica IS A Good Mentor

In case you missed this week's indescribably funny Better Off Ted:

We're back, baby!

Wife will have say in how Saban statue looks

Amateur Hour: Worse Than I Thought

Despite my Libertarian beliefs, I was happy enough to believe that a tax & spend President could at least fund something worthwhile. Short of removing all tax barriers for private space exploration (which no Congressman/woman will ever do), at least government could pave the way. Or so I thought.

from the Orlando Sentinel:

Obama aims to ax moon mission

NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon are dead. So are the rockets being designed to take them there — that is, if President Barack Obama gets his way.

When the White House releases his budget proposal Monday, there will be no money for the Constellation program that was supposed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The troubled and expensive Ares I rocket that was to replace the space shuttle to ferry humans to space will be gone, along with money for its bigger brother, the Ares V cargo rocket that was to launch the fuel and supplies needed to take humans back to the moon.

There will be no lunar landers, no moon bases, no Constellation program at all.

In their place, according to White House insiders, agency officials, industry executives and congressional sources familiar with Obama's long-awaited plans for the space agency, NASA will look at developing a new "heavy-lift" rocket that one day will take humans and robots to explore beyond low Earth orbit. But that day will be years — possibly even a decade or more — away.

In the meantime, the White House will direct NASA to concentrate on Earth-science projects — principally, researching and monitoring climate change — and on a new technology research and development program that will one day make human exploration of asteroids and the inner solar system possible.

Constellation: Earth, Moon, Mars

For St. Eugenius, AP Econ teacher

In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there's a "boom and bust" cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it.

We’ve been going back and forth for a century
[Keynes] I want to steer markets,
[Hayek] I want them set free
There’s a boom and bust cycle and good reason to fear it
[Hayek] Blame low interest rates.
[Keynes] No… it’s the animal spirits

What's Up With Fringe?

Is it just me, or were the last two Fringe episodes a bit...off? They weren't bad, but they weren't ancient-Chinese-remedy-squid-slugs good either.

I hear the next two episodes will be shockers. Here's hoping! This show ain't gonna stay on the air with a silly virus and mutated simple-folk episodes.

Greening Our World With Tentacles

I love Better Off Ted...

Need to See

Interview at Bloody Disgusting:
YellowBrickRoad: Directors Jesse Holland and Andy Mitton

Letterman Gets His Legs Back

This is the Letterman we all missed:

One Of Us Has To Get Crazy Rich

If one of us can just make or win millions, we will live happily ever after (and vertically) at Aqua.

So one of us is going to have to take one for the team and get drilled by an old rich guy. Since I'm the prettiest, you will all owe me one.

Aqua + Prarie Pre-Fab

I got a news flash a little while back and forgot to post it: another Chicago skyscraper was completed, and it's another first. When I saw it a few months ago, the roof still had a crane, but the building was mesmerizing nonetheless.

Aqua: The undulations are poured-in concrete balconies.

The 82-story hotel (eventually), apartment, and condo building is the world's tallest developed by an architectural firm headed by a woman.

Closer to the ground, Taliesin students have developed a prefab mod house for us all to drool over:

Can they make a non-desert, tornado-resistant model?

I love pretty.

Need to See

Das weisse Band

Two Things - Roll Tide

It seems that things are as they should be, we're #1.
And Tennessee is a laughing stock.

Two hilarious pieces of anti-Vol audio:
Crazed Phyllis from Mulga rips into Tennessee and their
booster Roy Adams on Finebaum
and
a Lane Kiffin parody song - "Runaway Lane".

All's right with the world.

My New Favorite Show Ever Du Jour Of The Week

I really should listen to Frank DeCaro when he says a show is funny:

Better Off Ted is fucking hilarious.

I [Heart] Pink

I admit, I don't understand Lady Gaga. Then again, I didn't understand Madonna (other than the Dick Tracy album) or Cher or Streisand or most of the other "divas" that the gays seem to love.

I do understand Cyndi, Patti, and Karen O. And I totally understand Pink. If I had a daughter, I would never let her listen to the shit music from any of the current women pop singers. Except Pink: I would force her to listen to Pink.

3 Years

I like that you can't smile. Bear never smiled either.

It only took 3 years to win the SEC Championship. That is a major accomplishment.

But 3 years to win the National Championship?

Thank you, Coach Saban. We almost forgot what it felt like to be Alabama.

Roll Tide.

Is it right to be, more than anything else, relieved?
It's simply Glorious.

DVR Alert! Part 2 The Sequel

New Fringe on Monday AND Thursday.

DVR Alert!

Celebrity Rehab starts tomorrow!

How The Mighty Have Shrunk

A new Russian boat in front of an old Soviet one.

You know who you are

iPhone Apps List 2010: 700+ Apps Reviewed by Category at Mashable

To help you out, we’ve compiled all of Mashable’s iPhone app reviews in a definitive list to kick off the year. From social media, to business tools, to just plain cool, the iPhone does it best with these App Store standouts.