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Thursday, 30 September 2004
Blogpoints
I've decided to do another trial of the Blogpoints next month. I'll zero out the accounts tomorrow and start over for the month of October. The person with the most Blogpoints at the end of the month wins a set of official NASA Expedition 8 trading cards (and I reserve the right to sweeten the pot during the month if I find Blogpoints will be awarded via the playlists, trivia questions, and possibly other ways (Suggestions on ways to award Blogpoints are very welcome).
To start things off:
How many of SpaceShipOne's three seats do you think will be filled for the X2 X Prize flight, and who do you think will fill them? Five Blogpoints per correct seat assignment.
As a hint, here's the SS1 pilot corps.
Daily Hatbag
The cool thing about this strip is the way the right side of Hippie's body develops between the first and second panels.
A Better Future
Why SpaceDev's Jim Benson believes the Rutan/Branson take on space tourism isn't what the industry needs, and how he plans to do it better with Dream Chaser.
Isn't It Ironic?
Richard Branson's Virgin Group will be divesting itself of its ISP division in order to focus on Virgin Galactic.I found this bit kinda amusing, though:
The Internet service provider, a joint venture that launched in 1996 with Branson wearing a silver space suit as he burst through a polystyrene wall, will retain the Virgin name.
Expedition 10 Update
A launch date of October 14 for Expedition 10 is expected to be finalized tomorrow.
Beyond The Blue
It's been in the news that IBM now has the fastest supercomputer in the world (reg.req.) at 36.1 teraflops, but that's likely to change hands soon:There's a new contender on the horizon, though, a NASA system called Columbia that SGI is building with 10,240 Intel Itanium processors. Intel President Paul Otellini said in September the system will be finished in 2004 and will have a speed of 60 teraflops.
And, of course, the Mac-powered supercomputer at Virginia Tech, while not a contender for the Number One spot, will still be high on the list with its newest iteration.
Demallification
For the current and former Oxonians in the audience, this story Joe sent me from The Oxford Eagle about the future of the Oxford Mall may be of some interest.I'd almost be willing to bet that the revitalization of the OM won't include a return of the "Think Pink" theme that was the Mall's trademark when first it came into my life. (more)
Dawn Of The Good Jupiters
To date, almost all of the extrasolar planets that have been discovered are Jupiter-equivalents or larger, but almost all have been in orbits very different from that of Jupiter; either super-close to their stars or in comet-style oval orbits. Both of those would be less hospitable to having an Earth-like presence in the same stellar system. So why are there no Jupiters like our Jupiter out there? As it turns out, the reason is that such planets, while relatively easy (compared to an Earth-like planet in an Earth-like orbit) to detect, take a long time to confirm due to their much-longer orbit. But, enough time has past since planet-hunting began in earnest that more Jupiter-type planets in Jupiter-type orbits should start be announced soon. Those worlds, in turn, will mark promising targets for the next generation of planet-hunting tools, which make the discovery of terrestrial worlds easier.
Insanely Great Spaceflight
This story about the SpaceShipOne flight yesterday is pretty interesting, but I thought I'd share this bit towards the end.Guess which company is the best analogy for the paradigm-shifting coolness of the beginning of the era of personal spaceflight?
Yep:
"We have finally, after 40 years of waiting, the beginning of the personal spaceflight revolution," said Peter Diamandis, chairman and founder of the X Prize Foundation. "Just the same way that we had the personal computer revolution coming out of (Apple computer co-founders Steve) Jobs and (Steve) Wozniak, we really do have the personal spaceflight revolution. ...
"I've been asked so many times what difference does this make. Spaceflight has been around for 40 years. Why is it different now? Well, it's different now because these are finally spaceships that you can personally own and tickets you can personally buy just the way the Apple computer was different because it was a computer you could own."
Rutan agreed, saying he believed "the aerospace primes" - Boeing, Lockheed Martin and other major contractors - "will be building low-cost human carrying spaceships, they just don't know that yet."
"I think it's very, very similar to IBM in 1975 before Jobs and Wozniak went to work," Rutan said. "IBM didn't know that they'd be building $700 computers. But they did, they had to. And I think we are likely going to see the same thing happen with rocketry."
Current Delta, Atlas and Titan rockets build by Boeing and Lockheed Martin are similar, Rutan said, to "those big old dinosaur mainframes that IBM was making a few of and saying there's not much market here and why would a person want a computer? I really think that that is going to happen with striking parallel."
Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Blogschwartz
Doubt the phenomenal power of ATW? It wasn't that long ago I blogged about Spaceballs, and now work is underway on a sequel.
Congratulations!
One down, one to go!
Kudos to Mike Melvill and Scaled.
Photo from CNN.
Daily Hatbag
Here ya go.
Today In History
Sixteen years ago today, NASA accomplished the goal that the agency is working toward today: Return to Flight. Over 2 1/2 years after the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger on its 51-L mission, the Space Shuttle Discovery launched on the STS-26 mission. Discovery will once again handle RTF duties next year.
Everyone Complains About The Weather
You know, despite being kinda silly, this is flattering, in a weird sort of way. I wonder how many other organizations believe would assume have this sort of power:At the end of the commission's meeting, Aiken called on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to seek a way - short of using a nuclear bomb - of destroying hurricanes when they form in the Atlantic and before they can menace Florida. ...
Aiken replied that NASA obviously had not been trying hard enough and that if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
"We are like ducks in a shooting gallery," she said. "Mother Nature is a terrorist."
Technology Of The Future
NASA has selected 12 proposals for technologies for space exploration. They include such things as a lunar-based telescope, imrpoved radiation shielding, a lunar space elevator, and "Redesigning Living Organisms to Survive on Mars."
Mach 10
Monday's captive-carry flight of the X-43A Hyper-X scramjet was successful, paving the way for a record-setting Mach 10 flight of the final X-43A in November.
Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
Almost time for Darkwing Duck. If you're into that sort of thing.
RTF Update
From The Orlando Sentinel (via The Kansas City Star):Top National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials will meet Friday to begin formally considering the practical effect of the lost time and whether it makes an already tight schedule impossible to stick to. ...
Although KSC lost only two workdays to Jeanne and one to Charley, Frances cost the center seven workdays. And that's not counting the time and effort to button down for a storm and to ramp back up after the danger passes. All told, Kennedy said 16 days - more than three workweeks - were lost.
T -1 Day
SpaceShipOne will make its first X Prize-attempt flight tomorrow.
Live Webcast coverage begins at 8 a.m. CDT tomorrow.
Time is also running out to have your name flown on the flight by joining the X Prize Foundation for just $20.
Happy Anniversary!
Yesterday marked a major anniversary for the European SMART-1 probe, which has been on its way to the Moon for a year now. The probe should arrive in lunar orbit in mid-November, completing the 4 1/2-day trip in only 13 1/2 months.
Expedition 10 Update
The launch of Expedition 10 has been delayed again due to further technical problems with the Soyuz launch vehicle that is to carry them to ISS.
That's The Spirit
In an impressive bit of imaging, the Mars Global Surveyor has taken pictures from orbit that show the Spirit rover and even the tracks the rover has left in the Martian regolith on its way to Bonneville Crater.
And, Admiral...
I missed this yesterday in the excitement of the announcement of the new Virgin spaceline, but this is rather cool:The world's first passenger spacecraft will almost certainly be named Enterprise.
Bottom Line
Per LinuxInsider:So, bottom line, are PCs cheaper than Macs? No, despite what you read in the PC press, it's the other way around. Compare Apples to apples, and Macs are cheaper than PCs.
On a barely related note, this is kinda cool.
There's A Bathroom On The Right
Go outside tonight, and the next few nights, and you'll see a Harvest Moon. Tomorrow, there will even be a full Harvest Moon. For five blog points, how is a Harvest Moon different from the "normal" Moon? Hint: Your answer should not include the words "Neil Young."
Monday, 27 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
Here's part two of Jesse's little brother series.
Regular Richie Feature
Recent Hatbag.net search strings:- spare time (the number one search string, and, with initial caps, the ninth one)
- willer lite (the number two search string)
- Willer Lite (the number three search string--and it looks like ATW has overtaken in blog in the Google results, again)
- bathroom graphitti (Because of this post--the second-listed search result in Google for the term.)
- lots a pizza
- popeye naked chicken
- Paul Neil Milne Johnstone
- all song worlds
- bear fight
- comic book jobs
- how to use your spare time
- klipper spacecraft
- lain hughes
- orry Mr. Gorsky
- resume of the smallville premiere (This one may be my favorite--"Well, in 1998, I had a bit part as the third episode of that season of The Drew Carey show...")
Also from my Webstats, for the second week in a row, Friday was the best day ever for Hatbag.net traffic, blowing away even last week's previous high. No clue why, but it's kinda cool.
T -2 Days
The X Prize competition could be over within a week. Scaled Composites will make the first prize-attempt flight of SpaceShipOne Wednesday, and has scheduled what would be the prize-winning second flight one week from today.
Hurricane Update
Space.com has a few more details on Jeanne's impact at KSC.
Space: Virgin Territory
Per SpaceDaily:British airline magnate Richard Branson announced a hugely ambitious plan Monday for the world's first commercial space flights, saying he would send "thousands" of fee-paying astronauts into orbit in the next five years. ...
Addressing reporters in central London, Branson said that the new firm -- Virgin Galactic -- would launch its maiden flight in only three years, and that he would be on the very first trip into space.
That said, despite the article's claim that Virgin Galactic will send people "into orbit," there's no mention of a spacecraft, other than the licensing agreement with Scaled and references to the suborbital SpaceShipOne.
Addendum: VirginGalactic.com
Addendum: OK, I'm sorry; I love Apple, I truly do; but Steve Jobs has some catching up to do on the coolness quotient. Virgin also launched an online music service today.
"We've got a new online music service. Cheaper than other subscription services. It'll bridge our store and the internet.
"And one more thing:
"We're gonna send thousands of people into space!"
Now, that's just cool. Possibly even insanely great.
X-Squared
So it turns out that we may owe the future to a chain of cheap hotels.Spaceflight Now has an article about Bigelow Aerospace's efforts to develop inflatable space station modules. Working with JSC, the company hopes to have a crew on an inflatable module by the end of the decade.
But, not content with stopping there, Bigelow is taking things a step further, trying to leverage the Budget Suites fortune toward the creation of commercial spacecraft to ferry passengers to his orbital facilities.
He's putting up half of what will be a $50 million prize for the development of a private orbital spacecraft.
While the work (and cost) involved in developing such a spacecraft probably exceeds the five-times-greater-than-subortibal factor by which the prize exceeds the X Prize, the America's Prize will probably have a greater built-in market, potentially servicing both public and private orbital facilities.
So Close...
This blog has said, repeatedly, to anyone that will listen and some who won't, that NASA needs to be in movie theaters. If every movie you go see can be preceded by a solicitation to join the military, why can't NASA use some big screen real estate? How incredibly cool would it have been to see some of NASA's mind-blowing mission animations in theatrical format? Put one of those before the right movie, and internet traffic will be beating down the agency's virtual door.So how excited was I to see this headline at Spaceflight Now: NASA is showing in a theater near you
Answer: More excited, it turns out, than I should have been.
Oh well.
Bully!
It's completely unnecessary for the erudite ATW audience, of course, but Newsarama has the author's complete page-by-page guide to all the references in Tales From The Bully Pulpit.Cooler yet is this bit of news from the last graf:
Wow, that took a lot longer than I thought. Hopefully we've all learned something here (cuz knowledge is power!). I'm going to go back to working on Tales from the Bully Pulpit vol 2: Legend of the Black Maria.
Sunday, 26 September 2004
Armageddon Notice
Just wanted to give my readers a fair notice that the world will probably end this year shortly after Thanksgiving, so be making any appropriate plans and arrangements. After this weekend it has become apparent that the only possible outcome for the Egg Bowl this year is for both Ole Miss and Mississippi State to lose, a paradox that will rip apart the very fabric of the universe.
Unfortunately, really.
X Prize Update
The beginning of the most exciting week in spaceflight history was to have been just days away, but now the Ansari X Prize is Scaled Composite's to lose.The Da Vinci project's Wild Fire spacecraft had been scheduled to make its maiden spaceflight between SpaceShipOne's two prize-attempt flights, but now the Wild Fire flight has been delayed, and the new launch date has not yet been announced, meaning that the Prize now likely belongs to Scaled unless one of the SS1 flights is unsuccessful.
Hurricane Update
Per Florida Today:
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.- NASA's three space shuttles are just fine, but the already damaged Vehicle Assembly Building lost more of wall panels to Hurricane Jeanne overnight and this morning.
Saturday, 25 September 2004
Keep On Trucking
Lain pointed this out to me a while back, and I've been forgetting to post it:
Apparently, not only did NASA's Sun-observation space probe crash:
Today In History
On this date 31 years ago, the SL-3/Skylab II crew of Alan Bean, Owen Garriott and Jack Lousma returned to Earth after spending nearly 60 days in space, more than twice the previous duration record.
Apple-ogitics
I've put off this post because I wanted to wait 'til I had time to spend on it, but unfortunately, I've put it off so long that I've forgotten most of what I wanted to say.I've had some conversations with PC users recently that got me thinking about the platforms. (more)
Friday, 24 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
I'd never noticed before that in this series of strips BG leaves his little brother with Hippie to "run some errands" for a couple of days. That really strikes me as more than just "errands."
Foaled Again
More links to stories from Foale's visit here Wednesday:
The Huntsville Times: Keeping astronauts busy and using proper equipment may be the secret to squeezing science work out of the International Space Station with a small crew, astronaut Michael Foale said here Wednesday.
WAFF: He holds the U.S. record for having spent the longest time in space and on Wednesday Michael Foale spent some time in Huntsville.
Decatur Daily: NASA may have discovered its best spokesman and chief advocate Wednesday in the form of Mike Foale, commander of Expedition 8.
That last piece is particularly interesting (though I should note that, contrary to their report, Foale has 374 days in space, not hours). I still believe that the person whom NASA should be putting before the public, even more than Foale, is Eileen Collins. I would love to see Foale in that role, as he's unbelievably brilliant, but doubt that he's adequately politic (which is not a criticism at all). Still, the article comes pretty close to capturing one of the more interesting things Foale had to say--that we should start making the most of the resources we already have.
Heavy, Dude
OK, this is a first--an article on SpaceDaily that not only seems pretty rational, but which I even agree makes some good points. The article makes the arguement that a true heavy-lift launch vehicle is needed and could even make economic sense. Unless I missed it, the article, interestingly, doesn't address the Vision at all, but obviously there would be huge potential benefits for exploration from the development of an HLLV.
Yep, Again
There was a noticeable sigh of relief when Kennedy Space Center (and other NASA centers) avoided damage from Hurricane Ivan right on the heels of KSC's hit from Francis. But, now, KSC is under the gun again, this time from Jeanne.
How Do You Like Them Apples?
Per Cult Of Mac:Over the summer there was a weird shift in the media concerning the cost of Macs. Instead of the usual Macs are "more expensive," I read several times that Macs are suddenly "more affordable."
Thursday, 23 September 2004
This Week At NE
This week at NASAexplores, I've got an article about the ultracool X-29, with its forward-swept wings. Also, Maggie's got a piece about how space research is forwarding ultrasound technology, and we've got a piece about an experiment that was left on the Moon during Apollo that's still increasing our knowledge of astrophysics.
Play That Funky Music
So yesterday was a big first in the history of ATW: This blog received a generous donation which will help keep one of the new features going.Specifically, Lain was kind enough to give to ATW an endowment consisting of 87 playlist ideas, which will keep things going over there for quite a while.
As a result, you'll note that the box header for the playlist has been changed from "ATW Playlist" to "LHH Playlist," denoting the official change to "Lain Hughes Honorary Playlist," in thanks for his donation.
The LHH Playlist becomes the third regular Daveblog feature named after a reader, joining the "Regular Richie Feature," in which I list search strings that have brough people to Hatbag.net recently, and the "Jason Smith Free Blog," in which I create a post purely to let people post random comments about whatever's on their mind (That said, I haven't posted a JSFB in a while--Need to do that soon).
I was considering adding a sub-feature to the Playlist feature, and restoring the Blogpoints system. When I post a playlist, I'll pick a song that fits the theme, and whoever posts the song I'm thinking of gets a certain number of points. Blogpoints could theoretically be given out for other things as well; e.g. trivia questions, et al.
Also, while we're on the subject, how long should playlists be left up. Have I been changing them too quickly? Too slowly?
Daily Hatbag
Another timeless classic from the Hatbag files.
Take A Meme, Pass It On
Five Questions For Bloggers:1) Why did you start a blog?
'Cause it looked cool, and because I wanted to be able to start a community to discuss things I found interesting with friends.
2) Do you have a blogmother/blogfather?
Definitely. If it weren't for Deedee, I wouldn't be doing this. Hers was the first blog I read on a regular basis, and she made it look really cool. Plus, she helped me a lot when I was still learning the ropes of blogbuilding (Today, of course, ATW is way more impressive than her blog, which hasn't changed since I've been reading it
)I owe a huge debt of gratitude for both the inspiration and assistance.3. Has it helped/hurt/had no effect on your professional life?
No direct impact, though it's arguably helped me focus and organize my space news reading
4. Do your 'real world' friends know that you blog?
Um, yeah
5. Do you have a blog crush?
No.
Greetings, Starfighter!
Oh, man, here's a road trip I wanna take:The Last Starfighter, a world premiere science fiction musical inspired by the 1984 screenplay of the motion picture of the same name, will open the 2004-05 season of Off Broadway's Storm Theatre, Oct. 15-30.
Today In History
On this date in 1846, Johann Gottfried Galle discovered the planet Neptune. Also, 8 years ago today, astronaut Shannon Lucid (finally) left the Mir space station after setting spaceflight duration records for both NASA and women. She still holds the women's duration record, but the NASA record, of course, is now held by the Mike Foale.
Picture Of The Day
Now that's a computer I wouldn't mind having. Courtesy Apple, natch.
Either/Or? Both!
Per SpaceDaily:The next crew of the International Space Station (ISS) is to contribute to the Russian search for a vaccine against AIDS, Russian cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov said on Thursday.
Back On Earth
The Decatur Daily has a story about Mike Foale's presentation at Marshall yesterday about his experiences on Expedition 8.I did get to talk with Foale one-on-one for quite a while yesterday, and my high opinion of him rose even higher. He's a true gentleman, saying again that he had enjoyed our on-orbit earlier this year, which he apparently really did remember. That said, he just really gets it--someone whose opinions on spaceflight and its future I find just dead on. He said he wants to stay with NASA and move into training astronauts for exploration missions, which would be great; he's the best long-duration guy in the corps, and his insight would certainly point those who will be going to the Moon and Mars in the right direction.
I realized yesterday another of his many distinctions as an astronaut--When the first scientist-astronauts were selected over 40 years ago, they arguably took a back seat to the pilot astronauts, with only one scientist-astronaut, Harrison Schmitt, flying in the Apollo program. With the Shuttle program, scientist-astronauts became mission specialists, and while they outnumbered pilot astronauts in the number flying, the mission commander was always the guy that could fly the Shuttle home. That changed last year, when Mike Foale became NASA's first mission specialist ever to command a spaceflight.
Apple Bites
PC Magazine: "It's about time they designed a computer like this."
Time: The iMac G5 is super suave, but it's also a pretty good deal.
WSJ's Walter Mossberg: I am writing these words on the most elegant desktop computer I've ever used, a computer that is not only uncommonly beautiful but fast and powerful, virus-free and surprisingly affordable.
Columbia Spectator: Following iPod Craze and Concerns Aout PCs Crashing, More Students Buy Macs
TechWorld: Microsoft server crash nearly causes 800-plane pile-up
Infoworld: Exploit posted for Microsoft JPEG flaw
Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
Lain gave this strip some weird French title (as seen in the URL), and I keep forgetting what it means.
Thanks!
With the stats for only about two-thirds of the month available, traffic for the Hatbag.net server for the month of September has far outstripped any month previously, with 500 visits more so far than in all of Sept. 2003, the previous high. The servers daily visit average is roughly double the average for previous months, and last Friday was far and away the all-time single day visit record.Much thanks to the entire audience for reading, and supergratitude to the community of posters who make this a far more interesting place than my ramblings alone.
Today In History
(Plagiarized directly from collectSPACE, without adding anything or even trying to reword it. Sorry, Robert [Hey, you can't mess with greatness, right?])1973: Alan Bean and Owen Garriott spacewalk to collect film and material samples outside Skylab.
Politics Of The Future
Thought I'd share this contest from Cosmic Log, in which you write a science-fiction story set in the future based on how life will be better if your candidate wins the election. (Jordan should so do this; I'd love to read what he came up with.)
The Battle Continues
Space Politics has a brief commentary on the current status of the deliberations over NASA's FY05 budget.
Expedition 10 Update
The launch of Expedition 10 has been rescheduled for October 11, 2 days later than originally planned due to repairs to a glitch in the spacecraft's docking system.In other Russian space news, Rosaviakosmos has agreed to launch the first South Korean cosmonaut in 2007.
Personal Note
So I got to use a sequence of words earlier today that I can't say that I'd ever told anyone before:
"The last time we talked, you were in space."
Let me just say, I love my job.
Continuing Mission
The Mars rovers are back on duty after a brief vacation, and have been approved for 6 more months of funding (assuming they continue to function).
Hunter/Prey
I posted something quite a while back about a guy I knew in Sunflower County who had been charged with attempted murder. Robert Hunter was a school principal for the county school district, a one-time candidate for superintendent there (and apparently was running for superintendent of whatever county Clarksdale is in [Can't believe I don't remember that]), and a member of my class of Leadership Sunflower County. The Commercial Appeal(reg.req.) has the rest of the story: (more)
Tuesday, 21 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
Please enjoy some Daily Hatbag. Thank you.
Shopping Guide, Con't
Another great gift idea for Dave (And how appropriate would it be for this blog to have it!)
World's Worst Detective
What If Batman Had A Really Small Brain? (Be sure to read both parts.)
Picture Of The Day
A piece of Space Shuttle Columbia, now identified as being Window No. 8 was recently found in Angelina County, Texas. NASA image courtesy Spaceref.
Wow
Would you have believed this 15 years ago?
A Russian airplane, "loaded with video, optical panoramic and framing cameras for daylight photography, infra-red line scanners for a day/night capability, and synthetic aperture radar for all-day/all-night and all-weather capability," will be performing observations of U.S. territory.
Under the Open Skies Treaty, the flyover is the second Russian Observation Mission in the United States. ...
The Russian team will negotiate a mission route of up to 2,980 miles. The Treaty allows Russia, as the observing party, to image any point on the territory of the U.S. along the agreed flight plan. ...
Last June, Russia and Belarus conducted the first of their two observation missions over the United States.
The Dream Is Alive
Work has been announced on a private spacecraft which could carry passengers into orbit. Well, kinda.Per Space.com:
SpaceDev is designing a piloted sub-orbital spacecraft that could eventually be scaled up for orbital flights. ... Dream Chaser, as the vehicle is known, could make its maiden flight by 2008 if it is fully funded.
SpaceDev is probably best known by ATW readers for developing the hybrid rocket engine for SpaceShipOne.
By JIMO
The Jovian moons are another step closer with the selection of a contractor for the design of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter mission. Northrop Grumman was given a contract for co-designing the spacecraft, currently scheduled for launch, I believe around 2015. It's so frustrating for me to read about the stuff going on now on this spacecraft, only to realize we won't get any information from it for another 20 years. I found this mission extremely exciting, in case I haven't mentioned that yet.
Old Poll
I'll admit it, I cheated. I voted for Batman Begins twice in order to boost its ranking. At least I'm admitting it.Without my cheating, the results of the last poll were:
Batman Begins, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Team America each received two votes, Superman received one, and Sky Captain and The Incredibles received none (though, for me at least, this poll was a tough choice).
Interestingly, also receiving no votes was Revenge Of The Sith. It really says something about how effectively George Lucas has messed up the Star Wars series when no one in this crowd picks the final Star Wars movie. Oh well.
Maybe he'll make the new trilogy better at some point in the future.
More Martian Hints
Recent analyses of data from ESA's Mars Express probe show an overlap in concentrations of water vapor and methane in the atmosphere of the Red Planet, which is a rather interesting bit of news. Currently, there are two leading theories as to what could be responsible for the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere--that is a byproduct of volcanic activity, or is created by life on the planet. Given methane's degradation rate, it would have to have been produced relatively recently, and we haven't monitored any volcanic activity on the planet that would be responsible (though that doesn't mean it didn't happen and we just didn't see it).Adding water vapor to the equation makes things more interesting. Our understanding of life leads us to believe that lifeforms on Mars (particularly those creating methane gas) would need water to live. If there is a high degree of commonality between areas where methane is being produced and areas were water appears to be present--well, you get the point.
Sticky Situation
To be honest, I'd been feeling a bit of tattoo envy. While I love the iconic white look of my iPod, I thought the "tattoos" for the HP iPod were kinda cool. I hadn't seen any in particular that I wanted, but I liked the idea. (And, yeah, I realize you don't have to have an HP iPod to use them, but I think it's easier to get them if you do, and you do have to have a fourth-gen iPod, which I don't.)
Well, my tattoo envy is over.
Sounds Of Cylons
The recent SciFi miniseries of Battlestar Galactica will hit DVD Dec. 28.
Happy Star Wars Day!
Don't have my copy of the OT yet, and I'm currently debating whether to wait until I'm off work for the day to get it, or to take a lunch break and go pick it up.To celebrate the occassion, here's a little SW trilogy trivia for your reading pleasure: (If spoilers are possible for the OT, then this has some [from the DVD extras])
- The concept of having the Death Star on its way to blow up the Rebel base wasn't the original plans for the Death Star battle, but was devised in the editing room.
- During the filming at the end of Empire, to preserve the shocking secret, the script used for the actual filming had Darth Vader following up "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father" with this revelation "Obi-Wan killed your father!" The actual line was, of course, dubbed in with the rest of James Earl Jones performance.
- Lucas almost added in a shot of Boba Fett surviving the Sarlacc in Jedi (presumably in the DVD [or SE] version?)
- Warwick Davis was 11 years old when he played Wicket, and got the part only when Kenny Baker got food poisining and couldn't play the role.
- George Lucas in Entertainment Weekly: "You know, I never expect anyone to see a script, because they're terrible. I'm a terrible writer, you know, but because I'm directing it, I don't have to write it ... It doesn't have to be written for somebody else to understand. ... When you are writing your first [draft], race through it as fast as you can. I can get it done in two or three weeks. And when you're writing that first script, nevr go back and read the page before."
- In several interviews, Lucas has referenced a television future of Star Wars, has mentioned turning the universe over to other people, but has said the story of the Skywalker family is over.
- In the first draft of Star Wars, Han Solo was described as being green and having gills.
- Fight Club director David Fincher was an assistant cameraman on ROTJ. Which is kinda appropriate, 'cause with all the secrecy during the filming of ROTJ, the first rule of "Jedi" probably was don't talk about "Jedi."
- The word "Ewok" is never used in the original trilogy (though is in the credits).
- Peter Cushing wore slippers during most of his scenes.
- Princess Leia is the best shot in the original trilogy, hitting everyone she shoots at.
- A story line involving Chewbacca's jealousy of Han's relationship with Leia was dropped.
- Rumor has it that Lucas shot a different ending of ROTJ featuting the marriage of Han and Leia.
- The scene of the escape pod leaving Leia's ship at the beginning of Star Wars was the first effects shot ever done by ILM.
- A small pair of metal dice can be seen in the Falcon's cockpit as Chewbacca makes preparations to leave Mos Eisley, but are never seen again.
- Mark Hamill held his breath for so long during the trash compactor scene that he broke a blood vessel in his face. Subsequent shots in the sequence are all shot from one side to avoid showing it.
- Most of the people in the crowd in the medal ceremony sequence are cardboard cutouts.
- I like Star Wars.
Monday, 20 September 2004
Completed Scenes
While you're waiting for the Star Wars DVDs, here's a little something to hold you over.This Is The Way The World Begins...
Since I've already dealt with politics and football in recent weeks, I figured I would move on down Joe's list with what is probably the first ever Daveblog religion post.
Last night, we had the first session of a discipleship training class I signed up for at the church about Genesis and the origins of everything. I have a feeling it's going to be pretty interesting--I stuck around for about an hour after the class discussing stuff with another guy in there. (more)Daily Hatbag
Here ya go.
Computer Of The Future...Today
Not sure what the source of this is, but if it's real, the caption is pretty amusing.Gift Idea
Been trying to come up with something to get me for Christmas? This would do nicely (though it'd be cooler if it worked).
A Breath Of Fresh Air
The air-maintenance situation on ISS is under control for the moment, after the failed current unit was replaced by a unit cobbled together from an old unit and some spare parts, but, according to this Oberg report, the Station is only one failure away from having a severe problem with its oxygen supply.
Expedition 10 Update
So it appears now that the launch of Expedition 10 will be delayed, with October 11 and 13 be considered as the new launch date, slipped from the 9th.
Sunday, 19 September 2004
Super Trailer
If you haven't seen the Superman-Batman fake trailer watch it now!
And then be depressed that it's not a real movie.Bonus!
As a bonus to all you Sunday ATW readers, here's an iMovie Lain made about the joys of Davebloggin'. I'll probably take it down at the end of the day to prevent exceeding my bandwidth limits.Saturday, 18 September 2004
Willer Lite
Looking at my referals list earlier, sometime came to my site by running a search for "Willer Lite," a friend of Deedee's (which makes him OK in my book [coming to stores late 2006 {or so}]) who has posted feedback a couple of times on ATW (his name in one of those comments is what the Google search hit upon). I'm posting this, just out of curiousity, to see if my creating an entire post about Willer Lite, I can move my blog ahead of his in Google's search results for the term Willer Lite.Movie Review
So a lesser blogger wouldn't come home from watching a movie after midnight and immediately share his thoughts with his readers, but I'm not a lesser blogger; so here's my review of Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow:
Go. See.
Who loves ya, baby?Friday, 17 September 2004
Feel Free To Ignore This Post
Now I know how the SETI folks feel.
In the past couple of days, I finally got a potential signal on a fishing expedition I've been conducting more or less the whole time I've had the blog.
Over the past three years or so, I've tracked down a bunch of old friends from high school to find out what they were up to--most of them just exchanging an e-mail, saying hey, that sort of thing; a few phone calls; and at least one I ended up visiting with for a while.
When I left Huntsville to go to college, I really cut ties with nearly all of my old schoolmates, and so it's been interesting finding out what everyone was up to.
There are a few I haven't been able to find, but the one I was closest to that I've completely lost track of was my friend Elaine, whom I went to Huntsville Middle School with.
Since I haven't been able to find her, I've occassionally gone the Noonian Soong route, posting various versions of her name (Elaine Baath, Elizabeth Baath, Elisabeth Baath, Elizabeth Elaine Baath) on the blog in hopes she'll come across it and find me and e-mail me.
Still no luck, but within the past couple of days, someone came across my blog with the search string "elizabeth baath." Dunno if it was her googling herself, or another of her friends trying to find her; but no e-mail either way.
Since the new blog seems to do better in the Google rankings than the old one, thought I'd try it again.Daily Hatbag
We're not entirely sure why Odo is atop the window in this strip.
Semi-Political Post
HehJoe Blog
Joe woke up from his 2-week nap to post some empty-headed political babbling on his blog.
Speaking of which, I haven't mentioned that there's been some cogent, well-reasoned insight posted on Jordan's blog lately also.Science!
OK, here's an idea for a futuristic propulsion system that I don't believe I've seen even in science-fiction novels:
The traveling-wave thermoacoustic electric generator has the potential to power space probes to the furthest reaches of the Universe.
Yep, that's thermoacoustic. Propulsion from electricty from sound from heat.RTF Update
Per Space.com:
NASA is making progress in its return to flight efforts, despite suffering setbacks from a recent rash of hurricanes that have pummeled the nation's space coast, according to the task force overseeing the agency's work.
Recent events, however, certainly will make it harder to meet the tight schedule necessary for a mid-March RTF.Longer March
Some kinda interesting news: China is planning to build a new heavy-lift launch vehicle. The article states that the rocket will "serve as the nation's vehicle to explore the Moon," but I have to imagine that they're referring to China's planned lunar probe missions, not the rumor-and-hype human mission people keep talking about.
On the positive side, the rocket, with the ability to carry 14 tons to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit, would be only slightly less powerful than Boeing's new Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle, which can heave about 15 tons to GTO, which would make it among the most powerful rockets in the world ever. (The Delta IV Heavy is reportedly "the most powerful evolved expendable launch vehicle ever built other than the Saturn V.")
While both of these were designed primarily for satellite and space probe launches, obviously both, if man-rated, could have substantial applications for human spaceflight.
On the other hand, though, it's important to note that neither of these rockets comes close to the greatest launch vehicle of all time--in fact, both the planned Chinese rocket and the D4H put together still don't touch the power of the Saturn V, which could put over 50 tons in GTO.
This is why the discussion of the need for a true heavy launch vehicle is such an important one when it comes to planning a return to the Moon. For all the new developmens in spaceflight over the last 30 years, no one has the raw power that the Saturn V provided. (The Shuttle generates somewhere around the same amount of thrust at launch, but is so much heavier that its payload capacity is much less (and its GTO capability is exactly 0). That thrust could be tapped as the basis for a "heavier" launch vehicle such as the proposed Shuttle C.)Weathering The Storm
Per Spaceflight Now:
NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans were west of the worst of the storm, and initial reports indicate there is little or no damage to those facilities. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., closed early Thursday, and sent employees home as Ivan moved inland with high winds and rain.
Also:
Kennedy Space Center's nearly 14,000 employees returned to work this week, following an 11-day closure of the Center for Hurricane Frances. During the closure, the Damage Assessment and Recovery Team (DART) worked on-site to determine the extent of damage from the storm, which brought sustained winds greater than 70 mph and gusts as high as 94 mph.Genesis Update
Per Spaceflight Now:
The team continues its meticulous work and believes that a significant repository of solar wind materials may have survived that will keep the science community busy for some time.Rebel Fans
So it turns out there's Star Wars geeks in Mississippi.
Crazy Star Wars Rumor Of The Day
Per NewsAskew:
We're treating this only as a BIG rumor and a newsbite, because of the source, but a small gossip newsletter ... is claiming that Lucasfilm is developing a Star Wars TV series titled "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker", with Lawrence Kasdan and KEVIN SMITH slated to direct episodes. Either they've got a big inside scoop, or this is a crazy fan rumor gone awry. Perhaps Kevin can clear this one up for us.Thursday, 16 September 2004
That Time Again
All right, time for Dave to engage in his quarterly bout of getting frustrated with most of his audience.
Fantasy Film League has opened casting for the October season, so once again I'm inviting/encouraging ATW readers to put together a movie to compete in the league I started (which for the last three seasons has comprised me and Lain).
Basically, it's like a fantasy football league, but with movies. You pick out actors to put in your movie, and then your movie makes money over the next year based on how real movies starring your actors do.
C'mon, people, it's free, it's fun, it's easy, and your movie can't do much worse than "Twiggy vs. James Bond: The Movie," which is currently tied for 1,066th of 1,094 movies in the April 2004 season. (The movie it's tied with is an Alan Smithee film, "New Orleans," and the two are tied because each has one the stars of Laws of Attraction, who are the only of their cast members that have made any money [to be fair, though, my movie from the same season is one spot lower on the charts than "Zombie Hitler Must Die!!!" Yeah, that's with three exclamation marks.)Daily Hatbag
Ah, the joys of college life.
Fallen Spacecraft
Per the Longview News-Journal:
A large piece of space shuttle Columbia found recently is a part of the crew compartment, possibly including the escape hatch, a NASA official said Wednesday.DARPA Space
So, apparently, the federal agency that is taking over the X-37 project is DARPA. Not sure what its interest is. NASA will still remain involved.
I'm also curious as to whether NASA's decreased role in X-37 is an indicator that the agency has completely decided to go with a capsule-based design for CEV, rather than a design more like Shuttle, as was initially considered for OSP.Trek Bits
Per TrekWeb:
"We are not working with the premise that this will be the last season but ever since TNE NEXT GENERATION we have never looked beyond the current season," said Berman. "There is currently no plan right now for any new TV series. A break from STAR TREK on TV [after ENT] wouldn't be a bad idea." ...
"A few things that I can share is that the movie will be a prequel and probably after ENTERPRISE . It will be like nothing we have ever seen on STAR TREK and it will be based on all new characters."I'm Shocked, I Tell You! Just Shocked!
So it turns out Microsoft ripped off Apple when setting up its music store (NYT-reg req).
The Microsoft music store (in beta at music.msn.com) couldn't look more like Apple's iTunes music store (itunes.com) if you ran it through a copying machine."Apple set the bar very high," a Microsoft manger admitted. "We're trying to match that. We told our developers, 'Look at how Apple does it.'"This Week At NE
This week at NASAexplores, I've got a story about the stresses fuel tanks undergo during a space launch, and Maggie's got an article on Lasik, which it turns out is a NASA spinoff (which makes it kinda ironic that having the procedure prevents you from making a spaceflight).
The Specialest Edition Of All
AICN has a detailed report on the new Star Wars DVDs.
The Paper
Y'know, I actually had the idea of doing a newspaper-based reality show years ago, though my idea largely consisted of finding a production company willing to give me enough seed money for me to hire a bunch of former DM'ers to establish the group of Huntsville-area-based newspapers I wanted to start, and then film the results.
That said, the idea of making a show like the one they're talking about just strikes me as horribly unprofessional. Journalism shouldn't happen in a fishtank.Where America Buys Technology
So about a week and a half ago, my external hard drive died. 80Gb of stuff I'd accumulated over the last few years, most notably a bunch of video I'd shot, was gone. I wanted it back.
So, being in the neighborhood of my friendly Huntsville CompUSA, I decided to go in and ask their informed and talented repairperson what could be done. If the drive has stopped spinning, there's nothing that can be done, I'm told. Best bet is to just buy a new hard drive. I'm out about $150, and irreplacable files totalling more than 1,000 times the capacity of the hard drive on my first computer. There's a place in Atlanta, he tells me, that can try to restore the data for $1,000 a Gig (that's about $80,000 for the drive, for those playing the home game). And I'd still need somewhere to put it.
That just didn't sit right with me. It seemed like, if nothing else, one could buy an entirely new drive, and cannibalize the actual data recording from the old one into the new one. So I started looking into it more.
Long story short: My drive is now working again, at a cost of about $40.
Had to replace the power brick. That's it.
CompUSA wanted me to lose my data and buy a new $150+ drive. And all I needed was a new power brick.
Now that's service.
(Another jeer goes to Maxtor, which uses--or at least used to use--proprietary power bricks with a funky connector, which made this fix way more expensive than it could have been. On my most recent drive, I went with someone else, fortunately. Cheers go out to Buy.com, which had the best deal on the brick, as well as free shipping which landed it on my doorstep on the second business day after I placed the order--basically free overnight shipping, as it turned out [in retrospect, glad I decided not to pay the extra $10 for real overnight shipping].)Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Picture Of The Day
Courtesy Dryden Flight Research CenterDaily Hatbag
Yet another now-ironic 10th anniversary Hatbag.
And as a bonus Daily Hatbag, I really hope Hippie didn't do this.Today In History
On this date 36 years ago, the Soviet Union launched Zond 5, an unmanned spacecraft which became the first to fly around the Moon and then return to Earth's surface.Ballooning Expectations
With only 2 weeks left before the final hurrah of the X Prize competition begins in earnest, the da Vinci Project is a step closer to launch, after a successful test of the balloon which will carry its spacecraft aloft.
Russian Slowly To Space
Despite their best solicitations, Rosaviakosmos has received no offers of foreign funding for the Klipper next-generation spacecraft with which they hope to replace the Soyuz. Hint, hint.
Spending Three Grand, John-Byrne-style
Have you ever wanted to fly around like Superman? (And since you're reading this blog, don't bother trying to deny it.) Zero Gravity Corp. has started booking weightless parabola flights for $2,950. Zero-G was founded by X Prize CEO Peter Diamandis and astronaut Byron Lichtenberg.
Or, skip the story, and book your flight here.NASA And The Hurricanes
Per Spaceflight Now:
The U.S. Congress is being asked to budget $126 million to repair hurricane damage at Kennedy Space Center in the wake of Frances' blast from Labor Day weekend.
Also:
Weather forecasts indicate some NASA centers and facilities could feel Ivan's terrible wrath.
Preparations are under way to secure important space flight hardware. NASA's Stennis Space Center (SSC), Miss., and the Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, are getting ready to ride out the storm. Other NASA installations, from Johnson Space Center, Houston, to Kennedy Space Center, Fla., are keeping a wary eye on Ivan's track.Totally Emo
When Microsoft bought Virtual PC, there were some concerns about its future. Would Microsoft really do a good job putting together a program to emulate its OS on Macs?
Well, here's the good news: Microsoft is taking Windows emulation to a whole new level.
Check out this story about Microsoft's next version of Windows, Longhorn:
Microsoft has said it will sacrifice some key features it had planned for Longhorn so it can deliver the successor to Windows XP in 2006.
Now check out this new story about the next release of Virtual PC:
Amidst pressure from several avenues, Microsoft was forced to cut features from its new Windows emulation software in order to deliver G5 compatibility without further delays.
Now that's emulation!New Feature
I've added a new "ATW Playlist" box near the top of the right-hand sidebar. Every so often, I'll pick a theme for a playlist, and readers can contribute songs that fit the theme. No real point, other than I thought it might be fun.
Only rules are that you can only add songs you're personally familiar with (no Googling up obscure songs), and that if you have several ideas at the same time, post them all as one comment rather than as a series of comments (though if you think of more later, you can add more as often as you want).Tuesday, 14 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
This is basically what my coworker JoCasta does for a living.
Comics Rant
I posted the following comics rant as a comment on a comics rant on BeaucoupKevin, and then decided I should post it here as well. Lucky you.
(more)
Today In History
On this date 45 years ago, the Soviet Union became the first nation to reach the surface of the Moon when the Luna 2 probe impacted on the surface, scattering Soviet memoribila, just under 10 years before the first manned landing.
Shameless Plug For Cash!
Unlike some other Web sites I could name, All These Worlds is brought to you completely free! What a great deal! We don't even have one of those little things asking for Paypal donations, and until very recently, the site's been completely ad-free.
Well, that's all changed. Well, not all of it, just that last bit. In addition to a link to PowWeb, which hosts ATW (and which offers a great deal on hosting, and I'm not just saying that because I get credit towards my account if you click on the link and start using them as your own host), I've added two more ad buttons to the bottom of the left hand sidebar.
ATW has been accepted as an affiliate site for both Books-A-Million and Amazon.com, which means that I get a cut of any sales those two sites make that are referred by ATW. In addition to those two buttons, all future Reading, Watching, Listening links will also be considered referals (If you want to buy a past RWL item, click on the appropriate ad button first, then go back to the item).
It doesn't cost you anything extra to do this, and it's an easy way to support ATW. So if you're going to make any online purchases through either of these businesses, your consideration would be appreciated.
(I also applied to be an affiliate for the iTunes Music Store, but was turned down [not sure why]. I even wrote a privacy policy for the Web site to meet their requirements. Oh well.)
(You know something I need, is an offical ATW logo to go with posts like this, so I'll have some artwork to break up the gray.)
(Er... nevermind... I've added one. Suggestions for improvements are welcome.)You Down With OSP?
The Space Review has an interesting article about how development of the Crew Exploration Vehicle has flowed from the planning work done for the Orbital Space Plane, and focusing on the proposal (included in the Planetary Society study I recently linked) to adapt the Shuttle's Solid Rocket Booster for use as a launch vehicle for a capsule CEV.
The Countdown Continues
To make the X Prize race a little more interesting, Scaled will be using a modified version of its hybrid rocket engine in the SpaceShipOne prize flights, which it appears may be the first time the modified engine will be flown. Given the troubleshooting they've had to do after previous test flights, one might think they would just stick with what works, but I guess these modifications give them a little more leeway in reaching the target altitude.
Addendum: On a related note, SpaceShipOne's "carrier" WhiteKnight will be used for drop tests of NASA's X-37 technology demonstrator. The interesting bit is that "management of the project has been taken over by an agency (a NASA spokesman) said he could not identify."One Bad Apple
Per Forbes.com:
Beatles fan Steve Jobs could lose a large bite of his Apple to his idols. ...
One lawyer told Daily Variety, "People are expecting this to be the biggest settlement anywhere in legal history, outside of a class action suit. The numbers could be mind boggling." ...
Some speculation suggests the settlement could see Apple Corps. becoming a major shareholder in the computer company, with Paul McCartney maybe even becoming a board member.
I really hope that the settlement includes putting this issue aside permanently (which, I guess if Apple got a share of Apple, it would--one would hope they wouldn't sue themselves). Plus, if the Beatles ended up having a financial interest in the success of Apple Computers, that, too, could have some side benefits.Monday, 13 September 2004
Picture Of The Day
Courtesy Local6.com
Addendum: Richie pointed out that Frank Miller was at the scene.Super Computing
Now, here's a bit of interesting news from Wired today: A Silicon Valley startup claims to have cracked one of most elusive goals of the software industry: a near-universal emulator that allows software developed for one platform to run on any other, with almost no performance hit.
I was in a conversation last night with someone who had considered buying a Mac but didn't want to lose his software library (more on this in another post), and so my immediate thought was that this would let him do that.
My second thought was that this would let me run stuff like Sims 2 and other PC games and software on my Mac (Though, other than Sims 2, which I'm sure will eventually be ported, nothing really comes to mind that I'm really dying for).
But then I realized it gets much, much bigger than that. I'm curious as to how well it allows Mac emulation. The Mac OS is not only based on the PowerPC processor, which it sounds like this addresses, but it also has a lot of software in ROM. It seems like, without those ROM instructions, any Mac apps on a PC would either not run, or, if the ROM instructions were included in the emulator, suffer a performance hit.
But, if, in fact, it allows normal performance of Mac software on a PC, that changes a lot. Want a Mac, but don't want to pay Apple premium prices? Suddenly, you can get Mac software quality on an economy Dell box. Consider yourself a PC person, but you're really lusting after Garageband? No need to switch, just run it on your PC.
While the news initially sounds exciting, I have a horrible feeling that this could be a very, very bad thing.Get Well Soon, Steve
HehDaily Hatbag
You know, today's Hatbag is probably funnier now that when it first ran 10 years ago today, though for a very different reason.
Sheesh
Per MosNews.com:
Two Moscow policemen beat up a Russian cosmonaut who had a “Chechen” surname, the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported on Friday. ...
After the law enforcers saw the colonel’s name, which suggests he is of Caucasian Muslim descent, they started beating him up. The beating stopped only after passers-by called the police station. Before leaving the attackers said: “Get away from here, you black, and tell your kinsmen we will strangle all of you, whatever the cost.”
Colonel Magomed Tolboyev is a distinguished test pilot; he bears the country’s top honorary title Hero of Russia. During his space career Tolboyev was commander of Russia’s first and only space shuttle — the Buran.
On a completely unrelated note, I was looking up Tolboyev to determine whether the article is correct in calling him a cosmonaut (technically, it's not--he never flew in space, and in Russia you're not considered a cosmonaut until you've flown), and found this article that might be of interest to Kirk.
Addendum: collectSPACE guru Robert Pearlman found this article saying no disciplinary actions will be taken against the officers involved.
The Moscow police officials have announced that policemen of Moscow's eastern police district did not exceed their powers while "dealing" with retired air force colonel, Hero of Russia Magomed Tolboyev, the Moscow police's public relations department said on Sunday. ...
"The materials gathered suggest that allegations concerning Tolboyev's brutal treatment were untrue. The policemen did not possess weapons, and Tolboyev was neither beaten up, nor kicked," the Public Relations Department said in a release. ...
"It was established that the policemen had stopped Tolboyev for a passport check with due reason, while the use of force within the limits admissible in such situations, was provoked by Tolboyev's refusal to obey, and by his aggressive conduct," it said.Yesterday In History
Forty-two years ago yesterday, Kennedy gave his Rice University speech:
So it is not surprising that some would have us stay where we are a little longer to rest, to wait. But this city of Houston, this State of Texas, this country of the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward--and so will space. ...
If this capsule history of our progress teaches us anything, it is that man, in his quest for knowledge and progress, is determined and cannot be deterred. The exploration of space will go ahead, whether we join in it or not, and it is one of the great adventures of all time, and no nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space.
Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it--we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. ...
We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. ...
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. ...
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, "Because it is there."
Well, space is there, and we're going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.
Also, on this date 43 years ago, the Mercury-Atlas 4 unmanned launch carried a Mercury spacecraft into Earth orbit for the first time.From The X Files
Mach 10 may have to wait. The captive-carry test flight of the X-43A Hyper-X has been delayed. Since the flight, which was originally scheduled for last Tuesday has could be postponed for "several days or weeks," it sounds like it could also postpone the final X-43A flight, which was originally scheduled for next month and which would aim for Mach 10 (though that's just speculation on my part--haven't seen it officially anywhere yet).
Star Wars, and Rumors of Star Wars
More on the rumors of the Star Wars sequel trilogy.
DC, Smallville-style
So it turns out that the Flash and Mxyzptlk will be on Smallville, though in continuity-defying ways.
Sunday, 12 September 2004
NaNoWriMo
Had the opportunity last weekend to carry on some f2f conversations about the NaNoWriMo novel-writing idea I posted a while back, wherein the ATW family would work together to write a novel during the month of November.
Here are some of the thoughts that came up: (more)Saturday, 11 September 2004
Intelligent Design Theory
Thanks to the MacSurfer link, the last poll had the best participation of any in the history of Davebloggin' (If I knew it would generate that sort of traffic all the time, I'd do Mac polls all the time).
The results for the favorite Mac aesthetically were as follows:
- G4 Cube: 17 votes; 38 percent
- Titanium Powerbook: 8 votes; 18 percent
- G4 iMac: 7 votes; 16 percent
- Original Mac: 4 votes; 9 percent
- G5 iMac: 3 votes; 7 percent
- 20th Anniv. Mac: 3 votes; 7 percent
- G3 iMac: 2 votes; 4 percent
- "Clamshell" iBook: 1 vote; 2 percent
- iPod: 1 vote; 2 percent
- Newton Messagepad: 0 votes; 0 percent
I was a bit surprised at the Cube's utter domination of the poll. I'm curious about the extent that reflects how many Mac users really loved the Cube, and to what extent it reflects how strong a Cube community there still is. It'd be interesting to know how many of the people that voted for the Cube ever owned one, or own one still.
My personal thoughts on the poll options: (more)Never Forget
Friday, 10 September 2004
Obligatory Newton Post
A committed band of fans has done a better job of looking after the Newton than Apple ever did, believes a leading researcher.
Daily Hatbag
If we ever do enhanced special editions of Hatbag strips, this one might benefit from actually having a paper in it.
Genesis Update
Per Space.com:
The good news is that they believe they see large pieces of the thin arrays inside the breached specimen canister. ...
“Today we hope to get into the sample return canister and get some sort of inventory of the contents and some projection of the science,” Lindstrom told reporters ...
The scientific community is optimistic, Lindstrom added, because the solar wind particles – ions – are embedded within the collectors. ...
“We haven’t actually been inside there to measure, but we believe we can see full 10-centimeter hexagons,” Lindstrom told reporters. ...
“We don’t really know enough now to say more,” Lindstrom said. “I think we’ll have a pretty good idea in the next couple of days.”The Air Up There
The bad news:
The Russian Elektron system which generates oxygen for the International Space Station has broken down. Again.
The good news:
Not only is Exp. 9 commander Gennady Padalka confident he can get the unit working again, but he has also cobbled together a back-up unit from spare parts on ISS.
As I've said before, this, in my opinion, is one of the most important ways that the ISS serves as a testbed for planning missions to Mars. If equipment breaks down on the way to Mars, you're not going to be able to send a replacement up from Earth. If the equipment that breaks down is something like the crew's source of oxygen, then that's going to be a real problem.
Problems with equipment are going to be inevitable. If the plan is to conduct a series of multi-year missions to a planet tens of millions of miles away and have nothing go wrong, we're going to be disappointed. The only hope of making such a mission successful is to have the capability to deal with problems in-flight as they develop, with no resources besides those on the spacecraft.
Repairing the Elektron unit is an important example of that. Creating a spare Elektron unit is an even bigger step, since Elektron units take time to produce, and, to the best of my knowledge, there are currently no back-up units on Earth.Picture Of The Day
Per Space.com:
A group of European-led astronomers has made a photograph of what appears to be a planet orbiting another star. If so, it would be the first confirmed picture of a world beyond our solar system.Thursday, 9 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
You know, if Hatbag were just hitting the peak of its popularity today, we would so sell Weasel Master shirts on Cafepress.com.
This Week At NE
This week at NASAexplores, I've got an article about lessons learned from the lunar exploration of the Apollo program, Maggie's got a story about how NASA makes safety a top priority, and we've got a story about blood.
One Small Step
A bit of good news for the Vision
Various And Sundry
A couple of thoughts from this item on the Space Politics blog:
Space Politics, which is usually pretty dead-on, joined several media outlets in missing the boat on cost figures Sean O'Keefe presented yesterday. Several reports have said that O'Keefe said RTF costs could reach $2.2 billion, over double the previous figures. In actuality, the larger figure is not for Return To Flight, but for ongoing improvements to the Shuttle fleet and program over the next several years, up to and following RTF.
Also, bad news for several ATW readers who are mistaken about their true priorities:
Sen. Trent Lott (R-MS) didn't sound very enthusiastic about the Vision for Space Exploration. "The idea of just going to Mars doesn't frankly excite a lot of people in my state," he said, according to Reuters. "They don't care whether there's water up there or not; they'd rather have asphalt on the roads."Cupola Concerns
Not that long ago, my reaction to the news that ESA has shipped the ISS Cupola to KSC to await launch would have been that it was pretty cool, but, now, in the wake of Frances and the face of Ivan, my first thought was that I hope it's not going to arrive there anytime soon.
I'll be the first to admit I'm not the best in the world at following weather in other parts of the world (or, for that matter, outside my own house), but I'm getting to the point where the situation at KSC is really kinda starting to concern me. Ivan could have the ability to completely reshape the future of international spaceflight in a single day.Genesis Post-Mortem
Spaceflight Now has a "post-impact" story on the Genesis spacecraft, which quotes the Genesis program director as saying the team hopes some of the science can be salvaged, though, obviously, the situation is pretty far from optimal.
Also, according to Space.com, the leading suspect for the crash is a battery failure.
Editorializing a bit here, but I think it's definitely worth noting that Genesis is just another example of why the Faster, Better, Cheaper approach of Dan Goldin's NASA was a false economy. The problem with FBC is that you can have any two of the three, but not all three. Genesis was indeed faster and cheaper, but it'd be tough to argue that the metal disk half-buried in the Utah dirt yesterday was really better. Not only would a more expensive spacecraft possibly have been more robust and thus more likely to function properly, but it could have been equiped with additional experiments, so that the loss of one does not stand to invalidate the entire mission.
This year has brought several examples of the benefits of space exploration done right--Cassini is doing a great job at Saturn, and the Mars Exploration Rovers have blown everyone's expectations completely out of the water they found on Mars. None of these may have been faster or cheaper, but they were sure a whole lot better. Somewhere on Mars, England's faster and cheaper Beagle 2 lander probably looks a lot like Genesis did yesterday.
Investing properly in space exploration brings results like Cassini and the MERs. Faster, Better, Cheaper brings results like Genesis and the Mars Climate Orbiter which made it all the way to Mars before being lost in the infamous metric system debacle.
In addition to being an important lesson, it adds an additional level of frustration to yesterday's loss. At a time when the agency needs it least, NASA will suffer criticism for the failure, but it's a failure the agency has moved past, a lesson we've already learned. What happened yesterday has nothing to do with the NASA of today, it's a legacy of past leadership. That's the problem you run into with projects that take years to pay off.Full-Time Jobs
Per MacNN:
After undergoing surgery in late July for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, Apple CEO Steve Jobs is on the road to recovery and plans to return to full-time work later this month. ...
"At the time of his surgery, Jobs, 49, had estimated he would return to work in September. That apparently is on track. ..."
Long-time Apple followers, however, expect that the final release date for Jobs may slip by as much as a month, and that initially Jobs will only be available in limited amounts. Further, industry rumors have led to speculation that the final release version of Jobs may have somewhat less pancreas that originally promised. Average consumers waiting for access to the Apple CEO could still have a two-or-three-month wait.Wednesday, 8 September 2004
The Genesis Effect
Due to drogue chute failure, the Genesis sample return capsule crashed into the ground.
Helicopters poised for midair capture could only watch helplessly as the canister streaked into the atmosphere.
The capsule survived reentry, and from the exterior looks relatively intact, but no word yet on whether any of the delicate cargo could have survived the hard landing.Daily Hatbag
I always felt like such a rebel using the DM to promote Spare Time via Hippie's t-shirt. The fact that they never said anything means that it was probably too subtle to actually do any good. On the flip side, this is the publication that couldn't figure out the whole Kid Grain thing.
Lorem Post-Ipsum
This is my boss, Jonathan Hart, a self-made millionaire, he's quite a guy. This is Mrs H., she's gorgeous, she's one lady who knows how to take care of herself. By the way, my name is Max. I take care of both of them, which ain't easy, 'cause when they met it was MURDER!
This entry brought to you by the Text GeneratorOnce And Future PDA
Here's a large PDF file (or is that PDA file?) about the Einstein Project to port the Newton OS to new hardware. The file contains the slides presented about Einstein at WWNC.
KSC Damage Update
Spaceflight Now has more on the damage caused at Kennedy Space Center by Hurricane Frances:
"That concerns us a lot," he said. "The facilities engineering people today don't think that between now and the possible arrival of (Hurricane) Ivan as early as next Saturday there is anything they can do to plug those holes. ...
The sides of the building were not the only sites of damage. A 30-member team inspecting the roof of the cavernous structure had to beat a hasty retreat when they discovered "it was very insecure," Kennedy said. ...
"I'm not going to estimate when we might return to flight," he said. "It's very much to be determined, the impact that the facility damage will have on our ability to return to flight. We'll be working with the shuttle program people over the coming weeks to help assess that."
On a related note:
Three unmanned rockets standing on launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station escaped serious damage during Hurricane Frances, the 45th Space Wing's commander said Tuesday. ...
At pad 17B, a Boeing Delta 2 vehicle had been undergoing preparations for liftoff September 22 carrying a replacement satellite for the U.S. military's Navstar Global Positioning System constellation. Boeing's inaugural Delta 4-Heavy rocket was set for a demonstration test launch October 20 from Complex 37B. And a Lockheed Martin-built Titan 4B rocket on Complex 40 was scheduled to haul a classified National Reconnaissance Office cargo into orbit next February.Its Four-Year Mission?
Remember that item I posted yesterday about how Paramount's Garry Hart was predicting a strong future for Enterprise, despite rumors of its demise at the end of this season?
Well, this is from TrekWeb today:
he change means a longtime STAR TREK champion and recent ENTERPRISE defender, Garry Hart, will step down as Paramount Network TV chief. He's taking a producing deal with the studio while CBS's David Stapf will take his job.Picture Of The Day
Thought I'd share this pic since it reminded me of Chris' desire to use the new G5 iMac as a portable machine. Courtesy Cult of Mac.RIP
Kirk Fordice is dead.
Say what you want about him, he certainly made things interesting.
(Wish I could find my column comparing Fordice and Clinton.)Personal Note
OK, check this out:
I have a book deal.
Better yet: Today I have to leave work to go have lunch with an astronaut to sign our book contract.
I mean, really, that's almost just too cool to believe.
Sorry, folks, just had to brag a little. None of this is really new, of course, except for the fact that the contract came in the mail yesterday, which means that, as soon as we put our names on the line, we actually officially have a book deal, which is just kinda neat.
Now comes the hard part--actually writing the book. Due date is July 1, 2006.
OK, sorry, I'll shut up now.Tuesday, 7 September 2004
Spamusement!
Some of these are pretty funny--this guy draws cartoons to illustrate spam subject headings.
(And, even cooler: I linked over to his blog, which I figured with the description macintosh, gadgets, and general geekery could be good, only to find that this is the guy that wrote the NewTen OS X Newton package installer.)Daily Hatbag
I've finally caught back up with 10th anniversary Hatbags again. And, look, Joe--more football! (Though it turns out, in retrospect, that I was wrong on Friday that Ole Miss was going to start playing this weekend.)
Richie Update
Search strings that have brought people to Hatbag.net so far in September:
- 0.000000ailure is not an option nasa bumper sticker
- 0dden meaning mary poppins
- Mississippi comic Lain Hughes
- Popular science Singularity
- The new Star Wars movies are better than the original trilogy
- What was the mane of the missile that launched the first US ast
- avp pictures of predator marking
- delta 4-heavy damage from hurricane frances
- einstein project guyot
- frat shirt
- hatbabe\
(Also, Richie needs to create a new icon with no facial hair)Einstein Unveiled
When I got back last night, I had over 200 new e-mails from the NewtonTalk list, so I haven't had time yet to really study the details of the Einstein Project announced at the WWNC in Paris over the weekend, though it's been interesting reading the days-later fallout that's trickled in today, over stuff like holding out for Apple to open-source the Newton to the community.
Good Grief
After giving Richie my rant this weekend on why I dislike Peanuts, I thought it'd be amusing to share this (Thanks, Nik):
You are Snoopy!
Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla
Genesis Ends
In a show promising to be so exciting that NASA had to hire Hollywood stunt pilots to help pull it off, the Genesis solar sample return capsule will enter Earth's atmosphere tomorrow at 10:55 a.m. CDT. Helicopter teams will attempt to grab the sample canister in midair as it parachutes to the surface.
Hyper Time
The final X-43A Hyper-X scramjet is scheduled for a captive carry test flight today in preparation for an effort next month to reach Mach 10.
Weathering The Storm
Hurricane Frances battered the Kennedy Space Center with sustained winds of more than 70 mph, ripping off an estimated 40,000 square feet of siding on the cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building and partially destroying the roof of a critical heat shield tile facility needed for NASA's shuttle return to flight effort.
Recovering from the impact of Frances could delay NASA's first post-Columbia shuttle flight, now targeted for March, officials said today. But center Director Jim Kennedy said the damage, while the worst in spaceport history, was not a disaster "by any stretch of the imagination" and that it was too soon to say what impact it might have on the agency's return-to-flight efforts. ...
More important than the shuttle's eventual launch date is the potential impact of Hurricane Ivan, a powerful storm that some computer models show tracking toward Florida's east coast. Given the damage caused by the category 1 winds of Hurricane Frances, Kennedy sees Ivan as a potential "doomsday scenario" that could affect the future of America's manned space program.Continuing Mission
Per Trekweb:
Among the additional material is further support for STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE from Paramount television executive Garry Hart. "We hope and anticipate that Enterprise will run for a few more years," Hart told Kowinski, who added that the executive "doubts there will be more than a season or two pause after ENTERPRISE before the next incarnation," though none is currently being planned.
And per TrekToday:
Viewers will see the early development of the United Federation of Planets this season on Star Trek: Enterprise, executive producer Manny Coto promised.
And:
New Enterprise showrunner Manny Coto recently promised to bring the Orions to the screen in the show's upcoming fourth season.Saturday, 4 September 2004
Update
I'm here in Jackson, Mississippi!
(A river running through my veins)Friday, 3 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
Here ya go, Joe, some football-related blogging. First Ole Miss game is tomorrow 6 p.m. v. Memphis, BTW, featuring the hopefully spectacular debut of Indianola's own Mike Spurlock.
The Toe Of Joe
New blogging at Taking A Nap, and a poll! (Though Joe still needs to update the link to this blog.)
Also, new posting on Right Space, including a link to a great Faulkner/Oxford article which Lain suggested I should post, but I forgot to.Today In History
In an event which would much later be relevant in the life of Benjamin Sisko, on this date 28 years ago, Viking 2 landed at Utopia Planitia, beginning 7 months of studies on the Martian surface.
Terrestrial Aliens
Myself, I just don't buy into the panspermia hypothesis, for a couple of reasons. One, it makes something overly complicated--the conditions necessary for Earth to support life--even more complicated. Occam's razor just slices that theory to pieces. Two, given the difficulty we're having trying to find evidence of life in our solar system, it just seems unlikely to me that life would have come from one of our neighboring worlds (particularly instead of the one place in the solar system best suited to support it).
That said, this research is rather interesting. That would also be a cool job.EVA Today
The hatch will open for Expedition 9's final space walk today at 11:50 CDT.
Next Newt
Wired has an article about the World Wide Newton Conference this weekend, and about the future-of-the-Newt Edison Project that may allow the platform to outlive its aging hardware.
On a personal note, I picked up my box of Newt stuff from the Post Office last night, containing, among other things, two MP120s. One of them is for Nicole; the other, which came as part of the lot, will be my backup. I had a 120 many years ago, and it was a trip down memory road using one again. It was quite the paradigm shift, after growing accustomed to the 2100, to actually think of the 120 as "small."Thursday, 2 September 2004
This Week At NE
Normally when I post this, I list my article first, but Maggie's story at NASAexplores this week is actually pretty cool (I can at least claim credit for the idea, though): a piece about Orbiter maintenance.
My story this week is about NASA research on aircraft computers that learn how to better fly planes.Daily Hatbag
This strip, to me, has always been one of Hatbag's underrated pleasures. I don't know who, if anyone, actually underrates it, but I like to think of it that way. In fact, I'm doing it right now. Aaaaah.
Today In History
On this date in 1970, NASA cancelled Apollo missions 15 and 19.
Arguably, these cuts made Skylab possible. During the Apollo 11 mission, it was announced that Skylab would be a fully assembled workshop launched on a Saturn V, rather than modified in orbit from a spent Saturn IB stage. At the time, all of the Saturn Vs that had been constructed were already spoken for by Apollo lunar missions, and the plan was for more of the big boosters to be built for Skylab. Months later, however, the Saturn line was shut down, leaving America's first space station without a way to orbit. The cancellation of Apollo missions, however, freed up the boosters necessary for the program.Caller ID
Per New Scientist:
This radio signal, now seen on three separate occasions, is an enigma. ...
But it also happens to be the best candidate yet for a contact by intelligent aliens in the nearly six-year history of the SETI@home project ...
Named SHGb02+14a, the signal has a frequency of about 1420 megahertz. This happens to be one of the main frequencies at which hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, readily absorbs and emits energy.
Some astronomers have argued that extraterrestrials trying to advertise their presence would be likely to transmit at this frequency, and SETI researchers conventionally scan this part of the radio spectrum.
Addendum: More on the subject from Cosmic Log: "If she got the idea that that was a promising signal, she got the wrong impression," he said.Against The Storm
Per DiscoveryChannel.com:
With the three remaining space shuttles, the dozens of unique space station components and modules and billions of dollars worth of launch facilities and assembly hangars, the Kennedy Space Center sits uncomfortably close to the predicted path for Hurricane Frances, a Category Four storm barreling toward Florida's east coast.
The space center has never experienced a direct hit by a hurricane, though there have been a few close calls. The outlook for another miss is looking bleak. ...
Among the most vulnerable structures is the roof on the Orbiter Processing Facility, which is housing NASA's three orbiters — Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour. The building was constructed during the Apollo era and has a roof designed to withstand 105 mph winds, Diller said. ...
Many of the structures at KSC are unique, such as the launch pad Rotating Service Structure, which wraps around a shuttle at the pad to protect the orbiter and provide access into the vehicle. The launch pads are designed to withstand 125 mph winds.
"If there were serious damage to one or two of the orbiters or the facilities needed to process and launch the orbiters, I think it would raise a very large question about the continuation of the shuttle program," Logsdon said.Vision Becomes Real
NASA has awarded 11 contracts for companies to begin developing concepts for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and for human lunar exploration. The initial concepts are to be developed over a 6-month period, and the agency has a 6-month options for further development of any of the concepts at the end up that period. In other words, we may be getting some idea of what the next crewed spacecraft will look like before Return to Flight.
RAT Update
I posted something a while back about a while back about problems with the rock abrasion tool on the Opportunity Mars rover, noting that on a human mission, a tool problem like the one the rover was experiencing could be worked out in about 2 minutes. Instead, it took 2 weeks to get the rover's tool working again. Imagine what a team of astronauts would have been able to accomplish working on the surface of Mars for 2 weeks. (That's far more time, for example, than humans worked on the surface of the Moon during Apollo.)
Surf's Up!
So looking at the number of results for yesterday's poll, I was blown away and convinced that something must be wrong with the new poll system, until I discovered that I got links from MacSurfter's Headline News yesterday to both the new poll and my post about Mac design. Thanks, guys!
Pods Unite
OK, my love of the new iPod + HP grew yesterday when I was reading my latest copy of Entertainment Weekly and found that the magazine opened with six full pages of ads for an Apple product, bought by a PC maker. That's just kinda cool.
Wednesday, 1 September 2004
Today In History
On this date 25 years ago, Pioneer 11 flew within 13,000 miles of Saturn, taking the first close-up pictures of the planet. Image courtesy NASA.The Revolution Will Be Computerized
So, based on the results thus far, my last poll wasn't all that great. I'll change the question slightly soon to try and make it a little better.
In the meantime, a few thoughts on the last poll: (more)Daily Hatbag
Today's Daily Hatbag is dedicated to the inimitable Jesse Holland.
Political Whoops
Apparently I should stick to not blogging politics. It turns out the GOP platform information I blogged yesterday: (In addition, the Republican Party will remain committed to America's leadership in space research and exploration. We will ensure that this Nation can expand our knowledge of the universe, and with the support of the American people, continue the exploration of Mars and the rest of the solar system. We consider space travel and space science a national priority with virtually unlimited benefits, in areas ranging from medicine to micro-machinery, for those on earth.) is actually from, get this, 2000. The 2004 version is much less wordy: The President's support for NASA and vision for space exploration will also enhance scientific development and technological breakthroughs. Still better than the Democrat's silence, though.
More Betting Advice
If, on the other hand, you have the opportunity to participate in an office pool betting against human spaceflight, you might want to think twice. UPI has an interesting article about the insurance company that will end up paying for much of the X Prize because it essentially made the bet that no one would be able to win the prize before the deadline at the end of the year.
All These Worlds
Well, if you ever find yourself participating in a betting pool about announcements concerning the discovery of a new class of planets, you can put your money down based on ATW with a high degree of confidence. My predictions about yesterday's announcement of the discovery of a new class of planets turned out to be pretty accurate: Nothing really new to readers of this blog, and concerning planets that are Earth-like only in the broadest sense.
The Death Of Trek
Per The New York Times:
"This is so funny," said Leonard Nimoy ... "'Star Trek' has died several times and come back stronger than ever." ...
Even Mr. Nimoy sees cause for concern. He likens the current situation to the period after the first "Star Trek" feature film, when "I felt that 'Star Trek' was like a beached whale," he said. "I think something similar is happening now. 'Star Trek' is in this stranded situation. The ideas that were propelling it have run dry."They Like You Even Less
NewsAskew has input from Kevin himself on Clerks 2. For those who are interested.
Thursday, 30 September 2004
Blogpoints
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)A Better Future
(Read Entry)Isn't It Ironic?
(Read Entry)Expedition 10 Update
(Read Entry)Beyond The Blue
(Read Entry)Demallification
(Read Entry)Dawn Of The Good Jupiters
(Read Entry)Insanely Great Spaceflight
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 29 September 2004
Blogschwartz
(Read Entry)Congratulations!
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Everyone Complains About The Weather
(Read Entry)Technology Of The Future
(Read Entry)Mach 10
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 28 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)RTF Update
(Read Entry)T -1 Day
(Read Entry)Happy Anniversary!
(Read Entry)Expedition 10 Update
(Read Entry)That's The Spirit
(Read Entry)And, Admiral...
(Read Entry)Bottom Line
(Read Entry)There's A Bathroom On The Right
(Read Entry)Monday, 27 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Regular Richie Feature
(Read Entry)T -2 Days
(Read Entry)Hurricane Update
(Read Entry)Space: Virgin Territory
(Read Entry)X-Squared
(Read Entry)So Close...
(Read Entry)Bully!
(Read Entry)Sunday, 26 September 2004
Armageddon Notice
(Read Entry)X Prize Update
(Read Entry)Hurricane Update
(Read Entry)Saturday, 25 September 2004
Keep On Trucking
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Apple-ogitics
(Read Entry)Friday, 24 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Foaled Again
(Read Entry)Heavy, Dude
(Read Entry)Yep, Again
(Read Entry)How Do You Like Them Apples?
(Read Entry)Thursday, 23 September 2004
This Week At NE
(Read Entry)Play That Funky Music
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Take A Meme, Pass It On
(Read Entry)Greetings, Starfighter!
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)Either/Or? Both!
(Read Entry)Back On Earth
(Read Entry)Apple Bites
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 22 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Thanks!
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Politics Of The Future
(Read Entry)The Battle Continues
(Read Entry)Expedition 10 Update
(Read Entry)Personal Note
(Read Entry)Continuing Mission
(Read Entry)Hunter/Prey
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 21 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Shopping Guide, Con't
(Read Entry)World's Worst Detective
(Read Entry)Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)Wow
(Read Entry)The Dream Is Alive
(Read Entry)By JIMO
(Read Entry)Old Poll
(Read Entry)More Martian Hints
(Read Entry)Sticky Situation
(Read Entry)Sounds Of Cylons
(Read Entry)Happy Star Wars Day!
(Read Entry)Monday, 20 September 2004
Completed Scenes
(Read Entry)This Is The Way The World Begins...
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Computer Of The Future...Today
(Read Entry)Gift Idea
(Read Entry)A Breath Of Fresh Air
(Read Entry)Expedition 10 Update
(Read Entry)Sunday, 19 September 2004
Super Trailer
(Read Entry)Bonus!
(Read Entry)Saturday, 18 September 2004
Willer Lite
(Read Entry)Movie Review
(Read Entry)Friday, 17 September 2004
Feel Free To Ignore This Post
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Semi-Political Post
(Read Entry)Joe Blog
(Read Entry)Science!
(Read Entry)RTF Update
(Read Entry)Longer March
(Read Entry)Weathering The Storm
(Read Entry)Genesis Update
(Read Entry)Rebel Fans
(Read Entry)Crazy Star Wars Rumor Of The Day
(Read Entry)Thursday, 16 September 2004
That Time Again
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Fallen Spacecraft
(Read Entry)DARPA Space
(Read Entry)Trek Bits
(Read Entry)I'm Shocked, I Tell You! Just Shocked!
(Read Entry)This Week At NE
(Read Entry)The Specialest Edition Of All
(Read Entry)The Paper
(Read Entry)Where America Buys Technology
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 15 September 2004
Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Ballooning Expectations
(Read Entry)Russian Slowly To Space
(Read Entry)Spending Three Grand, John-Byrne-style
(Read Entry)NASA And The Hurricanes
(Read Entry)Totally Emo
(Read Entry)New Feature
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 14 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Comics Rant
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Shameless Plug For Cash!
(Read Entry)You Down With OSP?
(Read Entry)The Countdown Continues
(Read Entry)One Bad Apple
(Read Entry)Monday, 13 September 2004
Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)Super Computing
(Read Entry)Get Well Soon, Steve
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Sheesh
(Read Entry)Yesterday In History
(Read Entry)From The X Files
(Read Entry)Star Wars, and Rumors of Star Wars
(Read Entry)DC, Smallville-style
(Read Entry)Sunday, 12 September 2004
NaNoWriMo
(Read Entry)Saturday, 11 September 2004
Intelligent Design Theory
(Read Entry)Never Forget
(Read Entry)Friday, 10 September 2004
Obligatory Newton Post
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Genesis Update
(Read Entry)The Air Up There
(Read Entry)Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)Thursday, 9 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)This Week At NE
(Read Entry)One Small Step
(Read Entry)Various And Sundry
(Read Entry)Cupola Concerns
(Read Entry)Genesis Post-Mortem
(Read Entry)Full-Time Jobs
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 8 September 2004
The Genesis Effect
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Lorem Post-Ipsum
(Read Entry)Once And Future PDA
(Read Entry)KSC Damage Update
(Read Entry)Its Four-Year Mission?
(Read Entry)Picture Of The Day
(Read Entry)RIP
(Read Entry)Personal Note
(Read Entry)Tuesday, 7 September 2004
Spamusement!
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Richie Update
(Read Entry)Einstein Unveiled
(Read Entry)Good Grief
(Read Entry)Genesis Ends
(Read Entry)Hyper Time
(Read Entry)Weathering The Storm
(Read Entry)Continuing Mission
(Read Entry)Saturday, 4 September 2004
Update
(Read Entry)Friday, 3 September 2004
Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)The Toe Of Joe
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Terrestrial Aliens
(Read Entry)EVA Today
(Read Entry)Next Newt
(Read Entry)Thursday, 2 September 2004
This Week At NE
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Today In History
(Read Entry)Caller ID
(Read Entry)Against The Storm
(Read Entry)Vision Becomes Real
(Read Entry)RAT Update
(Read Entry)Surf's Up!
(Read Entry)Pods Unite
(Read Entry)Wednesday, 1 September 2004
Today In History
(Read Entry)The Revolution Will Be Computerized
(Read Entry)Daily Hatbag
(Read Entry)Political Whoops
(Read Entry)More Betting Advice
(Read Entry)All These Worlds
(Read Entry)The Death Of Trek
(Read Entry)They Like You Even Less
(Read Entry)