They're Short.

Moments ago, Mitt Rmoney (R-Flip flopper) just chose Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Tea Party) as his running mate.  So, can a Presidential candidate pick a running mate who wants to turn Medicare into a voucher program and not lose senior votes?  Is Florida now an easier win for Obama?

This just reeks of a campaign that cannot shore up the support of its base.

Let's kick off this campaign season a bit late and let me know your thoughts.

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We're Tall

If you missed it last night, here's the vid of the Entry, Descent and Landing portions of the Curiosity rover landing on Mars.

Mars.

I think at about 28:00, touchdown is confirmed.  NASA JPL...erupts.  It's just awesome.




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Look what we can do when we put our minds to it!

Here are the first 2 shots from Curiosity, confirming not only that it landed in a series of really complicated maneuvers (including a parachute, retro-rockets and a crane), but that it works.  I'm all misty.

rear-facing "hazard cam;" lens a bit dusty, clear shadow of
Curiosity on the surface of...oh...ANOTHER PLANET

The surface of Mars, using a slightly higher-res camera.  To the
lower right is one of Curiosity's wheels. 

UPDATE BY BOB:  Even higher res image from same camera:

Higher res, (but not HD) image sent from Mars a couple hours after the above.  This one is double the resolution.



UPDATE 2 BY BOB - A shot of the parchute open above the lander as shot by the orbiter.


Unreal.  There it is.  In another 48 hours, we'll start getting hi-resolution color photos.

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To The Moon

I ran across this quote from Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell, and I enjoy it for its poignancy and bluntness:

You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it.  From out there on the moon, international politics looks so petty.  You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch.'

Sure, astronaut Edgar does indeed endorse UFO myths, but that shouldn't detract from the general direction of his quote.  Perhaps someday, as space travel becomes easier and more common, more people will get a chance to see Earth from space.  Every astronaut ever quoted seems to have the same theme to their quote, just like every astrophysicist who studies this stuff:  when you look at us from the perspective of "up there" instead of "down here," all this petty crap dissolves; politics, race, territory all seem insignificant.

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FIRE! M..Meh heh heh...FIRE!

H/T to Beavis and Butthead, of course.

But anyway, ever wonder what 270 solid rocket boosters and 405 main engines look like blasting-off simultaneously?

Yes?

Great!  Since you've always wondered, here it is:  all 135 shuttle launches in the history of the program, launching simultaneously.

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Curiosity

OK Science nerds. on August 5 th a new rover will...hopefully land on Mars. Check out this video, which shows the sci-fi-like gymnastics this thing will undergo to deposit the rover Curiosity on the surface of Mars. Click here.

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Happy Independence Day!

I thought about leaving the "Oh, Canada!" post up over the 4th of July cuz it'd be funny, but I resisted and instead offer you Ray Charles playing "America, the Beautiful."  We have a fine national anthem, what with explosions and bravery and freedom, but there are days I think that this song would have made a wonderful anthem. Despite it not being such, I still love the song, and how this singer performs it.



But if we must have our true anthem, and we must, I say this is one of the best:

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Oh, Canada!

I love our neighbors to the North.

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