This is one of the images taken from the last flight of Columbia. I've been meaning to post it up for weeks.
- Art Neuro
A Gen-X View of the Universe.
"The Issue Isn't Pussy, It's Monkey" - from The Right Stuff
Film, Cinema, Movies, TV, Music, Rock
2004/07/31
Incommunicado
As expected Telstra have screwed up my request, so I won't be getting my account transferred until later next week. It's a real drag.
Talking To Terrorists
I had a conversation with Chris last night and he illuminated some interesting ideas.
It's been a bit over a week Since Philippines President Gloria Arroyo 'backed down', so to speak, in agreeing to withdraw her troops 3 days earlier in exchange for the life of the truck driver. Since then there has been a torrent of criticism over that move saying she gave in to terrorists. Well, it seems to me that that while she did do so, all she did was give 3 days to terrorists. What exactly will the terrorists do in the 3-day absence of the Philippines Military? In fact what did they do in the 3 days? Nothing more than they were doing before, I believe. So the symbolic victory of the terrorist kidnap cause hasn't exactly delivered a massive windfall for them.
Isn't it possible to conceive of Arroyo's move as a tactical retreat on the axis of symbolic capital? In fact, why are we so locked into a rigid position of "we don't negotiate with Terrorists"? It is conceivable to say it would be near-impossible to talk to the Al Qaeda group, as made clear by the fact that the point of their terrorism was an act of war; unlike most other terrorist agencies that claim responsibilities and post up demands. This was evinced in the 'September 11' attacks where the death and damage inflicted by the act was the very point of the act; not an act that was meant to terrorise a governments into negotiating. No demands were made, and everybody said this was a new form of terrorism. Actually, it was simply terror as war.
The significant difference between the Al Qaeda Modus Operandi and the Iraqi Kidnappers' M.O. seems to us that the kidnappers made a demand. So if you are Gloria Arroyo, what would you make of this? I would venture to say that she recognised that whoever the kidnappers were, they were not the kind of terrorists you *couldn't* talk to; and so she made a deal. While the rigid and petrified sloganeers have called Arroyo all manners of things, maybe we should be pondering the positive significance of what she did?
- Art Neuro
As expected Telstra have screwed up my request, so I won't be getting my account transferred until later next week. It's a real drag.
Talking To Terrorists
I had a conversation with Chris last night and he illuminated some interesting ideas.
It's been a bit over a week Since Philippines President Gloria Arroyo 'backed down', so to speak, in agreeing to withdraw her troops 3 days earlier in exchange for the life of the truck driver. Since then there has been a torrent of criticism over that move saying she gave in to terrorists. Well, it seems to me that that while she did do so, all she did was give 3 days to terrorists. What exactly will the terrorists do in the 3-day absence of the Philippines Military? In fact what did they do in the 3 days? Nothing more than they were doing before, I believe. So the symbolic victory of the terrorist kidnap cause hasn't exactly delivered a massive windfall for them.
Isn't it possible to conceive of Arroyo's move as a tactical retreat on the axis of symbolic capital? In fact, why are we so locked into a rigid position of "we don't negotiate with Terrorists"? It is conceivable to say it would be near-impossible to talk to the Al Qaeda group, as made clear by the fact that the point of their terrorism was an act of war; unlike most other terrorist agencies that claim responsibilities and post up demands. This was evinced in the 'September 11' attacks where the death and damage inflicted by the act was the very point of the act; not an act that was meant to terrorise a governments into negotiating. No demands were made, and everybody said this was a new form of terrorism. Actually, it was simply terror as war.
The significant difference between the Al Qaeda Modus Operandi and the Iraqi Kidnappers' M.O. seems to us that the kidnappers made a demand. So if you are Gloria Arroyo, what would you make of this? I would venture to say that she recognised that whoever the kidnappers were, they were not the kind of terrorists you *couldn't* talk to; and so she made a deal. While the rigid and petrified sloganeers have called Arroyo all manners of things, maybe we should be pondering the positive significance of what she did?
- Art Neuro
2004/07/29
Laziness Can Burn Your Neck
Here is a page of strange warnings. On the 11th one from the bottom, you may notice the famous 'thought for the day' from Chatswood Highschool, "laziness can burn your neck", still applies:
I'm moving house soon, and I have no faith whatsoever that Telstra will make my internet connection transfer smooth. Also, there is a strong likelihood I'll be going over to Cowra for the 60th anniversary of the Breakout. So I probably won't be writing here all of next week. You've been warned. :)
- Art Neuro
Here is a page of strange warnings. On the 11th one from the bottom, you may notice the famous 'thought for the day' from Chatswood Highschool, "laziness can burn your neck", still applies:
A household iron warns users: "Never iron clothes while they are being worn."
I'm moving house soon, and I have no faith whatsoever that Telstra will make my internet connection transfer smooth. Also, there is a strong likelihood I'll be going over to Cowra for the 60th anniversary of the Breakout. So I probably won't be writing here all of next week. You've been warned. :)
- Art Neuro
2004/07/28
Laying It Down
Derek Zumsteg writes for Baseball Prospectus. He's a fabulous, witty writer, but he writes behind the subscription wall where only the truly willing-to-spend-cash-to-find-out-more can read his excellent analysis.
Today, however, he had this hilarious straight-shootin' root-tootin' freebie.
El Duque Report
Yep. That time of the Yankee rotation again. Our favourite Cuban Ace 'El Duque' was pulled after 2 innings thanks to a pulled hamstring. He says he'll be back for the next start.
The Yankees won anyway.
- Art Neuro
Derek Zumsteg writes for Baseball Prospectus. He's a fabulous, witty writer, but he writes behind the subscription wall where only the truly willing-to-spend-cash-to-find-out-more can read his excellent analysis.
Today, however, he had this hilarious straight-shootin' root-tootin' freebie.
El Duque Report
Yep. That time of the Yankee rotation again. Our favourite Cuban Ace 'El Duque' was pulled after 2 innings thanks to a pulled hamstring. He says he'll be back for the next start.
The Yankees won anyway.
- Art Neuro
Do We Really 'Need Another Seven Astronauts'?
...Or even one? asks James van Allen, the famed physicists who brought to us the Van Allen Belt. in the 1950s. no, it's not some sliming device for bored housewives, it's that radiation belt up there that makes life possible on this rock.
Click Here for the article.
He then goes on to say that he thinks it's questionable whether manned flights and the risks therein are worth the expenditure of talent and so forth; and that analogies to explorers of the 15th and 16th Centuries might be a little overblown.
- Art Neuro
...Or even one? asks James van Allen, the famed physicists who brought to us the Van Allen Belt. in the 1950s. no, it's not some sliming device for bored housewives, it's that radiation belt up there that makes life possible on this rock.
Click Here for the article.
"My position is that it is high time for a calm debate on more fundamental questions. Does human spaceflight continue to serve a compelling cultural purpose and/or our national interest? Or does human spaceflight simply have a life of its own, without a realistic objective that is remotely commensurate with its costs? Or, indeed, is human spaceflight now obsolete?" van Allen writes.
Van Allens call for discussion is prompted in part by NASAs grounding of the remaining space shuttle fleet following the Columbia accident, while the agency takes steps to improve their safety. Also, the scientist notes that President Bush has put on the table "a far more costly and far more hazardous program" to return humans back to the Moon and for sending astronauts to Mars and worlds beyond.
Supporters of human spaceflight "defy reality and struggle to recapture the level of public support that was induced temporarily by the Cold War," van Allen charges."Almost all of the space programs important advances in scientific knowledge have been accomplished by hundreds of robotic spacecraft in orbit about Earth and on missions to the distant planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune," van Allen writes. Similarly, robotic exploration of comets and asteroids "has truly revolutionized our knowledge of the solar system," he adds.
He then goes on to say that he thinks it's questionable whether manned flights and the risks therein are worth the expenditure of talent and so forth; and that analogies to explorers of the 15th and 16th Centuries might be a little overblown.
- Art Neuro
More of the Same
Just a quick update on the Ansari X Prize.
No big deal.
- Art Neuro
Just a quick update on the Ansari X Prize.
Rutan said the first flight will carry only the pilot but he did not rule out passengers for the subsequent attempt.
"I really do want to fly passengers in this ship," he said.
Backers of a Canadian effort called the Da Vinci Project announced that their spacecraft will roll out next week in Toronto and they intend to begin flying sometime in the fall.A total of 26 teams in seven countries are developing spacecraft to compete for the X Prize, which is sponsored by the privately funded X Prize Foundation in St. Louis.
The SpaceShipOne project is bankrolled by billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, who is spending more than $20 million.The three-seat requirement demonstrates the capacity for paying customers; the quick turnaround between flights demonstrates reusability and reliability.
Although SpaceShipOne's June flight appeared to go flawlessly, Rutan revealed afterward that there was a serious malfunction in the trim system, used to adjust stability and steering, causing it to miss its atmospheric re-entry point by 22 miles.Hitting the re-entry point is important because after the rocket motor shuts down the plane becomes a powerless glider and cannot simply fly to its destination.
Rutan and his Scaled Composites development company gained wide fame by building the lightweight, propeller-driven Voyager aircraft, which flew around the world nonstop without refueling in 1986.
No big deal.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/27
Okay, I've Seen It Now
'Fahrenheit 9/11' proved to be a bit of a treat. If anything Michael Moore is entertaining if somewhat ham-fisted. It makes for depressing viewing which ever camp you might be in with regards to the war in Iraq. I won't go into that part of it because well, you know my arguments and I don't have the energy to go 280 posts with James on the Left or Mr. Weasel on the Right, or both at once. Be that as it may, I will stick to my original assertion that this is not very different to Leni Riefenstahl plying her trade as a film maker, and I can happily live with any film maker doing so.
What's Good About It?
What is good about this film is that Michael Moore is less apparent in the material than in 'Bowling for Columbine'. Where as he came across as a smart-ass gonzo journalist in the earlier work, his reduced presence in this film allows the material he has assembled to speak for itself; and George W. Bush indeed talks a lot. What emerges from the cavalcade of documents and clippings, press footage and private footage assembled regarding George W Bush is that he really damns himself. It becomes exceedingly clear the man is heavily compromised by the interests he represents (not that this is great news or that another President wouldn't be... But it is what it is). While Moore does not spell it out, given the edited footage the only three possible explanations that can be drawn about the man are that he is either so dumb, or so crooked or both.
The amount of dogged pursuit of detail and data to assemble this film was no mean feat. I kid you not, this is a towering work of editor-ship and the kudos should go to the researchers as well as the three accredited editors. The sound work that must have been required to bring to the screen the some of the crappy source sounds must have been staggering. Indeed, the technical achievement of bringing to a cinema screen such diverse sources is mind-boggling and mesmeric. Believe me, technically speaking this film could not have happened even 5 years ago. It's even crisper than 'Bowling for Columbine' in its execution and technique.
It's also a good thing that we now have a public record of how the Bush family and the bin Laden family are related. Let's be blunt; the Bushes have been on the Bin Laden payroll for 30 years and more. The Bushes have benefited from the association more than what they have gotten from their time in public office. Fair crack of the whip, this should be known. What you infer from that is your own business.
We also get a Congressman who admits he doesn't read everything, on the public record. That's got to be good. And also a telephone number to annoy somebody in Congress.
What's bad About It?
I understand Michael Moore is one-sided but quite often he misstates his case in order to over-state his case when objective facts might have done the trick. For instance, he bags out the Coalition of the Willing by citing the weaker members of the Coalition, almost laughing at the plight of these nations: Palau, Costa Rica Romania.
Palau has the back ground of some indigenous person living closer to naked than in a suit and tie.
Costa Rica shows a barefooted guy pulling a loaded rickshaw through a muddy jungle.
Romania gets a few cuts of Dracula rising from a coffin, courtesy of the original Nosferatu (come on, Mike!. Like, is Ceaucescu back from the dead sucking on Iraqi blood or something?)
He also takes a quick swipe at Iceland by showing some old footage of a Viking movie and fails to mention the UK and well, us, Australia. (Yeah Mike, the Vikings are raiding the coast of Iraq with American approval!)
We get the picture that the US pretty much commandeered the agenda to invade Iraq (but we knew that already), but does Moore's case get stronger by not mentioning the UK, Poland and Australia while putting in bold the lesser contributors? The film is full of such bombastic hyperbole, one comes out of the cinema disoriented, trying to figure out what in the maelstrom of images and sounds is actually meant to argue exactly what.
And that's a problem. the through-argument of this film is totally un-clear. Is it that Bush is a crook? Or is it that Bush's family are crooks? Or is it that Bush and his entire admin is a bunch of crooks? Is it that the war is rort for Halliburton and the real crook is Cheney? Where was it all going? In the end it seemed like it was complaining that the Americans don't pay enough for the boys who tote the guns and do the dirty work of killing for us, which we don't want them to do anyway. As if that makes a whole lot of sense too.
Instead you walk out with this garbled mass of scattergun character assassinations.
What also suffers is the fact that policy long term or short, never seems to enter Michael Moore's discourse. The film is a big nay-saying of the current US administration, which is fine and dandy. At the same time, it is not as if he is able to offer any vision of how US policy should have been or should be with regards to the likes of Taliban, Al Qaeda, or Saddam Hussein. Again, he overstates his case insanely by saying that Iraq was in no position to harm America or that it had never murdered an American.
Maybe that's enough for some, but I found it wanting.
And What Would It Matter?
So Michael Moore has made his political point. The masses have flocked to see what exactly the point is, only to fatten up the coffers of the already successful Mr. Moore. You'd think GWB was the best thing to have happened to Mike Moore. Will George W. Bush lose the election? By the sound of the opening 10 minutes I'd say that it wouldn't matter because Kerry and Edwards will mysteriously lose Florida, thanks to the electoral fraud perpetrated by the Bush clan.
Anyway, it's an interesting enough viewing experience. I probably wouldn't have given it a gong at Cannes, but I guess I wasn't there to argue it.
Watch it because it's topical, but I'd venture the use-by date on this film is a lot sooner than you think.
- Art Neuro
'Fahrenheit 9/11' proved to be a bit of a treat. If anything Michael Moore is entertaining if somewhat ham-fisted. It makes for depressing viewing which ever camp you might be in with regards to the war in Iraq. I won't go into that part of it because well, you know my arguments and I don't have the energy to go 280 posts with James on the Left or Mr. Weasel on the Right, or both at once. Be that as it may, I will stick to my original assertion that this is not very different to Leni Riefenstahl plying her trade as a film maker, and I can happily live with any film maker doing so.
What's Good About It?
What is good about this film is that Michael Moore is less apparent in the material than in 'Bowling for Columbine'. Where as he came across as a smart-ass gonzo journalist in the earlier work, his reduced presence in this film allows the material he has assembled to speak for itself; and George W. Bush indeed talks a lot. What emerges from the cavalcade of documents and clippings, press footage and private footage assembled regarding George W Bush is that he really damns himself. It becomes exceedingly clear the man is heavily compromised by the interests he represents (not that this is great news or that another President wouldn't be... But it is what it is). While Moore does not spell it out, given the edited footage the only three possible explanations that can be drawn about the man are that he is either so dumb, or so crooked or both.
The amount of dogged pursuit of detail and data to assemble this film was no mean feat. I kid you not, this is a towering work of editor-ship and the kudos should go to the researchers as well as the three accredited editors. The sound work that must have been required to bring to the screen the some of the crappy source sounds must have been staggering. Indeed, the technical achievement of bringing to a cinema screen such diverse sources is mind-boggling and mesmeric. Believe me, technically speaking this film could not have happened even 5 years ago. It's even crisper than 'Bowling for Columbine' in its execution and technique.
It's also a good thing that we now have a public record of how the Bush family and the bin Laden family are related. Let's be blunt; the Bushes have been on the Bin Laden payroll for 30 years and more. The Bushes have benefited from the association more than what they have gotten from their time in public office. Fair crack of the whip, this should be known. What you infer from that is your own business.
We also get a Congressman who admits he doesn't read everything, on the public record. That's got to be good. And also a telephone number to annoy somebody in Congress.
What's bad About It?
I understand Michael Moore is one-sided but quite often he misstates his case in order to over-state his case when objective facts might have done the trick. For instance, he bags out the Coalition of the Willing by citing the weaker members of the Coalition, almost laughing at the plight of these nations: Palau, Costa Rica Romania.
Palau has the back ground of some indigenous person living closer to naked than in a suit and tie.
Costa Rica shows a barefooted guy pulling a loaded rickshaw through a muddy jungle.
Romania gets a few cuts of Dracula rising from a coffin, courtesy of the original Nosferatu (come on, Mike!. Like, is Ceaucescu back from the dead sucking on Iraqi blood or something?)
He also takes a quick swipe at Iceland by showing some old footage of a Viking movie and fails to mention the UK and well, us, Australia. (Yeah Mike, the Vikings are raiding the coast of Iraq with American approval!)
We get the picture that the US pretty much commandeered the agenda to invade Iraq (but we knew that already), but does Moore's case get stronger by not mentioning the UK, Poland and Australia while putting in bold the lesser contributors? The film is full of such bombastic hyperbole, one comes out of the cinema disoriented, trying to figure out what in the maelstrom of images and sounds is actually meant to argue exactly what.
And that's a problem. the through-argument of this film is totally un-clear. Is it that Bush is a crook? Or is it that Bush's family are crooks? Or is it that Bush and his entire admin is a bunch of crooks? Is it that the war is rort for Halliburton and the real crook is Cheney? Where was it all going? In the end it seemed like it was complaining that the Americans don't pay enough for the boys who tote the guns and do the dirty work of killing for us, which we don't want them to do anyway. As if that makes a whole lot of sense too.
Instead you walk out with this garbled mass of scattergun character assassinations.
What also suffers is the fact that policy long term or short, never seems to enter Michael Moore's discourse. The film is a big nay-saying of the current US administration, which is fine and dandy. At the same time, it is not as if he is able to offer any vision of how US policy should have been or should be with regards to the likes of Taliban, Al Qaeda, or Saddam Hussein. Again, he overstates his case insanely by saying that Iraq was in no position to harm America or that it had never murdered an American.
Maybe that's enough for some, but I found it wanting.
And What Would It Matter?
So Michael Moore has made his political point. The masses have flocked to see what exactly the point is, only to fatten up the coffers of the already successful Mr. Moore. You'd think GWB was the best thing to have happened to Mike Moore. Will George W. Bush lose the election? By the sound of the opening 10 minutes I'd say that it wouldn't matter because Kerry and Edwards will mysteriously lose Florida, thanks to the electoral fraud perpetrated by the Bush clan.
Anyway, it's an interesting enough viewing experience. I probably wouldn't have given it a gong at Cannes, but I guess I wasn't there to argue it.
Watch it because it's topical, but I'd venture the use-by date on this film is a lot sooner than you think.
- Art Neuro
What Kind of God Invents Cancer?
Okay it's got nothing to do with the big G in the sky. I've been having a crappy day all round.
The Great Punta moves in mysterious ways and today, he flattened my front tyre. To be sure, the manual of the car says when you have a flat front, you shouldn't put the flimsy spare on the front, you should take off one of the rear tyres, stick that on the front, and then put the spare onthe rear. Well, that's just extra hassle you don't want to find out when you're meant to be going somewhere with a carload of stuff, isn't it?
Now, I discover this flat tyre after I've loaded up my car. So I unload my car AND carry my stuff back up the stairs, I then drive out to the local Bob Jane T-Mart and the guy makes me sit and wait for 15minutes while he talks on the phone. Now I have to pick up my tyre at 3:00pm this afternoon and replace it myself. The joy never ends.
Which brings me to:
Blame It On the Sun Spots
Yes indeed, somebody's got to cop the blame and I'm squarely assigning the blame to sun spots that have grown to 20 times the size of Earth:
- Art Neuro
Okay it's got nothing to do with the big G in the sky. I've been having a crappy day all round.
The Great Punta moves in mysterious ways and today, he flattened my front tyre. To be sure, the manual of the car says when you have a flat front, you shouldn't put the flimsy spare on the front, you should take off one of the rear tyres, stick that on the front, and then put the spare onthe rear. Well, that's just extra hassle you don't want to find out when you're meant to be going somewhere with a carload of stuff, isn't it?
Now, I discover this flat tyre after I've loaded up my car. So I unload my car AND carry my stuff back up the stairs, I then drive out to the local Bob Jane T-Mart and the guy makes me sit and wait for 15minutes while he talks on the phone. Now I have to pick up my tyre at 3:00pm this afternoon and replace it myself. The joy never ends.
Which brings me to:
Blame It On the Sun Spots
Yes indeed, somebody's got to cop the blame and I'm squarely assigning the blame to sun spots that have grown to 20 times the size of Earth:
Whatever the case may be it's ruining my day. :)Sunspots are areas of intense magnetic energy, cooler and darker than the surrounding surface of the thermonuclear furnace. Sometimes the magnetic fields let loose and huge amounts of radiation and charged particles are hurled into space.
The Sun's last bout of intense storminess occurred last fall, when a string of 10 major flares over two weeks knocked out satellites, damaged others, and forced the FAA (news - web sites) to reroute airlines away from exposed polar routes.
No one can say if this sunspot group will let loose with a major storm, but it has the characteristics of a potentially big event."The implications of this spot have scientists on the edge of their seats," NASA (news - web sites) said in a statement Friday. "If the active region generates coronal mass ejections (CMEs), massive explosions with a potential force of a billion megaton bombs, it will be a fairly direct hit to Earth and its satellites and power grids."
- Art Neuro
2004/07/26
What It Takes To Get A Woman Out ofYour Life
Here's an interesting report. The late and un-seatbelted Princess Diana took everything Prince Charles owned in their divorce.
Now here's one for the conspiracy theorists. Doesn't this give the Royal Windsors extra motive to whack Diana if she's threatening to marry Dodhi Al Fayed? Because that would mean the money ain't necessarily coming back...
Just speculating. :)
- Art Neuro
Here's an interesting report. The late and un-seatbelted Princess Diana took everything Prince Charles owned in their divorce.
When you think about it, it sort of makes sense seeing that the fortune will eventually pass to her sons, one of whom will inherit the throne and the vast wealth of Her Majesty the Queen. It ain't exactly money going anywhere but back to the family. So, clearly Prince Charles thought it was worth expending every penny he had to get rid of this woman from his life. Charming, Prince Charming."Princess Diana took every penny he had," Bignell was quoted as saying. "I was told to liquidate everything, all his investments, so that he could give her the cash.
"He was very unhappy about that. That's when I stopped being his personal financial adviser because he had no personal wealth left. She took him to the cleaners."
A spokeswoman for Prince Charles refused to comment on the settlement issue, saying it was a "private matter." But she confirmed that Bignell had worked for the heir to the throne. The Sunday Telegraph said he had worked for Charles for free.
Now here's one for the conspiracy theorists. Doesn't this give the Royal Windsors extra motive to whack Diana if she's threatening to marry Dodhi Al Fayed? Because that would mean the money ain't necessarily coming back...
Just speculating. :)
- Art Neuro
It's Been a Long Time Mercury, But Here We Come
This is hot off the press from Cape Canaveral. NASA is firing the Messenger craft to Mercury. It is the first time we are sending a probe to the planet closest to the sun in 30years since Mariner 10. I can't believe it's been that long since mariner 10, but there you go.
- Art Neuro
This is hot off the press from Cape Canaveral. NASA is firing the Messenger craft to Mercury. It is the first time we are sending a probe to the planet closest to the sun in 30years since Mariner 10. I can't believe it's been that long since mariner 10, but there you go.
Are we impressed yet? It turns out we haven't been back to mercury for this long because we have not had the technology to even consider it. Now, with th heat shielded thermos bottle design, Messenger will be able to get up close and personal with the little fella who lives in the furnace heat of the sun.Even at that, members of the Johns Hopkins University spacecraft team assembled in Cape Canaveral realize this mission can't compete with Mars and its rovers, or Saturn and its newly arrived sentry, Cassini.
But there are plenty of cool facts about this red-hot mission, besides the off-the-charts-SPF sunscreen that was baked for days in ground testing.You can see yourself in Messenger's twin solar wings, made up of a couple thousand little mirrors to reflect the intense sunlight in Mercury's neighborhood. The wings are two-thirds mirrors and just one-third electricity-producing solar cells.
Diode heat pipes burrowed into the extraordinarily insulated spacecraft will radiate internal heat from all the electronics. When Messenger passes between the sun and Mercury and it gets really sweltering — not too often and not for long because of Messenger's cleverly conceived flight plan — these pipes will shut down and the boxy craft will be like a house with all the windows closed on a steamy afternoon."It's basically a Thermos bottle," Ercol explained.
"We're actually taking on a very brutal mission from the standpoint of the sun and then from the orbiting standpoint because the planet itself is very hot."Even though Mercury is 50 million miles from Earth at closest approach, Messenger will travel 5 billion miles to get there. It's technologically infeasible to fly straight to Mercury, a trip of a few months, and so the spacecraft must swing once past Earth, twice past Venus and thrice past Mercury before slowing down enough to slip into orbit around Mercury.
Estimated arrival time: March 2011.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/25
Star Wars Episode III: The Title Has Been Announced!
And the title is, 'Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith'. Agh. That's right, 'tis not 'Rage of the Hungry Ewoks' or 'Dances with Maori Clones' or 'The Marketing Bonanza' or 'The Gluttony of George Lucas' or 'The Insatiable Hype Machine' or 'The Time I Cried Wolf and Only a Dark Helmet Remained' or 'When Anakin Became Darth'. Here is the article:
To quote William Shakespeare, I do be-groan with all. The sad thing is that while George Lucas is making his Star Wars movie, he has a monopoly on Space opera projects in Hollywood. nobody else would dare make one, let alone pitch one. So it's comic book translations to the screens and low budget horro numbers for the forseeable future otherwise.
A few weeks back I had a conversation with some of our readers who noted that the trend with Darths seems to be to have word that start with 'In', and then drop the 'in'.
- i.e. 'Invader' becomes 'Darth Vader'. Insidious becomes Darth Sidious.
While this doesn't apply to Darth Maul, by this logic, we can still figure out that there may be the following Sith lords in waiting (in no particular order):
Darth Continent
Darth Valid
Darth Congruous
Darth Sanity
Darth Dispensible
Darth Formed
Darth Dustrious
Darth Telligible
Darth Corporated
Darth Iraq
Darth Coherent
Darth Defensible
Darth Toxicated
Darth Vention
Darth Sensitive
Darth Structive
Darth Competent
Darth Decisive...
- Art Neuro a.k.a. Darth Yerface
And the title is, 'Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith'. Agh. That's right, 'tis not 'Rage of the Hungry Ewoks' or 'Dances with Maori Clones' or 'The Marketing Bonanza' or 'The Gluttony of George Lucas' or 'The Insatiable Hype Machine' or 'The Time I Cried Wolf and Only a Dark Helmet Remained' or 'When Anakin Became Darth'. Here is the article:
"Star Wars" creator and filmmaker George Lucas did not attend the event, but sent fan relations chief Steve Sansweet in his place.
Sansweet announced the title by pulling off a baseball jersey to reveal a black T-shirt emblazoned with "Revenge of the Sith.""For some time now, the naming of a new 'Star Wars' movie has taken on some special meaning among core fans who love to take part in guessing games and speculation before a title is announced," Sansweet told nearly 6,500 convention attendees. "And then (they) engage in debate once it is ... so let the debate begin."
Minutes later, a sampling of audience members dressed as Jedis, stormtroopers and other "Star Wars" characters showed they approved."I thought it was great, I loved it,' said Barren Wright, 35, a graphic designer from Modesto who was dressed as the green-armored bounty hunter Boba Fett. "This takes it back to the classic trilogy, It's a smart move by Lucasfilm to tie it all together since the logo and everything is identical to 'Return of the Jedi.'"
Wright said the symmetry between the titles reflects the story lines.
Anyone who has seen the original "Star Wars" from 1977 knows that the good guys — that is the Jedi — would be wiped out by Darth Vader in "Episode III" just as Vader and his evil Empire were toppled in 1983's "Return of the Jedi."In addition to the title, Lucasfilm also sent concept artist Ryan Church to show off drawings of a Wookie tree civilization from "Episode III" and played footage of Christensen's climactic light-saber duel — minus all the special effects — with co-star Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi.
"Return of the Jedi" was originally to be titled "Revenge of the Jedi." Some advance promotional material even featured that title, but Lucas changed it later in production.
"This time, George tells us he's going to keep 'Revenge' in the title," Sansweet said.
He had one other announcement for fans: "Revenge of the Sith" T-shirts would go on sale inside Comic-Con's main hall in five minutes.
To quote William Shakespeare, I do be-groan with all. The sad thing is that while George Lucas is making his Star Wars movie, he has a monopoly on Space opera projects in Hollywood. nobody else would dare make one, let alone pitch one. So it's comic book translations to the screens and low budget horro numbers for the forseeable future otherwise.
A few weeks back I had a conversation with some of our readers who noted that the trend with Darths seems to be to have word that start with 'In', and then drop the 'in'.
- i.e. 'Invader' becomes 'Darth Vader'. Insidious becomes Darth Sidious.
While this doesn't apply to Darth Maul, by this logic, we can still figure out that there may be the following Sith lords in waiting (in no particular order):
Darth Continent
Darth Valid
Darth Congruous
Darth Sanity
Darth Dispensible
Darth Formed
Darth Dustrious
Darth Telligible
Darth Corporated
Darth Iraq
Darth Coherent
Darth Defensible
Darth Toxicated
Darth Vention
Darth Sensitive
Darth Structive
Darth Competent
Darth Decisive...
- Art Neuro a.k.a. Darth Yerface
2004/07/24
Some Thoughts On Our National Trauma
Sometimes I think Australia is traumatised by its expereinces in the two World Wars beyond what other nations might sustain. As if in its infancy, the nation witnessed unsuprassed brutality in the face of war. So culturally, Australia possesses a kind of desire for the power of redemptive violence to bring it into manhood as a nation, but at the same time, a kind of whiny insistence on pointing at the trauma gained by the very desire for combat. And so you have Anzac Day where veterans parade with their medals and TV stations air documentaries of wrinkled old folks talking about the hardships they experienced.
In its 210 or so years of written history, if you live for 30 years, you have lived 1/7th of the entire nation's history. Consider that for a moment. If one were to live 1/7th of the written history of say, China you would have to live 500 years. Or in the case of Egypt, 1500 years. To such nations, wars are historic inevitabilities. They are accidents of human existence; or natural disasters. In fact all three interpretations of war can be applied to any number of truly brutal wars in their history.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating lost his father in the Bataan march. So in his time as treasurer, he refused (not that he was invited) to visit Japan. As Prime Minister, he finally went and pretty much demanded an apology. Now this is an Australian Prime Minister I liked (sorry Conservative Weasel; he was a bastard, but he was 'our bastard'), but I felt a degree of discomfort with this part of his disposition. It meani that no matter how long I lived, I wouldn't be fully Australian in his eyes (and screw him very much, I voted for him!). That, because of things that neither I nor he could control, I would forever be a foreigner in my own country. Worse still, this reflectes the general community sentiment when I get asked "how long do you intend to stay here?".
There's still an anxiety in Australia that Japan will forget its militarist past. Many would try not to let Japan live it down. And yet Australia is dealing with a country with a written history that is a good 7 times longer, tht has experienced many a bloody conflict. At a certain point, they will simlpy 'put it down to history'. Why can't Australia? because it was a significant part of this nation's formative expereince.
But back to this trauma. It manifests itself in the uncomfortable alliance with th United States of America, where we do tag along with US policy and then squirm and writhe when we are made their deputies; the way Australian diplomatic strategy tries to project a larger image of Australian domestic power than is actualy real, and yet tries to duck our share of humaitarian aid; and also the perpetual cultural cringe and self-censorship that goes into the arts. It all sees to amount to a scream for legitimacy (but also a kind of demand of "freedom from responsibility"). Then when our govenrment, Coalition or Labor, gets criticised for its shortcomings it behaves like a victim. Well, why would Contemporary Australia, a nation largely devoid of the kind of civil strife that other nations experience and have experienced, be in anyway a victim? While one could easily argue a case that the Indigenous Australians are victims of history, it's a long shot to say that Contemporary Australia is anything like a victim. It's clearly a case of over-stating one's injuries.
I don't know why I chose to write this down today except it has been bothering me the last few years, how our government has been so easy to switch to a victim posture in discussing the refugees arriving on our shores to our onvolvement in the 'War Against Terror'. I simply would have thought Australia was better than that.
- Art Neuro
Sometimes I think Australia is traumatised by its expereinces in the two World Wars beyond what other nations might sustain. As if in its infancy, the nation witnessed unsuprassed brutality in the face of war. So culturally, Australia possesses a kind of desire for the power of redemptive violence to bring it into manhood as a nation, but at the same time, a kind of whiny insistence on pointing at the trauma gained by the very desire for combat. And so you have Anzac Day where veterans parade with their medals and TV stations air documentaries of wrinkled old folks talking about the hardships they experienced.
In its 210 or so years of written history, if you live for 30 years, you have lived 1/7th of the entire nation's history. Consider that for a moment. If one were to live 1/7th of the written history of say, China you would have to live 500 years. Or in the case of Egypt, 1500 years. To such nations, wars are historic inevitabilities. They are accidents of human existence; or natural disasters. In fact all three interpretations of war can be applied to any number of truly brutal wars in their history.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating lost his father in the Bataan march. So in his time as treasurer, he refused (not that he was invited) to visit Japan. As Prime Minister, he finally went and pretty much demanded an apology. Now this is an Australian Prime Minister I liked (sorry Conservative Weasel; he was a bastard, but he was 'our bastard'), but I felt a degree of discomfort with this part of his disposition. It meani that no matter how long I lived, I wouldn't be fully Australian in his eyes (and screw him very much, I voted for him!). That, because of things that neither I nor he could control, I would forever be a foreigner in my own country. Worse still, this reflectes the general community sentiment when I get asked "how long do you intend to stay here?".
There's still an anxiety in Australia that Japan will forget its militarist past. Many would try not to let Japan live it down. And yet Australia is dealing with a country with a written history that is a good 7 times longer, tht has experienced many a bloody conflict. At a certain point, they will simlpy 'put it down to history'. Why can't Australia? because it was a significant part of this nation's formative expereince.
But back to this trauma. It manifests itself in the uncomfortable alliance with th United States of America, where we do tag along with US policy and then squirm and writhe when we are made their deputies; the way Australian diplomatic strategy tries to project a larger image of Australian domestic power than is actualy real, and yet tries to duck our share of humaitarian aid; and also the perpetual cultural cringe and self-censorship that goes into the arts. It all sees to amount to a scream for legitimacy (but also a kind of demand of "freedom from responsibility"). Then when our govenrment, Coalition or Labor, gets criticised for its shortcomings it behaves like a victim. Well, why would Contemporary Australia, a nation largely devoid of the kind of civil strife that other nations experience and have experienced, be in anyway a victim? While one could easily argue a case that the Indigenous Australians are victims of history, it's a long shot to say that Contemporary Australia is anything like a victim. It's clearly a case of over-stating one's injuries.
I don't know why I chose to write this down today except it has been bothering me the last few years, how our government has been so easy to switch to a victim posture in discussing the refugees arriving on our shores to our onvolvement in the 'War Against Terror'. I simply would have thought Australia was better than that.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/23
Mo' Moneyball Interviews
Check these out. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball talks to Athletics Nation guy, Tyler Bleszinski. Great interview.
Part 1.
Part 2.
- Art Neuro
Check these out. Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball talks to Athletics Nation guy, Tyler Bleszinski. Great interview.
Part 1.
Part 2.
- Art Neuro
I'm Moving Again
Not this blog mind you.
I'm quitting on my domicile in Roseville. I'm quitting the Sydney property market. I'm crashlanding in the room of a friend's house. It's a little disconcerting, but the way I see it, at least I have that option and it's none too bad.
Actually, I feel kind of liberated from the demands of my mortgage. I don't think I was much for one to pay mortgage on a steady income for 30 years. That stuff just depresses the hell out of me. That might mean that I'll never be in a position to buy a piece of real estate again, but them's the breaks. Right now, it just feels like it belongs in the too hard basket. It's not like you can take that with you when you die.
I've noticed the lady downstairs from my unit is selling hers. She's put in a lot of work into her courtyard garden, but she's decided to sell up for whatever reason. Yesterday I saw a for sale sign on her car and I realised that maybe she needs the cash badly. That was kind of depressing. Anyway, it's just one of life's ups and downs. I feel quite okay about it and if anything freer to do whatever I like.
As it is, I have a priority of trying to finish 'Key Psycho' by the end of the year, so less financial pressure is good. :)
- Art Neuro
Not this blog mind you.
I'm quitting on my domicile in Roseville. I'm quitting the Sydney property market. I'm crashlanding in the room of a friend's house. It's a little disconcerting, but the way I see it, at least I have that option and it's none too bad.
Actually, I feel kind of liberated from the demands of my mortgage. I don't think I was much for one to pay mortgage on a steady income for 30 years. That stuff just depresses the hell out of me. That might mean that I'll never be in a position to buy a piece of real estate again, but them's the breaks. Right now, it just feels like it belongs in the too hard basket. It's not like you can take that with you when you die.
I've noticed the lady downstairs from my unit is selling hers. She's put in a lot of work into her courtyard garden, but she's decided to sell up for whatever reason. Yesterday I saw a for sale sign on her car and I realised that maybe she needs the cash badly. That was kind of depressing. Anyway, it's just one of life's ups and downs. I feel quite okay about it and if anything freer to do whatever I like.
As it is, I have a priority of trying to finish 'Key Psycho' by the end of the year, so less financial pressure is good. :)
- Art Neuro
Cassini Sends Back Picture of Rings of Saturn
We finally got natural colour image of the Rings of Saturn, thanks to the Cassini craft. This stuff is hot off the press as I write, listed at 39minutes ago. I'll post some up shortly.
I do recommend you go through at least the first 35 pics offered on the Yahoo site slideshow. They are cool. Have fun.
El Duque Does It Again
You're probably sick of hearing about the aged Cuban Ace Orlando Hernandez who is back with the Yankees, but in his third start he went 7 innings, striking out 10 and walking only one, while scattering 4 hits as the Yankees won 1-0 at the bottom of the ninth with a homerun by Reuben Sierra.
That kind of pitching effort screams 'ACE', until you realise he did it against the struggling bottom-feeders of the AL East, theToronto Blue Jays (sorry Joff, your team plain sucks this year).
Which is the way it goes down sometimes. So now the Yankees head to Boston with a 9 game lead and very cold bats.
- Art Neuro
We finally got natural colour image of the Rings of Saturn, thanks to the Cassini craft. This stuff is hot off the press as I write, listed at 39minutes ago. I'll post some up shortly.
I do recommend you go through at least the first 35 pics offered on the Yahoo site slideshow. They are cool. Have fun.
El Duque Does It Again
You're probably sick of hearing about the aged Cuban Ace Orlando Hernandez who is back with the Yankees, but in his third start he went 7 innings, striking out 10 and walking only one, while scattering 4 hits as the Yankees won 1-0 at the bottom of the ninth with a homerun by Reuben Sierra.
That kind of pitching effort screams 'ACE', until you realise he did it against the struggling bottom-feeders of the AL East, theToronto Blue Jays (sorry Joff, your team plain sucks this year).
Which is the way it goes down sometimes. So now the Yankees head to Boston with a 9 game lead and very cold bats.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/22
Ansari X Prize Update
In case you forgot all about it, the space race amongst private consortiums is still on. There is mounting speculation that there will be an announcement on July 27th. The noises emananting from the SpaceShipOne camp say:
Stephen Hawking Update
As was reported previously, Stephen Hawking did change his mind on Black Holes and made news. If I change my mind on the Black Holes, that won't make news. The thing is, he did all this fancy calcualtion stuff that eventually showed that matter can't just dissappear, something has to be outputted. Me on the other hand just typed that on the blog page because I read it, which underscores the major difference between a celebrity Physicist and an under-employed bum. :)
Singing Praises
A couple of days ago, there was snarky commentary about Linda Ronstadt getting thrown out of a Las Vegas Casino-Hotel. Well, here's the deal according to her.
Politics, Niccolo Machiavelli said, was about emotions. And so when people are challenged in their positions, they tend to get a little self-righteous: "This is What I believe. How can I possibly be wrong, given my accumulated life-experiences, study and observation?"
While this is somewhat simplified, it explains why people get so agitated by politics. Political discussion and discourse on the whole is predicated on the emotional need for the other guy to be wrong (more than one's need to be right). On the whole, when you discuss things rationally with people, you find that when it comes to politics, it's never really rational as they claim they are; quite often it's outright an issue of allegiance. Which is fine. We all have allegiances. I owe allegiances to things just like everybody else, but I am honest enough to say "It's irrational. There is not a rational argument on the planet that explains my allegiance to the New York Yankees. And they're not even a political cause."
Now Linda Ronstadt is not my idea of a communist. She's a '70s pop star, eking out a living in the twilight of her career; singing in casino amphitheatres for crying out loud. She, like others in a democratic world is entitled to her opinion and to express them at her own forum, her stage and her work. And in turn, the Casino-Hotel mini-City-States are allowed to banish her and look like tin-pot dictators. I mean how much moral high ground can the Casino-Hotel claim when they ply their trade in gambling and prostitution? As for the people walking out and demanding their money back, that's not even political. That's called scamming.
- Art Neuro
In case you forgot all about it, the space race amongst private consortiums is still on. There is mounting speculation that there will be an announcement on July 27th. The noises emananting from the SpaceShipOne camp say:
"When we do get ready to do the X Prize flights, we will be ready to fly three flights, not two," Rutan said. "We can fly SpaceShipOne a little quicker than in one week. In other words, we can fly three flights in two weeks," he added.Meanwhile here's the interesting one. A consortium from Canada plans to fly up with a Helium Balloon, then launch a rocket.
Rutan said that SpaceShipOne could conceivably fly every week. An early plan of Rutan, in discussions with the projects backer, billionaire Paul Allen, was to fly the craft every week for five months.
"What that would do it would give us a lot more data on our operating cost," Rutan said. "We jointly decided not to have that one funded...and find out how it flew first."
Canadas da Vinci Project's flight plan calls for a giant helium balloon to hoist Wild Fire, the team's spacecraft, to an altitude of 80,000 feet (24,384 meters).Now that, pardon the pun, would be gas.
The da Vinci Project, led by Brian Feeney of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, registered as a contender for the X PRIZE on June 2, 2000.
This concept utilizes a reusable helium balloon to lift the teams spacecraft, dubbed "Wild Fire", to high altitude. At that point, Wild Fire's rocket engines will ignite and propel the crew to edge of space and the Ansari X Prize winning altitude.
Stephen Hawking Update
As was reported previously, Stephen Hawking did change his mind on Black Holes and made news. If I change my mind on the Black Holes, that won't make news. The thing is, he did all this fancy calcualtion stuff that eventually showed that matter can't just dissappear, something has to be outputted. Me on the other hand just typed that on the blog page because I read it, which underscores the major difference between a celebrity Physicist and an under-employed bum. :)
Hawking, 62, said he no longer believes a 1980s theory that black holes might offer passage into another universe, a rival explanation for identifying where matter and energy go when consumed by a black hole.What's amazing is that he did all of his rethinking because of a bet with a particle physicist, John Preskill (nice name). And the Particle Physicist who won the bet now gets a baseball encylopedia. So much for that; there, but to underscore the greatness of baseball, I guess. :)
Hawking now sides with particle physicists who have long insisted that any matter swallowed by a black hole can't just disappear but must eventually generate a specific output. The latest theory offers hope that scientists one day may identify the history of what a black hole has taken in over the eons — by decoding what it emits.
"There is no baby universe branching off (inside a black hole), as I once thought. The information remains firmly in our universe," Hawking said in a speech to about 800 physicists and other scientists from 50 countries. "I'm sorry to disappoint science fiction fans, but if information is preserved, there is no possibility of using black holes to travel to other universes.
"If you jump into a black hole, your mass energy will be returned to our universe, but in a mangled form, which contains the information about what you were like, but in an unrecognizable state."
Singing Praises
A couple of days ago, there was snarky commentary about Linda Ronstadt getting thrown out of a Las Vegas Casino-Hotel. Well, here's the deal according to her.
"This is an election year," she told the Los Angeles Times Tuesday. "I want people to get their head up out of their mashed potatoes and learn something about the issues and go and vote. ... I'm not telling them how to vote. I'm saying, get information about the issues."Now that sounds about right to me. The Las Vegas Casino Hotel then went on to say they wouldn't ask her back and she said she'd already told them she didn't want to go back and their grapes were sour enough. However, she did make an interesting point:
"I didn't even know there was trouble," she said. "Those places operate like little city-states. They are all-powerful..."So a singer says on stage, get your info, and watch this movie, you might learn something. People get angry and storm out, demanding their money back. Doesn't this strike you as over-reacting? Yet I believe the true nature of politics in fact lies in this very point.
In Los Angeles, there were about 100 calls for refunds for Ronstadt's performance at the Universal Amphitheatre Tuesday night.
Politics, Niccolo Machiavelli said, was about emotions. And so when people are challenged in their positions, they tend to get a little self-righteous: "This is What I believe. How can I possibly be wrong, given my accumulated life-experiences, study and observation?"
While this is somewhat simplified, it explains why people get so agitated by politics. Political discussion and discourse on the whole is predicated on the emotional need for the other guy to be wrong (more than one's need to be right). On the whole, when you discuss things rationally with people, you find that when it comes to politics, it's never really rational as they claim they are; quite often it's outright an issue of allegiance. Which is fine. We all have allegiances. I owe allegiances to things just like everybody else, but I am honest enough to say "It's irrational. There is not a rational argument on the planet that explains my allegiance to the New York Yankees. And they're not even a political cause."
Now Linda Ronstadt is not my idea of a communist. She's a '70s pop star, eking out a living in the twilight of her career; singing in casino amphitheatres for crying out loud. She, like others in a democratic world is entitled to her opinion and to express them at her own forum, her stage and her work. And in turn, the Casino-Hotel mini-City-States are allowed to banish her and look like tin-pot dictators. I mean how much moral high ground can the Casino-Hotel claim when they ply their trade in gambling and prostitution? As for the people walking out and demanding their money back, that's not even political. That's called scamming.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/21
It Was 35 Years Ago Today
That Captain Armstrong showed the Right Stuff and landed the Eagle lunar module. So it is time to look back in awe at the folks who sent mankind to the moon using slide rules.
- Art Neuro
That Captain Armstrong showed the Right Stuff and landed the Eagle lunar module. So it is time to look back in awe at the folks who sent mankind to the moon using slide rules.
"We were much less risk averse. Now with the Challenger accident and the Columbia accident and some of the other things, we have become so risk averse that we don't dare do things," he said, adding: "The key is to take responsible risks."And here we are today, saying we're going back to the moon. It makes you wonder what the last 35years of promises were about. What exactly happened to us all in that time? Well, we won't go into that again today, but there you have it. The reason why we started to agitate on this page.
Randy Stone, deputy director of the Johnson Space Center, said many things made the Apollo era easier than today for space projects. "We were in the Cold War," he said. "We were in a technological race that most people believed we could not afford to lose.
"The naysayers didn't have as much influence," Stone said. "It was still hard to get money, but it wasn't near as hard as it is today."
- Art Neuro
2004/07/20
Just For Fun - The Luna(r) Decade
Here's an idea. Why don't we all cooperate in exploring the largely useless hunk of rock in the sky, luna. So goes the idea reported here. Manned flights to the moon has been done. Why are we doing it again? Doesn't it sort of back-handedly add credence to the conspiracy nut claims that say the Apollo Landings never happened - they were staged and directed by Stanley Kubrick who had just finished shooting 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Do me a favour and really check these links out. It's a gas.
Anyway, here's the chatter regarding the International Lunar Decade:
Why can't we have one for Mars? Damn it I want Mars, Mars, Mars!
- Art Neuro
Here's an idea. Why don't we all cooperate in exploring the largely useless hunk of rock in the sky, luna. So goes the idea reported here. Manned flights to the moon has been done. Why are we doing it again? Doesn't it sort of back-handedly add credence to the conspiracy nut claims that say the Apollo Landings never happened - they were staged and directed by Stanley Kubrick who had just finished shooting 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Do me a favour and really check these links out. It's a gas.
Anyway, here's the chatter regarding the International Lunar Decade:
An International Lunar Decade (ILD) is being viewed as a vehicle to promote multi-nation space cooperation.The idea, apparently, is well-received. True collaboration may come true through this process. I guess it beats the recent shut-out the kettle-flying-Chinese paradigm, so I guess we should be welcoming it. But the Moon? Again?
The ILD would be modeled on the International Geophysical Year (IGY) -- a comprehensive and coordinated series of global geophysical research tasks that were carried out between July 1957 and December 1958 in order to let researchers pool their talent, work and insights. Initially 46 countries agreed to participate in the IGY, but by the end of the study, 67 countries had become involved. For the IGY, a variety of scientific tools were used, including the introduction of Earth-circling "artificial satellites" lofted by the Soviet Union and United States.
Why can't we have one for Mars? Damn it I want Mars, Mars, Mars!
- Art Neuro
2004/07/19
A Hairy Kind of Question From the Jack Kerouac Memorial League
In the Jack Kerouac Memorial League, the current league leader the 'Alsorans' started the season with John Smoltz, Billy Koch and Rob Nen as his options for collecting points on 'saves'. He hada great draft, beating me out for the services of Koch; which prompted me to trade Alfonso Soriano for Mariano Rivera and Ichiro (stolen bases, yay!).
As the season wound on, the Braves hardly got into saves opportunities, so Smoltz, while pitching great, was not earning saves. Billy Koch turned in some ugly outings and was quickly replaced from the closer role, and so together with an ERA over 6.00, was no longer getting saves. Rob Nen, who missed all of 2003, promptly failed to come back and so never got into a game, let alone a save situation. The third situation really put not only my friend's fantasy team 'Alsorans' in the hole, it threw the real life San Francisco Giants in a spin, and sadly, into the option of using one Matt Herges as their designated closer, so to speak.
The funny thing (and I ought not to laugh because my team is slipping down the ladder again) is that Matt Herges does get saves, occasionally (in fact he currently sits on a total of 22), but his ERA is currently 5.86 and his WHiP is sitting at a ghastly 1.74. And the Giants still insist on religiously trotting him out in 'save' situations. Just before the All-Star break Herges blew three save opportunities in a row, and still collected 3 wins thanks to the hitting support.
"Which is fine, because I need 'wins' too," relates my friend. Recently Herges blew yet another save, but ended up earning a 'Hold' instead,
"Which is also fine because I'm short on those too," relates the Manager of the Alsorans.
Then of course Herges gave up 2 homeruns in an inning and not even Felippe Alou nor my friend could abide by that, and so my friend dropped Matt Herges from his roster, for Scott Eyre. There's only so much damage to a team's ERA and WHiP a fantasy manager can take, and what Matt Herges was doing to get his save was just south of Pyhrric. There's even speculation that Scott Eyre might take over the coveted 'Closer' role. IOW it's a genuinely, bona fide, bad isitutation for the SF Giants.
Now my question is this: If the 'Alsorans' are struggling so badly with their relief pitching, how come my team is the one sliding south on the ladder? :)
I had a Dream
...I was in Van Halen. Actually, in my dream, I joined the band's organisation as tour manager; not to play music, which is less weird. A bit of perspective on this: I am of the generation that is allowed to have such a deep-seated fantasies that bubble to the surface when my superego is down for the count. Air Guitar is part of my skill-set. However, I have no idea why my subconscious wanted to be their tour manager, but there you go. You get to watch them play every night; I can see the up-side. The next day it turned out that Sammy Hagar has recently rejoined the band, which is a bit like Yogi Berra or Reggie Jackson rejoining the Yankees until you realise Alex is 54 and Sammy's 56.
Christ almighty. Eddie's 49, and divorced from Valerie after 20years; and has battled off cancer. Yowza. I really don't know how I feel about that one.
- Art Neuro
In the Jack Kerouac Memorial League, the current league leader the 'Alsorans' started the season with John Smoltz, Billy Koch and Rob Nen as his options for collecting points on 'saves'. He hada great draft, beating me out for the services of Koch; which prompted me to trade Alfonso Soriano for Mariano Rivera and Ichiro (stolen bases, yay!).
As the season wound on, the Braves hardly got into saves opportunities, so Smoltz, while pitching great, was not earning saves. Billy Koch turned in some ugly outings and was quickly replaced from the closer role, and so together with an ERA over 6.00, was no longer getting saves. Rob Nen, who missed all of 2003, promptly failed to come back and so never got into a game, let alone a save situation. The third situation really put not only my friend's fantasy team 'Alsorans' in the hole, it threw the real life San Francisco Giants in a spin, and sadly, into the option of using one Matt Herges as their designated closer, so to speak.
The funny thing (and I ought not to laugh because my team is slipping down the ladder again) is that Matt Herges does get saves, occasionally (in fact he currently sits on a total of 22), but his ERA is currently 5.86 and his WHiP is sitting at a ghastly 1.74. And the Giants still insist on religiously trotting him out in 'save' situations. Just before the All-Star break Herges blew three save opportunities in a row, and still collected 3 wins thanks to the hitting support.
"Which is fine, because I need 'wins' too," relates my friend. Recently Herges blew yet another save, but ended up earning a 'Hold' instead,
"Which is also fine because I'm short on those too," relates the Manager of the Alsorans.
Then of course Herges gave up 2 homeruns in an inning and not even Felippe Alou nor my friend could abide by that, and so my friend dropped Matt Herges from his roster, for Scott Eyre. There's only so much damage to a team's ERA and WHiP a fantasy manager can take, and what Matt Herges was doing to get his save was just south of Pyhrric. There's even speculation that Scott Eyre might take over the coveted 'Closer' role. IOW it's a genuinely, bona fide, bad isitutation for the SF Giants.
Now my question is this: If the 'Alsorans' are struggling so badly with their relief pitching, how come my team is the one sliding south on the ladder? :)
I had a Dream
...I was in Van Halen. Actually, in my dream, I joined the band's organisation as tour manager; not to play music, which is less weird. A bit of perspective on this: I am of the generation that is allowed to have such a deep-seated fantasies that bubble to the surface when my superego is down for the count. Air Guitar is part of my skill-set. However, I have no idea why my subconscious wanted to be their tour manager, but there you go. You get to watch them play every night; I can see the up-side. The next day it turned out that Sammy Hagar has recently rejoined the band, which is a bit like Yogi Berra or Reggie Jackson rejoining the Yankees until you realise Alex is 54 and Sammy's 56.
Christ almighty. Eddie's 49, and divorced from Valerie after 20years; and has battled off cancer. Yowza. I really don't know how I feel about that one.
- Art Neuro
Score of the Day
While the New York Yankees went down 4-2 to the resurgent Detroit Tigers, it is reported that US bombardments killed 14 in Fallujah while a truck bomb in Baghdad killed nine, making the score a 14-9 win in the away game. Americans have been on a hot streak lately with their offence.
"We're satisfied with this one," team captain Buck Dodgers said, "but you have to keep in mind that it's just one game in a long season of 162 games. Some days they pound you, the other days you pound them back, but you have to take each day as it comes. I thank the Lord every day for the opportunity to be on the field playing my part for the team. I'm working on breathing out of my left eye-lid."
Dodgers, who went 3-for-3 in his bombing situations has been hitting .385, or rather, 5-for-13 in a torrid week of airstrikes agianst the cellar-dwelling Falluha Holdouts. The American Avaitors have increased their lead over the English and Australians by 317,000 scalps, or 18.5 game lead for the division title. The slumping Holdouts, under embattled manager Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Jirisi, are said to be firmly out of contention for the rest of the killing season.
Only kidding. :)
Yes I have bad taste. So what?
- Art Neuro
While the New York Yankees went down 4-2 to the resurgent Detroit Tigers, it is reported that US bombardments killed 14 in Fallujah while a truck bomb in Baghdad killed nine, making the score a 14-9 win in the away game. Americans have been on a hot streak lately with their offence.
"We're satisfied with this one," team captain Buck Dodgers said, "but you have to keep in mind that it's just one game in a long season of 162 games. Some days they pound you, the other days you pound them back, but you have to take each day as it comes. I thank the Lord every day for the opportunity to be on the field playing my part for the team. I'm working on breathing out of my left eye-lid."
Dodgers, who went 3-for-3 in his bombing situations has been hitting .385, or rather, 5-for-13 in a torrid week of airstrikes agianst the cellar-dwelling Falluha Holdouts. The American Avaitors have increased their lead over the English and Australians by 317,000 scalps, or 18.5 game lead for the division title. The slumping Holdouts, under embattled manager Mahmoud Ibrahim al-Jirisi, are said to be firmly out of contention for the rest of the killing season.
Only kidding. :)
Yes I have bad taste. So what?
- Art Neuro
You Tell'em Arnie!
This has very little to do with space exploration, baseball, movies, or music, but it did catch my eye as something very amusing. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has labled the legislative assembly of being 'girlie men' (twice, no less) and has called on voters to terminate them at the ballot box. Woohoo. Nothing like movie rhetoric taking centre stage in the government of the body with the world's tenth highest GDP.
- Art Neuro
This has very little to do with space exploration, baseball, movies, or music, but it did catch my eye as something very amusing. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California has labled the legislative assembly of being 'girlie men' (twice, no less) and has called on voters to terminate them at the ballot box. Woohoo. Nothing like movie rhetoric taking centre stage in the government of the body with the world's tenth highest GDP.
Oh yeah!!! Hand me my 12 gauge shotgun shaped double-barrell pencil and the titanium armor of the ballot paper! let me vote!!! I don't even know what the issues are, but hey, he's the Terminator, calling me to arms! :)Schwarzenegger added, "They cannot have the guts to come out there in front of you and say, 'I don't want to represent you. I want to represent those special interests: the unions, the trial lawyers'…. I call them girlie men. They should get back to the table, and they should finish the budget."
Democratic lawmakers, gay and lesbian advocates and feminist groups bristled over the governor's comments, which were greeted with sustained applause by hundreds of people who were invited to the rally through automated phone calls put out by Schwarzenegger's camp.
The governor used the "girlie men" reference twice in a 16-minute speech aimed at pressuring the Legislature to pass his budget, now 17 days late. The remarks were apparently references to an old "Saturday Night Live" skit parodying Schwarzenegger. Comedians Dana Carvey and Kevin Nealon played "pumped-up" bodybuilders with Austrian accents who dismissed anyone without a muscled torso as a "girlie man."
Though the four leaders in the Senate and Assembly are men, women head some of the Legislature's most influential committees, ranging from Appropriations to Energy. The California Legislative Women's Caucus website lists 33 members — more than one-fourth of the Legislature.
Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) said he was "nonplused" by Schwarzenegger's comment.
"I don't know what the definition of 'girlie man' is. As opposed to his being a he-man?" Burton asked. "I can't think of a way to have the he-man and the girlie men join hands around the Capitol and sing 'Kum Ba Ya.' "
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles) said, "Those are the kinds of statements that ought not to come out of the mouth" of the governor.
"He says he's going to 'terminate' members in November? I really don't know what he means by that. That's not funny any more," Nuñez said.
Frustrated by the stalemate over his budget, Schwarzenegger has been using a series of weekend public appearances to drum up calls to lawmakers demanding completion of the budget. He plans to continue his campaign today at a shopping mall in Stockton.
Having used his charisma and celebrity to build relationships with lawmakers over the last eight months, the governor is adopting a combative new tone. Schwarzenegger said he would strive to oust Democratic lawmakers who vote against his budget."I want each and every one of you to go the polls on Nov. 2," he said Saturday. "That will be judgment day. I want you to go to the polls…. You are the terminators, yes!"
- Art Neuro
2004/07/18
Holding up the Tent
When something like this gets 'held up', there's always something that holds up the tent. So went the description of the Shuttle during the 1970s and 1980s until they finally managed a launch. Of course, the folks at NASA are doing their darndest to get their bird in the air again, but alas, the cost keeps going up.
Like an aging rock star on a comeback tour, El Duque keeps putting a happy face onto the frown that is the Yankee pitching rotation. Once again, he worked his way through 5 innings to collect a win.
- Art Neuro
When something like this gets 'held up', there's always something that holds up the tent. So went the description of the Shuttle during the 1970s and 1980s until they finally managed a launch. Of course, the folks at NASA are doing their darndest to get their bird in the air again, but alas, the cost keeps going up.
NASA estimated in February that it would spend $265 million in 2004 and $238 million in 2005 on safety improvements associated with returning its shuttle fleet to flight status next spring. NASA now estimates that it will spend $450 million on return to flight activities this year and $350 million to $650 million in 2005.It gets better. Check this out:
NASA Comptroller Steve Isakowitz said NASA's $3.9 billion shuttle budget can absorb the higher return to flight expenses this year, but 2005 could be a problem even if the agency gets its full $4.3 billion it has requested for the space shuttle program.
Isakowitz said the higher than expected return to flight costs make it "imperative" that Congress approve NASA's full $16.2 billion request for 2005. NASA's request represents a 5.6 percent increase over the agency's 2004 budget making it a tough sell on Capitol Hill during a year when most other federal agencies are being held to increases of 3 percent or less.
"It's not that we couldn't estimate the cost, we couldn't estimate the content," Kostelnik told reporters July 16. For example, he said, when NASA estimated its return to flight cost in February, it did not know that it would be pulling and refurbishing the rudder speed brakes on each orbiter. NASA has also since decided to make more changes to the shuttle's foam covered external tanks than previously believed necessary.El Duque keeps going
Like an aging rock star on a comeback tour, El Duque keeps putting a happy face onto the frown that is the Yankee pitching rotation. Once again, he worked his way through 5 innings to collect a win.
You gotta smile at that kind of thing. I could pitch a 56mph curve ball; I just don't have a 89mph fastball or any of the other array of pitches in his arsenal.In his second start since being elevated from Triple-A Columbus, El Duque went five innings, allowed three runs, six hits and threw 99 pitches. While his velocity increased a tick from his first outing a week ago, he got by with off-speed pitches and guts.
"I need to work on my control ・speed for me is not important," said El Duque, whose fastball reached 89 mph several times, while his breaking ball wouldn't have gotten pulled over on an interstate.
"That's the slowest curveball I have ever seen," said Gary Sheffield, who clubbed a two-run homer in the fifth that broke a 2-2 tie, delivered an RBI single in the seventh that stretched the lead to 5-3, and went 3-for-5.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/17
A Victim of One's Own Success
The American Gray Wolf has made such a strong comeback under the protection laws, that they are now considering removing that protection. The way they are selling this is that it's good news that a species can come off the endangered list. Nonetheless it scares me a little to think that it opens them up to be shot by hobby hunters with their high-powered rifles, who we all know are dying for a bit of biffo with a top predator.
I can understand that for some years in Minnesota now, that the wolves have come back in such force that it is affecting the local ranching industry, so the voice to remove it from protection is understandable. I'd be pissed too if wolves just got a free pass to knock over my cattle. I always felt that there had to be a better way to compensate for these damages, but removing it from protection seems like a big step back.
To be frank, I'm not really a touchy feely hug the trees kind of conservationist, but for some bizarre reason I'm interested in the preservation of top predators like Killer Whales and Polar Bears and Lions and Tigers and Cheetahs and Eagles. It's a subject area within the conservation movement that fascinates me. Must go ask my analyst what that means. :)
"Go ahead chop down the trees but keep your hands off my angry feral top predator!"
- Art Neuro
The American Gray Wolf has made such a strong comeback under the protection laws, that they are now considering removing that protection. The way they are selling this is that it's good news that a species can come off the endangered list. Nonetheless it scares me a little to think that it opens them up to be shot by hobby hunters with their high-powered rifles, who we all know are dying for a bit of biffo with a top predator.
"This is a moment in which we can take great pride in achievement, both of people and in nature," Norton said at a wildlife science center in front of a pen containing six wolves, which watched their human audience with some curiosity.I've been a follower of the American Wolf cause since I was over there in the '70s, and this recent development just... irks me. Is it just me?
Norton announced a proposed rule that would lift protection under the Endangered Species Act for gray wolves in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan — where the population has grown to 3,200 animals — as well as in at least 20 other states. The proposal calls for states to assume management of the gray wolf populations in those states.
The gray wolf nearly disappeared in the lower 48 states in the 1950s.
The rule change includes New England, where conservationists fear that loss of federal protection would hurt attempts to develop future wolf populations through migrations from Canada.
I can understand that for some years in Minnesota now, that the wolves have come back in such force that it is affecting the local ranching industry, so the voice to remove it from protection is understandable. I'd be pissed too if wolves just got a free pass to knock over my cattle. I always felt that there had to be a better way to compensate for these damages, but removing it from protection seems like a big step back.
To be frank, I'm not really a touchy feely hug the trees kind of conservationist, but for some bizarre reason I'm interested in the preservation of top predators like Killer Whales and Polar Bears and Lions and Tigers and Cheetahs and Eagles. It's a subject area within the conservation movement that fascinates me. Must go ask my analyst what that means. :)
"Go ahead chop down the trees but keep your hands off my angry feral top predator!"
- Art Neuro
2004/07/16
Scramjet City
NASA is readying the X-43a for Mach 10 flights.
- Art Neuro
NASA is readying the X-43a for Mach 10 flights.
Here at NASAs Dryden Flight Research Center, the third X-43A is undergoing "short-stack integration," explained Joel Sitz, X-43A project manager at the center. The craft is being outfitted and tested for a Mach 10 mission in the September-October time frame, he told SPACE.com .The upcoming Mach 10 flight concludes the seven year project. It would be a shame if NASA shut down on its hypersonic flight research, but then NASA is schizophrenic. The smaller projects always seem to have interesting pay-offfs that then sit on the shelf while their flagship projects flounder.
Jacking up the speed will mean the vehicle will see higher heat loads than those observed on the Mach 7 flight on March 27.
"At Mach 7, the front leading edge of the vehicle would see about 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit. At Mach 10, its probably twice that -- twice the heat load essentially," Sitz explained.
Those blistering temperatures will be tamed by special thermal protection applied to the Mach 10 vehicle, Sitz said. "The coatings that we are using were sort of a mini-research experiment in itself."
- Art Neuro
2004/07/15
All-Star Game
48 hours after I have a dust-up with my folks, they offer to have me around to watch the MLB All Star Game on Foxtel. It's strange, but I won't get into that one here.
My mother rings up. She says: "Look, it's Roger Clemens on the mound. And Some person in a Boston uniform is at bat. All these names even I know. Alfonso Soriano, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodri...who? Oh Jeter too. Come over and watch this."
Sad, huh? So even sadder, I went and watched Roger Clemens get torched by the American League Hitters for 6 runs in the first inning.
The AL team was actually a bit of Yankee-fest with 8 of the 32 roster spots filled with New York away game uniforms: Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, Javier Vazquez, Tom Gordon, Mariano Rivera. I guess it reflects their obscenely huge payroll used to collect a team of superstars. What was odd was that, Clemens is an ex-Yankee, as were Ted Lilly, and Al Soriano. It seemed like one big Yankee-fest.
Alfonso Soriano, the man who got traded from the Yankees for A-Rod was the MVP.
- Art Neuro
48 hours after I have a dust-up with my folks, they offer to have me around to watch the MLB All Star Game on Foxtel. It's strange, but I won't get into that one here.
My mother rings up. She says: "Look, it's Roger Clemens on the mound. And Some person in a Boston uniform is at bat. All these names even I know. Alfonso Soriano, Jason Giambi, Alex Rodri...who? Oh Jeter too. Come over and watch this."
Sad, huh? So even sadder, I went and watched Roger Clemens get torched by the American League Hitters for 6 runs in the first inning.
Hometown icon takes the mound as tears flow and vocal cords rupture.The American League triumphed over the National League for the seventh time in a row. Joe Torre who was 8-1 as an All-Star player, has now managed the American League to 5 straight wins under his watch. Yes there was a re-match of last year's Eric Gagne/Hank Blalock moment. This time Hank Blalock just flew out, but by then the AL had the game in their firm grasp. Mariano Rivera trotted to the mound and retired 3 lefty power hitters, all on fly balls.
Strikes out six guys in a row on 18 pitches, all of which are clocked at 146 miles per hour.
After which Roger Clemens leaves to one final thunderous standing O, putting a perfect poetic stamp on his glorious All-Star career.
Remember it. Savor it. And please buy the DVD for a mere $29.99.
Yeah, that's how this All-Star Game should have unfolded Tuesday night. Unfortunately, this game of baseball is sure one screwy sport. Its beauty is that it makes no sense, follows no scripts, constantly allows the impossible to become possible.
Somehow, though, we have a feeling that "beauty" is not a word the great Roger Clemens will be using to describe the seemingly impossible stuff that happened to him on this particular All-Star evening.
Unfortunately, we're forced to speculate on Roger's exact choice of words, since Clemens was long gone by the time the American League had finished administering a 9-4 whomping on Roger and his National League buddies.
So the only media member allowed to converse with him, on this stupendous evening, was Fox's Joe Buck. Whom he told, succinctly, during an on-the-field ceremony in the middle of the game: "I put our guys in a hole."
The AL team was actually a bit of Yankee-fest with 8 of the 32 roster spots filled with New York away game uniforms: Derek Jeter, Jason Giambi, A-Rod, Gary Sheffield, Hideki Matsui, Javier Vazquez, Tom Gordon, Mariano Rivera. I guess it reflects their obscenely huge payroll used to collect a team of superstars. What was odd was that, Clemens is an ex-Yankee, as were Ted Lilly, and Al Soriano. It seemed like one big Yankee-fest.
Alfonso Soriano, the man who got traded from the Yankees for A-Rod was the MVP.
Soriano, a three-time All-Star at age 28, hit .289 with 17 homers and 55 RBIs in the first half, helping the surprising Rangers take a two-game lead in the AL West after three years of last-place finishes with A-Rod.Joe Torre described Soriano as inexperienced, but the man is actually not that young; he's the same age as Alex Rodriguez. While I miss having a 'homegrown' star in the lineup, I have to admit A-Rod at 3B is better for the Yankees than Alfonso at 2B, mainly because it seems to have freed up Derek Jeter's range at SS. As for 'The man' Derek Jeter himself, he went 3-for-3, making his career All-Star Average, .700 (7-for-10). The highest in History. How does he keep doing these clutch things? here's the answer:
Rodriguez, an eight-time All-Star and the 2003 AL MVP, hit .270 for the AL East-leading Yankees with a team-high 22 homers, 58 RBIs and 18 steals -- fine numbers, but below the even higher expectations he created for himself. He was 1-for-3 with an RBI triple Tuesday night.
``I think he's doing his job with the Yankees and I'm doing my job in Texas,'' Soriano said. ``I'm happy for him, but happy for me, too.''
Soriano's 343-foot shot off Clemens was his second All-Star homer following a drive off Dodgers closer Eric Gagne two years ago. It sailed over the ``This One Counts'' banner hanging over the out-of-town scoreboard on the short porch in left field and gave the AL a 6-0 lead.
He followed that with a third-inning single and a fifth-inning strikeout, going 2-for-3. He also made a nice pickup on Sammy Sosa's third-inning grounder to second.
``I've seen him do it for several years,'' said former Yankees teammate Derek Jeter, who knows a star when he sees one.
Surrounded by his friends, Soriano felt as if he was back in the Bronx.
``I feel tonight, honest, like I'm coming back to play for the Yankees,'' he said, ``Having Joe Torre (as) manager, Jeter at short, (Jason) Giambi at first.''
``I don't know, it's not just good fortune,'' said Jeter, whose three hits all went to the opposite field against Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and Carl Pavano. ``I'm up there swinging early in the counts, especially when you're facing guys like Rocket and Randy Johnson.''At first I think, it must be easy because he's simply got it. However, upon reflection I think what it is, is that the greatest of anything have a knack of making what they do look smooth, fluid, effortless; even under the greatest of pressures. And these things take the greatest of efforts to achieve.
Jeter's perfect night against the NL's best arms makes it even more mind-boggling that this is the same player batting under .200 a month into the season.
His turnaround was evident in June when he hit .396 with nine homers, helping lift his average to .277 at the break.
``Well, it's a long season. It's not over after the first month and a half or two months,'' Jeter said. ``We've still got a long way to go. I just try to keep things in perspective and take it day-to-day.''
...
This was Jeter's second 3-for-3 performance in an All-Star game. He also did it in Atlanta in 2000, earning the MVP award. He went on to win the World Series MVP that season, making him the first player to pull off that double.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/14
Apocalypse When?
In the recent round to select new missions, one that got up was a project to slam something into an asteroid to try and deflect its course.
As usual the damn project costs money and they're looking for money.
- Art Neuro
In the recent round to select new missions, one that got up was a project to slam something into an asteroid to try and deflect its course.
The slam-bang Don Quixote mission would help scientists figure out how to deflect or destroy any asteroid in the future that might be found to be on a collision course with Earth. The project uses the Spanish spelling of Don Quixote, the protagonist in Cervantes' novel who has chivalrous ideas that tend toward the impractical.The mission involves launching 2 craft - Sancho and Hidalgo - and slamming them into a designated asteroid of about 500m diameter. Sounds like the sort of fun I'd get a kick out of. A kind of contact hitting with 2 strikes, swinging in space, so to speak.
The lofty modern-day Don Quixote would help solve a practical problem.
Scientists don't know enough about asteroid insides to predict how one would respond to attempts to nudge it off an Earth-impact course or turn it into harmless dust. While no asteroids are currently known to be on track to hit the planet, experts say a regional catastrophe is inevitable in the very long run, over millennia. And run-ins with small asteroids that could incinerate a large city occur ever few thousand years.
"We want to investigate the internal structure of an asteroid, and at the same time develop and test the technology necessary, in a worst case scenario, to deflect a sizeable asteroid," says Andrea Milani, an asteroid expert at the University of Pisa who is helping to plan the mission.
As usual the damn project costs money and they're looking for money.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/13
Rolling With the Punches
This is cool. You read the headline and you think, Oh no, the Cassini craft has been hit by a hailstorm, the mission is about to fail... and of course it turns out the machine was designed to take the punishment. Now that's cool.
Return of the Duque
One of my favourite Yankees in their 1998-200 run of World Series conquests was pitcher Orlando Hernandez, a.k.a. 'El Duque'. There are many stories about El Duque, but to cut his long and winding story short, he's the first Cuban Ace to break out of Cuba and land on the Yankee roster. Others have followed, but not with the same kind of outlandish success the tough-minded righty attained in his first stay with the Yankees. After the 2002 Post-Season debacle against the Annaheim Angels who went on to win the World Series that year, the Yankee brass did a bit of house-cleaning and shipped Orlando Hernandez to the White Sox in a 3-way trade that eventually saw him in Montreal. There, he sustained a shoulder injury in spring training and never pitched an inning for his 4 million dollar contract that year. This Spring,he signed a Minor League deal with the Yankees and just when the Yankee arms were running out of fuel, voila, he's back. Not only that, he reprised his debut of 1998 and beat the Devil Rays, one more time. Amazing.
- Art Neuro
This is cool. You read the headline and you think, Oh no, the Cassini craft has been hit by a hailstorm, the mission is about to fail... and of course it turns out the machine was designed to take the punishment. Now that's cool.
By Robert Roy BrittSo the Cassini craft is fine. It's only Chicken-Little-Reporting on the vines that gave us the scary headline. The bastards! :)
Senior Science Writer, SPACE.com
The Cassini spacecraft was hit by storms of dust as it passed through Saturn's rings twice just before going into orbit June 30.
Cassini sliced through known gaps in the rings so that it wouldn't be destroyed by huge icy boulders. But the gaps are not entirely empty, it turns out.
Cassini was peppered by microscopic bits of dust that slammed into it at about 45,000 mph (20 kilometers per second). At the peak of activity, 680 bits per second pummeled the probe, according to the website Science.NASA (news - web sites).gov.
The impacts were recorded and converted to a sound file that is available on the Internet.
"When we crossed the ring plane, we had roughly 100,000 total dust hits in less than five minutes," said Cassini science team member Don Gurnett, of the University of Iowa. Gurnett said the bits were about the size of particles in cigarette smoke.
Most of the dust hit the spacecraft's high-gain antenna, which was designed to handle such impacts. No apparent damage was done.
Each impacting particle generated a puff of superheated, ionized gas called plasma. Cassini's Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument recorded the puffs.
"We converted these into audible sounds that resemble hail hitting a tin roof," said Gurnett, who is the instrument's principal investigator.
In other observations, the probe gained new insight into the composition of the icy, dirty rings. Cassini has begun a four-year tour of Saturn, with plans to study its rings and moons in several close flybys.
Return of the Duque
One of my favourite Yankees in their 1998-200 run of World Series conquests was pitcher Orlando Hernandez, a.k.a. 'El Duque'. There are many stories about El Duque, but to cut his long and winding story short, he's the first Cuban Ace to break out of Cuba and land on the Yankee roster. Others have followed, but not with the same kind of outlandish success the tough-minded righty attained in his first stay with the Yankees. After the 2002 Post-Season debacle against the Annaheim Angels who went on to win the World Series that year, the Yankee brass did a bit of house-cleaning and shipped Orlando Hernandez to the White Sox in a 3-way trade that eventually saw him in Montreal. There, he sustained a shoulder injury in spring training and never pitched an inning for his 4 million dollar contract that year. This Spring,he signed a Minor League deal with the Yankees and just when the Yankee arms were running out of fuel, voila, he's back. Not only that, he reprised his debut of 1998 and beat the Devil Rays, one more time. Amazing.
"So much emotion today," Hernandez said in English after a question posed to him in Spanish. "I'm excited, I'm feeling good. I'm happy today to come back to the Yankees again. It's the life. I need the work. I waited a long time to come back to the Yankees and pitch."The guy's a one-of-a-kind. So that's the really cool thing for the day for me. Otherwise, my life is in total chaos. Kind of an emotional freefall, if you will, without a parachute. Details will be presented here at a later date, hopefully when I get through the jungle of ghosts.
The legend of Hernandez began with the story of a daring escape from Cuba, which might have been exaggerated, and winks about his age, which might be exaggerated the other way. He says he's 34 but is believed to be at least 38.
The legend continued with a knack for big-game pitching, which is all true (he's 9-3 in the postseason). He was 53-38 for the Yankees after defecting from Cuba in December 1997; after going 12-12 his final two seasons, he was part of a three-way trade in January 2003 in which the Yankees sent him to the White Sox and Chicago sent him to Montreal. He never pitched for the Expos because of his injury.
Before the first pitch, Hernandez walked behind the mound and gestured toward his fielders - positioning them, or introducing himself? The only players on the field who were Hernandez's teammates with the Yankees in 2002 were Jeter, Bernie Williams and Jorge Posada.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/12
We Are Not Alone
That is, mostly in our dissent in NASA's meandering ways. Here is a piece of commentary that essentially cover the ground we always seem to roam over. Some would say decidedly drive over, like over a piece of roadkill, but that is another issue. Take a look anyway:
Space Tourism
In an age of ornamentation, nothing seems to say we have travelled like a tourist photo and a souvenir to go with it. So perhaps it's not surprising that gossip has it that Richard Branson is interested in SpaceShipOne as a tourist craft. Of course the folks over at SpaceShipOne are more vague, if not trying to deflect attention from Space Tourism. Though what they're saying definitely sounds like Space Tourism to me.
- Art Neuro
That is, mostly in our dissent in NASA's meandering ways. Here is a piece of commentary that essentially cover the ground we always seem to roam over. Some would say decidedly drive over, like over a piece of roadkill, but that is another issue. Take a look anyway:
Numerous people -- including its supporters -- feel that the Agency has wandered off the yellow brick road, and has lost sight of meaningful goals. I recently attended a space conference at Cape Canaveral; a three-day event that finished up with an awards ceremony for school kids. Presiding at the ceremony were a handful of Mercury and Apollo astronauts, including Wally Schirra, Jim Lovell, and Al Worden. These guys are not spring chickens anymore, although their minds are keen. On stage, they poked one another, joking over past missions and who among them was the oldest. I sat in the audience tingling with a faint sadness: these were the now-frayed heroes of my youth. Giants going to seed before my eyes. Where are today's space heroes? Were the boots of these men so impossibly large?It's interesting at the end there that 'flame and blame' raises its head as part of the accountability process. The commentator then goes on to let NASA off the hook, which I think is a little too easy; but his perspective is that the current pile-on is too easy, so what can you do? The chasm is large even amongst critics.
Its NASA's fault, many say. The Agency, wed to the crushingly expensive Space Station and still reliant on the inefficient, doubtful Shuttle, needs a shake-up. That's been the decade-old mantra intoned by hundreds of editorials in the space press. Shake-up.
Well, the agitation has begun. First there was the Columbia Shuttle investigation, which pointed its finger at bureaucratic stumbling as much as at falling foam. Then, in January, President Bush (news - web sites) sharply delineated a new objective for NASA: return to the moon, and send humans on to Mars. Last week, the Presidents Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy added its own fillip: streamline the organization chart, focus on missions rather than projects, and involve the private sector in a far larger share of the work. The obvious appeal of this last point was underscored on June 21, when Scaled Composites, a privately funded aeronautics firm, lofted a rocket plane to a height of 100 km, the near neighborhood of space. They did this for a fraction of the cost of a NASA launch.
The suggested changes are practical and, importantly, politically palatable. They're a well-reasoned response, framed in accord with contemporary practice. Today, when an organization suffers a dramatic setback, the most common reaction is to first indict, and then to reorganize. (Neither seems to have been considered when Britain's Royal Geographic Society sent Robert Scott on his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1911. Times change.) The shake-up of NASA will undoubtedly prove beneficial in the long run.
Space Tourism
In an age of ornamentation, nothing seems to say we have travelled like a tourist photo and a souvenir to go with it. So perhaps it's not surprising that gossip has it that Richard Branson is interested in SpaceShipOne as a tourist craft. Of course the folks over at SpaceShipOne are more vague, if not trying to deflect attention from Space Tourism. Though what they're saying definitely sounds like Space Tourism to me.
One of our lessons learned from this program is that its a very good idea to not reveal to the media what were doing until after," Rutan said. Giving press statements and carrying out interviews would mean a year delay, in regards to SpaceShipOne work, he added.So the lesson of the day is: don't grow old like the Mercury/Gemini boys did, and do save up for a ticket to space.
"So you're not likely to find out what were going to do next until we have to push it outside, where that spy gets a camera in and takes a picture," Rutan told reporters the day before SpaceShipOne rocketed into history.
Just like the early days of aviation, Rutan said, there will be barnstorming-like flights as vehicles give passengers a brief sub-orbital flight relatively soon. "The crazy $100,000 stuff," he added.
"But I don't look at that as space tourism," Rutan said. A mature industry is one that has a passenger spending on the order of $30,000 to $50,000 dollars, with a second generation vehicle capable of lowering a seat price to around $10,000 or $12,000, he said.
When pressed on when passenger-carrying spaceships will show up on the scene, Rutan remained cagey. "All I ask you to do is stay tuned. I think its going to be interesting. I believe there will be a lot of activity."
- Art Neuro
2004/07/07
Absence
I keep meaning to write something while the Space news has dried up, but I seem to be low on inspiration, short on inspiration and generally caught up in the machinations of day-to-day life. As for Space stuff, it's not exactly brimming with news, so I'm going to go a little personal today.
'Key Psycho' Update
I have temporarily suspended the post-production of 'Key Psycho' in favour of doing some translation work which is eating out my mind. It's stressful and demanding and I realise now that there is no way I want the job of a translator as a regular gig. Nobody has enough dough to make me do this for a living.
There still remains 1 day of principal photography but also a day of second unit shots like sky, bush, trees, and road. I'm trying to think of a cool way to open the movie but I still haven't decided whether I want to do the parody of the 'Key Largo' opening introductory scroll of writing (which is a bit too old fashioned for my taste) or whether to just jump into it like any other ordinary film.
Job Search Update
No news is bad news. The trend is that I don't even get to interviews on everything I've ever applied for in the last few months. This is staggering because I think I've now applied for 50 or so jobs. Some of course had nothing to do my expertise any way, but I applied any way because I figured I'd better apply for something than nothing.
Knee Update
The fucker still hurts after 9 weeks. I'm on glucosamine and chondroitin, and it always feels like it's improving, but this week, it's just hurt in the cold weather. Fucking sucks.
Baseball Update
Here's a miscellaneous kind of entry. Let's see now. The guys in my B-1 squad for the Ku-Ring-Gai Stealers are still leading their league but the team is currently injury plagued. They might have to go into the finals with only 8 people if things go wrong further. However the good news is they are winning. Much like the NY Yankees.
Yes, if you must know, the New York Yankees are kicking butt and lead the majors in wins. Our man living the life of dreams, Derek Jeter, had a spectacular June whereby he raised his average up to .277; almost respectable, really. His heroics have contributed to my fantasy baseball team, which is finally contending after a disastrous start. Maybe I'll finish in the top 3 after all. For a while it look ed like I was going to finish in the bottom 3.
That is about it.
- Art Neuro
I keep meaning to write something while the Space news has dried up, but I seem to be low on inspiration, short on inspiration and generally caught up in the machinations of day-to-day life. As for Space stuff, it's not exactly brimming with news, so I'm going to go a little personal today.
'Key Psycho' Update
I have temporarily suspended the post-production of 'Key Psycho' in favour of doing some translation work which is eating out my mind. It's stressful and demanding and I realise now that there is no way I want the job of a translator as a regular gig. Nobody has enough dough to make me do this for a living.
There still remains 1 day of principal photography but also a day of second unit shots like sky, bush, trees, and road. I'm trying to think of a cool way to open the movie but I still haven't decided whether I want to do the parody of the 'Key Largo' opening introductory scroll of writing (which is a bit too old fashioned for my taste) or whether to just jump into it like any other ordinary film.
Job Search Update
No news is bad news. The trend is that I don't even get to interviews on everything I've ever applied for in the last few months. This is staggering because I think I've now applied for 50 or so jobs. Some of course had nothing to do my expertise any way, but I applied any way because I figured I'd better apply for something than nothing.
Knee Update
The fucker still hurts after 9 weeks. I'm on glucosamine and chondroitin, and it always feels like it's improving, but this week, it's just hurt in the cold weather. Fucking sucks.
Baseball Update
Here's a miscellaneous kind of entry. Let's see now. The guys in my B-1 squad for the Ku-Ring-Gai Stealers are still leading their league but the team is currently injury plagued. They might have to go into the finals with only 8 people if things go wrong further. However the good news is they are winning. Much like the NY Yankees.
Yes, if you must know, the New York Yankees are kicking butt and lead the majors in wins. Our man living the life of dreams, Derek Jeter, had a spectacular June whereby he raised his average up to .277; almost respectable, really. His heroics have contributed to my fantasy baseball team, which is finally contending after a disastrous start. Maybe I'll finish in the top 3 after all. For a while it look ed like I was going to finish in the bottom 3.
That is about it.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/05
And Thar She Blows
Cassini finally got there (as scheduled, but it feels like a long time, you know?) for a flyby of Titan. Pictures have been released.
- Art Neuro
Cassini finally got there (as scheduled, but it feels like a long time, you know?) for a flyby of Titan. Pictures have been released.
Kevin Baines, a member of the visual and infrared spectrometer team, said scientists were disappointed that they hadn't seen evidence of liquids through reflections of sunlight on smooth surfaces of the moon.Has to be said these pictures are seriously cool.
"We thought we'd see some flashes, and we haven't seen any. So we're a little perplexed," he said after a news conference at NASA (news - web sites)'s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
Among the new pictures released were four images of a cluster of clouds near Titan's south pole that are believed to be composed of methane. They were the only brightly distinct spots on otherwise fuzzy images of Titan.
- Art Neuro
2004/07/01
Space Elevator Talks Begin
Yes, that's right folks. That Science Fiction staple object for years is now being discussed. Just to re-cap, though, here's the section on space elevator 101:
Cassini Huygens Update
The Cassini-Huygens probe is making its way through the rings of Saturn soon. To do this, it is going to put its brakes on. The probe is trying to get into position to do years of research in Saturn orbit. Of course, the highest priority is finding out more about Titan.
meanwhile we're finding we're re-living the 'The Dish' experience one more as observation platforms in Australia prove to be crucial to the mission; and we might have weather problems.
Getting a Second Opinion
NASA has shipped off the collected debris of the Space Shuttle Columbia to the Aerospace Corporation for research. This is apparently the first time NASA has allowed outside researchers to look at their space-shuttle-disaster-handiwork, so to speak.
The Space Walk is On
The Space walk that was scheduled for mid June and got cancelled is now doing a 'take 2' .
- Art Neuro
Yes, that's right folks. That Science Fiction staple object for years is now being discussed. Just to re-cap, though, here's the section on space elevator 101:
Blue-sky thinkers like Edwards envision the space elevator as a revolutionary way of getting from Earth into space. The primary system is a ribbon attached at one end to Earth on a floating platform located in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The other end of the ribbon is in space, beyond geosynchronous orbit.The problem of course is that lay-people respond to this project with the usual 'That's Crazy' kind of knee-jerk scepticism; which is understandable, but not very productive without informed opinions making informed input.
Once operational a space elevator could ferry satellites, spaceships, and various structures into space using electric lifts clamped to the ribbon. Research points to a space elevator capable of lifting five-ton payloads every day to all Earth orbits, the Moon, Mars, Venus or the asteroids - in 15 years after formal go-ahead.
The first space elevator would reduce lift costs immediately and drastically, as compared to current launch costs. Additional and larger elevators, built utilizing the initial design, would allow large-scale activities in space and reduce lift costs even more.
Admittedly, years of research are required to turn this pipedream into actual space hardware. Nevertheless, major organizations are taking the notion seriously. That is clear from the list of sponsors for this week's meeting: Los Alamos National Laboratory, NASA (news - web sites)'s Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts, as well as the National Space Society.
"There's a broad range of issues but we're trying to hit the biggest issues we can," Edwards said.
Cassini Huygens Update
The Cassini-Huygens probe is making its way through the rings of Saturn soon. To do this, it is going to put its brakes on. The probe is trying to get into position to do years of research in Saturn orbit. Of course, the highest priority is finding out more about Titan.
meanwhile we're finding we're re-living the 'The Dish' experience one more as observation platforms in Australia prove to be crucial to the mission; and we might have weather problems.
At a JPL press briefing today, Robert Mitchell, Cassini program manager, said that a weather forecast Tuesday from Canberra, Australia -- site of a key 230-foot (70 meter) diameter dish antenna -- did not look promising. High winds may force technicians to safe the large dish in such a way as to avoid wind damage.Our message to the JPL is as follows, "Look, mate, no worries, she's a little Aussie battler, she'll be right mate."
Australia is one of three complexes that constitute NASA (news - web sites)'s Deep Space Network which is used to monitor such missions as Cassini, the Mars Rovers and Stardust.
Losing the dish at Canberra "would mean that we would be unable to acquire the Doppler signal [from the Cassini spacecraft] that we're counting on to be able to monitor the progress of the burn tonight, Mitchell told reporters.
Though recent weather looked more favorable, it didn't eliminate the wind threat entirely, Mitchell added.
Getting a Second Opinion
NASA has shipped off the collected debris of the Space Shuttle Columbia to the Aerospace Corporation for research. This is apparently the first time NASA has allowed outside researchers to look at their space-shuttle-disaster-handiwork, so to speak.
Gleaning data from the Columbia mishap is considered a more favorable alternative than simply entombing debris, as was the case following the fiery, catastrophic explosion of Challenger in 1986 shortly after liftoff.Also, there is this section which is of some interest:
In looking over select pieces of recovered shuttle wreckage, specialists hope to shed light on the forces encountered during the space plane's fatal plunge to Earth. Those studies may well help design and build safer, more robust components for the spacecraft of tomorrow.
The Aerospace Corporation has conducted studies on the breakup and reentry of spacecraft for more than 35 years. The organization created in 1997 a Center for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies (CORDS). This center is gathering information and delving into what happens to human-made objects and the materials they comprise as they slice through Earth's thin to thick atmosphere.Picking up the pieces on the shuttle program and continuing with flights is proving to be a lot harder than thought.
The Space Walk is On
The Space walk that was scheduled for mid June and got cancelled is now doing a 'take 2' .
It's dark but very beautiful," said Padalka as he emerged on Wednesday during a nighttime pass over Earth.It cracks me up that the Russian is going on about how beautiful the Earth is and the prosaic American only has 'the sun is in my eyes' line to offer. Paucity of our cultural wealth in the west, I guess. :(
Later, as Fincke rode the end of a 50-foot (15-meter) construction boom operated by Padalka, swinging out some 240 miles above the ground, the sun was shining but visibility was poor.
"The sun is in my eyes," Fincke said.
- Art Neuro
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