Today's APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) is stunning.
Endeavour's launch, silhouetted by a nearly full moon.
Across the Country and Back: the Flights, Part 3
5 years ago
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Endeavour- ISS
It was a lovely site.
It was so bright, I thought at first it must be an airplane.
It was like Venus moving briskly across the sky.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is docked with the International Space Station. They passed overhead shortly after a quarter past six this evening, magnitude -1.9 (predicted, 18:19 PST maximum elevation), shining brightly against the background of the stars. I only wish I'd been in a truly dark location, rather than here in the city.
It was so bright, I thought at first it must be an airplane.
It was like Venus moving briskly across the sky.
Space Shuttle Endeavour is docked with the International Space Station. They passed overhead shortly after a quarter past six this evening, magnitude -1.9 (predicted, 18:19 PST maximum elevation), shining brightly against the background of the stars. I only wish I'd been in a truly dark location, rather than here in the city.
Friday, November 7, 2008
Rebuilding the Constitution
Cartoonist Mike Luckovich provides this observation on the state of the union:
And this from the Moscow Times:
Fascinating. History will not be kind to the United States for the past eight years, nor to its President.
And this from the Moscow Times:
Getting Along With Obama
By Vladimir Ryzhkov
Almost every country greeted the news of President-elect Barack Obama's victory with joy, hoping that the United States would carry out a new, more balanced foreign policy relying primarily on diplomacy and multilateralism and rejecting the previous administration's heavy dependence on military power and unilateralism.
By Vladimir Ryzhkov
Almost every country greeted the news of President-elect Barack Obama's victory with joy, hoping that the United States would carry out a new, more balanced foreign policy relying primarily on diplomacy and multilateralism and rejecting the previous administration's heavy dependence on military power and unilateralism.
Fascinating. History will not be kind to the United States for the past eight years, nor to its President.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Election Day Coverage
Some are worse than others. At least the New York Times seems to value journalistic integrity and recognizes the value of a national audience—unlike CNN, who seems only to want to rush to make the earliest possible projection of a winner.
Given the vagaries of the Electoral College, making early projections in Ohio or Pennsylvania or New York or Florida has a real effect on the voting in western states. We've seen it in past Presidential elections; I wonder what the effect will be this year. It's not even 7pm PST, and CNN's already projecting Ohio and Pennsylvania victors—states with enough electoral votes that, given the very likely outcomes in a few other states (e.g., California), make it very difficult to see a McCain victory. Will this mean that many California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawai'i voters who've not yet voted will just head home, instead of to the polls?
Solutions?
How about forbidding early projections? No projections until after the last polls in the country close.
Ah, but that's contrary to too many great American principles (free enterprise, e.g.) and hallowed traditions (scooping the competition, e.g.).
What if the polls all closed at the same time throughout the country? Not the same local time: the same time GMT (okay, UTC—or, for the wonderful East-coast-centric television networks, EST)? What if the polls were open for 24 hours, or 30 hours, or 36 hours, and all closed at 0200 GMT (10pm EST, 7pm PST, 5pm HST)? Heck, the networks don't let the World Series games start until 8:30pm Eastern, leading to the game ending between 11:30pm and midnight (or later!), so they must think people will stay awake.
Or, even have them open at 6pm EST on Monday and then close at 9pm EST on Tuesday.
Given the vagaries of the Electoral College, making early projections in Ohio or Pennsylvania or New York or Florida has a real effect on the voting in western states. We've seen it in past Presidential elections; I wonder what the effect will be this year. It's not even 7pm PST, and CNN's already projecting Ohio and Pennsylvania victors—states with enough electoral votes that, given the very likely outcomes in a few other states (e.g., California), make it very difficult to see a McCain victory. Will this mean that many California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawai'i voters who've not yet voted will just head home, instead of to the polls?
Solutions?
How about forbidding early projections? No projections until after the last polls in the country close.
Ah, but that's contrary to too many great American principles (free enterprise, e.g.) and hallowed traditions (scooping the competition, e.g.).
What if the polls all closed at the same time throughout the country? Not the same local time: the same time GMT (okay, UTC—or, for the wonderful East-coast-centric television networks, EST)? What if the polls were open for 24 hours, or 30 hours, or 36 hours, and all closed at 0200 GMT (10pm EST, 7pm PST, 5pm HST)? Heck, the networks don't let the World Series games start until 8:30pm Eastern, leading to the game ending between 11:30pm and midnight (or later!), so they must think people will stay awake.
Or, even have them open at 6pm EST on Monday and then close at 9pm EST on Tuesday.
Vote!
Vote!
It's election day across the U.S.
Vote. Sure, I care how people vote, but not nearly as much as I care that they do vote.
Vote!
It's election day across the U.S.
Vote. Sure, I care how people vote, but not nearly as much as I care that they do vote.
Vote!
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