Drone Delivers Beer

I'm not a big fan of having drones fly around our spacious skies that we have here in America, but I think I've found a drone that I could get used to.  Fans at an outdoor rock concert in South Africa were served beer, dropped by parachute from a flying robot, after placing their orders via a smartphone app.

Read the story at France24.

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Wednesday Links

Some stories from today's news:

From CBS News, a search for art stolen from the Netherlands appears to have turned up ashes in the oven of a woman in Romania.

Also from CBS News, a new "intelligent knife" can distinguish between healthy tissue and cancerous tissue.

From BBC News, the Greek parliament has approved budget cuts amid an atmosphere of protest.

From the Irish Times, a well-known defender of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad has been gunned down in Lebanon.

From Boston(dot)com, Democrats pursuing an immigration bill are pinning their hopes on congressman and former vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI).

From Breitbart's Big Government, congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) thinks that if Speaker John Boehner tries to salvage the "gang of eight" immigration bill, "it will blow up in his face".

From the Washington Post, the federal government's collection of phone records does not sit well with, believe it or not, the man who authored the Patriot Act.

From Yahoo News, state and local police have been using license plate scanners, thus tracking the movements of your vehicle.

From Time, the Rolling Stone's cover depicting accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokar Tsarnaev has not sat well with some retail stores.

From USA Today, the jury in the trial of George Zimmerman was correct, according to former president Jimmy Carter.

From Breitbart's Big Hollywood, Bill Maher tells some jokes about Zimmerman on the Late Show with David Letterman, and gets booed.

From CNS News, as the Pentagon furloughs civilian workers, the Army spends $81,000 on TVs for Gitmo.

From the Washington Free Beacon, Samantha Power, nominated to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, promises to fight against anti-Israel sentiment if confirmed.

And from the New York Post, British researchers say that they have developed a cell phone that can be recharged by using a very convenient fuel.

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The Wheel Reinvented

I would certainly like to get my grubby hands - and my big feet - on one of these, just to try it out.  British inventor Sam Pearce has replaced the spokes of a normal bicycle wheel with large springs, which give the wheel its own internal suspension.  The "Loopwheel", as he calls it, can be used on existing bikes.

Read more at the Mail Online, and watch their video:

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The George W. Bush Library Opens & Other News

The George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum was dedicated today in a ceremony attended by President Obama and former Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Bush.  The library is on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.  Here are some stories from today's events:

From the Washington Post, the other presidents offer tributes to George W. Bush.

From CBS News, a look inside the George W. Bush library.

From the Los Angeles Times, the second President Bush gives his speech, affirming his faith in the U.S.

Fox News has some video highlights of the dedication.

The Christian Science Monitor wonders if Bush is "on the rebound".

Writing in CNN, Donna Brazile says that "Bush came through on Katrina."

From Business Insider, the Bush presidency in pictures.

From Weasel Zippers, Dubya's mom doesn't seem to too comfortable with his successor.

In other news:

From the Times Union, today is indeed World Penguin Day.  A hundred years ago the world saw the first professional photographs of Antarctic penguins.

From the Daily Mail, in Dubai, female U.S. sailor 1 - would-be rapist 0.

From the Miami Herald, a California filmmaker has been detained in Venezuela.

From the New York Daily News, Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, who has so far missed the entire season due to an ankle injury, promises to return.

From CNS News, one out of every five U.S. households is on food stamps.

From Kurier, about 40 Muslims in Vienna demonstrate for the Boston bomber.  Via Weasel Zippers, who provides a partial translation.

And from SF Gate, a school in the U.K. stops airport noise with domes.

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Riddle Me This

Under the recently-started sequestration, why didn't we have the money to allow the DHS to continue detaining several thousand illegal aliens at their detention centers (setting aside the question of why they couldn't find other places to save money) forcing their release, yet we still can pledge $450M to Egypt?  And do we still intend to grant $307B for research, development and education to expand Internet use in Africa, including a private-public partnership headquartered in Kenya?

The respective sources for these stories are CNS News, BBC News and The Big Bad Bank.

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Super Bowl Endures Lighting Power Failure

In yesterday's Super Bowl, the Baltimore Ravens beat both the San Francisco 49ers and some technical difficulties, as the game was interrupted when many of the lights went out in the New Orleans Superdome.  After a delay of about 35 minutes, the game resumed when sufficient lighting had been restored.  Baltimore ran up a 28-6 pre-outage lead, but San Francisco then mounted a furious comeback, coming up just short as Baltimore held on for a 34-31 victory.  Ravens QB Joe Flacco, with 3 touchdown passes, was named the games Most Valuable Player.  It was the second Super Bowl victory for the Ravens and the third for the city of Baltimore, the (now Indianapolis) Colts having prevailed in one of the earlier Super Bowls around 1970.

A few notes on the game and its power outage:

From the New York Times, the Superdome goes dark.

CBS News asks, "What went wrong?"

From the Chicago Tribune, it wasn't halftime performer Beyonce's fault.

From CNN, the power outage gives jokesters and advertisers some inspiration.

From the Washington Examiner, before the game, the Department of Energy had praised the Superdome for its energy efficiency.  (Read the DOE statement here.)

From Entertainment Weekly, the funniest power outage Tweets.

From Yahoo News, the power failure's cause remains unclear.

Mashable reports 15 possible causes of the outage.

And finally, from CBS Sports, the box score.

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A Sad Anniversary, And Today's News

On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court released its ruling on Roe v. Wade, striking down abortion laws in all 50 states, greatly expanding the conditions under which an abortion may be obtained, and its ruling on Doe v. Bolton, which defined "health" as a factor those conditions.  Today marks the 40th anniversary of that decision.  Over the years, both Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey) and Mary Doe (Sandra Cano) have
come out against abortion.  Cano's story may be read here.

Today, some pro-lifers decided to remember the anniversary by placing 3,300 flowers on the steps of the Supreme Court building, to mark the 3300 abortions that occur daily in the U.S.  The two sides held dueling protests in front of the SCOTUS.  The Washington Examiner presents the results of Roe v. Wade in three grim charts.  The country's largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, performed a record number of abortions and received a record amount of taxpayer-funded subsidies in 2011.

Some news items from today:

From Fox News, two suspects are hospitalized after a shooting at a community college in Houston.

Also from Fox News, despite President Morsi's rhetoric, America's gift of F-16's is on its way.

From Yahoo News, Israeli voters have re-elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

From the Canada Free Press, tens of millions of birds and bats are killed by wind turbines.

From Gateway Pundit, the First Lady's inaugural outfit cost over half the median U.S. yearly income.

From Reuters, pungent gas released in France has reached England.

Speaking of England, from the Daily Mail, Prince Harry says that no sensible woman would be his bride.

From SFGate, three thieves trying to rob a Chinese restaurant in Massachusetts are stopped, not by any gun-wielding worker, but by the cash register.

And from NBC News, a Utah woman gets a rude awakening as a huge boulder crashes into her bedroom.

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White House: Sorry, No Death Star

In response to the petition submitted last month which called for the federal government to build a Death Star, the White House has released a statement denying the request.  According to the Obama administration's science and space adviser Paul Shawcross, building a Death Star would cost about $850 quadrillion, "at a time that the White House is working to reduce the federal budget".  (They want to "reduce" the budget?  Please excuse me for second while I roll my eyes.)  He also indicated that the administration "does not support blowing up planets."

Read the story at SFGate and CBS News.

If our intentions do not include blowing up planets, what would we do with our own Death Star?  We could, perhaps, park it above a city known for being a sanctuary for illegal aliens.  You want aliens?  Here you go:

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Strong In The Farce, They Are

Over 25,000 people have signed a petition asking the federal government to build a Death Star.  While such a project is clearly beyond the current capabilities of all earthbound governments, the White House will have to respond to the petition, due to the number of signatures.  I remember the Reagan administration advocating a space-borne missile defense system, dubbed "Star Wars" by its detractors, but a Death Star would cost even more than the Obama administration is willing to spend - or so I hope.

Read the story at Cosmic Log on NBC News.

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Apollo 17

Forty years ago this month, NASA launched Apollo 17, its last mission to the moon.  Mission commander Gene Cernan, lunar module pilot Dr. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt and command module pilot Ron Evans lifted off just after 12:30 a.m. on December 7th, 1972.  While Evans performed experiments in lunar orbit, Cernan and Schmitt explored the area of Taurus-Littrow, discovered orange soil, and composed the brief musical parody "I was strolling on the moon one day".  They splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December 19th.  Previously planned subsequent Apollo missions were cancelled.

Dr. Schmitt remembers the mission vividly.  He remains the only trained geologist to collect rock samples on a world other than earth.  Cernan, who named a large rock after his daughter, remembers the camera he left on the moon.

Go here for a panorama of what the two astronauts saw.  For more on Apollo 17, go to Universe Today, National Journal and Views Of The Solar System, and watch this video:

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Friday Links

A few stories out there in the news:

From NBC News, a New York man has allegedly been stranded in Europe since October 1st, because his name appears on a no-fly list.  This, of course, begs the following question.  Why was he allowed to fly over there in the first place?

From Life News, Bruce Springsteen campaigns for Obama and abortion.

From the LA Times, Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old education rights campaigner recently shot by the Taliban and taken to Britain for treatment, has recovered the abilities to stand and to write.

From CBC News, the Catholic Church will declare Kateri Tekakwitha a saint.  A member of the Mohawk tribe, she will become the first native North American woman to receive this honor.  (Full disclosure:  I have visited her shrine in Fonda, NY.)

From the NY Post, alleged would-be bomber Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis may have had an accomplice who was busted on kiddie porn charges.

From Yahoo News, a car-bomb explodes in Beirut, killing an anti-Syrian intelligence official.

From Reuters, the Curiosity rover eats Martian dirt.

From Breitbart's Big Journalism, the magazine Us headlines the cost Ann Romney's dress, even though it cost about half of what Michelle Obama was wearing, as the two ladies watched their husbands debate.

From Iconic Surrealism, watch Mitt Romney's speech at the Alfred E. Smith dinner.

Form Human Events, Romney gets the endorsement of lifelong Democrat Lee Iacocca.

And last but not east, from Pinterest, some of Obama's favorite golf courses.

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Roll Out The Bridge

Later this month, the Maryland State Highway Administration will replace two bridges that span the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.  This operation will not involve the costly, time-consuming and traffic-clogging process of tearing them down and then building the new ones.  Instead, the old bridges will be rolled away and the new ones rolled in.  This will be Maryland's first "bridge on wheels" swap, but it has been done in other states.

Read the story at the Baltimore Sun.

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Obamaphones And Other Strange Goings On

The first item comes via iOwnTheWorld.  By now, we've all probably heard about woman in Cleveland who thinks we should all vote to re-elect President Obama because he gives out free phones (conveniently ignoring the fact that the phones were paid for, not by the president, but by taxpayers and/or whomever we're borrowing money from these days).  However, she has been seriously outdone by a woman in Baltimore, who has collected no fewer than 30 "Obamaphones".

In a related development, the phones provided to poor people are making the world's richest man even richer.  As reported by Fox News, the phones are made by TracPhone, which makes $10 for each one.  Benefiting from this is Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, whose estimated net worth is $70 billion, and who owns a controlling stake in TracPhone.  This begs some questions for the left.  Don't you guys normally have a problem when the rich get richer?  And what was that about "spreading the wealth around", Mr. President?

Meanwhile in (and above) Cape Canaveral, Space Exploration Technologies launches one of their Falcon 9 rockets into orbit.  Only trouble is, they missed by a few hundred miles.  (From Reuters)

To close on a sad note, from The Inquistr, America has produced her last glass Coca-Cola bottle, at the Winona Bottling Company in Minnesota.  For now on, the popular beverage will come only in plastic bottles and metal cans.

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Ode To Odd Instruments

I ran across this little ditty on YouTube, played in 5/4 time by Michael Hearst.

The rhythm is kept by a Knockman Cha Cha (which Hearst calls "Chachak").  Various melodies, chords, and accompanying parts are played on the daxophone, Hohner claviola, bass melodica, stylophone, otamatone, and Moog Theremin.  For percusssion, there's an Elasticbrand Audioware rattle and a porter's bell.  The Theremin is named after its Russian inventor.

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Neil Armstrong 1930-2012

Neil Armstrong, whose "one small step" became a "giant leap for mankind" as he set foot on the moon, has died following complications from heart surgery which he underwent several weeks ago.  He had previously suffered a minor heart attack in 1991.

Before becoming the first person to walk on the moon, Armstrong had become the first American civilian to fly into earth orbit, as the commander of the two-man mission Gemini VIII, which accomplished the first-ever docking with another spacecraft.

After his historical flight on Apollo 11, Armstrong served as a NASA manager in Washington, DC, taught engineering at the University of Cincinnati, and served on the panels that investigated the Apollo 13 accident and the Challenger disaster.

As he stepped onto the moon, Armstrong said, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."  In doing so, he spoke the "a" so faintly that it was often left out when the sentence was quoted.  This led to some confusion because "man" (without the article) and "mankind" have similar meanings.  But the recording of his words caught the faint "a", thus preserving the context and contrasting the small size of his literal step with its enormous significance for the human race.

Read more at ABC News, the New York Times, BBC News, CNN and Cosmic Log at NBC News.  Here's a brief video from Armstrong's visit to the moon:

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That's What It's All About

Up there on the red planet, Curiosity gets ready to do the Hokey Pokey and turn itself around.  Of course, I like to use a different spelling and call it the Hokie Pokie.  From Wired:

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Curiosity Rover Lands Successfully On Mars

This morning at around 1:15 a.m. EDT, the rover dubbed "Curiosity", part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, touched down safely on the surface of the red planet, in the Aeolis Palus region of Gale Crater.  The spacecraft had spent over 8 months in transit between Earth and Mars.  Due to the finite speed of radio waves (the same as the speed of light), NASA learned of the successful landing at around 1:30, upon which Curiosity's human controllers broke out in celebration.



Curiosity is about twice as long and 5 times as massive as the earlier Spirit and Opportunity rovers, and is intended to stay in operation for one Martian year.

While descending, Curiosity was photographed by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.  The landing included a rather complicated series of operations, as shown in this video.

Read more at the Washington Post, Space.com, the Wall Street Journal, Wired Science, Yahoo News and National Geographic.  You can also follow Curiosity on Twitter.

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Gore Didn't Create The Internet, Bush Did

During the 2000 presidential campaign, the Democrat nominee Vice President Al Gore claimed to have created the Internet.  In the aftermath of the election, in which the Republican candidate George W. Bush (then the governor of Texas) carried Florida by a narrow margin and thus achieved a narrow victory in the Electoral College, there was an effort to recount the votes that was stopped by a Supreme Court decision.  Gore supporters would soon claim that their candidate was the true winner, and that Bush stole the election.

Although Al Gore's claim to be the Internet's creator has never been taken all that seriously, since it has been commonly thought that the Internet was a civilian by-product of a military project called ARPAnet, some recently revealed (according to the perspective of yours truly, anyway) information indicates that the idea of the Internet comes from a man named Bush.  This Bush, however, was not named George, but Vannevar.  He was a presidential science advisor during World War II.  According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, it was Vannevar Bush's ideas published in the Atlantic that motivated technologists to try to connect small networks into larger ones and form a global network.  The entity that succeeded was not part of the government, but part of Xerox, known for making copiers.  Specifically, it was Xerox Parc, located in Silicon Valley.  This means that like certain high-quality copiers, the Internet is just as good as a Xerox, because in a sense, it is a Xerox.

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Sally Ride 1951-2012

Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, has died at her home in La Jolla, California after a 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer.  Besides her two space shuttle flights, both aboard the Challenger, she served on the commission that investigated the explosion of that same shuttle in 1986.  She later served on the board investigating the loss of the Columbia in 2003, the only person to serve on both the Challenger and Columbia commissions.

Sally Ride received bachelor's degrees in both English and physics, and then went on to earn a masters and a PhD in physics, all from Stanford University.  Besides her work for NASA, she also served as a physics professor at the University of California, San Diego and as the director of the school's California Space Institute.  She also started her own company Sally Ride Science, which created educational programs and products intended to help girls and young women pursue interests in science and math.  Dr. Ride received many honors for her work, including NCAA's Theodore Roosevelt Award and the NASA Space Flight Medal.

Read more at Biography, MSNBC, Fox News, USA Today, Yahoo News and CNET.  The MSNBC report recalls that on the day of her first space flight, thousands of people wore T-shirts and buttons bearing the slogan "Ride, Sally, Ride", but does not say where that slogan comes from.  That particular phrase is found in the backing vocals of a Wilson Pickett song.  Little did Pickett (or whoever actually wrote the song) know that he was predicting by name the first American woman to go into space.

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The Useless Box

You know that someone has too much time on his hands when he designs a device that does nothing more than turn itself off. 



If you want one, for just under $40, you can get your own.

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