Bad Astronomy on NASA's budget

mrgan:

The general public public perception of NASA is that it’s an inefficient, unnecessary drain on the US budget. How bad a drain? Bad Astronomy quotes The Space Review:

In a just-completed study, we asked respondents what percentage of the national budget is allocated to NASA … NASA’s allocation, on average, was estimated to be approximately 24% of the national budget (the NASA allocation in 2007 was approximately 0.58% of the budget.)

I wonder how many government programs you’d have to ask about before you ran out of percents.

So true.

“Allow 11-14 calendar days for delivery, plus printing time” Really, Chase?  For $4.25 I’d hope that maybe you could ship a single checkbook from this hemisphere.  (In-bank pickup is not an option.) Oh, and yeah, there’s no email receipt for this purchase or anything 21st century like that. It’s not a terrible guess that the $20+ for this order came out of my checking account, but it would be polite of them to me that somewhere in the process.
Pop-upView Separately

“Allow 11-14 calendar days for delivery, plus printing time”

Really, Chase?  For $4.25 I’d hope that maybe you could ship a single checkbook from this hemisphere.  (In-bank pickup is not an option.)

Oh, and yeah, there’s no email receipt for this purchase or anything 21st century like that. It’s not a terrible guess that the $20+ for this order came out of my checking account, but it would be polite of them to me that somewhere in the process.

A Letter to Rush Limbaugh

david-noel:

suitep:

From: Roger Ebert

You should be horse-whipped for the insult you have paid to the highest office of our nation. Having followed President Obama’s suggestion and donated money to the Red Cross for relief in Haiti, I was offended to hear you suggest the President might be a thief capable of stealing money intended for the earthquake victims. The rest.


The reason that someone like Rush Limbaugh would never be taken seriously at such scale here in Germany - let alone paid such a humongous amount of money - is because Germany already had one of this kind.

Snap.

david-noel: I am - once more - pointing out to this article about how Israel deals with airport security. Instead of shutting down an entire airport, the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv has a blast-proof luggage screening facility: All the screening areas contain ‘bomb boxes.’ If a screener spots a suspect bag, he/she is trained to pick it up and place it in the box, which is blast proof. A bomb squad arrives shortly and wheels the box away for further investigation. Airport security should invest in (available) technology to improve a) security, while b) at the same time improve a traveler’s experience and c) save valuable time for everyone involved in the process Read that article.
Pop-upView Separately

david-noel:

I am - once more - pointing out to this article about how Israel deals with airport security. Instead of shutting down an entire airport, the Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv has a blast-proof luggage screening facility:

All the screening areas contain ‘bomb boxes.’ If a screener spots a suspect bag, he/she is trained to pick it up and place it in the box, which is blast proof. A bomb squad arrives shortly and wheels the box away for further investigation.

Airport security should invest in (available) technology to improve

a) security, while

b) at the same time improve a traveler’s experience and

c) save valuable time for everyone involved in the process

Read that article.

curvedwhite: “Political Cities” by Noma Bar
View Separately

curvedwhite:

“Political Cities” by Noma Bar

The House health care bill

Note:  this was a memo circulated by the “Government and Industry Relations Department” at a large company where my friend works (not an insurance company). It’s good for “anyone that is looking for info but not interested in sensational e-mails from either side of the political spectrum designed for fundraising and/or scaremongering.”

House Narrowly Passes Sweeping Health Care Reform Bill

On Saturday, November 7, the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for Americans Act (H.R. 3962) by a vote of 220-215. The bill was opposed by 39 Democrats and supported by one lone Republican.

Some key provisions in the bill include:

Read More

The DMCA takedown problem

If you’re at all interested in the DMCA and its effects on you, you’ll want to follow these developments.

Turns out my years with National Model UN were relevant and not just super-nerdy, particularly when I directed WIPO in 2004 (Dayton) and then the WTO in 2006 (New York).

marco:

A lot of people were talking about the “secret copyright treaty” last week, but most of the cited scary parts are already U.S. law that we’re trying to get everyone else to enforce the same way.

This is the truly scary part of today’s system:

…”notice-and-takedown” rules that require ISPs to remove any material that is accused — again, without evidence or trial — of infringing copyright. This has proved a disaster in the US and other countries, where it provides an easy means of censoring material, just by accusing it of infringing copyright.

Here’s how this system is supposed to work…

Experts Puzzle Over How Flight Overshot Airport

So, Delta pilots are allowed to have email during flights without worry of instrument interference, eh?

Instead, the Airbus A320, with 144 passengers, two pilots and three flight attendants flew past Minneapolis to above Eau Claire, Wis., apparently ignoring repeated radio calls from controllers and other pilots in the area as well as email messages from the airline’s dispatchers, until the plane, an Airbus A320 suddenly made a loop in the air and returned for a safe landing.
(emphasis added)

Information Is Beautiful: The Billion Dollar Gram [via waxylinks]
Pop-upView Separately

Information Is Beautiful: The Billion Dollar Gram

[via waxylinks]

What this is really about is race. That’s all there is to it.

Robot Heart’s mom (via Dan) regarding some of the extreme hatred and irrational fear of Obama.

marco:

This is different from honest political disagreement. Bush was one of the least-liked presidents we’ve ever had, especially by the end of his term, but nobody was bringing assault rifles to his appearances or refusing to air his speeches live because they might turn their children against them with subversive messages.

Racism is alive and well in America. This isn’t news to anyone who’s not white.