NASA Mission STS-122 Lands Safely

The space shuttle Atlantis landed safely today at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Sorry I don’t have time to write about it in depth, I’m battling the flu and sitting upright to type this even is a chore. There was also a beautiful total lunar eclipse tonight, and if you were in North America, South America, Western Europe, or West Africa, you were in position to see it. Fortunately, here in Baltimore, the clouds cleared up in time to give us a flawless view. Here’s a couple of neat-o space pictures, you vultures. First up is one of the STS-122 astronauts on a spacewalk to install the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory module on the International Space Station. Second is a shot of the shuttle Atlantis deploying its drag chute as it lands on the runway at Kennedy today. Both images courtesy of piracy. Finally, we have a cool video that a Winnipeg-based eclipse viewer put together of shots from tonight’s show. By the way, you won’t get another chance to view a total lunar eclipse until December of 2010.

A Lame Excuse to Rattle the Sabres

Bush administration officials announced yesterday that they are going to shoot down a disabled military spy satellite, and that the sole reason for this is “to avoid a spread of toxic fuel in an inhabited area.” Bullshit alert! The odds of this satellite crashing down near anywhere inhabited by people are so low, it’s not worth sweating over. The odds are far better that you’ll be struck by lightning. And besides, the “toxic fuel” they’re referring to is hydrazine, which isn’t all that dangerous. If a populated area were contaminated with hydrazine gas, at worst you’d have some people with symptoms similar to chlorine gas poisoning. This satellite shoot-down attempt is just a way for the U.S. military to test their high tech anti-satellite defenses; the toxicity risk is a lame excuse. The political implications of this action are ugly, especially considering that America got on China’s case for doing the same thing last year. And for pete’s sake, this plan poses a risk to other orbiting objects, such as the International Space Station! Granted, it’s not a very big risk, but it’s still higher than the odds that any of us would be wiped out by a single school bus-sized gas tank dropping out of orbit.

For the record, I am adamantly opposed to any combat occurring in space. If you can shoot at a satellite, it won’t be long before the satellites can shoot back.

The Power of the Potomac

We here in the Potomac states are not all the silver spoon-fed liberal literati that the press make us out to be; still, we know how to pick a winner.

And it was on our shoulders, tonight, that Barack Obama stepped ahead of Hillary Clinton in his rise to what might become the presidency of our generation.

Maryland, take a bow.

Darwin Day: A Reason to Hope

Today is a very exciting day. Obviously, the Potomac Primaries in DC, Virginia, and Maryland (my home state) are poised to have a major influence on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination race. I attended a rally yesterday at the 1st Mariner Arena in downtown Baltimore, where Barack Obama got a huge crowd of supporters “fired up.” This morning, I was the third in line to vote when my polling place opened at 7:00 AM. Obama’s got momentum, and we’ll add to it in a significant way today. But politics isn’t the only thing newsworthy this February 12.

It’s also Darwin Day. If Charles Darwin were still alive, today he’d celebrate his 199th birthday. Scientists and free thinkers around the world today should take a moment to reflect on what an awesome contribution Darwin made to our understanding of life. As the author of Survival Machine, which is more or less a blog about cultural and biological evolution, I really like the idea of celebrating Darwin Day – would anyone like to go out for a drink with me tonight in honor of the late great naturalist? We wouldn’t be the only ones celebrating. Even an event in space today seems a fitting tribute, insofar as it’s another milestone in the advancement of human science culture:

The European Space Agency’s $2 billion Columbus lab was successfully attached to the International Space Station yesterday by crew members of the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This morning, crew members hooked up all the power, fluid, and data lines that link Columbus to the ISS. This thing has been virtually waiting on the launchpad for sixteen years.

The European Space Agency waited years to see Columbus fly. The lab was supposed to go up in 1992 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the sailing of Christopher Columbus, but space station and then shuttle problems delayed everything.

I’m glad this sort of thing still happens, albeit slowly. It would really be a sad story if humanity had reached the moon, and then gave up and succumbed to a new Dark Ages mentality. To some extent, we’re still in danger of that happening, but at least on this Darwin Day we can indulge in a little bit of hope.

Obama beats Clinton for Grammy award!

That is not even a joke.  To be fair, he beat Bill Clinton and not Hillary Clinton, but it’s true.  This is Barack Obama’s second Grammy award for Best Spoken Word Album.  Had Bill Clinton won, it would have been his third Grammy award.  I don’t know how the rest of you feel, but this is hilarious news — in a twisted, allegorical, symbolic way.  Allegory to what, you ask?

Barack Obama wins Maine caucus, defeating rival Hillary Clinton in 4 out of 4 weekend contests.

That is a phenomenal performance.  And, Clinton’s campaign manager stepped down today.  Big ups, Barack.  Tomorrow I’m volunteering at his “Stand For Change” rally at the 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore.  The rally is free to the public, and the doors open at 2:45 PM.  With luck, I may get to have my picture taken with him.  Then a few years down the road, after he’s turned our country over to a North American Union police state, microchipped everyone, and invaded Iran, I can have something to be embarrassed by! Ha, ha, ha.  Anyway, keep an eye out for pictures and/or video from the rally tomorrow.

By the way,  my astronomy class has started.  It looks like it’ll be a lot of fun.  While browsing astronomy sites, I discovered that the Space Telescope Science Institute is practically in my backyard!  The STSI is, among other things, the public outreach program for the Hubble Space Telescope.  I will definitely pay them a visit sometime this semester.  I’m hoping they’ll have a really nice ’scope on site that I can peek through for free.

Itch, you be trippin’.

Today, NASA successfully launched the Space Shuttle Atlantis on a mission to deliver the European Space Agency’s Columbia lab to the International Space Station.  Columbia is pretty cool, and the ESA has been waiting years to get this thing a ride into space. I want to write an in-depth post on it, but my hands are swollen up and it hurts to move – side effects of some unknown allergen or or pathogen invading my body.  I itch everywhere, but my hands and feet are the worst.   I went to the doctor today and got medicine (Zyrtec), but it is barely helping.  And I’m mostly knocked out.

So I’ll be writing about this later (hopefully tomorrow!) as well as following up with detailed responses to deserving comments.

For now, though, I’m just trying not to puff up anymore – and not die.  I didn’t know I was allergic to anything… I hope it’s just a freak occurrence.

Super Tuesday, How Grandiloquent Is Thy Hype…

     Well, ladies and gentlemen, we’re here.  It’s Super Tuesday, and it’s a big milestone in American political history on the democratic side.  I’m pretty swamped at work so I don’t have time to comment in depth, but I’ll say that the most recent polls have been very encouraging and I hope Obama does very well today.  Watch the news, my friends!  I’m sure I’ll have words for you on the early returns tonight.  On one hand, I’m looking forward to Maryland having a chance to really influence the delegate count in next Tuesday’s primary, but I’d much rather see Obama pull ahead today and have some breathing room by then.

Either way, this is exciting.

Weekend Roundup: Underdogs For The Win!

This weekend I rejoiced at my father’s cured cardiac condition (yay, medical science!), ate lots of good food, played basketball, drank very little alcohol, wasted a couple hours of my life on Guitar Hero 2 (thanks a lot, Lauren), saw Barack Obama speak at a rally in Wilmington, and despite near-zero interest in spectator sports, watched the New York Giants win an un-winnable game. The cumulative effect of all this, I think, was inspiring.

Here are a few pictures from the “Stand for Change” rally today at Rodney Square in Wilmington, Delaware. My friend Emily was good enough to tag along despite her total lack of interest in politics, but I haven’t checked to see whether she minds my posting her picture yet. The weather could hardly have been better. It was a great day, and Obama gave (as usual) a great speech. I’m thinking that he might just be able to make like the Giants and pull off an upset in the “big game” on Tuesday. We’ll see!

Obama addresses his supporters.

Panoramic view of the crowd.

This shot seems really poignant to me, for some reason.

The crowd was very diverse, with many racial/ethnic/age/gender groups represented.

Statue of George Washington.

Me and one of several bizarre dinosaur statues I found in Wilmington.

Aerial view courtesy of some newspaper I stole it from and promptly forgot the name of.
The crowd was estimated to be 20,000+ strong.