 | The Space Review: The Moon and Mars: a flawed article's false choice
The fundamental problem is not Mars vs. Moon, but rather launching a spaceship from Earth's Gravity Well vs. Earth's LEO. If we had a shuttle to an enhanced ISS with space-docking facilities, or perhaps a new space station (Bigelow Aerospace comes to mind) from which to launch a spaceship, we could use a shuttle to get to a new space station & from there a completely reimagined Spaceship with far less fuel requirements (maybe 90% if refueling from Mars or even its moons after processing). This would leave room for a much larger crew quarters, with artificial gravity, hydroponic gardens, recycled water insulation from cosmic energy, advanced probes that could be sent to the surface to prepare habitats for the crew while they are either in orbit or shuttling to the surface and back as needed. The real problem is we are too committed to sending fuel into space, not people.
Read More >> |
|
 | Hundreds Missing After Chinese Cruise Ship Sinks on Yangtze
Most of the 458 people aboard a chartered cruise ship in China were still missing on Tuesday morning, more than a dozen hours after the vessel sank during a torrential rainstorm along the central Yangtze River. The accident is certain to catalyze public calls for investigations into both the company and the government officials who oversee safety regulations and boat traffic along the Yangtze. Ordinary Chinese believe that corruption among local officials is rampant, and the Communist Party has made rooting out corruption a priority. In recent years, passenger ship services have come under scrutiny in some countries following deadly accidents.
Read More >> |
|
 | Circular orbits identified for small exoplanets
Viewed from above, our solar system's planetary orbits around the sun resemble rings around a bulls-eye. Each planet, including Earth, keeps to a roughly circular path, always maintaining the same distance from the sun. For decades, astronomers have wondered whether the solar system's circular orbits might be a rarity in our universe. Now a new analysis suggests that such orbital regularity is instead the norm, at least for systems with planets as small as Earth. In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers from MIT and Aarhus University in Denmark report that 74 exoplanets, located hundreds of light-years away, orbit their respective stars in circular patterns, much like the planets of our solar system. Ultimately, Van Eylen says that's good news in the search for life elsewhere.
Read More >> |
|
 | "The Legitimacy of Violence as a Political Act?" w/Noam Chomsky, Susan Sontag, Hannah Arendt, et al
Under what conditions, if any, can violent action be said to be "legitimate"? ... NOAM CHOMSKY: My general feeling is that this kind of question can't be answered in a meaningful way when it's abstracted from the context of particular historical concrete circumstances. Any rational person would agree that violence is not legitimate unless the consequences of such action are to eliminate a still greater evil. Now there are people of course who go much further and say that one must oppose violence in general, quite apart from any possible consequences. I think that such a person is asserting one of two things. Either he's saying that the resort to violence is illegitimate even if the consequences are to eliminate a greater evil; or he's saying that under no conceivable circumstances will the consequences ever be such as to eliminate a greater evil.
Read More >> |
|
 | Robert Cotto Jr.: Follow the Charter Management Fees in Connecticut;CT News Junkie
Robert Cotto, Jr., is an elected member of the Hartford, Connecticut, Board of Education. In this article, he describes the outlandish fees paid to charter management organizations. Read this because it is not merely about the trickery that is afoot in Connecticut, it is the enormous corruption of public education and the misuse of tax money, that is sold to Americans in the media as reform He says: "When traditional schools pay their bills to educate kids, they usually don't have much money, if any, remaining. When charter schools pay their bills, they often have money left over to spend. How much? It depends on the school. For a number of charter schools, roughly 10 percent of all of public dollars meant for educating children in these schools go to pay fees for private companies called "charter management organizations." That's a problem...
Read More >> |
|
 | CURMUDGUCATION: Defending the USED; by Peter Greene
"Peter Greene performs a valuable dissection of Frank Bruni's uninformed defense of the U.S. Department of Education and its current occupant, who has done so much to demoralize teachers, demand high-stakes testing, and pump many millions into the privatization movement. The column wouldn't matter so much if it appeared in a grocery store tabloid, but Bruni writes for the New York Times," says Diane Ravitch. Greene explains "Bruni has taken the Senate attempt to re-authorize the ESEA, and instead of placing that in the context of a bill that has been awaiting re-authorization by Congress since 2007 and has finally been tackled by the appropriate Senate committee for that tackling, he's creating a new narrative in which, steeped in an anti-department atmosphere, Murray and Alexander just kind of go rogue and float this bill created out of whole cloth just to spank the department...
Read More >> |
|
 | The Elephant In The Room: Senators Finally Credit Edward Snowden For Role In Patriot Act Reforms; by Jessica Schulberg
"When several key provisions of the broad, post-9/11 surveillance law known as the Patriot Act were up for renewal five years ago, the Senate debated for just 20 seconds before reauthorizing the sweeping powers by a voice vote. The following day, the House followed the upper chamber's lead, voting 315-97 to extend the act's most controversial elements. Five years later, the political landscape around government surveillance has shifted. Last month, the House voted 338-88 to pass a bill that would limit the government's ability to collect and store information on Americans' phone calls. The bill, called the USA Freedom Act, would leave much of the Patriot Act in place. But it would put phone companies, rather than the government, in charge of collecting and storing information on phone calls, which the government would only be able to search with specific queries....
Read More >> |
|
 | The Supreme Court Case That Could Gut Obamacare, Explained In 2 Minutes
The Supreme Court is expected to issue a hotly anticipated decision soon in a lawsuit that could do major damage to the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.What's it all about, and who would be affected? Huffington Post health care reporter Jeffrey Young explains in this video. Don't miss this simple explanation that shows how the GOP is working hard to undo medical coverage for millions of Americans. Got more questions about the Affordable Care Act and the Supreme Court? Join HuffPost reporters Jonathan Cohn and Jeffrey Young for a chat on the HuffPost Politics Facebook page June 2 at 2 p.m. Eastern time.
Read More >> |
|
 | Mitch McConnell Humiliated And Rand Paul Loses As Senate Votes To Advance USA Freedom Act
For those who advocate a total repeal of the Patriot Act, Rand Paul's self-serving antics have done more harm than good. The country will be no closer to repealing the Bush-era stain on civil liberties that it was before Paul tried to use the issue to boost his stagnant 2016 presidential campaign. This was a manufactured crisis that everyone saw coming, and Mitch McConnell did nothing to avoid it. McConnell tried to prove that he could flex his muscles and govern. Paul is using the Senate as a platform for his presidential campaign. In the end, the message to voters is clear. Republicans can't govern without creating a crisis or a circus.
Read More >> |
|
 | Paul Krugman: That 1914 Feeling
it's startling to learn that Jacob Lew, the Treasury secretary, recently warned Europeans that they had better settle the Greek situation soon, lest there be a destructive "accident." But I understand why Mr. Lew said what he did. A forced Greek exit from the euro would create huge economic and political risks, yet Europe seems to be sleepwalking toward that outcome. So Mr. Lew was doing his best to deliver a wake-up call. What defenders of the euro should fear most is not a crisis this year, but what happens once Greece starts to recover and becomes a role model for anti-establishment forces across the continent.
Read More >> |
|
 | Challenging Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders Gains Momentum in Iowa
Mr. Sanders's stop at a brewery in Ames on Saturday was so mobbed that more than 100 people who could not fit inside peered through the windows. Mr. Sanders is considered the Senate's most left-wing member, and he has been inspiring fervor among the Democratic base at recent rallies and town-hall-style meetings, including on Wednesday in the first presidential primary state, New Hampshire. Sanders seemed to be experiencing a contact high from the size of his crowds. He sat on a picnic table outside for a short interview. "Be amazed at what you saw here," he said, adding, "I want to win this."
Read More >> |
|
 | Lindsey Graham launches presidential campaign
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) announced Monday in his home town of Central, S.C., that he will run for president in 2016, adding to a crowded Republican field one of the party's most aggressive national security voices in a campaign that has focused often on foreign policy. "I am running for president of the United States because I am ready to be commander in chief on day one " to defend our nation with a sound strategy, a strong military, stable alliances and a steady determination," Graham told a crowd of supporters. "I have more experience with our national security than any other candidate in this race. That includes you, Hillary."
Read More >> |
|
Daily Headlines
Best News Links from the Web
