I started drinking coffee regularly a few weeks ago (that is, pretty much every morning when I’m home, though I’ve never actually brought myself to purchase a cup when away from home), primarily for medicinal reasons. I still don’t like the stuff that much, and can take or leave it. But one side effect I discovered, as a result of my latest dental visit, is that my teeth are much cleaner. I noticed that my cleaning was much faster than usual, and my hygienist told me that there was less to clean. I attribute this to the fact that I am brushing twice as often as I used to, because I feel a need to do so after drinking the coffee in the morning (I generally skip breakfast otherwise), partly to get rid of the after taste, and partly to prevent teeth staining. I was particularly motivated about the latter after seeing how hard it is to clean coffee stains from our white porcelain cups.
The “Phony” IRS Scandal
It’s time to clean up the agency:
…it all boils down to trust. One reason for the resonance of not only the IRS scandals but also the NSA scandal, the Benghazi scandal, Fast and Furious, and so on is that fewer Americans than ever trust the federal government. It’s a mess that needs to be cleaned up, and denying that the mess exists only exacerbates the lack of trust.
But the denial is strong, even among some in this comments section. Of course, it’s partisan denial.
Site Problems
As you may have noticed, the site’s been down since yesterday. Apparently, mysql had crashed on the server. It should be fixed now, though I still have issues with logging in as administrator (one reason that posting has been sparse lately, in addition to the fact that I’ve been busy).
The IRS-Gate Tapes
Except unlike Watergate, they’re not tapes. They’re Lois Lerner’s emails:
“Tea Party Matter very dangerous,” Ms. Lerner wrote in the 2011 email, saying that those applications could end up being the “vehicle to go to court” to get more clarity on a 2010 Supreme Court ruling on campaign finance rules.
In another email, from 2012, Ms. Lerner acknowledges that the agency’s handling of the tax-exempt applications had been bungled at the beginning, though she said steps had been taken to correct problems.
“It is what it is,” she wrote in the email, released Thursday by the Ways and Means Committee. “Although the original story isn’t as pretty as we’d like, once we learned [that we were] off track, we have done what we can to change the process, better educate our staff and move the cases. So, we will get dinged, but we took steps before the ‘dinging’ to make things better and we have written procedures.”
That email suggests that agency employees knew they had gone overboard in their scrutiny — despite top IRS officials telling Congress that there was no special scrutiny of conservative groups.
In another 2012 email, Ms. Lerner seemed to take sides in a battle between the Federal Election Commission and conservative tax-exempt groups that were engaging in politics, saying “perhaps the FEC will save the day.”
So now we know several things. The original story about “rogue agents in Cincinnati” was a lie. We also know that there is a culture at the IRS that finds this unacceptable (perhaps the most disturbing thing, because it’s a lot harder to fix than firing someone at the top). And we know at least some of the reason why she took the fifth.
My Five-Year-Old Laptop
…has finally given up the ghost. It won’t boot, or even bring up a POST screen. It just lights up for a couple seconds and dies. I’ve been planning to replace it for a while, but now it’s urgent. I only use it to travel, and not for entertainment, so I don’t need a high-end machine. I’ve been toying with the idea of tablet/keyboard, but don’t know if it will meet my needs.
[Friday-afternoon update]
This look like a pretty good deal to me. Basically, a new version of what I had.
Sierra Nevada
Sirangelo showing video of latest SS2 flight. Exhaust plume from hybrid rocket still looks like a tire fire. They did put it out, though.
Falcon Launch Delay
Garrett Reisman just announced that they had to scrub their static test firing today, so this weekend’s launch will be delayed (maybe Tuesday, same day as next OSC launch).
Blue Origin
Looking for a coastal launch site for orbital flight. Orbital vehicle is two stage, with first stage reusable, flyback vertical landing (like SpaceX).
Developing 100,000 lbf thrust lox/hydrogen engine. Deep throttle capability to allow vertical landing.
Xenon
At lunch at #AIAASpace2013, NASA is proposing ten tons of it for propellant for the asteroid mission. World production is about a ton per year.
A Civil-Rights Victory
Great news from Colorado. Both of the gun grabbers were recalled.