The Apollo Fire

It’s been forty-five years since Ed White, Roger Chaffee and gus Grissom were horribly incinerated on the launch pad, in a ground test. Clara Moskowitz has the story of the changes to the program that ensued as a result. And tomorrow will be the twenty-sixth anniversary of the loss of the Challenger. Where has the time gone?

[Update late morning]

More from Amy Teitel. Note that for both these young women, this is history — it happened before they were born.

Romney’s Debate On Space

Top. Men.

[Update a few minutes later]

OK, it’s clear that Mitt is completely out to sea on the issue (if it wasn’t already).

He just lost the votes of anyone interested in space, completely needlessly, because he saw it as an opportunity to bash Newt. As I said, a soulless technocrat.

[Friday morning update]

Who has the best plan for space? Take the poll.

[Update a few minutes later]

For anyone interested, here’s the transcript.

More Media Dietary Ignorance

So, here we have a young woman in the UK who has has eaten nothing but Chicken McNuggets™ her whole life, and is in poor health, but a mystery remains:

…despite a diet that regularly means she eats at least a third more than the 56g of fat recommended by experts, she manages to keep relatively trim.

This may be down to the amount of exercise she does or to her metabolism.

Or maybe, just maybe, eating fat is not what makes you fat.

It is an awful diet, to be sure, but not because of what’s in it (fat) but because of what is not (healthy vegetables). It has a reasonable balance of protein and carbs (though it would be better if the carbs weren’t a batter, and could be a little lower). It’s the lack of nutrients that is killing her, not the fat.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!