This shall not stand.
Mitten Envy
No, this isn’t about how Romney feels about Newt’s latest poll numbers, but how Wisconsin is trying to abscond with Michigan’s image. I have to admit, though, that it’s pretty funny how she says they point at their hand to show where they live (a long-time lower-peninsula behavior for Wolverines). This calls for a contest to determine just what Wisconsin is actually shaped like. It’s sort of a Rorschach test.
What Does The Phobos-Grunt Failure Mean For NASA?
My thoughts over at Popular Mechanics.
How The GOP Should Explain Climate Change
Ken Silber explains. My main problem with it is that it gives far too much credence to AGW theory.
Newt Versus Mitt
I keep hoping for a brokered convention.
The President Uses The Pearl Harbor Anniversary
…to push his big-government agenda. Shocking, I know.
Alec Baldwin
Tech moron. No, I am not surprised.
As a frequent American flyer I, like Josh Trevino, look forward with great anticipation to guaranteed Alec-Baldwin-free travel.
Another December 7th Anniversary
Thirty-nine years ago today, the crew of the last mission to the moon took this picture in their rear-view mirror.
Biases Of Risk And Reward
An interesting article on human psychology. I may think about how this plays into issues of human spaceflight safety, for both professional and recreational space travelers, for a couple papers I’m working on.
[Via Geek Press]
What Really Happened To Air France 447?
It was pilot error. As the article notes, humans will always be fallible (it’s one of the defining characteristics) and you can never build a guaranteed safe system. There are probably lessons to be learned here for the design of space transports as well. But I don’t think that “automated systems will be safer” is one of them.