LAS CRUCES - They're like your neighborhood travel agents - except their package tours' most unique feature is nowhere to be found on earth.
A group of actual "space agents" is touring Spaceport America and the surrounding Mesilla Valley through Thursday during the New Mexico Spaceport Authority's annual forum.
The agents are taking a guided tour spanning three counties to help impress upon potential customers what the area has to offer: Las Cruces, Mesilla, Hatch, Truth or Consequences, White Sands Missile Range and White Sands National Monument, the National Solar Observatory at Sacramento and the New Mexico Museum of Space History.
Currently under construction near Truth or Consequences, Spaceport America has been providing commercial launch services since 2006 and its state-of-the-art launch facility, which counts Lockheed Martin, Moog-FTS, Armadillo Aerospace, and UP Aerospace as tenants, is expected to become fully operational next year.
Spaceport America's anchor tenant Virgin Galactic plans to provide sub-orbital space flights and commercial service via its WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles. Only Virgin Galactic-affiliated agents will be able to book travel on SpaceShipTwo, which is progressing in development and will fly from Spaceport America when testing completes, according to a news release.
"Spaceport America is going to be a major destination for tourists from all over the world, whether visitors or Virgin Galactic customers," said Spaceport Authority Executive Director Rick Homans. "These (Virgin Galactic-)accredited space agents will help spread the word about New Mexico by promoting the spaceport."
Las Cruces Sun-News
Spaceport America
October 6, 2010
October 2, 2010
Chicken Nuggets Are Made From This Pink Goop
Basically, the entire chicken is smashed and pressed through a sieve—bones, eyes, guts, and all. it comes out looking like this.
There’s more: because it’s crawling with bacteria, it will be washed with ammonia, soaked in it, actually. Then, because it tastes gross, it will be reflavored artificially. Then, because it is weirdly pink, it will be dyed with artificial color.
But, hey, at least it tastes good, right?
Early Onset of Night
October 1, 2010
September 27, 2010
U.S. Wants to Make It Easier to Wiretap the Internet
Essentially, officials want Congress to require all services that enable communications — including encrypted e-mail transmitters like BlackBerry, social networking Web sites like Facebook and software that allows direct “peer to peer” messaging like Skype — to be technically capable of complying if served with a wiretap order. The mandate would include being able to intercept and unscramble encrypted messages.
The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.
NY Times
The bill, which the Obama administration plans to submit to lawmakers next year, raises fresh questions about how to balance security needs with protecting privacy and fostering innovation. And because security services around the world face the same problem, it could set an example that is copied globally.
NY Times
September 23, 2010
Breaking News
BREAKING NEWS: Facebook is down. Worker productivity rises. U.S. climbs out of recession.
OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
September 9, 2010
Why God Did Not Create the Universe
According to Viking mythology, eclipses occur when two wolves, Skoll and Hati, catch the sun or moon. At the onset of an eclipse people would make lots of noise, hoping to scare the wolves away. After some time, people must have noticed that the eclipses ended regardless of whether they ran around banging on pots.
Ignorance of nature's ways led people in ancient times to postulate many myths in an effort to make sense of their world. But eventually, people turned to philosophy, that is, to the use of reason—with a good dose of intuition—to decipher their universe. Today we use reason, mathematics and experimental test—in other words, modern science.
Albert Einstein said, "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." He meant that, unlike our homes on a bad day, the universe is not just a conglomeration of objects each going its own way. Everything in the universe follows laws, without exception.
Newton believed that our strangely habitable solar system did not "arise out of chaos by the mere laws of nature." Instead, he maintained that the order in the universe was "created by God at first and conserved by him to this Day in the same state and condition." The discovery recently of the extreme fine-tuning of so many laws of nature could lead some back to the idea that this grand design is the work of some grand Designer. Yet the latest advances in cosmology explain why the laws of the universe seem tailor-made for humans, without the need for a benevolent creator.
Stephen Hawking for WSJ
Ignorance of nature's ways led people in ancient times to postulate many myths in an effort to make sense of their world. But eventually, people turned to philosophy, that is, to the use of reason—with a good dose of intuition—to decipher their universe. Today we use reason, mathematics and experimental test—in other words, modern science.
Albert Einstein said, "The most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible." He meant that, unlike our homes on a bad day, the universe is not just a conglomeration of objects each going its own way. Everything in the universe follows laws, without exception.
Newton believed that our strangely habitable solar system did not "arise out of chaos by the mere laws of nature." Instead, he maintained that the order in the universe was "created by God at first and conserved by him to this Day in the same state and condition." The discovery recently of the extreme fine-tuning of so many laws of nature could lead some back to the idea that this grand design is the work of some grand Designer. Yet the latest advances in cosmology explain why the laws of the universe seem tailor-made for humans, without the need for a benevolent creator.
Stephen Hawking for WSJ
September 8, 2010
Cybercrime is Rampant Around the World, Says Study
A new study by security vendor Symantec reports that Internet crime has grown into a widespread problem globally. It also provides intriguing insights into consumers' lax attitudes toward online piracy, plagiarism, and other illegally or unethical activities.
Some 7,000 adults in 14 nations participated in the Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact, which was released Wednesday.
The study says that cybercrime is quite commonplace; more than 65 percent of participants say they've been a victim of online crime, including virus or malware attacks, online scams, phishing, social network profile hacking, credit card fraud, and sexual predation.
PC World
Some 7,000 adults in 14 nations participated in the Norton Cybercrime Report: The Human Impact, which was released Wednesday.
The study says that cybercrime is quite commonplace; more than 65 percent of participants say they've been a victim of online crime, including virus or malware attacks, online scams, phishing, social network profile hacking, credit card fraud, and sexual predation.
PC World
September 7, 2010
Adult Smoking Hits Plateau
One in five U.S. adults continues to smoke cigarettes -- a percentage that hasn't budged since 2005 -- suggesting that more aggressive efforts are needed to reduce smoking-related diseases and deaths, the CDC said.
Data from the 2009 National Health Interview Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) indicated that 20.6% of Americans 18 and older reported being current smokers, according to an early-release report in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In 2005, smoking prevalence stood at 20.9% -- not significantly different from the 2009 figure or the rate for any year in between, according to the MMWR.
"There has been no progress in reducing that number in five years," said Thomas Frieden, MD, director of CDC, in a conference call with reporters.
MedPage Today
Data from the 2009 National Health Interview Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) indicated that 20.6% of Americans 18 and older reported being current smokers, according to an early-release report in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
In 2005, smoking prevalence stood at 20.9% -- not significantly different from the 2009 figure or the rate for any year in between, according to the MMWR.
"There has been no progress in reducing that number in five years," said Thomas Frieden, MD, director of CDC, in a conference call with reporters.
MedPage Today
September 3, 2010
September 2, 2010
6 Baffling Flaws in Famous Sci-Fi Technology
As a species, we are tool makers first and foremost. That's why we love to see gadgets in our movies, and to watch our Captain Picards and Batmans and David Hasselhoffs defeat the bad guys with technology we know we'll never own.
But in the course of trying to dazzle us with their fancy spaceships and battle vehicles, sometimes Hollywood forgets to make sense.
Cracked.com
However, in response to #3 (The Batwing), the flaw is explained away by a Jungian analysis of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman by Robert E. Terrill found here (PDF) - entitled, "Put on a happy face: Batman as a schizophrenic savior."
But in the course of trying to dazzle us with their fancy spaceships and battle vehicles, sometimes Hollywood forgets to make sense.
Cracked.com
However, in response to #3 (The Batwing), the flaw is explained away by a Jungian analysis of Tim Burton's 1989 Batman by Robert E. Terrill found here (PDF) - entitled, "Put on a happy face: Batman as a schizophrenic savior."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
