Has everyone heard about the deadly satellite that was shot down by the Navy yesterday? No? Apparently, last summer one of the US's spy satellites stopped working and was about to fall out of the sky. The government was fairly certain it wouldn't be a problem, since it would burn up on impact or, odds on, would fall in the ocean. But just in case it didn't--they decided to shoot it with a missle and blow it into tiny pieces which would definitely burn up in the atmosphere. Now we also find out that the fuel used to keep this thing is the sky is potentianlly harmful. So the blowing up was also to ensure that no one would come in contact with this radioactive fuel, on the off-chase they survived a direct hit by a white-hot piece of outdated Cold War technology.
Anyway, the missile firing goes off and the satellite is destroyed, as confirmed by some grainy green-grey footage courtesy of the Navy (seriously, we can shoot a satellite out of the sky but we can't manage to get a digital camera up there?!) and the threat has been neutralised. Meanwhile, other nations (Russia...China...) are saying that this is just another attempt by imperialist America to demonstrate their abilities to keep up in a new space race. Rah.
Well, I like space, I like the concept of being on the Moon and the Mars rover thing was pretty cool a couple of years ago, but it's sad that right now most of our governments only see it as a place to extend existing land wars. and it's sad that the utopian communities in so many sci-fi books are unlikely until private interests are able to launch space rockets. And let's face it, peacenik communes are unlikely to raise that much bank anytime soon. I'd like to go to the moon someday, if it ever becomes feasible.
Meanwhile, (this has nothing to do with anything) please read the following articles about Barack Obama. the first one is about him campaigning in Wisconsin (obviously written by a non-Wisconsonite, as evidenced by the apparent astonishment over the consumption of cheese and brats by the natives) and the other one is about Barack being a bridge to the Muslim world. I disagree with the author's point that he has a unique viewpoint because his dad was nominally Muslim, but I think the fact that Muslim COUNTRIES are more willing to deal with him is something to keep in mind as the presidential race...slogs on.
"How Barack Won Wisconsin"
*Bonus super-cute picture of the candidate
"A New FAce for American Diplomacy"
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2 comments:
We had a real treat here yesterday...we actually saw the missile shot from Pearl Harbor. Go Navy!
There were some really cool discussions on the West Wing about the issue of weaponizing space. that just sounds like a bad idea doesn't it? Weaponizing space. Like haven't we already learned from the mistakes of the Death Star, and the Martian Chronicles as well as Battle Star Galactica?
My mom said someone on Fox news said "there are no black people in Wisconsin" on tv and I was immediately outraged on behalf of what racial diversity we have in Wisconsin. Regardless of how Obama is seen my the Muslim world it - wouldn't it be refreshing to have a President that at least knows enough not to refer to our influence in the middle east as a "Crusade" while the rest of us cover our eyes and look away and say "don't use that word, don't use that word...."
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