Have A Look At The New HP Touchsmart PC

HP Have Developed A New PC Which Loves To Be Touched, HP TouchSmart PC. Its A Very Smart PC W/ A Wonderful Floating Screen.

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alsoread: A PC Which Only Has A Giant Button

Best Ever Bing Commercial

Watch The Best Ever Commercial On Bing Search Engine. The Concept Of The Video Is "Search Engine Overload".

alsoread: Optimize Your Blog To Get High Rank In Bing Search Engine.

Manber Asks 'Where are we going?"

Ex-MirCorp president Jeff Manber talks Ares 1-x with Russia Today and the so-called 'gap' in American human spaceflight and what President Obama may do with the future of civil space launch capability and development.

Ex-MirCorp Chief Talks Space Future

RT's Dina Gusovsky speaks to space expert Jeff Manber.

Fast Forward: The Case Builds for P2P

The thought-provoking White Paper: GETTING FASTER: A Case for High Speed Point-to-Point Flight as a Logical Transition Between Suborbital Space Tourism and Low-Cost, Reusable Space Access was released at the 2009 International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight being held October 21st in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It is worthy of the read.

The FastForward study group is an ad-hoc study group consisting of major aerospace contractors, emerging new space companies, spaceports, key federal government agencies, and academic representatives. It is an all-volunteer effort formed in August 2008 currently consisting of more than 20 invited organizations and hosted by SpaceWorks Commercial (Atlanta, GA). Derek Webber is among the participants. He conducted a recent GoogleTalks about the progress and referencing a now-defunct but ahead-of-the-curve effort in Virginia.

The focus of the group is on pre-competitive analysis and assessment of future global high speed point-to-point (PTP) passenger and cargo services. The study group produces technical papers and white papers on topics of PTP transportation for use by our members and the community at-large Members meet regularly by telecon, support a range of conference and panels, and use virtual collaboration tools to conduct business and exchange ideas.

Innovation: The Key to Prosperity

BOOK REVIEW: The very recently published book INNOVATION: The key to prosperity by Aris Melissaratos and N.L. Slabbert is quite the interesting and nugget packed book. Taken aback, this Blogger was, by the advocacy of MagLev train technology as a means to spark a transport revolution in America at the start of the book.

Maybe it was from the experience riding the Shanghi MagLev the past July; or, perhaps, it is my SiFi-thing of utilization of MagLev trains on the Moon to boost payload to orbit, I don't know. But this Blogger was impressed by the notion that MagLev technology should be pushed by the nation as a new alternative for rapid transport.

At one point the book caused me to have some anxiety from the realization that we are mindfully neglecting innovation in this nation and living largely upon the innovations of the World War II generation. Nothing is new only modern forms of prior inventions. It made me uncomfortable while reading those passages.

Aris Melissaratos is an interesting fellow within the Mid-Atlantic Region and appears to have been a major contributor to innovation-thought. But American East-West and North-South MagLev trains, such as those in Japan is advocated. This blogger accepted the premise proposed by the authors that now is the time for America to take the lead in this technology - among others. A MagLev train could go from New York City to Atlanta in 4 hrs. FOUR HOURS!

The author impressed me right from the start with his historic discussion of Abe Lincoln. In Lincoln's day "the transcontinental railroad, which in those days was as new-fangled an idea as you could get." But "Lincoln was a railroad lawyer, representing and supporting the leaders of technological change. Putting a railroad advocate in the mid-19th Century White House was like electing an ardent magnetic levitation, artificial intelliegnce, nanotechnology, or Mars colonization proponent today." WOW! Changed my view and historic outlook of Old Abe indeed.

This book is much more than advocacy of MagLev, it attempts to reach the essence of why America needs to be an innovation nation again.

Technoeconomy vs. Technocracy dichotomies is the nugget in Gangale's Book

BOOK REVIEW: Thomas Gangale's recent 2009 book entitled The Development of Outer Space: Sovereignty and Property Rights in International Space Law is a unique niche interest work worth the read for those who are fascinated by the prospects of multiple nations settling human outposts on celestial bodies' off-Earth.

Gangale provides critical yet constructive analysis of other international legal commentators on property rights in space. The primary thesis is focused on the premise that technology development is the barrier to outer space development, not the current state of international space law and treaties.

The book writer reviews the Moon Treaty at length discussing various aspects of property rights and the theory of "the common heritage of mankind." He takes a critical look of the writings of others in this legal niche and enables the reader to consider an alternative view to other commentators. Gangale is specifically critical of The Space Settlement Prize which seeks to propose American federal legislation requiring the recognition of extraterrestrial real property claims as flawed.

Gangale advocates inclusion of China in international space regimes so as to further embed the nation into current space operational legal regimes. He advocates an interplanetary political economy based upon market forces and advocates the adoption of the so-called Regency of United Societies in Space. The author notes that "we have yet to become a true spacefaring civilization; we are merely a space-capable civilization."

There is an acceptance of the technocratic model for initial development of outer space. He notes the need for balance between the "technoeconomy-technocracy" dichotomies associated with a push-pull relationship of space development that this reader found an extremely interesting insight on the rapidly growing national space program efforts around the world and within the American civil and commercial space sectors.

While this book is not for everyone, it certainly is worth the read for anyone having a strong interest in space law and the economic development regimes of the nascent space economy coming rapidly in the 21st Century. To those with the niche interest, I say buy this book. It will make you think.

Agate Hunting + Fall Colors

After Jill and i went to the Tiger-Twin one game play off game, we drove back up to our motel room in Carlton County. That gave us an opportunity to agate hunt one last time. It was VERY muddy, but when the sun popped out, it gave us the opportunity to test the "glowing" translucency theory. Although we could not see the banding of agates, due to the mud, we were able to see them glowing and speaking to us "here I am -- I am an agate!" Here is a photo of us muddy agate hunters.



One of our friends in Minnesota is leasing storage space for the new pipeline that is being put in. In August, the US State Department issued permits for the multi-billion dollar project to Embridge Energy. They are building a 1,000 mile pipeline, called the Alberta Clipper, that will run from Hardistry, Alberta, to Superior, Wisconsin. The pipeline will carry crude oil extracted from he oil sands of Alberta. It is expected to carry 1.8 billion barrels a day starting in 2015. Considering that the permit was just issued in August, a lot of work has already been done on the pipeline.



Through out the trip, we enjoyed the fall colors. The second photo below was taken on the hill going into Ishpeming. You can see the mine hoists.

WINNER? Masten Space Systems in the Running for the NASA Million Dollar Prize

The Masten Space Systems team took the controversial lead in the million-dollar prize from NASA for the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge's Level 2 contest. Here is more from Alan Boyles. More details from the Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, a team called Unreasonable Rocket is trying to fly a rocket in a lower level of the competition; and, on its first attempt the rocket skittered across the pad and tipped over. On the second try it simply depressurized, blasting gas skyward like a teakettle.

Russian President Medvedev Backs New Nuclear-Powered Spaceship for 2021

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is said to be backing the design and construction of a new nuclear-powered spaceship for prospective human missions into the solar system according to Anatoly Perminov, the Russian federal space chief.

Perminov indicated that a megawatt-class nuclear reactor design could be completed by 2012 with the first test flights of a Russian-made nuclear-propulsion spaceship by 2021. Noting the challenging aspects of the high-energy, high-tech system, Perminov says that there is considerable Soviet and Russian research in the field on which to build such a human spacecraft.

"The project is aimed at implementing large-scale space exploration programs, including a manned mission to Mars, interplanetary travel, the creation and operation of planetary outposts," Perminov's Web statement said and as being reported by Associated Press.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: The United States should embark into deep space with an Ares-V heavy-lift booster to get a real propulsion system into low Earth orbit. The American test for the near-term space future may well be in the propulsion system designs for long-term competitive deep space operations in the now rapidly globalizing human space launch capability.

NASA's Constellation program does have a mission beyond LEO and Cislunar while ceding yet subsidizing the rapidly developing commercial space launch market into LEO and lunar activities. The American way is to explore and build market economies at the same time.

What Was Google, And What It Is Now...

Watch A Video Which Will Show You "The Journey Of Google For The Past 14 Years". You Must Not Miss This One.

alsoread: Social Media Revolution...

Baseball Tiebreak Game

After we left the Cranberry Festival Show, on our way to agate hunting, my friend, Jill, asked me how far Minneapolis is to our favorite gravel pit. You see, we are both Tigers fans and Detroit played the Twins in a one-game play off to determine the winner of their division. When we realized it was only a 2 hour drive, we went on the Internet for tickets. It was not an easy task, but we were successful. Good thing we purchased tickets in advance, since the game sold out. That means that more than 54,000 tickets sold in less than 2 days.

Our seats were in the upper deck, behind the left field foul pole. I have never been to a baseball game inside a dome before. It certainly seemed like an intimate setting -- very loud, at least when the Twins executed a good play. When the Tigers did so, we were the only ones cheering. In total, we only saw a few other Tiger fans.

Although Detroit lost the game, it was a terrific game to watch -- going into the 12th inning. It was also interesting to attend one of the last baseball games to be played in the Metrodome. The Twins had another playoff game at the stadium against the Yankees, who swept them in the best of 5 playoff. Next year, the Twins will be playing in a new outdoor stadium.

India: $3 Billion for Human Launch Program

India is developing a human-rated launch system and expects it to be ready by 2016 to ferry gaganauts to Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) in a three-person crew space capsule. The human crew will be boosted to space atop of a Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle MkIII rocket. India's space aganecy awaits expected year-end approval of a $3-billion budget to puruse the human launch program.

India' human space launch team is working with Russia's Federal Space Agency, which helped China with its manned space program, in the development of a training and human space flight regime.

dark arts of halloween

stephan balleux



deviant art



eric joyner



Alessandro Baldasseroni





mattias inks

SRB of Ares 1-x Suffers Dent on Splashdown

The Ares 1-x sustained some damage upon splashdown 120-miles off the coast of the Kennedy Space Center when it first-stage parachute recovery system failed to operate as designed.

"Only one parachute deployed properly. One parachute failed and wrapped around the third partially deployed parachute," according to an e-mail status report obtained by Florida Today. William Harwood writes for CBS News about the parachute system failure. NASA Watch looks at a stagging issue as well.

Ares 1 x Off the Pad

Amid the large crowd at the Banana Creek VIP site, dominated by firststage workers from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, other NASA space agency officials and invited onlookers, the Ares 1-x demonstrator took roaring to the sky over Kennedy Space Center this week. Here is the official NASA video of "testing concepts for [a] new rocket design."

Credit must be given to the Ares 1x launch team for keeping the booster green for launch for the 4-hr. each, two-day window waiting the right upper atmospheric conditions with the count holding at 4-minutes time and again while astronauts flew jets checking the conditions high above the launch pad. There was some crowd frustration with the busy flight weather officer as the dynamic conditions made weather a green and red again situation over and over again numerous times nearly 7.5 hours of the combined 8-hours. But finally, in the last thirty minutes of the last window of the two-day opportunity, the Ares 1x flew [music].

Agate Hunting

After Cranberry Festival, I told my friend Jill that we could do what ever she wanted for a couple of days, since she helped me in the booth. Of course, she wanted to go agate hunting. We called friends in Minnesota and decided to head west. Here are a few photos of a couple of agates that they found. I wish I had photos of similar agates that I found. In a few hours, I did find nearly 50 agates, but nothing too large.

Cranberry Festival, Eagle River, WI

First of all, I want to thank all of you for your understanding regarding the lack of blog updates this month. As many of you know, I have been travelling this past few weeks to shows, speaking engagements, and family events. I arrived home a couple of hours ago. Yea! This time, there were 1,350 miles of driving. That amount alone is enough, but when you add to it 1,600 other miles I drove the week or so before this past two week trip -- it adds up to a lot of driving!

In the next week, I'll try to catch up everyone with the various photos I've taken during all the excursions.

This posting I am including a few photos from the Cranberry Festival in Eagle River, Wisconsin. It is located around 4 1/2 hours southwest of Grand Marais. Eagle River is just over the Wisconsin border in the center of the angular slope that represents the Upper Peninsula's western junction with Wisconsin. The show was held on October 3rd and 4th. It takes place in a community of around 2,000 residents that is inundated by around 40,000 festival goers. The weather was rainy and cold, but the people showed up and were quite tenacious with their rain gear, umbrellas, and winter clothes. I want to thank my friend, Jill, for helping me yet again at another show. Her husband, Gerald, is still teaching. But since Jill is retired from teaching, she gets to go on a couple of extra adventures a year. I could not have handled the crowd on Saturday, without your help, Jill. I'd also like to thank my sister, Sandra, for driving up from Wausau, WI to help and visit on Sunday.

Below is a photo of some of the fair workers. Aren't they cute!



The focus of the festival is the art. It is a juried show that features a lot of talented artists. I'm not sure the total number of booths, but there must have been at least 300 or 400 artists! There were also several booths that sold various cranberry products.



Of course, there were fresh cranberries for sale!



I chose to pay extra this year to move inside one of the "circus" tents. That was a good decision. The wind and rain would have been more of a problem if I had my own pop-up tent that would have been even more vulnerable to the weather. Here are a few shots of the new lamps I brought to the show. Although I had a run on selling lamps out of the museum gift shop in September, I still have not sold these two lamps. If you are interested, send me an email to karen@agatelady.com to ask me more about these two lamps. I also still have the tower lamp plus a couple others in inventory. I will offer free shipping or delivery (if you live down state near where I'll be travelling in November), to anyone who sends me an email mentioning this blog posting.

sixty symbols - kelvin

kelvin is a unit of a temperature scale that describes an absolute zero temperature!

carnival of space #126

enjoy this week's carnival of space which is now up at the gish bar times!

confusion as a function of information

indexed

Kilgore to Seek to Remove Human Space Flight Liability and Immunity Sunset Clause

Virginia, the first state to adopt a human space flight liability and immunity statute, may review the 2007 law to remove a July 1, 2013 sunset provision to conform the state law with those subsequently enacted in Florida in 2008 and Texas in 2009 if State Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Gate City, VA) proceeds with the bill as now planned.

Kilgore patroned the original law enacted by the legislature in 2007. The 2010 Virginia General Assembly will convene in Richmond next January with a new governor. State Del. Terry G. Kilgore (R-Scott County, VA), chair of the civil law subcommittee, plans to offer legislation to remove the sunset provision now a part of the Space Flight Liability and Immunity law.

Kilgore's space flight legislation has the backing of space advocates in his district including the Southwestern Virginia Technology Council. Three public school teachers from his district this month flew on ZeroGravity flights to promote STEM education in rural southwestern Virginia. The flights were sponsored by the regional technology council, the Big Stone Gap Masonic Lodge No. 208, and Northrop Grumman Corporation. More ZeroGravity flights are being planned from among his teacher and student constituents in 2010.

Space politics has raised to a new level in Virginia with both Robert McDonnell and Creigh Deeds, candidates for governor in the November election, offering levels of support for the fledgling commercial space industry and the commercial spaceport along Virginia's coast.

NASA Centennial Challenges Won in 2009

NASA prize monies are being won in 2009 with the Regolith Excavation Challenge yielding $750,000 and the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge on the cusp of handing out over one million more in prize dollars leaving NASA seeking new prize challenges in technology to explore in 2010. The Economist has an article discussing the NASA lunar prize entitled "Space hopper" looking at the prize incentives from a government agency. The video above is of the first qualifying flight of the Masten Space Systems vehicle 'Xombie' in the 2009 Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge.

the fall

i found this image here with no information attached. all i keep thinking is holy shit!?!

Lagrange Points, Space Truckers and NASA

National Public Radio released two stories today entitled: "NASA's New Space Race Needs Life Support;" and another story on the nature of commercial crew launch developments entitled "Space Truckers Arn't Science Fiction Anymore." A third NPRA story is entitled "To The Moon ... And Lagrange Points?" Each are avialble in audio.

Spaceport Seeks New Deputy Director in VA

The Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority panel will begin to review applications for the deputy director position next month in northern Virginia from among the several applicants. The selection, expected before year end, will mark growth in the utlilization of the FAA-licensed commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia with numerous launches now building in the manifest.

Among the planned orbital launches from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island include several commercial cargo resupply flights to the International Space Station and a NASA civil lunar orbiter mission. New launches will begin March 31, 2011 on Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Science Corporation-made boosters.

While there was discussion of the NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program among the authority members and the commercial and civil space policy decisions to be made in Washington, the authority did not take a formal position. NASA is expected to sign initial agreements next month for start-up of commercial crew launch development.

Weather Watch: Ares 1 x Demo Ready

The now controversial NASA Ares 1x demonstrator has passed flight readiness review and rests on the Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39-B awaiting a Tuesday, October 27, 2009 8 AM launch signal, if weather cooperates.

In other words, there are no technical reasons why the unmanned rocket can not fly Tuesday as planned.

Nonetheless, scattered thunderstorms are predicted for the Cape Canaveral, Fla., area on launch day. Because it's the first flight of the new Ares demonstrator rocket, NASA engineers are being extra cautious, not only because of the craft's tall, slender shape but also because of the need to have ideal conditions in which to collect data about its stability and flight characteristics. There is a 40% chance of acceptable conditions Tuesday but it only needs a 10-minute launch window in the four hour opportunity.

This will be NASA's first test flight for a new crew launch vehicle since the first space shuttle was launched in 1981. It will be a historic moment in the New Space Age.

space day and moon watch

we're hosting a space day and moon watch event at the nottingham castle in honor of the international year of astronomy 2009.


i've never organized an event as large as this and its been an interesting exercise in administrative business dealings. i've been in complete control of planning everything: instigating, organizing, scheduling, justifying and seeking funding, allocating, etc... overall, it has been fun, but exhausting! i'm extremely grateful to all those around the community who have volunteered their time and resources to help organize!

since the event takes place on halloween, we're having a costume contest and i finally have mine together! i'll let you guess what it is when i take pictures at the event!!

maybe the best part of the event is that my mom is coming all the way from the US to enjoy the day and visit for a while! cant wait to see her and spend time together - i hope she wears a costume ;)

Full Human Space Flight Report Released

The full report of the Review of the Human Space Flight Plans Committee has been released today. Exceeding 150-pages, the report has nine chapters worthy of reading if the reader is to be properly armed to engage in the space policy debate ahead.

Augustine Full Report Coming Thursday; Salvo Comes from Alabama Sen. Shelby

UPDATE: On the eve of the full report of Human Space Flight Review Committee, Alabama United States Senator Richard Shelby attacked the committee's full report as "worthless" in a speech on the Senate floor earlier today [video] in what many observers deem as a warning to the White House about the space politics ahead.

Meanwhile, Human Space Flight Review Committee Chairman Norman Augustine will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. EDT, on Thursday, Oct. 22, in the Zenger Room of the National Press Club, 529 14th St. NW, in Washington. NASA-TV will webcast the press conference.

Augustine will be accompanied by committee member Ed Crawley. Printed copies of the committee's final report will be available during the press conference and an electronic copy of the report will be posted to the committee's Web site at the start of the briefing.

President Obama is expected to study the full report with the presidential science advisor and the NASA Administrator to formulate federal budget plans for the civil space program. Indications from the NASA administrator and unamed White House sources point to the United States building a new Ares V-like heavy-lift booster and cede to the commercial sector launches to Low Earth Orbit for the so-called 'Dash Out' option.

a literate octopus

found from the animalarium by artist Franco Matticchio.

saturn's newly discovered ring

in this installment of the new sixty symbols, we discuss saturn's new ring, my favorite image of saturn ever, and why saturn's moon, mimas, is my favorite moon in the solar system!

Regolith Excavation Challenge Has Winners!

Three Moon-bot teams won $750,000 in NASA prizes the past Sunday in the 2009 Regolith Excavation Challenge, designed to foster innovation in the development of robots capable of digging up lunar soil at some point in the near-term future.

The California Space Authority-sponsored event held at NASA Ames gave the first-place prize of $500,000 to Paul's Robotics of Worcester, Mass;. Terra Engineering of Gardena, Calif., second-place prize of $150,000; and Team Braundo of Rancho Palos Verde, Calif., won $100,000 for its third-place showing. MORE from MSNBC and NASA Watch.

Space Science Astronomy Has Impact

[2 hr video] Astronomy, one of the worlds oldest sciences, has benefited greatly since the advent of space science fifty years ago. Space science allows an ever expanding horizon for astronomy as evidenced by current and future telescopes based in space (Hubble, James Webb, etc.). This plenary, organised by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), covered related topics including an overview of astronomy from space at the IAC2009 held in South Korea last week.

Space Adventures to Use Private Soyuz in 2014 for Two Paying Orbital Passengers

Virginia-based Space Adventures, Ltd. may not gain access to a privately contracted Soyuz tourist launch until 2014 Russian Space Agency Alexey Krasnov told Flightglobal's Rob Coppinger in South Korea for the the International Astronautical Congress last week.

Krasnov explained that enabling a private Soyuz flight would take four or five years because the vehicle's operations have to change and the pilot's training regime has to be altered. This is because there would be one pilot and two tourists and not one other cosmonaut and one passenger in remarks to Coppinger.

Space Adventures has been touting the possibilities of working with the Russians for private tourist flights utilizing extra Soyuz boosters. India's space officials have also been in contact with the Russian space agency requesting assistance and to use the Soyuz for space tourist flights. Russians, however, are apt to adapt favorably to any changing condition that would open the market to extra seats for the private sector.

Ares 1-X Now on Pad 39-B at KSC

The Ares 1-X demonstrator text flight hardware is now at launch pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Center making an overnight trek from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the pad. Launch is now set between 8 AM and 12:00 PM on Tuesday, October 27, 2009. It will be an unmanned test of a newly configured first stage. The Ares-1 rocket's future will be much debated over the next few weeks. Here are some of the Ares 1-X rollout videos - one, two and three.

32 Exo-Planets Found: Total Over 400

thats a lot of planets!

using a 3.6-metre telescope in the chilean mountains, a team has discovered 32 new exoplanets! thats a lot of new planets orbiting around other stars to declare at one time, and it brings the total number of planets known to 403!

i imagine more and more planets will be announced in the relatively near future as the kelper telescope sends data back to scientists on earth to analyze!

meanwhile back at home.... you might notice that big bright "star" glaring in evening sky? thats the planet jupiter for us to enjoy, as this sketch by ryo tomo reminds us.

Ares 1-X to Roll to Launch Pad 39-B Tonight

UPDATE: The Ares 1-X is scheduled to roll to Launch Pad 39-B (vid tour) TUESDAY beginning at 12:01 AM for a new dawn of spaceflight. The rocket will be televised on the seven-hour roll-out and launch on NASA-TV. More from Reuters.

The launch control team at the NASA Kennedy Space Center will commence the final launch campaign preperations with the mobile crawler literally rolling out the new Ares I-X rocket on October 20 at midnight from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to launch pad 39B for the countdown to a Tuesday, October 27 launch between 8:00 – 12:00 EDT.

The Ares 1-x flight may help determine the next program of human spaceflight that the American space industry will be asked to undertake by President Barrack Obama and Washington Congressional policymakers.

If the Ares booster continues to have the space agency leadership support, it may well boost the Orion crew capsule that will carry the next American astronauts to orbit around the Moon. The United States first put humans in orbit around the Moon in 1968 and has not returned them to lunar orbit in more than thirty-seven years. No other nation has placed humans around the Moon.

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salzburg, austria

salzburg is where the sound of music was filmed. i was surprised to realize that most austrians and germans only know of this film because people from all over the world (probably dominated by native english speakers), want to visit the city because of the movie! its a gorgeous place, and also the birthplace of mozart!

the fortress on the hill in the distance...


















we finally headed up to the fortress...










in the marionette museum...