“In The Shadow of the Moon” is the best space documentary film I’ve ever seen. The former Apollo astronauts launch down memory lane, telling stories about a Texan lady who tried to sue them for reciting lines from the Bible on Christmas Eve while they were orbiting the Moon (on charges of their insensitivity of the separation between Church and State), laughing about how their lives changed after they got “the right stuff”, etc. Buzz Aldrin, being a frank and funny guy, even admits that the noticeable pause he took in stepping from the Apollo latter to the moon’s surface was because he was thought it would be a good time to take a leak (and indeed it was). (more…)

NOAA in Second Life

While most news services are covering crashing banks, bitter op-eds about bailouts, and general financial crisis, I thought I would pass along news about a company that is going up, rather than down: the Virgin Galactic, of course! VG just sent out a press release announcing that they will partner with The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to explore the use of VG’s vehicles to research climate change and other issues relevant to NOAA’s mission. (more…)

My first thought on this question was that perhaps the manufacturers of alarm clocks couldn’t decide between the not-quite-long-enough 5-minute snooze and the potential for falling completely back asleep afforded by the ten minute snooze.

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SpaceX

SpaceX, Stanford dropout Elon Musk’s company, made it to orbit on Sunday night! This marks the first privately developed launch vehicle to reach earth orbit from the ground. A new kind of space race is really taking off… no longer between countries, it’s now a race between capitalism’s most successful entrepreneurs. (more…)

According to the diagnostic test in the ground-breaking book The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron, Ph.D., I am a “Highly Sensitive Person” (HSP). In her book, Dr. Aron, a pioneering psychologist, cites major studies demonstrating that approximately 15-20% of the human population possess a nervous system that, due to genetically inherited physiological characteristics, cause them to experience greatly heightened sensitivity to stress in any environment they find themselves in. This inherited trait of heightened arousal is demonstrated also in similar proportions (15-20%) in several other mammalian species. In other words, highly sensitive individuals are much more easily aroused by subtle cues in their environment, which many people are less likely to pick up on. (more…)

He may be old, but Rufus Butler Seder sure does have some cool moves. I purchased a copy of his first motion-picture book, Gallop, because it’s fantastically fun, of course. (more…)

The luncheon crowd at The Pierre roared with laughter as Christopher Hitchens, atheist and author of “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” debated whether science makes belief in God obsolete with Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete, former physicist and author of “God at the Ritz; Attraction to Infinity”. Surprisingly, the two were in agreement so often that Hitchens ultimately stated that he would “…not accuse Monsignor of being a Catholic,” and further grumbled, “I protest! I was told I was going to argue with a person of faith.” Whether Monsignor could be classified as a “true Catholic” or not, they disagreed enough to keep the debate interesting. (more…)

Colorado has recently made the bold move of committing to invest $1.5 million annually into a program to preserve the state’s streams. Bold because, while the Colorado has been operating under a prolonged drought since 2002, the move to secure water solely for environmental purposes is controversial. (more…)

Metformin, otherwise known as glucophage, is a medication that works to lower elevated blood sugar and help the body process the excess sugar more efficiently. However, if you have the unmitigated gall to eat sweets while taking this medication, you will be punished by having copious diarrhea. I found this out first hand. I guess this is the price I pay for feeding my addiction. (more…)

I have been observing the prevalence of stinky feet and shoes and realized a couple of things. First of all, stinky shoes are more common in humid environments. Secondly, they are usually shoes that have been sweated in, like running shoes. Dress shoes with which a person wears wool socks or no socks tend to be less stinky.

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