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Proverbs 3

5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will direct your paths.

SPACE.com -- Pools of Invisible Matter Mapped in Space

For centuries, Men of Reason have walked about with their noses in the air, attesting to the superior products of Reason and Logic over the dark, sinister, clouded thinking of religious people and their faith-based exploitation of ignorant....and so on.  In some cases, they were right----but I've covered most of the ones I'm familiar with over the last couple of years.  But the farther we probe with our analytical, rational, minds, the less everything collectively makes sense anyway.  Now we're seeing things like this story, in which the Universe is strung together---so to speak---on a skeleton of something that we are told to believe in because it makes the equations come out.  It's getting to the point that it takes more "faith" to believe in Science than many of the world's Other Great Religions.

But it gets worse.  If you've ever driven a motor vehicle on ice---successfully that is--- you know that to keep a vehicle pointed down the road you have to provide a steering force to counters errors in its path.  The last time I actually left the house to attend one of those driver's education shows, I was appalled to hear the "instructor" tell the (somewhat captive) audience that if a rear-wheel drive vehicle skidded, you should steer into  the skid to recover, but if you were in a front-wheel-drive vehicle, you should steer against   the skid.  I hope none of those people in the class ever tried that---you can't correct an error by making it worse.  

Rational, scientific investigation of our Universe increasingly only shows that we will never comprehend our Universe rationally and scientifically. Worse, it provides no correction to the destructive course of human events.  We "know " more than any generation in the history of humanity, and we veer violently into greater and greater horrors anyway. 

In other Space News

SPACE.com -- NASA Remembers Three Space Tragedies

Six days----January 27 to February 1---are one of the most unfortunate coincidences in modern American history.  The three fatal disasters which have befallen the U.S. space program---Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia---occurred between those dates in their respective years.  NASA now economically honors those lost in these disasters in a common observance.  We should also remember that other lesson from these tragedies, that the American space agency was amply warned in each case of the flaws in these spacecraft that took the lives of their crews---that the disasters were all preventable.

NASA: Sensors don't have to be perfect | floridatoday.com | Serving Brevard County and Florida’s Space Coast

NASA has been back and forth, up and down on the flight rules for these backup fuel level sensors for years now.  The suspect connections for the cryogenic sensors have been modified and reinstalled on Atlantis, and the flight rules have been changed once again.  These are backup sensors, unlikely to actually be relied on in flight, and the usual excuses will be in place for the next flight. 

Crews dismiss booze claims

First the space agency itself, and now the U.S. astronaut corps have "dismissed" claims by an independent medical groups of pre-launch alcohol abuse by spaceflight crews.  As might have been expected, an independent assessment of the original claim has not been forthcoming.  

SPACE.com -- NASA's Next Rocket May Shake Too Much

One of the features of the original STS solid propellant boosters has always been the high-amplitude, low-frequency (I remember ~30 Hz) vibration which they transmit to every other part of the spacecraft while in operation.  Our rack mounted instruments, as well as a hand-held device in one case, had to be analyzed and/or tested to prove that they would not resonate at this low frequency and tear themselves into shrapnel during ascent.  This article is the first place I've seen a serious explanation of where these vibrations come from in the solid propellant stack.

Now this problem is bedeviling the design of the largely fictitious Ares/Orion spacecraft.  NASA is now struggling with a spacecraft/booster combination which evidently promises to have a serious resonant mode in the critical low-frequency range.  What is also troubling is that this information only became public through a Freedom of Information Act filing----NASA didn't plan to tell anyone until forced legally to do so.  Obviously, the engineering reports became records before anyone could beat them into dust with a board....

SPACE.com -- Report Cites Rocketship Builder in Explosion Inquiry

The accident at a test facility for Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites that killed three people during a propellant flow test for development of "Spaceship Two" has been attributed vaguely to some kind of mishandling of the nitrous oxide oxidizer for the craft's hybrid rocket motor.  There has been a lot of NASA-esque ethereal rhetoric about "exploring" and stuff, but no real details on what went wrong.  Space travel is unlikely ever to become genuinely popular while it is incompatible with the Truth. 

In Saturn's Shadow

This spectacular photograph from the Cassini Saturn orbiter has been voted a fan favorite.  It shows the rings backlit by the Sun.  On the upper left side of the rings, in the gap between the bright main rings and the wispy "G" ring is a dot---that's us. 

MESSENGER Web Site

The MESSENGER Mercury orbiter has completed its first flyby of the innermost planet, and has been sending back a slow but steady stream of photographs of parts of Mercury that have never been seen before.  It seems odd that the delta-vee needed to get to the planet closest to the Sun is so much greater than the rest, and requires a much higher percentage of the spacecraft's weight in fuel.  The gravitational "hill" is apparently so steep that the flybys of Mercury are being used to slow the craft instead of speeding it up.  It is supposed to take until 2011 to actually brake MESSENGER into orbit.    Another question---Mercury's large dense core is probably at least partly molten and active, and the planet is subjected to the tidal forces of the Sun at close range---so why does it look more like our Moon than, say, Io?  There has been speculation about active lava flows on the surface from Mariner 10 photos, but nobody seems to expect "plumes".

phone_crater.png (PNG Image, 474x474 pixels)

Among the MESSENGER photos is this one.  First the giant "H" on Titan, and now this.  One begins to wonder if these aliens are functionally illiterate...

collectSPACE - news - "Untold Apollo: How tennis shoes and tug-of-war toppled the mighty Saturn V"

Here's a hilarious anecdote from the early days of the American space program.  Engineers messed around in an ill-advised and decidedly crude test of the resonant frequencies of a Saturn V test vehicle, and broke the escape tower off the attached Apollo test capsule.  Then NASA covered the incident up....

Lucky imaging - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Terrestrially-confined observers have developed (evidently some time ago) this method for canceling out atmospheric distortions in telescopic images.  As I understand, "Lucky" uses signal averaging together with special selection methods for images from a range of simple webcams to produce much sharper images than would otherwise be possible.  Better funded astronomers have combined the technique with their adaptive optics imaging.

 

 

 

 

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My Way News - Pakistan's Bhutto Assassinated at Rally

We couldn't even make it to the end of the year.....

One of the commentators on Fox News (which is often too lurid and sensational to depend on for actual news), pointed out a monstrous irony in the situation in Pakistan---that the only really safe person in Pakistan is its "most wanted" resident---bin Laden.

You can't have an evil civilization. Peace, love, hope, order, justice, and civil prosperity are all incompatible with evil. Evil produces nothing but destruction and chaos. There is no other way but God's Way in Christ that makes anything good.

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In politics:
Clinton to unveil mandatory health care proposal - CNN.com
There has been a lot of speculation lately that the contest between Hillary and Obama for the Democratic Presidential nomination is all a sham, and that the Clinton-II/Obama ticket was set before the campaigns ever got started. I have a somewhat more cynical conspiracy theory---that Hillary has already been “elected”, to continue to keep her quiet about Bill’s “Presidency”, and that the current suffering we are enduring is even more completely unjustified.
The fact that Hillary can still appear in public---without being plastered with vegetable matter or barbequed by the press---- after unveiling yet another mandatory “health-care” plan seems to reinforce the speculation that some sort of fix is in.
The other options are hardly more encouraging:
My Way News - Christian College Embraces Romney Bid
Romney: Judge He Appointed Should Resign
Clinton Would Boost Autism Funding
Thompson Tweaks Rivals Over Gun Control
Obama Touts Health Care Plan
Giuliani: Ease Burdens on Business
Edwards Offers Heating Oil Plan
Huckabee Stumps With Ex-Wrestler Flair
Romney, Giuliani Spar on Spending
There is an astounding and dangerous vacuum of leadership for the upcoming Presidential term. There is literally nobody lining up on either side of the election who actually has any business in a responsible position of authority. The best people now preparing to run would be only adequate as placeholders. The Republic is doddering on the brink of....something really unpleasant, and the people who want to drive can’t seem to reach the pedals.

In religion news:
DiNardo Becomes Texas' First Cardinal - Houston News Story - KPRC Houston
The world-wide “great lady” cult, which has prolonged itself into the modern age by giving its ridiculously obsolete pagan rituals “Christian-y” names, has turned its special attention to Texas. (Expired) Lottery tickets for everybody!!!

FOXNews.com - Saudi Marriage 'Expert' Advises Men in 'Right Way' to Beat Their Wives
FOXNews.com - Saudi Arabia's Judiciary Defends Verdict Sentencing Rape Victim to 200 Lashes and Jail Time
Just to be sure we all get this in the right perspective, these are the “moderate” Muslims.....

Elsewhere....
One of the more interesting Sitemeter hits this week was from Fulda, Germany. If that doesn’t bring back memories, Fulda used to be near the East-West German border in the Cold War days, in a strategically critical mountain pass. For a summary of its would-be historical significance:
Fulda Gap - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The closest I ever got was to play the classic Soviet invasion scenario with metal miniatures on the giant, fiberglass, 3D terrain map provided by the Texas A&M ROTC (I think?).

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Metal shavings found in ISS solar array joint

My Way News - Trouble Found on Space Station Device
They were hoping that power spikes in the drive for the newest of the solar array "ferris wheels" on the Space Station would turn out to stem from a misadjusted bolt or something. So it must have come as quite a shock when astronauts on the latest EVA removed insulation from the joint assembly, and found it critical parts covered in metallic grit. The current wishful thinking about the grit being flakes of aluminum from the metalized mylar insulation must be tempered by accounts of discoloration of some parts of the giant drive gears for the 10 ft.-diameter joint:
SPACE.com -- NASA Eyes Worrisome Debris in Space Station Joint
The only upside I can see is that when the Russians become sole residents of the ISS in 2010, it’ll very likely be a “fixer upper”.

Update 10-29:
SPACE.com -- NASA Eyes Delayed Shuttle Launch, New Spacewalk Plans
After the EVA, the sample of shavings found in the solar array mast joint was found by the STS crew to be magnetic---almost certainly steel from the bearings or their races.

SPACE.com--Keck Pluto-Charon
Here’s the best ground-based photo so far of mini-planet (?) Pluto and it’s moon, Charon. If nobody goobered anything up too badly, New Horizons should get much more detail in a few years.

But seriously....

Horse costume
Just in time for H’ween. Should not be viewed while drinking milk or really fizzy soda.

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1 Corinthians 2
14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

---Can't make this stuff up....

My Way News - Techies Ponder Computers Smarter Than Us
I really thought the idea of a "technological singularitly" was just a science fiction thing. My only prior contact with "Singularitarianism" was a recurring gag from the webcomic "Dresden Codak". (The protagonist explicates at length about the “technological singularity”, and the “post-singularity” world, and one of the secondary characters says, “Sounds awfully religious coming from an atheist”. )

But, of course, it couldn’t be that easy. It turns out that the whole “Technological Singularity” thing is a subject of actual debate in the scienterrific community. The “Singularity” is described as a point in human development when our machines get smarter than we are, and the augmented species---or its successor---becomes capable of indefinite “self improvement”.

One of the conference participants in the AP story says that "His greatest fear...is that a brilliant inventor creates a self-improving but amoral artificial intelligence that turns hostile." (He’s right, of course. It would be better—relatively speaking---for any number of rogue states to get nuclear weapons than for anyone on the planet to acquire such a monstrous technology. )

So, are science and technology precursors of our destruction, or the salvation of human-kind enslaved in the darkness of mysticism? (Okay, not a very good rendition of a "steampunk" soliloquy, but I'm not really trying very hard. )

There have been any number of efforts at imagining scientific or humanistic "religions", including Asimov's "Foundation" and Card's "Speakers for the Dead". The computer game “Civilization 4” optimistically renders all the trappings of religion---such as temples and priests----obsolete with the initial advent of the “scientific method”. Less optimistic speculations about the technological “tipping point” include the “Terminator” movies and the various animated “Ghost in the Shell” series (which are so incomprehensible---especially in the English translations---that they are usually at least half explication).

Then there’s the relevant entry from the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy---“The Universe”:

There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened. [Preface, “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe” ISBN: 0345418921]

All humor aside, the Guide is beginning to seem prophetic. Just look at this stuff! Eeek! Quantum entanglement! Yike! Properties that only exist when you measure them! Ulp! Superstrings! Extra Dimensions! Infinite parallel universes, where infinite yous and mes (okay, I’m also not a physicist, or a grammarian) branch into different realities every time wes (!) make a choice! Glurfle! Oh, forget it.....

Study the Universe intently enough, and it has sprung into bizarre existence from a geometric point, for which we daren’t try to assign a purpose lest we be ostracized for getting “all religious”. Keep staring, and it isn’t just flying apart from a primordial explosion, it’s accelerating away from its origin point faster and faster because of “a whole bunch of stuff we can’t see”!

Huh? Cosmological Constant?! We’re studying this in the first place because our Universe “just happens” to have a CC that promotes the development of biological molecules, complex lifeforms, and finally sentient life? Don’t, however, think to suggest that the Universe was “designed” to produce life, or people will get uncomfortable. Silly “Intelligent Design”-ers!

As long as we contemplate notions about complex, self-aware beings springing into existence (Oh, I forgot about “Boltzmann Brains”, but never mind.) as a consequence of a pseudo-mystical convergence of statistical properties that would make a shaman or a Cargo Cultist roll on the floor laughing at our gullibility, or as long as we jump under a desk or quote obscure Hindu scriptures whenever anyone asks “why?”, we will be wasting time we are going to need to answer The Greatest Question in Science:

Is this stuff for real, or is someone making fun of us?

It wouldn’t be the first time that sentient beings who came to depend on their own capacity for understanding came out looking foolish. This is because the things we have been intensely inspecting and investing in and wasting our lives on are fantasy, while the things of God are reality.

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Spaceflight Now | STS-117 Shuttle Report | Station computers brought to life after impromptu repair
Spaceflight Now | STS-117 Shuttle Report | Two more space station computers revived
Cosmic Log : Obsolete chips in space
ESA Microelectronics page
tsc691e.pdf (application/pdf Object)
In another .22LR-in-the-fusebox save, Russians on the ISS bypassed faulty surge-suppression switches on the power supplies of the malfunctioning flight control computers, and got them to reboot and run. Further testing showed that the critical control functions were performing properly. The switches may have been affected by power changes when the new U.S. solar arrays were connected. Of course, the surge-protection capacity of some pieces of wire is pretty much negligible.
Alan Boyle's weblog at MSNBC has some interesting details about the command-and-control computers used by the Russians. They are a radiation-hardened Sparc v7 design, circa 1987. From the ESA documentation, they couldn't even put the CPU on a single chip at the point of deployment (they managed it later), but the computing “core” is on three separate chips. They do have tri-state outputs. Problems I can find include floating point errors, a tendency for bits loaded into the registers to cause adjacent bits to flip values, and lockups in the fault-handling registers. It might be interesting to compare them to computers in use in “fly-by-wire” aircraft systems.
Memories....my flight hardware experience included an EVA systems battery charger which used an Intel automotive ABS processor to “reprogram” the output from the 6502 (predating the 6510's in the Commodore 64's in the bottom of my closet) installed in an early-'80's-vintage commercial charger, and a respiratory mass spectrometer which was “controlled” by an “analog computer”---essentially a pile of often-mutually-contradictory op-amps which were essentially impossible to calibrate all at the same time. An astonishing percentage of “spaceflight hardware” is dirty, poorly maintained, mismanaged, obsolete junk.

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My Way News - Billy Graham's Wife Ruth Dies at 87

Team-mate in one of the most important Christian ministries of modern times, Ruth Graham died yesterday.

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The Flame Trench space blog by Florida Today[posted by John Kelly at 11:23 AM]
Doesn't look good for theISS. The really bad news is that they unplugged the U.S. solar arrays, the suspected proximate cause of the problem, and it didn't go away.
News conference is upcoming on NASA TV.

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SpaceThe Flame Trench space blog by Florida Today
Space station glitch puzzles the experts - Human Spaceflight - MSNBC.com[Oberg]]
All last night, engineers worked to figure out why ALL of the supposedly redundant control computers on the Russian part of the ISS suddenly failed as the new U.S. solar arrays came online. There was great relief this morning, as the Russians assured everyone that they were regaining control of some of the critical systems---which lasted for about 7 minutes, whereupon they all failed again. U.S. gyrodynes and the Shuttle’s thrusters are keeping the station oriented for now.
James Oberg, at MSNBC, fills in a lot of details about the systems, where they came from, how they are supposed to work, and what will happen if they can’t be fixed before the Shuttle has to leave.
The computers were made in Germany---at least they aren’t Russian---and operate in three sets of two pairs to provide redundancy. This is actually the second time something like this has happened. The last was in 2001, when all of the flight computers in the U.S. module inexplicably failed while the Shuttle was docked and stuff was being bolted on.
It’s clear is that the problem is very serious, and the optimism from managers and engineers on the ground---who assure everyone that they don’t see any reason yet to talk about having to abandon the station, perhaps permanently---is just beginning to ravel a little around the edges. Worse, if attitude control can’t be maintained after the Shuttle leaves, conditions could deteriorate to the point that the Soyuz might not be able to undock from a rapidly tumbling station.

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It’ll be a wet day in....
My Way News - Cyclone Gonu's Winds Blast Oman Coast
Cyclone nears Persian Gulf oil supplies - Weather - MSNBC.com
TRCgonu156_MT.jpg (JPEG Image, 1280x1024 pixels)
...uh, well, Iran, for one. Tropical Cyclone Gonu weakened from Category 5/160mph to about Category2/106mph before it glanced off the coast of Oman today. There have been evacuations, but no reports yet of damage or injuries.
It is expected to weaken further to a tropical storm equivalent before it crosses the Gulf of Oman and makes landfall in southeastern Iran in the next few hours.
According to some sources (I’m still trying to find it in writing), Gonu is the first cyclone (=hurricane) ever known to enter the Gulf of Oman, and landfall of a cyclonic system in Iran is apparently also unprecedented in history.
It’s not clear whether the storm’s path will take it over the critical Straight of Hormuz. Many people in many places will be sweating through this event, since it is likely to adversely affect oil processing, loading, and shipping in the Gulf for a number of hours.

[Additional information, and a more accurate timeline from the AP:
My Way News - Thousands Evacuated Ahead of Cyclone
Gonu has taken a NW turn that is likely to make the Straight of Hormuz impassible to tanker traffic for the duration.]

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// posted by JJR2 @6/05/2007 06:04:00 PM; || Permalink for this post || to this post ||

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---Atlantis is scheduled to launch on an ISS assembly mission Friday, June 8.

FL Today: Space: "NASA lawyer in trouble for destroying DVDs"
From the Statement of Michael Wholley at House Hearing on NASA IG Investigation SpaceRef

“I concluded that these were not "records" for purposes of the FRA, but also concluded that if they were retained and filed they could become "records" by virtue of that retention. From my perspective, and as I stated to the subcommittee staff, I did not believe it wise to have these in any way become "records" subject to release under the Freedom of Information Act.”

My experience with the NASA legal department (at JSC) has fully prepared me for this. I am familiar with this legal entity which hires its members for their automated wllingness to perform information control, rather than any sort of quick-wittedness or sensitivity to basic moral or---heaven forbid---ethical consideration, or concern for-- or vision of the future for that matter. They are so accustomed to receiving deferential treatment from the judiciary and uninformedness from the general public, as a government agency and major employer, that brains aren’t high on the legal hiring priority list.
I am in no way even slightly surprised, let alone stunned or horrified, to learn that a prominent member of the NASA legal group--- NASA General Counsel Michael C. Wholley---reached a legal determination, based on a few moments of “research” into the Federal Records Act and the Freedom of Information Act, that records of a meeting involving Administrator Griffin which contained potentially damaging information were “not records” yet, and that they could be safely and legally pounded into oblivion and permanent non record-ness with a board from his bookshelf.
I did, however, manage a brief sigh of resignation when I read his justification for this action:

“My bad...pure heart, empty head.”

Well? How do you suppose he got his job, anyway? Is it ironic, as FLToday points out, that the records being destroyed involved a discussion about other troublesome records being destroyed? Sure. That’s sort of the problem here; I’m basically anesthetized to behavior from high-ranking NASA officials that would result in imprisonment or mandatory psychiatric care for anyone else but a former member of the Clinton administration.

The Flame Trench space blog by Florida Today:" NASA clears Atlantis' tank for rollout"
FL Today: Space: "Tank 'not pretty,' but should pass inspection"
The photos with this posting from the Flame Trench include my choice for the definitive snapshot of the whole hail-damage repair effort to get Atlantis’ ET ready for its June 8 flight: Two guys with something that looks oddly like a Brobdingnagian Gillette razor, shaving the damaged foam off the nose of the tank.
The response to this situation from NASA---expectation control: It won’t be “pretty”, but it will probably work.

The Flame Trench space blog by Florida Today:" NASA managers mull shuttle engine issue"
In the windup for the June 8 launch of Atlantis, engineers have flagged a potential corrosion problem with the bolts which hold some of the STS main engine turbopumps in their assembly. Putting some rather hysterical responses to the post aside, the issue has probably been handled as well as can be expected. The bolts on Atlantis have been checked for corrosion and cleared.
It does show a serious overall weakness in the long-term use of what is arguably history’s most complex man-made “machine”. If you have something with a million pieces in it, the million-to-one sequences of failure that usually bring about major catastrophes become all too significant.

FL Today Space: "Orbiters feel pains of aging"
Yep, it’s 2007, and the large composite-reinforced flight-weight pressure vessels used to pressurize the STS maneuvering propulsion systems are---wheeze---almost ten years past the best-of-luck extended certification given them when the expected ten-year service life expired, at which point (about 1998), no attempt at re-certification was made. NASA is dodging the problem by keeping non essential personnel away from the Shuttle on the pad, and keeping the pressure at 85% until the last moment before launch, in the hope that no one will be injured or killed if one of them “lets go”. What such an explosion would do if it occurred in flight is a matter of wishful thinking and crossed fingers---It probably won’t happen this time.

NASA addresses fears about space fire hazard - Human Spaceflight - [Oberg]MSNBC.com
Meanwhile, on the ISS, a fire hazard has been identified that could cause oxygen lines which supply the U.S. airlock to catch fire and possibly rupture, causing serious damage to the airlock and possibly injury to the crew inside it. The fire hazard stems from the possibility that metal debris left in the line from production or assembly could be propelled down the lines with enough force to strike the lining and ignite in the pure oxygen environment. Leaving aside for the moment the profound stupidity of manufacturing lines for oxygen service with potentially lethal debris in them, and then leaving them in service anyway, engineers had “worked around” the problem by limiting the flow rate through the lines to reduce the energy of any sparklers in the lines. Unfortunately, the geometry of some connections in the lines could cause flow to unpredictably exceed the speed limit. The “work around” for the “work around”? Operate the valves slowly....

Solar system sails sideways through galaxy - Space.com – MSNBC.com
Okay, I’m not sure I know what’s going on here. Apparently, analysis of the shape of our Sun’s heliosphere, the boundary between the solar wind and the surrounding galactic environment, shows that our system is traveling through the Milky Way (come on, guys, can we get a real galactic name, here?) almost sideways, its axis of rotation almost perpendicular to the galactic plane.

JPL Catalog Page for PIA09211:"Coasts and Drowned Mountains"
On its 31^st pass by Saturn’s enigmatic moon Titan, Cassini obtained SAR images of what appears to be a complex coastline and island chains formed by mountains submerged in an organic sea.

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---This weblog is now officially behind the times---about two weeks. Can’t seem to keep up with events.

FOXNews.com[AP]- Deadly Tornado Flattens Western Kansas Town
The scene looks more like the aftermath of the atomic bombings at the end of WWII than a weather event The small town of Greensburg was almost entirely erased Saturday by a gigantic F5 “wedge” tornado estimated to be 1.4 miles wide at the ground Survivors---and dead---continue to be found. Although there were warnings about 20 minutes before the storm struck, many were trapped in their basements under collapsed structures, which included a hospital
Tornado and hurricane seasons are just beginning, and it promises to be a very long year, with many more in harm’s way as it progresses Prayer is indicated.

Spaceflight Now---Mercury 7 astronaut Wally Schirra dies
One of the most colorful and influential of the “old guard” of the U.S. astronaut corps, Wally Schirra has died at 84.

My Way News [AP]- Iraq Students Show Virginia Tech Support
One of the more surprising expressions of sympathy for the tragedy at Virginia Tech comes from university students in Iraq---who ought to know the impact of violence as well as anyone

Florida Today: The Flame Trench: " Griffin memo details tragic JSC shooting"
Yet another mind-numbing tragedy, this one literally just down the street Administrator Griffin’s comments are somehow lacking in depth Maybe it’s just my well-trained distrust of the institution, but I just can’t escape the feeling that we still haven’t heard what really happened here, and why---and probably won’t any time soon.

My Way News - Freight Train With Shuttle Parts Derails
A trestle under repair (!) collapsed under the weight of the train carrying the eight of the infamous SRB segments for future Shuttle launches Moreover, this was apparently the second time the train had derailed in the same trip NASA officials---apparently not finding the events particularly ominous--- are inspecting the segments for damage, presumably with the thought of salvaging them for continued service.

FOXNews.com [AP]- Judge: Keep Religion Out of Post Offices Run By Churches, Contractors
Our criminal justice system is still deliberately trying to miss the point---that the only Constitutional “separation” which applies is that what people say about religion is none of their business:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Spaceflight Now---- Stellar explosion brightest supernova ever seen
If the idea of massive stars collapsing into a tear in space and time wasn’t bizarre enough, there is a stellar fate which might be even worse Astronomers have witnessed the brightest nova ever seen, and interpreted it as the death of an rare and even more massive star The extra mass seems to drive the reactions in the collapsing core even beyond the point of fusion of nuclei leading to iron production, to the generation of matter-antimatter pairs The resulting cataclysm is thought to totally annihilate the stellar corpse, leaving nothing behind but an incredible flash of light and expanding debris
Hmmm---then they talk about one of these hyper-massive stars, Eta Carinae, “only” 7500 light-years away that seems to be entering its death throes....should be a spectacular show.

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Revelation 12
¹²...But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you!
He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.

Everybody already knows the answer. Hatred, exclusion, isolation, slights, insults, injuries, injustices---real or imagined---reprisal, revenge, violence, poverty, genocide....and that monster lurks outside, growing more desperate by the hour, waiting for the right moment, a weak place to enter, exactly the right person, place, and moment to bring Hell to Earth.
I don't even have to check the news to see what goes on in other peoples' minds, just drive down the street. Humans weren't built to move a mile-a-minute, and the first thing we give up when we're trying to cope is our pretense to civilization.
All these things haunt the edges of my consciousness, too, and possibly worse---ideas that might make all of this look like it works until it's too late to escape. But I know these things won't defeat me, nor any of those other evils see the light of day, because God Promised:

John 16
³³I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

As evil as current events have become, they are likely to get far worse, as the imminent end of evil's time drives it to greater outrages, more psychotic destruction, more perversion of law and justice and truth in its desperate, mindless last frantic attempt to avoid a defeat that was completed before any of us were born.
There is a Way off the road to Hell, an end to evil and a pathway to real justice, the complete Truth, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and peace beyond mere human comprehension.

Romans 8
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

But the "time is short".

Labels: Bible and Related Commentary, News Commentary

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Incomprehensible

My Way News - Gunman Kills 21 on Virginia Tech Campus
The death toll from at least two separate gunmen at Virginia Tech is rising faster than the news services' web components can keep up---at least 32 dead so far. There was a news conference, but as far as I know, nobody has proposed any sort of motive, or even definitive proof that the two incidents are actually related---not that a technical “explanation” is going to make this hellishness any more comprehensible.
This death toll---according to a Wikipedia news entry--- has surpassed Charles Whitman's sniper killing toll from the University of Texas Tower (15) and the Columbine shootings in 1999 (13) put together---making it the worst school mass shooting incident in American history.
[Reports now indicate that officials believe that only one individual committed all the murders--- somehow escaping from the first shootings at the dormitory building and proceeding to a classroom building to shoot and kill more students a couple of hours later.]

Labels: News Commentary

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FOXNews.com [AP]- Two Lawmakers Killed in Bomb Attack on Iraq's Parliament
Building
In a serious setback for anyone who still holds any hope that Iraq can have peace and stability, a suicide attacker detonated himself in the cafeteria of the Iraqi Parliament building within the Allied “Green Zone”. The dead (up to 3 at last notice) and wounded included Shia, Sunni, and Kurdish victims, making the attack all the more incomprehensible.
It seems nearly inconceivable that such an attack could have been made without complicity of security forces in the Zone.

My Way News [AP]- 10 Killed in Baghdad Suicide Bombing
http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/photoessay_1635_images/0412070623_M_041207_baghdad_bridge.jpg
Earlier today, yet another idiot blew up himself and a truck laden with explosives on one of the major bridges over the Tigris River. At least 10 are dead, with others missing after their vehicles fell into the river.
Demonstrating an apparent Wile E. Coyote understanding of gravity, the early AP accounts concluded that the bridge must have been attacked by two bombers simultaneously, since the span was broken in more than one place.

Labels: News Commentary

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FOXNews.com - House Democrats Offer Plan to Ban Use of 'Global War on Terror'
Too...much...material...coming in....too...fast....
Too...tired...to....blog...anymore...(---gasp---wheeze---)

Labels: News Commentary

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My Way News [AP]- Iran Says 15 British Captives Free
What really demoralizes me about this whole situation is....we've had almost 40 years of this Iranian revolutionary regime, and Hell's own sock-puppets still can't write decent material....

Labels: News Commentary

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[Ok, as kids' bedtime stories go, it probably won't catch on. "They can't all be gems."]

My Way News [AP] - Pelosi Meets Syrian President
War is all Hell, and one of the greatest evils of human civilization. There are greater evils, however. They must be considered to include betrayal, treachery, and treason, particularly when conducted for such motives as self-aggrandizement, naked avarice, and person gain.
Oh...back to the news story...
Having bored herself with trampling on the seniority of U.S. House committe heads from her own political party, Speaker-Empress Madame Pelosi is meeting with Bashar Assad, having apparently determined that her personal Legislative Branch of the American government should usurp diplomatic powers from the Executive. From the context of the AP report, we may conclude that the Speaker-Empress is now negotiating the return of the Golan by Israel, and anything else that might keep the region in a state of chaos as long the opposing party is in the White House.

My Way News [AP]- Clashes in Pakistan Kill 60 Near Border
The Speaker-Empress Pelosi might want to get the lead out, however, as the tide may be threatening to turn in some places. Pakistani tribesmen in South Waziristan, apparently resentful of repression and murder at the hands of foreign militants, teamed up successfully last month to fight Uzbeki insurgents.

Labels: News Commentary

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FOXNews.com - French Train Hits 357 MPH Breaking World Speed Record
[Yeah, I know...it should be reported in KPH...but I think I've sufferred enough for one day.]
They got close to the absolute train speed record on this trip, currently held by a Japanese maglev. The train had oversized wheels, a 25,000 HP motor, and heavier overhead cables delivering higher than normal voltage. It remains to be seen whether the effort will be reflected in regular train service in the near future.
I am reminded of our train travel during our recent European vacation, particularly the trip on a high-speed train from Paris to Rouen. I have video shot from the back window of the train at full speed, if I can figure out how to embed it in a weblog. It should give a pretty realistic sensation of the speeds involved, although I never found out exactly how fast we were going.

Labels: News Commentary

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My Way News - Tsunami Devastates Western Solomons
A strong earthquake hurled a tsunami into the Solomon Islands this morning (per U.S. CDT). There have been a lot of strong aftershocks. At least 13 dead, many missing, and the death toll very likely to climb as communications are restored.
Solomon Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
CIA - The World Factbook -- Solomon Islands
My awareness of the Solomons seems to be limited to their pivotal role in the Pacific Theater in World War II, especially the historic Battle of Guadalcanal. The Solomons’ efforts at self-rule since then have been plagued by corruption and unrest involving violent ethnic militias, culminating in the intervention of an Australian-led police force and an international assistance mission (RAMSI). Political and social unrest continue, and the inhabitants can ill afford today’s catastrophe. Prayer is indicated.

Labels: News Commentary

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