Understanding the Polar Vortex

Here's why most of the United States has been in the Deep Freeze this winter:

From the New York Post

“The Big Chill,” NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center post read. “Blistering cold air from the Arctic plunged southward this winter, breaking US temperature records.”
“A persistent pattern of winds spins high above the Arctic in winter. The winds, known as the polar vortex, typically blow in a fairly tight circular formation. But in late December 2013 and early January 2014, the winds loosened and frigid Arctic air spilled farther south than usual, deep into the continental United States.”

NASA Video Explaining the Polar Vortex

2012 ~ Apocalypse Postponed ...Again

One of the first posts I wrote on this blog back in March 2012 was about the National Geographic TV show "Doomsday Preppers." I had watched a couple of episodes and was amazed at the level of fear and paranoia in these hoarders of spam, rice and guns.

Prepping for the Doomsday Olympics

I wrote:

. . . these people longing for Armageddon don't laugh very much.They are deadly serious about everything and just want to show off their mad survival skills in the end-of-the-world Olympics. They've given up on life, music, and fun in favor of fear mongering.
. . . I couldn't help but feel a little disturbed that one family has enough food for the next 20 years while other people are eating out of dumpsters. But this philosophy isn't about helping the "other people" - the belief is that the weak ones are going to be destroyed by the next disaster while the self-sufficient strong survive. Doomsday Prepping begins at home and ends at home. Like their brethren in the Republican Party who don't believe in "sharing the wealth" or "that dang socialism," Doomsday Preppers live in the Narcissistic States of America.

At the time I was thinking about Paul Ryan's budget and the whole Ayn Rand philosophy as something that drives these clannish survivalists. But now that both the election and the Doomsdays - Dec. 12 or Dec. 21 - have come and gone with nothing unusual happening, these folks now seem like regular old Tea Party members to me.

Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs, they fit right in with Todd Akin and the other anti-science people, the unskewed polls people who reject the math in front of their eyes and believe what they want to believe. Their love of ammunition hoarding is second only to that of Wayne LaPierre of the NRA, and if they aren't vapor-locked in their underground bunkers right now, they are cheering on the Congressman who refuse to do anything while a great country takes a dive over a man-made fiscal cliff.

Many now say it's a "New Age" instead of the end of the world. Where will the Doomsday Preppers fit into that scenario? They don't consider "peace and quiet" a plausible future, so I imagine that they really are doomed to be marginalized just like the anarchy-based Tea Party and the Gun-Loving GOP. The New Age will sail on without them, and good riddance.

Flying Man Felix Baumgartner

This is truly amazing! Felix Baumgartner broke the sound barrier after jumping out of a balloon at the edge of the atmosphere. I don't see how he survived. It's really cool that he jumped over Roswell, New Mexico - home of the infamous "Roswell UFO Crash" and the "Extraterrestrial Highway."

My son thinks this will make a great Red Bull commercial, too, LOL.




Huffington Post Story:

ROSWELL, N.M. -- Officials say that Felix Baumgartner has become the first skydiver to break the speed of sound.
At a news conference, Brian Utley of the International Federation of Sports Aviation said Baumgartner reached a maximum speed of 833.9 mph during his jump Sunday over the New Mexico desert.
That amounts to Mach 1.24, which is faster than the speed of sound. No one has ever reached that speed wearing only a high-tech suit.
Baumgartner says that traveling faster than sound is "hard to describe because you don't feel it." With no reference points, "you don't know how fast you travel."

RIP Neil Armstrong

The astronauts in NASA's space program meant so much to our country, and inspired the boomer generation to create everything from MTV to Cellular Phones to the Internet to the Mars Curiousity. We need more heroes like this, who literally could "boldly go where no one had gone before," especially in these times when things seem to be crumbling here on earth and we can't agree on anything.

President Obama paid homage today:

From USA Today

As he stepped off the lunar module and set foot on the moon's surface, he said "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,'' underscoring a centuries-old fantasy among human kind and a high point in the Cold War era space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. An estimated 600 million TV viewers watched the event, engrossed by the surreal, grainy black-and-white footage.

Saturday, President Barack Obama hailed Armstrong as one of "the greatest American heroes — not just of his time, but of all time.''

"When he and his fellow crew members lifted off aboard Apollo 11 in 1969, they carried with them the aspirations of an entire nation,'' the president said in a statement. "They set out to show the world that the American spirit can see beyond what seems unimaginable — that with enough drive and ingenuity, anything is possible. And when Neil stepped foot on the surface of the moon for the first time, he delivered a moment of human achievement that will never be forgotten."

Watching the Mars Curiousity Landing

The landing is imminent! I will update with video of the landing when it is available.

Update: Video Recap:

Watch live here:   Live broadcast by Ustream  

Farewell to Sally Ride

The first American woman in space is gone much too soon.


From her company website
Sally Ride Science

Sally Ride died peacefully on July 23rd, 2012 after a courageous 17-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Sally lived her life to the fullest, with boundless energy, curiosity, intelligence, passion, joy, and love. Her integrity was absolute; her spirit was immeasurable; her approach to life was fearless.

Sally was a physicist, the first American woman to fly in space, a science writer, and the president and CEO of Sally Ride Science. She had the rare ability to understand the essence of things and to inspire those around her to join her pursuits.

Sally’s historic flight into space captured the nation’s imagination and made her a household name. She became a symbol of the ability of women to break barriers and a hero to generations of adventurous young girls. After retiring from NASA, Sally used her high profile to champion a cause she believed in passionately—inspiring young people, especially girls, to stick with their interest in science, to become scientifically literate, and to consider pursuing careers in science and engineering.

In addition to Tam O’Shaughnessy, her partner of 27 years, Sally is survived by her mother, Joyce; her sister, Bear; her niece, Caitlin, and nephew, Whitney; her staff of 40 at Sally Ride Science; and many friends and colleagues around the country.

From Space.com

Sally Ride, the first American woman to travel in space, has died at 61.

Ride had been fighting pancreatic cancer for 17 months and died peacefully, her company Sally Ride Science announced today (July 23). When she was 32, Ride blasted off on the STS-7 mission of the space shuttle Challenger, breaking through the highest glass ceiling for U.S. women to date.

During her historic mission, which deployed two communications satellites, Ride also became the first woman to use the shuttle's robotic arm in space.

From USA Today

"Sally was a national hero and a powerful role model. She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, a former astronaut, said Ride "broke barriers with grace and professionalism — and literally changed the face of America's space program."

"The nation has lost one of its finest leaders, teachers and explorers," he said in a statement. Ride was a physicist, writer of five science books for children and president of her own company. She had also been a professor of physics at the University of California in San Diego. She was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1978, the same year she earned her doctorate in physics from Stanford University. She beat out five women to be the first American female in space. Her first flight came two decades after the Soviets sent a woman into space

Snark in Pictures

Last Flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery

Today marked the last flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery before landing at Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. Afterward it was taken to the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian. Hail and Farewell, Space Shuttle Program!!! *is sad*

From Washington Post

The space shuttle Discovery soared over the Washington Monument, the White House and the Capitol in a high-flying salute to the nation’s capital Tuesday. The world’s most traveled spaceship, hitching a ride on top a Boeing 747 jet, took a couple of leisurely spins at an easy-to-spot 1,500 feet around Washington after a flight from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
housands packed the National Mall to watch the pair swoop by.
“Look at that — that thing is mammoth,” said Terri Jacobsen of Bethesda, Md. She brought her 12-year-old home-schooled son to the mall to watch the flyover.
The shuttle-jet combo was set to land at Dulles International Airport. On Thursday, it will be towed to its permanent installation at the Smithsonian’s annex in northern Virginia.