n2doc
n2doc's Journal'Frankenstorm': Hurricane Sandy Seen From Space Station in NASA Video
The immense size of Hurricane Sandy has been captured by cameras on the International Space Station from its perch hundreds of miles above Earth.
The space station soared over Hurricane Sandy on Thursday (Oct. 25) as the storm reached Category 2 strength on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale while making its way toward the Bahamas. The storm battered the Bahamas late Thursday and has been blamed for 21 deaths as it passed through the Caribbean, according to media reports.
The U.S. National Weather Service dubbed Sandy a potential "Frankenstorm" in an alert Thursday due to the chance of the hurricane merging with a cold front and transforming into a hybrid storm next week, just before Halloween.
"The current forecast track from the National Hurricane Center brings Sandy in for a landfall in central New Jersey on Tuesday, Oct. 30," Rob Gutro, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., explained in a statement. "Regardless, it appears that Sandy may be a strong wind event for the U.S. mid-Atlantic and Northeast."
more
http://www.space.com/18227-hurricane-sandy-frankenstorm-space-station-video.html
Obama is still the best hope for science in the US
16:43 25 October 2012 by Andy Feinberg
New Scientist asked both US presidential campaigns for an article putting forward their position on science. Mitt Romney's campaign declined – here, Democratic campaign adviser Andy Feinberg argues why Americans who care about science and its wider benefits should back Barack Obama for a second term
I grew up in Pennsylvania during the breathtaking years of the space race. I graduated from high school in the summer Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. All the boys and girls, farmers and teachers, Democrats and Republicans felt that a career in science and discovery was the best that anyone could pursue.
That is why I became a scientist and a doctor and dedicated my career to uncovering what causes disease, eventually helping pioneer the field of epigenetics. I have made many discoveries, but only because I worked hard, had great teachers and students, and lived in a society that supported and believed in what I was doing. The US is full of people like me – that's why we have the greatest scientific enterprise in the world.
Science matters for everything and everyone. Scientific research and innovation have made and continue to make huge improvements in the food we eat, the air we breathe, the energy we use, the medicines that prolong and improve the quality of our lives and, especially, in how we communicate.
But I am deeply concerned that without leadership and continued commitment to scientific research, the next generation of Americans will not make discoveries and benefit from them. That is why I am voting for Barack Obama.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22427-obama-is-still-the-best-hope-for-science-in-the-us.html?full=true&print=true
Yes, There is a TSA museum. No, you can't visit it. Really.
What’s on display in the museum?
Limestone from the exterior of the Pentagon and mangled pieces of the World Trade Center are in the collection, as is an example of the first handheld metal detectors, or wands, used to screen passengers at airports, and the first American flag raised over Terminal B at Boston Logan Airport when the TSA starting screening there in 2002.
..And then there’s the walk-through metal detector that screened the hijackers in Portland, Maine, on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.
You can’t visit the museum, though, it isn’t open to the public. It’s located at TSA headquarters and appears to be a propoganda tool aimed at TSA employees.
http://boardingarea.com/blogs/viewfromthewing/2012/10/25/theres-a-tsa-museum-really/
Sayonara, Sununu
By FRANK BRUNI
At what point will Mitt Romney and his campaign staff gently escort John Sununu away from the television cameras, tuck him into a cozy room somewhere, make sure he has adequate provisions and lock the door tight, so he can’t get out until November 7th?
They should have done this long ago, and if they had, they and we would have been spared the shallowness and insult of Sununu’s remark that skin color was the reason for Colin Powell’s endorsement yesterday morning of President Obama over Mitt Romney.
Sununu offered this high-minded perspective during an appearance last night on CNN’s “Piers Morgan Tonight.”
“Frankly,” Sununu told Morgan, “when you take a look at Colin Powell, you have to wonder whether that’s an endorsement based on issues or whether he’s got a slightly different reason for preferring President Obama.”
“What reason would that be?” Morgan responded.
“Well, I think when you have somebody of your own race that you’re proud of being President of the United States, I applaud Colin for standing with him.”
more
http://bruni.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/26/sayonara-sununu/
Is Society becoming more Psychopathic?
By Kevin Dutton
Over a 28-year-old single-malt scotch at the Scientific Study of Psychopathy's biennial bash in Montreal in 2011, I asked Bob Hare, "When you look around you at modern-day society, do you think, in general, that we're becoming more psychopathic?"
The eminent criminal psychologist and creator of the widely used Psychopathy Checklist paused before answering. "I think, in general, yes, society is becoming more psychopathic," he said. "I mean, there's stuff going on nowadays that we wouldn't have seen 20, even 10 years ago. Kids are becoming anesthetized to normal sexual behavior by early exposure to pornography on the Internet. Rent-a-friend sites are getting more popular on the Web, because folks are either too busy or too techy to make real ones. ... The recent hike in female criminality is particularly revealing. And don't even get me started on Wall Street."
He's got a point. In Japan in 2011, a 17-year-old boy parted with one of his own kidneys so he could go out and buy an iPad. In China, following an incident in which a 2-year-old baby was left stranded in the middle of a marketplace and run over, not once but twice, as passersby went casually about their business, an appalled electorate has petitioned the government to pass a good-Samaritan law to prevent such a thing from happening again.
And the new millennium has seemingly ushered in a wave of corporate criminality like no other. Investment scams, conflicts of interest, lapses of judgment, and those evergreen entrepreneurial party tricks of good old fraud and embezzlement are now utterly unprecedented in magnitude. Who's to blame? In an issue of the Journal of Business Ethics, Clive R. Boddy, a former professor at the Nottingham Business School, contends that it's psychopaths, pure and simple, who are at the root of all the trouble.
more
http://chronicle.com/article/The-Psychopath-Makeover/135160/
Joe Biden: We'll create jobs, restore security
"A Plan for Jobs & Middle Class Security" isn't just detailed. It's the right plan.
9:06PM EDT October 25. 2012 - President Obama has brought our economy back from the brink of collapse, our auto industry back to life, our heroes back from war, and our enemies to justice. But this election is not just about how far we've come; it's also about where we're going.
The president has outlined specific, achievable steps to continue creating jobs and restoring middle-class security. It's not just a detailed plan — it's the right plan. Unlike Governor Mitt Romney, the president has been consistent and clear since Day One about what he believes:
First, President Obama will help create a million new manufacturing jobs and double our exports so we sell more products around the world stamped "Made in USA." That means ending tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas and rewarding those that bring them home. And it means lowering taxes on manufacturers, and enforcing trade laws against China.
Second, we'll cut our oil imports in half and make our cars and trucks go twice as far on a tank of gas. We'll produce more homegrown energy — oil, clean coal and natural gas, as well as wind, solar and biofuels.
more
http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/25/joe-biden-obama-agenda/1659191/
Profile Information
Gender: Do not displayMember since: Tue Feb 10, 2004, 01:08 PM
Number of posts: 47,953
