What The Hell Am I Doing Here?

Tuesday, February 3, 2004

Words from the front lines...
Soldiers tell it like it is.

"Wow, 130,000 troops on the ground, nearly 500 deaths and over a billion dollars a day, but they caught a guy living in a hole. Am I supposed to be dazzled?"-Anonymous Army Specialist
"At the beginning, it was very clear: get that maniac out of power, get him and his regime gone, and everything else would take care of itself. We reached that goal, and continued past that goal, and we've lost track of what we're doing. You can't leave, but you can't win. ... All they're doing now is getting people killed. ... There's not going to be any end in sight. It only takes a handful of people to hit a place, move on, and hit another place. It was effective in Vietnam, and it's effective here."-Sgt 1st Class John Bogle, 101st Airborne
There's more. Lots more.
Link props to Pinoy Ka Ba?, who graciously links to here.

12:46:49 PM leave/read comments []

President's test of faith. US elections 2004: Signs of strong support for John Kerry among Catholics could mean trouble for Bush, say Albert Scardino and John Scardino. [Guardian Unlimited]

Something to think about on election day.

12:25:13 PM leave/read comments []

Wish you were here: Imaging Mars. Pictures of the Red Planet sent back by European and US spacecraft are much more than just eye candy. [BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition]

How the imaging teams assemble the photos we see is amazing- especially at 12 bits per pixel.

When the rover takes a picture, it stores it in either its Ram or flash memory. The image is put into binary code, allowing it to be sent back to Earth as a data packet during a communication session.
These communication sessions are conducted three or four times a day, either through "direct-to-Earth" links using the rover's high-gain antenna, or via the two US probes in orbit around the planet: Mars Odyssey and Mars Global Surveyor.

This sounds especially cool:

One of the most exciting prospects for the future is a possible collaboration between the European Space Agency and Nasa to combine image data from Mars Express, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey and the two rovers to produce a seamless 3D "journey" around Spirit and Opportunity's landing sites.

11:15:04 AM

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Dept. of A Window On My World

A picture named sofabobcat.jpg Bob hangs out on the "chillin' couch" here at Scooter Sound Studio.

10:40:56 AM leave/read comments []

Hubble Spots Oxygen and Carbon in Distant Planet's Atmosphere [Scientific American]

For the first time ever, two life-essential elements have been detected in a planet outside our solar system. There's just one problem; its atmosphere is being blown away.

Scientists have for the first time detected carbon and oxygen in the atmosphere of a planet beyond our solar system. What is more, the planet's atmosphere is evaporating rapidly, prompting researchers to propose that it represents a unique category of extrasolar planet.
"What's key here is that we have detected oxygen and carbon in atomic form and in the outermost layers of the planet where we would not normally expect them," says study co-author Gilda Ballester of the University of Arizona. "These species are 10 times heavier than hydrogen atoms, so a force stronger than gravity is driving them up along with the hydrogen gas into the very extended envelope around the planet."

So, like a toddler that got into your bowl of chili while you weren't looking, this planet sort of goes around in a cloud of its own gas.

And to think, NASA wants wants to give up on the Hubble.

12:06:41 AM leave/read comments []