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| | | :: Tuesday, September 30, 2003 :: |
The Clark Expedition
OK, if ever I were going to vote for a Democrat, this would do it. It turns out a vote for Clark is a vote for faster-than-light travel.
Daily Hatbag
Here ya go!
Dead In Concert
Um...OK
Nearing Launch
SpaceDaily has a pair of articles about the upcoming Chinese manned spaceflight.
Personal Update
Sorry for the recent lack of blogging.
We moved into the house starting Friday. Everything is now out of the apartment, it's just a matter of ALOT of unpacking left to be done.
Nicole is, as of Saturday, out of the hospital. She still has a lot of recovery left to go, and is getting around just a little on a walker, but was able to go to Wal-Mart last night and ride in the electric buggy, so she is making progress.
On a down note, she got a letter Friday saying she'd lost her job.
So, that's live in the Hitt house. Don't yet have a computer hooked up at home, and things are still kind of chaotic, so it'll take some time for things to normalize. Thanks for your patience.
Citizen Wayne
Oh, man, how cool would Orson Welles' Batman have been. Reading over the story, it feels like this somehow has to be a hoax.
The Halle You Say
This is Catwoman?
RTF Redux
I had planned to write more about this, but in the confusion missed posting it on time at all, but yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the STS-26 Return To Flight mission.
| | | :: Friday, September 26, 2003 :: |
Daily Hatbag
Nighttime revelation.
Grand Opus
Here's a good article about the impending Breathed return.
Support Our Local Businesses--Buy Spacecraft!
The Orbital Space Plane may be built in Huntsville.
| | | :: Thursday, September 25, 2003 :: |
Forward, Rebels
Here's a DM story about the mascot debacle.
Along with an editorial.
And Khayat's letter.
Enterprise
I thought this week's Trek was one of the worst Enterprise episodes to date, but since no one's seen it, we can discuss it later. Any thoughts about last week's?
BTW, I enjoyed this line from STEnterprise.com's description of next week's episode: "The plot centers around an alien concubine--'Rajiin'--who seeks refuse with the Enterprise crew when they visit the settlement to procure a chemical protectant againt the detrimental effects of the Expanse."
Funny, Funny Stuff
It's Kim Jong Il's Livejournal, and it's some of the funniest stuff I've come across on the Web recently. I'm having to really fight laughing out loud as I read.
Daily Hatbag
And in the end...
Alas, Forgotten Words
"Phat" is in the dictionary, but at what cost?
Finally, Honesty
Since Michael Moore sees nothing wrong with editing video of speeches to change their meaning, he would probably agree with this assesment of what he's trying to get across in the last paragraph of this page:
"Well, there you have it. I ... tell.. make-believe stories,... and my work will continue to do so; ... should be sued for knowingly libeling. ... I'll just keep laughing."
In fact, once you've established this is a fair way of treating quotes, you can have even more fun, like with the paragraph before: "I... found... Dukakis and ... raped ... and stabbed... him. ... My... willie... is ... a ... rapist. My apologies."
Space Bass
Lance says space is good.
This Week At NE
This week at NASAexplores, I've got an article about the possibility of powering lightweight aircraft with fuel cells in the near future, while Maggie's got on about zeolites.
Thought For The Day
"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot
stamping on a human face - for ever."--George Orwell
Orwell was an optimist.
Weighty Matters Update
For the record, as of this morning, since May 20, I have lost a total of 50 pounds.
And, after having reached the point where I was wearing XXL shirts out of necessity, the shirt I'm wearing this morning, for the first time in longer than I care to remember, has no Xs in front of the L. Still have a long way to go, but at least I've got the better part of it done.
Who Could Have Imagined?!
Lain sent me this: Turns out the search for a new Ole Miss mascot is not going well. What a shocking turn of events!
| | | :: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 :: |
Star Trek: Enterprise
It's official.
Yep
A letter to one of my Web sites: "when is the next apollo space shuttle going up in to space? please wright back because i love space and everything to do with it. from ***** ***** age 16"
Daily Hatbag
Rather than posting a strip, I thought I would contribute to public knowledge with these useful Fun Facts.
Poo-tweet
This sounds like kind of an interesting book.
Dreams Of Futures Past
Here's a cool site with space artwork going back 120 years.
Turtle (Staying) Power
The top toys this Christmas in England--Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Barbie.
Chewy In Huntsville!!!!!!!!
Peter Mayhew, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, and Space Shuttle Commander Rick Searfoss may be coming to Huntsville for the Slanted Fedora con on January 16.
Space O'Keefe
James Oberg has the scoop on Return To Flight:
The possibility of having a member of the STS-114 crew stay on ISS as the third crewmember there is still open.
Another option would carrying a "nonprofessional crewmember" to symbolize NASA's commitment to flight safety, such as possibly a member of the Gehman Commission, or, even cooler, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe himself.
Current mission planning documents reportedly give an RTF date of NET July 15.
STS-114 would be followed by STS-121 on Discovery NET Sept. 16, which would be a follow-up to the RTF mission and would ease up some of the pressure on 115, 116, and 117.
STS-121 could also possibly be a crew-rotation mission, replacing Expedition 9 crew members Bill McArthur and Commander Valeri Tokarev.
If a crewmember is carried on STS-114 to supplement the ISS crew, it would likely be someone with recent ISS training/experience, but who is not in the queue for an upcoming expedition, such as Peggy Whitson or Don Pettit.
Greetings, Earthlings
Ed Lu has posted another letter, this time about the lack of directions on Progress.
Shenzhou Update
Space.com has a decent article about the upcoming Chinese manned spaceflight.
Don't Panic
No need to worry or anything, but a Skynet satellite has stopped communicating with its human controllers. No cause for concern, though. If this were the actual Robot Holocaust, bombing would commence immediately.
Level 2
The Orbital Space Plane is one step closer with the completion of the concept review and the establishment of the Level 2 requirements, which set out what the craft will have to be capable of in greater detail than the original 1-page Level 1 requirements.
Addendum: As this blog is always quick to air opposing viewpoints, here's a criticism of OSP by former astronaut Don Peterson, who has few valid points.
Wanna Fly The Shuttle...On Your Mac?
A Mac version of the Activision Anthology is under development, which will let you play a whopping 75 old Atari 2600 games on your Mac. I recently bought the PS2 version, which has only a now-much-less-impressive 43 games_.
| | | :: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 :: |
SSSM Update
Fallen is now on the iTunes Music Store.
Daily Hatbag
Here it is.
Thanks, All
With another week left, September has already set a new record for most visits in a month to the new hatbag.net site.
Comic Bloggin'
This ones basically just for Richie, but Warren Ellis has a blog.
MC Smeagal
Gollum rap
By JIMO
Spaceflight Now has a good article about the planned Prometheus-based mission to the Jovian system.
Attention, Lain
A Mighty Wind is being released across the nation today.
| | | :: Monday, September 22, 2003 :: |
New Poll
Um, I finally got around to posting a new poll.
Old Poll
Calvin & Hobbes was the movie most of the YMFTB audience would like to see turned into a live action film, with 38 percent of the vote. Peanuts and Arlo & Janis tied for second, with 19 percent of the vote each. Next was Doonesbury, with 13 percent, and Cathy and Bloom County (a live action feature version of which has actually been rumored since I posted this poll) received one vote each, or 6 percent of the vote. No one wanted to see Beetle Bailey or Mallard Filmore films.
Vision Thing
You know, for all the talk about NASA lacking a vision or drive for exploration, driving around Marshall, I've seen several people that have car tags that say things "MARS," "GO2MARS," etc., and thus far none that say anything like "NOMARS," or "STAYLEO." I'm probably just missing them.
Red Rumors
Will an announcment be made in the State Of The Union Address?
(There was some speculation last year that Bush would mention Prometheus during SOTUA, but, of course, he had bigger things on his mind at the time.)
There Is No Spoooooooooooon!
I posted a while back about the upcoming DVD release of "The Tick: The Complete Series." Well, much to my disappointment, it turns out what's coming out next Thursday is The Tick: The Complete Crappy Series. Why this is hitting DVD and we're still waiting for the animated series is beyond me. Wither my animated Tick DVDs? Or The Critic? I demand answers, Hollywood!
Addendum: One of the reviews on Amazon.com: "I am so glad to be seeing the live action series come out on DVD. I am planning to buy a DVD player just so I can watch it again. I've never seen the cartoon version, but i'm sure it had to be watered down for children. This is way too good to pass up.
SPOON (the battle-cry of flatware) "
In Space, No One Can Hear You Cluck
Birds hitting airplanes is one thing, but it turns out the windshield of the Space Shuttle was once struck... while in space... by chicken.
Silent All These Lightyears
It turns out the whizz of spaceships in Star Wars may not have been as inaccurate as believed, depending on how good your hearing is.
Space Race 2003
This is exactly why we need to take the Chinese space program seriously--not so much because of any Cold War-style "We need to get there first" mentality that the Chinese might beat us to something (which they're likely still a decade or more from doing). Quite the opposite. We need to be vigilant because while space in the 60s was all about nationalism, space in the 21st century is all about internationalism. When China reaches the point that it has more to offer other nations than we do, then other nations are going to work with them instead of us. If China invites other nations to, for example, join them in a lunar colony, it's likely that several would decide they'd rather go play with China's toys than ours. The immediate impact of that is a negative one on our space program, which relies on a certain degree of international cooperation, both in the form of large projects like ISS, and in the form of support for US programs, like international passengers on the Shuttle. But in a much bigger picture, it effects our relationships with other nations, giving them new ties to what is quickly becoming the new "other" superpower.
On a related note, this is also kind of an interesting story.
High Cotton
You know, driving to work this morning, when they were talking on the radio about the rain we're getting, which was annoying me but which apparently was much-needed, it occurred to me that I have no idea how the crops are doing. I don't know if it's been a good season. I don't know if anyone's started bringing cotton in. I don't know what they're anticipating for this year's yields.
And, frankly, I don't really care. It's kind of nice.
Daily Hatbag
One step closer?
Jurassic Revival
Apparently, Jurassic Park IV may actually be a decent film. Hopefully, it will do well enough to finally get "Titanic Park" made.
| | | :: Sunday, September 21, 2003 :: |
RIP
Farewell, Galileo!
| | | :: Friday, September 19, 2003 :: |
Pirate Those SW DVDs While You Can
More ...interesting... rumors about the original trilogy DVDs.
Daily Hatbag
I don't think we actually have any about pirates.
Bookstore Gangplank
After a year of reading, I just finished the big Onion book that came out last year, just in time for the next volume, which comes out Tuesday.
Lego Escher, Me Hearties
This site has some cool Lego sculptures.
Political Booty
Following in Joe's footsteps again, let me just post: Dean For Prez.
(NOTE: No actual booty involved. I'm just running out of pirate-y things to say)
Bly me! Gemini!
Anybody looking to spend a bunch of money on me for Christmas has no further to look than here.
Light Craft Ahoy
This story about laser-powered aircraft in Huntsville is kind of cool.
Aarrrrrr TF
Ole Miss is helping with Return To Flight.
"Michael Rudolphi, interior center director at Stennis, said he thinks that remote sensing and Geographic Information System that Ole Miss possesses will be crucial in getting NASA back on track.
"While some of the recommendations put forward will be difficult to obtain, the crucial information we received from University of Mississippi sensors have allowed several of the 29 measures to be completed and ready for testing already," Rudolphi said. "
Aaaaaarrr! Maaaaaarrrs!
Arthur C. Clark says he believes there's life on Mars.
Aaarrrrunaway Jury
AICN has a lukewarm-ish review of the new Grisham movie. What amuses me, though, is the Talkback about the endless stream of Grisham movie adaptations, considering that it's been six years since the last one, and only about half of them have been adapted.
Addendum: In fact, I finally registered for Talk Back just to make that point. Dang, I'm sad.
Thick! Thick! Thick!
I like those new burgers at Hardees, me hearties!
Illegal Aliens
Shiver me timbers! The world's cities are being infiltrated by Space Invaders!
Alas, Napster
I think I'll download the new unreleased Sarah McLachlan single today using Gnutella.
That's right, folks, it's finally Talk Like A Pirate Day!
(NOTE: I'm not actually downloading the song... it was just a joke... I'm waiting for it to hit stores, or alternately the iTMS).
| | | :: Thursday, September 18, 2003 :: |
Daily Hatbag
Here ya go!
This Week At NE
This week at NASAexplores we have two new Maggie stories, one about weather prediction and the other about getting enough sleep.
Important Vote
Normally I leave the political stuff to Joe, but felt I really out to link to this item about a very important issue in the upcoming election.
Trek Discussion
I thought last night's Trek was a little better. I'm posting this to allow space for discussion, but don't know that anybody else saw it. So this is probably a waste of bandwidth.
I Might Buy These
Normally, I don't steal posts from the Joe Blog, but this is big news.
(Also, there's more new blogging on the Joe Blog, so check it out.
Learn Something New Everyday
Everybody knows the Soviet Union had the first man and the first woman in space, but I did not realize they had a black cosmonaut before Guy Bluford flew on the Shuttle. Cuban Arnaldo Tamayo-Mendez before the first black man in space aboard Soyuz 38 on this date in 1980.
Bang! Zoom!
I'm finally getting around to reading Time magazine's "A Return To Apollo?" article about the possible future use of space capsules. The article raises an issue which I have not seen elsewhere, making the point that a new capsule would be better suited to travel beyond Low Earth Orbit.
Spock Underhill
The... glory... of this is... unspeakable.
| | | :: Wednesday, September 17, 2003 :: |
As Human As Human
Lain, a while back, sent me this comic strip about an amazing superhero.
Daily Hatbag
It's not even a strip, but this is the 16th most popular page on the site for the month so far (basically the top thing after the blog, Daily Hatbags, and main pages), and I'm not sure why. On a side note, yesterday may have seen the most visits ever in a single day on Hatbag.net
WIth Great Power...
Introducing Britain's newest superhero--Angle Grinder Man!
Boeing, Boeing
In a shocking turn of events, Boeing has announced that the U.S. should cooperate with China in space and that the Shuttle should fly until 2018. In an amazing coincidence, Boeing would likely profit off both of this things.
Space Bush
Bush is still thinking about space policy:
"I really don't have an opinion on Mars, but I do have an opinion that the more we explore, the better off America is," Bush said. "I believe in pushing the boundaries."
...The president's statement met with immediate skepticism about whether the administration is committed to space exploration.
"Well, it's not John Kennedy," said John Pike, a space expert who runs the think tank GlobalSecurity.org.
Red Space
Scientific American has an excellent James Oberg article about China's space program, the most comprehensive I've seen to date. Among interesting facts--the Shenzhou capsule is capable of docking with Shuttle and ISS, and China may launch a manned space station within 2 to 3 years.
What's In Your Head?
The fact that Brazil has cloned a dead cow is less cool when you discover that the clone is actually alive, and not an undead bovine monstrosity.
RTF Update
Good update on the status of STS-114 briefing. I'm listening to a briefing about 114 now, so there will probably be some more solid stuff in the near future.
| | | :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003 :: |
Babelfish Is Fun
Things I learned by translating this German article about the Galileo probe:
It's a darned good thing they're crashing it into Jupiter. If not: "The astronomers of NASA fear that in such a case pathogens could possibly endanger existing life on Europe."
In face, pathogens could be the least of the problem. NASA's working to prevent a situation in which Galileo "breaks Europe open inadvertently on the Jupiter moon".
Heck, even the probe itself is worried about this, according to the sub-hed: "Spacecraft is in the atmosphere glowing - from concern around possible contamination of the moon Europe"
I also learned about the guy who has possibly the coolest job ever: "NASA astronomer John Rummel responsible for the protection of planets."
RTF Update
It's perfectly acceptable layout, cause the picture is boxed so that it's clear doesn't go along with the story, but at first glance it's kind of amusing--The top story for the Marshall Star last week is "Return To Flight Blueprint Released" and next to it is a picture of an old guy standing in front of a Redstone rocket (celebrating the Redstone's 50th anniversary).
Daily Garfunkel Update
USA Today has another good Simon & Garfunkel reunion story. (Cause the Simon & Garfunkel ree-uuuu-oooonion, is only a few weeks away).
Basically, at this point, I'm just posting this stuff to keep the Daily Garfunkel Update going.
Daily Hatbag
This is currently the most-popular strip of the month not to have appeared as a Daily Hatbag.
Psychic Computers
Let your computer guess what movie or TV show you're thinking of.
What Do You Want To Do When You Grow Up
Popular Science presents The Worst Jobs In Science.
What The World Needs
OK, so now that Joe has his own blog, he's too good to participate in the Trek discussion on my blog. Nooooooo, he's got to go make his own Trek discussion on his own blog. That's fine. I see how things are going to be. I understand.
Anyway, go check it out. Also, there's more of his usual liberal ranting. : )
Flags Over Mars
When we go to Mars, who's going? This article discusses the possibility of a Mars mission being a joint effort between the U.S. and Russia. Frankly, that would surprise me only because I find it hard to believe that only two nations would be involved. I would imagine, at this point, that the odds of a single-agency Mars flight are probably pretty negligible, though I could be wrong.
Where Things Stand
Spaceref.com has an excellent article summarizing the current situation with RTF, the CAIB, Congress, NASA, the future, etc.
Countdown Continues
China will launch one astronaut on its first manned flight on October 10.
Or maybe just in the next 3 months.
Addendum: Or maybe around Oct. 1
| | | :: Monday, September 15, 2003 :: |
!0th Democrat, 4th Planet
Now, I'm all for sending people to Mars, but this just doesn't strike me as a good idea.
Daily Garfunkel Update
I don't have any new Garfunkel news today. Sorry.
Daily Hatbag
Among the recent search strings that led people to the site was Duck Suit, which goes to a strip that surprisingly has nothing to do with Darkwing.
The number one search string for the site this month is Procy|on, which I'm sure is causing a lot of disappointment. Searches about return to flight (March 11, maybe), the Smallville season premiere (Oct. 1, definitely) and Colonel Reb are also big traffic bringers.
Where We're Going, We Don't Need Road
This Ford commercial gives new meaning to the idea of off-road driving.
Go-Fast Into Space
A man hopes this week to become the first civilian to launch something into space. While not as impressive as the upcoming manned flights will be, when they arrive, he would still earn a first, and it's another step. Plus, anybody that creates a rocket-powered toilet deserves a mention on this blog.
NASA-ssippi
NASA is working on publication of "Our Deep South Home," about Stennis Space Center.
Why Space?
Space.com has an article about why we need a space program.
However, it doesn't mention things like that it lets us say things, as they do today, like The moon count is growing around Uranus" with a straight face.
SpaceShipOne
Scaled Composites is another step closer to spaceflight.
NASA Wants You
NASA is looking for Solar System Ambassadors. A whopping 50 blog points to any of you that actually volunteer.
Five DVD Editions! Three, Sir
In the Things-Released-Just-To-Annoy-David division, we have the new $50 collectors' edition of Holy Grail, which comes out tomorrow. I'm not even sure how it differs from the Special Edition.
Damme-d To Hell
It used to be that all of Steven Seagal's (if I'm mispelling that, sorry, I don't care enough to check) film titles fell into the pattern of "Steven Seagal is" whatever, i.e. Hard To Kill, etc. I just saw that his Euro-counterpart, Jean Claude Van Damme, is in a straight-to-video film called "In Hell," which is the most comforting thought since I walked into a bookstore to see a sign that said "Danielle Steele Vanished."
| | | :: Saturday, September 13, 2003 :: |
More Sweet, Sweet Sarah McLachlan
Anyone interested in hearing the new album's first single, "Fallen," may click here.
Daily Garfunkel Update
Got to see Simon and Garfunkel on Letterman last night, which was pretty cool. As it turns out, they're old, and Garfunkel's hair now looks less silly than Paul's. Still darned good musicians, though. As it turns out, they haven't schedule any dates for Birmingham or Atlanta.
Finally
Last night I finally saw Mars. It was still overcast, but Mars was one of like five things visible in the sky. You know, it would be pretty freakin' cool to be able to look up at Mars like that and know that there were people there. Heck, just being able to do that would be enough to merit the tax dollars it would cost me.
Daily Hatbag
Kneel, son of Jor-El! Kneel before Todd!
Jon-El
It turns out, in the season premier of Smallville (in case you missed it, that means spoiler ahead), Clark's dad gets superpowers from Jor-El in order to go hunt red-kryptonite-wearing Clark down in Metropolis. It's a credit to how good Smallville is that that idea doesn't scare me as much as it should.
Sweet, Sweet Sarah McLachan
Finally got the news I'd been looking for. Sarah's new album, Afterglow, comes out on Nov. 4 (just in time for Nicole's birthday). On the down side, it only has nine tracks, but after 6 years, you take what you can get.
| | | :: Friday, September 12, 2003 :: |
Today In History
JFK made his "We choose to go to the Moon" speech 41 years ago today.
More Truth
This site makes some darned convincing arguements supporting the Moon hoax theory.
Good Luck
Sean O'Keefe sent China best wishes on its upcoming spaceflight.
Great Shades Of St. Hubbins
Fear, the power of Perry White.
Daily Hatbag
Those Beatles are always up to no good.
Legal Beatle
Wel | |
