Monday, July 24, 2006

Wolcott~en fuego

I gotta give a shout out to James Wolcott, the man has been on fire for at least a month. Starting with the flare-up in the Palestinian situation right up to the present, he's posting almost every day on the subject and his passion is awesome to behold. If you haven't seen his blog lately, get yourself over there and be informed.

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Here is one of many gorgeous views from Trailridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is our national treasure, along with all our other public lands, the commons, they are to be protected jealously.

4th of July Spectacular

The plan is to launch the Space Shuttle at about 12:40 MST today. This seems a bit incautious in light of the events of the weekend, which includes two scrubbed launch attempts and the discovery of a crack in the foam insulation of the fuel tank. A small piece of foam fell away from the area near the crack, launch managers have none the less decided to proceed.
I'm sorry, this seems contrived, I'm reminded of the Challenger disaster that simply had to launch in time for Ronald Reagan to include some remarks about the "Teachers in Space" program in his SOTU address.
I love space exploration and space science, but I'm concerned for the safety of our astronauts today. Is this launch an attempt to manufacture a "feel good moment" for the failure-plagued Bush administration? I really hope not.