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Maybe Pluto IS a Planet After All

At least it may be in New Mexico. Witness this RESOLUTION, introduced in the state legislature by Representative Joni Marie Gutierrez: WHEREAS, New Mexico state university and Dona Ana county were the longtime home of Clyde Tombaugh, discoverer of Pluto;...

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March 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

Sound Off: Daylight Savings Bug

The one surprise I had was my BlackBerry. I thought of it as a cell phone for email, and assumed it would set its clock by wireless signal. Silly me. Not having made the software patch that was sent to...

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March 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Just What is Daylight Saving...Saving?

I'm not a morning person, but I'll do my part and get up early if it's in the national interest. The problem is that it may not be, if you believe the working paper that Ryan Kellogg and Hendrick Wolff...

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March 9, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Hell, Half a Billion Miles Away

There are many candidates for least-hospitable place in the solar system, but Jupiter's moon Io is high on the list. It is a violent, volcanic world, about 2,200 miles in diameter, orbiting so close to Jupiter's cloud tops that it's...

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March 8, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

"Lisa Has Many Friends Here...."

Gina Sunseri, following Lisa Nowak's departure from the astronaut office in Houston, has been sent the following by a source in Houston. It comes from Michael Coats, a former astronaut who is now head of the Johnson Space Center: MESSAGE...

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March 7, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

Lisa Nowak Becomes Ex-Astronaut

Lisa Nowak's 30-day leave from NASA was supposed to end tomorrow. Instead, this release from the agency: U.S. Navy Capt. Lisa Nowak's detail as a NASA astronaut has been terminated, effective March 8, by mutual agreement between NASA and the...

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March 7, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

Lisa Nowak: A Love Triangle by E-Mail

It was Henry L. Stimson, serving as Herbert Hoover's Secretary of State, who famously said, "Gentlemen don't read each other's mail." That was 1929. Things have changed. The State Attorney's office in the Lisa Nowak case has released 250 pages...

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March 6, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Fr Sale: 1 Spc Helmt, Excellent Cond

One of the strengths--or weaknesses--of the free enterprise system is that anything can end up on the market. For instance, a space helmet, advertised as having been worn by astronaut Gordon Cooper on his Mercury space flight in May 1963....

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March 5, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

March is the Cruelest Month

There's a cold front pushing its way south today, and disaster-relief people--police, fire, emergency-management agencies and so forth--are at the ready. It's a bad day for tornadoes. And it's coming after a bad month. NOAA says Feburary was way above...

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March 1, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (1)