Comments on: Breaking: House adds $$$ for extra Shuttle flight… FOR SCIENCE

By: Obama and McCain on space exploration | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:06:29 +0000

[...] be narrowed. However, the idea of another Shuttle mission is an interesting one. I assume he means launching the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to the ISS. While I’m still not thrilled with another Shuttle flight — NASA would probably [...]

By: Sili

Sili — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:20:59 +0000

I was wrong! I managed to mix up lbs with kg. ATV: "Each ATV weighs 20.7 tonnes at launch and has a cargo capacity of 8 tonnes" AMS: "14,809 lbs (6731 kg)" But of course the ATV isn't engineered for putting in something as big as the AMS so they'd pretty much have to build an ATV around it. Still - It could probably be done.

By: Charles

Charles — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 20:35:23 +0000

All other things being equal, intelligence makes anyone’s butt a little (or maybe a lot) more bodacious.

I agree with that 100%!

I wish I could post photos here, but imagine this scene:

Mother standing next to sitting daughter.

Mother: “Play dumb and the boys will all like you!”

Daughter: “Be smart and all the men will love you!”

Okay, that’s a greeting card. But there’s a lot of truth there…

By: Torbjörn Larsson, OM

Torbjörn Larsson, OM — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:09:28 +0000

if it passes, Michael Griffin will have kittens.

I don't think that evolution means what you think it means.

The next step after ITER, is to build the First commercial Fusion Power Plant, that will add electricity to the grid.

That is probably putting some varnish on things, as the DEMO reactor is a non-economical demo reactor. It will serve to make the first more or less commercial prototype of the first series of actual power plants though: "Such a plan shows why it will be very difficult to commission the first commercial-sized tokamak before 2050. However it could be that sufficient information is gained on the step beyond ITER (DEMO), through its staged operation, and it is sufficiently prototypical of the series production of power plants, that it will be possible to be more confident at an earlier stage concerning the economic viability of the first series of power plants produced."

By: ARP1234

ARP1234 — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 19:04:50 +0000

The government giving money for legit science? And a rather
obscure science project at that?

Okay, did I just fall into a parallel universe?

By: Irishman

Irishman — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 18:18:26 +0000

The Bad Astronomer said:
> The funny thing is, once the space station is finished itâ??s not good for much. But with the AMS on it itâ??ll be doing loads of cool science.

Not good for much? What about Kibo?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Experiment_Module

By: themadlolscientist

themadlolscientist — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 17:42:54 +0000

Let’s hear it for that Evil Democratic Congress!

Simpson is famous for flaunting her butt and not much else.

Celebrities. Bah. Humbug. 90% of ‘em are “famous” (and I use the term loosely) for being “famous.” Nothing x nothing = nothing. Unfortunately, someone flaunting their butt is a lot less threatening to most people these days than someone “flaunting” their intelligence. (Highly intelligent, accomplished, hardworking people are some sort of “elite,” and überskinny, überrich, überconceited, plastic-surgery-gone-crazy airheads are “people like us.” Yeah. Right.)

All other things being equal, intelligence makes anyone’s butt a little (or maybe a lot) more bodacious. Are you listening, Skepdude Calendar Man?