Curiosity

It's an absolute marvel what NASA accomplished with it's latest Mars exploration mission.  The process of sending an unmanned spacecraft 350 million miles to a celestial object hurtling through three-dimensional space at nearly 25 kilometers per second is wonder enough.  NASA's navigation was thread-the-needle perfect.  They landed their Curiosity Mars surface explorer exactly where they intended.   The way they did it was incredibly complex.  The explorer itself weighs almost a ton. Previous methods of depositing an unmanned explorer rover on the planet's surface couldn't work. So, they engineered a complex plan to make it happen. Amazingly, it worked.

So, now NASA has a new car-sized rover named Curosity on the surface of Mars. It's loaded to the gills with cameras, and instruments, and systens for carrying out complex experiments.

I'm really glad we're getting access to all this new knowledge about Mars.  Congratulations to all the scientists, engineers, and technicians who collaborated on this achievement.  Awesome job.

So, now I keep going back to the same thought.  We are seriously screwing up our own planet. The only one we have. Why aren't we applying the same level of  intellect and intense focus on the global scale challenges we have right here on Earth?  It's not because we don't have good science, or because we don't have enough smart scientists and engineers.  They are doing their job.  We understand our problems. We know what global climate change is, and we know what we must do to fix it. The science is already in place. What we don't have here on Earth is the political will and the public policy to make things right.  

Anyway, here is a wonderful piece of NASA animation that shows how they managed to land the Curiosity rover on Mars...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4boyXQuUIw

Almost Half of All Americans Die Penniless

A new study published by the National Bureau for Economic Research  reports that 46% of all Americans that die have less than $10,000 in total financial assets at the end of life.  Most of them are entirely dependent on govenment programs like social security and medicare.    That percentage is staggering.

Even more alarming; the fact that a large percentage of those in that group tend to vote for politicians whose politics are about eroding the 'New Deal' social safety net even further.

Kitty Kills

I just read an article about domestic cats.  Turns out when they roam free, they generally revert to their feline instincts and become very efficient predators.

University of Georgia researcher Kerry Ann Lloyd looked at cat behavior closely and what she found wasn't pretty.  When they are prowling freely around the neighborhood, domestic cats are often doing what comes naturally. 


In an article just released by USA Today,  George Fenwick, head of the American bird Conservancy, is quoted as saying that cat predation is a significant reason why one in three American bird species are in decline.

There are about 74 million house cats in the US.  Of that total,  according to Kerry Ann Lloyd's findings, about 30%  kill prey - two animals per week on average.

My wife and I have a home in an area that should attract a lot of birds. We have feeders out for them and a pond and a bird bath with water for them.  We just don't see them.   I'm hardly suggesting that house cats are the principle cause of song birds being absent in a place where one would expect to see  alot of them. Loss of habitat is probably the biggest factor. But cats will be cats. And if one in three of 74 million cats are out hunting and killing two critters a week, that translates to about 50 million  kills every week.  In a year, we're talking about 2.6 billion birds, rodents, and other prey species that are lost to the world,  just from house cats.

Again,  I want to affirm that I really like cats.  I'm not suggesting that people should get rid of their cats. They can be wonderful pets. I am suggesting that responsible cat ownership means taking steps to limit the cat's ability to hunt successfully.  One way would be to keep them in the house more often than not. That would make a difference.  Another way could be as simple as putting a bell around the cat's neck. That would make it harder for the cat to stalk its prey successfully.

Kittycam

Here is a POV video from University of Georgia researcher Kerry Ann Lloyd that shows some cats wearing tiny 'kitty cams', doing their thing while on the prowl.

http://bcove.me/zks50jd1

Hairiest landing ever

Ever been on a plane at night, on final approach for a landing in a driving thunderstorm,  with almost no visibility? 

In 2003, I was on a flight from Sydney, Australia to Port Vila, the capitol of the island nation of Vanuatu. I was headed there to produce a segment for the documentary I was working on at that time. It was called, The Hydrogen Age.  More about that part of my Vanuatu adventure on another day.  This entry is an account of the craziest, most scary approach and landing I have ever experienced.

Vanuatu is 1500 miles Northeast of Sydney.  I was traveling aboard an Air Vanuatu 737 turbojet.   After just over three hours flight time, we began our descent into the airport at Port Vila on Efate, the main island of the Vanuatu island group.

As we descended in the darkness, the ride became decidedly more bumpy. I was in an aisle seat, but I could see lightning flashing below and ahead.  The cabin lights had been dimmed for landing. As our descent continued, we soon found ourselves immersed in thunder, lightning, and driving rain.  The turbulence was pretty extreme. The general feeling in the passenger cabin was unsettled to say the least.

Up front, the flight crew were Qantas veterans.  I recall hearing one of the pilots come on the plane's PA system.  He said something like, "No worries, folks. A bit of bad weather here. Hang on, we'll be on the ground in about ten minutes."    His calm voice provided scant reassurance.

The next few minutes were seriously scary. The rain and lightning were with us all the way down.  Water was flowing over the windows as the landing gear was deployed.  Except for frequent lightning flashes, it was still pitch black outside.  Still plenty of buffeting.  Finally, the 737 touched down. It was carrying extra speed, the thrust reversers came on and stayed on as the aircraft slowed.

At that point, our brush with terror was over. Minutes later, as I headed up the aisle to deplane, I came on the two Aussie pilots.  They were heroes to the passengers. I said to them, "Nice work."   The captain smiled, "Day at the office, mate."


Here is an interesting  cockpit video of an Air Vanuatu 737 flight from Port, Vila, Vanuatu to Sydney, Australia....  
 http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/fly-low-and-fast-180956560/?utm_source=airandspacenewsletter&no-ist

Jeff Koons

I first heard about Jeff Koons about twenty years ago. I watched a segment on the 60 Minuites TV journal show about him. All I can say is, 'What an operator.'

Jeff Koons

Koons has become a huge name in the art world.  Before he was an 'artist', he was a commodities broker.  What qualifies him to carry the label artist?  In fairness to him, he apparently did attend art school.   Having said that, he seems a lot more like P.T. Barnum than Salvadore Dali.

The wikipedia entry on Koons calls him "an American artist known for his reproductions of banal objects."  That seems an apt description.

Koons doesn't even do any of his "art" himself.  He employs artists to come up with ideas.  He employs artisans to do the fabrication for him , then he applies his name to the finished work.  In some cases, his art amounts to things he buys retail like the piece below.




Basketballs Floating in Water

I haven't fully formed an opinion on Jeff Koons.  You can't help but admire what he manages to create, at least a little...but it sure seems like he's gaming the system and laughing all the way to the bank.

Here is a link to the original 60 Minutes segment on Koons that I saw in 1993.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7403564n

Baby Hedgehog Snoozing

Hedgehogs are very cute, especially when they are babies and they are snoozing...

Here's a wonderful sleeping baby hedgehog video...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_0DcrDYmd0

My Pix - Sunflowers

Like many photographers learning their craft, I spent a lot of time early shooting photos of flowers.  I particularly like sunflowers.  They are big, bright, and eager to please.  There are always bees dancing over them,  getting dusted up with pollen.

The first four sunflower pix were taken in our backyard.  The rest on a farm in the Hood River Valley.