As the Space Shuttle was making its final approach
for landing at the Kennedy Space Center, the commander commented that he was seeing the coastline of the Yucatan peninsula. Thank goodness for all those computers on board that spacecraft because these guys wouldn’t be able to find the landing strip. After a brief silence he was corrected by the controllers at Kennedy Space Center. What he was seeing was the west coast of Florida. Take a look at the Tracking Map NASA was displaying during the approach from orbit. I’ve never seen Colombia‘s map look like this.
Last night as I was listening to AM radio, I heard
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Dr. Joy Brown, on WOR 710 asking her listeners about their memories of NASA’s space program. My first thoughts were of the tragedies caused by engineering failures. Apollo 1, when Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee died during a launch simulation. After the hatches were sealed, the air in the cabin was replaced with pure oxygen. Even though North American Aviation had suggested using an oxygen/nitrogen mixture for Apollo, NASA overruled this. The pure oxygen design carried the benefit of saving weight, by eliminating the need for nitrogen tanks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_1
The safety of the crew was apparently not high on the list. After all these astronauts were in fact all test pilots who assumed high risks.
In a BBC documentary NASA: Triumph and Tragedy, Jim McDivitt said that NASA had no idea how 100% oxygen atmosphere would influence burning. Similar remarks by other astronauts were expressed in the documentary In the Shadow of the Moon. (more…)
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Natural Selection Keeps Thinning the Gene Pool
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Three hikers visiting Yosemite National Park on a day trip with a group of family and friends, were swept over the edge of Vernal Fall and into the Merced River in Yosemite National Park.
The hikers were identified as Hormiz David, 22, Ramina Badal, 21, and Ninos Yacoub 27, all residents of California. The trio had made the steep, slippery ascent along the Mist Trail to the 317-foot tall Vernal Fall. They were seen crossing a metal guardrail placed to keep visitors away from the swift-moving water. They then entered the water approximately 25 feet from the precipice, even though people were telling them not to do it.
These are the sixth water-related deaths in Yosemite this year. Another hiker slipped and fell into the Merced River on the Mist Trail on May 13. Yosemite averages 12 to 15 accidental deaths per year.
Even though there are railings and signs in some of the more dangerous spots on the trails, many to their detriment ignore the warnings and help society with their passing.
Jake Bibee was aghast when he saw members of a church group climb over a protective railing at the edge of Vernal Fall, along Yosemite National Park’s popular Mist Trail.
Then dismay turned to horror as one person slipped into the dangerous Merced River, and two others reaching to help also tumbled in. All three were swept over Vernal Fall, plunging more than 300 feet to their deaths Tuesday.
“It was no more than five or six seconds of them bobbing in the water screaming before they went over,” Bibee recounted Wednesday. “We had to watch the fear on their faces as they knew they were plunging to their death. It was awful.” http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/07/20/2471350/witness-describes-watching-3-plunge.html
Related articles
- Witness describes watching 3 plunge off Vernal Fall – Fresno Bee (news.google.com)
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This Pediatrician is a Pervert
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Dr. Rakesh Punn of Bethpage, New York plead not guilty to charges that include assault, sexual abuse, promoting a sexual performance by a child, unlawful surveillance, and improperly obtaining the date-rape drug, chloral hydrate.
Dr. Punn allegedly drugged his victims after convincing them they were undergoing medically necessary examinations. He videotaped or photographed some on his victims and wrote about them on his computer with citations from the Kama Sutra. There he compiled instructions on how to molest them.
While doing his “examinations” he drugged the girls, some as young as 11, with a sedative, covering their eyes with gauze or a blindfold and then proceeded to medically assault them.
Dr.Punn, who was first arrested last July, had his bail raised to $10 million bond or $5 million cash. Fortunately for society, the good doctor is not able to post bail because prosecutors have frozen his assets.
Where were the parents of these girls when they were being examined? Who in their right mind sends a child to be examined without being present in the examination room?
Related articles
- Prosecutors: Bethpage Pediatrician Sexually Abused, Videotaped Young Girls (newyork.cbslocal.com)
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French Women’s World Cup Trio Posed Naked…
to draw attention to their sport. Gaetane Thiney, Elodie Thomis and Corine Franco posed for the pictures under the motto:
“Is this how we should show up before you come to our games?”
They claim they made the decision – following some German players’ appearances in Playboy last month – to raise awareness about the women’s game. (more…)
Congratulations to Derek Jeter for Reaching 3,000 Hits
Coincidentally, Derek Jeter also hit a home run off David Price to tie Lou Gehrig for most hits by a New York Yankee player.
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Princess Kate’s Royal Panty Flash
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We Leave Pisa on Czech Airlines
because I did not want to rent a car and spend my vacation driving around like we did last year when we drove from Pisa to Monaco to Bergamo to Verona to Florence and Venice. The agent working the First Class counter takes my carry on baggage because it’s too heavy. They only allow 12 kilos. Even before he hands us our boarding cards he rudely calls for the next passenger. He reaches for their documents while we are still putting our passports away. If this is the first impression he gives us of Czech Airlines I worry how bad this is going to be.
Fortunately the Czech flight attendants do a better job of representing their company. The first leg on an Embraer 170 is very comfortable but the leg on the Airbus 320 is torture. The lumbar support is too high and all it does is poke uncomfortably our backs. Waiting for us at the airport in Prague is our driver. I see he’s holding my name. Thirty minutes later we’re stopped by police who check the vehicle for explosives.
We’re staying in the Mala Strana neighborhood near the US and German Embassies. When we go for a walk I notice there isn’t a police roadblock on the one way street one block away on Bretislavova. What’s the use of stopping traffic if another access is left unprotected. Why would someone with an intent to do harm follow any traffic directions. Anyone can drive up this street the wrong way make a left and another left to drive directly to the two embassies.
Continued later.
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