In case folk were unaware of it (as I was), 2007 kicked off the International Polar Year, with its own website.

John McCain's anti-space legislative history documented here

Today, in Titusville, Barack Obama laid down at least two clear markers:

(1) We cannot allow a gap to emerge that requires NASA astronauts to rely upon Russian rockets to reach LEO. (Especially since John McCain wants to toss Russia out of the G8 - see my recent diary on that).

(2) We cannot lay off the vital Florida workforce. We did that after Project Apollo and the consequences were grim.

More . . .

via Slashdot -- Universe Today post an article:

says a Massachusetts Institute of Technology technical paper.

I'm shocked and horrified because if you listened to the Congress over the last two years, there was no Federal Funding for projects of this nature.

The idea is to use the energy from solar photovoltaic panels (or another electricity source [aka wind power]) to crack water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen gas. Those gases would be stored and used later in a fuel cell to make electricity when the sun is not shining.

After single-handedly taking a decision to increase pollution in our part of the world by 100% by inflicting the Nano, Tata Motors is finally doing something worthwhile. A recent visit by my wife to Bangalore got me a sneak preview of the miniCAT.

Personally, I'm an agnostic on global warming. It seems reasonable that we've played a role in the changing climate, but as to how much of a role, I can't tell. There's a lot of partisan-based arguing going on, and I have a hard time separating fact from spin. But as of today, the scientific community cannot claim consensus on human-induced global warming:

People have called technocrat-turned-martyr-of-the-left Al Gore many things, but few (if any) would call him stupid. So when he says that in a mere ten years the government can wave its magic government wand and an end of fossil fuels into place, the only possible conclusion is that he is lying. Given his failure to mention the only possible replacement of fossil fuel that provides as much energy (viz., nuclear), that he is lying becomes an absolute certainty.

I was surprised to read that an AI system outperformed top poker players.

Whenever I've played the game it seems to involve more than mere probability calculations, but also reading the psychological patterns in other players.

Nonetheless,

Apparently the "People's House" is now the Village of Pelosi as "special interests" hold up the People's business. And since FISA is now off of the table, what issue is so terrible that it once again pushes the Majority to abandon transparency?

Simply put, it is $4.00 a gallon gas combined with the public observation that Congress is part of the problem (or Congress is the problem).