PIL - Religion (Zeche Bochum 1983)

Houston. We have a problem...

Voyager 2, which has been traveling through the solar system since the late '70s, has suffered a data formatting glitch that is preventing NASA from interpreting the content of its scientific data transmissions. Control and diagnostic transmissions are unaffected, which should enable the engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to troubleshoot the problem, provided they're patient—it currently takes nearly 13 hours for transmissions from Earth to catch up with the probe.

According to a statement released by the JPL, the problem first became apparent on April 22nd. Data from the scientific transmission, which currently reports on the conditions at the very edge of the solar system, began coming through with improper formatting, making it impossible to interpret the contents. Engineering data is still intelligible, so the JPL staff is expecting that it will be possible to figure out what's going wrong and introduce a fix. Serious attempts at repair were delayed by a planned roll maneuver, and only started on Friday. With a round-trip time of over a day, however, progress will undoubtedly be slow.

According to an Associated Press report, engineers think that there's been a fault in the memory that stores the formatted data prior to transmission. This either corrupted its current contents, or has introduced some bad bits into the onboard memory. It should be possible to either reset the bad memory, or program the system to stop using the errant hardware entirely.

Voyager 2 is currently the second-most distant human-made object, trailing its twin, Voyager 1, by about 3 billion kilometers (Voyager 1 is now 16.9 billion kilometers—about 10.5 billion miles—from Earth). Right now, the probes are near the turbulent sector of space where the solar wind pushes up against interstellar space. Both probes are expected to cross into interstellar space within the next few years, providing our first in-place observational data from outside the solar system. They'll also record what happens at the boundary itself—they may cross it several times, given that its precise location fluctuates with changes in solar activity.

John Timmer @'ars technica'

HA!

Fungus hits Afghan opium poppies

Jamaica PM admits role against US drug extradition

Cameron is starting to show his true colours

"...The second and much more fundament problem is the raising of the bar of a no confidence vote in the government to 55% rather than simple majority of those MP’s present and voting. This is a major and fundamental alteration in our constitution and what is being changed is not a right of the PM but a power if the Commons.

"The British constitution is very simple: he who commands the confidence of the House is PM, he who loses that confidence must resign. I simply do not see how such a rule is credible or can be enforced: a majority is a majority is 51%, not 55% or 60% or 80%. But once one concedes the concept on anything other than a simple majority for a confidence vote, then the way is open to Governments to protect their position by passing legislation demanding ever higher majorities before they are forced to resign.

"Indeed why not go the whole hog and pass legislation saying that nothing less than a 100% majority will be sufficient to force the government of the day to resign! As well as being politically dangerous, there is also the fundamental paradox that this legislation need only be passed by a simple majority. If the 55% it had been in place in 1979 when a no confidence motion  in the Labour Government tabled by the SNP, and backed by the Tories was carried by one vote, then Callaghan could have stayed in power!

"As well as being politically unjustifiable the 55% rules raises the question of whether the House’s inherent ability to bring down government’s can be limited by legislation. One could of course always try and pass a bill to reverse this 55% doctrine by a subsequent act of parliament and such a bill would of course only need 51% of MP’s in its favour. However to become legislation obviously it would need to pas through the Lords as well, so in effect surrendering the long stop power to bring down the Government to the Lords!"

Frances Gibb @'The Times'

"All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law" was said by what renowned progressive US President?
Answer
 HERE

Crater Plume Gassing

Oil and gas stream from the riser of the Deepwater Horizon well May 11, 2010. This video is from the larger of two existing leaks on the riser. This leak is located approximately 460 feet from the top of the blowout preventer and rests on the sea floor at a depth of about 5,000 feet.

Smart Hate

As a college educator I hear it from my friends outside of the academy, especially those of my friends who lean to the right. Intellectuals are suspect. Somehow in America, being smart is a bad thing according to the political right. I will never forget a good friend, who is a staunch conservative sent me an article that smears President Obama by comparing him to a college president. The article is

HERE
He was interested in what I thought. My response was, "how is having a smart president a bad thing?" I never received an answer, which is too bad since that discussion has so much potential.
Now, in America, that discussion has risen to the top again with Obama's nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.
HERE
Then there's the history teacher's room being vandalized by Tea Partiers:
HERE

Gonjasufi - Duet

Scuba / Ramadanman [ABUCS007]

    

HA!