President Obama is calling on NASA to cancel the program that was to return humans to the Moon by 2020, and focus instead on radically new space technologies.

Mr. Obama’s 2010 budget proposal for NASA asks for $18 billion over five years for fueling spacecraft in orbit, new types of engines to accelerate spacecraft through space and robotic factories that could churn soil on the Moon — and eventually Mars — into rocket fuel.

On Air New Zealand’s new 777:

When the so-called “friendly skies” are mentioned, a few airlines in particular come to mind: Virgin America, Singapore Airlines and Qantas, for starters. Starting today, you can safely include Air New Zealand in that discussion. In a bid to turn long-haul international travel on its head, the outfit has today revealed a freshly outfitted Boeing 777 with a coach cabin that easily puts every coach cabin found in the US to shame. Designed by Recaro, the world-class coach area includes 11 rows of Skycouches that can actually fold flat in order to create (admittedly short) beds for two. The best part? The “third seat” in the row will only cost a couple 50 percent of what it normally would, making it somewhat more affordable to buy a bed without springing for first class. You’ll also find power sockets, USB ports and iPod connectors in every single coach seat, leaving the plane a Gogo-module away from being absolutely perfect.

(via)

Andy Pasztor for the Wall Street Journal tonight:

The White House has decided to begin funding private companies to carry NASA astronauts into space, but the proposal faces major political and budget hurdles, according to people familiar with the matter.

The controversial proposal, expected to be included in the Obama administration’s next budget, would open a new chapter in the U.S. space program. The goal is to set up a multiyear, multibillion-dollar initiative allowing private firms, including some start-ups, to compete to build and operate spacecraft capable of ferrying U.S. astronauts into orbit—and eventually deeper into the solar system.

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Transportation Security Administration

Aviation Security Directive

Subject: Security Directive
Number: SD 1544-09-06
Date: December 25, 2009

EXPIRATION: 0200Z on December 30, 2009

This Security Directive (SD) must be implemented immediately. The measures contained in this SD are in addition to all other SDs currently in effect for your operations.

INFORMATION: On December 25, 2009, a terrorist attack was attempted against a flight traveling to the United States. TSA has identified security measures to be implemented by airports, aircraft operators, and foreign air carriers to mitigate potential threats to flights.

APPLICABILITY: THIS SD APPLIES TO AIRCRAFT OPERATORS THAT CARRY OUT A SECURITY PROGRAM REGULATED UNDER 49 CODE OF FEDERAL REGULATIONS (CFR)1544.101(a).

ACTIONS REQUIRED: If you conduct scheduled and/or public charter flight operations under a Full Program under 49 CFR 1544.101(a) departing from any foreign location to the United States (including its territories and possessions), you must immediately implement all measures in this SD for each such flight.

1. BOARDING GATE

1. The aircraft operator or authorized air carrier representative must ensure all passengers are screened at the boarding gate during the boarding process using the following procedures. These procedures are in addition to the screening of all passengers at the screening checkpoint.

1. Perform thorough pat-down of all passengers at boarding gate prior to boarding, concentrating on upper legs and torso.
2. Physically inspect 100 percent of all passenger accessible property at the boarding gate prior to boarding, with focus on syringes being transported along with powders and/or liquids.
3. Ensure the liquids, aerosols, and gels restrictions are strictly adhered to in accordance with SD 1544-06-02E.

2. During the boarding process, the air carrier may exempt passengers who are Heads of State or Heads of Government from the measures outlined in Section I.A. of this SD, including the following who are traveling with the Head of State or Head of Government:

1. Spouse and children, or
2. One other individual (chosen by the Head of State or Head of Government)

3. For the purposes of Section I.B., the following definitions apply:

1. Head of State: An individual serving as the chief public representative of a monarchic or republican nation-state, federation, commonwealth, or any other political state (for example, King, Queen, and President).

2. Head of Government: The chief officer of the executive branch of a government presiding over a cabinet (for example, Prime Minister, Premier, President, and Monarch).

2. IN FLIGHT

1. During flight, the aircraft operator must ensure that the following procedures are followed:

1. Passengers must remain in seats beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
2. Passenger access to carry-on baggage is prohibited beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.
3. Disable aircraft-integrated passenger communications systems and services (phone, internet access services, live television programming, global positioning systems) prior to boarding and during all phases of flight.
4. While over U.S. airspace, flight crew may not make any announcement to passengers concerning flight path or position over cities or landmarks.
5. Passengers may not have any blankets, pillows, or personal belongings on the lap beginning 1 hour prior to arrival at destination.

AIRCRAFT OPERATOR ACKNOWLEDGMENT: The aircraft operator must immediately provide written confirmation to its assigned PSI indicating receipt of this SD.

AIRCRAFT OPERATOR dissemination required: The aircraft operator must immediately pass the information and directives set forth in this SD to all stations affected, and provide written confirmation to its PSI, indicating that all stations affected have acknowledged receipt of the information and directives set forth in this SD. The aircraft operator must disseminate this information to its senior management personnel, ground security coordinators, and supervisory security personnel at all affected locations. All aircraft operator personnel implementing this SD must be briefed by the aircraft operator on its content and the restrictions governing dissemination. No other dissemination may be made without prior approval of the Assistant Secretary for the Transportation Security Administration. Unauthorized dissemination of this document or information contained herein is prohibited by 49 CFR Part 1520 (see 69 Fed. Reg. 28066 (May 18, 2004).

APPROVAL OF ALTERNATIVE MEASURES: With respect to the provisions of this SD, as stated in 49 CFR 1544.305(d), the aircraft operator may submit in writing to its PSI proposed alternative measures and the basis for submitting the alternative measures for approval by the Assistant Administrator for Transportation Sector Network Management. The aircraft operator must immediately notify its PSI whenever any procedure in this SD cannot be carried out by a government authority charged with performing security procedures.

FOR TSA ACTION ONLY: The TSA must issue this SD immediately to the corporate security element of all affected U.S. aircraft operators.

FOR STATE DEPARTMENT: Retransmittal to appropriate foreign posts is authorized. Post must refer to STATE 162917, 201826Z Sep 01, Subject: FAA Security Directives and Information Circulars: Definitions and Handling, for specific guidance and dissemination.

Gale Rossides
Acting Administrator

(via)

Jean-Paul Troadec, the head of the the Investigation and Analysis Bureau, said that the search for the Air France flight 447 data recorders will resume in February 2010.

As we all know, the Airbus A330 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. About 1,000 pieces of the plane were recovered and only 51 bodies out of the 228 who were on board. What we don’t know for a fact is why the plane went down. The only way that this question with absolute certainty is if the data recorders are recovered and analyzed.

The search area for this new search will be about 30 miles long.compared to the 90 previous search area. The new search will cost about 10 million euros ($14.2 million) and will be paid by both Air France and Airbus.

The Times reported airlines based in the United States said the TSA sent a memorandum today outlining new security measures due to the recent in-flight activities of two Nigerians en route to Detroit.

International travelers were also told that they could not leave their seats for the last hour of a flight, during which time they also could not use a pillow or blanket. They were also limited to one piece of carry-on baggage, including a purse or briefcase, and that piece had to be stowed in an overhead compartment for the last hour of a flight.

Airlines were ordered to turn off in-flight entertainment systems with maps showing a plane’s location, and pilots and flight crews were told not to make comments about cities or landmarks below the flight path.

Call it what you will, “the noughties”, “the two-thousands” or something else, the first decade of the 21st century (2000-2009) is now over. Looking back on the past ten years through news photographs, it becomes clear that it was a dramatic, often brutal decade. Natural disasters, terrorist attacks and wars were by far the most dominant theme. Ten years ago, Bill Clinton was ending his final term in office, very few had ever heard of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein still ruled Iraq – all that and much more has changed in the intervening time. It’s really an impossible task to sum up ten years in a handful of photographs, but below is my best attempt at a look back at the last decade – feel free to let me know what I missed in the comments below. (50 photos total)

The New York Times:

Heathrow, which first opened in 1946 as a tiny airfield supporting about 9,000 commercial flights a year, has expanded steadily over the past six decades to encompass an area of about five square miles, or 13 square kilometers. The airport now serves more than 180 destinations in more than 90 countries. But that figure is down 20 percent from the 227 destinations served in 1990. Heathrow’s two existing runways now run at 99 percent capacity, handling more than 460,000 takeoffs and landings per year, with nearly 67 million passengers annually passing through its five terminals.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) says it expects to restart the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) by this weekend after more than a year of repairs. The 27 km (17 mi) particle accelerator was launched last year, but suffered a failure from a faulty electrical connection, damaging 53 of the smasher’s 9,300 superconducting magnets. Repairs are now completed, and the plan is to begin injecting protons into the LHC this weekend, on the path to search for particles such as predicted-yet-unobserved Higgs Boson. Collected below are some photographs of the repairs, and of the LHC and some of its experiments in various stages of construction. (30 photos total)

Nicholas Feltron:

Ultimately, I think the most fascinating story here is the change in our news habits after September 11, 2001. After this day, a new and higher baseline for visits to the site is established, and the inference is that this event really established CNN.com and the greater Internet as a reliable, timely and indispensable source for news.

(via df)

In Saratoga Springs, New York, reports The Saratogian, controversy has erupted over the Marino family’s desire to let son Adam ride his bike to Maple Avenue Middle School.

Before the first day of classes last week, officials actually placed calls telling parents not to permit kids to bike or walk. The Marinos, regular bike riders, defied the “rule” — school officials can’t dictate how kids get to school any more than they can tell parents which make of car to drive. They were greeted outside by school personnel and a New York state trooper.

World Changing continues with more ridiculousness.

The Marinos aren’t alone. A recent New York Times back-to-school piece profiles similar cases in which parents who permit their kids to walk and bike are met with raised eyebrows, or worse. One mother in Mississippi was threatened with a child endangerment charge for letting her 10-year-old walk a mile to soccer practice after passersby saw the boy and called 911. Another in Vancouver, British Columbia, was left waiting and worrying for her first grader after school officials prevented him from walking himself home — a distance of six houses.

I vividly remember walking to and from school each day from first to sixth grade with my younger brother, and loved every minute of it. Perhaps my mother was worried about the two of us being abducted. I know I’ll worry about Benjamin when it’s his turn. Looking back, it felt like a five mile walk. Google Maps tells me the route is only 0.6 miles — 12 quick minutes! The fresh New Hampshire air early in the morning was energizing as a little guy, and nothing felt better at the end of the day than breaking free from the nuns that taught us social studies and geometry.

It is sad to see schools feel the need to put these types of rules in place. These days, it’s more important than ever to get kids outside away from the dreaded television, video games, and Internet… walking, riding or chasing each other down the street. The trick, of course, is moving to a house that leads to school up-hill both ways.

The Red Sox have clinched the 2009 American League Wild Card! Boston returns to the playoffs for the sixth time in seven years and will face the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the best-of-five AL Division Series starting next week. The Red Sox, World Series champions in 2004 and 2007, advanced to the ALCS in 2008. This year’s team has won 91 regular-season games with five games remaining.

The king is dead. Long live the king.

“Strong live the king” may be more like it, as Livestrong Foundation founder, cancer survivor and seven time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong turned in a record time of 6 hours, 28 minutes and 50.9 seconds today to unseat six-time defending Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race champion Dave Wiens of Gunnison.

It was the first time Wiens failed to win the race he has owned since first entering in 2003

via The Denver Post

• Remembering Apollo 11 at The Big Picture
• John Noble Wilford, who covered the Apollo 11 mission for The New York Times, narrates a look back at the historic journey.
• One Hand for Space History, as Superpowers Spar. The New York Times
• Maps of the Apollo 11 moon walks superimposed on a soccer pitch and a baseball diamond. (Re-link from January)
• Extreme profanity at it’s best: The Onion reports on the Moon landing.
• Apollo 11 40th anniversary at NASA.gov

The Boston Herald reported on the new site today:

Families crowded around black-and-white television sets in 1969 to watch Neil Armstrong take man’s first steps on the moon.

Now, they’ll be able to watch the Apollo 11 mission recreated in real time on the Web, follow Twitter feeds of transmissions between Mission Control and the spacecraft, and even get an e-mail alert when the lunar module touches down. Those features are part of a new Web site from the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum commemorating the moon mission and Kennedy’s push to land Americans there first.

“Putting a man on the moon really did unite the globe,” said Thomas Putnam, director of the JFK Library. “We hope to use the Internet to do the same thing.”

The Web site — WeChooseTheMoon.org — goes live at 8:02 a.m. Thursday, 90 minutes before the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla. It will track the capsule’s route from the Earth to the Moon, ending with the moon landing and Armstrong’s walk — in real time, but 40 years later. Internet visitors can see animated recreations of key events from the four-day mission, including when Apollo 11 first orbits the moon and when the lunar module separates from the command module, as well as browse video clips and photos and hear the radio transmission between the astronauts and NASA flight controllers.

Former CNN anchor Miles O’Brien:

In July 2008, Airbus’ bitter rival Boeing released a “Statistical Summary of Commercial Jet Airplane Accidents” from the dawn of the jet age in 1959 through 2007.

At the time of the study, the A330 still had a flawless record: no fatal accidents in the course of a million departures. A month ago, Air France 447 changed that record – but the airliner remains very safe statistically.

Over the years Airbus A300’s have had three crashes that caused deaths. That equates to a rate of .47 airplanes lost per million departures. The A320 series has had eight fatal crashes – or .23 hulls per million departures. And the A340 has never had a fatal crash.

The record is not as good for the A310 – the model of airplane that plunged into the sea trying to land at the capital of the Comoros Islands – Moroni. It has crashed and killed people eight times now (six times on the event horizon of the Boeing study). That equates to a fatal accident rate of 1.42 airplanes for every million departures.

The infamous – and much maligned – DC-10 crashed with fatalities a dozen times for a rate of 1.36 fatal crashes per million departures.

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

The scenario was conducted several times and the results at the end of each scenario produced consistent findings.

In an A330 simulator at FL 350 [35,000 feet] with a gross weight of 210 tonnes in ISA+10, with icing selected, the aircraft approaches a thunderstorm with a high intensity of turbulence. Due to the extreme turbulence, the autopilot disengages. Shortly thereafter a malfunction is selected to block both captain and first officer’s pitot tubes to replicate extreme ice formation.

The airplane reverts to alternate law with protection lost. There is a speed flag on both the captain and fo’s PFD [Primary Flight Display]. The severe turbulence activates repeated stall warnings. Manual thrust is being used at this time. The speed on the standby altimeter is reading 240kts or thereabouts with MACH 0.72. (From the GPS the ground speed is 350 kts or thereabouts. It is very difficult to read the instruments and ECAM warnings [fault and operational warnings].)

Updrafts take the aircraft up to FL 370 and produces a negative G of 0.2. The aircraft then enters severe downdrafts and the rate of descent averages more than 19,000 fpm [feet per minute]. The instinctive reaction is to pull on the stick to arrest the rate of descent. The aircraft shakes and buffets violently. The G force on the [pilot display] reads +5 but the instructor’s panel shows +8. The aircraft breaks up in flight around 20,000 ft.

After several attempts at this with all results being equal one could not see AF447 sending out any distress signals if this is what happened to them.

(via Plane Talking)

At one point during the article, particularly relevant given the news of Air France 447, Langewiesche details a high-altitude, engines-out glide of an Air Transat flight in 2001. It all ended well but for a couple near-death experiences.

Engines-out airline gliding is not a sanctioned category, but records exist nonetheless. The current holder appears to be a Canadian named Robert Piché, who, if not exactly a rebel, seems to be something of a maverick.

The runway ahead was 10,866 feet long. It was outlined in lights. Piché saw that he was high, and put the Airbus through a series of S-turns, like switchbacks, much as some F-4 pilots might have wanted to do when flamed-out, if only they had been allowed. Piché was flying at F-4 speeds or faster, though with descent rates much lower. In the cabin the flight attendants were screaming “Brace! Brace! Brace!” to the terrified passengers. The airplane crossed the runway threshold doing 230 miles an hour, slammed against the pavement about a thousand feet along, bounced back into the air, and floated for another 1,770 feet until Piché goddamned planted that airplane down to stay, and locked the brakes. The planting did not drive the landing gear through the wings, but it was hard enough to wrinkle the fuselage. The locked tires slid for about 400 feet, then abraded and deflated, leaving the airplane to grind to a halt on the ruins of its wheels. It was 6:46 a.m., at the end of a world-record, 20-minute, 34,500-foot, 90-mile, 306-person, engines-out airline glide. The passengers evacuated down the slides. Piché followed, and walked around the airplane. The wheels were destroyed. Jesus Fuck Me Mother Mary.

“Most of the local investors are out of money,” added Mike Shannon, who specializes in Detroit foreclosures and has clients from New Zealand, Australia, England and other places.

Recently a Californian purchased 178 properties, mostly one at a time, and most for under $10,000. Another has purchased six Detroit properties since September and hopes to begin buying five a month.

Now here is a key point to remember: as systems fail in an Airbus, the laws that the computers live by change from “normal”, to “alternate”, to “abnormal alternate” to “direct”. At each stage the computers surrender more authority to the humans – until finally silicon surrenders and the carbon pilots are on their own – with no help at all from HAL – at just the point they need him most.

They were in the dark, getting hammered by turbulence, flying blind, by hand, a plane that was designed and built to be controlled by machines – with human supervision.

Zimbabwe’s consumer inflation stood at -1.1 percent month-on-month in April compared to -3.0 in March, the Central Statistical Office [in Harare] said on Friday. The CSO did not release a yearly figure.

Zimbabwe has allowed the use of multiple foreign currencies to stem hyperinflation that destroyed the value of the Zimbabwe dollar.

Expedia.com said Wednesday it will stop charging fees when customers book airline tickets over the Internet, upping the ante in the competition among online travel agencies.

The company, a unit of Expedia Inc., stopped charging booking fees in March under a promotion that was scheduled to end May 31. The latest move makes the no-fee policy permanent.

Rival online agencies Orbitz.com, a unit of Orbitz Worldwide Inc., and Sabre Holdings Corp.’s Travelocity.com also had eliminated booking fees on a promotional basis. The companies declined to comment on possible next steps. “Orbitz intends to remain a competitive place to book online,” a spokesman said. A Travelocity spokesman said: “We’re continuing to waive booking fees through this month.”

Facebook, the fast-growing social network, has found a deep-pocketed friend in Russia.

Digital Sky Technologies, an Internet investment company based in Moscow, said Tuesday it has invested $200 million in Facebook in exchange for a 1.96 percent stake in the company, and would eventually offer to buy at least $100 million in Facebook’s common stock. Facebook said the deal values the entire company — which Facebook’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, founded in his Harvard dorm room in 2004 — at $10 billion.

Ten billion dollars. Jiminy.

The World Health Organization raised its pandemic alert to 5, its second-highest level Wednesday, indicating the outbreak of swine flu that originated in Mexico is nearing widespread human infection.

Any the NY Times has an infographic tracking what might possibly turn out to be “The Big One”.

I know it’s hard after being “the man” for so many years, but you’re not part of our government any longer. Stay home instead of appearing on FOX news twice a week, and, please shut the eff up.

Regards,
The non-Republican citizens of the United States

[A Holocaust survivor's son] told the story of a college freshman in Southern California who stood up during a presentation his mother was giving and said she’d never heard of the Holocaust.

What are they teaching in history classes nowadays?

Tribe 22, Yanks 4 in their second straight blow-out at their new $1.5 billion stadium.

 With clogged highways and overburdened airports, economic growth was suffering, Mr. Obama said from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, shortly before leaving for a weekend trip to Latin America.

“What we need, then, is a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century,” he said, “a system that reduces travel times and increases mobility, a system that reduces congestion and boosts productivity, a system that reduces destructive emissions and creates jobs.”

And he added, “There’s no reason why we can’t do this.”

…

The government has identified 10 corridors of 100 to 600 miles in length with greatest promise for high-speed development.

They are: a northern New England line; an Empire line running east to west in New York State; a Keystone corridor running laterally through Pennsylvania; a southeast network connecting the District of Columbia to Florida and the Gulf Coast; a Gulf Coast line extending from eastern Texas to western Alabama; a corridor in central and southern Florida; a Texas-to-Oklahoma line; a California corridor where voters have already approved a line that will allow travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in two and a half hours; and a corridor in the Pacific Northwest.

The White House website has Obama’s full remarks.

United Airlines is requiring extremely obese passengers who can’t fit in their seats to pay for a second seat when there is no other way to accommodate their girth.

United said Wednesday that it will charge obese, coach-class passengers for a second coach seat or for upgrading to a larger seat in business or first class, if necessary. The policy applies to United and United Express flights. United published its new policy on its website under “Passengers requiring extra space.”

(via No Impact Man)