When people hear the phrase “another 911″ they automatically think of planes crashing into buildings or some other bloody and spectacular event. But some experts are worried about another kind of 911 — a digital one. Is the United States prepared for it? Charlie Martin looks at the issue at Pajamas Media: It starts on a cold November night. You went to sleep, comfortably warm, after listening...

As the Obama transition team is addressing budget deficits in the trillions, it is being stonewalled by the space cadets who operate NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has at least 73 programs that blew their budgets by an average of 50% since 1990, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. Of 74 questions submitted to the agency by Obama’s NASA transition team, more than...

With the holiday season in full swing, I’m sure that you – like most of us – find your thoughts turning to… time travel. While not practical at this time, explorations of the furthest limits of general relativity and quantum physics bring us to the nearly inescapable conclusion that travel through time is almost certainly possible if we could just manage to get one of those pesky wormholes...

If you live long enough anything can happen and now one of the things has: the first face transplant has been performed in the United States. Does this mean that politicians can get two-face transplants?

A research team from Vanderbilt University has released the findings of a new study which seems to indicate that humans are pre-programmed to recognize unfair, unjust situations and are prone toward a finding of guilt and punishment of the perpetrators. (They should have enough material to draw upon. Some archaeologists in England announced this week that they found the oldest preserved human brain ever –...

From The Times December 12, 2008 Look up tonight for a spectacular treat in the sky Biggest full moon for years enhanced by shooting stars Paul Simons If the full moon tonight looks unusually large, it is not your imagination – it is the biggest and brightest full moon to be seen for 15 years. Each month the Moon makes a full orbit around the Earth in a slightly oval-shaped path, and tonight it will swing...

With Patrick Fitzgerald, the man that indicted Dick Cheney’s chief of staff ‘Scooter Libby’, busy with other matters in Illinois, a Swiss newspaper yesterday carried this article that alleges additional misdeeds by our vice president. Has Vice President Dick Cheney blocked the launch of a satellite that promises to lay to rest the debate about whether human beings are responsible for climate...

Just when you thought you were having fun with Twitter, instant messaging, Facebook and the like, somebody has to go and ruin it. You and your friends were probably just getting relaxed, being the “cool kids” on the block and keeping up with all of the latest trends and news on gadgets, entertainment and social ideals. Well, the Republicans have decided to take their pudgy fingers, pick up some newer...

Take A Peek at memeorandum — if you haven’t already. When memeorandum first started TMV did a Take A Peek on it, and in reality it doesn’t need one from TMV anymore. But we did get some new readers this year. So in case you don’t know about it….you need to. Not only have thousands of bloggers, non-bloggers and news media types made it a part of their daily (or hourly) web surfing,...

I’ve decided to start what will hopefully be a long running series highlighting both basic and applicative scientific breakthroughs that have the possibility of drastically changing our lives in the next 20-50 years. If you see anything you want to add, send it over. For my first entry, I want to talk about two breakthroughs that might be used to make next generation computing. Computational power has...

There is no dispute that fossil fuels are finite. It took millions upon millions of years to give us the oil reserves we have today. And we aren’t exactly replenishing the oil supply, unless we halt all life on this fine planet of hours (including mankind), break down into our carbon and hydrogen components over millions upon millions of years in order to form oil. Then we can all come back and fill...

On this date in 1980 Mt. St. Helens in Washington State blew its top. A friend of mine who lived in nearby Yakima mailed us photos of people with shovels clearing out ash from their driveways and sidewalks as if it were an early snowfall. Area residents, much like the rest of the nation, were in shock, not really comprehending the nature and scope of the disaster. Many seemed unaware that the volcanic debris...

I hope during a season of so serious news and push-pull, this will make you laugh. Long ago, the American Psychological Association looked askance and considered it a breach of ethics for shrinks to psychologically advise callers on the radio. Dr. Laura has been grieved against in many states for ‘practicing without a license via radio’ in the state the program is heard. Except Calif, where last...

With the Status of Forces Agreement with the United States in the hands of the Iraqi Parliament, we present the latest article by one of Iraq’s most pro-American columnists, Khadir Taahar. The author of past articles such as The American CIA: ‘Defender of Humanity’; Iraq Would Be a Fool to Refuse America’s ‘Outstretched Hand’; and Security Deal With America is Iraq’s...

It’s all over the business news today that the SEC has charged the billionaire Internet entrepreneur and owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, with insider trading. GigaOm’s Kevin Kelleher explains why it smells fishy: The SEC’s complaint against Cuban outlines some pretty compelling evidence: Cuban bought 6.3 percent of Mamma.com in March 2004. Three months later, the company CEO told him...

Today, James Joyner takes a look at how Barack Obama may soon have to give up his Blackberry, a difficult task for an avowed technophile. The chief problem here is the Presidential Records Act. In addition to concerns about e-mail security, he faces the Presidential Records Act, which puts his correspondence in the official record and ultimately up for public review, and the threat of subpoenas. A decision...

With India’s first Moon Impact Probe landing on the moon’s surface Friday, the country has become a major player in the exclusive 21st century space race. “India planted a flag of sorts on the moon today as a probe painted in the national colors of green, white and orange slammed into the lunar landscape,” reports Bloomberg. “The foil-wrapped Moon Impact Probe photographed the...

A rather sad story of success comes out of NASA this week. After months of literally groundbreaking success in one of the most harsh, bleak locations on the red planet, the Mars Phoenix Lander has fallen silent. WASHINGTON — NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander has ceased communications after operating for more than five months. As anticipated, seasonal decline in sunshine at the robot’s arctic landing...

If you talk to school kids what’s one constant? Many of them can tell you they’ve been bullied. If you talk to an adult — no matter how old — he or she will also tell you no matter that they can remember when they were bullied, and they probably tell you when, where, how old they were when it took place and even who did it. Are bullies just mean people who grow out of it? Or are they...

Do men get a free pass when it comes to physical attractiveness, while the bar is set higher for women seeking high office? This new study from Discovery seems to indicate that could be the case. Beauty Benefits Female Candidates, Study Shows Oct. 31, 2008 — Women running for top offices need to appear competent and attractive, according to a new study. For male candidates, seeming competent may be enough. For...

News arrives in today’s Times that the computer industry is working to introduce computers that boot up faster. This work is in response to human impatience with the time it takes a computer to boot up. Those three minutes, the impatient humans say, feel like “an eternity.”  Let me go on record as believing this is not a good idea. For more than 65 years I have been operating a computer that...

Believe it or not, Sarah Palin gave a “policy” speech yesterday in support of (and in support of full government funding of) the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In her speech, Palin stressed that “the most valuable thing of all is information” and that “[e]arly identification of a cognitive or other disorder, especially autism, can make a life-changing difference.”...

Is the global economic disaster we are living through today just a harbinger of a much more dramatic global ecological collapse to come? According to Patrik Etschmayer of the Swiss newspaper Nachrichten – the same people that got the world into the present crisis – and that favor John McCain – are driving the world over an ecological cliff. Etschmayer writes in part: “What if this crisis...

Does this open letter to the American people by just about a gazillion Nobel laureates endorsing Obama help or hurt him? All 2008 US Nobel Laureates in Science Endorse Obama! – Scientists & Engineers for America Action Fund. The answer is neither because it doesn’t matter, but I’ll give my 2 cents. I think one of Obama’s advantages is that everyone knows he’s smart. Any idiot...

One thing you have to grant McCain is that he is persistent. Whether he is persistently truthful, is another matter. He was persistent about claiming outright that Palin sold the Alaska government’s jet on eBay, and at a profit. Even after it had been proven to be a lie, McCain continued the farce. At a campaign stop in Wisconsin, with a cheering and applauding Palin standing behind him, McCain said: You...