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POPSGalileo's Spyglass Using ever-more powerful telescopes over the next year, Galileo observed that the Moon was not perfectly smooth, as claimed by Aristotle, but cratered and mountainous. He spotted hundreds of stars previously untouched by human eyes. More critically, he discovered the four inner satellites of Jupiter - still known as the "Galilean moons" in his honour - and learnt that Venus, Earth's closest planet, goes through a full range of phases. Put together, his observations validated the revolutionary theory of Nicolaus Copernicus that Earth orbits the Sun, and not the other way round. Galileo understood the implications of what he had seen, but the Catholic Church was not ready to accept such heresy. Only in 2000 did the Holy See apologise for putting Galileo on trial in 1633, forcing him to recant his ideas lest he face imprisonment or worse. The Vatican also pays tribute to him in an exhibition that opened this month. I never knew that it was only in 20
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POPSTop U.S. Scientist Arrested in FBI Sting Attempting to Sell Nuclear Secrets to Israel
The conduct alleged in this complaint is serious and should serve as a warning to anyone who would consider compromising our nation’s secrets for profit,” said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. … “From 1989 through 2006, Nozette held security clearances as high as top secret and had regular, frequent access to classified information and documents related to the US national defense,” the Justice Department said. … “In addition, Nozette allegedly offered to reveal additional classified information that directly concerned nuclear weaponry, military spacecraft or satellites, and other major weapons systems,” DOJ said. In addition to allegations against a network of moles said to be based at U.S. nuclear weapons facilities, Edmonds has also fingered current and former members of Congress, such as Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Dan Burton (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO),Stephen Solarz (D-NY) and Tom Lantos (D-CA, deceased), as well as high-ranking Pentagon and State Dept.
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POPSAsteroid collision threat further downgraded Some of you may have heard of the asteroid Apophis that is going to pass very close to the earth in 2029? The estimates were that Earth's gravity would nudge it enough that it would return a few years later and hit the Earth. Further orbital calculations have shown that the odds of this happening are even less likely than once thought.
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POPS NASA Launches Delta II Rocket The latest Air Force weather forecast offers a 70-percent chance of conditions good enough for liftoff during the one-hour window, with cumulus clouds and showers again the main concern. Heavy clouds moving in from the Atlantic Ocean scrubbed a first launch attempt Wednesday. A second attempt was planned this morning, but a leak from fuel line at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 17B prompted another delay. Engineers traced the leak to a corroded weld, located beneath the launch pad, in the line through which nearly 10,000 gallons of RP-1 rocket fuel will be pumped from a storage tank to the rocket. The weld was repaired quickly enough to limit the delay to one day, and NASA says the rocket and spacecraft are ready to fly.
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POPSPresident Pantywaist Restores The Satellite States to Their Former Owner 
Despite propaganda to the contrary, 58 per cent of Poles were in favour of the missile shield. But small nations must assess the political will of larger powers. Thanks to President Pantywaist’s supine policies, the former satellite states can see that they are fast returning to their former status. The American umbrella cannot be relied upon on a rainy day. They have been here before. Poles remember how a leftist US president sold them out to Russia at Tehran and Yalta. The former Czechoslovakia was betrayed twice: in 1938 and 1945. If the word is out that America is in retreat, it will soon find it has no friends. The satellites will pragmatically accept their restored subordination, without openly acknowledging it, and co-operate with their dangerous neighbour, ushering in a new generation of Finlandisation. Bringing unstable states like Georgia into Nato would be a liability, not a defence. The crazy notion of a US-Nato-Russian combined defence policy . . .
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POPSPeak Water NASA satellites can now detect changes in large quantities of water due to the affect in has on gravity... so now we can see it disappearing due to poor agriculture practices
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POPSWhere's Waldo? "I guess you could cut off the battery packs," he said. "But it's so specialized it really doesn't have many other applications." There are two other drones with similar capabilities at Mote but they belong to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- and there are no funds available for them to perform Waldo's mission. "We'd have to go back to sending people out in boats to collect water samples," he said. "That's not a very efficient way to do it." Waldo, a scientific robot used to detect red tide, was last heard from on Monday. Mote is offering a $500 reward. Well it had a pretty long working life I suppose. It was probably eaten by a Great White Shark. That's my guess, anyway.
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POPSMap Of Active Lakes Below Antarctic Ice For some Antarctic lakes, pressure exerted by the ice above forces its water to fill an adjacent lake. The movement results in elevation changes at the surface over both lakes, detectable by NASA satellites. Credit: NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio Understanding this plumbing is important, as it can lubricate glacier flow and send the ice speeding toward the ocean, where it can melt and contribute to sea level change. But figuring out what's happening beneath miles of ice is a challenge. Researchers led by Smith analyzed 4.5 years of ice elevation data from NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation satellite (ICESat) to create the most complete inventory to date of changes in the Antarctic plumbing system. The team has mapped the location of 124 active lakes, estimated how fast they drain or fill. Read more.
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POPSWhy Humans Can't Navigate Out of a Paper Bag That these skills are so easily lost could explain why the average westerner struggles to navigate without help. Most people now live in a world that has been made navigable by maps, street signs, transport networks and GPS. There is no need to understand the environment to get around. Losing our relationship with physical space, coupled with the unique human ability to imagine ourselves in another location, may have given us the freedom to create a reality of our own. What other species could comprehend the World Wide Web or contemplate exploring new worlds? And while we may struggle to find our way back to the car after a shopping trip, we can take heart in the knowledge that, as a species, we have managed to find our way to the moon and back, and have sent satellites to just the right orbit so that we no longer need to think about where we are going. Show me a hamster that can do that.
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POPSAnother item on the "Why I no longer do Burning Man" list One of the things that {{Spiritualmonkey}} and I valued about Burning Man, back when we were still doing it, was the emphasis on radical self-reliance . If you needed it, you'd better bring it; if you didn't bring it, you wouldn't have it. There are a number of reasons we no longer go, but the shift away from radical self-reliance is part of it.
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POPSWatch Satellite Data In Action Unfortunately you may have to play this through once before watching but I think most of you will find it worth your time. You can make this full screen by clicking the middle button in the lower right corner. This clip is an audio visual "Living Atlas" journey of our world, showing the beauty and fragility of planet Earth as seen through satellite data.
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