Blog Heap of Links for the day 20 May 2009
Transport Tragedy
The number of people killed in this morning's military air crash in Indonesia has risen to 98, including two on the ground. The C-130 Hercules barrelled into the ground a few kilometres short of its intended destination, a nearby air base. Most of the plane exploded in flames but remarkably 15 people survived, albeit severely injured. The plane was carrying 99 passengers and eleven crew.
Oklahoma
A new poll of Oklahoma from Public Policy Polling (D) suggests that the 2010 Senate race in this deep-red state could potentially be a competitive one -- that is, if GOP Sen. Tom Coburn retires.
Spacecraft
We aren't really at the point yet where we can send human beings to Mars. The first and most important reason for that hesitation is our track record -- different nations have sent more than 30 probes toward Mars, but fewer than one-third of those probes have survived the trip. It's not a very good track record, and certainly not one that would encourage us to replace those robotic probes with human beings, at least until we've improved the odds of success.
A NASA Mars rover, the Spirit, is stuck. The rover drove into soft ground a couple of weeks ago, and when it tried to get out, its wheels slipped and it moved only a couple of inches. The Spirit has been stuck before, and mission managers have been assiduously driving it around potential hazards. But they did not see the soft spot, which was hidden under a veneer of normal-looking soil.
Lost and Found
Bartlesville police are closing the books on the missing person case for Bartlesville resident Dave Rockey. "David came in Thursday and spoke to the investigative team that had been looking for him for the last seven years,"
US Military
Members of Muskogee's 341st Engineering Company enjoyed a happy homecoming on Wednesday. They are back home after a year in Iraq.
Defending Ourselves
goal is to show even a big, strong young man can be incapacitated by a quick jolt from the Taser C-2. The Taser is actually not about administering pain because people react to that differently. It's about making the muscles contract so the threat stops.
By 67-29, the Senate passed Oklahoma Republican Tom Coburn's amendment to let law-abiding visitors carry legal firearms into national parks. This overturns a 1983 federal rule requiring that firearms be kept unloaded and in an inaccessible place such as a trunk of a car. The provision (now part of credit-card legislation) protects Second Amendment rights, and it preserves the right of states to pass firearm laws that apply consistently, even on federal lands.