Blog Heap of Links for the day 3 March 2015
Wars and Rumors
"China is developing space technologies aimed at blocking U.S. military communications and destroying its ability to win conflicts, according to a report commissioned by a panel created by the U.S. Congress."
"A [non-critical] US military satellite exploded after detecting an unexplained “sudden spike in temperature”, sending dozens of chunks of debris tumbling into different orbits around Earth. … While operators were deciding how to “render the vehicle safe” they detected a debris cloud which indicated that the satellite had been destroyed. …caused at least 43 pieces of debris to scatter into orbit…"
[Sudden spike in temperature? Hmmmm.]
Cosmology
…The problem, the scientists report Monday in Nature, is that while the tiny galaxy dates from just 700 million years or so after the big bang, it's far more dusty than something this young and small has any right to be. …
Energy
"…the last thing you'd likely expect is for a new experimental array to literally light nearly 130 birds in mid-flight on fire. And yet, that's exactly what happened near Tonopah, Nevada last month during tests of the 110-megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. …"
[Actually, that's just what anyone who's been paying attention would expect.]
Oklahoma Law
"An Oklahoma House committee last week passed a bill that would prohibit the state from helping the federal government implement and/or enforce any federal action that 'exceeds the authority of Congress granted in Section 8 of Article I of the Constitution of the United States.'"
"Oklahoma would become the first state to allow the execution of death row inmates using nitrogen gas under a bill overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday by the House of Representatives. The House voted 85-10 for the bill by Oklahoma City Republican Rep. Mike Christian, who began studying alternative methods after a botched lethal injection in the spring that led the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the constitutionality of Oklahoma's current three-drug method."
Being Human
…dogs (and other non-human animals) are missing something we take for granted: episodic memory. Dogs don't remember what happened yesterday and don't plan for tomorrow.
In defining episodic memory, Endel Tulving argued that it is unique to humans. Experience influences all animals. Most mammals and birds can build complex sets of knowledge or semantic memory. You and I also remember the experience of learning these complex sets of information. Dogs don't.
…in order to experience episodic remembering, an individual must have a sense of self. Most non-human animals have a dramatically different experience of self than we do. …
US Constitution
"Our national soul is being corrupted by Washington’s unhindered and unconstitutional overreach. Our Founders anticipated the federal government might get out of control at some point, and they gave us a constitutional mechanism to rein it in. It’s called a Convention of the States, outlined in Article V of the Constitution."
Breitbart is Here
Pistol Pete covers the world as it is and tells it how it ought to be.
"Netenyahu… treated the Kenyan half-breed, Popeye Reid and the rest of that pack of gargoyles with far more respect than they deserved or they returned. …"
Vic's morning load of links & comments start here.
"On this day in 1931 the United States adopted The Star-Spangled Banner as its national anthem."