the mouse that roared

Ahmadinejad at Muppet Laboratories really amuses me, like some dancer in the chorus of a Busby Berkley musical number.  I do appreciate Iran's efforts to fill the science void that the devestiture of NASA will bring, and I am not sure if this was part of the promise to deliver a powerful message to Western global powers, but a rocket launched a little menagerie of two turtles, a mouse and a "few worms" to a sub-orbital clime.  A few worms doesn't have the same celebrity as Latka the Russian space dog.

2.0

The US army services are being dragged into the next decade over the broken debris of its missed opportunities.  Last month's close call with the underpants bomber was blamed in part on out-dated government computer systems, and now the military is rethinking its stance on all sorts of types of blocking.  Despite not having uniform policy and enforcement, the army is embracing WiFi and the so-called Web 2.0 to allow the hive-mind full freedom and unrestricted dastardliness, through the vehicles of Facebook and Twitter.  140-word spasms are certainly grown-up steps.  The army is even moving to repeal some of its more nonsensical information security measures, which contributed to neither information nor security.  And now there's buzz about gaying the whole party up a notch.  Brava

the lunatic is on the grass

After the scheduled decommissioning of the fleet of space shuttles this year, NASA will be more or less grounded.  A portion of the funds that were to be allocated for space exploration will go to sponsor private ventures, which is surely exciting but Virgin Galactic does not front the same officiousness as a national space agency.  The US is dropping some of its support missions to the International Space Station and curbing other projects, including the re-commitment for a manned-moon mission.  I understand that there are more immediate priorities and that crown and coffer have evaporated, but it's more than a bit sad that there won't be that sort of spectacle and wonder for the forseeable future.

shah

Apparently Ahmadinejad has accelerated his rhetoric, and the US is responding by deploying more land- and sea-based missile shields for its allies in the Gulf region.  Iran is promising to delivery "a telling blow to global powers," on 11 February, which is the 31st anniversary of the Iranian Revolution that installed Ayatollah Khomeini.

somnambulism

Looking through the archives of the fantastic psychology blog Mind Hacks, I came across this brief on a UK author's book about couples' sleeping positions and what that nighttime arrangement says about their relationship.Different sleeping arrangements had lovely descriptive names, named like yoga positions, but it all smacks of pseudo-science, like phrenology, dowsing or hollow-earth theory.  I doubt whether someone should judge their relationship too harshly if they perfer the one-footed king pidgeon over the downward facing-dog at night.  Besides I am sure no one is frozen in place while they sleep and bed size should be considered too.

padding

Contemplating how casual computer use might shift with the iPad, moving away from something you cannot keep in your pocket or clip to your belt or let it rest on the president's desk, I have images of people lugging big boom boxes on their shoulders in the mid-eighties, even though we had the Walkman.  I also think about those novelty over-sized sunglasses and maybe some of the accoutrements, like 4 foot long giant pencils, that they sold at Spensers Gifts or on the New Facts of Life.