- One small step closer to massive profits for a
billionaire, one giant leap toward giving other über-wealthy people the
capability to visit outer space. SpaceX, the company founded by PayPal magnate
Elon Musk, is among a group of several private contractors working toward
commercial flights to space. As part of the process of getting to a point of
being able to launch human beings into the cosmos, SpaceX launched its new rocket, the first
commercial flight to the International Space Station, Sunday night with an
unmanned cargo capsule attached. The Falcon 9 rocket with its Dragon capsule
launched on schedule at 8:35 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral, Fla., making it the
first object to take off from Cape Canaveral in a timely manner in…..well, a
long time. After the flawless launch and orange blaze in the black night sky,
the Dragon proceeded as planned and separated from the rocket about 10 minutes
into the flight. From there, it was on its way to the station. Mission control
quickly hailed it as "a picture-perfect launch and a flawless flight of
Falcon." NASA is involved in the process because part of the reason
companies are competing to control flights to outer space is getting the job of
resupplying the International Space Station. Watching the enterprise unfold has
been a slow and agonizing experience. Sunday’s launch came nearly five months
after a demonstration mission in which a Dragon capsule successfully berthed at
the station and returned to Earth. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said the
two missions were extremely similar, with the only difference this time being “that
we got there once." "We demonstrated we could do it, so there might
be a teeny, teeny bit of relaxation," Shotwell said ahead of the launch.
"Not a lot, though." The flight plan calls for the unmanned capsule,
packed with about 1,000 pounds of cargo that includes everything from
low-sodium food kits to clothing and computer hard drives, to connect with the
space station early Wednesday. Station Commander Sunita Williams and Aki Hoshide
from the Japanese Space Agency will use the station’s robotic arm to connect
with Dragon and berth it to the station. SpaceX definitely needs the mission to
go well, as within the next few months, Orbital Sciences is expected to fly its
own demonstration flight to the space station. If all goes well with Dragon’s
flight, it would also be a significant boost for the endeavor of developing a
human-rated spacecraft that would carry astronauts to the International Space
Station and wealthy visitors to outer space as well………
- Dear God, please…no. Someone please jump out from behind a
tree and reveal that this is all one big cosmic joke. Tell the world that
Hollywood is not going to crank out ANOTHER Godzilla movie. That threat emerged
after director
Gareth Edwards announced he was
working on another unnecessary and sure-to-suck incarnation of the franchise
that will be "grounded" and "realistic.” The Godzilla empire
began as a Japanese film franchise that ran for 28 pictures between 1954 and
2004. Hollywood took up the torch with a truly horrific 1998 version directed
by Roland Emmerich and starring Matthew
Broderick. The film was so absurdly bad it made many viewers long for the days
of off-time audio in which actors’ mouths moved a full 10 second after their
words were heard. Warner Bros. is behind the latest attempt to put a different
spin on the concept and Edwards, a British filmmaker who made his mark with
2010’s “Monsters,” a sci-fi movie he shot for just $500,000, will lead
the way. When asked what led him to a project that is almost assuredly destined
to fail in spectacular fashion, he said, "I've always been interested in
Godzilla and the ideas around him. I really wanted to see another Godzilla
film and jumped at the opportunity. My main idea was to imagine 'If this really
happened, what would it be like?' I want to take a grounded, realistic approach
to a Godzilla film." The problem with that line of thinking is that
by its very nature, a Godzilla movie is neither ground nor realistic. It is
absurd, over the top and based on the idea that A MUTANT LIZARD WHO IS 50 FEET
TALL IS ATTACKING MAJOR CITIES AND WANTS TO DESTROY THEM. Edwards does seem
committed to the project and insisted he is going all-out to make it a success.
"I've never worked this hard, this long and been this emotionally involved
in something. The reaction has been amazing and I can't wait for the fans to
see our final product,” he explained. The finished train wreck, er, project, is
due out in May 2014…………
- California, especially Southern California, does not have
high tolerance for the ugly or unsightly. A place full of the beautiful people
cannot be bothered with the lesser half, which essentially means those driving
a BMW 5 series or lower. Using this logic, it makes perfect sense that the
mayor of Costa Mesa is interested not in helping the less fortunate in his
city, but driving them away – or as Mitt Romney would call it, voluntary
self-deportation. Mayor Eric Bever looks across Costa Mesa and he doesn’t like
what he sees, namely, too many homeless and transient people who are uglying
his city up. Rather than focus on helping these downtrodden people raise
themselves up to a better life, Bever wants to go with the quick solution of
ripping the fork and spoon right out of the poor man’s hand. “My belief is that
if we manage to put the soup kitchen out of business that will go a long way to
addressing the attractiveness in our city that’s creating a huge negative
impact,” Bever said. Wow….that’s….really arrogant and elitist, to say the
least. Having police chase homeless people off the streets is one thing, but
trying to rid of places that are doing the good work of feeding people in need
just seems incredibly vapid and calloused. Bever cited the “negative impact”
homeless people have on Costa Mesa and blamed facilities like Someone Cares
Soup Kitchen and Share Our Selves for contributing heavily to the problem.
Officials at both facilities were outraged by the mayor’s comments and pointed
out that many of their clients are elderly, low-income individuals who have
nowhere else to turn. It’s too bad their mayor doesn’t give a damn………
- Art value is an extremely subjective issue, but the idea
of scrawling graffiti on a mural by a famed artist as it is on display at London's Tate Modern museum doesn’t seem
to be a wise idea to raise its worth. Of course, the value of the mural wasn’t
the primary concern for Russian activist Vladimir Umanets, who identifies
himself as one of the founders of "Yellowism" and has claimed responsibility
for scrawling graffiti on a mural by modern American master Mark Rothko. The
mural is part of Rothko's Seagram series and it was defaced Sunday with what
appear to be the words "Vladimir" and "a potential piece of
yellowism." Scotland Yard is investigating the incident, but the
investigation may not take long now that Umanets has claimed responsibility for
the vandalism. He explained in an interview Monday that he wants to draw
people's attention to "Yellowism," which he describes as "an
element of contemporary visual culture." That seems awfully vague, but
expecting a man willing to carry his own paint into a major museum and
deliberately commit an act of vandalism on a famous work of art to be specific,
coherent and on point is probably too much to ask. But just because he was
giving an interview one day after his alleged act of vandalism doesn’t mean
Umanets is a vandal or fame-seeker, at least not in his mind. He views his
gesture as an act of free speech and said that although he expects to be
arrested, he believes his scrawl increased the painting's value……….
- Life is not going well for former Boston Red Sox pitcher
Curt Schilling. His Providence-based 38 Studios filed for bankruptcy in June,
proving the video game business isn’t so easy after all. 38 Studios was lured
to Rhode Island from Massachusetts with a $75 million state loan guarantee but
quickly fell into financial trouble that became public when it missed a $1.1
million payment to the Economic Development Corp. Within a few weeks, the
company laid off its nearly 300 employees in Providence and 100 more at an
affiliate in Maryland and by June, it had filed for bankruptcy. The numbers are
disturbing, as 38 Studios owes $150.7 million and has assets of $21.7 million,
according to court filings. Add in the separate bankruptcy filing for 38
Studios Baltimore and its $121.4 million in debt and the picture gets even
uglier. The state of Rhode Island is about to bite a $100 million bullet over
the bankruptcy and Schilling is in a bad way as well. He may be forced to
auction off some of his most-prized possessions and memorabilia to cover
millions of dollars in loans he guaranteed to his failed company. He has
conceded he was "absolutely" part of the reason the company failed
and has already put his 20-room home on 26 acres in Medfield, Mass., on the
market for $3.45 million. With his baseball earnings gone, his primary assets
appear to be valuable items he accumulated during his career, including one of
the most famous pieces of attire in Red Sox history - the famed blood-stained
sock he wore on the team's way to the 2004 World Series championship. Schilling
listed the sock as collateral to Bank Rhode Island in a September filing with
the Massachusetts secretary of state's office and he may soon have to dial up
the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., where the
sock is on display, and ask for it back. The sock was a key character in the
story as Schilling pitched Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship
Series with an injured ankle that had blood seeping into the fabric of the sock
throughout the contest. Now it is Schilling who is quickly being bled dry by
his own financial ineptitude……….
No comments:
Post a Comment