A lot today's high technology evolved out of the space program of the 1960s but…

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A lot today's high technology evolved out of the space program of the 1960s but in many respects it has accelerated far beyond what gets used in space now. It turns out that when building the Curiosity rover that recently landed on Mars, the engineers opted for carefully tied knots instead of the zip ties favored by most of here on Earth. 

It turns out the the engineers developing spacecraft tend to take fairly conservative approaches to design and it actually makes a lot of sense. If you are developing something that is going to be shot tens of millions of miles into space where there is no opportunity to repair problems, you do whatever you can to avoid potential problems in the first place. 

Knots on Mars! (and a few thoughts on NASA’s knots)
Knots on Mars! (and a few thoughts on NASA’s knots)


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The next time you hear someone talk about growing government under Obama, consider… 6

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The next time you hear someone talk about growing government under Obama, consider these graphs of private and public sector employment under Bush and Obama. Aside from a temporary spike when census takers were hired in 2010, government employment under Obama has been on a steady downward path, contrary to what happened between 2001 and 2004

Employment in Two Administrations
Bush the socialist?

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I would urge anyone that lives in Maryland's 10th district to vote out state… 2

This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged freespeech on by (updated 4736 days ago)
I would urge anyone that lives in Maryland's 10th district to vote out state delegate Emmett C Burns Jr at the next available opportunity. While I fundamentally disagree with Mr Burns strident opposition to marriage equality I totally defend his right to be an ignorant bigot. 

I oppose Mr Burns or anyone else regardless of their political affiliation trying to restrict free speech rights of any person in this country. I was against it when conservatives tried prevent Americans from speaking out against George W Bush last decade and I oppose it when a homophobic politician and baptist minister that happens to be a Democrat tries to get the owner of a football team to silence one of his players. #freespeech  

Politician Demands Ravens To Silence Player Over Gay Marriage Support
If all that Emmert C. Burns Jr. wanted was more attention then he has succeeded. If the Baltimore politician was trying to forward his political beliefs, silence All-Pro NFL linebacker Brendon Ayanbad…

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In addition to today's Star Trek themed Google doodle, Trek fans should check… 2

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In addition to today's Star Trek themed Google doodle, Trek fans should check out the new Mission Log podcast. Each week, they examine a different episode of the show going through them in the order they aired. Once they finish the original series they will be going through each of the spin-off series as well

Mission Log: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast
Episode 005 The Naked Time: Breaking a sweat leads to multiple breakdowns on the Enterprise. Singing! Swordplay! Kirk is torn between two lovers! This week, we’re putting

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How much worse could a single payer system possibly be? 2

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How much worse could a single payer system possibly be?

Reshared post from +Jim Fawcette

$750 Billion Wasted Annually

New report rips inefficient healthcare system. If the financial system worked like the healthcare system an ATM transaction would take days. 

WonkBlog: "America spent $2.6 trillion on health care last year; about one in every six dollars went into the health-care system. A third of that spending — a full $750 billion — did nothing to make anyone healthier."

Report: 
http://iom.edu/Reports/2012/Best-Care-at-Lower-Cost-The-Path-to-Continuously-Learning-Health-Care-in-America.aspx

WonkBlog summary:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/07/we-spend-750-billion-on-unnecessary-health-care-two-charts-explain-why/ 


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+NASCAR drivers +Trevor Bayne, +Matt Kenseth, +Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle took…

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+NASCAR drivers +Trevor Bayne, +Matt Kenseth, +Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle took a fuel efficiency challenge at the +Ford Motor Company test track recently with the #2013fordfusion  

Roush Racing Drives Take the Ford Fusion Fuel Efficiency Challenge « 2013 Ford Fusion Story
Recently NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers Trevor Bayne, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, and Greg Biffle stopped the Ford Dearborn Development Center to spend some quality time with the all-new 2013 Fusion. The e…

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Some things are just built to last and that includes the Voyager space probes that…

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Some things are just built to last and that includes the Voyager space probes that have been going strong for 35 years. They are about to leave the solar system but along the way, we've recieved some amazing images from the probes and learned a lot about our own solar system. 

Voyager’s Long Journey: 35 Years of Incredible Solar System Images | Wired Science | Wired.com
Our view of the solar system was forever changed 35 years ago. Here we take a look at some of the best images and discoveries that the Voyager 1 and 2 probes produced during their flight through our s…

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The choices are clear, one side says "be afraid, be very afraid" while…

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The choices are clear, one side says "be afraid, be very afraid" while the other side is all about "together we can make it better"

Reshared post from +Phil Nickinson

Another one where my wife says smart things well.

Embedded Link

http://www.pnj.com/article/20120907/NEWS01/309070014

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