The largest series of solar installations in history, more than 1,300 megawatts, is planned for the desert outside Los Angeles, according to a new deal between the utility Southern California Edison and solar power plant maker, BrightSource.

Biggest Solar Deal Ever Announced — We're Talking Gigawatts | Wired Science from Wired.com

This will be a very big year for SpaceX and the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. In 2006, SpaceX won the NASA COTS competition to demonstrate transport of cargo and optionally crew to and from the International Space Station. Under that agreement, SpaceX will conduct the second flight of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and first flight of its Dragon spacecraft in 2009. The final flight, scheduled for 2010, will demonstrate Dragon's ability to berth with the Space Station.

Call your congressmen and tell them to support funding COTS-D.

SpaceX: Support NASA Exploration and COTS Capability D | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

The crash of Flight 1549 was many things: a “Miracle on the Hudson,” with no fatalities among the 155 people on board; a rare ditching in American aviation history; a celebrity-making event complete with heroic airline pilots and fast-moving ferryboat saviors.

What has been less talked about is how the events tested emergency response communications and coordination. A commercial jetliner, after all, one having taken off from La Guardia Airport, had crashed into the heart of the city in the middle of the afternoon.

Flight 1549 - From New York to Norad, Testing a Response Network - NYTimes.com

The personal automobile must be abandoned, and quickly.

What's the point in writing an article like this? Your base is going to applaud and everyone else is going to ignore you because this is not remotely constructive.

The Myth of the Efficient Car

"We have submitted a paper to the Lunar Planetary Conference (LPSC) for presentation in March of 2009. This paper will detail the process that we used to bring the first image of the Earth as seen from the Moon back to life and the first determination of its quality as compared to the Lunar and Planetary Science database image."

Lunar Orbiter Image Recovery Project Update (LOIRP) 20 January 2009 | NASA Watch

But it's because of that setting that Windows 7 is less annoying. But should we accept annoyance anyway, if it means more security? I think we should.

Annoyance with more security isn't necessarily a bad thing. But Microsoft is trying to find a way to achieve less annoyance while maintaining security. That won't be easy.

"We understand adding an extra click can be annoying, especially for users who are highly knowledgeable about what is happening with their system (or for people just trying to get work done)," Ben Fathi, a Windows 7 engineer, wrote in a blog post. "However, for most users, the potential benefit is that UAC forces malware or poorly written software to show itself and get your approval before it can potentially harm the system."

In the face of all of the flak Microsoft got over UAC, I actually have a lot of respect for what they were trying to accomplish with it. Usable security remains challenging.

I'll take an annoying Windows 7, if it's more secure | The Digital Home - CNET News

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported that while Barack Obama has announced significant changes to elements in the Bush terror war — shutting Guatanamo and C.I.A. black sites, ending the use of torture in interrogations — he has “left intact an equally controversial counter-terrorism tool.”

“Under executive orders issued by Obama recently,” wrote reporter Greg Miller, “the C.I.A. still has authority to carry out what are known as renditions, secret abductions and transfers of prisoners to countries that cooperate with the United States.”

Interrogation Breakdown - The Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com

A drug that stimulates the body's tanning response — turning pasty skin caramel for up to two months — has been approved for human trials, but not for tanning.

Suntan Drug Greenlighted for Trials | Wired Science from Wired.com

For the first time since Hwang Woo-Suk's cloned stem cells were revealed as fakes, human cloning — for medical purposes, or even for reproduction — appears to be a realistic possibility.

Research Breakthrough: Human Clones May Be Genetically Viable | Wired Science from Wired.com

History and technology suggest that there may be — provided, of course, that the Big 3 can survive the next few years. And that’s a big if. The hopeful path, auto and labor experts say, requires rethinking not just old-line management and work practices but also how cars are sold, serviced and powered — that is, reinventing the industry and the car itself.

All May Not Be Lost for the American Car - NYTimes.com