To those of us who have committed our lives to the proposition that the exploration and development of space as the means by which we can build a prosperous global civilization that will last far beyond our current limits to growth, recent events have a familiar and depressing feel.

Gold star.

Establishing the Vision for Space Exploration | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

At a time when the world’s top climate experts agree that carbon emissions must be rapidly reduced to hold down global warming, Italy’s major electricity producer, Enel, is converting its massive power plant here from oil to coal, the dirtiest fuel on earth.

Over the next five years, Italy will increase its reliance on coal to 33 percent from 14 percent. Power generated by Enel from coal will rise to 50 percent.

And Italy is not alone in its return to coal. Driven by rising demand, record high oil and natural gas prices, concerns over energy security and an aversion to nuclear energy, European countries are slated to build about 50 coal-fired plants over the next five years, plants that will be in use for the next five decades.

Despite Climate Worry, Europe Turns to Coal - New York Times

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) successfully captured a movie of the "Full Earth-Rise"*1 using the onboard High Definition Television (HDTV) of the lunar explorer "KAGUYA " (SELENE) on April 6, 2008 (Japan Standard Time, JST, all the following dates and time are JST.) The KAGUYA is currently flying in a lunar orbit at an altitude of about 100 km.

JAXA | KAGUYA (SELENE) Image Taking of "Full Earth-Rise" by HDTV

Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) is a cooperative surveillance technique for air traffic control and related applications. An ADS-B-out equipped aircraft determines its own position using a global navigation satellite system and periodically broadcasts this position and other relevant information to potential ground stations and other aircraft with ADS-B-in equipment. ADS-B can be used over several different data link technologies, including Mode-S Extended Squitter (1090 ES), VHF data link (VDL Mode 4), and Universal Access Transceivers (UAT).

ADS-B provides accurate information and frequent updates to airspace users and controllers, and hence supports improved use of airspace, reduced ceiling/visibility restrictions, improved surface surveillance, and enhanced safety such as conflict management.

Under ADS-B, a vehicle periodically broadcasts its own state vector and other information without knowing what other vehicles or entities might be receiving it, and without expectation of an acknowledgment or reply. ADS-B is automatic in the sense that no pilot or controller action is required for the information to be issued. It is dependent surveillance in the sense that the surveillance-type information so obtained depends on the suitable navigation and broadcast capability in the source vehicle.[1]

Automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As Egyptian police were descending on UC Berkeley graduate journalism student James Karl Buck, he had time to send just one word to his friends on Twitter: "ARRESTED." Buck had been photographing a noisy demonstration, and as he was being hauled off to jail, friends around the world rallied to his support.

American Journalist Uses Twitter To Bust Out Of Egyptian Jail - Digital Life Blog - InformationWeek

Howard Aiken said "Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats." I have a similar feeling when I'm trying to convince VCs to invest in startups Y Combinator has funded. They're terrified of really novel ideas, unless the founders are good enough salesmen to compensate.

But it's the bold ideas that generate the biggest returns. Any really good new idea will seem bad to most people; otherwise someone would already be doing it. And yet most VCs are driven by consensus, not just within their firms, but within the VC community. The biggest factor determining how a VC will feel about your startup is how other VCs feel about it. I doubt they realize it, but this algorithm guarantees they'll miss all the very best ideas. The more people who have to like a new idea, the more outliers you lose.

Why There Aren't More Googles

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld Kentucky’s method of putting criminals to death by lethal injection, not only clearing the way for Kentucky to resume executions but ending an unofficial moratorium in the 35 other states that have the death penalty.

Supreme Court Allows Lethal Injection for Execution - New York Times

On the face of it, John McCain’s proposal to offer a gasoline tax “holiday” during the summer driving season might sound like a good way to cut gas prices at the busiest time of the year.

But economists and energy analysts say it would have little impact on mitigating the rise in gasoline prices. In fact, it could lead to the opposite result.

Economists Weigh McCains Gas-Tax Plan - The Caucus - Politics - New York Times Blog

The operations of the Cassini spacecraft, part of the international NASA/ ESA/ ASI Cassini-Huygens mission, have been extended by NASA by two years. The historic mission's stunning discoveries and images have revolutionised our knowledge of Saturn and its moons.

Cassini's grand tour of Saturn extended | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference

The largest Yuri's Night celebration on the planet drew an estimated 7,000 people to the tarmac at NASA's Ames Research Center on Saturday, April 12, 2008, as young-minded people celebrated space exploration with music, dance, technology and art.

This was the second year I've attended and it's amazing. Highly recommended!

Yuri's Night Bay Area 2008 Largest of World's Celebrations | SpaceRef - Your Space Reference