] BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Major Iraqi newspapers reported the
] space shuttle Columbia tragedy on their front pages on
] Sunday, but it appeared at the bottom, overshadowed by
] one of Saddam Hussein's almost-nightly meetings with
] military commanders.
]
] Although no official Iraqi government statement was
] issued, individual Baghdad officials expressed sympathy
] for the American people, despite the tense confrontation
] between the United States and Iraq.

This story is dramatically different from most of the coverage that I've been hearing about the position of Iraq on the Shuttle incident. Most of the press seems to be running with the story that Iraq says they are glad the shuttle went down. This story includes responses that are a lot more human. Compassion can cut through hate, but only if you get to hear it.

Shuttle Tragedy Played Lower in Baghdad

] President George W. Bush will propose a nearly $470
] million boost in NASA's budget for fiscal 2004, an
] administration official said on Sunday, promising
] investigators would look into whether past cutbacks
] played any part in the space shuttle Columbia disaster.

Someone shouldn't have had to die in order to make this happen.

Forbes.com: Bush to propose budget increase for NASA

] In all of the years of my involvement, I have never been
] as concerned for Space Shuttle safety as I am right now.
] That concern is not for the present flight or the next or
] perhaps the one after that. In fact, one of the roots of
] my concern is that nobody will know for sure when the
] safety margin has been eroded too far. All of my
] instincts, however, suggest that the current approach is
] planting the seeds for future danger.

This presentation was given to Congress by the former chair of the Aerospace Saftey Advisory Panel in April. Apparently NASA can't afford the right sort of safety improvements and upgrades.

Space Shuttle: It gets political...

] Ali G will make his US debut next month on cable channel
] HBO, the home of hit shows including Sex and the City,
] The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

More potentially good television. Ali G is an english gangster (read drum and bass) who interviews people who have absolutely NO sense of humor....

F B ... aaaiiihhhh!

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Broadcast | Booyakasha! Ali G goes to the States

] Clone High bravely tackles challenging teen issues, such
] as sleep deprivation, catching ADD from toilet seats, the
] evils of litter, and having the guy you like not like you
] back the same way you like him.

This is pretty whacky. Evil government scientists clone famous figures from world history. We find them as high school personality archtypes. Its strange and funny. Good break from predictable TV.

There is a robot that says "bling bling" and a number that lies. Thats really all you need to know.

Clone High

] During the STS-87 mission, there was a change made on the
] external tank. Because of NASA's goal to use
] environmentally friendly products, a new method of
] "foaming" the external tank had been used for this
] mission and the STS-86 mission. It is suspected that
] large amounts of foam separated from the external tank
] and impacted the orbiter. This caused significant damage
] to the protective tiles of the orbiter. Foam cause damage
] to a ceramic tile?! That seems unlikely, however when
] that foam is combined with a flight velocity between
] speeds of MACH two to MACH four, it becomes a projectile
] with incredible damage potential.

I've also read that they could not dock with the ISS... Changing orbits on the fly is not, apparently, an easy thing to do. Makes sense if you think about it.

NASA article from 1997 describes tile damage from foam

Lots of changes to circle management for scalability.

1. When you are forwarding a recommendation, you can type in a username, nickname, email address, or real name into the "add user or email address" field. It will match this information with the username of the person you are looking for and add that username to the destination list for your Meme.

2. The best way to add someone to a circle is to click on that person's name somewhere in the site. This will take you to their "about me" page, at which you can add them to circles. You can search for people using the search engine on the /people page.

3. The Manage Circles page now allows you to move people between two different circles.

As always, please tell me if you have any troubles.

] One of two replicas of the NHL championship trophy built
] by the Danish company Lego was found in good condition in
] Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday after it had been stolen from
] a sports equipment show in Las Vegas earlier this week.

As this story was covered on MemeStreams I thought I would post the followup.

SportingNews.com - NHL : Lego replica of Stanley Cup recovered

] The United Nations will sanction war with Iraq within
] weeks if Saddam Hussein does not disarm, UK Prime
] Minister Tony Blair has insisted.

CNN.com - Blair: U.N. will back war in weeks - Feb. 1, 2003

] The Bush administration is preparing to release
] supersensitive electronic intercepts obtained by the
] National Security Agency that officials say prove that
] Iraq has repeatedly lied to United Nations inspectors,
] plotted among themselves about how to conceal weapons
] material and even appeared to boast afterward at their
] success in doing so, NEWSWEEK has learned.

Caught on Tape: Iraq evidence to be provided to UN