Since the accident, Captain Sullenberger, 58, a gray-haired man with nearly 30 years of experience at the airline, has become a symbol of stoic calm and courage in the face of an emergency. The transcript of the cockpit voice recorder, also released on Tuesday, showed that Captain Sullenberger had a human side.

This guy is just as cool as a cucumber. He landed a bird-struck plane in the Hudson just 6 months before another plane was downed in the Atlantic.

-janelane

Captain Leads Off at Hearing on Flight That Landed in Hudson - NYTimes.com

As Florida’s weatherization money climbs to $176 million over the next couple of years, from $5 million this year, the scene that played out recently at Jessica Langston’s double-wide mobile home in Crawfordville is likely to become more common.

A large truck, parked by a palm tree in the front yard, was pumping fiberglass insulation into small holes bored in the corrugated metal roof. Glaziers were sticking tinted film to the windows to dull the sun’s heat. And cool air was streaming through the floor vents, much stronger now that the metal ducts beneath the floor had been sealed tight and the air-conditioner unit outside had been serviced.

*smacks forehead* Weatherizing a mobile home???!!!! FAIL!

-janelane

Stimulus Funds Spent to Keep Sun Belt Cool - NYTimes.com

I hate to say that this is ‘cool’, as it reflects some very serious issues caused by Robert Mugabe and his [essentially] terrible leadership of Zimbabwe - but, this is a great idea for protesting/speaking out. We’ve all heard some thing or another about currency so worthless it’s only good for wallpaper - but where have you seen it actually used for wallpaper? And as a political statement?

-janelane

money = wallpaper

SAN CLEMENTE, Calif. (AP) -- Sunstone Hotel Investors Inc. said Sunday it will default on the June mortgage payment for its swanky W Hotel San Diego property and turn over the 258-room downtown hotel to lenders, after failing to lower interest payments.

I'm staying in this hotel next week...hm...

-janelane

Sunstone Prepared to Turn Over W San Diego to Bank - NYTimes.com

In recent years “men and women faculty in science, engineering and mathematics have enjoyed comparable opportunities,” the panel said in its report, released on Tuesday. It found that women who apply for university jobs and, once they have them, for promotion and tenure, are at least as likely to succeed as men. But compared with their numbers among new Ph.D.’s, women are still underrepresented in applicant pools, a puzzle that offers an opportunity for further research, the panel said.

The panel said one factor outshined all others in encouraging women to apply for jobs: having women on the committees appointed to fill them.

In another report this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at the University of Wisconsin reviewed a variety of studies and concluded that the achievement gap between boys and girls in mathematics performance had narrowed to the vanishing point.

Hallelujah! Girl power!

And rock on, Dr. Cross, who recently joined the ranks of the PhD femme fatales. :-)

-janelane

Women Bridging Gap in Science Opportunities - NYTimes.com

In crafting the national broadband plan, the Federal Communications Commission must protect Internet users from corporate gatekeepers who seek to keep prices high and speeds slow, limit access to content and stifle innovations and market choice. Net Neutrality must be a basic and enforceable rule of the Internet. The plan must also ensure that every American -- regardless of their race, income or location -- can connect to broadband at prices everyone can afford.

Fight the Man. Sign the petition.

-janelane

Free Press: media reform through education, organizing and advocacy:

This post links to the Doninger decision, joined by Obama Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor. I think its a very dangerous decision that represents a view of the Constitution which runs counter to its intent.

Great post! You perfectly explain the case, results, and ramifications. All I learned about laws and legal jargon I got from Law and Order, so needless to say there are some deficiencies in my education. :-)

Hey, have you seen this case of her's? Seems there are also concerns about her persuasiveness.

-janelane

Why the Doninger decision is dangerous and Sotomayor must not be confirmed.

Swift and sure, “Drag Me to Hell” unfurls in vertiginous, comic-book frames, like a long-lost issue of “Tales From the Crypt.” Neither small humans nor smaller animals are exempt from the carnage, which is orchestrated (by Mr. Raimi and his screenwriting sibling, Ivan) to recall memorable moments in horror-movie history. The most chilling of these is the sight of the old woman’s car (played by Mr. Raimi’s own 1973 Oldsmobile), idling in the parking garage like the malevolent Plymouth Fury of John Carpenter’s “Christine.”

Hot shit! Sam Raimi's back in the horror genre and he's brought his car!

-janelane

Movie Review - Drag Me to Hell - Mud and Guts - NYTimes.com

truth in advertising

--timball

40 Gorgeous Vintage Tobacco Advertisements // WellMedicated

The three crew members of the International Space Station raised plastic pouches in a toast of their first taste of urine that had been recycled into drinkable water. “The taste is great,” said Michael R. Barratt, a flight engineer. A recycling system, installed last fall, purifies the urine. Recycling is crucial, especially with the station crew expanding to six people this month, because of the cost of transporting water from Earth. At the station’s mission control room in Houston, people cheered and drank similarly recycled water. A distillation unit in the system initially proved balky, and a replacement was brought up and installed in March. After the system passed tests, the station’s two astronauts and one cosmonaut finally took a sip.

Pay attention, kids. This is where the world is heading.

-janelane, environmental engineer

National Briefing - Science - Astronauts’ Urine-to-Water Test Successful - NYTimes.com