BP Oil Rig Sinks in Gulf of MX

On Apr 25, 2:04*am, Moon Monolith wrote:
*British Petroleum (BP) Oil Rig Sinks in the Gulf of Mexico
*http://tinyurl.com/BP-Oil-Rig-Sinks-In-Gulf

We Live In Public

Josh Harris and QUIET:
"We Live In Public" - documentary by Ondi Timoner

Synopsis

'Ten years in the making and culled from 5000
hours of footage, WE LIVE IN PUBLIC reveals the
effect the web is having on our society, as seen
through the eyes of "the greatest Internet pioneer
you've never heard of", artist, futurist and
visionary Josh Harris. Award-winning director
Ondi Timoner (DIG! -- which also won the Sundance
Grand Jury Prize in 2004 -- making Timoner the
only director to win that prestigious award twice)
http://www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com/?page_id=59
documented his tumultuous life for more than a
decade to create a riveting, cautionary tale of
what to expect as the virtual world inevitably
takes control of our lives.

'Harris, often called the "Warhol of the Web",
founded Pseudo.com, the first Internet television
network during the infamous dot-com boom of the
1990s. He also curated and funded the ground
breaking project "Quiet" in an underground bunker
in NYC where over 100 people lived together on
camera for 30 days at the turn of the millennium.
With Quiet, Harris proved how we willingly trade
our privacy for the connection and recognition we
all deeply desire, but with every technological
advancement such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter,
becomes more elusive. Through his experiments,
including a six-month stint living with his
girlfriend under 24-hour electronic surveillance
which led to his mental collapse, Harris
demonstrated the price we pay for living
in public.' http://www.weliveinpublicthemovie.com

[See also NPD: (DSM-IV code 301.81)
Synopsis
Diagnostic Features:
'Narcissistic personality disorder is a condition
characterized by an inflated sense of self-importance,
need for admiration, extreme self-involvement, and
lack of empathy for others. Individuals with this
disorder are usually arrogantly self-assured and
confident. They expect to be noticed as superior.
Many highly successful individuals might be considered
narcissistic. However, this disorder is only diagnosed
when these behaviors become persistent and very
disabling or distressing.' ... ]

[o][O][o]

Chrysler teams with NASA on future technologies
BY GREG GARDNER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
ggardner-AT-freepress.com

Chrysler and the NASA are forming a three-year
alliance to share research on technologies such
as robotics, radar, barriers and other
energy storage devices.

"This is a great opportunity to share knowledge
and data in areas where both Chrysler and NASA
have a vested interest," said Scott Kunselman
Chrysler senior vice president for engineering.

Project teams with representatives of the
Auburn Hills automaker and the space agency
have already been created for each
technology topic.

Chrysler worked with NASA in its early days,
building Redstone rockets for the Mercury Project
which put the first American in space.
The automaker also made boosters to power the
first two Apollo spacecraft into orbit.

[o][O][o]

Our View: Cheap thrills in NASA's future
http://news.google.com/news/search?p...s&hl=en&q=NASA

NEWSY comedian Stephen Colbert says he's appalled
at the administration's new direction for NASA.

"Sending robots into space does not win glory
for Americans," Colbert said this week on his
television show. "It wins glory for Roombas."

"You know I am a huge fan of space exploration,"
Colbert added. But "no one wants to grow up and
hear a robot landed and say, `This is one small
step for bleep-blorp."'

We, too, are huge fans of space exploration.
But we live among the robot masters of the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Its women and men
first launched America into orbit in the 1950s
with Explorer and continue to both thrill the
world and advance science. Because it bolsters
their missions to Mars and throughout the
solar system, we applaud the sober,
forward-looking new NASA budget President
Obama announced Thursday in Florida.

The space agency in recent years had been
tentatively looking toward a swift return
to an expensive emphasis on human missions
to both the moon and soon enough to Mars.

Putting people's footprints onto heavenly
bodies is indeed a thrilling and very much
necessary part of the American space program.
We miss those Apollo days, which rightly were
at the center of the most exciting exploration
humans have ever embarked upon - the move
out from our home planet into the universe.

But NASA spending and planning needs reform.
Its federal bureaucracy, though it only takes
up 0.5 percent of the national budget, is just
that - too typically bureaucratic. Its long
tradition of granting cost-plus contracts to
vendors in which firms are guaranteed a set
profit over whatever their expenses are makes
for guaranteed wastefulness.

The new model for space exploration launched by
the president this week emphasizes the
entrepreneurial spirit of private companies
coming up with new technologies. The Orion and
Constellation crew-capsule systems that were to
replace the Space Shuttle were heading toward
boondoggle territory, and will be de-emphasized.
Launching directly from Earth's gravity is
horrifically expensive because of fuel costs.
Under the new plans, astronauts will now
head from Earth orbit in the early 2020s to
the moon, the asteroids and eventually Mars.
Instead of bloated traditional firms, there
will be an emphasis on new entrepreneurs such
as those running the small companies in our
High Desert that are currently redefining
efficient ways to get into space.

A new emphasis on earth science, the NASA
budget for which will jump 62 percent,
will suit the JPL engineers in La Canada
Flintridge just fine. As much of that money
will go toward replacing aging satellites,
four out of five of the U.S. manufacturers
of which are California-based, it's good
news for the entire Golden State.

Robots will never replace people as we
move toward the stars. But they will be
beside us, bleeping and blorping quite
efficiently, and sending home gorgeous
images and important science that provide
their own (cheap) thrills.

[o][O][o]

Part-time space racers shoot for Lunar X Prize

A group of ambitious Berlin-based, non-space
professionals are shooting for the moon.
Meet the youngest team competing to win
Google's $30-million Lunar X Prize for landing
a robot on the moon with only their brains
and private funding. [...]
http://www.thelocal.de/sci-tech/20100421-26703.html

[o][O][o]

Google Lunar X-PRIZE
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/