I finished building my test Picosatellite!  It's a working skeleton, using the real PCB boards but without the electronics wired in.  In short, it's 'real enough'.  Were I to put in half of the $264 worth of electronics I bought at DigiKey, and toss in a BasicX chip and the 2 radio parts, it would be flyable.

University of California president Mark G. Yudof has issued an 'open letter' to California to talk about the budget problems the system is facing and how they want to deal with the issues facing the state- "I am writing today to let Californians know about the fiscal realities that confront the university, and also about some recommendations I intend to bring next week to our governing Board of Regents. First, though, I'd like to provide a bit of background."

So I will list what he writes and then translate that into economic reality, as seen by people who actually live here but are not employed by the state.

If you've been to a hospital to see a newborn you've likely been assaulted by a number of sprays and soaps before even getting near the little critter.   You'd have to wonder how you ever survived as a child without antibacterial soaps, wipes and special clothing.

Gradual evolution is not supported by geological history, writes New York University geologist Michael Rampino, who prefers the hypothesis that long periods of evolutionary stability were disrupted by catastrophic mass extinctions of life.  Not surprisingly, he studies volcano eruptions and asteroid impacts.

When we discuss Foucault on a science site, we mean French physicist Léon Foucault and not that annoying prat of a post-modernist, Michel Foucault.   

You know who Léon Foucault  is if you have been to a science museum in the last 150 years because you saw a Foucault pendulum - a simple way of observing the Earth's rotation. 

I like Nicholas Wade, and think that his latest NY Times piece on basic research is worth reading. However, I take issue with his overly simplistic characterization of how research works:

Basic research, the attempt to understand the fundamental principles of science, is so risky, in fact, that only the federal government is willing to keep pouring money into it. It is a venture that produces far fewer hits than misses....

The most recent issue of symmetry magazine has a feature titled, "When Muons Collide," by Leah Hesla. [Full disclosure: I have also written for symmetry.] The article lays out the need for a muon collider as well as theoretical plans for building one.

How To Get Well And Truly Shellacked

Now I'm not recommending for every future president that they take a shellacking like they, like I did last night.
Barack Obama,November 07 2010,
as reported by
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
http://www.abc.net.au/insiders/content/2010/s3059266.htm

President Obama's use of the word 'shellacking' has puzzled some folks here in England, where the term has long since fallen out of use.

Is obesity contagious?   A Harvard groups says it is and that it is spreading via social networks.
  
If so, America's obesity epidemic won't plateau until at least 42 percent of adults are obese, according to their estimate derived by applying mathematical modeling to 40 years of Framingham Heart Study data.

Their work is contrary to recent assertions by some experts that the obesity rate has peaked at around 34 percent.  34 percent more American adults are overweight but not obese, according to the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates.  The Harvard group say their modeling shows that the proliferation of obesity among American adults in recent decades owes in large part to its accelerating spread via social networks.

If you are reading this site, you already know "Battlestar Galactica" is the greatest science-fiction show of all time.  Yes, yes, "Farscape" was terrific and "Star Trek" set the standard but Battlestar Galactica as number one brooks no argument.   The only thing that could make it better is being able to play as part of a  Battlestar Galactica MMORPG universe.

Bigpoint has announced today the successful launch of the first phase of its Battlestar Galactica Online closed beta. The initial phase granted hand-selected players from Europe and the United States the opportunity to experience one of the most ambitious browser-games ever developed.