Astrophysicists puzzle over planet that’s too close to its sun — latimes.com

Scientists have discovered a planet that shouldn’t exist. The finding, they say, could alter our understanding of orbital dynamics, a field considered pretty well settled since the time of astronomer Johannes Kepler 400 years ago.

Report Shows Tight C.I.A. Control on Interrogations – NYTimes.com

Two 17-watt fluorescent-tube bulbs — no more, no less — illuminated each cell, 24 hours a day. White noise played constantly but was never to exceed 79 decibels. A prisoner could be doused with 41-degree water but for only 20 minutes at a stretch.

The Central Intelligence Agency’s secret interrogation program operated under strict rules, and the rules were dictated from Washington with the painstaking, eye-glazing detail beloved by any bureaucracy.

The first news reports this week about hundreds of pages of newly released documents on the C.I.A. program focused on aberrations in the field: threats of execution by handgun or assault by power drill; a prisoner lifted off the ground by his arms, which were tied behind his back; another detainee repeatedly knocked out with pressure applied to the carotid artery.

But the strong impression that emerges from the documents, many with long passages blacked out for secrecy, is by no means one of gung-ho operatives running wild. It is a portrait of overwhelming control exercised from C.I.A. headquarters and the Department of Justice — control Bush administration officials say was intended to ensure that the program was safe and legal.

Managers, doctors and lawyers not only set the program’s parameters but dictated every facet of a detainee’s daily routine, monitoring interrogations on an hour-by-hour basis. From their Washington offices, they obsessed over the smallest details: the number of calories a prisoner consumed daily (1,500); the number of hours he could be kept in a box (eight hours for the large box, two hours for the small one); the proper time when his enforced nudity should be ended and his clothes returned.

The detainee “finds himself in the complete control of Americans; the procedures he is subjected to are precise, quiet and almost clinical, ” noted one document.

The records suggest one quandary prosecutors face as they begin a review of the C.I.A. program, part of the larger inquiry into abuse cases ordered Monday by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. Any prosecution that focuses narrowly on low-level interrogators who on a few occasions broke the rules may appear unfair, since most of the brutal treatment was authorized from the White House on down.

Stupid thing is supposed to roll around on its own…it did for about 5 seconds and then died. *sigh* Piece of crap. In the end, he finds a bug to be more interesting.

Trying out the video on my new camera. It just goes to show how shocking it is that any photo I ever take is in focus – I’m one shaky person!

…again. This time, it’s the guest room door. So, I try once again to work out the focus and shake issues with taking photos with my new camera…I still have a lot to learn.

So, which came first – our disinterest in actual news or the media directing our attention away from it? Click thru for examples of how the covers of Newsweek and Time magazine differ between the US edition and the rest of the world.

Sociological Images » American Vs. International News: Time And Newsweek

Americans are notorious for their ignorance of global issues and international news. This may be because Americans aren’t interested or it may be that our news outlets feed us fluff and focus us only on the U.S. Probably it’s a vicious cycle.

Dmitriy T.M. pointed me to some stunning evidence of this phenomenon.

The cover story for Newsweek magazine’s September 2006 edition was “Losing Afghanistan” in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. It was “My Life in Pictures,” a story about the photographer Annie Liebovitz in the U.S. (via):

Glad they are being cautious and I hope Endeavour has a safe return flight/landing.

NASA probes new space shuttle fuel tank problem

NASA will hold off launching any more space shuttles until it understands why strips of insulating foam peeled off the fuel tank used by shuttle Endeavour, the U.S. space agency shuttle program manager said on Thursday.

Endeavour arrived safely in orbit after Wednesday’s liftoff from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida though video and images of the launch showed about a dozen pieces of debris flying off the fuel tank during the 8.5-minute climb to orbit.

Some smashed into the ship’s heat shield, though NASA does not believe they caused any serious damage.

“We’re not worried about this one, but we need to understand what’s going on for the next flight,” shuttle program manager John Shannon said at a news conference.

“This is new,” Shannon said. “I don’t know if we have a material issue or a process issue but we’ll get to the bottom of it and clear it before the August flight.”

He told Reuters in an interview that no new shuttle launches would take place until the foam loss problem was understood.

Nasa likely taped over original Apollo 11 moon walk footage | Science | guardian.co.uk

It was mankind’s crowning achievement, with millions around the world glued to their television sets as astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the surface of the moon 40 years ago.

But in the scientific equivalent of recording an old episode of EastEnders over the prized video of your daughter’s wedding day, Nasa likely taped over its only high resolution images of the first moonwalk with electronic data from a satellite or a later manned space mission, officials said today.