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Bill would establish U.S. national park on the Moon

“The site where astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first landed on the Moon in July 1969 could receive the same federal protection as Yellowstone. In a press release, Edwards explained the Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act would ensure the scientific data and cultural significance of the Apollo artifacts remains unharmed by future lunar landings by endowing the artifacts as a National Historic Park. The bill would also direct the Secretary of the Interior to nominate the Apollo landing site as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.” Continue reading →

SpaceX rocket blasts off only to return to its launch pad — without exploding

“The first-of-its-kind reusable rocket made its highest leap to date last month before gently returning to Earth. Video recently released by the private space company showed the 10-story tall vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle blast off to more than 1,000 feet and then slowly descend back to its launching pad in McGregor, Texas. For the first time, the rocket ‘made use of its full navigation sensor suite with the F9-R closed loop control flight algorithms to accomplish a precision landing’ on its June 14 launch, according to SpaceX. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has explained he hopes to revolutionize space travel with the reusable rocket.” Continue reading →

Navy’s experimental X-47B drone successfully lands on aircraft carrier

“A US Navy drone successfully landed on the deck of an aircraft carrier on Wednesday, in an historic first for robotic flight, officials said. The X-47B experimental plane had taken off earlier from the Patuxent River naval air station in Maryland before heading to the USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier off the Virginia coast, the Navy said in a statement. The X-47B is controlled remotely but has more autonomy than older drones such as the Reaper and Predator. Wednesday’s unprecedented landing by an unmanned plane showed that sophisticated computer software could guide a robotic aircraft onto the deck of a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.” Continue reading →

Bernanke backpedals, says Federal Reserve stimulus still needed

“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that the Fed’s easy-money policy is still necessary, throwing cold water on fresh market expectations that the Fed’s stimulus would soon be ended. Bernanke told an audience of economists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that the jobs market remains too weak and inflation remains too low for comfort. He also warned that the full impact of steep government spending cuts initiated in March was yet to be seen. Together, the evidence underscored the need for the Fed to keep in place its highly accommodative monetary policy, he said.” Continue reading →

House votes to uphold increased spending on ‘unneeded and unwanted’ nuclear bombs

“The DOE requested about $537 million for the B61 Life Extension Programs, but the GOP-led House Appropriations Committee provided $23.7 million more than the department asked for. In a report, the committee explained the nuclear program had its funding boosted because it had a ‘troubling history of insufficiently planning for its ongoing production requirements.’ Polis noted that the Air Force had recently doubted the effectiveness of the B61 nuclear bomb. A former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the bomb was virtually useless, Polis explained. In addition, some European allies no longer wanted the bomb deployed in their country.” Continue reading →

Mad Latvia defies its own people to join the euro

“EU finance ministers have just given the go-ahead for Latvia to join the euro in January 2014. No matter that the latest SKDS poll shows that only 22pc of Latvians support this foolish step, and 53pc are opposed. This is a very odd situation. The elites are pushing ahead with a decision of profound implications, knowing that the nation is not behind them. No country has ever done this before. The concerns of the Latvian people are entirely understandable. Neighbouring Estonia found itself having to bail out Club Med states with a per capita income two and a half times as high after it joined EMU. Latvia may find itself embroiled in an even bigger debacle.” Continue reading →

European Union gives Latvia final OK to join eurozone

“‘Yes we are joining the euro as of January 1 next year,’ said Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis, adding that it was ‘good news not only for Latvia but also for Europe and the eurozone.’ Asked whether he had any qualms about joining the single currency at such a difficult time, Vilks acknowledged that ‘those hard times will last several years at least’. ‘We trust Europe and we trust the euro,’ he said later, adding that he hoped Latvia would prove to be one of the ‘best performers’ in the single currency zone. Latvia has been the EU’s fastest-growing economy, having posted GDP growth of more than five percent year-on-year in both 2011 and 2012.” Continue reading →

Portrait of a Bitcoin miner: How one man made $192K in virtual currency

“Eric has been mining Bitcoins since 2010, and at one point quit a high-paying job as a software engineer to devote all of his time to, figuratively speaking, extract gold from silicon. His move was bold and risky, but yielded an awesome reward: To date, Eric has accumulated 2500 bitcoins, which is worth a cool $191,900 as of this writing. (At Bitcoin’s highest exchange rate, that amount was $665,000.) He doesn’t trade them and has no immediate plans to cash out. Instead, he’s hanging on to them, and waiting to see how their value changes.” Continue reading →