Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Archive for January 2013

The Daily F Bomb, Monday 1/28

Monday, Monday… much more like the Mamas and Papas than the Bangles. No matter how much coffee I pound down, I cannot be manic on Mondays. Not that my Monday experience matches this one…

Now, tell me… What is your favorite day of the week? Do you have it embroidered on your underwear? What is your favorite song to dance to, the one you can’t sit still when you hear it? What is the first record or CD you bought with your own money for yourself? What is the last music you bought?

Now let us partake of the tawdriness that is Twitter:

Now, sit down and pay attention to your history lesson!

Overnight News Digest: Apollo 1

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Pat Bagley for the Salt Lake Tribune, please look closely.  

OND is a community feature  on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary.  Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time.

OND Editors consist of founder Magnifico, regular editors jlms qkw, maggiejean, wader, Oke, rfall, and JML9999, alumni editors palantir, BentLiberal and ScottyUrb, guest editor annetteboardman, and current editor-in-chief Neon Vincent.   We invited our readers to comment & share other news.

I generally survey a number of news sites around the world and country, choose around 15 articles I can quote, and a few links. Sometimes I editorialize.  

Apollo 1 Crew

NASA photo

Remembering Fallen Heroes: A Tough Week for NASA

NASA’s First Disaster Happened on the Launch Pad

In NASA’s early years, the agency learned by doing; developing tests and procedures as programs wore on. One test developed and used in the Mercury program was the “plugs-out test,” a prelaunch test of the spacecrafts systems through a simulated countdown on launch. It was never considered a dangerous test, but on Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1′s plugs-out test claimed the lives of the crew.

Typical for the first flight of a new program, the plan for Apollo 1 was a simple shakedown cruise. The crew – Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom, Gemini veteran Ed White, and rookie Roger Chaffee – would take just the Command and Service Module (CSM) into Earth orbit.

The plugs-out test started out routinely with the flight-ready spacecraft mounted on its unfueled Saturn IB rocket. The umbilical power cords that supplied power were removed – the plugs were out – putting the spacecraft on its internal batteries and the crew cabin was pressurized with 16.7 pounds per square inch of pure oxygen.  As the crew entered the spacecraft around 1pm that afternoon, a full launch-day staff of engineers in mission control took their positions for the test. There was also a staff of men in the White Room; the room that gave the astronauts passage to the spacecraft remained attached to the vehicle.

Is the ISS today a high-oxygen interior?  Was this changed?  

The Lounge: I Find Myself in the Strangest Places

When I allow myself, usually out of boredom, to follow the ‘you might like this’ trail on YouTube….I find myself in the strangest places.

This afternoon was one of those experiences. I can’t even tell you where I started my Sunday afternoon travels…but, will share with you a couple of the videos at the end of my journey. I will also include a couple of the ‘treasures’ found during past ‘I just fell through the Youtube rabbit hole’ adventures.

Conservative Budget Fail

Conservatives keep saying that families in America have to live within their means and not spend more than they make.  I am not convinced that experience within a family can be extended to government.  I am not convinced that the goals are the same, nor do I believe the premise scales.  However, even if we give conservatives this premise, their argument fails.

Nurse Kelley Sez: The end of an era for me

(This is a cross-post of my final diary as moderator of KosAbility)

I wrote the kick-off diary for this group three years ago next month, and I have been the Sunday moderator almost every week since.  

Many of us old-timers who considered KosAbility to be a labor of  love have moved on. CJ (ulookarmless) passed away. Father John-Mark (jgilhousen) has a new ministry. Scottie Thomaston (formerly indiemcemopants) has a full-time job. Homogenius has a job and a busy life. Peter (plf515) is still an occasional contributor and remains my rock, but his business is growing. Me? I’m tired. Three years is a long time to give up every Sunday afternoon.

We’ve done great work with this group. Before KosAbility, you didn’t see people getting donuts for comments like “retard” or “take your meds”. We earned a deserved place on the Daily Kos masthead, one of only five groups named as “Featured Groups”.  Almost 1200 diaries bear the KosAbility tag, and most of our scheduled diaries have been on the site’s Recommended List. A lot to be proud of; a great tradition for someone to carry forward.

That someone is my friend postmodernista. I was about to post a diary last week looking for a volunteer when Jill called me out of the blue and, when I told her what I was doing, she offered to take my place. It was as if the universe were handing me a gift! We’re both here today, me to say goodbye and Jill to say hello to those who don’t know her. I’ll let her have the space below the squiggle to introduce herself.

I want to thank everyone in the community for helping make KosAbility such a success – our writers, our commenters, our moderators, and our board. You guys are the best of the best. ♥

Freedom of Speech? Only if you're a religious nutcase apparently

apparently, to the very religious, freedom of speech works, but only in one direction.  They have the right to speechify to YOU, you do NOT have the right to reply.    this has become a fundamental problem in the dialogue between the fundamentalist religionists and those of us who are free from religion.

Sunday All Day Brunch: Dreamers

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere. ”

Carl Sagan

Welcome to Sunday All Day Brunch. This is an open topic thread so help yourself to the goodies and sit a spell and let us know what is going on in your life. I’ve been thinking about my Dad today. Dad always said that he was a dreamer. My Mom was very practical and she told me more then once I was a dreamer like my Dad.

The Daily F Bomb, Sunday 1/27

Good morning, Effers! I trust you have a pleasant Sunday planned.

Today is National Chocolate cake day, so if you please, describe your favorite chocolate cake. What is your favorite breakup song? What is the best vacation you ever had in your life? The worst? Should cornbread be sweet?

Now let us muddy our feet in the Twitter Stream. Forgive Bloombito, he’s making fun of Bloomberg’s mangled Spanish, not the language itself:

Now for some Sunday School:

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