Michael Hiteshew

C-SPAN has a briefing on the Spitzer Space Telescope, previously known as the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). Spitzer is the last of of NASA’s Great Observatories, the first and most famous of which is the Hubble Space Telescope.

Spitzer has all the markings of a revolutionary science instrument. Like Hubble, Spitzer is a space-based instrument. This, critically, raises the telescope above the dense, distorting effects of the Earth’s atmosphere. But unlike Hubble – which views the cosmos in the optical wavelengths – Spitzer peers into the infrared, the wavelength of heat.

Why is this important? Two reasons: interstellar gas and dust. Many of the most important regions of study in our galaxy – the star and planet forming nebulae – are composed of gas and dust, the very materials from which the stars and planets condense and form. We could see these regions, we just couldn’t see *into* them. That is, until Spitzer. The gas and dust are cool, while the recently formed stars and proto-planets are quite hot. In the infrared, they shine like fireflies on a summer night. A sort of x-ray vision, if you will.

The initial observations are providing unprecendented views into these star forming regions. Long held theories and models about the time scales and mechanisms of star and planet formation are already being called into question.

Looks like NASA and the folks at Lockheed Martin, who designed and built Spitzer, have hit a home run.

Spitzer Multimedia Gallery
Be sure to watch SIRTF Flash Overview (Cool Cosmos). It’s a beautiful presentation.

Has it occurred to anyone else that Al Queda may have an election strategy for the USA? Maybe a string of mass-casualty suicide bombings, à la Madrid, six weeks or so before the presidential election?

What would be the likely political impact on the electorate? Rally behind Bush & Co.? I don’t think so, really. Here’s what I think might happen:

1. Public shock.

2. 24/7 media replays of the carnage for weeks on end. There’s a symbiotic relationship between terrorists and the media; they depend on each other to a degree. In this case, the NYT, WaPo, LAT, CNN, etc, would view it as a political godsend, in addition to its being a ‘good’ news story. Sad – even pathetic – to say, but true. Traitors.

3. Interviews with victims’ families, friends, former school teachers, co-workers, witnesses, clergy, etc. on network TV.

4. Questions will be raised about continued failures at the intelligence agencies and the Department of Homeland Security.

5. Questions will be raised about the ‘relationship’ between a rise in US terrorism and the war in Iraq.

6. John Kerry will ask, “Are you safer today than you were four years ago?”

7. France, Germany, et al will say in somber tones – crocodile tears streaming down their faces into their cabernet sauvignons and lagers – “See! We told you so!”

8. Our Middle-Eastern allies will tell us it’s our own fault. Graphic posters of the event will go on sale within days throughout the PA territory and in bazaars in Pakistan. President (for life) Mubarak of Egypt will recite platitudes about US “failures” to resolve the Israeli/Pali conflict and our imperialist imposition of foreign ideas on the traditional Arab societies. He will explain this to us as our ‘friend’. Nothing like being lectured on political morality by the dictator of a failed state. He will do it for our own good, you see.

9. Al Queda will issue a truce offer to the US: Withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan and the martyrs will no longer strike at the US.

10. Ted Kennedy will demand we accept.

It could be enough to throw the election. Especially if there’s a simultaneous uptick in suicide bombings in Iraq. We know how AQ likes simultaneity. A coordinated campaign like that might just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. From AQ’s point of view, it’s the smart move. A strategic move. Personally, I’ll be watching for it. And waiting for it.

Fascinating. That’s what I thought as I read Niall Ferguson’s Empire. It traces the course of the British Empire from Hernry VIII’s declaring himself King of Ireland in 1541 though the destruction of the British economy in WWII and their eventual loss of the ‘Jewel’ of the Empire, India. A well written book. It’s also beautifully illustrated in the hardbound edition. Ferguson tackles history by subject, so the book is only roughly chronological from chapter to chapter.

What truly amazed me, though, was the British historical perspective on the American Revolution. Here’re a few interesting excerpts.

The war is at the very heart of American’s conception of themselves: the idea of a struggle for liberty against an evil empire is the country’s creation myth. But it is the great paradox of the American Revolution… that the ones who revolted against British rule were the best-off of all Britain’s colonial subjects. There is good reason to think, by the 1770’s, New Englanders were about the wealthiest people in the world. Per capita income was at least equal to that in the United Kingdom and was more evenly distributed. The New Englanders had bigger farms, bigger families and better educations than the Old Englanders back home. And, crucially, they paid far less tax. In 1763 the average Briton paid 26 shillings a year in taxes. The equivalent figure for a Massachusetts taxpayer was just one shilling.

How’s that for a revelation? “No taxation without representation!” What taxation? Then there’s this:

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An amazing Macromedia Flash Player presentation of the work of Cesar Pelli & Associates. Start with the Projects menu, then navigate through the various building images by way of the little squares. The little square marked ‘A’ turns information on and off.

Check out, especially, the following:

Hotel > Biwako
Hotel > Seahawk

Performing Arts > Arnoff Center
Performing Arts > Dewan Filharmonik at Petronas

I stumbled onto a truly sickening and disturbing Spectator article (registration required), written by Toby Harnden in Bahgdad, via a comment posted at Iraq The Model. Here’s an excerpt:

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