Carl Sagan's ‘Cosmos’ Returning to TV

‘Cosmos’ reborn after 25 years - Cosmic Log - MSNBC.com
I've heard about Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' series many times, but I don't believe I ever had the opportunity to see it. When I saw it listed on my digital cable box's schedule, my jaw dropped. Yep, that's definately going on the DVR's recording schedule.

They're saying the graphics have been enhanced since the origial airing in the 1980's.

If you read the bottom of the article, you'll see that Sagan's widow, Ann Druyan, says there could be an accouncement in the next couple months on a follow-up to the failed Cosmos 1 Solar Sail!

Deals to Result in 1,000 MW of Clean, Cheap Power

Stirling Energy Systems has signed deals with two different California utilities to produce 1,000 megawatts of electricity using the sun's energy. This will use Stirling engines, a centuries-old technology, rather than the more commonly-known photovoltaic solar power panels.

Most coal-fired plans we are used to in Michigan put out about 500 megawatts, so you can see that this is not a small development.

Stirling Energy Systems - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article from Inc. Magazine indicates that the cost of the energy produced will actually be able to compete with electricity produced from natural gas, which means renewable energy is finally starting to become competitive.

German Election (Bush/Gore/Florida Part Zwei)

It's good to see the Germans can't run elections much better than we can. I mean, I realize this won't get thrown into their courts, but it will be settled based on which party can make the most deals and form the best coalition. It won't necessarily result in a government that best represents the will of the people. Hopefully they'll do a little better than they did in the 1930's.

Tied German rivals try to forge coalitions - World - The Washington Times, America's Newspaper

SpaceX Could Beat NASA to the Moon

“Getting to the moon in 10 years is definitely doable,” says SpaceX vice president Chris Thompson.

That would be about 2015, which would beat NASA's goal of 2018. And it would be for a fraction of NASA's costs.

SpaceX was founded by dotcom millionaire Elon Musk. The company is focused on finding ways of significantly lowering the costs of sending payloads into space. They have now begun prototyping and selling payload space for a larger rocket and hope to eventually offer both manned and unmanned vehicles for one-tenth the current standard price.

America's Space Prize-For Private Orbital Flight

Remember the X-Prize, the $10 million prize that was awarded to Burt Rutan for his SpaceShipOne? Well, that was very successful in spurring research and effort into suborbital space flights. Now, Bigelow Aerospace is offering $50 million to the first American that can launch people into orbit (a much more difficult task than simple suborbital space flight) without taking goverment funds. You can see some of the rules here. Bigelow Aerospace, Inc. - America's Space Prize

I will undoubtedly be posting more on this in the near future. Some contestants believe they will have developed enough technology in the next decade that they will be able to beat NASA back to the moon!

SETI's "Are We Alone" Program

I just started listening to the podcasts of SETI's "Are We Alone?" program. It's on the radio or you can download ITunes or another podcast application and get several months worth of archives. Lots of interesting stuff. It's not just alien hunting either. It covers a range of scientific topics.

Andrew's getting married in one week

Good old Andrew. I've probably known this guy as long as anyone. The guy's getting married. Check out him and the Mrs.

Annelise

Well, this is something very important. It's the blog for my cousin's new baby. It's also on the same blog service I use. Those two facts influenced my decision to make this my second posting.

Annelise

Here we go

Well, I've been meaning to start a blog but never really got the inspiration to write anything interesting while in front of my computer. I have finally decided to set this up so that when I do feel inspired, it will be easy for me to go ahead and post links and my thoughts of the moment.

Begin captain's log, Stardate.......well, nevermind, the date is already posted on here.