TresSugar

Have You Ever Been Caught in a Love Triangle?

TresSugar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

Remember Lisa Nowak, the astronaut accused of stalking her lover's new lover? She's avoiding prison after pleading guilty to lesser charges, having already served a couple days in the klink after she was arrested for her notorious crime.

Let me refresh your memory: in 2007, the temporarily love-crazed astronaut drove all the way from Houston to Orlando in a NASA diaper (the better to avoid bathroom breaks), sprayed her astronaut lover's new girlfriend Colleen Shipman with pepper spray in the parking lot of the Orlando International Airport, and was subsequently arrested and charged with attempted kidnapping with intent to do bodily harm and burglary of a vehicle using a weapon. She's not getting a stiffer sentence because, according to the judge, she doesn't have a prior criminal record and because of her service as an astronaut and later the Navy (NASA fired her after this incident).

It's pretty shocking that someone who was a successful astronaut could become so deranged. Have you ever been caught in a love triangle? Hopefully, you didn't completely go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

Should NASA Name Space Station Room After Colbert?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:30:55 -0700

I'm no rocket scientist, but I do know that if you start an open naming contest, fans of Stephen Colbert will quickly beam the comedian to first place. That's what happened to NASA when it decided to ask the public for suggestions on what to name a room in the space station, now called Node 3.

"Colbert" won the contest, but NASA still has the option to reject the write in winner. Tonight, a real-life scientist will go on the Colbert Report to share NASA's decision.

What does Stephen think NASA should do? He said: "Certainly I hope NASA does the right thing. Just kidding. I hope they name it after me."

Colbert Nation to Conquer Outer Space

CitizenSugar — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:50:21 -0700

Stephen Colbert always has his eye out for naming contests. He's managed to get his name on an ice cream flavor, a Hungarian bridge, and a bald eagle. Thanks to his fans' enthusiasm for write-in campaigns, he might get a room in the International Space Station!

NASA wants the public to name the upcoming addition to the space station, now called Node 3. NASA has opened public voting until March 20th. Node 1 is called Unity, and Node 2 is called Harmony. Besides providing astronauts with a spectacular view of Earth, Node 3 will also convert urine into drinking water. Who wouldn't want his name attached to such a life-giving node!

To watch Stephen ask NASA's William Gerstenmaier to commit to naming the space module "Colbert" if he wins, read more.

Protesting the Weather: Climate Change Activists Storm Capitol

LibertySugar — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:01:03 -0800

Activists braved the cold and snow yesterday to participate in Capitol Climate Action Day. The day of civil disobedience focused on getting the capitol's power plant to ditch coal for natural gas. Participants cut off access to the plant's entrances and refused to leave when asked. The group followed action guidelines, which included a ban on violence and damage to property.

NASA's chief climate scientist Dr. James Hansen took some heat for encouraging the act of civil disobedience. The scientist, who claimed the Bush administration muzzled him, thinks:

We need to send a message to Congress and the president that we want them to take the actions that are needed to preserve climate for young people and future generations and all life on the planet.

DC's nonvoting congressperson Eleanor Holmes Norton also supports the cause. She says the plant has "poisoned untold numbers of people who live in the District of Columbia." Last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the plant, to switch it to natural gas. Maybe the protesters will get what they asked for.

To see more photos of the protest, read more.

View 9 Photos ›

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Front Page: Taiwan Arrests Its Former Leader

CitizenSugar — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:00:06 -0800

The ex-president of Taiwan was detained by his country's police on charges of corruption and money laundering today. The defiant Chen Shui-bian raised his handcuffed hands above his head while shouting “Long live Taiwanese independence."- New York Times
In his White House meeting with Barack Obama, President Bush indicated that he would support another economic stimulus package, which includes aid to the auto industry, if the Democrats stopped opposing the Colombian free-trade agreement. - International Herald Tribune
Somalian pirates captured a Philippines chemical tanker, carrying 23 crew members, marking the 83rd hijack in Somalian waters this year. - Associated Press

After the Mars Lander ran out of batteries last week thanks to a dust storm, NASA announced that the mission has ended. - CNN
The surrogate grandmother in Ohio that gave birth to her triplet grandchildren last month, told Good Morning America that she is feeling fine, and was happy to serve as his daughter's surrogate at the age of 56. - Associated Press

The Mission's a Rap! NASA Produces Song About Science

LibertySugar — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:00:23 -0700

Making up rap about science is cool. It can be used as a learning tool. That's what NASA thought when it asked graduate student Jonathan Chase from South Wales to write a rap about astrobiology for NASA's magazine. Here's a taste of what he came up with:

What about planet x?
Better leave that alone
The further from the heat source
The colder the home
Study life on earth
Then you do with biology
But in space, it’s called Astrobiology

Chase's degrees are in aerospace engineering and science and science fiction, but they might as well be in funk and rhythm. He's been known to use hip-hop as a way to make science more accessible. To see the music video, read more.

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NASA Astronaut Says Alien Visits Covered Up by Governments

LibertySugar — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 06:00:36 -0700

If anyone knows whether extraterrestrial life exists, I'm guessing astronauts do. Dr. Edgar Mitchell, a 77-year-old former NASA moon-walker with Apollo 14 says that aliens have visited Earth many times, but that governments have concealed contact with these small-framed and large-eyed creatures for over 60 years.

"I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real. I've been in military and intelligence circles, who know that beneath the surface of what has been public knowledge, yes - we have been visited. Reading the papers recently, it's been happening quite a bit."

In the radio interview, Mitchell said earthling technology is "not nearly as sophisticated" as the aliens' and "had they been hostile, we would be been gone by now." NASA responded to Mitchell's comments by saying, while Dr. Mitchell is a great American, the agency does not share his opinions on this issue.

This isn't the first time the astronaut has talked about non-human beings. For more on that, read more.

Mitchell, who established a research center to study "consciousness" in 1971 when he returned from his space mission, had an epiphany as he saw planet Earth floating freely in space. He has described it like this: "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes . . . The knowledge came to me directly."

I'm not sure what to make of Mitchell's assertions about extra-terrestrial life and the conspiracy to cover it up - but why would he make this stuff up?

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It's Really Red! (No Green Men!) Pictures From Mars Landing!

LibertySugar — Tue, 27 May 2008 03:00:49 -0700

NASA is looking for life on Mars and just released pictures from an unexplored region of the red planet. The Mars Phoenix lander traveled 430 million miles from Earth and took 10 months to reach its destination. The mission cost $457 million, including $37 million from Canada.

The lander has a robotic arm, which will search for ice, aka water, on the planet. NASA scientists, almost certain that Mars has some conditions for life, are looking for proof. So far, there have been no complications!

Considering 50 percent of Mars missions fail, do you think this project is worth the exorbitant amount of money? Is financing scientific discoveries not immediately relevant to your everyday life still an important function of government? Check out these great pictures from the Martian planet!

View 10 Photos ›

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Little Green Men? NASA's Big Discovery and British UFOs!

CitizenSugar — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:15:32 -0700

It's a big day for alien watchers and sci-fi fans (okay, scientists too.) Overnight, Britain declassified a whole spaceship full of files for the first time detailing hundreds of sightings of unexplained objects in the skies over Britain.

Green men with big heads? That's so space-ist! Not quite but according to the investigator at the Ministry of Defense,

"while there's no evidence of little green men in these files, they should be of immense interest to skeptics and believers. Most of the UFO sightings here are probably misidentifications of aircraft lights and meteors, but some are more difficult to explain, they include UFOs seen by police officers and pilots, and cases where UFOs have been tracked on radar."

While the files have scientific and defense significance, this is funny: "The files also note that the number of UFO reports doubled after the release of Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977."

Not to be outdone, NASA had its own big announcement today - they found something they've been searching for 50 years! To find out what it is, read more.

Scientists using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory have discovered the Milky Way's most recent supernova, which exploded a mere 140 years ago, a few years after the Civil War.

Wired liveblogged the announcement saying:

10:16: Reynolds continuing: Supernova located approximately 26,000 light years away from here. Shockwave moving 5 percent of the speed of light, the fastest ever observed. This supernova exhibits special kind of X-ray activity, one of only 4 supernovae with these X-rays, which are incredibly high energy, far beyond anything that even the Large Hadron Collider will create.

Why so cool? Well, it's all about us. "Supernovae make the chemical elements through real alchemy. The calcium in our bones and iron in our blood came from supernovae that exploded. So we're all stardust and it seems reasonable to want to know how elements get formed when stars explode," said one of the scientists. "This is a stellar death and the corpse is still warm."

Are we alone out here? Do you get excited about scientific announcements like this? Do these announcements, plus the Vatican saying today (!) that we should believe in aliens mean anything? I'm just saying if it takes three instances to make a trend, aliens are looking pretty out of this world right now!

Source

When Spiders Attack!

GiggleSugar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 11:00:00 -0800

This just in: NASA TV reveals that a giant spider is on the loose and ready to attack. The video footage caught the monstrous insect preying upon the space shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad the other day. No known victims have been reported. We'll keep you abreast of new developments as they arise.