Rocket scientist Ed Lambert forwarded this story:

NASA scientists are looking for a nice, soft landing with the Stardust space probe returns to Earth in Utah’s west desert next month.

At the least, they’re hoping for a better landing on Jan. 15 than the 200 mph impact of the Genesis probe in September 2004. That mishap was blamed on gravity sensors having been installed backward.

“We feel very comfortable that we don’t have any errors like the reversed (gravity) sensor for Genesis,” said Thomas Duxbury, project manager for NASA’s Stardust mission.

Stardust, which was launched in 1999, flew through the tail of the Wild 2 comet last year to collect some of the microscopic debris streaming from it.

Ed headlined the story: NASA to Drill Another Hole in the Utah Desert Next Month. Me, I’m hoping for a slightly softer landing.

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Popular Colorado Governor Bill Owens is considered by some to be a Republican presidential contender for 2008. Then again, maybe he’s too thin-skinned for the job:

Today, the governor ordered that we develop new policy prohibiting the use of government computers from being used to post to any such [weblog] sites. Please make certain that all members of your respective staffs are notified that this policy is effective immediately.

Walter in Denver has the full story at the link above.

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I just listened to Carlos Kleiber conduct the Vienna Philharmonic perform Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony (1975). Forget Leonard Bernstein’s recordings – this is the real deal.

BTW, the 5th is only my fifth-favorite of the Big B’s symphonies. For a real treat, listen to Bernstein (also in Vienna) conduct the Fourth.

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Ralph Peters reminds Republicans not to act too much like, well, Democrats:

We already know that the additional 20,000 troops sent to bolster security during Iraq’s elections are slated to come home shortly after the voting. But I guarantee every reader that, by late-summer 2006, our troop numbers on the ground will be under 100,000

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The Blogfather warns of Patriot Act “mission creep“:

Mrs. Feinstein said the legislation “strikes a blow” against an ongoing meth epidemic.

“The heart of this legislation is a strong standard for keeping pseudoephedrine products out of the hands of meth cooks,” she said. “There were some who wanted to water down this legislation, but Senator Talent and I stood firm.”

Do you want to know how bad the Meth War has gotten? It’s ruined Nyquil.

Anyone with an even basic understanding of how black markets function (and how they come to be in the first place), will tell you that the Drug War created today’s super-potent pot. It created crack. It created meth. But the Drug War doesn’t just create monsters. The Drug War also ruins perfectly good things, like the simple joy of a legal martini buzz, or the Bill of Rights.

But now they’ve gone after my Nyquil. Now they’ve gone too far:

What’s the difference between the old and new versions of NyQuil?

The old version of NyQuil contained the nasal decongestant pseudoephedrine. The new version does not contain a nasal decongestant.

That’s right. Nyquil is no longer “The Nightime Sniffling Sneezing Coughing Aching Stuffyhead Fever So You Can Rest Medicine.” Now Nyquil is the “Screw You Go Suffer Instead of Getting Any Rest At All Placebo.”

Nyquil was the one thing I could count on when I was too sick to function. Nyquil was the legal cure for the common insomnia. Now it’s just another bottle of syrupy crap that tastes like something rejected from the Jaegermeister distillery.

For that, we have the likes of Diane Feinstein and Jim Talent to thank, along with a few cowards at Vicks.

What, you think that’s funny? Just wait until they come for your lighter fluid.

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Fine words for an unorthodox senator, Eugene McCarthy.

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I’m hurt. I’m hurt and depressed. Hurt and depressed and disappointed. And… Oh, never mind. Just go vote for The Officer’s Club already as the year’s best military blog. Currently, they’re in fourth place – and they deserve better.

UPDATE: What, you want actual reasons to vote for The Officer’s Club? I’ll give you three.

UPDATE: For you doubters, here’s a fourth reason.

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The last (I hope) big shopping trip is out of the way, and I’m caught up (mostly) on the gift-wrapping. So you’d think blogging would be a breeze. You’d be wrong.

Melissa is taking a year off work starting today. Now we have to get used to seeing each other all the time. There are projects to complete and a few other tiny little matters to attend to. But the nights, for the moment, are still mine.

Back in a few, after I crawl the web for whatever is worth a second drink.

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California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has denied clemency for convicted killer Stanley Tookie Williams, who co-founded the Crips street gang.

Since they probably won’t be mentioned in any of the media hysteria tonight and tomorrow, these four people are the reasons why Williams will assume room temperature this evening:

And this is what he did to them.

Fair warning: the pictures are gruesome… but so were Williams’ crimes. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

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No blogging tonight, and very little tomorrow. ‘Tis the holiday season…

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Finding it impossible to blog right now (10:16pm), so I’m going to take my torqued back and my heating pad to the sofa and pretend to watch some TV.

See you in the morning.

ONE LAST THING: Cathy Young, one of my favorite writers at Reason (and other places), started a blog a few months ago – and I only just now discovered it. You can bet I’ll get her added to the blogroll tomorrow.

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Bill Nienhuis says, “Hands down, this is the most amazing, creative and well executed Christmas lighting display I

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A photoessay.

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Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA), Chief Deputy Majority Whip, is the first elected official I can think of to (kind of) endorse an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Here’s an extract from a letter he wrote to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice:

A nuclear-capable Iran would be a major step back for security in the Middle East. As you know, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, recently advocated for the complete annihilation of Israel. His radical statements are reprehensible and cause for great concern. I share the belief that, we have a duty to protect our interests and allies in the region from nuclear attack or nuclear terrorism.

Furthermore, I believe the failure of the IAEA to disarm Iran has created a situation in which Israel might be justifiably forced to act in its own self-defense by preemptively attacking Iran.

The whole thing (PDF document) here.

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From Reuters:

MIAMI (Reuters) – A federal law enforcement officer fired his gun on a passenger jetway leading to an American Airlines Corp. plane at Miami International Airport on Wednesday,

CNN reported a passenger who was posing a threat was injured by the gunshot.

American flight 924, a Boeing 757, arrived from Medellin, Colombia, at 12:16 p.m. local time, according to an American Airline’s spokesman. The flight was due to leave for Orlando at 2:18 p.m.

“There has been a shooting on the plane,” Miami-Dade County Police spokeswoman Mary Walters said. She had no further information but initial reports from Miami said the shooting had taken place on the plane.

And Breitbart:

A federal air marshal opened fire on board an American Airlines flight on the ground at Miami International Airport, according to a law enforcement official who spoke only on condition of anonymity. At least one person was wounded, according to broadcast reports said. The plane had just arrived from Colombia and was headed to Orlando. Television showed police SWAT officers surrounding the plane.

Airport and Miami-Dade County police officials said they had no immediate comment. Airlines officials did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

And the AP:

Shots were fired Wednesday from a federal air marshal’s gun on board an American Airlines jet that had landed at Miami International Airport, an official said. At least one person was wounded, according to broadcast reports.

We’ve known for a couple years that al Qaeda has gotten friendly with ELN, FARC, and some elements of the Huga Chavez regime in Venezuela.

UPDATE: Will Collier writes:

Pretty sketchy right now, but it looks like a guy claimed to have a bomb, and got shot in the jetway before actually boarding the aircraft. One report I saw said he was arguing with an airline employee and yelled, “It’s not like I have a bomb strapped to me!”

In other words, possibly a nutball, but not a terrorist nutball.

Let’s hope so. Beats my “narco- or Islamic-terrorist caught with his hand in the cookie jar” theory.

UPDATE: The AP now has an eyewitness report:

A passenger on the flight, Mary Gardner, told WTVJ-TV, that she saw a man running “frantically” up the plane’s aisle before he was shot. A woman, apparently the man’s wife, said he suffered from bipolar disorder and had not taken his medication, Gardner said.

Gardner said four to five shots were fired. She could not see the shooting.

After the shooting, police boarded the plane and told the passengers to put their hands on their heads, Gardner said.

“It was quite scary,” she told the station via a cell phone. “They wouldn’t let you move. They wouldn’t let you get anything out of your bag.”

“Thank God everybody seems to be fine.”

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Not even Aaron Sorkin, stuffed full with psychotropic mushrooms and a pharmacy’s worth of pharmaceuticals could have thought up this wild scenario:

Coming to a voting booth near you: “Trio,” the most expensive governor’s race ever, starring The Road Warrior as the Republican candidate, The Terminator as an independent, and Meathead as the Democrat.

The mind freaking boggles.

Read the whole thing to find out just what Dr. Bainbridge is talking about.

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The Blogfaddah has posted possibly the most impressive bit of blog Google-bait ever. And he even disguised it as a link to a legal story.

Mere mortals can but look on in awe.

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A little alternate history for 12/7/41.

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Jeff Goldstein has this to say about Hillary’s list to starboard:

Very quietly, and using the cacophonous cover of the Democratic party

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Like the idea of citizen-journalists? Then give some support to Operation Desert Shawn.

(This hat tip goes to David J, who’s been doing some great blogging lately. And I’m not just saying that because he’s a part of the Colorado blogging mafia.)

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It’s Jonah Goldberg versus Barbra Streissand – ’nuff said.

(Hat tip to co-blogger Will Collier, who can’t seem to log on this morning.)

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Austin Bay explains how to fix our intelligence system:

Intelligence-gathering is tough enough, but producing useful, usable intelligence is an art. It seems very few leaders understand that. Intelligence is a grand exercise in data interpretation, pattern recognition and intuition, requiring expertise in linguistics, geography, mathematics, history, theology, psychology, physics, metaphysics, and every other human means of analysis and explanation. Moreover, the intelligence “jigsaw puzzle” is a dynamic, shifting, changing puzzle. It takes vision to “put the puzzle together,” which is what former Schlesinger meant when he said the American intelligence community needs people with “insight.”

Unfortunately, government bureaucracies are tough on artists and visionaries. Political infighters and insiders tend to dominate the process.

The fix becomes doubly difficult when the agency with the most troubles – the CIA – is at war with the White House.

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Talk about annoying your base…

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It must be time to order our “broken” Army to cut and run from our losing campaign in Iraq:

The good news includes Army re-enlistments. As of August, all of the Army

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Tim Blair has at long last driven Margo Kingston out of journalism.

Be sure to click on the link for a long history of everybody’s best jabs at Margo.

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Anne Applebaum explains what victory means – and doesn’t mean – in the Long War.

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Had some fun participating in yesterday’s Blogjam at PJ Media. Heck, I even learned a few things. However, I do have a couple suggestions for the future.

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