Panel: NASA Fails to Meet Safety Test

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - Despite more than two years of painstaking work, NASA has failed to meet the most important safety recommendations for getting space shuttles flying again following the Columbia tragedy, an oversight panel says.

The task force concluded in its final meeting Monday that the space agency still does not fully comply with three of the toughest recommendations put forth by Columbia accident investigators in 2003.

The requirements are that the shuttle be hardened to protect it better, that the possibility of launch time debris be eliminated, and that there is a test of space based repair procedures.

These each could be deal breakers. The shuttle might never fly again if each of these must be met. Which would be a shame.

THE GAYS ARE COMING!

...to cable TV.

For an enterprise operating in a medium that thrives on promotion, Logo's coming out is taking place quietly. There have been no flashy billboards or bus stop ads, the way Showtime pitches its gay-themed shows. Advance copies of shows have been kept under wraps. Advertising has been limited primarily to gay and lesbian publications. "They've kept Logo a deep dark secret," said Frank Olsen, founder and president of Q Television Network, a satellite subscription service aimed at gay viewers, which began in October. "I think they're worrying about flak."

No shit. Anyway I'm looking forward to the launching this Thursday. We'll have a gay old time! Wilma!

I thought FOX news was the gay network.

Silly me!

Falafal?

Wait, I see the difference now. Logo is the network for people who are OUT.

My mistake.

Dissident Israeli soldier jailed

An Israeli soldier who refused to help demolish settler buildings in the Gaza Strip has been sentenced to jail.

A military commander jailed Cpl Avi Bieber, 19, for 56 days in a case that is being seen as an indication of how the Israeli army will treat dissenters.

He had refused on Sunday to remove right-wing Israeli protesters from a site the army was clearing.

Israel is due to withdraw its soldiers and settlers unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in August.

Pro-settler activists are encouraging soldiers to refuse to implement the disengagement.

Cpl Bieber's case shot to national prominence within hours of his detention on Sunday.

"I didn't come to Israel to beat up Jews," he shouted during the confrontation between soldiers and pro-settler activists.

Cpl Bieber came to Israel from the US with his family at the age of 10.

Cpl Bieber is the fifth soldier to refuse to participate in disengagement activities since January, the Israeli newspaper Maariv reported.

One was dismissed. The other three were not punished.

The shuttle might never fly again

the argument can be made that it never has "flown". it's an insulated canister strapped to a hydrogen tank (big bomb) that falls from orbit like a stone.

Well, it's more like a brick. A brick that glides. Soyuz return capsules are quite rock-like, though.

Does flying strapped atop a modified 747 count?

Just wait until they strap on the PigBoosters.

I'd be quite happy for you guys to build an Orion engine as long as you promise to detonate all those nuke pulse bombs over the "heartland" of America.

That's a nice thought, but keep in mind we already detonated dozens and dozens of nukes just to the West of the "heartland", giving plenty of opportunity for fallout to drift on the prevailing winds. It didn't do much.

But then, maybe that's why the "heartland" is the way it is today.

"I thought FOX news was the gay network."

No way. We wouldn't have 'em. They've got no sense of humor, like their viewers.

Here's a neat house.