From Gizmodo.com: Historic Photo Shows Atlantis and Endeavour Together for the Last Time
Shuttles Atlantis and Endeavour are seen on their launch pads at the same time in this unusual photo. Atlantis was due to launch to service the Hubble Space Telescope, but has since been rolled back to the hanger with the mission now delayed until April. After the Columbia disaster, a second shuttle is ready for a rescue launch for all missions not going to the International Space Station.
Found some pictures for the upcoming Star Trek movie. I’m really looking forward to this! My reactions to the pictures
Good:
Chris Pine (Kirk) and Zach Quinto (Spock) look pretty good in character.
Uniform design looks great. Reminiscent of the original series, but sleeker. The material looks a little like Nike’s Dri-Fit material.
Mini skirt uniforms and boots!
Bad:
The Bridge of this starship (not sure if it’s the Enterprise) looks too futuristic.
The Romulan villain looks a little creepy and weird. Why do villains always have to be evil looking?
If you’ve been watching Heroes, you’ve seen this “Sylar” look before.
Here’s are links to some pictures from the new upcoming Star Trek movie.
From AceShowBiz.com: Revealing Photos of ‘Star Trek’ Found
From AceShowBiz.com: More Fresh Photos From ‘Star Trek’ Hit
From AP.com: McCain has terse response on Palin shopping spree
Presidential candidate John McCain isn’t happy about having to explain why the Republican Party has had to buy running mate Sarah Palin $150,000 in clothes, hair styling and accessories.
McCain was asked several questions on Thursday about the shopping spree — and he answered each one more or less the same way: Palin needed clothes and they’ll be donated to charity.
So if McCain is elected President, Palin’s going to walk around the White House naked? As Vice President, Palin doesn’t need to have her designer clothes when she’s getting hugged by the President of Pakistan?
I think the RNC is just mentioning charity to mitigate some of the embarrassment. Exactly which charities are they planning to donate them to?
From NYTimes.com: Look Is the Same; the Labels Have Changed
The Republicans spent about $150,000 on a clothing makeover for Ms. Palin and her family, according to financial disclosure forms. But looking at the before-and-after photos, it was not readily apparent what Ms. Palin got, exactly, from her shopping spree at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue.
….“My first reaction when I heard about this was, ‘Honey, I could have dressed you for a lot less than that,’ ” said Cindi Leive, the editor in chief of Glamour magazine, which asked readers on Wednesday to vote in an online poll whether the expenses were too high; 72 percent said they were. “In general, she looks terrific,” Ms. Leive said, “but if you asked me to figure out where the $150,000 went, I’m not sure I could tell you.”
I saw this mural downtown on Walnut St., just south of Central Parkway. I love it. It’s a fun piece of work that really livens up the space.
It’s titled “What’s Happening Downtown” and it was a 2008 project for the Artworks Summer Program.
The falling prices of gas is a welcome relief, but it’s starting to feed an almost compulsive need to fill up my tank whenever I see cheaper gas prices. Today I stopped for $2.28 gas, actually $2.48 for premium which I use. Ended up getting 5.161 gallons for $12.85. I know that I don’t save that much money with the $.05-$.10 fluctuations, but I feel a sort of satisfaction knowing that I bought cheap gas. It’s the thrill of a bargain. Unless of course, the gas is cheaper tomorrow.
More Obama Pumpkin photos from YesWeCarve.com
Carve your own “Hope” pumpkin! I might try this myself, with my trusty Dremel tool. I wonder how many pumpkins I’ll have to sacrifice to get one that looks this good!
From Yahoo News: Palin tells kids the vice president ‘runs’ Senate
The subject of the vice president’s duties came up as Palin sat for an interview with KUSA-TV in Denver, which has a feature called “Question from the Third Grade.” The interviewer asked, “Brandon Garcia wants to know, ‘What does the vice president do?'”
“That’s a great question, Brandon, and a vice president has a really great job, because not only are they there to support the president’s agenda, they’re like the team member, the team mate to that president,” Palin said.
“But also, they’re in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom. And it’s a great job and I look forward to having that job,” she said.
The Vice President only votes in the senate in case of a tie vote, but is not involved in making policy in the legislature.
From Wikipedia.com:
The Vice President of the United States[1] is the first person in the presidential line of succession, becoming the new President of the United States upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president, should he or she accept the position. Every presidential term ends on January 20 of the year immediately after a presidential election. As designated by the Constitution of the United States, the vice president also serves as the President of the Senate, and may break tie votes in that chamber.[2] He or she may be assigned additional duties by the president but, as the Constitution assigns no executive powers to the vice president, in performing such duties he or she acts only as an agent of the president.
Thanks to Janice for sending me the link.
UPDATE: Why is this important?
Since Palin doesn’t take questions from the media, it’s hard to ascertain what she does and does not know. Even something as simple as this. This is her fourth time that she has mentioned the job of the VP and she has never answered it correctly. It’s just another example of her stunning lack of knowlege and how she tries to BS her way through answers.
An amazing video. Some of the shots look surprisingly real.
Thanks to Karin for sending it to me.
From AP.com: AP INVESTIGATION: Alaska funded Palin kids’ travel
Gov. Sarah Palin charged the state for her children to travel with her, including to events where they were not invited, and later amended expense reports to specify that they were on official business.
The charges included costs for hotel and commercial flights for three daughters to join Palin to watch their father in a snowmobile race, and a trip to New York, where the governor attended a five-hour conference and stayed with 17-year-old Bristol for five days and four nights in a luxury hotel.
And from a previous post from today…
From Politico.com: RNC shells out $150K for Palin fashion
The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.
Palin says that it’s all part of her unannounced women’s economic stimulus plan that she’s testing. If it works for her, she’s going to recommend that all women support the economy by buying $150,000 of clothing, shoes, and hair products.
From SFGate.com: RNC Drops $150,000 for Palin Family Makeover
We understand that the veep needs to look presentable, if not professional, on the campaign trail. But at what point does a down-home, moose-huntin’ gal begin to appear out of touch with Americans? The $150,000 is as much as American households spend on apparel and services in 80 years.
Our final questions: New York? Minnesota? St. Louis? And those are right-leaning polls. Why doesn’t Palin shop in what she herself referred to as, “real America”?
Seriously, how is Palin a reformer when she manages to milk the system for all its worth?
Thanks to Doug for sending me the Alaska travel story.
From Politico.com: RNC shells out $150K for Palin fashion
The Republican National Committee has spent more than $150,000 to clothe and accessorize vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and her family since her surprise pick by John McCain in late August.
According to financial disclosure records, the accessorizing began in early September and included bills from Saks Fifth Avenue in St. Louis and New York for a combined $49,425.74.
The records also document a couple of big-time shopping trips to Neiman Marcus in Minneapolis, including one $75,062.63 spree in early September.
The RNC also spent $4,716.49 on hair and makeup through September after reporting no such costs in August.
She really is a dress-up Barbie! I guess the moose-skin clothing that she owned prior to being selected VP wasn’t quite appropriate for the lower 48. I don’t know how the middle class thinks that she’s one of them when she’s spending three times their annual salary on clothing!