Everyone should have a Barrett REC7.

The NOAA-NASA GOES Project

I have been looking for this type of data for a long time. Thank you NASA and NOAA for coming up with such a fabulous project full of great information. Being able to provide a movie of the weather pattern from Space is a step closer to understanding the environment directly around Earth. The more we understand Space, the better we can use the environment it to advance human life.

This movie is July 25th to July 29th in the year 2010. You will notice a curious bright line that goes through the screen at various points throughout the movie, it took me a moment, but that's actually the sun going by changing the planet from night to day.

Now if we can get a full earth movie of this, which can play out for longer time periods, that would be interesting.

For more information Click Here to visit the NASA and NOAA GOES Project.

NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
GOES = Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite

Charlie Rangel at it again! Forced Servitude is his goal.

This is Charlie Rangel, Congressman for the 15th District of New York, which has pieces of Queens, Manhattan, Harlem, and some non-residential areas included. Charlie Rangel is a real American Hero with medals from the Korean War, but he wants to force you to earn those medals too. HR5741 was introduced by Mr. Rangel only, and states the following:

To require all persons in the United States between the ages of 18 and
42 to perform national service, either as a member of the uniformed
services or in civilian service in furtherance of the national defense
and homeland security, to authorize the induction of persons in the
uniformed services during wartime to meet end-strength requirements
of the uniformed services, and for other purposes.

It is a shame that the people of the 15th District of New York are sending a man like this to Congress. Mr. Rangel continues to submit bills that include forced servitude. The last bill was for 3 months of service. HR5741 is for 2 whole years. Required service is nothing less than slavery. Thanks District 15 of New York, we are glad you want to enslave the country by sending Mr. Rangel to Washington. Not really, PLEASE DO NOT RE ELECT HIM!

Send your name to Mars on the New Curiosity Rover!

CLICK HERE to Sign Your Name onto a microchip to go on the next new Mars Rover Curiosity which is scheduled to launch in November of 2011. They are tracking where the signatures come from and North Carolina falls 15th only 20 behind Maryland. With only 6302 participants from North Carolina, there is a total of about 780,000 total participants worldwide, with the US providing over 300,000 of those participants. I wonder if this rover is going to make any effort to save Spirit??



This is a picture from NASA, which shows Spirit just getting out of his landing device. Spirit has been stuck on Mars for a many SOL and has been without communication since March 2010. It is stuck in "Troy" which is the crater in which Spirit cannot get out of because the terra beneath Spirit's 6 motor wheels gave way like a sand dune, but it is so deep the Rover cannot get back out of it. This thing 5 feet tall, 7 feet wide, and 5 feet long, its not small at all. It has now lost all power and has been silent for good while. Perhaps they will send their new Rover Curiosity to retrieve it or maybe attempt to pull it out of crater somehow and power it up. I guess it is better we learn about things such as perhaps a human could get stuck in a location like that, and how better to get out of situations like that.

So, I guess now someone should get some sort of prize for being the first person to bring back this microchip, as long as their name is on the chip!

Lance Armstrong Muscles Stage 16 in the Tour de France.

This picture is directly from the Team Radioshack Website . Lance steps on the pedal in today's Stage 16th. After his wrecks in an earlier stage Lance had fallen to 40 minutes behind Alberto Contador who still maintains the yellow jersey. Today Lance Armstrong pulled out to a 9 minute lead to finish in a group 7 minutes ahead of the Peloton. Chris Horner from Team Radioshack was the big gainer for today pulling just under 9 minutes from the lead. Levi Leipheimer is just over 5 minutes behind Contador. Even if Lance decides to continue to escape from over the next 3 stages and even potentially gaining another 7 minutes on the leaders that would only bring him 21 minutes. Today he is 33 minutes behind Contador. The winner is usually decided on Stage 19, and Stage 20 is the Parade stage down to the Champs-Élysées in Paris. It is still conceivable to have the United States win, and even simply Team Radioshack bring home the Maillot Jaune. I honestly would not care about protocol if Team Radioshack escaped from the Peloton in Stage 20 and crossed over the finish line first, enough time someone on that team could win, especially if there some inclusive breaks and attacks in these next few stages that include any of the Team Radioshack members. The question for Lance is, did you wait too long to turn on the afterburners?

Ferrari Passion

This is the car that started it all. The 308GTS. Thomas Magnum drove this vehicle around Hawaii while being a private investigator, in Magnum PI. The car just looks kool. The targa top is almost as good as a convertible.




When I was young, my grandparents lived outside of Washington DC. On a trip up to see them perhaps Thanksgiving, we were driving around the beltway and one of these Testarossa's came whizzing by us in our big bad Delta 88 Station Wagon, yes burgundy with the wood panels.



When I was 18 I had put this as my dream car, I would love to have this F355 convertible, which you can get one for the same price as a high dollar BMW or Mercedes these days. The car below is the $425,000 beast that only the multi-millionaire can dream of, The 599 GTO is one nice Ferrari.

Spain takes home World Cup 2010

Congratulations to the Spanish National Soccer Team for winning the World Cup! With a goal by the Spanish's Iniesta late in Extra Time putting them up 1 nil. It's a shame this tournament only comes around every 4 years, but hopefully in 4 more years the US team should be 4 years better. I think replacing the coach every 4 years is a bad policy of the US Soccer Team. Hopefully more talent will become available because a soccer team cannot rely on solely 2 or 3 players to get the job done. There need to be 2 or 3 superstars and a great support squad.

Chasing the Maillot Jaune in the 2010 Tour De France

Lance Armstrong is sitting in 18th place after 5 stages, a little bit over 615 miles and just over 23 hours ridden. He is only 2 minutes and 30 seconds behind yellow jersey occupant Fabian Cancellara. Cancellara has never won the Tour de France but has won many stages and has been in contention for several years. This year's Tour is heavy in mountain stages which will play into Armstrong's favor. There have been great attacks in this race so far which has a long way to go. Today's attack got up to an 8 minute break before getting wrapped up by the peloton by the end of the race. The rest of Team Radioshack is not too far behind with Levi Leipheimer +23" on Lance with Janez Brajkovic and Andeas Kloden less than 10 seconds behind Levi. Overall Team Radioshack is 11th among the 22 teams participating in the Tour this year. With many more miles to go this is still anyone's race.

NASCAR Polls on Dale Jr

I'm glad to see that almost 70% of the general traffic so far to participate in the NASCAR.COM site thinks that Dale Jr will remain in competition to the chase. With the great 4th place finish at Daytona last night, it pushed Junior to 11th in the points standings 57 points behind Greg Biffle in the 10th place of the Sprint Cup Standings. With 8 races left in the chase, there is still a lot of racing to go. I think that the #88 team has many good races left this season and will make the chase. To win the championship they need wins, not just good finishes. But I guess with good finishes that puts you in position to win the championship and that's why the chase format is fun.

Chicago:

Junior knows how to win at Chicago, which he did in 2005. He last two outings to Chicago were 15th and 16th which is around his average for this track. An improvement on this finish would continue to propel the points standing forward.

Indianapolis:

Junior's record on this track is unreliable. They did start 3rd in last years race, but had a 36th place finish due to an engine failure. So if the car's engine is in better shape this year and its fast, hopefully a good finish can be the result of this. His best finish was 6th back in 2006. So he can get around this track if given a fast car.

Pocono:

In the last race here Junior started 3rd. His finish of 19th was not a result of a slow car, but never getting the track position needed. His car was equivalent to the leaders, but could not get up front. With 5 Top 5s at this track, hopefully a good finish can be the result of this experience.

Watkins Glen:

Although not known for his road racing ability, Junior can finish well at this track. He has won there in the Nationwide Series and started 2nd in the 2008 race. He only has two finishes of 3rd and 5th, but he has led 46 laps at this track and certainly knows how to get around it.

Michigan:

Junior has one win at this track. Detractors say that it was a fuel mileage race, but he was out front when they called the race. Junior knows how to get around in the front having led 173 laps here and finished in the top 5 - 4 times. The last two outings were a 7th and 3rd place finish.

Bristol:

Junior won here in 2004. 743 Laps lead and 7 top 5 here. His last two appearances at this track end up with a 7th and 9th place. This is a track that given a good car he can win at. Who doesn't love Saturday night races anyway!

Atlanta:

Junior won the Pole in the earlier race this year but only managed a 15th place finish due to some poor changes late in the race. This race is right up there with Bristol. 1 Win and 8 Top 5s at this track. 632 laps led, so if the #88 team can get a good car out there, it'll be another fun race to watch.

Richmond:

At all the upcoming races Junior has won the most with 3 at this track. His past 3 races at this track have been very dismal with 21st being the best finish. The cars are looking better this year, so lets see if we can find those good finishes and wins at this track again. It would be a cap on a good season if Junior can finish in the Top 12 in the point standings after this race.


I think Junior has a very good chance of making the chase this year, and if he can pull of a slew of wins during the chase, he can win the Championship. He is capable of winning more than once a year, with 6 in 2004. He is capable of winning in the Charlotte through Phoenix run of the Chase. It's turning out to be an exciting 2010 season! Making the Chase and perhaps getting a win would solidify Junior's place in NASCAR.

Happy Independence Day!

I always feel like saluting the flag, but I put my hand over my chest. Being in a free country with the ability to have your life, your liberty, and being free to pursue your happiness is what everyone truly wants. The power of liberty is overwhelming when understood which it is giving you the ability to drive your own life. Having the freedom to be happy is only misunderstood by the sad. There is nothing wrong with being sad, and almost everyone experiences it. It is much more fun in life to go through it happy.