Space Shuttle Update (52)

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Enterprise Moves to Intrepid
NASA – Atop a barge on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, the space shuttle Enterprise was towed on the Hudson River past the Statue of Liberty on its way to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, where it will be permanently displayed. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Enterprise on the Hudson
Enterprise, the prototype for the space shuttle fleet, arrived at the Intrepid Museum in New York City on Wednesday, June 6, 2012, to the museum’s Space Shuttle Pavilion, which will open to the public on July 19. Thousands however, got a sneak peek as they watched the shuttle move up the Hudson River.

In this image, the shuttle is being towed by barge from a port in Jersey City, N.J. to the Intrepid, a retired World War II aircraft carrier that is now used to house aerospace and maritime exhibits. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

California’s Brown set for fight over pension reform

By Peter Henderson – California‘s Democratic Governor Jerry Brown heard a clarion call for his party to take on state pensions in the overwhelming passage of retirement reforms by the second and third biggest cities in the state, San Diego and San Jose.

In California, a reliably blue state, the pensions issue is set to trigger a fundamental struggle within the Democratic Party over what needs to be done and how fast – a struggle that could have national implications as some other states have worse pension funding problems. more> http://tinyurl.com/ch64hwm

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U.S. cities struggle with blighted bank-owned homes

By Tim Reid – The smell of rotting food and decay inside 10956 South Wilmington Avenue, Los Angeles, was overwhelming. A burst pipe in the kitchen ceiling leaked water onto a floor littered with half empty cans, razor blades, odd shoes, stained clothing and an upturned, mold-ridden sofa. Windows were smashed and boarded up.

Across America, bank-owned, blighted houses sit untouched, sometimes for years, disfiguring what in many cases are already troubled neighborhoods. Activists say the problem is particularly acute in minority areas. And many cities do not have the resources, the will or the power to force banks to maintain their properties. more> http://tinyurl.com/7crn9q6

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U.S. pushes for more global cooperation in space

By Andrea Shalal-Esa – Greg Schulte, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said in an interview on Wednesday (June 6, 2012) that it made sense for countries to work together in space given tight defense budgets and the increasingly congested and contested nature of space.

The growing amount of space debris is also fostering cooperation in space. The U.S. Air Force is tracking 1,100 active satellites, plus 21,000 pieces of debris, about 14 percent of which stem from China destroying one of its weather satellites in 2007. Even small pieces of fast-traveling debris can damage or destroy spacecraft and the International Space Station, which is about 240 miles above Earth. more> http://tinyurl.com/boc446h

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Australia backs UN telco treaty changes

International Telecommunication Union
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By James Hutchinson – The International Telecommunications Regulations (ITR) treaty, governed by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and last revised in 1988, will introduce provisions specific to potential regulation of the internet for the first time in a revision expected to be voted on in December this year.

“We are not going to send in the blue helmets of the UN peacekeepers to police IxPs! And we are certainly not ready to make a grab for global domination,” ITU secretary-general, Dr Hamadoun Touré said.

Cerf, chief internet evangelist at Google, said a successful renegotiation of the treaty would create “significant barriers to civil society participation”, allowing governments to more easily regulate access to the internet at a country level. more> http://tinyurl.com/co7jotr

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