September 28, 2004

I am typing this at the Mojave Space Port, in Mojave California. We are eagerly awaiting the flight of SpaceShipOne. We have been here since about 0200 and the launch is at 0630. I'm using my G4 and my T610 to access the net. Cool =]

Things are heating up in the NK nuclear standoff > > [North Korea escalates nuclear stand-off](http://news.ft.com/cms/s/8a1c38d4-1110-11d9-95d9-00000e2511c8.html): "North Korea claims it has "weaponised" all of its spent plutonium rods because the US's hostile policies towards Pyongyang leave it no choice but to develop a "nuclear deterrent."" > > > (Via [gyre - military revolutions](http://www.gyre.org/).)

~~When i went to Santa Fe High School, I had a great Contemporary US History teacher named Jane Zinn who is the wife of Howard Zinn~~ [I was totally wrong about this! It was a different Zinn!]. He has an interesting piece on RadioNation: > > [RadioNation AudioBlog: Howard Zinn on Kerry/Bush](http://www.thenation.com/audioblog/index.mhtml?pid=1853): "America's leading radical historian on why voting does and does not matter." > > > (Via [the nation](http://www.thenation.com/).)

a bunch of big quakes today... not sure if this means anything > > [M 6.0, Central California](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/nc51147892.htm): "September 28, 2004 17:15:24 GMT" > > > [M 5.0, Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands, Alaska](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/at00000217.htm): "September 28, 2004 18:28:05 GMT" > > > [M 6.3, south of Africa](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/Quakes/usnyay.htm): "September 28, 2004 15:29:53 GMT" > > > i wonder if it relates [to this story](http://eecue.com/news/archives/97_Mt._Saint_Helens_Notice_of_Volcanic_Unrest.html)... (Via [quakes](http://earthquake.usgs.gov/recenteqsww/).)

Tomorrow, [Scaled Composites](http://scaled.com), [will attempt to win](http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/09/28/spaceshipone/index.html) the [Ansari X Prize](http://web1-xprize.primary.net/about/fact_sheet.php). This will be the first of two flights in order to win the prize. A short description of the prize: > > ... $10 million prize ... will be awarded to the team that designs the first private spaceship that successfully launches three humans to a sub-orbital altitude of 100 km on two consecutive flights within two weeks. All teams must be privately financed. > > > I watched the [first ever privately funded space flight](http://eecue.com/articles/index.php?artid=55) earlier this year and [took pictures of it](http://23b.org/gallery/mojave_spaceport_eecue). (Via [topix ca](http://www.topix.net/state/ca).)

If you build a muzzle loading cannon [don't put smokeless powder in it.](http://www.topix.net/redir/loc=rss-news_guns/http=3A=2F=2Ftv.ksl.com=2Findex.php=3Fsid=3D122423=26nid=3D5) (Via [topix guns](http://www.topix.net/news/guns).)

This is a [good song and a good flash animation](http://www.sharedvoice.org/unamerican/). (Via [js.com - Jungle Scene [coolkat]](http://junglescene.com/forums/browse.php?fid=1).)

Mt. Saint Helens is producing earthquakes and has changed significantly in the past 24 hours and there is an increasing risk of a hazardous event which has prompted the Washington University of Washington Dept. of Earth and Space Science to issue a [Notice of Volcanic Unrest](http://phoenix911.blog.com/45457/). (Via [Feedster Search: Search And Rescue](http://feedster.com/search.php?q=Search+And+Rescue&sort=date&ie=UTF-8&limit=15).)