John Hodgman testing President Obama

An absolutely hilarious video! It had me ROTFL'ng several times. And by the way the answer to three-part question is Shai-Halud (might have mis-spelt this one), a Thumper, and The Water of Life. And no, I did not look those up. No self-respecting geek, of which I consider myself one, would cheat! I found the video through the Wired article here.

Solar transit of the space shuttle and Hubble telescope

Only image ever taken of a transit of a space shuttle (Atlantis) and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in front of the Sun.

Click on the image to see it full-size. The shuttle and Hubble are in the bottom left corner. To really appreciate this picture, read the photographer's description of how it was taken here.

What Makes Us Happy?

Read the full text of the study here.

Inspiration versus Motivation

Having been on management teams who have aspired to motivate staff, versus those who've wanted to inspire, this rings absolutely true to me.

Words I never thought I'd hear from a Secretary of Defense

I can't improve on his blog post so I'll post it verbatim:

From Robert Gates's press briefing today on the 2010 defense budget:

It is important to remember that every defense dollar spent to over-insure against a remote or diminishing risk - or, in effect, to "run up the score" in a capability where the United States is already dominant - is a dollar not available to take care of our people, reset the force, win the wars we are in, and improve capabilities in areas where we are underinvested and potentially vulnerable.  That is a risk I will not take.

Emphasis mine; sentiments his. This has obvious bearing, as Gates made clear, on whether it is worth "running up the score" in an area of current U.S. dominance by buying more F-22s, among other systems. (Previously on the F-22 here and here.) More later on the details and implications of Gates's budget, and whether he'll be systematic in applying the rationale he has laid out. For the moment, the simple logic of his statement is worth noting. As is the sense of shock at hearing something so logical as part of a budget presentation.

Brand America - will it regain its shine?

Every now and then The Economist holds on-line debates which it includes its readership in. The most recent one was on 'Brand America' and whether it would regain its shine. While I can't share the debate points (there are too many) I can share the results. Click on the image to see a larger more legible version:

The Corpus Clock - Fascinating