Meteors! Image from Flickr.

Welcome to the holiday season during a recession. Millions of consumers rack up credit card debt every year during the holiday season, but this year an unusually high number of Americans already are in debt, but the holiday spirit will no doubt convince them to accumulate even more debt, even if it means they have to face the debt consolidation process later.

Consumers generally cut back on spending on entertainment during this period, either because of the cost of buying gifts, an aversion to the cold or both. However, a lot of people are excited about the Leonid Meteor Shower, which will be at its peak tonight. The best part is that watching a meteor shower is free.

Leonid Meteor Shower 2009 time

Reports say the Leonid Meteor Shower’s 2009 peak time will be during the very early morning hours on Nov. 17, but there are some conflicting reports regarding exactly what time star gazers will have the best view. CNN reports that NASA says the view in the U.S. will be best at 4 a.m. ET or 1 a.m. on the West Coast.

The timing is pretty inconvenient for making it a family activity, but the price is just right, as looking at the stars is free. All you need is blankets and a good spot to watch it, though many areas reportedly will be too cloudy for watching the 2009 Leonid Meteor Shower.

Leonid Meteor Shower history

The Leonid Meteor Shower comes about every three decades, according to CNN:

The Leonid shower is made of bits of debris from the Tempel-Tuttle comet, which streaks through Earth’s inner solar system every 33 years.

CNN also says people in the U.S. should be able to see 20 to 30 meteors during the Leonid Meteor Shower’s 2009 peak time. Of course, that’s if skies are clear.

Appreciating natural phenomenon

With movie ticket prices getting higher all the time and other activities such as eating out and going to other types of shows getting more expensive, I’m sure a lot of families are wishing they could TiVo a middle-of-the-night meteor shower. Though unemployment is at a 26-year high and underemployment is skyrocketing, too, inflation is continuing with no regard for people’s finances.

Interesting, free activities are hard to come by, so some individuals or families very well may be willing to lose some sleep to see the Leonid Meteor Shower tonight. A meteor shower is a great way to teach kids about space and the solar system without having to pay for tickets to a museum.

Image by flickr

Yes, NASA is reporting today that it has found water on the moon. How did they do that? Well, to put it in layman’s terms (because that is the only language I speak), they sent a rocket with all kinds of sensory instruments hurtling toward the moon. When it crashed it created a big plume of debris, and this sensitive rocket detected that there was water in it.

So, if you picturing a puddle or a river or pond, that’s not quite the case. The rocket reported that there was water vapor and ice grains. NASA discovering water on the moon has got people talking about what they could do with this water. As is the American way, a lot of people are throwing around ideas for how they could make money off of it, even though no money lender in her right mind would invest in moon water products.

Ideas for water on the moon

I have one particularly witty friend who wrote on Facebook today: “Ice found on moon! Get some barley, hops and yeast up there and start brewing!” I came across a space blog that said “I don’t have to tell you about the implications here. Just think of how much you could sell authentic Moon bottled water for.”

Both of these ideas, bottled moon water and moon beer, would most definitely sell. I would pay a good chunk of money for moon beer. I am sure people with tons of disposable income would pay staggering amounts for a bottle of moon water.

Marketability is not the problem

Of course, no matter how much money people are willing to pay for moon water or moon beer, there’s no way the sale price would cover the cost of collecting water on the moon. Everyone knows space travel and exploration are super expensive. Almost as expensive as war.

So before you start making phone calls to investors or designing moon beer labels, remember that profit means you have to take in more money than you spend. Still, if anyone out there does end up making moon beer, please let me know.

Some people believe this picture is real...and we let them vote.

Ever since NASA announced that they had lost the back up tapes from the Apollo 11 moon landing, the conspiracy theorists and peanut gallery has been touting their belief that there is an Apollo 11 Moon Landing Hoax – in that NASA filmed all of it in a studio as a cover up.  Of course, the missing tapes prove nothing, but we’ll get to that in a minute.  (I’d give some fast cash to makes this and other ill-conceived conspiracies go away.)

The tapes were backups, get over it!

The tapes in question were telemetry tapes, meaning that they were broadcast from the moon with the video signal, audio signal, and the other information being relayed from the command module, and video and audio were transferred to two inch television tape in Parkes, Australia, and broadcast world wide. The missing tapes, in essence, were negatives – back ups – it’s a non-issue, but they are having the original tapes restored. Click Here, for part one of this series.

A Conspiracy of dunces

This is a widely popular subject, and there is an extensive page on Wikipedia about it. Now to the meat of the thing:

It first started with a book written in 1974 by Bill Kaysing, a former employee of Rocketdyne, who wasn’t an engineer; he was part of their publishing unit, and held a degree in English. (English is NOT a science.) Kaysing has been denounced every step of the way, and ultimately was told by his own publisher he was full of it.

As to the tapes: NASA Flight Director Eugene Kranz (Ed Harris in the film Apollo 13) has repeatedly admitted the telemetry tapes got erased and reused, as it was procedure back then.

The science of conspiracy doesn’t add up

Certain objections are raised from a scientific point of view – for instance, the flag appearing to be waving. Several pictures exist of the flag in the same position, with Buzz Aldrin in different poses. This is because the flag was crinkled due to being folded, and didn’t completely unfurl in a vacuum due to the crease.
Aldrin has been repeatedly harassed about the conspiracy, especially by one Bart Sibrel, who viciously stalked him, and when Aldrin made it clear that he wanted to be left alone, punched Sibrel in the face.

Also, it’s been announced that a lunar orbiter has just captured pictures of the remnants of lunar landing modules, which were taken a few days ago.

Also, the peanut gallery has yet to summon a response to the following – putting the moon landing hoax on would have been far more expensive and elaborate than actually GOING to the moon.  I’d give a cash advance to hear someone explain that one….

And now, for your viewing pleasure – Bart Sibrel Punched in the Face!

Certainly some among us remember watching the moon landing on July 20th, 1969. It was one of the most watched moments in all of televisions history. Neil Armstrong descended from the Lunar Module and said those famous words, becoming the first human being to walk on the surface of a planetary body other than our own.  (Buzz Aldrin became second shortly thereafter, and sowed the seeds of sour grapes in the lunar soil.)

Recently, NASA announced that they had been searching for missing telemetry tapes that were made of the landing for some time, and that there had been no success, no matter how much fast cash they threw into the project.  The tapes in question were not the original copies, but backups with possibly better picture quality than the original two inch tape used in TV production at the time.

Throwing in the Towel; Bringing in Hollywood

Instead of giving up all hope, they have decided to take the best surviving footage, and run with it, turning to Lowry Digital, a California based film restoration company.  (Click here for the Source.)  Lowry expects the project to be completed in September, and NASA will be looking into the possibility of any other tapes left in the tracking center in Parkes, Australia, where the original signal was sent to from the Moon.

Recent Shuttle Activity

The Space Shuttle Endeavor recently lifted off from Cape Canaveral for a rendezvous and mission with the International Space Station, after 5 attempts to launch were scrubbed due to weather.  The shuttle was thought to have sustained some damage from liftoff debris, and the crew will be inspecting any damage and making repairs after docking.  The Shuttle Program is expected to be ditched in favor of a return to rockets and capsules next year, which will take a cash advance or two to get off the ground, so to speak.  (Hey, even NASA is into retro styles!) The rockets are to be dubbed Ares and Orion, respectively.

Missing tapes make conspiracy nuts go….well, nuts!

Apollo moon landing hoax theories have been circulating for years, and no matter how many facts, figures, and objective and empirical proof gets thrown their way, they still won’t keep quiet.  This tape debacle, which is a non issue, is going to fan the flames of conspiracy, which defies all manner of sound thinking and has been debunked numerous times.  Still, no matter how much evidence is provided, even a cash advance won’t silence the peanut gallery.

Stay Tuned for Part 2 – Conspiracy lovers are going to hate it!

Mike Levine of Fox News reports that the Director of the Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute at the University of Florida may have defrauded NASA out of “hundreds of thousands” of taxpayer dollars for personal use. A court affidavit says there is “probable cause” that the money was laundered in violation of federal law.

The FBI and NASA are investigating Samim Anghaie, 59, and his wife Sousan Anghaie, 55. She is president of New Era Technology Inc. (NETECH) in Gainesville, Fla. Charges have not been filed as yet.

Contract for the high life

Sousan Anghaie talked NASA into awarding NETECH “several fully funded contracts.” This included about $600,000 to develop and study uranium-related technology. But the FBI and NASA allege that in reality, Sousan and Samim used that money for personal luxury use. Among the purchases made were a $480,000 home, a 2007 BMW, a 2005 Toyota Sienna, a 2008 Toyota Corolla, a 2007 Toyota Corolla and properties for their sons. Then there was another $528,000 project. Wow…

Not surprisingly, federal agents have raided the Innovative Nuclear Space Power and Propulsion Institute.

More accountability with contracts

Among the contributions Sousan sought was $350,000 in order to pay three employees (including her son and brother-in-law). However, it is documented that those three workers received no monetary compensation for their work. Furthermore, it’s unclear whether any of the proposed work they were supposed to be doing was completed. This, according to an unsealed affidavit, is just one of “multiple fraudulent certified contract proposals” the Angahies made to NASA so that they would receive “maximum funds” for their “research projects.”

Conveniently, NASA would directly deposit funds into NETECH’s corporate account. Then the money would be funneled into the couple’s personal accounts, according to the affidavit. Perhaps soon, Samim Anghaie and Sousan Anghaie will be funneled into prison.

Related links:

• Couple Accused Of Scamming NASA

• Feds: UF prof, family stole millions in grants

Cleaning up space junk is expensive, so NASA and the world may need a cash advance…

Recently, two satellites collided in outer space. The debris produced by the incident has added to what already amounts to a great galactic junkyard that has clogged up orbit around the Earth. Veronika Oleksyn reports for the Associated Press that numerous nations agree that a “cosmic cleanup” is in order. Others say that preventing future collisions is a better way to spend the money, and that the cleanup efforts would themselves cause collisions.

However, that won’t clean up the mess, will it?

How much junk is out there?

Oleksyn references Nicholas L. Johnson, NASA’s chief scientist for orbital debris. He said that there are nearly 19,000 objects in low and high orbit around Earth. About 900 of the objects are old satellites, but the vast majority is simply… junk. And the more junk there is, the more likely collisions will become. Johnson is one of many supporters of the clean-up approach. In advance, the cash required would need to be earmarked, and the outlay would be considerable.

One idea involves attaching balloons to the junk, which will “increase their atmospheric drag and bring them back to Earth faster.” Another idea requires the use an “electrodynamic tether” which could be controlled from the ground, said Johnson, foresees attaching a 10-mile (16-kilometer) electrodynamic tether to debris that would generate a current, which then could be controlled from the ground enabling technicians to bring it down. It’s the lasso approach.

Study it, sure, but you still have to clean up your mess

Brian Weeden, technical consultant at the nonprofit Secure World Foundation, wants to merely study where the junk is so that alerts can be issued. Ideally, that system of tracking and cataloging will be used worldwide, but only a handful of nations have expressed even informal interest so far. Again, the cost is prohibitive, and a cash advance may be the only way to get things moving. Perhaps when there’s enough debris out there to block out the sun and create a true “Dark Age,” we’ll have figured something out…

Related articles

• Odds of space junk hit trillion-to-one: experts (calgaryherald.com)
• The Sky Isn’t Falling in Texas – Yet (time.com)
• It Finally Happened: Two Satellites Crash In Space [Breaking] (i.gizmodo.com)

DISCOVERY!

NASA scientists have discovered gigantic underground reservoirs of frozen water on Mars, away from its polar caps. This is yet another positive sign that life may be – and has been – sustainable on the red planet.

Scientists theorize that the frozen water deposits are remnants of a Martian ice age that dates back at least one million years. Because water is a building block for life, the frozen reservoirs are an encouraging sign of extraterrestrial life.

Lots and lots of ice

Radar from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter revealed that the huge glaciers are one half-mile thick beneath Mars’ layers of rock and debris. One glacier appears to be three times the size of Los Angeles, California.

The buried glaciers are located in the Hellas Basin region of Mars’ southern hemisphere, and scientists predict that even larger frozen water reservoirs may exist in Mars’ northern hemisphere.

According to University of Texas at Austin geophysicist Jack Holt:

All together, these glaciers almost certainly represent the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars that’s not in the polar caps … In addition to their scientific value, they could be a source of water to support future exploration of Mars.

Maybe payday loans companies can relocate

My friends, you are interested in the future, for that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives. I, the Amazing CashAdvanceMojo, predict that customers of such convenient short-term loan products as faxless payday loans hunger for the freedom to choose. Once government takes that choice from you, your budget becomes more vulnerable during times of crisis. Emergency expenses that simply cannot wait bite at your ankles like a peeved pekingese.

With the potential for life on Mars, it is now time. Board craft worthy of sailing the stars and depart. Create a society where the people choose their own destinies, not government. If you need emergency money to cover small expenses, start a business that provides payday loans on the Martian world. Zoom a little zoom in a rocket ship, and see the second story for more on this exciting discovery on Mars!