Scintillations

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The Motion Picture Association of America has opened a new front against those dastardly pirates who misues its products on the Internet-- specifically, fanfic writers who use labels like "R" and "NC-17" to indicate adult content. "Our ratings are not supposed to be ripped off," grimly declared executive vice president John Feehery in the April 18th New York Times, apparently just having noticed that the labels have become part of the common vernacular.

NASA is returning to form already, having pushed the first Shuttle launch of the year back from May 12th to May 22nd. Furthermore, BBC Online reported April 19th, NASA feels perfectly comfortable putting the shuttles back in operation regardless of the verdict of the panel assembled to sign off on its safety improvements. I have every serious expectation that the next mission is going to simply detonate on the launchpad, but even so, godspeed, Discovery.

On a happier note, that same day, the engineers who saved the crew of Apollo 13 by figuring out how to fit a square lithium hydroxide cannister into a round hole were being honored.

Meanwhile, the Virgin Galactic service is being held up by US rules about technology transfer, which prohibit Burt Rutan from sharing his technical information with a foreign-owned company.

And, as if NASA didn.t have enough problems already, it.s also being sued by Russian astrologer Marina Bai, who alleges that Deep Impact has negatively impacted her profession by screwing up the heavens.


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