There's some scuttlebutt flying about that an Alabama Senator may have one of those secret holds on stimulus funds directed at NASA over reported disagreement in DC on the agency's use of some of the money stemming from the Recovery Act:
When NASA decided to put 150 million of the 1 billion in stimulus funding the agency received this year towards development of commercial ISS resupply capabilities, although not specifically towards Capability D (crew transportation) of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, agency officials likely thought they were taking a prudent step towards eventually securing commercial access to the station. However, that decision was criticized yesterday by two senators in two different hearings, for very different reasons.
Advice and criticism on where to spend money could be taken a little more seriously, if one of the guys doing the griping wasn't Sen. Shelby (R - AL). Shelby was the only Republican who had the good sense to vote against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, the legislation that enabled investment banks and insurance companies to commit corporate suicide. Unfortunately, that one episode of foresight didn't last through his tenure as chair of the Housing and Banking CMTE from 2003 to 07. A critical time when the economic collapse that threw the entire nation into one giant unemployment line might have been mitigated or altogether averted.
- Speaking of the ISS, Guy Laliberte hopes to be the 7th private space explorer and plans the first choreographed free fall dance and tumbling routine if he makes the cut. Don't laugh: the Canadian zillionaire is also a world class performance acrobat.
- Update and linky worthy: This Week in Genomics is posted in comments courtesy of Mem from Sommerville.
- Popular diarist Mark H was interviewd at the The Reef Tank. Did you know he's a successful business owner who started his company at age 14? And yet this commercial prodigy prefers to hang out with us and write fantastic diaries on marine science, despite FAUX media portraying us as a bunch of business hating, latte swilling, neo-socialists.
- Detroit take notice: Tesla Motors plans to open seven regional dealerships in the US. And this is not your father's clunky electric car.
- I've agreed to write a semi-daily science & policy column for the Orlando Examiner (The Examiner is part of a conservative owned conglomerate, so how could I resist posting stuff like this?) I think I get paid a tiny sum based on page visits and I believe they're looking for writers in more cities. When I find out more, I'll let you know.
- Last but certainly not least, what's science without a little culture? The talented playwright known far and wide as the Rude Pundit has been busy writing an anthology of six plays covering a largely forgotten American genre.