Helmet cam footage of Felix Baumgartner's jump and why it still doesn't compare to its predecessor

Not sure what they're saying, but the spin Felix had to recover from looked very intense. By the way, Google broke the record for number of online viewers for an Internet live stream with over 8 million tuning into YouTube to watch the Redbull Stratos jump. I was one of them but only because I was able to use a VPN. Maybe there is something to this fad people are calling the Internet. 

Maybe it's the amount of clouds in the sky, the shaky cam footage, the flailing arms and legs, or the backstory of it all but I do have to admit I still find the images of Joe Kittenger's 1960 jump from 102,800 ft much more dramatic, eerie, and beautiful than the jump yesterday (the visual imagery of which is perfectly displayed below in the footage's use in Boards of Canada's music video for their song Dayvan Cowboy). Whereas the footage from Baumgartner's jump simply looks like he's making a very high skydive (maybe it's the lack of clouds concealing the true height of the jump or how still/well-framed/clean the video is), the footage of Kittenger's jump really does show, accurately, that he is jumping from space. While the Redbull Stratos event itself was very exciting, the footage doesn't elicit that much drama. Kittinger's jump footage is drama encapsulated. 

Yep

Bill Nye on creationism:

And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your... your world that’s completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that’s fine, but don’t make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can... we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems.

Today's Big Stories for August 29, 2012

Violence against the Japanese ambassador, stocks drop, Lincoln expands, and China is aiming for the moon. 

1. Japan demands investigation into attack on ambassador's car in China

Beijing apologized for the embarrassing incident on Monday, in which an unidentified man ripped the Japanese flag from the ambassador’s car amid rising tensions over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

2. China stocks drop to 2009 low as Air China profits fall

Air China, the nation’s largest international carrier, sank to its lowest level since March 2009, while Zhongjin Gold, the third-largest bullion producer by market value, retreated 2.3 percent. FAW Car Co. (000800), which makes passenger cars with Volkswagen AG, declined for a seventh day as the company reported a six- month loss. Shanghai Chaori Solar Energy Science & Technology Co. rose 6.4 percent after Japan imported more solar products.

3. Lincoln Is Heading To China

Ford CEO Alan Mulally used an event Tuesday in Beijing to announce plans to start selling the brand in China in the second half of 2014. The announcement is significant because it makes Lincoln an international brand.

4. China eyes next lunar landing as US scales back

But experts say that China, which as recently as the 1980s was focused solely on developing satellites, is the closest to landing an astronaut on the moon. Beijing launched its manned space programme in 1999 and has developed rapidly since, sending its first astronaut into space in 2003 and completing a space walk in 2008.
This year, it conducted its first manned space docking -- the latest step towards setting up a space station -- during a mission that included its first woman in space. In its last white paper on space, China said it was working towards landing a man on the moon -- a feat so far only achieved by the United States, most recently in 1972 -- although it did not give a time frame

How do you get the next generation of students interested in space exploration?

You show them how dramatic it actually is and you produce the video below. This mission only costs $7 per American and less than 1/6 the total cost of the Olympics. How is the exploration of Mars and space beyond not worth more than the $17 I spent last night to see Batman in IMAX? 

China planning deep-sea nuclear-powered mining base

From Wired:

The China Ship Scientific Research Centre's proposed station -- which will have huge propellers to enable free movement in the ocean depths -- will be manned by 33 crew for up to two months at a time and powered by a nuclear reactor.

But...

The Chinese company appears to be wary of these [environmental] issues, and is therefore treading carefully, with plans for the bold venture slated for a more reasonable 2030 launch -- according to experts the South China Sea Post spoke to -- and a smaller 12-crew prototype capable of 18-day dives set to launch by 2015. The larger 60-metre-long craft will weigh in at 2,600 tonnes.

So, 2,600 ton, nuclear-powered, 33-person crew, free movement, deep-ocean mining megacraft coming Earth's way in 2030.  

Not about China, but very interesting (and a little scary) - the world's standard kilogram is losing weight

Did you know that somewhere in France is a palm-sized piece of metal that is exactly 1 kilogram, and that all other kilogram measurments in the world are based of this piece of metal, and that this piece of metal may currently be losing some of its mass, and the world's scientists are rushing to replace it will another standard before all heck breaks loose? I didn't. From Mental Floss (by way of Gizmodo):

Hidden in a vault outside Paris, vacuum-sealed under three bell jars, sits a palm-sized metal cylinder known as the International Prototype Kilogram, or “Le Grand K.” Forged in 1879 from an alloy of platinum and iridium, it was hailed as the “perfect” kilogram—the gold standard by which other kilograms would be judged.

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Every 40 years, however, it makes an appearance. The weight is ushered from its chamber, washed with alcohol, polished, and weighed against 80 official replicas hand-delivered from laboratories around the world. Today, whenever scientists need to verify something is precisely one kilogram, they turn to one of these replicas, over which Le Grand K reigns supreme.

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In Le Grand K’s case, it’s been losing weight. At its most recent weigh-in in 1988, it was found to be 0.05 milligrams—about the weight of a grain of sand—lighter than its underling replicas.

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Le Grand K’s unreliability “will start to be noticeable in the next decade or two in the electronics industry,” warns NIST physicist Richard Steiner. If your next smartphone is buggy, you’ll know which hunk of metal to blame.

Is this well known and I'm just out of the loop? I never knew a kilogram was based of an actual object and that this object still exists and is the standard by which all other kilograms are measured. 

'Le Grand K' inside its protective unitCanada's 'Le Grand K' replica

Two non-China news events of the day, one exciting and one depressing

First the exciting news:

Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to the Universe

Signaling a likely end to one of the longest, most expensive searches in the history of science, physicists said Wednesday that they had discovered a new subatomic particle that looks for all the world like the Higgs boson, a key to understanding why there is diversity and life in the universe.

Like Omar Sharif materializing out of the shimmering desert as a man on a camel in “Lawrence of Arabia,” the elusive boson has been coming slowly into view since last winter, as the first signals of its existence grew until they practically jumped off the chart.

“I think we have it,” said Rolf-Dieter Heuer, the director general of CERN, the multinational research center headquartered in Geneva.

How can this not be exciting and history-altering? It's literally a whole new world. 

Now the depressing news:

[Formula One Test Driver] De Villota Loses Right Eye And Remains 'Critical But Stable'

The Marussia team has confirmed that Maria de Villota has lost her right eye and remains in a “critical but stable condition” following her accident at Duxford Airfield on Tuesday.

The Spanish test driver, carrying out her first day of straightline aerodynamic testing for the team, made contact with a support truck at the end of her first installation run in the MR-01 and following treatment by paramedics was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. The 32-year-old regained consciousness at the hospital but was confirmed as having sustained serious head and facial injuries.

A terrible event during a routine test session. Let's all hope this is the last of the bad news and she recovers quickly. 

First Chinese woman in space will be Liu Yang

(Update: The launch has been a success)

Photo courtesy of China Daily

And so it has been decided that Liu 'little flying kite' Yang will be the first Chinese woman in space. I still can't figure out if the rocket has already launched or not. It was scheduled for Saturday evening. The China Daily Live Reports page's last update was at 4:25 pm and right now it's 6:08 pm. 

Update: Some great photos of the launch preparation can be found on The Wall Street Journal. 

Update 2: The rocket has successfully launched and China now has a woman in space.