Vettes on the Lex

Last weekend 300 Chevrolet Corvettes were displayed on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington for "Vettes and Jets on the Lex." This very special event benefitted the Wounded Warrior Foundation. Saturday morning Corvettes and their owners queued up on the pier in Corpus Christ, Texas beneath a pouring rain right out of Noah's Ark. After riding up the aircraft elevator, a little red car was parked beneath the wing of an A-3 Skywarrior.

The rain cleared later in the day, and Sunday's weather was spectacular. Like the 300 Spartans, the owners felt privileged just to be on deck. Looking toward the bow from the bridge, we see an F-14 Tomcat and F/A-18 Hornet on the catapults.

Looking aft at the bridge, we see the Hornet in her Blue Angel colours. The word "Corvette" originally referred to a type of small, powerful warship. Corvettes have long been the only American-made sports car. Their owners enjoy both performance cars and American workmanship. During the Apollo years, a Corvette was the astronaut's car of choice. One Apollo crew even bought 3 matching Corvettes. On September 12, 2009 the people's love of America was on display.

Sarah and John

TERMINATOR 3-D at Universal Studios Hollywood. Produced with the aid of Jim Cameron, this attraction pioneered the 3-D effects seen in the Las Vegas Borg Experience. The writer was fortunate to meet Jim at my birthday (which also happened to be the AAAS meeting) February 19, 2002. We share interests in undersea and Space exploration.

TERMINATOR: The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been renewed for another year! Many of us girls were inspired by Sci Fi movies showing strong women of the future. Jim in particular showed many positive images of women on the way to TITANIC. ALIENS (1986) scared the teeth out of a 4-year old, but we remember Ripley fighting along with the boys and Vasquez doing chinups. In TERMINATOR 2 (1991) Sarah was re-introduced in the same shot pulling herself up with her own muscles.

Last week's events showed how much resistance remains to women in power. Vile sexist comments have circled the world aimed even at a candidate's daughter. Motherhood is difficult enough without the world watching. As we know, Sarah Connor was a young unwed mother. This post is not favouring one American party; Hilary supporters are disappointed that she was not even considered for VP.

Much of this online sexism has been spread by blogs, even "Kosmic" variants. A year ago we saw the same characters make an infantile attack on Tommaso, a real scientist reporting groundbreaking research. These people do not present at scientific meetings, but do show up at the Yearly Kos. As someone who knows them, I urge them to think about their words.

In the movie 300 Lena Headley held up the home front while the men went to battle. As in the Pelopponessian War, freedom periodically must be defended. Today she is Sarah Connor fighting for the future. Women are fighting in wars, and even vying for leadership. We believe in Sarah and know that she will continue the fight.

A to Z with the Carnival of Space!

A Few Stood Against Many

"The world will know that free men stood up against a tyrant,
and a few stood against many."

Somehow that line from "300" seems applicable. Hopefully you are also in a place to enjoy the beautiful full Moon this week. This has turned into a busy week using observations to show the speed of light slowing today as predicted. Type Ia supernovae show c slowing at high redshifts. Earth's temperature history shows c slowing at lower redshifts. (For cosmologists, Earth's history covers redshifts up to approximately 0.3) Today's observations show that c is still slowing as we write. No amount of personal attacks can overcome that.