Update:
MESSENGER status per JHU/APL… as of just a few minute ago. It’s going to be EPIC. Huge amount of propellant is going to be expended to get the orbit right (66% – down – down – down – —> 9.5%) . There’s not a huge amount left over. Choices range between “Oops, bye bye, where the hell are we going NOW?”, “Where’s the champagne?”, and “Ok we’re there but we aren’t where we want to be because we are where we don’t want to be, exactly, and who’s got my goddamned cigarettes?”.
So far the DSM’s have been beawesome, so I’m pretty confident they’ll do just fine. These are the guys you should be thinking of when you think “Rockit Scientist”. There’s not a lot of room for error.
Mission Elapsed Time
August 3, 2004
DAYS: 2397 Hrs: 10 Min: 43 Secs: 11
Mercury Orbit Insertion
March 18, 2011
12:45 a.m. UTC
Days: 20 Hrs: 08 Min: 46 Secs: 15
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I was curious as an adult to see what breast milk tasted like (oooh, taboo topic!) and might have had that opportunity after the kids were born.
To quote Aggie Sith: “Stop judging me!”
But this is just exceedingly… odd.
A specialist ice cream parlor plans to serve up breast milk ice cream and says people should think of it as an organic, free-range treat. – http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110224/od_nm/us_breastmilk_icecream
“Free Range Treat” is where you sample directly from the tap, folks. Ice cream is just ice cream. Of course, running around tapping breasts for a sample is kind of frowned on in our society – “women are not like maple trees” they say.
Here’s where I would make some snarky remark about “milk jugs” but Cruel Wife would chastise me for that terminology so I won’t.
So at McGoo’s request, here is a Poll.
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More Libyan unrest could prompt NATO involvement.
I firmly believe that NATO should be looking to itself and insisting that if the world wants a world government they should damn well crank up the UN and do something. I don’t really want that and I know they don’t have the collective guts to do it. But I really think NATO should stick within it’s member borders and look at threats that could actually harm them.
Libya doesn’t fall in the same category as Russia.
The first NATO Secretary General, Lord Ismay, famously stated the organization’s goal was “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down”.
I’ll settle for keeping the French down, watching Russia, and dealing with the internal takeover by those insisting that the West become annexed to Islam/Sharia-based countries.
Lemur King's Folly 
Strange we don’t give any kind of ice cream to babies.
It says “people should think of it as…” which makes me think babies aren’t really the target audience, especially since they can’t read or speak.
I am still sitting here wondering if I would actually try it or not.
Drinking from the carton is always more fun.
By the way – the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies look delicious. Ten or twelve of those and an ice-cold glass of milk (moo juice) would be terrific.
I don’t mean to offend anyone out there with my narrow-mindedness, but the idea of imbibing a complete strangers bodily fluids in any form is a bit off-putting – to say the least.
Matter of fact, I’m thinking if it was fed to folks without their knowledge and then they were told, it would produce a ~60% gak response. Maybe 70%
Might be a good survey question: who would blow lunch after imbibing a strange mothers milk?
LK – I’m trembling in anticipatory delight at the impending orbital insertion maneuver thingy!
Hah! And I have 200% confidence that they will get the math and the technology right! Its what NASA does.
(except for the climate fantasy branch).
Well one of my bosses who was top brassy fella at Goddard pointed out that at this point if anything could go wrong, it’ll be in insertion, and mentioned the whole Mars pounds-force to kgf fiasco, which I remember vividly.
But he was on the same page as me that it’s not very likely at all given how well their maneuvers have been to-date.
Anyone here remember NOAA N-Prime?
I’ll put that poll up immediately.
Not that I’ve tried it, but I’ve heard it tastes somewhat like cantaloupe. No, I wouldn’t try in ice-cream form either.
Good luck on the orbit insertion!
Cantaloupe? Really?
I’d have said “ham”. Based on secondhand descriptions, of course.
Mebbe flavor depends on what they eat, like with deer or bear.
So over here you got your “bon-bons”, your “apple pie”, your “teryaki jerky”… You name it folks!
“Orbit insertion” sounds like a very dirty joke I heard years ago about a chick with a glass eye. And that’s all I’m going to say about that because this is a *family* blog. Erm.
Just saw Drive Angry at the theaters in 3D. What a hoot! Earned every single inch of its R rating – gratuitous nudity, foul language, bullets & explosions, violence & bloodshed. They had to hose the screen off when it was done. And of course, mobody chews the scenery quite like Nic.
“…gratuitous nudity, foul language, bullets & explosions, violence & bloodshed….”
All them things is good for you! I guess I need to go see it!
Now I like Nicholas Cage. Anyone else see him in Bankok Dangerous? I liked it but never heard anyone say boo about it.
Drive Angry was… angry then, hmmm?
Woohoo on the Mars dealie!
The breast milk thing… um… no way on earth. I have certain issues about breast feeding past baby stage and I probably should just shut up about it lest I offend anyone. 🙂 Suffice to say – no way for me and if other people are gonna do it, it should be subject to all of the idiotic health laws that moo juice is already subject to.
I’m in agreement with Nicole. I did breastfeed all my kidlets, but had a year cut-off. IMO, if the kid’s walking, cut off teat access. Also, since it is milk, it should be subject to the same regulations as other milks.
Somewhat related, a couple of years ago, California Dept of Health wanted to place breastmilk under “blood and tissue”, because it was a body fluid. Hubby fought against it and won, because the resulting nightmare regulation would have forced states to monitor human breast milk even if a mother was NOT donating it.
As a side note, I recall one day after breastfeeding the little one, I had a drop on my finger. Thinking it was some of the milkshake I had been drinking (hey, I can multitask), I licked it off. IT WAS NOT MILKSHAKE!!! It was, however, very sweet. Thank goodness I wasn’t changing diapers at the time. Ok, grossness is over.
As to the Mercury Dealio, AWESOMENESS!!!! Congrats, Rockit Scientist!!
Have heard tell of four-to-six year olds breastfeeding which tells me that there are at least two people needing serious therapy.
Health issues – not so enamored of the donating milk thing because there’s plenty that can get passed through to the milk and you just never know.
I’s nowhere near smart enuff to be a rockit scientist.
I’s just a redneck air-o-space-ish engineer.
Oh yeah, lots of driving & much anger.
So how’s the mercury thing going? They get everything in place?
Hehe, hehe. He said “Orbital Insertion”. Hehe, hehe.
Shuddup, Beavis!
Here’s hoping that the cis-Mercury trajectory changes occur nominally… I’ll hoist a glass of pre-fermented grape juice in celebration.