Military Hopes to Bring Down Satellite — AP

The U.S. military is hoping to bring down a decaying (falling to Earth) satellite that is expected to make its way to the ground at least partially intact.

The Pentagon counted down Wednesday toward an unprecedented effort to shoot down a dying and potentially deadly U.S. spy satellite, using a souped-up missile fired from a ship in the Pacific.

The timing was tricky. For the best chance to succeed, the military awaited a combination of favorable factors: steady seas around the Navy cruiser that would fire the missile, optimum positioning of the satellite as it passed in polar orbit and the readiness of an array of space- and ground-based sensors to help cue the missile and track the results.

The operation was so extraordinary, with such intense international publicity and political ramifications, that Defense Secretary Robert Gates — not a military commander — was to make the final decision to pull the trigger.

The ramifications for either success or failure are great. If it is a failure, some have gone so far as to call for the death knell in the anti-ballistic missile program. If it is a success it will show how far the program has developed, but it will also show the U.S. capabilities in anti-satellite military technology.

UPDATE: Newest info is it is a hit.

UPDATE: Direct hit. Video here.

R.I.P. HD DVD: Toshiba reportedly ends the war

Of course, the good guy to whom I’m referring is the technology itself and not its primary backers, e.g., Toshiba and Microsoft. HD DVD was considered the “good guy” in the format war between it and Blu-ray mostly because it was slightly less (shall we say) “intrusive.” That is to say that HD DVD was the lesser of two evils in the format war; a wonderful technology could have emerged, but we must roll with the punches.

This news certainly doesn’t come as surprise to anyone remotely following HD DVD’s format war with rival Blu-ray. HD DVD had suffered a string of defections, with Warner, Netflix, Best Buy, and Wal-Mart all recently pledging their alliance to Blu-ray.

The NHK report says existing HD DVD products will remain in the market for a while, but Toshiba will stop further development of HD DVD. The report also estimates that Toshiba will take a hit to the tune of “hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars” and will close factories in northern Japan.

It’s all rumor at this point, but it seems to be well-founded rumor. Official announcements are set for next week.

Homeless: Can you build a life from $25? — CS Monitor

Adam Shepard left his comfortable life, and became homeless, intentionally to test if anyone really could make it in America. His goal was to have a car, a furnished apartment, and $2,500 in one year.

To make his quest even more challenging, he decided not to use any of his previous contacts or mention his education.

During his first 70 days in Charleston, Shepard lived in a shelter and received food stamps. He also made new friends, finding work as a day laborer, which led to a steady job with a moving company.

Ten months into the experiment, he decided to quit after learning of an illness in his family. But by then he had moved into an apartment, bought a pickup truck, and had saved close to $5,000.

He tells the full story, aside from a bit more in the article, in his book Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25, and the Search for the American Dream.

The End of an Era: Polaroid Drops Self-Developing Film — Real Tech News

As the title of the article says, it is certainly the end of an era.

Polaroid is dropping the product that made it famous. According to CNN, Polaroid is closing its remaining factories that produce self-developing film for its cameras (which have already gone out of production).

I remember an article from a good while back that stated that Polaroid was losing tons of money on the product, so it makes sense that it would end soon. Also, it is no shock that few people are using it anymore. Time and technology marches on, and there are much better, much cheaper methods of photography. Still, all said, when I was a kid it always seemed a technological wonder to watch one of those pictures develop.

Dismal Signs for the GOP — George Will

It’s looking bad for realistic Republicans out there. While hopeless optimists point to the evenness of the candidates on the Republican side, “realistic Republicans are looking for shelter.”

Nov. 4 could be their most disagreeable day since Nov. 3, 1964. Actually, this November could be even worse because in 1964 Barry Goldwater’s loss of 44 states served a purpose, the ideological reorientation and revitalization of the party. Which Republican candidate this year could produce a similarly constructive loss?

Today, all the usual indicators are dismal for Republicans. If that sweeping assertion seems counterintuitive, produce a counterexample. The adverse indicators include: shifts in voters’ identifications with the two parties (Democrats now 50 percent, Republicans 36 percent); the tendency of independents (they favored Democratic candidates by 18 points in 2006); the fact that Democrats hold a majority of congressional seats in states with 303 electoral votes; the Democrats’ strength and the Republicans’ relative weakness in fundraising; the percentage of Americans who think the country is on the “wrong track”; the Republicans’ enthusiasm deficit relative to Democrats’ embrace of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, one of whom will be nominated.

The articles is a good read to all who are interested. For myself, I think this is the first election where I really don’t feel compelled to vote for anyone. Giuliani, McCain, and Huckabee seem to only be Republicans in name; that is, it would seem to be a losing position to argue that any of them are actually conservative. Romney seems to be the closest candidate to the ideals of “conservatism,” but even he has a chequered past.

Republicans lost in 2006 because for the previous six years they stopped acting like conservatives. Spending like Democrats and engaging in non-conservative tactics (such as letting Kennedy write the education bill) didn’t do much good to conservatism, and they consequently lost badly. I suppose the party stands a real chance of continuing to fracture and hemorrhage as long as Republicans forget that.