The Philae lander’s batteries have been exhausted and the lander has shut down, perhaps to be revived in August, 2015 as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko makes a closer approach to the sun.
John Doar, fearless civil rights attorney in the 60’s and Watergate staff attorney in the 70’s, died this week.
JPL
The information that they received from Philae should be valuable so all is not lost. May the little alien awaken next year after a rest.
Linda Featheringill
Does anyone know whether Philae has the capacity to push the comet a bit? It would be grand to find out how much eventual change in trajectory is accomplished by x amount of force.
ETA:
Of course, the weight of Philae might also have an effect.
jurassicpork
We were had, by Obama, by Gruber, by the entire United States Congress.
dmsilev
@Linda Featheringill: Not appreciably. Philae didn’t have any serious thrusting capability built in, and even a small comet is vastly vastly heavier than the probe.
Linda Featheringill
@dmsilev:
Thanks.
horatius
@jurassicpork: oh noes. They conspired to give us health insurance coverage. What will the dastardly Obama administration think of next?
nastybrutishntall
@jurassicpork: Oh, fuck off.
Yeah, what a terrible thing has happened to us all. Not a single goddamned unicorn. Obama: History’s Greatestest Monster.
hildebrand
@jurassicpork: That is one of the most foolish pieces of magical thinking knavery I have ever seen. Did the author raid every last FDL inspired website, dump the standard laundry list of complaints of the ACA into a blender, and smash down the ‘puree’ button in righteous fury? Did the writer cackle like a bad movie villain when they wrote this? ‘This time I have you, Mr. Bond!’
Jeez.
Baud
I can’t believe you all clicked on a jurassicpork link.
FlipYrWhig
@jurassicpork: You are probably the single most irritating person on the entire Internet. Your entire life seems to involve complaining about why your entire life involves complaining. Go the fuck away and stay there.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
I did once, a long time ago, but I have since repented.
dmsilev
@Baud: Look on the bright side. At least he wasn’t begging for money this time.
Baud
Speaking of Obamacare, Judge Pillard, in her first major opinion on the DC Circuit, knocked it out of the park yesterday in rejecting the Catholic Church’s claim that filling out a religious exemption form to avoid covering birth control violated the Church’s religious freedom.
Thor Heyerdahl
@Amir Khalid: It turned me into a newt. I got better…
J
The NYT obituary of John Doar makes for moving reading, as do the comments, many by people who knew him or were inspired by his example. One note sounded frequently in those comments is just how hard it is to imagine someone as principled and decent playing a part in public life nowadays. That he was a Republican is a reminder of an era that now seems as distant as the Trojan war.
Cervantes
@Linda Featheringill:
Philae weighs about 100 kg.
The comet, so far as we know, weighs about 10,000,000,000,000 kg.
satby
@J: indeed.
Kathleen
@J: His story brought tears to my eyes. Such bravery, courage and integrity.
dance around in your bones
Ya know, I have compassion for jurassicpork, even though he returns again and again to the good people of BJ for help with $$ issues.
I’ve been there. It’s fucking scary.
Eta: Didn’t click the link.
Tree With Water
Now the scientists know how I feel trying to program a TV.
And Doar’s life should be made into a movie starring the best actors on the planet.