National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Eight Ways Obama Can Jam Through His Agenda Without Congress
Ping-pong, Big Brother, and Intergalactic Germs: Today’s TNR Reader
Editor’s Note: We’ll be running the article recommendations of our friends at TNR Reader each afternoon on The Plank, just in time to print out or save for your commute home. Enjoy! Why do the Chinese dominate at ping-pong? Chris Beam takes a stab at the country’s national pastime.GQ | 17 min (4,185 words) READ MORE >>
Early Monday morning, NASA’s half-ton, nuclear powered Curiosity rover touched down on the surface of Mars. Minutes later, the rover tweeted, “GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!!” The Robot’s outburst prompted a retort from Stephen Colbert. “I don’t know who this Gale is, but gentlemen don’t kiss and tell,” he admonished on his Tuesday show. But Colbert had his facts wrong—Curiosity is no gentleman. READ MORE >>
Editor’s Note: We’ll be running the article recommendations of our friends at TNR Reader each afternoon on The Plank, just in time to print out or save for your commute home. Enjoy! READ MORE >>
Absolutely, Positively Not a Sign of Global Warming
This isn’t a post about how hot the U.S. is getting. This is a post about how hot Greenland is getting—and why, maybe, we should care about it. On July 16, a NASA satellite photographed a iceberg breaking off from the Petermann Glacier, a massive sheet of ice that is on the northwest side of Greenland, contiguous to the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada. The iceberg, which is not expected to threaten shipping, is about 46 square miles or roughly twice the size of Manhattan. READ MORE >>
Smoggy Bottom
Editor’s Note: We'll be running the article recommendations of our friends at TNR Reader each afternoon on The Plank, just in time to print out or save for your commute home. Enjoy! The 1950s are long gone, but the appeal of the drive-in movie theater is perennial. Smithsonian Magazine | 3 min (799 words) READ MORE >>
Tracing Europe’s Long Road to Economic Catastrophe
The economic crisis in Europe reached its latest crescendo last night, as Greece managed, through furious last-minute negotiations, to convince its creditors to give it some more breathing room. But if the Greeks have managed to stave off ruin for a few more minutes, nothing has essentially changed in their situation: Their economy is still in shambles. READ MORE >>
What Else Can We Use Drones For?
Today, The New York Times reported on an emerging diplomatic tiff over the use of unarmed drones around America’s embassy and consulates in Iraq. Iraqi officials, who say they weren’t consulted about the use of the aircraft, argue that the use of drones violates their sovereign airspace. The Study tries to avoid wading into diplomatic disputes, but it notices that drones are popping up more and more in the news, and not just for launching missiles at suspected terrorists. READ MORE >>
