What is next for Marissa Mayer?

Now that cellular giant Verizon has acquired Yahoo one of the big questions is what will be fate of current Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer? The short-term answer is nothing. She will hold on to her post for the next 6-9 months as she oversee the transition as the company she ran for 4 years is picked apart and integrated with AOL (American online). Once the transition is complete Ms. Mayer hopes that she will abe to stay on in some capacity.

"I love Yahoo, and I believe in all of you," Mayer said. "It’s important to me to see Yahoo into its next chapter."

By 2012 Yahoo had already seen a decline and faught off a couple of bids from rival companies. Then, in July Yahoo hired Ms. Mayer from Google to become their new President and CEO. She was hailed as an up and comers of the technoogy industry that would be able to turn Yahoo around. She immediately went to work making changes, such as, a new company logo and a few acquisitions. Over the next 2 years she made 53 acquisitions, the most famous being acquisition of Tumblr in 2014.

“What are they trying to do?” Nicole Ferry, a partner and executive director of strategy at branding firm Sullivan, said. “What is their reason for being?”

It was a good question since the type of companies that Ms. Mayer was acquiring seemed to have the company going in multiple directions. Even though there did not seem to be one clear path Yahoo seemed to be growing as the traffic to their site swell to over 600 million monthly users. Behind the scene it was more evident company was still on the decline as revenues were still dropping and many of the acquisitions were proving to be bad decisions. 

10 of the best Francesca Battistelli songs

When your parents are both involved in musical theater it is only natural for people to assume you would follow in their footsteps. So, it came as no surprise when, at the age of 6, Francesca Battistelli announced she wanted be in musicals. It was not long after that announcement her parents had her enrolled in theater and dance classes. When she turned 15, in 2000, she was putting those lessons to use as she toured with an all-girl pop group in Orlando, Florida. After a few years the band broke up and she started taking up the guitar and writing songs. Around this same she started attending youth ministries and added a spiritual flare to the songs she would right. It was not long before Ms. Battistelli

decided she was ready to strike out on a solo career.

In 2004 Ms. Battistelli started her career when she released the independently produced album Just a Breath. She followed up a few years later with an EP (extended play) of 4 songs on iTunes. In 2008 she was signed to the Fervent record label. That same year she recorded her first studio album My Paper Heart that earned her the first of two dozen Dove and Grammy awards. Over the next 8 years, and still counting, she would go on to record her own style of Christian music that mixes several genres of music for a wide appeal.

10. “Beautiful, Beautiful”: As the title implies it is a beautiful song dealing with God can look through the person you portray and see the person you can become. Ms. Battistelli does a great job as using the level of her voice to take us on the journey with her.

9. “It's Your Life”: An energizing song that as you listen to it you can the sound and words flow through you. In it Ms. Battistelli reminds that the choices we make everyday shape us into the. person that the world will see in us.

8. “Free to be Me”: A gripping song that tells us that we are all far from perfect and should just be ourselves. It earned Ms. Battistelli three Dove award nominations, one of which she won, in 2010.

7. “Angel by Your Side”: A song to listen to in those times of your life that you feel things have spiraled so out of control you can't get through it on your own. This is one of those songs that makes you feel as though you are not alone to carry your burden.

6. “Strangely Dim”: The upbeat rhythm and pop sounds will have you up on your feet as you move to the music. In it Ms. Battistelli speak of how many of us so many big dreams that we feel we can never obtain them. We start doubting ourselves but the moment we let God in that doubt starts to dim.

5. “Choose to Love”: In it Ms. Battistelli speaks about how it is so easy to give in to fear and hate but our lives will be better if we choose love. A good song to have on your list for the times you need that little reminder that even with as bad as the world seems there is still love if we choose to look for it.

4. “Holy Spirit”: A song about the ultimate love that can be obtained by letting the Holy Spirit flow through us. It won Ms. Battistelli a Grammy in 2016 for best contemporary christian performance/song.

3. “When the Crazy Kicks In”: Clap your hands and get out the dance floor where you can let your crazy out. In it Ms. Battistelli speaks of wanting to just have her morning coffee and have a quiet time with God before the craziness of life intrudes.

2. “Write Your Story”: A sweet song about letting God in your heart to write the story of life. Ms. Battistelli earned a Grammy nomination for best contemporary christian music performance/song, in 2015.

1. “Be Born in Me (Mary)”: A song that will rip at your heartstrings as you listen to it. In this song Ms. Bettistelli tells the story of how Mary, mother of Jesus, felt when she found herself the soon-to-be mother of the Son of God.

SpaceX to send a supply mission to the International Space Station

On Monday, July 18, at 12:45 am EDT Cape Canaveral Airforce Base will once again come to life as a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will liftoff from launch command 40. The Falcon 9 rocket will be carrying an unmanned Dragon capsule that will be loaded with 5,000 pounds of supplies headed for the ISS (international space station). Among the items in the capsule will be experimental equipment and a landing dock adapter that will be used for the Boeing CST-100 and manned version of the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Both craft are set to go into service next year to carrying astronauts to ISS.

Once the first stage of the Falcon 9 separates the people manning the command center will attempt to land the booster at landing zone 1 at Cape Canaveral. If everything goes as planned this will be the 5^th successful landing for SpaceX. The first was the ground land in December of last year. In April and May of this year they had three consecutive landings on a drone barge before a failure to land the booster last month.

After the seperation the unmanned Dragon will continue on 2 day journey to the ISS. The astronauts aboard the space station will then use a 57.7 foot (17.6 meter) long robotic arm to retrieve the capsule and attach it to the station. The capsule will remain at the station for more than a month while it is unloaded. When the mission is complete the Dragon will be released from the station to plunge back to Earth. The return trip will only take about 30 for the capsule to re-enter Earth orbit. It will then slash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California.

The top 10 best Elle King songs

Tanner Elle Schneider, aka Elle King, was born on July 3, 1989 in Los Angeles, California to comedian Rob Schneider and model London King. Not long after her birth her parents divorced and she was raised by her mother and 2^nd husband Justin Tesa. By the age of 9-years-old she knew that she wanted to be a musician after listening to a record of the all-girl band the Donnas. The following year she had her first acting experience when she had a small part in dads' movie “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo”. By the age of 13-years-old she was learning to play both guitar and banjo by studying the techniques of some of the biggest artist in rock, blues, and country music. Around the same time she started going to Buck's Rock Camp in Philadelphia where she would hone her craft, star in musicals, and meet other musicians.

In 2011 Elle King signed her first recording contract with RCA. In March of the following year she recorded her first single and was on her way as a singer/songwriter. Since that time her career has been on the fast track to stardom with several movie and television soundtracks on her resume. This year she will be one of the artist featured on the soundtrack of the reboot of the movie “Ghostbusters”.

10. “Where the Devil Don't Go”: Co-written by Ms. King for her 2015 album “Love Stuff” it is a rather dark sound about living such a wicked life that even the Devil won't go where you have been. Ms. King shines in this quick-paced song.

9. “I Told You I Was Mean”: Ms. King gives the song a folk rock feel with a slow rhythm. Written by Ms. King for her “Love Stuff” album it speaks about having a love 'em and leave 'em attitude that has her latest boyfriend in tears.

8. “Kocaine Karolina”: Ms. King gives the song a country feel with her banjo playing. Another song co-written by Ms. King for her “Love Stuff” album.

7. “Under the Influence”: Another song co-written by Ms. King for her “Love Stuff” album. It shows how well Ms. King can project a range of emotion through her voice in this song that compares longing for a loved one to waking up after being under the influence of alcohol.

6. “Catch Us If You Can”: One of the two songs that Ms. King did for the soundtrack of the 2015 movie “Hot Pursuit”. Ms. King really rocks in this song about running from a corrupt system.

5. “America's Sweetheart”: Jump on your feet and rock out to the sounds of Ms. King as she gives a powerful performance in this song about being the person you are and not trying to live up to what others want you to be. Yet another song co-written by Ms. King for her “Love Stuff” album.

4. “Playing for Keeps”: Ms. King gives a strong performance in this song about giving up everything to gain fame only to be left with an empty feeling. In 2013 this was on the soundtrack for the television show “Enie Backt”.

3. “American Girl”: Ms. King does a superb job of taking this Tom Petty & Heartbreaker song and making it her own. It talks of a girl raised in a sheltered life and told promise of how life is suppose to be only to find a complete different world.

2. “Last Damn Night”: Ms. King can certainly belt out a tune as she gives powerful performance in this song about living life to its fullest. Yet another song she co-wrote for her 2015 album “Love Stuff”.

1. “Ex's and Oh's”: Written by Ms. King for her 2015 album “Love Stuff” this song was also on the soundtrack for the television show “The Mysteries of Laura”. Ms. Kings draws from her own life talking about how several of her past boyfriends keep show up trying to re-kindle the relationship. This has been Ms. King's most successful song to date and earned her two Grammy nominations.

Top 10 Tennessee Ernie Ford songs

Ernest Jennings Ford was born on Feb 13, 1919 in Bristol, Tennessee. He had a fairly typical childhood and sang in the local church choir. As he grew up he knew that his voice would be an important part of his future. So, after he enrolled at the Virginia Intermount College, a women's college but enrolled a few men, where he studied voice. After graduating his teacher and her husband help him get work as radio announcer. Over the next couple of year Mr. Ford had a nice career going in radio but that career was about to be temporary halted. Just like many young men when America was drawn into World War II Mr. Ford enlisted. Once he enlisted he was accepted into the Army Air Corp and was sent to bombardier school along with entertaining the troops. Later in the war he flew a few missions as a bombardier over Japan. After the war he was able to resume his career in radio and even became host of a country music show where he created the persona of “Tennessee Ernie” Ford.

In 1949 Mr. Ford signed his first contract with Capitol Records that catapulted him into a career as a singer, songwriter, and television personality that last or over 3 decades. During his amazing career Mr. Ford had dozens of albums in the country, gospel, and pop genres, hosted his own variety show, an appeared on some of the biggest shows of the 1960s. He was honored with three stars on Hollywood walk of fame in music, television, and radio. In 1984 Mr. Ford was award the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Toward the end of his life Mr. Ford was inducted into the country music hall of fame and then after his death he was inducted into the gospel music hall of fame.

10. “The Ballad of Davy Crockett”: In 1956 Mr. Ford did his own version of “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” that peaked at number 4 on the country charts. His rich baritone voice makes the song about one of Americas' frontier heros come to life.

9. “Milk Em' in the Morning Blues”: This is the song that started Mr. Ford on his way to stardom. His Tennessee Ernie personality really shines though in this song that gives a humorous version of life on a dairy farm.

8. “John Henry”: The sounds of a hammer clanking on steel an Mr. Fords deep baritone voice make this a fun song to listen to. It tells the story of a legendary figure repreenting the hard working people that built our railroads.

7. “Anticipation Blues”: A swinging lighthearted song about a man who is about to become a father for the first time. It peaked at number 3 on the country charts in 1949.

6. “Shotgun Boogie”: Put on your hunting gear and grab your shotgun as we head out hunting with Tennessee Ernie Ford as we listen to this fun song. It was a number 1 hit on the country charts for Mr. Ford in 1950.

5. “Mister and Mississippi”: Mr. Ford bring to life this snappy little tune about growing up and wandering up and down the Mississippi River. In 1951 it peaked at number 2 on the country charts.

4. “The Strange Little Girl”: Mr. Ford shows great range in this song about a mysterious girl that shows up to soothe hurt feeling. As you listen to the song you can almost feel yourself being paced in the song and being in the presence of the strange little girl.

3. “You're My Sugar”: It is time to jump up and do the jive to this fast-paced song by Mr. Ford and Kay Starr. The words of the song give a humorous look at a couple that love each other but don't always get along.

2. “What a Friend We have in Jesus”: No Tennessee Ernie Ford collection would be complete without some of the gospel music he recorded during his career. Mr. Fords' deep, booming voice reaches right out and grabs your soul as you listen to this stirring version of this gospel favorite.

1. “Sixteen Tons”: One of the biggest hits of Mr. Fords' career and the first song most people think of when they hear the name Tennessee Ernie Ford. The song speaks of the lament of the hard working coal miners. It was a number 1 hit on the country charts in 1955.

Microsoft to announce two new Lumina device: pubished 8/4/2015

Last month Microsoft CEO Sayta Nadella announced a large number of layoffs, a write off of the Nokia acquisition, and the departure of Stephen Elope. The announcement started quite a lot of speculation of the company's future in the smartphone business. The talk ranged from the Redmond-based giant cutting back to getting out of the smartphone business altogether. While the first might be true the latter isn't considering the leaked photos and specifications of two Lumia smartphonesthat will officially be announced later this fall.

There has been news of the two new mobile devices, codenamed “Talkman” and “Cityman” (lumia 950 and 950XL), dating back to April. Some of that news has been but much of it has just been speculation of what the Redmond-based company will do based on past smartphones. More recently the picture of what the smartphones will look like became more clear when the Chinese site WPXAPleaked specifications and mock-up pictures. Shortly after WPXAP leaked out the specifications Windows Central confirmed it on their site.

Both smartphones will come with a 5 mega-pixel front facing camera and 20 mega-pixel rear camera. The front-facing camera on Cityman will add a wide angel much like the previous lumia that was dubbed the “selfie”. Both smartphones with have a 1440x2560 resolution on an OLED screen with an iris scanner. Internally, both smartphones will run on Snapdagon processors, have 3 GB RAM, 32 GB of internal storage with microSD slots, and offer wireless charging.

The big difference is the size an the processor. With the smaller (5.2” Talkman) having the 808 Snapdragon with a hex core and the large (5.7” Cityman) having the 810 with an octo core. Both processors sport 64-bit computing to give both phone plenty of power for all your needs.

58-years-ago Sputnik started the space race: originally published on 10/3/2015

On this date, October 4, 58 years ago, the Soviet Unionlaunched Sputnik. It was at 10:29 pm Moscow time that the rocket carrying the satellite blasted off from the Tyuratam launch site in the Kazakh Republic. The ascension of the satellite delivered the first blow in what would become known as the “space race”.

Once in space the 22-inch diameter satellite began orbiting the Earth at a speed of 29,000 kpm (18,000 mph). As it orbited the Earth the radio equipment in the satellite would transmitted a series of beeps & whistles that were picked up by amateur radio operators all over the world. The signals being transmitted didn't mean much to those amateurs but to the scientist that were also following the satellite it provided valuable information about the ionosphere of our planet. After 21days the transmission stopped when the batteries that powered Sputnik wore out.

The satellite remained in orbit for a couple of months after the power ran down. In January Sputnik finally gave up and fell out of orbit on a free fall back to Earth. On January 4, 1958 the beach ball sized satellite burned up in Earth's atmosphere ending the mission of the first man made object to orbit the Earth. Shortly after Sputnik burned up the United States answered with their own satellite, called Explorer, that launched on January 31, 1958. 

Over the next decade this back and forth “space race” would continue and progress from satellites to sending men into space. For much of the race the United State played catch up to the Soviet Union. That changed though in the late 1960's when it was the United States took the front seat when it came to sending a rocket to the Moon.

Amazon opens a brick & mortar bookstore: originally published 11/3/2015

In the Summer of 2011 Borders closed the doors on their bookstores. Many accused Amazon of driving them out of business. The following Spring Amazon was once again being accused of a downturn in bookstore sales. Over the next few years other bookstores and even publishing house have accused Amazon of being a cause of the struggles for brick & mortar bookstores. Given all these struggles, especially if they are the cause, you would never expect Amazon to open their own brick & mortar bookstore.

That is just what they did when at 9:30 this morning, Nov 3, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant opened a physical bookstore in the University district. The bookstore will be called Amazon Booksand look much the same as any other bookstore. The one surprising difference in the Amazon store is there are no prices. The reason for the lack of prices is that the customers will be paying the same prices as online customers.

The bookstore marks a first for the online store that started in the mid 1990's. If this first store shows signs of success the company plans on opening up more bookstores across the country.

“It’s data with heart,” said Jennifer Cast, Vice President of Amazon books. “We’re taking the data we have and we’re creating physical places with it.”

The data she talks about is the top sellers list and the customer reviews posted on Amazon. As she later explains the data will not be the sole source for inventory in the bookstore. They will also use the sources most other bookstores use to figure out what to stock.

NASA's MAVEN gives insight into what happened to the atmosphere on Mars: originally published 11/6/2015

In September of last year NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) orbiter entered Martian space on a mission to find out what happened to the planets atmosphere. Since that day the orbiter has been transmitting data back to Earth where NASA's scientist have been analyzing it to find out what stripped that atmosphere away. According to a press conference on November 5 the answer to the question is it was our own solar system that has been slowly destroying the Martian atmosphere over several billions of years.

“Measurements by MAVEN shed light on how the upper atmosphere interacts with the Sun and solar wind, and the ability of gases to escape to space—both important processes for understanding planetary atmospheres,“ they wrote in paper published in Science magazine.

As an article in the New York Times says 4.5 billion years of these atmospheric leaks that the solar system caused would not be able to totally deplete the planet. The scientist agree and are not saying that this is the sole cause of the atmospheres demise. Some of the other data also suggest that bombardments of particles from the Sun was also a factor in the erosion of the atmosphere.

“What this tells us is loss through space has been an important process,” said Bruce M. Jakosky, a scientist at the Laboratory for Atmosphere and Space Physics at the University of Colorado and principal investigator for the MAVEN mission.

For decades NASA has been sending unmanned missions to Mars. With the last couple of those missions they found evidence that Mars once had an atmosphere not much unlike that of Earth. This evidence prompted the scientist at NASA to begin work on the MAVEN project to find out more about this once thriving Martian atmosphere, what happened, and could we be doomed to a similar fate.

Pluto may have Volcanoes: originally publish 11/13/2015

Back in July NASA's New Horizons Spacecraft made a flyby of the dwarf planet Pluto. This week at the 47th annual meeting of the Division for Planetary Science, in Washington, D.C., NASA is talking about what they learned from the data the spacecraft sent back from that flyby. Their findings are surprisingly different from what anyone suspected.

“The New Horizons mission has taken what we thought we knew about Pluto and turned it upside down,” said Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in astatement released Monday. “It's why we explore -- to satisfy our innate curiosity and answer deeper questions about how we got here and what lies beyond the next horizon."

The first surprise the scientist had was when they saw what looked like volcanoes. The volcanoes are not the typical ones tht we would find here on Earth that would have either ash or lava eruption. Instead these volcanoes would spew a a mixture of methane, ammonia, nitrogeon, and water. These 'cryovolcanoes' were a real surprise since it was thought that Pluto was no-longer active and could not possible generate the conditions needed to push up these volatile substances and form volcanoes.

“These are big mountains with a large hole in their summit, and on Earth that generally means one thing -- a volcano,” said Oliver White, New Horizons postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif, in the statement. “If they are volcanic, then the summit depression would likely have formed via collapse as material is erupted from underneath.” White also highlighted the “strange hummocky texture of the mountain flanks,” which may represent volcanic flows that have traveled down from the summit region.

A second feature on the surface of Pluto is an area being referred to as 'Tombaugh Regio' or Sputnik Planum. The region is heart-shaped and covered with frozen Nitrogen and Methane. What made the region so unusual though is that it is totally devoid of craters. What makes it so unusual is that normally any area on a planet, or dwarf planet in this case, is do to the crater being wiped away by weather. Since Pluto does not generate ant type of weather it means there must be some yet unknown reason for this region.

One big surprise above the surface is that Pluto has more of an atmosphere than scientist thought. The atmosphere doe have one thing in common with Earth since it is mostly Nitrogen. Pluto's atmosphere is much thinner and spread-out, from lack of gravity, than that on Earth.

Paul Allen opens a virtual tour for his computer museum: first publish on 12/3/2015

In October 2012 Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen opened up a hands-on museum where people can learn about thehistory of computers. For the 3+ years since then the only way to get the full experience of touring the museum you had to go to Seattle. That until yesterday, December 2, when a virtual tour went online for the rest of us. Now we can all walk through and see the changes in computer technology over the 50 years.

When you start the virtual tour you will be able to use the arrow keys or your mouse to navigate your way through the Living Computer Museum. As you travel along you will see such exhibits as the DPD-7 mainframe made by Digital Equipment Corporation, the MITS Altair 8800, the Apple IIE, Atari pong, and much more. As you go farther along the tour you will see a classroom setting where you can get some hands-on experience and bookshelves where you will find old manuals and software.

The one drawback from taking the virtual tour is that you will not be able to touch and run all of these working computers or ask the guides questions. To get that part of the experience you will actually have to travel to the museum located 2245 first avenue in Seattle. If a trip to the museum is in your near future you should know the hours are 10 am-5 pm on Tuesday-Sunday and 10 am-8 pm on the first Thursday of the month. The prices for the museum are $6 for adults; $4 for children 6-17. active military, and seniors 62+; and children 5 and under are free.

Blue Origin re-uses history making rocket: originally published on 1/23/2016

On Nov 23, 2015 Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin first made history when they brought their New Shepard rocket back to Earth for a perfect vertical landing. Just 60 days after that historic land they did it again by re-using the same rocket and once again bringing down for a vertical landing. This latest feat once again puts Blue Origin one step ahead of Elon Musk's SpaceX that also returned a rocket back in December.

“Though wings and parachutes have their adherents and their advantages, I’m a huge fan of rocket-powered vertical landing. Why? Because — to achieve our vision of millions of people living and working in space — we will need to build very large rocket boosters. And the vertical landing architecture scales extraordinarily well,” Bezos said in a post-flight statement on Blue Origin’s website, titled “Launch. Land. Repeat.”

On the November flight the New Shepard barely broke the Karman Line, that says outerspace starts at 100 kilometers, at a height of 100.5 kilometers. On yesterdays flight the New Shepard soared to 101.7 kilometers before both the New Shepard rocket and capsule were safely brought down in separate landings in the desert of the wet Texas test site. The capsule gently floated back to Earth when its three parachutes deployed. The rocket booster was then guided down remotely to come in for a soft landing.

“Since New Shepard is the smallest booster we will ever build, this carefully choreographed dance atop our plume will just get easier from here. We’re already more than three years into development of our first orbital vehicle. Though it will be the small vehicle in our orbital family, it’s still many times larger than New Shepard. I hope to share details about this first orbital vehicle this year,” said Jeff Bezos in reference to their next step in development.

These two successful landing are an encourage sign that Blue Origins is on pace to start commercial flights by 2018. When these commercial flights start the Blue Origins' capsule will carry 6 tourist into a sub-orbit around the Earth. The tourist will be treated to a unique view of the Earth that only a few, mainly astronauts, have had the privilege of seeing. There has been no price set on how much it will cost for each tourist to buy a seat on the flight. 

Edgar Mitchell dead at age 85: originally published Feb 7

On Thursday, Feb 4, we lost Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell when he passed away while under hospice care near his home in Lake Worth, Florida. Along with being an astronaut he was also interested in the workings of the mind, an author, and medal of freedom recipient. His death came just one day before the 45^th anniversary of his becoming the 6^th man to step foot on the surface of the Moon.

"On behalf of the entire NASA family, I would like to express my condolences to the family and friends of NASA astronaut Edgar Mitchell," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "As a member of the Apollo 14 crew, Edgar is one of only 12 men to walk on the moon and he helped to change how we view our place in the universe.

Edgar Mitchell enlisted in the United States Navy shortly after he graduated from the Carnegie Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management in 1952. Once in the Navy he went into pilot training and in 1953 became earned the title of ensign pilot. After becoming a pilot Mr. Mitchell was assigned to Patrol Squadron 29 and deployed to Okinawa. During his deployment he served on a couple of aircraft carriers before going to the United States Naval Postgraduate school where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1961.

It wasn't until late 1962 that Mr. Mitchell started thinking about being an astronaut. It was that year that he heard a speech by President John Kennedy that talked about putting a man on the Moon by the end of the decade. After hearing that speech he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he earned a Doctorate in Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1964. Over the next couple of years he served as Chief of the project management division of the Navy field office for the manned orbiting laboratory and trained at the Aerospace Research Pilot school.

In 1966, while still in the Navy, NASA made Mr. Mitchell an astronaut. His first assignment for NASA was as the back-up lunar module pilot for Apollo 10. It was a couple of years later when his shot at being on the main crew came up and he was made the lunar module pilot for Apollo 14. His crew-mates for the mission would be Alan Shepard, the first man in space, and Stuart Roosa.

SpaceX lands falcon 9 booster on drone ship: originally published April 8

Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX pulled off the first successful sea landing off a rocket. It was the fifth time the company has attempt to land the booster stage of their Falcon 9 rocket on a drone ship. The previous four attempts all ended up in disaster with the boosters either exploding or tipping over.

“This is a really good milestone for the future of spaceflight,” SpaceX’s billionaire CEO, Elon Musk, told reporters afterward at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. “It’s another step toward the stars.”

The first attempt at landing the first stage of Falcon 9 took place on Jan 10, 2015. On that day they had a successful launch that sent the Dragon supply craft on course to re-supply the ISS (international space station). Even though the launch went fine the attempted landing went wrong when one of the fins used in maneuvering the booster ran out of hydraulic fluid and the Falcon 9 booster exploded on impact with the drone ship.

The second attempt came during an April 14, 2015 re-supply mission to the ISS. Once again the launch went off without a hitch and sent the Dragon spacecraft on its way to the ISS. This time it was a stuck throttle valve on the booster that caused an excess in vertical thrust. The booster ended up landing off balance and tipped over and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean.

On Dec 21, 2015 SpaceX did land the first stage of a Falcon 9 but it was on land. The successful land came after a successful launch to put the Orbcomm commutation satellite in orbit. It was the first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 dubbed the Falcon 9 full thrust.

The third attempt at a sea landing came on Jan 17, 2016 when SpaceX launched the Jason 3 satellite. This time the booster came to a soft landing on the drone ship and everything seemed fine. Unfortunately one of the land legs failed just after the landing and the booster tipped over on the barge and exploded.

The fourth attempt came when SpaceX successfully launched the SES-9 satellite. The day before the launch SpaceX CEO Elom Musk said that they were not expecting a successful landing. His reasoning for such prediction was the larger than normal mass at launch time and a lack of fuel for a successful recovery. The booster did reach the drone but once again it landed to hard and exploded. 

Technology blogs for women by women

For his second install of his articles celebrating national blog posting month Jeff will focus on technology blogs for women by women. The world of technology has traditionally been male dominated and all the ads, tutorials, reviews and news has always reflected that almost ignoring the woman's point of view. With women now gaining ground by holding more technology jobs and buying more gadgets the woman's point-of-view is more important than ever.

The following is a list of Jeff's top blogs to follow:

1. LadyGeek is contributed to by a staff of 5 talented women (Belinda Parmar, Lucie Sarif, Sabina Bhanndari, Joana Pereira and Caroline Hooper) and 2 talent men (Daniel Barlev and James Baker) that are out to make the world of technology more women friendly with their campaign against “pink it & shrink it”, interviews and tips from women in business and issue that concern women.
2. The hacker chick is a great blog written by Abby Fichtner , a software developer, that talks about agile computing, programming, business and social media.
3. Do it myself is a wonderful blog by Glenda Watson Hyatt, who has cerebral palsy, that deals with accessibility issue on the web, tech events, speeches she has made, new technologies to assist those with special needs and entrepreneurship.
4. Apophenia is a blog by Danah Boyd that deals with privacy issues, trends in technology and other issue that concern women and young people.
5. Geeky Gadget Girl is a blog by Jessica P. Wallin that is dedicated technologies and gadget reviews for women.
6. Savvy Chick is a blog dedicated to technologies & gadgets for women. As they say on the blog though they don't limit their reviews to the pink gadgets directed at girls but all the cool stuff out there.
7. Eileen's social technology is a blog written by Eileen Brown discussing with women, business and the role that social media plays in bring the two together.

SpaceX fails to land rocket booster: Story from June 10

On Wednesday, after three straight successful landings SpaceX was dealt a set-back when they werefailed to bring the booster stage of their Falcon 9 rocket down on the drone barge. It looked as though it was going to be a good landing. The live feed froze before the actual touchdown. We were left not knowing just what the fate was of the booster until Founder & CEO Elon Musk tweeted that the booster did not survive. The tragedy broke a string of landings that started on April 8, 2016 when the Hawthorn, California-based company pulled off the first sea landing.

"Looks like thrust was low on 1 of 3 landing engines. High g landings v sensitive to all engines operating at max," Musk tweeted today.

"Upgrades underway to enable rocket to compensate for a thrust shortfall on one of the three landing engines. Probably get there end of year," he said in another tweet, adding that the droneship is OK and that video of the landing attempt will probably be available later today.

The first part of the mission went off without a hitch when the Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida at 10:29 am EST (7:29 am PT). The rocket carried two communication satellites into space. It would successfully deploy the satellites, one for the French-based company Eutesat and the other for the Bermuda-based ABS, into their final orbit.

In a press release that detailed the mission, the California-based company explained that due to the parameters of the mission bringing the booster down for a safe landing would be made more difficult. In it they state that since the satellites will need to reach a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) the booster will be short on fuel, traveling at a higher velocity, and be subject to extreme heat on re-entery.

The next scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 will be in mid July when they will be making a delivery to the ISS (international space station). The mission is slated to include an attempted landing.

What is the future of artificial intelligence?

Recently the debate over the future of A.I. (artificial intelligence) has become forefront in the news. Earlier the week Stephen Hawking gave an interview to Larry King and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote an article voicing their opinions on the current state and future of A.I. They both see it development at a crossroads and talk about so of the things we should consider for future development.

Mr. Nadella seemed to have a little bit more of an optimistic view of the current state of A.I as he talks about some of Microsoft's contributions and I.B.M's Watson. As optimistic as he is he does write in his article about 6 rules that A.I must have and 4 rules that Humans must have when dealing with these creations. By following these 10 rules Mr. Naydella sees a future where Man and machine can have a symbiotic relationship that can benefit all of us.

“I would argue that perhaps the most productive debate we can have isn’t one of good versus evil: The debate should be about the values instilled in the people and institutions creating this technology. In his book Machines of Loving Grace, John Markoff writes, “The best way to answer the hard questions about control in a world full of smart machines is by understanding the values of those who are actually building these systems.” It’s an intriguing question, and one that our industry must discuss and answer together,” Mr. Naydella wrote in his article.

In the past there have been several opinions on what the future of A.I. Some of these have been grim while others have seen a more harmonious future. Some of the more grim futures that have been foreseen are “The Matrix”, where artificial intelligence takes over and turns mankind into the computer to generate a virtual world for us to live-in or “The Terminator”, where the machine we built are set on wiping out humanity. Among the ore harmonious outlooks Data on “Star Trek”, that works along side the crew of the Enterprise and strives to be more human.