Russia and Japan aim for the Moon - A New Space Race?

Source Article.

It was a rare confluence — the heads of the space agencies for Europe, Canada and Russia, along with senior representatives from the space agencies of India and Japan — all up on the dais together at a hotel in Washington DC, where they were on hand on 22 May to talk about the benefits of international collaboration at the Global Space Exploration Conference.

Vladimir Popovkin, the head of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, said that Russia will pursue extensive, long-lived operations at the Moon’s surface. “We’re not talking about repeating what mankind achieved 40 years ago,” Popovkin said, through a translator.  “We’re talking about establishing permanent bases.” Similarly, JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, issued a clear pronouncement about targeting the Moon.  “We are looking at the Moon as our next target for human exploration,” said Yuichi Yamaura, an associate executive director at JAXA.

Interesting. The last time another country beat us to a space exploration goal, we quickly caught up. Now it seems that once again those Ruskis  are excelling against us in vision regarding space exploration. I wonder if, lacking the cold war, we'll allow our indignance fuel our innovation as it did in the past. Or if we'll simply let another nation beat us.

Admiral, there be whales here!

This picture was recently taken by a NASA satellite:

There's been numerous weak attempts to explain it away through the use of proton impacts on the camera's sensor, but I think those of us who are faithful know the real explanation. Look at the blip. Now, look below:

Don't see it? Maybe from a different angle:

Here's what NASA is really trying to hide: Star Trek IV is all true. The whole thing is true, and someone just pulled a slingshot maneuver to come back to 2012 because some galactically important non-sentient species on Earth has gone extinct in the future. I find it fascinating that they even did it in a B'rel-class Bird of Prey. Star Trek has been spoon feeding us truth for decades to prepare for the eventual first contact. Good thinking there government conspiracy.

"But John," you say, "Why isn't there a bright trail of light following the ship in the photo? There's clearly a visible trail of particles following the Bounty in that glorious scene from the movie!"

It's not a comet. Ice isn't burning off. There's no reason for the trail other than Hollywood bling.

So, I give you proof that the truth is out there. You're welcome, America.

(All images blatantly ripped off the internet.)

A Charge With A New Mason

Once upon a time I posted about Benjamin Franklin's Twelve Virtues. Tonight, I was reminded that I never pursued my planned project from a full two summers ago. (I think I just found a summer project...)

The below video is one of the many being produced by the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts utilizing the likeness of Benjamin Franklin (a Freemason) to promote education and discussion about the Masonic Fraternity and its ideals.

I must say, I think the video below is one of the most poignant I've seen from them. I've long said that time is our most precious resource, as it is the one which we can never accumulate more of, and our dear 'Mr. Franklin' seems to agree. All the videos in this series are worth a watch.