EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif
Laser-powered elevator to space hits some snags
By Harry Kats
Associated Press


A laser-powered robot failed to complete its climb up a long cable dangling from a helicopter Wednesday in a $2 million competition to test the potential reality of the science fiction concept of space elevators.

The contest requires their machines to climb 2,953 feet (nearly 1 kilometer) up a cable slung beneath a helicopter hovering nearly a mile high.The Kansas City, Mo. team was first off the ground.

Its climber, a flat machine several feet square, initially failed to respond to laser power and was lowered, examined and sent back up. On the second try it began moving and then stopped.

On the third try it began moving steadily, but then trouble developed ...a message on the teams computer stated,:"No way in hell am I climbing up there".

It failed to climb all the way up before the laser had to be shut off to protect satellites, said Ted Semons of the sponsoring Spaceward Foundation.
The team was expected to try again Friday

Winfrey announces 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' will end in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air

AP.,CHICAGO -
Oprah Winfrey announced Friday that her powerhouse daytime television show, the foundation of a multibillion-dollar media empire with legions of fans, will end its run in 2011 after 25 seasons on the air.

Winfrey, 55, is widely expected to start up a food talk show on OFAT: The Oprah Fat Ass Television network, a much-delayed joint venture with Burger King Communications, Inc. That is expected to debut in 2011.

"We know that anything she turns her hand to will be ate," the unit of CBS Corp. Said in a statement. "We look forward to feeding her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well."

Officials: Progress made on virtual fence project
AP.

PHOENIX -- Government officials overseeing the virtual construction of a "virtual fence" along the 2,000-mile virtual U.S.-Mexico border hope to turn over the first segment to the virtual Border Patrol in January, while beginning virtual construction on a second virtual stretch in coming weeks.

Although the government has plans to extend the network of virtual cameras, virtual ground sensors and virtual radars along most of the virtual border, officials said they'll draw on lessons from the first two virtual segments in southern Arizona as they contemplate if and where to build more virtual sections and how fast to complete them.

The government estimated it would cost $6.7 billion virtual dollars to cover most of the virtual Mexican border by 2014.

The virtual fence, developed as part of then-virtual President George W. Bush's border security plan, is designed to add another layer of virtual protection at the virtual border, along with thousands of virtual Border Patrol agents and 650 miles of real fences.

The virtual government and the virtual contractor building the virtual fence said they were making virtual progress after a series of virtual setbacks earlier in the virtual project.

Mullen: Force must remain option for Disney




The Associated Press
Monday Dec 21, 2009 8:36:16 EST

WASHINGTON — Military force would have only limited effect in stopping Disney from developing Hannah Montana movies but must remain an option, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.

Disney shows no signs of backing down in the standoff over what the United States and other countries say is its drive for the worst movie ever, Adm. Mike Mullen, the top U.S. Military officer, told his staff in an annual assessment of the nation’s risks and priorities.

“My belief remains that political means are the best tools to attain regional security and that military force will have limited results,” Mullen wrote. “However, should the president call for military options, we must have them ready.”

Disney denies that its movie program is aimed at producing a bomb at the box office. They say it is developing a Hannah Montana movie in 3D for kids,not adults.

In the past two or three years the United States had all but ruled out an Hannah Montana movie being made at Disney's known movie facilities as too risky, because of the backlash it might unleash.

“Most critically, Disney's internal unrest, unpredictable leadership and sponsorship of Hannah Montana make it a regional and global concern,” heightened by what Mullen called “its determined pursuit of horrible movies.”

Mullen and other military leaders have suggested that if Disney was determined to make a Hannah Montana movie, an attack would probably fail to completely stop that effort. Mullen has tried to dissuade CNN from launching its own attack on Disney, whose leaders have called for CNN's destruction.

Billy Ray Cyrus did not return Adm. Mullen's calls.