More Anger At TSA

•  Summary of the growing backlash if you don't know about the new airport security measures being used by the Transportation Security Administration. (USA Today)
• A list of where of which airports employ the new imaging technology. (CNN)
• A New York City councilman is proposing to ban the new image scanners in the city. (Wired)
• A Congressman from Florida is calling for airports to replace TSA workers with private security employees. The private security would still need to follow the TSA's protocols, but they would be potentially less aggressive and more sensitive to travelers than some TSA workers have been reported to be. (Seattle Times)

Extragalatic Planet Discovered

• Researchers at Germany's Max Planck Institute for Astronomy have discovered the first known planet that originated outside Milky Way galaxy. From the BBC: "This find is different, they say, because the planet circles a sun which belongs to a group of stars called the "Helmi stream" which are known to have once belonged to a separate dwarf galaxy." (BBC) (Time) (Wired)
• A NASA probe has flown by the Comet Hartley, gathering data and images that will better help scientists understand this phenomenon of the universe. (BBC) (Wired)

One Way Trip to Mars and Electric Highways

• Two researchers from Washington State University and Arizona State University have published a proposal to send people to Mars - with no way of bringing them home. It would cut down much of the cost, but the real issue is psychological since the astronauts would never see Earth again. They write, "We estimate that a reasonable time line for establishing a permanent unmanned base with robots would be 20 years, with the first human contingent arriving shortly thereafter". (WSU Today) (MSNBC) (USA Today)
• I was excited to find a story written about my architecture class; we are working on designing the buildings that would be needed to support 'electric highways' throughout the United States, such as power plants, rest stops, and transit stations. (WSU Today)
• Related to the above, here is more information about plans for Washington State's first electric highway on the I-5 corridor; charging points are planned for electric vehicles so they can reliably make their way through the western part of the state. (WSDOT)

High Speed Buses

Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan

• With the high speed rail plan too costly, a parody news site reports on a (funny) fake story about a new nationwide high-speed bus system. (The Onion)
• Blogger Noah Sachtman explains why recent advances in airport security really haven't done anything more to protect the nation's airliners or passengers. (WSJ)
• Debate abounds in Seattle, where the state legislature's authority to toll the Highway 520 bridge over Lake Washington is still uncertain after an initiative passed in the general election. (Seattle Times)

Largest Commercial Antenna Reflector Launched

Image from BBC story

• A new commercial satellite run by Lightsquared will be used by cell phone users for calls and data if they are out of range of a terrestrial network tower and their carrier signs up to use it. (BBC)
• Despite passenger objections, the Transportation Security Administration is strongly defending its new screening procedures. (CNN)
• A high-rise apartment building in Beijing went up in flames today, killing at least 53 people. Poor regard for safety by renovators and residents may be to blame. (CNN)

Protecting Earth From Asteroids

• The director of the White House's Office of Science and Technology has urged Congress to fund a NASA project to better identify and deter near Earth objects (NEOs) before one takes out a major population center. There are potentially 200,000 of these nearby asteroids that could hit Earth within the next few centuries. (Popular Mechanics)
• From a flying saucer shaped roof to the DC Metro, PM lists the world's most architecturally interesting train stations. (Popular Mechanics)

First Post!

Welcome to Beamed Up By Scotty! I am a second year student at Washington State University, majoring in architecture and minoring in communications.  I plan to make this blog a place to find commentary and information on cool new technologies critical to the advancement of the human race, particularly in emergent energy sources, improvements to transportation networks, and advances in space exploration. However, I may wander into other topics such as health, education, and other social issues. These advancements apply globally, but most of my sources will be related to the United States.

I have high hopes and lofty ambitions for the future, and hope to share my ideas with those who think likewise or are looking for information about awesome technology.

Here is a quick selection of recent items I found interesting:

• Researchers at the Washington State University Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are working with the Washington State Department of Transportation to better manage stormwater accumulation on the state's roadways. Rather than divert water into artificial ponds and streams, they are finding ways to let rainwater naturally disperse into the surrounding ground. (WSU Today)

• Workers in Finland are excavating a 3 mile long, 500 meter deep tunnel to store the country's nuclear waste for the next 100,000 years. Now if the US could just finish the Yuca Mountain project... (CNN)
•  Airline passengers and pilots are growing more fed up with the TSA's new body scanning machines and pat down procedures. Some are proposing to boycott the scanners on the busiest travel day of the year. (Wired)