Moon Landing Denial: Out of This World

Yesterday was Moon Day, the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 14 moon landing. As someone that has always been intently interested in space, I took some time to research the event through various resources. As with any humanity-changing event, the detractors have taken it upon themselves to naysay the US exploration of the moon and proposed some rather elaborate conspiracy theories. Don’t get me wrong. I love a good conspiracy theory. The Di Vinci Code had me looking at the Pope with a raised eyebrow. These are the same types of people that believe the attacks on 9/11 were orchestrated by the government, AIDS is a man-made disease, and Scientologists & Jews run Hollywood. Its these types of shaky premises that make a good story, but offer little foundation.

Moon Day has help tame some of the rumors started by the moon landing deniers with new photos showing the original moon lander and the astronaut footprints on the surface of the moon. While this evidence certainly won’t convince a denier of the scientific truth, its a validation to those of us that want the evidence. The new satellite images come to us as a result of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June. LRO’s mission is to photograph the moon to scout for future mission sites. So far, LRO has located five of the six Apollo missions that landed on the moon’s surface. read more

5 Tips for a Virtual Vacation

Spring is here, which means its time to start planning your vacation. The economy is in the tanker and many people are opting to stay close to home or vacation locally. When I feel the need to escape, I have a few tricks that let me see the world without leaving my living room. Best of all, they’re all free! Here’s my list for five ways to go on a virtual vacation:

5. CIA’s World Factbook
The government spends millions learning about other countries. The tax dollars are already spent, so benefit from it. The CIA’s World Factbook is a bit encyclopedia-like, but offers enough data to help you see the world by numbers. For example, I just discovered that Thailand has a slightly larger population than France. Why bother with Wikipedia when you have the cool factor of reading stuff from the CIA?

4. Photo Tours
There is no substitute for seeing the locales you desire to visit. This might seem like a weak comparison to actually being there, but the photography from Life, National Geographic, and Flickr can be amazing. read more