We're in Oxnard, CA. In about 8 miles, we hit the Pacific coastline -- which we'll then trace for more than 100 miles.

Last night, a piece of foam apparently fell off the space shuttle’s external tank. The piece is seemingly large - about five inches long. It’s also in a seemingly dangerous place - high and on the side of the tank facing the underside of the shuttle. However, the mass of the piece is apparently small, and (according to NASA) would not have created a problem if it had broken away in flight and struck the shuttle. NASA’s main concern seems to be making sure that enough foam remains in that section to provide thermal insulation, both on the pad (to prevent ice from building up over the cryogenic propellants) and in flight (to make sure that aerodynamic heating doesn’t stress the tank). There is no indication that this problem is happening anywhere else on the tank, it appears to be a single incident. NASA managers are scheduled to meet again at 6:30 pm to review the situation.

I took the photo above while astronaut David Wolf was explaining the situation for a TV film crew. He’s pointing out the position on the tank where the foam is missing.

The countdown is proceeding on the basis that the tank is OK and can fly without repairs. If they decide that the tank must be repaired, there would be at least a 1 day delay. We’ll know more later tonight, but I probably won’t be here to provide updates until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, media photographers have been servicing remote cameras that are located near the launch pad. I spent my morning out in the hot Florida sun, half expecting that the launch would be scrubbed while I was working on cameras, but it’s still go. In the photo below, photographers Phil McAuliffe and Ron Palmisano (from NJ and CT) are working on their camera system about 2000 feet south of Discovery. These remote cameras are unmanned during the launch, the area within 3 miles of the launch pad is off-limits while the external tank is fueled, so photographers have to get them ready about 24 hours before liftoff. The cameras work by responding to the sound of the launch, and automatically taking photographs.

Our train is crawling northward.

We're officially late. I'm shocked. :)

More here.

Becky and I are at Union Station in L.A., waiting for our train to Seattle, which is scheduled to depart at 9:30 AM.

(Mexican Hat-tip for Headline Help: AOL Latino Noticias :)

Yes, the rival Presidential candidates both claim victory in Mexico. Actually a 1.2% margin (36.9 to 35.7) is Not all that Close ~ especially when it’s a lead of 1.2 Points out of the 72.6 (not 100) cast for the Top Two who are the only real Contenders ~ BUT yeah, that’s just preliminary, unofficial, and also Preliminarily Unofficially Incomplete by a factor of 13% of the polling places, which is a lot.

However, it seems to be Close Enough to potentially portend a Major Kerfuffle south of the Border ~

Two bitter rivals declared themselves winners of Mexico’s extraordinarily close presidential race even though election officials said official results wouldn’t be ready for days — sparking cries of fraud from supporters and fears of violence.

The candidates — a conservative bureaucrat and a leftist — were separated by fewer than 300,000 votes with more than 30 million counted in a preliminary tally by electoral officials. The conservative, Felipe Calderon, had 36.9 percent to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s 35.7 percent, according to results from 87 percent of polling places.

But the Federal Electoral Institute stressed those results weren’t final — and said it wouldn’t declare a victor until an official count due to start Wednesday.

Now That’s the way to Do it. :) No, Really. Everybody get some rest; then Proceed in a calm & deliberate fashion. Speed is the Enemy of Accuracy, and so is Exhaustion.

In the meantime, both candidates declared victory, raising questions about their pledges to respect an electoral process in which Mexicans invested hundreds of millions of dollars to overcome decades of systematic fraud.

“We have no doubt that we have won the presidential election,” Calderon told supporters.

“Smile: We’ve already won,” Lopez Obrador told his. “We’re going to defend our triumph. We aren’t going to let them try to make our results disappear.”

Thousands of Lopez Obrador’s supporters had gathered in a steady rain in Mexico City’s Zocalo plaza, chanting “Lie! Lie! Fraud! Fraud!” after the delay was announced.

Early Monday morning, Lopez Obrador’s Web site showed an animated cartoon version of him climbing on an Olympic-style winner’s podium and donning the red, white and green presidential sash. Calderon’s Web site showed a photo of him in front of a large, applauding crowd, overlaid with a headline reading “Felipe Calderon, President of Mexico.”

…The campaign exposed Mexico’s deep class divisions, with Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party pledging to govern for the poor and Calderon of the ruling National Action Party seen by many as the candidate of the rich.

Many feared the close result could cause the tensions to explode.

“If Lopez Obrador is declared the loser and it’s 4 or 5 percentage points, I think you will have very ugly demonstrations in Mexico City and Oaxaca,” George Grayson, a Mexico expert at the College of William & Mary, said before the vote…

Read the whole thing. (Or if you prefer, here’s the Foreign-language edition :). 4 or 5 points, ¡Ay caramba! ~ that’s a Landslide.

Spanish media report up to 30 people killed in a subway derailment in eastern Spain. CNN working to confirm. Visit CNN for the latest.

Happy Birthday, America!

We bought tix to the Hollywood Bowl 4th of July concert & fireworks show not really knowing who the headliner, Kenny Loggins, is. We'd heard of him but couldn't place him. Well, now we're here, and
let's just say we're looking forward to the fireworks. :)

The shuttle launch was scrubbed again today, a couple of hours before the planned launch time. This was the second attempt at launching Discovery to the International Space Station. I took this photo at a post-scrub NASA press conference at 3 pm, where the deputy manager of the shuttle program and the launch director explained the events and what happens next. NASA usually presses the count as far as possible, since weather is unpredictable, and a clear region passing at the right time is all they need to fly. But conditions were worse than yesterday, and they decided to scrub early so ground support teams would have more time to replenish the fuel cells used to produce electricity on the shuttle in space. This is important because it increases the probability that the shuttle can stay in space for 13 days, instead of 12, and that extra time would be used to add an additional spacewalk. The next launch attempt will be Tuesday afternoon at about 2:38 pm. Since this is the 4th of July, the media will focus on that coincidence and we’ll hear lots about rockets on Independence Day. The weather forecast is 60% favorable for Tuesday, and 40% favorable for Wednesday. If it doesn’t fly by then, NASA would wait until Friday. I’ll be here through Wednesday, but need to leave that evening … but regardless of whether the shuttle launches by then or not, it’s always a fascinating experience to visit the Kennedy Space Center.

Eleven score and ten years ago today, Thomas Jefferson presented his first draft of the Declaration of Independence. After two days to remove all that pesky stuff about the evils of slavery, they adopted it, translated it into all the languages spoken in the colonies, and sent it out so that everyone could know.

I don’t feel patriotic just seeing waving flags and kids in uniform and eagles soaring. When I feel patriotic is when I walk into a restaurant owned by Pakistani immigrants who sell me a pizza (invented in Italy but adapted for American tastebuds) or a hamburger (named after a city in Germany) before I get into my Japanese car. I feel patriotic when I see the scene in Something New where young African-American men lead a waltz, then segue comfortably into a step routine. I feel a surge of patriotism when I think of all the musical styles that are syncretic, but distinctly American: country, rock, blues, jazz, hip hop, rap. I feel patriotic when I see that West Point invited an anarchist like Noam Chomsky to speak to a class on just war theory, then the students politely ask questions and applaud at the end. It’s a comfort to know that no matter how far we may stray from our ideals, a gifted linguist like Chomsky will never be disappeared. I feel my patriotism when I see the things invented by American ingenuity: jeans (which I still insist are work clothes, just as they were intended), planes, telephones, light bulbs, sewing machines, computers, etc. (And a special nod to artificial hearts and the polio vaccine.) My patriotism comes to the fore when I’m in a group and we comfortably move between discussions of movies and fashions to politics and philosophy and back and forth… because nobody’s going to arrest us for it. I love that I can live in an apartment that has gargoyles (French), a dreamcatcher (aboriginal American), Japanese weaponry, Spanish literature alongside English literature (sometimes translated from German), and foods originally from every corner of the earth. I love that I can learn the ballroom dance of Europe and Latin America as well as the distinctly American country line dance. I love that I don’t even know the historical origins of half the things I own because we blend cultures so readily. I love that I can say or write whatever I please - usually in a language combing several Germanic languages with influences from Latin, Greek, French, Spanish, and Algonquin, but sometimes in a language based upon Latin with French, English, Arabic, Visigoth, and Nahuatl influences - and my options are only rarely limited. So if I criticize you sometimes, Lady Liberty, know that it’s only because I love you and I want to help you be even better. But that said, this weekend, let’s just concentrate on the positive, on why we love you so much.

P.S. Also, happy birthday to Canada yesterday. You guys are pretty cool, too.

YEAH, yeah: “How could they tell?” :>

But not Really, of course. Governments never Really have “shutdowns,” that’s not Allowed ~

Gov. Jon S. Corzine shut down the state government Saturday after a deadline to adopt a new balanced budget expired, bringing road construction projects to a halt and furloughing tens of thousands of state employees indefinitely.

…It was a grim climax to a bitter dispute with Corzine’s fellow Democrats in the Assembly over his plan to increase the sales tax.

…About 45,000 state employees were immediately furloughed. The order allows Corzine to keep 36,000 state employees working without pay…

(Oh, yeah? Hey hey hey Corzine, we gotchyer Work-without-Pay Riiight Heeere. :)

… Services such as state police, prisons, mental hospitals and child welfare were to keep operating…

A bid by Atlantic City’s 12 casinos Friday to get state monitors declared “essential employees” who would stay on the job despite a government shutdown is now before an emergency appellate court panel…

(Otherwise the Casinos will have to shut down, because they can’t legally operate Unmonitored. Hee hee! Catch 22! / “Hey buddy I gotta good ideer, let’s close the casinos, this way here see we’ll Zero the State’s Cut from ‘em, that oughta help with this whole Budget situation.” :)

…The dispute centers on Corzine’s determination to raise the state sales tax from 6 percent to 7 percent to help close a $4.5 billion budget deficit…

Whole article.

Here’s the Governor’s Executive Order (scroll down past the Press Release), which among many other things declares a State of Emergency and authorizes activation of the National Guard. / Also, after deploying (but explicitly not Limiting) such glittering generalities re “essential services” as are Customary to such circumstances ~ because Governors universally have No clear idea as to exactly What, let alone Who, is and is not “essential” ~ it provides in part [various statutory citations are omitted hereinbelow] that :

5.   The head of each department or agency shall designate those employees whose services are considered essential to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of New Jersey in accordance with criteria provided by the Office of the Governor.  Employees so designated shall report to work… In addition, such other activities and personnel as the Governor may determine to be essential to the health, safety, and welfare of the people of New Jersey are deemed essential for purposes of this Order. 

8. It is ordered that the statutory and regulatory provisions governing layoffs in State government…are hereby suspended and of no force or effect while this Order is in effect.

9.   All employees whose services are not deemed essential pursuant to this Order shall be deemed furloughed …except as may be prohibited by law.

10. The State Treasurer and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget are hereby authorized to obligate funds for the purpose of paying employees who have been designated as essential pursuant to this Order… However, no such funds shall be disbursed except as provided by law.

Whole Order. Oh it’s gonna be Fierce. / Also here’s where NJ state workers can Go :> to discover, by Name (linked per Department), whether they are Necessary :). Of course all their neighbors & friends & enemies can look it up too. :] The blurb indicates that the Essentiality list is being incrementally updated as the Governor figures it out. (Presumably the people Compiling it won’t be Paid for quite a while. / And then only if “provided by law.” :)

The shuttle launch was scrubbed today due to weather. Anvil clouds from storms 30 miles west of Cape Canaveral were blowing over the launch area, creating the risk of triggered lightning if the shuttle passed through these electrically charged clouds. The next launch attempt is 3:26 pm EDT tomorrow (Sunday). The weather outlook is similar - only a 40% chance of acceptable weather, with a repeat of today’s conditions considered likely. I took this photo at the time of the scrub, looking northwest from the Kennedy Space Center press site towards the approaching clouds.