Recently in Culture Category

White House Denies CIA Teleported Obama to Mars, Wired

"Officially, the White House says Obama never went to Mars. "Only if you count watching Marvin the Martian," Tommy Vietor, the spokesman for the National Security Council, tells Danger Room. But that's exactly what a secret chrononaut wants you to believe."

Some Guys: Obama Teleported to Mars With Us, Wonkette

"According to two guys named Andrew D. Basiago and William Stillings, Obama, then known as one "Barry Soetoro," joined them and seven other young Americans, including the current director of DARPA, in a project that involved teleporting to the Red Planet through a so-called "jump room."

Apollo 18: A Review And Interview With Technical Advisor Gerry Griffin

"I just had a chance to see the new film "Apollo 18". As I am certain is the case with all of my fellow space cadets, I felt some intellectual trepidation in advance of seeing this film. How anyone could launch a Saturn V without the folks in Cocoa Beach noticing on Christmas day 1974 being one of the more improbable things. But you get past those nagging little facts at the very onset of the film. Through a deft use of real Apollo era footage and re-created footage (they keep telling you it is real), the film really manages to suspend lingering disbelief rather quickly. Often times its like watching the old grainy 70s era NASA features that NASA TV runs after midnight."

NASA reaches its outer limit, LA Times

"But after initially touting "Apollo 18" as one of its upcoming fiction film collaborations, NASA -- which, for the record, says the last manned mission to the moon was Apollo 17 in 1972 -- has begun to back away from the movie. "Apollo 18 is not a documentary," said Bert Ulrich, NASA's liaison for multimedia, film and television collaborations. "The film is a work of fiction, and we always knew that. We were minimally involved with this picture. We never even saw a rough cut. The idea of portraying the Apollo 18 mission as authentic is simply a marketing ploy. Perhaps a bit of a 'Blair Witch Project' strategy to generate hype."

Apollo 18: Internal Nasa Memos Hint At Problems On Lunar Surface

"For the viral campaign, the film's official website has a subpage that updates periodically with several documents from before, after, and during the mission. The latest documents are internal memos at NASA that show how they knew something was up."

Photo: Astronauts Planking in Space

"Four members of the joint STS-135/Expedition 28 crews are able to spend part of their last shared time onboard the International Space Station performing floating exercises that can't be done in Earth's gravity. Inside the Harmony Node 2 module, are NASA astronauts Mike Fossum (top), Expedition 28 flight engineer, and Doug Hurley, STS-135 pilot; and Ron Garan, Expedition 28 flight engineer. The crew member at bottom is partially obscured and is unidentified."

Keith's note: What's that - you don't know what "planking" is?

- Planking (definition), Wikipedia
- Planking, Facebook

- Image: Frosted Gullies in the Northern Summer on Mars
- Photo: Glistening Space Station Flies Over Earthly Nightfall
- Photo: A Crescent Moonrise and Sunset As Seen In Orbit
- Photo: Canada's Lake Nipigon As Seen From Orbit
- Photo: Turks, Caicos, Little and Big Ambergris Cay As Seen From Orbit

Photo: Celebrating the Last Shuttle Launch with Food - NASA Style

According to someone@nasa.gov: "The LCS SE&I group celebrated the launch of STS-135 with homemade Italian bread and cold cuts!! Checkout this work of art!!"

"Most NASA 'insiders' rely on NASAWatch.com for timely NASA news. Run by a former NASA engineer with an attitude, Keith Cowing gives readers an unofficial [interesting] perspective on space news. Sometimes shocking, always interesting. Take a look NASA Watch."

Please visit NASAology.com for more cartoons.

NASA Internal Memo: Federal Plain Language Guidelines - IMMEDIATE ATTENTION REQUIRED

"The subject guidelines endorses doing away with the term "shall" to mandate requirements and using the term "must" instead. These guidelines were reviewed by the Office of the General Counsel who determined that these guidelines are arguably not mandatory for most of what we do, but prudent to implement across- the- board and use "must" instead of "shall." Therefore, NPR 1400.1, NASA Directives and Charters Procedural Requirements, will be adjusted to include the term "must," to denote mandatory action prior to approval. This requirement will be effective when NPR 1400.1 is approved. Please inform your directives reviewers and writers."

Keith's 8 June update: Nannette Jennings at NASA just posted this in the NASAwatch comments section:

NASA will continue to use the term "shall." The following updated e-mail was distributed to the Agency's Directives Managers on June 1: The following provides an update to the subject e-mail sent May 24, 2011: As stated in the initial e-mail, the Office of the General Counsel (OGC) reviewed the subject guidelines and determined that the guidelines are arguably not mandatory for most of what we do, but prudent to implement across- the- board and use "must" instead of "shall." OGC was asked to review these guidelines again and their view is that using term "must" instead of "shall" does not apply to internal directives, but can be implemented if the Agency decides to. Further, the Office of Management and Budget was consulted and they confirmed that using the term "must" IS NOT a requirement. It's up to the agencies to use the term. Therefore, the Agency WILL continue to use the term "shall" to denote mandatory requirements.

Speaking for myself, I'd be more confused about official "shall" and "must" usage guidelines at NASA than I was at the onset - now that OGC has clarified the matter, that is. Apparently at NASA, there is no "must" or "shall" involved with the use of the words "must" or "shall"...

Confused? Consult the official "Federal Plain Language Guidelines" at plainlanguage.gov and you must shall understand, I guess.

Bill Gerstenmaier on the DC Variable, NASA PM Challenge

"Dramatic changes in information and news circulate through blogs, and social media has impacted NASA greatly. While the initial reaction may be to control these outlets, Gerstenmaier has taken a different approach. It has not been uncommon for him to finish a Flight Readiness Review for the shuttle and have a report out about it before leaving the building. Instead of suppressing communication within the reviews, he has invited his public affairs officer to attend and tweet updates. Doing this has enabled him to tell a better NASA story and actually stay in front of the blogs. "Instead of trying to slow down communication, recognize that communication is diverse and fast. How can you now participate in it and use it to your advantage?"

Sony Pictures Adapting Sex on the Moon, Coming Soon

"Sony Pictures has picked up the film rights to Ben Mezrich's "Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History". The Social Network was based on Mezrich's "The Accidental Billionaires." Scott Rudin, Michael DeLuca and Dana Brunetti, who produced The Social Network, will again produce and Kevin Spacey will again executive produce."

Sex on the Moon, Amazon.com (in bookstores July 2011)

"Thad convinced his girlfriend and another female accomplice, both NASA interns, to break into an impregnable laboratory at NASA's headquarters--past security checkpoints, an electronically locked door with cipher security codes, and camera-lined hallways--and help him steal the most precious objects in the world: the moon rocks."

Keith's note: Yes, I know that NASA Headquarters is in Washington, DC - not Houston, TX. but do the movie producers know this? (Does JSC?)

The Case of the Stolen Moon Rocks, FBI

"What damage did they do? The young thieves did more than just try to sell off a collection of lunar samples worth as much as $21 million. In the process, they also contaminated them, making them virtually useless to the scientific community. They also destroyed three decades worth of handwritten research notes by a NASA scientist that had been locked in the safe."