Austrailian IT reports The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a wheelchair that can go up and down steps -- as well as shift into four-wheel drive for grassy hills and elevate occupants to standing height.

Microsoft is behind all kinds of things - ATM's, Homeland Security, and thousands of other basics. A couple came to light recently, by way of messages familiar to all of us:

• The Macy's sign at 34th and 7th in Manhattan and
• London Heathrow's

A new space telescope lifted off this morning. CNN reports, "SIRTF observes in the infrared light band and its scientists joke that SIRTF loks at the 'cold, the dark, and the dirty.'" It "will look at clouds of dust between stars. At shorter infrared wavelengths SIRTF will be able to see through the clouds, similar to how fog lams can view objects further away than normal headlamps." SIRTIF will also examine some of the most distant objects. SIRTF will orbit the sun, lagging behind the earth

Electronic aper comes a step closer," says a Reuters article today. The paper, made by E-ink bends and makes for a higher contrast display, perhaps for e-books and cell phones. It reminds me of Jim Willard's Paper Computer,

NASA has released presentation slides analyzing the external debris impact observed by cameras 82 seconds after launch of Columbia on STS-107.

DID SPACE JUNK FELL COLUMBIA?
U.S. Air Force Space Command radar indicates that some space junk (rocket parts, paint chips, or a meteorite) passed very near or possibly hit Columbia during its second day of flight. Read more here and here.

No word yet on which wing they found parts of.

Comet NEAT (C/2002 V1) is coming within .1 AU of the sun, so look while you have a chance. With your binoculars or small telescope you'll see the whispy tail. February 16 to 20, SOHO will take some close-up pictures. JPL has some

NASA's afternoon press conference today produced the Air Force photo and a helpful series of slides mapping the sensor failures over time. Also in the press conference, Ron Dittemore mentioned that they recovered a piece of RCC, the leading edge of the wing, but they don't know which wing it was.

ET=external tank (the big orange thing)
SRB=solid rocket booster (the tall white rockets)

The Israeli newspaper Maariv on Monday published a picture of Columbia purportedly showing two cracks on its left wing.

The picture was taken January 21 as video accompanying a satellite video conference between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Colonel Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli to travel to space.

It's been a difficult two days for all of us. I seem to have worked through it much like Owen Garriott, Huntsville resident and astronaut on Skylab 3 and STS-9. He wants more information. I've sought whatever information I could get, and come up with my theories as to what went wrong.

NASA has put together another pair of rovers reminiscent of Sojourner, the little Mars buggy we all watched cruise around in July of 1997. It brought us stereo images from Mars and plenty of information on its rocks. The new rovers are designed to last longer and offer some improved instruments for the next exploration. Read about the Mars Exploration

If you're worried about safety in China, it looks like the best place to be is a net cafe. China has temporarily closed 12,000 of 45,000 net cafes, 3,300 of them permanently, for safety concerns brought to the administration's attention by a June 16, 2002 fire. The shutdown is much more effective than the May, 2002 attempts.

Giant party toothpicks smell of sweet pine.
Watery Lite-Brite pegs escorted pine needles to the ground;
They won't release their grip until tomorrow.
Chainsaws whine as the day of rest yields to the day of cleanup.
Blankets replace electric heat while wires slither on the streets.

It seems all of North Carolina (or at least from here west) got 1/2 inch or more ice. The utility linesmen have been very busy lately. One tree was leaning towards the house yesterday - I feared it might crash into the upstairs bathrooms. My fears have been allayed - it only took out the banister on the deck.

I took some pictures of the ice but can't upload them until Elizabeth gets back with her laptop. To tide you over, I wrote this this morning: