Webb telescope hit by tiny meteoroid but should still function well

A tiny meteoroid has hit one of the 18 mirrors of the Webb telescope. But engineers had taken this possibility into account since there are so many tiny particles flying around in space.

The damage inflicted by the dust-sized micrometeoroid is producing a noticeable effect in the observatory’s data but is not expected to limit the mission’s overall performance.

James Webb was launched in December to succeed the revolutionary – but now ageing – Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomers are due to release its first views of the cosmos on 12 July.

The US space agency Nasa said these images would be no less stunning because of what’s just happened.
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The speed at which things move through space means even the smallest particles can impart a lot of energy when colliding with another object. Webb has now been hit five times with this latest event being the most significant.
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The possibility of micrometeoroid hits was anticipated and contingencies like this were incorporated into the choice of materials, the construction of components and the different modes of operating the telescope.
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Engineers will adjust the positioning of the affected mirror segment to cancel out a portion of the introduced distortion, but they can’t remove it all.

July 12 will be a big day in astronomy.

The masks conundrum: Masks yes, mask mandates no?

In my trip to Boston recently, I distinctly got the impression that many people have decided that the pandemic is effectively, if not officially, over. While there was sporadic wearing of masks, most people were not doing so, nor did they seem to be making any effort to sit away from others on the airplanes, in the airport waiting areas, or the museums and other indoor venues I attended. While I usually wore my mask and tried to stay away from people, even I occasionally forgot. A friend of mine who just returned from a trip to Hungary and Poland said that masks were nowhere to be seen and people acted as if they were living in pre-pandemic times.

So is it over? Should we continue to wear masks? David Leonhardt discusses the issue.
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Sensible gun control laws

People who oppose any changes in the absurdly easy access to massively powerful guns in the US act as if this is some immensely complicated and intractable problem. That is utterly false, an image created to discourage attempts at reform. The fact that other countries have managed to pass laws that limit gun ownership while still allowing people to have them and have nowhere near the level of gun deaths that we have in the US shows that the problem can be meaningfully addressed.

Let me start by dismissing the main argument of the gun nuts, and that is that the Second Amendment to the US constitution is an insurmountable barrier to setting any limits. That is utter rubbish. Even religious gun nuts must know that the amendment is not something that was handed down by their God to Moses on Mount Sinai however much they might try to act like it was. It was created and interpreted by humans and anything that humans make, they can unmake. The constitution was designed to be amended and constitutional amendments have been passed and repealed and re-interpreted many times in the past and there is no reason why this amendment should be any different. Making changes requires political actions and political will and thus gun control should be viewed as a political problem that requires marshaling enough support for reform of the laws and the constitution if necessary. I grant that it will not be easy but it can be done, although the NRA and its supporters, as part of their propaganda campaign, try to give the impression that it would be impossible. Gun reform advocates should gain confidence from the fact that majorities of people support some reform of gun laws.
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What will it take to change people’s minds on guns?

I think it should be obvious by now that the Republican party and the NRA do not give a damn about the people who are being slaughtered in the US on a regular basis by people armed with military style weapons. When the only response is to offer ‘thoughts and prayers’ to the families and to suggest absurd ‘solutions’ that urge the arming of teachers and more armed guards and buildings with single doors, it is clear that the ‘tears’ that these people are shedding are entirely crocodile ones, and that their main goal is to make sure that nothing changes or that even more easy access to guns is provided.
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Samantha Bee on the degeneration of the NRA

She discusses how the National Rifle Association began as a movement to support safe and responsible gun ownership and usage and then became a lobby to prevent any and all restrictions on the ownership and usage of any almost kind of weapon, however deadly, and how so many politicians now grovel before it.

Correspondent Amy Hoggart went to the NRA’s convention last weekend in Houston. Texas, just 300 miles away from the recent massacre in Uvalde, to talk to the attendees about the spate of mass shootings and she had to endure the usual evasive, obfuscatory, excuses from them as to why these repeated tragedies do not reveal what is so obvious to everyone else, that the US just has too many damn guns that serve no purpose than allow some murderers to kill large numbers of people in a very short time.

Ricky Gervais is being himself again: a mean-spirited, transphobic jerk

Gervais has a new Netflix special. I will not watch it (or indeed watch anything by him anymore) because I was so disgusted with his earlier one with its rampant transphobia and the smug, preening, overweening sense that he was being ever so edgy and clever. But according to what I read, rather than learn from feedback from that first show, he seems to have doubled down.

Aja Romano writes about all that is wrong with Gervais and others of his ilk like Dave Chappelle who seem to think that making the trans community the target of ridicule is somehow acceptable.
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Defenders of unlimited access to guns get desperate

There have been 18 mass shootings in the US so far just this year where a mass shooting is defined as one in which at least four people are shot, including survivors. This does not include the at least 60 shootings that left three people dead but don’t technically count as mass shootings. If those are included, we have at least three such shootings per week, a horrifying statistic.

After the recent wake of mass shootings, there seems to be a sense of desperation among those politicians who are subservient to the NRA about how to deflect attention away from the obvious problem, that “It’s the guns, stupid!” Their previous attempts at deflection, such as stationing armed guards have failed repeatedly and now they are flailing away by suggesting even more outlandish solutions.
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A tale of two airports

I returned late Tuesday night from visiting with my grandchildren and I had an absolutely wonderful time. The two boys are 5 and 2 ½ and a lot of fun, curious and energetic. The only downside was that on the morning after my return I threw up and had a slight fever. Naturally, my first thought was that I had got covid but the test turned out to be negative. Then the following day, my temperature was back to normal and a second covid test also showed negative. Since I had no other symptoms at all, I think I had got food poisoning on the trip home.

It was my first flight in over two years thanks to the pandemic and I was reminded once again what a terrible experience flying is.
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