Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket for Defense

Sent in by chief analyst Joe Petersen, from breitbart.com:

A journey from Earth to Mars could soon take just 39 days, cutting current travel time nearly six times, a rocket scientist who has the ear of the US space agency NASA has said.

Former astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz, a physicist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says reaching the Red Planet could be dramatically quicker using his high-tech VASIMR rocket -- now on track for lift-off after decades of development.

The Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket -- to give its full name -- is quick becoming a centerpiece of NASA's future strategy as it looks to private firms to help meet the astronomical costs of space exploration.

Spring practice just a week away

David Hale's Twitter feed was pretty fantastic today.

And then there was this:

Bobo: Logan will take 1st reps with No. 1 offense but all 3 QBs will get equal looks with first group.

I'll take obvious wastes of everyone's time for $2,000, Alex.

Update: Of course, this takes pressure off Mettenberger and Murray, and that's not lost on me. Letting the lesser talented quarterback play remains a bit of a sore spot for me, though.

Bratkowski, you just made the list

Former All-American UGA quarterback Zeke Bratkowski had better watch it. From ESPN:

Tebow has been tutored in a pro-style way by working with a coaching team that includes former NFL offensive coordinator Zeke Bratkowski, Montreal Alouettes head coach Marc Trestman, Arizona State's new offensive coordinator Noel Mazzone and former NFL head coach Sam Wyche.

Bratkowski has concentrated on getting Tebow to raise the football to where it now does not dip lower than his shoulder. The delivery that allowed Tebow to complete over 67 percent of his passes at Florida but the one that also was roundly questioned during and after the Senior Bowl has begun to be made over at the pre-draft workouts in Nashville.

Much of the work has started with Tebow's feet, which were accustomed to working out of a shotgun offense. Bratkowski and others have drilled Tebow on the requisite footwork that he will need to become a successful NFL quarterback.

"You're not looking at the same quarterback," said Bratkowski, who has worked with quarterbacks such as San Diego's Philip Rivers, Philadelphia's Michael Vick and Boomer Esiason. "To say we're there 100 percent where we want to be, no. But we'll be more improved come pro day than we are at this point in time now."

Bratkowski, when you start talking about how well "we" are doing and Tim Tebow is part of that "we," you're on some thin freaking ice.

I heart Richard Samuel

From Marc Weiszer at The Banner-Herald:

In a game against Adairsville, a referee told Samuel not to hit so hard because he was going to hurt somebody.

The streets of Rome, are filled with rubble

Suitable interlude.

Bacarri Rambo via David Hale: going to knock fire from you

Welcome, welcome to the freshman class of 2010.

From The Telegraph's David Hale's signing day live blog:

9:39 AM -- Brett Favre's nephew officially signs with Mississippi State. Wonder if Dan Mullen will get a few more games on ESPN now.

9:42 AM -- Add one more for UGA... running back Ken Malcolme. I think he'll be an interesting guy to watch this fall. If he ends up being the only RB Georgia signs -- and it sure looks that way ...

9:50 AM -- Finally some good news for UGA fans. Mike Thornton has chosen Georgia

9:57 AM -- It's official ... Da'Rick Rogers is headed to Tennessee.

He's afraid of Rantavious Wooten

10:09 AM -- Courtesy of Facebook: "Bacarri Rambo: I'm telling you now when I catch you on the field I'm going to knock fire from you."

10:52 AM: Last year freshmen stats:

Washaun Ealey (717 rush yards, 3 TDs in nine games)
Orson Charles (23 catches, 374 yards, 3 TDs)
Branden Smith (14 tackles, 279 return yards, 208 rush yards, 2 TDs)
Rantavious Wooten (10 catches, 197 yards, 2 TDs)
Abry Jones (eight tackles, one sack)
Montez Robinson (five tackles, two sacks)

11:36 AM -- Richt says Richard Samuel will move to linebacker. Says he was "anxious to make that move."

Starnes: We signed a 5 star linebacker who's been on the field in the SEC for two years.

11:38 AM -- Mike Thornton's LOI is officially in.

11:40 AM -- Alec Ogletree is "Tree" while Alexander Ogletree is "Zander" Richt says. Also says Alec will be at safety and coaches expect big impact. Richt also said that his son, Jon, is engaged.

12:49 PM -- No LOI yet, but word is Georgia will also land wide receiver Lonnie Outlaw from Wilcox County. He's a two-star guy.

We did. His name is awesome.

3:55 PM -- Mentioned this on Twitter, but spring practice is scheduled to open on March 4. The Dawgs won't hold their second practice until March 16 though -- then one practice every two days or so until G-Day on April 10.

Todd Grantham via Richard Samuel and Bacarri Rambo: Destroy.

The Goal Line Stalker: Still human, but barely

Watching Herschel Walker's MMA debut on the DVR Sunday simply reconfirmed what I've known for a long time: The man is a step forward in human evolution.

If aliens show up one day and say "give us your best, so we can judge you," humanity should put Herschel Walker in a spaceship.

"This is a man I do not want to face in a fight. Anybody who teaches himself how to read and write has an iron mind."
- Fight announcer, and MMA fighter, Frank Shamrock.

If you missed the fight, there are several versions of it on youtube. Quite honestly, I though Herschel could have beaten this man much, much worse.

But he took it easy on him.

"You were all true heroes"

I'm a reporter for The Macon Telegraph, currently assigned to cover the Georgia General Assembly in Atlanta.

Today I happened upon a ceremony in the north wing of the State Capitol. World War II veterans were receiving the Legion of Honor from the French Consulate, which has its southeastern US headquarters in Atlanta.

The medal is the highest honor of France, and the French ambassador thanked these men for their service.

"You were all true heroes," he said, "who were there when hope was disappearing."

I cannot here do justice to their stories. But I will list their names, from a press release by the French Consulate:

Veterans Crawford Ferguson from Charlotte, N.C. (8th Air Force), Leonard A. Gardner from Myrtle Beach, S.C. (90th Infantry Division), Ken L. Faulkner from Birmingham, Ala. (137th Infantry), Willie E. Lambert from Dawsonville, Georgia (320th Infantry), Robert P. Mechling from Brentwood, Tenn. (8th Air Force), James L. Miller from Byhalia, Miss. (27th Armored Infantry Battalion), and Marsh C. Pickett from Greenwood, Miss. (18th Corps Artillery), have confirmed their presence. Also, James Brothers from Elisabeth City, N.C. (104th Infantry) will be represented by a family member. They will receive this reward in recognition for their courage. Among their many heroic deeds, they participated in the Normandy landings, which were decisive in the liberation of France.

Crawford Ferguson, 8th Air Force, Charlotte, N.C.

Seriously, Dooley, don't make me destroy you

Da'Rick Rogers on his recent visit to Tennessee, from The AJC:

Rogers reported that he was very impressed with new coach Derek Dooley, his coaching assemblage and, of course, the Volunteers’ football program.

The Peanut Butter Kid, a Georgia Bulldog

I can't decide if this is awesome, or a debacle.

The above link is to ESPN. This is rom Deadspin:

Why this kid would cover himself in PB became crystal clear as the seconds on the clocked ticked down and UGA was about to wrap up its first win vs. a top 10 team at home since the Jim Harrick era. The students were reminded to NOT rush the court. ... As he rushed the court there wasn't a security guard or police officer willing to go anywhere near this kid.

...

Mohs: "It's like that t-shirt you had years ago: 'Producing the best educated alcoholics since 1785.'"

Lucid Idiocy endorsed: Cholula

It's generally better than anything you can put it on. Everything in life should be so easy.


Also, the new Chili Lime sauce, which I'm pretty sure you can just drink right out of the bottle.

Derek Dooley, if you steal Da'Rick Rogers, we're going to have problems

Consider yourself warned.

AJC: Da'Rick Rogers, Nash Nance to visit Knoxville.

Orson Charles for outside linebacker

Also acceptable: Someone "like" Orson Charles.

Still excited enough about Todd Grantham and the 3-4 to be rereading teleconference notes - > me.

Grantham on his message to recruits:

"My initial message is, if you're excited about being an aggressive defense, about being coached extremely hard, being technically sound at your craft -- because really as a player, you're trying to develop your craft -- and if you're excited about enhancing your performance and developing your craft, then you're going to have fun at the University of Georgia."

The situation in Haiti

Obviously you don't need me to tell you about the situation in Haiti right now.

But I happened a February 2009 copy of The Economist, with this article about the situation then:

THERE is a new lake outside Gonaïves, a town of 300,000 people and the fourth-largest in Haiti. It blocks the road south to the capital, Port-au-Prince. It formed last autumn when four storms, three of them hurricanes, swept over the poorest country in the Americas in the space of a month. The rain—a metre’s worth on one night alone—fell on saturated mountains, long since denuded of their forest cover, and swept down on to the coastal plain. It seemed a modest victory that only 793 people died, compared with 3,000 killed by Hurricane Jeanne in 2004.

Five months later, bulldozers have cleared the mud from the main streets of Gonaïves. Away from them, on countless side streets, pedestrians look down on rooftops on either side. The houses have been dug out by hand, and the dirt piled in mounds on the roadway.

Only 20% of the town has been cleaned up, estimates Olivier Le Guillou of Action Contre la Faim, a French charity, which has paid 1,800 residents to help do the job. The damage was not confined to Gonaïves. Haiti’s agriculture minister reckons that 60% of the harvest was lost and 160,000 goats were killed, along with 60,000 pigs and 25,000 cows. In all, the storms have cost the country $900m, or 14.6% of GDP, according to a donor-funded government study. That is equivalent to 12 times the damage of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and comes just four years after Jeanne wiped out 7% of Haiti’s GDP.

You must subscribe to read the whole article. Perhaps the people at The Economist will not complain if you simply buy a newstand copy of their magazine soon instead, or donate something to relief or rebuilding efforts in Haiti.

It strikes me that in Georgia, Gov. Sonny Perdue called this week for an extra $300 million a year for transportation projects, for the next 10 years.

If just one of those years were spent on Haiti, you would sit in roughly the same metro Atlanta traffic for a marginally longer period of time, and an area of Port-au-Prince could be rebuilt, probably by Georgia companies.

I'm not saying, I'm saying that's an amazing difference in living conditions for the span of 800 miles. This earthquake has the potential to be a real call for positive change in Haiti.

The 3-4 comes to Georgia

The bottom line before I read up on Coach Todd Grantham coming to Georgia was that this was Richt's choice.

After reading a bit some of Coach Grantham's comments, I'm excited, even though I doubt we have the personel right now to run a really good 3-4 defense. But we need linebackers, period.

From David Hale for The Telgraph:

"We'll be a 3-4 structure which basically means that in your base defense you'll have two outside backers, three d linemen, two inside backers and your secondary would be the same whether you're a 3-4 or a 4-3 with two safeties and two corners. But saying that, we're more of an aggressive style 3-4. We're going to play one-gap defense. We're going to attack block up front. We're going to rush the passer. Our outside backers are going to be what we call edge-setters. They're going to be aggressive. They're going to be coming.

"Also, those outside backers will be 6'4", 240 pound killing machines."

Self-fulfilling prophecies

Lane Kiffin is dangerous

This Lane Kiffin situation has been a laugh riot for the most part. But if it ends with Tennessee actually hiring Will Muschamp, I'm going to be super pissed.

Media: Is it a fair question for people to wonder if you're a good head coach?

Kiffin: We blew out Georgia.

Fare thee well, Rennie Curran

Man, I hate to see you go. You have been the man.

And the 2010 defensive depth chart takes another major hit.

Orson Charles for all positions

Why stop at Richard Samuel?

If I could I would play Orson Charles at defensive end, linebacker and tight end, all at the same time. And possibly the wildcat.

Coach Richt is probably not going to do that. Is it time for Bruce Figgins, listed at 260 pounds, or Arthur Lynch at 250, to play some defensive line?

Joe: And Logan Gray for scout team qb.

I am tired of not even having to make fun of you

For it's promotional commercial during the Orange Bowl, Georgia tech chose to highlight, on national television, the fact that it runs a tricycle race every year.