Brian Gongol


Like learning to create a portrait of LeBron James using an Etch-a-Sketch. But it's kind of entertaining nonetheless to see a video of the artist in action, and at least 814,000 people have done that so far.

Hamas conducted a violent takeover of the Gaza Strip, but the head of Hamas says they recognize Mahmoud Abbas (a member of Fatah) as head of the Palestinian Authority. There's been reactionary violence in the West Bank, and in the meantime, a separate political and military crisis has popped up in Lebanon. Per-capita GDP in the Gaza Strip is just $1,500 per year, and the violence certainly isn't going to help.

The problem isn't going to ruin the space station itself, but it could require a whole new set of computers. Looks like a hardware problem in the power supply caused by putting the new solar array online. That's right: They're having the very same problem on the ISS that many people have at home and use a surge suppressor to prevent. Living in space always seemed so much easier when it was just a hypothetical question. As it happens, a glitch of a different sort seems to be allowing a Chicago family to watch NASA TV on their baby monitor. It's probably just a neighbor's in-home relay system or something, but the story's funny anyway.

But the Department of Homeland Security doesn't seem to get the idea that well-treated tourists come back

