[We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

-- Sincerely, the Fascist MGMT]

Welcome again to the Spaced-Out Challenge. Whether you have a question about a scope, a new astronomical discovery you want to expand on, or just want to kick back and enjoy the cosmos above, come one come all on our weekly journey through space and time.

This week, we bid good riddance to ISON, catch the comet that had been living in ISON's shadow, and begin our tour of the Winter sky. Let's dive in.

A warning, I took a little liberty with margins for one image so it can be fully enjoyed. Several maps below are even larger, and have been linked up as pop-up images.
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Posted by: CAC at 02:25 PM | Comments (28)
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"We have met the goal," they announce.

Apparently the goal consisted of a website that still doesn't fully work. Kudos!

Today is the Obama administration’s self-imposed deadline for Healthcare.gov to be “fixed.”

After initially promising a complete fix of the broken Web site by “the end of November,” the White House has incrementally lowered expectations, moved the goalposts and backpedaled on earlier promises as the depth and intractability of the site’s problems became apparent during November’s “tech surge.”

...

HealthCare.gov team claims victory: ‘We have met the goal’

The Obama administration claimed victory Sunday for making HealthCare.gov workable for the vast majority of usersÂ….

But even during their victory dance itself they were still moving the goalposts and backpedaling further:

The agency that oversees HealthCare.gov said “we believe we have met the goal” of making the system navigable for most people, but cautioned that more problems may lie ahead.

“Dramatic progress has been made,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated in a report released Sunday morning. “[But] there is more work to be done to continue to improve and enhance the website.”

I guess we'll have to see if five million people, who've lost their insurance due to the operation of Obamacare and now are thrown to the mercy of the exchanges, end up agreeing that Obama has "met the goal."

Read the whole thing. Zombie notes that the "goal" has been "met" by abandoning many aspects of the original "goal." Minor little things, like actually enabling people to use the site to actually deliver a payment to the insurers.

Posted by: Ace at 01:03 PM | Comments (235)
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Quick post since with my birthday and Christmas shopping, it totally slipped my mind to write one. Sorry.

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Posted by: Gang of Gaming Morons! at 11:04 AM | Comments (60)
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And the burning topics of the day, or nugget pron, whichever seems more interesting.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:04 PM | Comments (49)
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Actually, the grain waste from making beer

...A by-product of the process could be about to give an upgrade to a workhorse building material – red clay bricks. By blending in the grains left over from making beer, the bricks can be more environmentally friendly and better insulators...

...With a clay paste containing 5 per cent spent grains, the team was able to create bricks just as strong as the conventional type, while reducing the amount of heat they lost by 28 per cent...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:43 AM | Comments (48)
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Happy December everybody. I suppose Christmas themes are ok now.

And in case you missed it yesterday, Auburn wrecked Alabama's Thanksgiving. more...

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:51 AM | Comments (386)
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We Politely Request That All Off-Topic or Political Comments Be Directed to the Thread Directly Below This One, Which Will Serve Officially as the Current "Active Conversation" Thread for All Discussions Not Related To This Topic.

-- Sincerely, the Fascist MGMT

If you have a budding cook, or a kid on his own who can't afford to eat out, or just need a great reference for pretty much everything, then Joy of Cooking By Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker is hard to beat. The recipes are the baseline in American cooking. Everything is here!

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Posted by: Open Blogger at 12:05 PM | Comments (169)
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If you like your open thread, you can keep your open thread.

Below the fold you can see the current state of Healthcare.gov: more...

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:00 AM | Comments (48)
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Personal Foul

ICYMI, the NFL turned down a pro-gun ad this year. At least it's not on NBC, so we don't have to hear Costas' opposing-view at halftime with nary a word from the league.

Also, I was treated to a regional ad from Bloomberg & Menino's Mayors Against Illegal Guns group in the last Pats/Giants Super Bowl, but that apparently doesn't run afoul of the NFL's policy. Call it the gun control show loophole.

Gun Of The Week

(answer below)

Marksmanship Award

Gun Of The Week - Answer

That's the H&K P7M13 with its innovative squeeze-cocking mechanism.

Thugs

Charles C. W. Cooke had a must-read this week on the thuggish tactics of the anti-gunners in Colorado. So go read it.

“As we speak, we have multiple cars monitoring us at our offices and filming us from the parking lot,” Mike McAlpine, who headed up the recall effort, told me yesterday. “This is not a one-off event. We hold sign-and-drive events on the sidewalks near to busy intersections, and we hold signs inviting people to pull over and sign the petition. Our opponents have taken to blocking us: as cars pull in, they run up to the driver’s side door and physically stand next to the door so that the person inside cannot open the door and come outside.”

Tips

If there are topics you're interested in seeing in the gun thread, please send them to AoSHQGunThread at gmail. You can also send them to me on Twitter at @AndyM1911.

The owner's manual for your concealed carry permit: The Law of Self Defense

Defend the Second Amendment. Join: The National Rifle Association * Gun Owners of America * The National Shooting Sports Foundation * Your state's second amendment org.

Celebrate America's firearms heritage: participate in Project Appleseed.

Posted by: andy at 05:27 AM | Comments (140)
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December already? WTF?

Posted by: andy at 03:52 AM | Comments (147)
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