Photo of the Day: Trump's Executive Order...

If you're a member of #TheResistance (the real resistance...not the one featured in the new Star Wars trilogy) who wants to poke fun at everything that Donald Trump does while he's still president, click on this link to customize your own executive order that Trump will proudly hold with his [ALT-FACT] giant hands [/ALT-FACT] in this photo. Now if only Steve Bannon, Mike Pence and Paul Ryan can display white sheets of paper in pics that will be manipulated on the Internet for everyone's amusement as well... I can wait.

F-35 Update: Lockheed Martin Makes the Fighter Jet More Favorable in the Eyes of Trump...

USAF / Lockheed Martin

Late last year, then-President-elect Donald Trump created a stir when he said that the F-35 program was significantly over-budget...even suggesting that a competition be held between Lockheed Martin's newest fighter jet and Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet. Stocks rose for Boeing and dropped for Lockheed as a result. Almost two months later, Lockheed has taken Trump's criticism to heart and found a way to make the Lightning II more affordable for American taxpayers and our global allies. More below.

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Agreement Reached on Lowest Priced F-35s in Program History (News Release)

The U.S. Department of Defense and Lockheed Martin have reached an agreement on the next lot of F-35 aircraft (LRIP 10). This lot includes 90 aircraft total - 55 jets for the U.S. services and 35 jets for international partners and foreign military sales customers. Lot 10 reflects a $728M reduction in the total price when compared to Lot 9 and marks the first time the price for an F-35A is below $100M. The bottom line is unit prices, including jet, engine and fee for all three variants, went down.

"The LRIP-10 contract is a good and fair deal for the taxpayers, the U.S. Government, allies, and Industry," said Lt. Gen. Chris Bogdan, F-35 Program Executive Officer. “We continue to work with Industry to drive costs out of the program.”

The supersonic, multi-role F-35 represents a quantum leap in air dominance capability. It combines next generation characteristics of radar evading stealth, supersonic speed, and fighter agility with the most powerful and comprehensive integrated sensor package of any fighter aircraft in history. The F-35 is unmatched in its capability by any other tactical fighter aircraft in the world delivering unprecedented lethality and survivability.

The F-35A variant comprises approximately 85 percent of the program of record. The F-35A unit price in LRIP-10, including aircraft, engine and fee, is roughly seven percent lower than the previous LRIP-9 contract. Over the past two procurement lots (LRIP-9 and 10), the price of the F-35A has dropped 12 percent.

“With initiatives like Blueprint for Affordability and the natural learning curve, we are substantially bringing the cost of each aircraft down and at the same time the F-35 program will continue to add thousands of additional jobs to the U.S. economy as we increase production year over year,” said Jeff Babione, Lockheed Martin F-35 Vice President and General Manager.

Currently, the F-35 program supports more than 1,300 suppliers in 45 states, directly and indirectly employs more than 146,000 people. There are also hundreds of suppliers around the world supporting the F-35 program, creating thousands of international jobs. By the 2020s, at full rate production, direct and indirect job growth is projected to be more than 260,000, with a majority of those jobs in the U.S.

In addition to procuring the air vehicles, this contract funds manufacturing support equipment and ancillary mission equipment. Deliveries of 90 aircraft begin in early 2018. To date, more than 200 operational F-35s are operated by eight different nations including Australia, Italy, Israel, Japan,Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom and United States. In total, the F-35 program today plans to produce more than 3,000 aircraft with approximately 600 of those aircraft presently planned to be procured by our international allies.

Source: F35.com

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U.S. Navy / Petty Officer 1st Class Benjamin Wooddy

New Horizons Update: Still On-Track for Its 2019 Encounter with a KBO...

NASA / JHUAPL / SWRI / Steve Gribben

New Horizons Refines Course for Next Flyby (News Release - February 1)

NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft completed a short propulsive maneuver Wednesday to refine its track toward a New Year’s Day 2019 flyby past 2014 MU69, a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) some 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) from Earth.

Telemetry confirming that the engine burn went as planned reached the New Horizons mission operations center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, via NASA’s Deep Space Network stations in Goldstone, California and Canberra, Australia, shortly after 1:15 p.m. EST. The radio signals carrying the data traveled over 3.5 billion miles (5.6 billion kilometers) and took more than five hours to reach Earth at the speed of light.

Operating by timed commands stored on its computer, New Horizons fired its thrusters for just 44 seconds, adjusting its velocity by about 44 centimeters per second, or a little less than one mile per hour. It was the first trajectory maneuver since the team conducted a set of four maneuvers in the fall of 2015 that put the spacecraft on a course for its rendezvous with MU69 on Jan. 1, 2019.

“One mile per hour may not sound like much,” said mission Principal Investigator Alan Stern, of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado, “but over the next 23 months, as we approach MU69, that maneuver will add up to an aim point refinement of almost six thousand miles (10,000 kilometers).”

New Horizons Mission Design Lead Yanping Guo, of APL, said Wednesday’s burn adjusts for what the team has learned since 2015 from new Hubble Space Telescope measurements of MU69’s orbit, as well as the spacecraft’s own location.

After the burn the spacecraft transitioned out of a so-called “three-axis stabilized mode,” the operating mode that allowed New Horizons to make new telescopic observations of six KBOs over the past week. These science observations will reveal new information on the shapes, surface properties and satellite systems of these objects, in ways that can’t be done from Earth. Images from these studies will be transmitted to Earth in the coming weeks.

Source: NASA.Gov

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ABOVE: The green line marks the path traveled by the New Horizons spacecraft as of
10:00 AM, Pacific Standard Time, on February 2, 2017. It is 3.6 billion miles from Earth.
Click here to view the official webpage showing where New Horizons is in space. (AU
stands for Astronomical Units, in case you're wondering.)

Help Bring Back OTHER SPACE!

So yesterday, I found out online that the hilarious 2015 sci-fi web series created by Paul Feig (who directed such comedy flicks as Bridesmaid, Spy and last year's Ghostbusters reboot) is now available to download for free on a Tumblr webpage. The episodes aren't geoblocked...meaning that they can be viewed from anywhere in the world! And the reason why Other Space is available to watch for free anywhere in the world is because Feig wants the support needed to film Season 2 of the funny web series!

All I can say is, I hope Season 2 of Other Space gets made. Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, with a mysterious alien lifeform boarding the UMP Cruiser [commanded by Stewart Lipinski (Karan Soni)] after its own vessel was obliterated by another unknown extraterrestrial ship. Along with this subplot, there were other story threads that remained unresolved...such as what will become of the romance between oddball Kent Woolworth (Neil Casey) and his virtual love/onboard ship computer Natasha (Conor Leslie), the other would-be relationship between Stewart's sister Karen (Bess Rous) and carefree doofus Michael Newman (Eugene Cordero), and of course, the currently-unrequited romance between Stewart and his ditzy but tough-as-nails navigator, Tina Shukshin (Milana Vayntrub).

I hope Season 2 gets made even if Other Space won't get a third season. Have the tale of the UMP Cruiser live on for at least 8 more episodes before her crew sails on into oblivion in the cold vacuum of space—even if that means that Stewart and company will never leave that alternate universe and make it back to Earth. On the plus side though, most of Other Space's amazing cast is doing just fine without donning their white UMP jumpsuits once more. Karan Soni is set to play Dopinder again on Deadpool 2, Milana Vayntrub is making a great impression as Sloane the playwright on NBC's This Is Us, and Eugene Cordero will appear alongside Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackon, John Goodman and Brie Larson in next month's Kong: Skull Island. And Bess Rous and Neil Casey appeared in Feig's Ghostbusters with Karan, Milana and Eugene less than a year ago...even though they didn't share screen time together.

Even if Season 2 doesn't get made (Nooo!), it was cool to reminisce about Other Space one last time. I wish this won't be the last time, but hey, that's why I need y'all to click on this Tumblr link to binge-watch this show! Let the web series that's a cross between Star Trek and The Office live on for a bit longer... Per favore. Happy First Day of February!

And watch Other Space now!

Photos of the Day #3: An Autograph Signing in the City of Industry...

Just thought I'd end this month by posting these pics that were taken when I met the very lovely actress and model Vida Guerra at my local mall yesterday. The meet-and-greet took place at Puente Hills Mall in the City of Industry...inside the new Sports Authentics USA store. This is the third autograph signing to take place at this new retail outlet since it opened late last year—the first one being by 11-time NBA champion Bill Russell (who played for the Boston Celtics) and the second one by 7-time NBA champ Robert Horry (who won three rings with the Los Angeles Lakers, and two each with the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, respectively). It's so cool to attend an autograph signing so close to home; it would be absolutely awesome if Kobe Bryant one day does an autograph signing at Puente Hills Mall [or at the Frank & Son Collectible Show (where Shaquille O'Neal did a photo op almost four years ago) a few miles away, also in the City of Industry]! It would've been better if he was still a player with the Lakers if he did so, but it's all good.



Back on topic, it was awesome to meet Vida Guerra! You can see her in the upcoming movie adaptation of the classic TV show CHIPS...starring Michael Peña and Dax Shepard. In fact, CHIPS hits theaters next month, on March 24. Lookin' forward to seeing you on the big screen, Vida! Happy Monday.

Photos of the Day #2: Visiting the City of Venice...in California, that is

Earlier today, I drove to the Venice Canal Historic District south of downtown Los Angeles to take photos of the iconic waterways. With the original canals built in 1905 (they no longer exist since they were paved over for streets and parking lots; the current pathways weren't built yet), these passages were pretty cool to see in person. It's intriguing that people live in houses and condos along these various canals. [Of course, the monthly rent (or mortgage? I dunno) for these residences must be pretty darn high.] Empty canoes and boats lie docked along the sides of these canals, though I'm pretty sure the pathways are flowing with watercraft as their owners row through the passages on the weekends or during holidays. The Venice Canals are a great tourist spot to check out before walking over to Venice Beach—which is literally right across the street (past Pacific Avenue, that is) from this famous landmark. Here are some photos that I took of the waterways this afternoon...enjoy!

Photos of the Day: Meet the Titanium Goose...

I took these photos during work last month, but just thought I'd finally share these pics that I took of Lockheed's A-12 spy plane that's been on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles for quite some time now. This A-12 in particular, dubbed the Titanium Goose (although the A-12 was generally called Cygnus by its pilots), is a two-seater training variant that is one of 15 aircraft that were built under the CIA's Oxcart program that began in the late 1950s. Nine of the SR-71 Blackbird's precursors are on display at museums (and CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia) throughout the nation...with the other six being lost during in-flight mishaps (with three fatalities) from 1963 to 1968. What a sad way to end this aerospace program, but I'm glad that this engineering marvel was still able to go on exhibit here in the City of Angels.

Arase Is Close to Beginning Its Science Mission...

JAXA

Completion of Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace Arase (ERG)'s Critical Operations Phase (Press Release)

JAXA confirmed completion of the critical operations phase* of the Arase mission, formerly known as Exploration of energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG). It results from a sequence of significant tasks that occurred as anticipated: perigee up maneuvers and extension of its wire antennae and masts.

Arase is currently in good condition and is scheduled to enter into a two-month commissioning phase, then followed by a science operations phase.

JAXA expresses its deepest appreciation for the indispensable contributions and support by all.

* Critical operations phase: period initiated at the separation of payload from a launch vehicle until payload’s stability is established. During this period, solar array paddles are deployed, and status of attitude control and tracking systems, and operations of ground tracking and control facility are ensured.

Source: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency

Photos of the Day: Visiting Griffith Observatory...

So yesterday, I visited Griffith Observatory for the first time in almost 23 years! This historic Los Angeles landmark still looks as elegant as it did when I last went here in the summer of 1994...right before I started my first year in high school. The Astronomers Monument out in the front lawn is still a neat sight to see, it was cool to watch the pendulum swing away inside the main lobby again, and it was great to get a glimpse of the 12-inch Zeiss Telescope in the left dome (if you're viewing Griffith from the front lawn) of the observatory.



I was thinking about attending a show inside the Samuel Oschin Planetarium (not to be confused with the Samuel Oschin Pavilion—the temporary home of space shuttle Endeavour at the California Science Center in Exposition Park), but it would've been about a two-hour wait for the next one to begin. So I decided to take a few more pics and bought two fridge magnets at the gift shop before I took a lengthy but quick walk (thank you, gravity!) to my car parked about a mile down the hill.



I'm a huge space geek today...thanks in part to a field trip that my class took to Griffith back in the 4th grade (in April of 1990). The many astronomy exhibits on display throughout the observatory are a thrill to see if you love learning about the cosmos. And if you don't care about learning about the cosmos (damn you), Griffith is still a wonderful place to just hang out and use one of the many spotting scopes placed on and around the building to gaze down at the Los Angeles Basin, or the Hollywood Sign a few miles away.

LINK: January 2017 photos that I took at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles



All-in-all, Griffith Observatory is a must-see if you're a tourist visiting from out of state or out of country, or you're an L.A. native who wants to check out a landmark that makes you appreciate just how amazing the City of Angels really is. Will I visit Griffith again, you ask? You betcha! And this time I'm gonna dish out $7 to catch a cool show inside the planetarium. Happy (rainy) Monday!

The Trumpire Rises...

Getty Images

So a new period of uncertainty has officially begun now that Donald Trump has been sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. All I can say is, it appears that Trump borrowed elements of his inaugural speech from Bane in The Dark Knight Rises... How dare The Donald gives the leader of the League of Shadows a bad name!

The fire rises.