Comcost- NASA and moon mining, Michael Sam and Valentines Day

I was preparing for the Nexus Conference Water-Energy-Food-Climate  (5th to 8th March Chapel Hill NC) International Advisory Board and catching up on the days news stories.A number caught my eye that I wanted to share with you.

Comcast
Comcast is biding to own Time Warner Cable and would then have 3/4 of all cable tv.  This can not be good for press freedom and the regulator should stop the sale. According to the Washington Post:
"The merged company would be a communications and media juggernaut with far greater influence than any of its peers. It would not only control the “last mile” connections that pump cable and Internet services into homes and businesses but also a huge swath of the content that travels through those pipes because Comcast already owns the entertainment empire of NBC Universal."
The Justice Department should take a hard look at this and reject the merger to ensure press and internet freedom.

NASA and Moon Mining 

According to the Verge "NASA is now working with private companies to take the first steps in exploring the moon for valuable resources like helium 3 and rare earth metals.

Initial proposals are due tomorrow for the Lunar Cargo Transportation and Landing by Soft Touchdown program (CATALYST). One or more private companies will win a contract to build prospecting robots, the first step toward mining the moon."

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty of the United Nations, says that countries are prohibited from laying claim to the moon. So who will ensure that companies are not allowed on the moon without agreement of all countries. Is it time for the UN to step in and stop this before it happens. Should the UN Be the only place that can give contracts out? And the same applies to Mars and other planets. This may seem a story out of science fiction but once Virgin Galactic is going then the developments for space travel and space industry will move ahead quickly. Time for the UN to host a conference on this and space junk.

Michael Sam

Dallas sportscaster Texas newsman Dale Hansen  did a great and wonderful  presentation on Michael Sam who announced he was gay and is  “the best defensive player in college football’s best conference” announcing this before the NFL draft well done Michael and great to see Dale standing there supporting him.

Valentines Day

I was very amused by this story in the Huffington Post  the changing nature of our relationships also need to see an increase in the diversity of our Valentines Cards. There are some funny ones such as "Baby Id pause my game for you"....its a changing world and these cards i hope will make you smile. Happy Valentines Day.