This is being blogged with a dog on my lap. You have been warned...

Mission creep?  NASA is crash-testing Cessnas so we can find more planes when they do crash.  This is all very exciting but doesn't seem to be within NASA's mission.  Or it shouldn't be... 

And meanwhile ... Star Trek's Uhura will join a NASA mission (but not to space).  This 747 is a Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.  As with testing Cessnas, this seems like noble work, but not within NASA's mission. 

Mission creep is one of the two key problems with government agencies, they never willingly do less, and their work is never done.  (The other problem is they're inefficient, having no motivation to do less or finish.)  If there is work we taxpayers agree to jointly fund - such as crash testing aircraft, or infrared observatories - then our government agencies' only role should be to pay for it.

In private spaceflight news, Largest plane in the world to perform test flights in 2016.  This is the Stratolaunch Roc, built from melding two old 747s together, and designed as a reusable way to launch rockets.  This is what space exploration looks like...  (By all means click through and view the video!) 

How interesting: Twitter collapses 5%, tumbling toward IPO-level prices.  As a business Twitter are doing just fine, but they're not growing fast enough to satisfy their investors; hence the trouble.  I remember the Twitter IPO was considered a success because it had a big bounce, but now look.  Meanwhile Facebook, whose IPO was considered a failure because there was no bounce, is growing nicely... 

More government regulation gone wild: California has a plan to end the auto industry as we know it.  Well actually, to mandidate electric cars.  I love electric cars, but in no way is this the government's business.  Setting emissions requirements ... sure, but mandating technology ... no. 

This sucks: Massive wildfire threatens 6,300 properties North of San Francisco.  There are currently 23 wildfires burning in California, the result of a dry winter, summer, and lots of lightning storms. 

Finally, news you can most definitely use: how to slice a bagel along a mobius strip.  Excellent.