NASA Grants PSU $132,000
Posted by: kmikeym
Bizjournals.com reports that NASA has awarded Portland State University a $132,000 grant to support the Origins of Solar Systems research program.
I didn't know PSU did anything with NASA!
According to the article, The Origins of Solar Systems, which is part of Washington, D.C.-based NASA' Science Mission Directorate Solar System Division program, supports scientific investigations related to understanding the formation and early evolution of planetary systems, and to provide the fundamental research and analysis necessary to detect and characterize other planetary systems.
As awesome as it is, it's tempered somewhat by Portland State University having no information I could find, and the same for the maze of NASA sites. :( It's frustrating to be excited about this and not find any info.
Hopefully they will post info soon and I can add more details about the program and what role PSU will play.
Portland's Future Equality
Posted by: kmikeym
The Mercury reports on Sam Adams' plan to add an Equal Benefits Ordinance to the city charter.
This would mean that anyone* the City does business** with must*** offer the same benefits to their employees with domestic partners as they offer their employees with spouses.
I'm not sure anyone could really be against this, especially when Sam Adams' Staffer Jesse Beason does a great job of fully explaining the details. Of course, the first comment on Adams' blog is from a semi-raving near-lunatic who says, "You people are killing yourselves slowly by suffocating any scintilla of capitalism or free enterprise. ... You can even outlaw cars. And meat. ...they will probably start calling you bigots unless you actually convert to homosexuality. ...using governments bully pulpit to force acceptance of homosexuality is facistic..." (note: I don't recommend actually reading those comments)
Whew! The good thing about really scary and vocal opponents is that it makes it very clear what side of the issue I want to be on. I'm excited about Portland's future being more awesome for gays.
*The Mercury says, "it will only apply at first to larger contractors".
**Jesse states on the Sam Adams blog, "entering into certain contracts or leases" which I guess isn't really everyone.
***Jesse points out that if a company doesn't offer spouse benefits, then they are not required to offer domestic partnership benefits.
An Open Source City
Posted by: josh
Maybe there's something to this open source thing.
I've long been a supporter of open source software development, but a skeptic of the ability of a specific place to concentrate open-source activity. However, it seems Portland has massed enough projects -- open-source conventions, commercial open-source labs, and celebrity open-source developers -- to actually attract more of all the same. And now that actual money is getting involved, in the form of grants, venture capital, and potential government savings, the idea of Portland becoming an open source hub has some real potential.
There's lots more to read in this nice Christian Science Monitor writeup.
