From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!
Astronaut Mike Massimino • In the first Tweet from space. OK, who let this guy bring his iPhone onto the spacecraft? We admit, we misread “launch” as “lunch” and chuckled a little inside. • source
I am very happy that I have been released and reunited with my father and mother. I am very grateful to all the people who knew me or didn’t know me and helped for my release. I don’t have any specific plans for the time being. I want to stay with my parents.
Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi • In short remarks after getting released yesterday. Saberi could have faced eight years in jail on espionage charges in Iran but instead got out after about a month. Let’s hope she enjoys going home to the U.S. • source
There was all the talk at the time about how the stimulus package wasn’t big enough, and that is true here. It’s barely letting us keep our noses above water.
Bill Lyne • Faculty union president of Western Washington University in Bellhingham, Wash. His school is bracing for 400 layoffs of staff members and adjunct faculty – just one example of how the $135 billion to limit layoffs as part of the $787 billion stimulus package is running headfirst into the reality that the states just aren’t making enough in tax revenue. • source
Richard Wolf was looking at (and distributing) porn at work. An Ohio appellate court upheld a felony hacking conviction last week of Wolf that claimed he exceeded his authorized use of the computer. Part of the reason Wolf is facing this conviction is that the law has stretched – The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act has been allowed to be amended by the states who have put in restrictions against access to unauthorized information at work. Technically, porn is unauthorized, but most experts agree that was never the intent of the law. source
Sykes, during the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, made a joke about Rush Limbaugh that was so harsh it managed to peel the paint off the walls. source
Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary we dig, criticized her, saying some topics “are better left for serious reflection rather than comedy.” source
Two reasons why: Investors appear to be buying stocks at the moment, and they want the monkey off their backs. TARP regulations force companies to limit executive pay, which they don’t like. source
U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., KeyCorp, Principal Financial Group Inc. and BB&T Corp. all announced plans this morning to raise $7 billion in capital to get the U.S. off their backs. source