A pig that was a gift to the Kabul zoo from China has been quarantined due to swine flu fears. Pork and all things pig produced are illegal in Afghanistan because they are considered irreligious. The pig at the zoo is the only known pig in the country. "For now the pig is under quarantine, we built it a room because of swine influenza. We've done this because people are worried about getting the flu," Aziz Gul Saqib, director of Kabul Zoo, told Reuters. Just wait until people hear about chickenpox.

mattnyc99 writes "Popular Mechanics is reporting that NASA — faced with the looming retirement of the space shuttle, and planning for longer missions like the one to Mars we've been discussing — is looking to free up its budget and depend a lot more on private space startups to carry key payloads into orbit in the next few years. For an agency so steeped in bureaucracy, it seems like everyone from NASA chief Mike Griffin to contracted officials to the key players in this in-depth podcast roundtable is finally acknowledging that commercial rocketeering (space tourists aside) is a more efficient means of getting back into space for NASA. Quoting: 'Because of a new focus for NASA's strategic investments — not to mention incentives like the Ansari X Prize, which spurred the space-tourism business, and the Google Lunar X Prize, which could do the same for payloads — private-sector spaceships could be ready for government service soon, says Sam Scimemi, who heads NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. "The industry has grown up," he tells PM. "It used to be that only NASA or the Air Force could do such things."'"

coondoggie writes to mention that the first ten teams racing for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize have been announced. The competitors will try to be the first team to land a privately funded robotic spacecraft on the moon capable of traveling at least 1,600 feet and returning video, images, and data. The teams include Romanian-based ARCA, Italy-based Team Italia, and several different teams from around the US, many of which competed in the Ansari X Prize.

Amir Ansari asks: "There have been many comparisons between various archival media (hard drive, tape, magneto-optical, CD/DVD, and so on). Of course, the most important characteristics are permanence and portability, but what about the file systems involved? For instance, I routinely archive my data onto an external hard drive: easy to update and mirror, but which file system provides the best combination of reliability, future-proofing, data recovery, and availability across multiple platforms (Linux, OS X, BeOS/Zeta and Windows, in my case)? Open Source best guarantees the future availability of the standard and specification, but are file systems such as ext2 suitable for archival storage? Is journaling important?"

gevmage writes "Anousheh Ansari, founder of the X Prize and the fourth 'space tourist' to the International Space Station is going to be writing a blog during her several day visit, which began this last Wednesday. She says in the current entry that her submissions are batched and she doesn't have a live browser to read comments." From the post: "The next morning when I woke up, I was so excited I slipped out of my bag quickly and flew head down to the Descent Module and flipped around and flew right back up to the Habitation Compartment. As soon as I stopped I realized that what I did was not a good idea! I felt my internal organs doing a cha-cha inside my belly ... I stopped and tried to minimize my movements. I basically become a mummy from that point forward. I only did very small slow movements and even that would make me feel really sick ..."

An anonymous reader writes "Reuters has the news that Anousheh Ansari, the funder of the X Prize, has been named as the first female tourist in space. She'll be going up in mid-September after a Japanese entrepeneur was deemed unfit for the trip." From the article: "Ansari, a 39-year-old chairwoman and co-founder of Prodea Systems, Inc., a digital home technology company, will be the world's fourth space tourist. 'Anousheh Ansari has been officially named to the Soyuz TMA-9 primary crew,' Space Adventures, working in partnership with Russia's space agency Roskosmos to launch space tourists, said in a statement."

baxissimo writes "The first ever Heinlein prize for Advances in Space Commercialization is going to be awarded to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, for various activities including his efforts as Founder and Chairman of the Ansari X Prize. The prize is a cool 1/2 million USD plus a few other nifty trinkets -- a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein's book Glory Road) and a Laureate's Diploma. The award ceremony will be held in Houston, July 7, 2006. This prize has been around a good while (since Heinlein's death in 1988?) with no awardees. Hopefully this will make the existence of the prize a little more widely known, and help spur further developments like the X Prize."

An anonymous reader writes "MSNBC has a story about a second company starting up to compete with Virgin Galactic. Both are planning on operating passenger sub-orbital flights. Will this new Space Race usher in more new technologies into our daily lives, like the previous one? Will the competition to go higher/faster lead to orbital tourism?" From the article: "The company that helped put three millionaires into orbit has teamed up with Russia's Federal Space Agency and the financial backers of the $10 million Ansari X Prize to develop a new breed of suborbital passenger spaceship. Thursday's announcement by Virginia-based Space Adventures herald the entry of new international players in the commercial space race -- a race that is expected to enter a critical phase in the next year or two."

quad4b writes to tell us Wired is reporting that the Rocket Racing League (RRL), launched last October by Granger Whitelaw and Peter Diamandis of Ansari X Prize fame, has its first official team. "Leading Edge Rocket Racing" was launched by entrepreneurs and former F-16 pilots Don "Dagger" Grantham and Robert "Bobaloo" Rickard who see this as the "next great flying experience."

aapold writes "Virgin Galactic today announced plans to build a $225 million space port in southern New Mexico. Richard Branson will meet with governor Bill Richardson Wednesday to unveil the plans. Virgin Galactic is the company leveraging Spaceship One which, as reported by Slashdot, claimed the Ansari X prize for commercial space flight."

My name is Aziz Ansari. I'm an actor/comedian based in Los Angeles. I play Tom Haverford on the new show Parks and Recreation (Thursdays at 8:30pm on NBC).

Aziz Ansari (born February 23, 1983) is an Indian-American actor and comedian. He is best known as one of the stars of the critically acclaimed sketch comedy series Human Giant on ...

Actor: I Love You, Man. Visit IMDb for Photos, Filmography, Discussions, Bio, News, Awards, Agent, Fan Sites.

Everything you want to know about Aziz Ansari ... Funny jokes, blonde jokes, joke of the day, Yo Mama jokes, and more

Aziz Ansari's Funny or Die Profile. Aziz Ansari (Human Giant, Flight of the Conchords) is doing a standup tour. Go see him live! Visit azizisbored.com for more details., Aziz ...

MySpace Comedian profile for Aziz Ansari. Watch comedy shows & funny video clips from Aziz Ansari on MySpace.com, including standup comedy, funny jokes & pictures.

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time

With a new sitcom on NBC and a Judd Apatow project in the bank, the longtime Human Giant CASTS HIS LINE FOR STARDOM. With a new sitcom on NBC and a Judd Apatow project in the bank ...

Aziz Ansari does a piece about his love for indie music star M.I.A., who is played by Eugene Mirman. Hilarity ensues! (Recorded 02/23/05 at "Invite Them Up")

My name is Aziz Ansari. I'm an actor/comedian based in Los Angeles. I play Tom Haverford on the new show Parks and Recreation (Thursdays at 8:30pm on NBC).

Aziz Ansari (born February 23, 1983) is an Indian-American actor and comedian. He is best known as one of the stars of the critically acclaimed sketch comedy series Human Giant on ...

Actor: I Love You, Man. Visit IMDb for Photos, Filmography, Discussions, Bio, News, Awards, Agent, Fan Sites.

Everything you want to know about Aziz Ansari ... Funny jokes, blonde jokes, joke of the day, Yo Mama jokes, and more

Aziz Ansari's Funny or Die Profile. Aziz Ansari (Human Giant, Flight of the Conchords) is doing a standup tour. Go see him live! Visit azizisbored.com for more details., Aziz ...

MySpace Comedian profile for Aziz Ansari. Watch comedy shows & funny video clips from Aziz Ansari on MySpace.com, including standup comedy, funny jokes & pictures.

Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time

With a new sitcom on NBC and a Judd Apatow project in the bank, the longtime Human Giant CASTS HIS LINE FOR STARDOM. With a new sitcom on NBC and a Judd Apatow project in the bank ...

Aziz Ansari does a piece about his love for indie music star M.I.A., who is played by Eugene Mirman. Hilarity ensues! (Recorded 02/23/05 at "Invite Them Up")