NASA asks public for final shuttle missions’ wakeup songs

NASA just announced that… “for the first time, the public can help choose songs to wake up the astronauts during the last two scheduled space shuttle missions.”

Dammit. I forgot there’s only two space shuttle launches left.

Anyhow, the press release goes on to say that.. “traditionally, the songs played to wake up the astronauts are selected by friends and family of the crews. For the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to visit the “Wakeup Song Contest” website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration. To vote or submit a song, visit:

https://songcontest.nasa.gov

The two songs with the most votes from the top 40 list will be played as crew wakeup calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery. Discovery’s STS-133 mission is targeted to launch on Nov. 1.”

Right now, here’s what’s on the top 40 list on NASA’s voting site.

Beautiful Day – U2
Big Boy Toys – Aaron Tippin
Blue Sky – Big Head Todd
Bright Side of the Road – Van Morrison
Countdown – Rush
Drops of Jupiter – Train
Enter Sandman – Metallica
Fly Away – Lenny Kravitz
Fly Me to the Moon – Frank Sinatra
Free Fallin – Tom Petty
Get Ready – The Temptations
Good Day Sunshine – The Beatles
Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
Higher Ground – Stevie Wonder
Homeward Bound – Simon & Garfunkel
I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown
Imagine – John Lennon
Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down
Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters
Learning to Fly – Tom Petty
Magic Carpet Ride – Steppenwolf
Moon River – Audrey Hepburn
Mr. Blue Sky – Electric Light Orchestra
On the Road Again – Willie Nelson
Over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
Rendezvous – Bruce Springsteen
Rocket Man – Elton John
Roll With It – Steve Winwood
She Blinded Me With Science – Thomas Dolby
Should I Stay or Should I Go? – The Clash
So Far Away – Dire Straits
Star Trek Theme Song – Alexander Courage
Start Me Up – Rolling Stones
The Distance – Cake
Theme from the Stars Wars Trilogy – John Williams
These are the Days – 10,000 Maniacs
Time for Me to Fly – REO Speedwagon
What a Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong
Where I Come From – Alan Jackson
Window on the World – Jimmy Buffett

Meh. There’s a few in that list that are OK, but this is the space shuttle, dammit!

Something like this would be my personal song of choice to wake up to…

ZZ Top – La Grange



Yeah. I can see myself flying the space shuttle with that playing in the background.

AHHAW! HAW! HAW! HAW!

But I have a bad feeling this next song is going to make it into the finals. You watch!

Rick Astley – Never Gonna Give You Up

FDA seizes “packaged food products from a rodent-infested warehouse in Athens, Ga”

The FDA had to bring the pain to a food warehouse in Athens, Georgia after they found the whole place was actually a giant rodent hotel in disguise.

“The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia issued a warrant for the seizure of all of the food in the warehouse from Mid-States Services Inc., that the FDA and the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA) determined to be susceptible to contamination by rodents.”

“The FDA and the Georgia Department of Agriculture (GDA)…investigated the Mid-States Services facility from July 14 through July 21, 2010, and found… 14 live rodents, seven dead rodents, 23 gnaw holes on multiple food containers, multiple containers of food containing rodent pellets, four rodent nests, and apparent rodent pellets too numerous to count, on and around food packages, as well as finding structural defects making the facilities accessible to rodents.”

Damn. Just put a giant neon sign outside that says “FREE CHEESE! NO CATS!” next time!

The food items, valued at $859,000, included… “crackers, cookies and potato chips, [and] were intended for sale to jails and prisons throughout the southeastern United States.”


Here’s the link to the FDA press release.

FDA : “URGENT Nationwide Egg Recall”

This has been all over the news, and it looks fairly serious. Apparently a buncha’ eggs at grocery stores have salmonella in them, and they’re making a lot of people very sick.

The FDA press release says the eggs are… “packaged under the brand names: Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph’s, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemps. Shell eggs are packed in 6-egg cartons, 12-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, and loose eggs with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 225 and plant numbers 1026, 1413 and 1946.

Recalled shell eggs affected by the expanded recall are packaged under the brand names: Albertsons, Farm Fresh, James Farms, Glenview, Mountain Dairy, Ralphs, Boomsma, Lund, Kemps and Pacific Coast. Eggs are packed in varying sizes of cartons (6-egg, 12-egg, and18-egg cartons, and loose eggs for institutional use and repackaging) with Julian dates ranging from 136 to 229 and plant numbers 1720 and 1942.

Dates and codes can be found stamped on the end of the egg carton or printed on the case label. The plant number begins with the letter P and then the number. The Julian date follows the plant number, for example: P-1720 223.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t a localized problem. These eggs were sent to… “food wholesalers, distribution centers and foodservice companies in California, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa.”

Chunk ’em if you have them!

Here’s the link to the official FDA press release.