USRS Australia

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02/25/10--19:07: Deep space tracking (chan 1813385)



From Ambassador Bleich:

When President John F. Kennedy hosted a group of 49 Nobel laureates at the White House in 1962, he remarked to them, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” Since Thomas Jefferson never dined here at the Residence, I can say without likely contradiction that today we had the most extraordinary collection of human knowledge ever gathered here for breakfast. I began the day by hosting the leading scientists of NASA, CSIRO, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratories, as we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Space Cooperation between the United States and Australia and we formally extended that Agreement into the future.

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02/25/10--20:25: 100 years of American eating (chan 1813385)

The Food Availability Data System, created by USDA's Economic Research Service (ERS), has just been updated. For many of the several hundred food commodities covered, this new release marks 100 years of data - from 1909 to 2008.

"Food availability" is essentially the per capita amount of food in the U.S. food marketing system available for consumption. ERS economists include production and imports of the various foods, and exclude exports as well as farm and industrial uses, to arrive at an approximation of what Americans consume on average. Food availability includes all food-from grocery stores, restaurants, school cafeterias, and other eating places.




02/26/10--22:37: Getting my hands dirty (chan 1813385)



From Ambassador Bleich:

Today I added another unusual chapter to the strange, and strangely interesting, experience of being an ambassador. Not only did we have a good family day, but I will never look at my suits the same way again.

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02/27/10--01:22: Supporting each other in a fragile world (chan 1813385)



From Ambassador Bleich:

We were reminded again this morning of how fragile and interdependent we all are in this world. A shift in the earth’s plates deep in the Pacific Ocean has devastated portions of Chile and sent waves of high water from Alaska to Hawaii to American Samoa to the shores of Australia.

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03/01/10--13:26: A world free of nuclear weapons (chan 1813385)



Since the first atomic bombs exploded in 1945, some have tried to rid the world of nuclear weapons. President Obama has embraced this goal with new vigor. A World Free of Nuclear Weapons, the latest issue of eJournal USA, examines the challenges to achieving nuclear disarmament as well as conveys the hopes of some thinkers and explains the doubts of others.

Learn more:

• Dept. of State Bureau of International Security & Nonproliferation
• Dept. of State Bureau of Verification, Compliance & Implementation
• Remarks by the President at the Acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize