According to Reiffel’s report, “The motivation for such a detonation is clearly threefold: scientific, military and political.”

The military considerations were frightening. The report said a nuclear detonation on the moon could yield information “...concerning the capability of nuclear weapons for space warfare.” Reiffel said that in military circles at the time, there was “discussion of the moon as military high ground.”

That included talk of having nuclear launch sites on the moon, he said. The thinking, according to Reiffel, was that if the Soviets hit the United States with nuclear weapons first and wiped out the U.S. ability to strike back, the U.S. could launch warheads from the moon.

“These are horrendous concepts,” Reiffel said, “and they are hopefully going to remain in the realm of science fiction for the rest of eternity.”

The basic plan, Reiffel explained, was for an intercontinental ballistic missile to be launched from an undisclosed location, travel some 240,000 miles to the moon, and detonate on impact. Various news reports since 1958 have said project leaders considered using an atom bomb the same size as “Little Boy,” the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, near the end of World War II.

Reiffel, who was cited for that information in those reports, now says he wasn’t in on those discussions.

Contrary to some reports, Reiffel told CNN, the device would not have “blown up” the moon. “Absolutely not. It would have been microscopic, so to speak. It would have been, I think, essentially invisible from the Earth, even with a good telescope.”

Reiffel had some brilliant minds on his team. One of them was an up-and-coming graduate student named Carl Sagan. Sagan went on to become one of the world’s most renowned astronomers, creating the book and popular TV series “Cosmos.”

But after working on the moon program, Reiffel said, Sagan violated security when he mentioned the still-classified project on a job application. “He did formally break the classification status of the project”, Reiffel said of Sagan, who subsequently died in 1996.

Wisconsin is on pace to set a record for state exports this year, with businesses exporting $17.4 billion worth of products through three quarters, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. said Wednesday.

Wisconsin exported 6.4 percent more in the first three quarters of 2012 than in 2011, beating the 5 percent growth rate for the United States during the same time period.

“If exports continue to grow at this pace in the final quarter of the year, they would total $23.5 billion and break last year’s record of $22 billion,” said Lora Klenke, WEDC vice president of international development. “The value of Wisconsin’s exports through the first three quarters of 2012 is greater than what was exported in all of 2009.”

Industrial machinery exports, accounting for 32 percent of total Wisconsin exports, increased 11 percent through the third quarter versus the same period last year. WEDC attributed the increase to higher exports for parts for earth-moving and mining equipment, transmission and gear parts, and self-propelled earth-moving equipment.

Vehicle exports were up 20 percent through nine months, driven by exports of fire-fighting vehicles, mobile drilling derricks and tractors and parts and accessories for tractors.

Agricultural product exports were up 4 percent to $2.2 billion. Wisconsin ranks 12th in the nation for the value of agricultural exports, up from 17th during the same period in 2011.

Disgraced former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds said he will ask voters to focus on his congressional experience rather than his state and federal criminal record as he announced his bid today for the seat held by Jesse Jackson Jr., who has resigned.

At a downtown hotel news conference, Reynolds acknowledged having made “mistakes” in the past. For his campaign, he will try to assume the mantle of an incumbent while also seeking redemption from voters. Red and white campaign signs urged voters to “re-elect” Reynolds “so he can finish the work” while another stark red sign with white letters said simply: “Redemption.”

Reynolds held the 2nd Congressional District seat from 1993 until October 1995, when a Cook County jury convicted him of several sex-related charges, including having sex with an underage volunteer campaign worker. While serving time in state prison, Reynolds also was convicted on federal financial and campaign fraud charges. President Bill Clinton commuted Reynolds’ sentence to time served in 2001.

MENASHA - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee will become the first school in the UW System to offer a so-called flexible degree, in which students will be able to earn college credit for knowledge already gained through work or life experience.

[...]

Originally unveiled in June, the program will allow UW System students to earn credits towards a degree for already things they may already know. Reilly says the option is to primarily serve adults who have some college credit or expertise that need to earn a college degree for professional purposes or their own personal interest.

System officials say it’s an important moment in the history of the system and education as a whole.

“This is the 21st century face of the Wisconsin idea,” said Reilly.

Students can take assessments, showing proficiencies in of areas of study that may have been learned elsewhere, like in the military. Competencies in those areas of study, which are designed by UW faculty and industry experts, are then built towards completing specific courses in a degree. Course work can be done online and at a student’s own pace.

“I tried emailing my mom to see if it was a good idea,” Wiseltier told TODAY.com. “But instead of hitting the ‘forward’ button, I replied to everyone.” “Everyone” included the 39,979 students on NYU’s “src-contacts” mailing list, NYU Local’s Kelly Weill specifies.

“[D]o you want me to do this?” Wiseltier had written in the email to his mom, before walking away from his computer. “I was completely unaware of it [going to the entire mailing list] until my roommate asked me why I sent him an email.”

Upon learning of the mistake, Wiseltier quickly sent another message. “SORRY!!!!!!! Gmail switched my reply to reply all!” he wrote.

But the Pandora’s box was already opened. Students suddenly realized that they, too, could spam the whole school by simply hitting “reply all.” “We had been given a great and terrible power,” wrote Weill. “For a moment we contemplated responsibility, then gleefully tossed it aside in favor of posting pictures of cats.”

Companies are using debt to fund payouts for different reasons. “I think what you’re seeing is there’s largely a mismatch with significant cash balances that are overseas. Companies won’t repatriate that money given the tax implications. While there is cash there it’s not really useable for a dividend or share repurchase,” he said.

At the same time, credit quality is peaking, says Levington. “What I mean is you’re going to see companies use leverage in 2013, whether it’s in the form of cash to fund dividends, or more likely for acquisitions and share repurchases. That will be a trend that you’ll see throughout the year,” he said.

It’s often called one of the leading impediments for Wisconsin’s manufacturing-heavy economy: the inability to find qualified or willing job candidates for production jobs even at a time of high unemployment.

And after a decade of ceaseless industry complaints, white papers and debate, the state Department of Workforce Development on Tuesday promised to have its own answer to the problem up and running by the first quarter of 2014, at least in some rudimentary form.

The agency wants to start an online database with analytic software that will attempt to match the skills of those collecting unemployment insurance with job openings. The idea is to collect so much information on job seekers and job opportunities that the system eventually will include a predictive algorithm that will help technical schools and universities figure out what skills are expected to be in demand in a dynamic economy in time to educate a generation of workers.

The matchmaking system ideally will communicate directly with job applicants using smartphone apps, “because that’s what young people are familiar with,” said Jonathan Barry, deputy secretary of the state workforce agency.