Posting has been light, because I’ve been busy helping someone help Mike Griffin get us Back To The Moon, And Beyond, but I’ll be heading over to the hotel tonight to schmooze with early arrivals at the conference. There should be quite a few, since the festivities start at 9 AM tomorrow.
The Cultural Wars In Europe
Here’s a long, but vital essay by George Weigel:
Earlier this year, five days short of the second anniversary of the Madrid bombings, the Zapatero government, which had already legalized marriage between and adoption by same-sex partners and sought to restrict religious education in Spanish schools, announced that the words
European Carbon Market Crisis
The carbon emission offset market in Europe is in crisis because of an unexpected 50% price drop in the last couple of weeks. True to Europe, the traders are demanding government intervention to prop up the price(!) of carbon offsets. While it is true that the governments can afford to buy more, why would they want to? The high price of hydrocarbons will curb carbon emissions.
Assuming that the coal/methane/nuclear balance continues to move toward nuclear for electricity, high gasoline prices mean less carbon. So either we will run out of oil or we will have high CO2, not both.
End Of A Financial-Reporting Era
This is really a shame, because in the context of modern lifestyles and medicine, he wasn’t that old. I was a devoted Wall Street Week fan for decades.
Despite his loss of the ultimate battle, I’ll always remember him as the eternal optimist, an attitude well justified by events.
What’s The Big Deal?
Christopher Hitchens takes Professor Cole to school on what Persian words mean:
In some ways, the continuing row over his call for the complete destruction of Israel must baffle Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I have to say, that this is a brilliant opening line of the article. Hitchens has a way of finding the key truth that eludes most of us, but once stated, is stupefyingly obvious.
What’s The Big Deal?
Christopher Hitchens takes Professor Cole to school on what Persian words mean:
In some ways, the continuing row over his call for the complete destruction of Israel must baffle Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I have to say, that this is a brilliant opening line of the article. Hitchens has a way of finding the key truth that eludes most of us, but once stated, is stupefyingly obvious.
What’s The Big Deal?
Christopher Hitchens takes Professor Cole to school on what Persian words mean:
In some ways, the continuing row over his call for the complete destruction of Israel must baffle Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
I have to say, that this is a brilliant opening line of the article. Hitchens has a way of finding the key truth that eludes most of us, but once stated, is stupefyingly obvious.
I Never Fail To Be Amazed
Well, OK, not never, but I’m often amazed at which posts resonate with the readership, and which don’t. Why was getting rid of the penny such a hot item, in terms of comments, when other posts that day, of serious, war-related nature went uncommented? I expect this when I get an Instalanche or something, but as far as I know, no one has even linked to it.
Is this a hidden issue in the elections this year? All politicians in tight races, take note–down with Lincoln!
Oh, and yes, for those interested, I’m now safely in California, but remain busy. Keep those cards and letters pouring in!
Major Progress
I built the partial wall for the bar today (sans drywall), and we got the new appliances in place, though the plumbing will have to wait for the sink to be installed, which in turn has to await installation of the counterstop, which will be a luxurious pattern of granite that we haven’t selected yet, so no cold water or ice from the new fridge. It’s definitely starting to look like a new kitchen, though, and we have cooking functionality back and a fridge, though dishwashing remains problematic, and will continue in that mode until I get back from CA in two weeks.
It occurs to me that you know that you’re in the middle of a major remodel when, in addition to keeping a grocery list, you keep a continuous Home Depot list. In building the new wall and attaching studs to each other, I discovered a miraculous thing–screws that the heads won’t strip out of under the tender ministrations of an 18-volt drill. The down side is that they eat phillips bits for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Still, its easier to change a bit, and they’re cheap these days, than to try to remove a half-driven screw with a hole where the cross used to be…
Anyway, I’m packing now, flying out to LA in the morning, and I’ll be at the International Space Development Conference on Thursday and Friday, at least part of both days. Hope to see many of you there.
Get Rid Of It
According to this, pennies are now worth less than their cost of manufacture. My rule for getting rid of a coin is the point at which you can no longer purchase anything with a single one of it. In fact, at this point, with multi-hundred-thousand-dollar houses, and new cars costing over twenty thousand dollars, is there even anything that you can buy with a nickel any more?
Time to can the coin, and come up with some other way to honor Mr. Lincoln.