EclectEcon has gathered all of the blasphemy together in one place. Peace Be Unto Him.
Can You Imagine The Howls From The Left
…if the judge grants Scooter Libby’s request for dismissal? The Merry Fitzmas would be officially over.
Filing such things is pro forma, of course, and I’ll be surprised if it’s granted, but Fitzgerald’s stonewalling on the evidence doesn’t make his case look very good. It also seems to be on novel grounds.
Do You Defile Books?
This post (related to e-books) brought up an interesting subject in comments. There are people who think nothing (and in fact find it necessary) to highlight or make margin notes in books, and there are others (like me) who consider this sacrilege, and would never consider doing such a thing. I remember being in awe of books as a child, and even though they’re now mass produced, and it’s not a rational thing, I still can’t bring myself to write in one (except perhaps to sign it, if I were to write one myself). And frankly, I never found it useful as a study aid, so there was never much pressure for me to do it.
It’s not something that anyone ever taught me, or lectured me about, it’s just a visceral repugnance at the thought. How weird am I (always a dangerous question with this crowd, I know…)?
The comments section is open.
[Update in the early evening]
Look, just to clarify here, I’m not saying that my position is rational, or anything. I’m just curious to see how many share it. It’s really psychology research. I guess I’m wondering if it’s some kind of intrinsic personality trait (like being interested in space) that’s not (obviously) explainable either by upbringing or genetics.
How To Get Back To The Moon, Continued
I’m too busy to blog much, but the Chairforce Engineer has a follow-up to the previous discussion (see here, too) on lunar transportation architectures and L1.
Shoot For The Stars
Jon Goff has some useful thoughts on space system design goals, and some advice for Elon Musk:
Take a look at the EELV program, and even SpaceX. EELV’s goal was to reduce the cost of launching satellites for the military from absolutely obscene to merely ridiculous (ie a 50% drop in price IIRC). So, they tried to make some incremental changes to how they build and operate their vehicles. In some areas they’ve gotten a lot better, but the reality is that they didn’t even acheive the modest goals they set out for themselves. It isn’t that they’re dumb, or malicious, or incompetent. It’s just that they set themselves too easy of a goal, so they didn’t actually have to think outside the same high-cost artillery box that they’ve put themselves in over the years.
It should be pointed out that one of the reason that they haven’t achieved the cost reduction goal is the collapse of flight rate. As I pointed out in my New Atlantis piece, flight rate, even for expendables, is a much higher contributor to launch cost than design is.
He also writes something that a younger Jon Goff would have found heresy:
…if they go for the BFR instead of trying to radically change the Earth-to-Orbit transportation market by going fully reusable…They’re probably going to get their lunch eaten. I mean, they could possibly acquire one of the companies that actually develops a fully reusable, high-flight-rate orbital space transport. But the reality is going to be that if they don’t keep pushing more and more reusability into their Falcon line, it’s going to go obsolete.
That’s sort of an inside joke to long-time readers of sci.space.*, but once upon a time, Jon was a, hmmmm…shall we say, vociferous proponent of expendable launchers. It would be interesting (and possibly educational to others) sometime to hear a description of how his thinking has evolved.
Now, we just have to work on his politics…
Why Mommy Is An Idiot
Nick Gillespie and Gerard Venderleun on the Democrats’ latest PR folly.
Amazing.
The End Of Books?
It may be in sight.
Child Abuse
And now for something completely different–a family that names their kids after presidents.
A Whole New Meaning To “Air Guitar”
I think we have a finalist for the Darwin Awards, here:
The 16-year-old business student, from China, was “hyped up with exhilaration” when he rebounded off the bed and out of the window, coroner Tan Boon Heng told the Straits Times newspaper.
A Whole New Meaning To “Air Guitar”
I think we have a finalist for the Darwin Awards, here:
The 16-year-old business student, from China, was “hyped up with exhilaration” when he rebounded off the bed and out of the window, coroner Tan Boon Heng told the Straits Times newspaper.