This article about a poll indicating that the vast majority of so-called historians have already judged the Bush presidency a failure doesn’t give one confidence in the profession of history instruction.
No, academia isn’t biased at all…
In Case You Were Wondering
My trip to Europe has been delayed, but I’ll still have to go sometime in the next few weeks.
Beats Me
John Podhoretz asks (iconoclastically, given the venue) what’s wrong with reproductive cloning? I don’t know, either.
More ISDC Reporting
From Clark Lindsey, with links to others’ reports:
I last attended a NSS conference in 1990 and much of that meeting dealt either with NASA or with theoretical proposals for grand futuristic projects of all sorts. This time most of the focus was on projects in the private sector that are actually doable. The discussions dealt extensively with real hardware that has flown, like the SS1, or is under development, like the SS2.
This time there were representatives from well financed companies with believable business plans such as those that are getting ready to offer spaceflight services to a space tourism market that looks increasingly viable and sizable. Companies like ZERO-G are offering spaceflight related services today and seemed to be doing it profitably.
NASA and its exploration initiative certainly had a place at the conference but I didn’t detect any great excitement with the agency’s long term plans. Skepticism towards NASA and its ability to carry out its plans has been well earned. Most activists have learned that nothing great is going to happen in space until the costs come down significantly. So there seemed to be much greater interest in the t/Space consortium and its plan for an Earth-to-LEO transport system with a price tag a factor of ten below the expected price.
Space activism has had many ups and downs over the past 30 years or so since the end of Apollo era. There will certainly be many more disappointments. However, there is a substance and vitality to what is happening now that I’ve never seen before. I think this conference definitely is an sign that things have changed fundamentally. The old “NASA is space, space is NASA” paradigm is fading fast and a new age of independent space pioneering is upon us.
Amen.
Star Wars Fantasies
As a demonstration that the web is a conversation rather than a lecture, Dwayne Day has inadvertently written a couple of interesting essays on military space in the comments section of this post.
Back To The Drawing Board
It looks like wormholes aren’t all they’re cracked up to be, when it comes to time travel. I’m kind of shocked. Does that mean they’re implying that Star Gate SG-1 and Deep Space Nine were fictional?
I guess that explains the low attendance by backward time travelers.
Joe Wilson Lied, Reason’s Credibility…
Well, didn’t die, but it’s tarnished a little, in my opinion. Whoever put together “Quick Hits” for Reason today isn’t very well informed on the Plame/Wilson leak case:
Has the Valerie Plame case morphed into a perjury or obstruction of justice case involving a high-ranking Bush administration official? The circumstances suggest it has.
It then cites this tendentious pile of myths by John Dean (gee, there’s someone with no axes to grind…), which breathlessly cites Wilson’s book about the evils of the Bush administration, and can’t wait for it to come out in paperback. Problem is, of course, that Wilson has been demonstrated to be a notable liar, on this and other subjects, and few people other than rabid anti-Bush partisans still seriously believe that this was an intentional outing of an agent, or “intimidation” by the Bush administration. I doubt if the judge in question believes it either.
Joe Wilson Lied, Reason’s Credibility…
Well, didn’t die, but it’s tarnished a little, in my opinion. Whoever put together “Quick Hits” for Reason today isn’t very well informed on the Plame/Wilson leak case:
Has the Valerie Plame case morphed into a perjury or obstruction of justice case involving a high-ranking Bush administration official? The circumstances suggest it has.
It then cites this tendentious pile of myths by John Dean (gee, there’s someone with no axes to grind…), which breathlessly cites Wilson’s book about the evils of the Bush administration, and can’t wait for it to come out in paperback. Problem is, of course, that Wilson has been demonstrated to be a notable liar, on this and other subjects, and few people other than rabid anti-Bush partisans still seriously believe that this was an intentional outing of an agent, or “intimidation” by the Bush administration. I doubt if the judge in question believes it either.
Joe Wilson Lied, Reason’s Credibility…
Well, didn’t die, but it’s tarnished a little, in my opinion. Whoever put together “Quick Hits” for Reason today isn’t very well informed on the Plame/Wilson leak case:
Has the Valerie Plame case morphed into a perjury or obstruction of justice case involving a high-ranking Bush administration official? The circumstances suggest it has.
It then cites this tendentious pile of myths by John Dean (gee, there’s someone with no axes to grind…), which breathlessly cites Wilson’s book about the evils of the Bush administration, and can’t wait for it to come out in paperback. Problem is, of course, that Wilson has been demonstrated to be a notable liar, on this and other subjects, and few people other than rabid anti-Bush partisans still seriously believe that this was an intentional outing of an agent, or “intimidation” by the Bush administration. I doubt if the judge in question believes it either.
“We Are The Payloads Of The Future”
I wholeheartedly agree with Peter Diamandis here:
Diamandis said that the wealth of individuals is rapidly increasing thanks to the evolving power of the Internet, and very shortly through breakthroughs in nanotechnology. Billionaires and multi-billionaires are making their own future happen, he said.