All posts by Rand Simberg

Political Commentary

One Final Word

82 Comments

Well, that was certainly interesting, if not very enlightening or uplifting, when it comes to on-line discussion.

I see that some blogs are continuing to mischaracterize my post as saying that Buchenwald was “not as bad” as Auschwitz. First, I didn’t say that. My point was never about whether one camp was “better” or “worse” than another. They obviously were all horrific, in different ways, and there’s no sensible or universal way to make such an assessment. As some commenters have pointed out, it’s perhaps better to be gassed immediately than worked to death (on the other hand, in Buchenwald, you had a much better chance of survival).

My point was, and remains, despite all the idiotic straw men (like the above) and insults, that Auschwitz was more notorious, to the point that it almost came to be an icon of the Holocaust. While Buchenwald was certainly one of the more well-known camps, I’d be willing to bet that many more people know the word Auschwitz and what it represents than they do Buchenwald. And among those people is, apparently, Barack Obama. Auschwitz is like Holocaust 101, which it would appear to be as far as Senator Obama ever got in his education on the subject.

Space

Personal Space Travel In Europe

Unfortunately, the ISDC in Washington this week coincides with the space tourism conference in Arcachon, France, and space bloggers like Clark Lindsey and Jeff Foust (who both live in the DC area) can’t cover both. But Rob Coppinger has a lot of posts from Arcachon, with some interesting concepts from European aerospace companies (though it’s unclear what the funding prospects are for them). Just keep scrolling.

[Update an hour or so later]

Clark Lindsey has some of the permalinks.

Business, Space

Virgin Tales

8 Comments

Jeff Foust has some reporting on Will Whitehorn’s talk at ISDC yesterday. In this post, he notes that White Knight 2 will roll out on July 28th, presumably in Mojave, and discusses other potential applications than just a first stage for SpaceShipTwo, including a satellite launcher. The lack of comment other than “we’ve learned some lessons” on the SS2 propulsion is interesting to me. It sounds like they’re still not sure what they’re going to do, which continues to put SS2 schedule (whatever it is) in jeopardy. I suspect that Sir Richard’s hype remains ahead of the actual program.

In this post Whitehorn mildly disses the Lynx:

XCOR is a company I respect, but with respect to them, they’re not building a spaceship. They’re building basically a high-altitude MiG equivalent. They’re building something that you can strap in and go up to 37 miles. You won’t get your astronaut wings but you will see the curvature of the earth. That will be an exciting project, but the problem is that it’s not a space project, and I think it’s been a little bit wrong to call it that.

While technically that’s true, it is a project that can easily evolve into a “space project,” which is what the program intent is. I don’t see this as a problem. In fact, I see it as a solution, because Virgin may have bitten off more than it could chew with SS2. In hindsight (and foresight for some of us) it might have been useful to develop more operational experience with a lower-performance vehicle before moving to a bigger one.

Really, the only thing lacking from the XCOR product is a lack of astronaut wings–it will certainly be a space experience, and a more personal one with a better view, sitting in the left seat. I think that the market for it will be bigger than Whitehorn claims to think.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

What Doesn’t?

2 Comments

Apparently, the phrase “War on Terror” offends Muslims. Words fail.

Well, OK, not completely. Somehow, this reminds me of the (feigned?) outrage that the Democrats exhibited when President Bush talked about appeasers in his speech to the Knesset, but didn’t name names. You know what? If the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it. It doesn’t really serve your cause when, in response to criticism of someone unnamed, you jump up and shout, “Hey, he’s talkin’ ’bout me!”

Similarly, how can Muslims be offended by a “war on terror”? Do they think that terror and Islam are inevitably and appropriately identified with each other, and inseparable? Well, if so, stupidity like this just fuels that perception.

[Update in the evening]

Robert Spencer has further thoughts on fantasy-based policy making.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

What Doesn’t?

Apparently, the phrase “War on Terror” offends Muslims. Words fail.

Well, OK, not completely. Somehow, this reminds me of the (feigned?) outrage that the Democrats exhibited when President Bush talked about appeasers in his speech to the Knesset, but didn’t name names. You know what? If the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it. It doesn’t really serve your cause when, in response to criticism of someone unnamed, you jump up and shout, “Hey, he’s talkin’ ’bout me!”

Similarly, how can Muslims be offended by a “war on terror”? Do they think that terror and Islam are inevitably and appropriately identified with each other, and inseparable? Well, if so, stupidity like this just fuels that perception.

[Update in the evening]

Robert Spencer has further thoughts on fantasy-based policy making.

Space

More ISDC Blogging

2 Comments

Clark Lindsey blogs a panel on interactions between private space and the government, that sounds interesting. Unfortunately, because there are so many parallel tracks at an ISDC, it’s not possible for one person to cover everything, but he does his best with a report on the space-based solar power session and lunar regolith processing.

And Glenn Reynolds is there now, due to speak shortly, topic TBD. Wish I could have made it this year. I managed to have dinner and drinks with him last year in Dallas (first time I’d seen him in years).