You say that even if global warming turns out to be no crisis (the World Meteorological Organization says global temperatures have not risen in a decade), even unnecessary measures taken to combat it will be beneficial because “then all we’ve done is give our kids a cleaner world.” But what of the trillions of dollars those measures will cost in direct expenditures and diminished economic growth–hence diminished medical research, cultural investment, etc.? Given that Earth is always warming or cooling, what is its proper temperature, and how do you know?
You propose a “cap and trade” system to limit the carbon dioxide that many companies can emit. Is not your idea an energy- rationing proposal akin to Bill Clinton’s BTU tax?
Boy, if I held the cartoon views of conservatives and libertarians held by some of the folks commenting at this post, I’d be unable to call myself a libertarian, and I would look with new eyes at my (apparently) evil conservative friends whose first thought in getting out of bed in the morning (if not upon awakening) is “how do I screw the poor today?”
Jeff Foust has a report on the propellant depot panel at Space Access a few weeks ago, in which he asks whether their time has almost come. I hope so, because they are critical infrastructure for opening up space, in a way that HLVs are not.
The last two Soyuz flights (or to be more precise, landings) are worrying NASA.
Via email from Jim Oberg, who notes a quote of his that the reporter didn’t use: “NASA would have a hard time developing any other human space transport system in the next 4-5 years as reliable as the soyuz. We now realize that the Soyuz backup systems were effective in insuring a reliable – if very rough – landing in these previous cases.”
I suspect that Alex, and perhaps Sir Richard, are now regretting their decision to not take advantage of the bird in the hand, holding out for the flock in the bush. They probably (in fact, almost certainly) didn’t anticipate the development problems they’d have with the propulsion system, though they were warned. I suspect that they (like Burt) drank too much of the hybrid koolaid, and were lulled into complacency by the success and (apparent, though this was an illusion) safety of the SpaceShipOne engine.
As for the comment that a passenger wouldn’t have paid the costs of the flights, I don’t buy it. They could have charged much more than a couple hundred thousand for the first several, perhaps even few dozen, flights. But we’ll never know.
Glenn Reynolds has a review of Ron Paul’s book. I haven’t read the book, but I agree with the points made in the review about Paul’s views, and the difference between Rothbardians and Heinleinians.
. I haven’t read the book, but I agree with the points made in the review about Paul’s views, and the difference between Rothbardians and Heinleinians.