According to this story, the Chinese are going to launch a space station. They don’t have a date, though:
China will launch Shenzhou VII with three astronauts in September 2008, after the Beijing Olympic Games…
After the launch of Shenzhou VII, a space station with 20 tons will be built…
Why wait until after the Olympics? What does this have to do with anything? Unless, of course, the purpose of the program is primarily for national prestige, as opposed to actually accomplishing something that’s important.
And “after the launch of Shenzhou VII” could be anywhere from October, 2008 (unlikely) until…the end of time. But we’d better hurry–we’re in a race!
I’ve been running cables and speaker wire for the move of the television from the living room to the new family room created by opening up the kitchen walls. And packing. I’m back to CA in the morning, for the week. Wall patching will have to happen next weekend.
…are being cruelly mocked. By the cruelest mocker of all, Mark Steyn.
…other celebrities rushed to show their support for the anti-war movement: ”I’ll not have what she’s not having.” Winona Ryder is telling waiters, ”Hold the haunch of venison.” Keira Knightley is saying, ”Hey, I’ll just go with the short stack this morning. And the low-fat simulated-maple syrup substitute.” Ice T has given up iced tea. Disgusted by the callousness of the Bush war machine, William Powell and Myrna Loy have decided to go without the olive in their fourth martini. Willie Nelson is said to be gaunt and sounding croaky. Michael Moore, hovering dangerously at 300 pounds, has told friends, ”You can never be too rich but you can be too thin.”
[Update in the afternoon]
People magazine, of course, reports this as though it were a real hunger strike. Would it hurt them to point out that no one, in fact, is going to be truly hungry, at any point of this laugh fest?
Mohammad El-Baradei’s capitulation to Iran has made huge waves at the IAEA in Vienna. The other inspectors are up in arms. “This totally bankrupts our work” says a Viennese inspector. “Mohammad El-Baradei folds vis-a-vis the Mullahs and leaves us standing in the rain. Why don’t we just let Iran be in charge of inspecting their own nuclear program?”
It will be interesting to see what kind of logical pretzels they warp themselves into to explain why this is unfair, when unmarried heterosexual couples don’t get benefits. I also wonder what Andrew Sullivan thinks? Not enough to actually link to him, though.
Some amusing comments. I don’t mind clowns all that much, myself. But mimes–that’s a different story. I’m not a violent person, generally, but they make me want to take a bat to them.
Mojave seems to be recovering from the construction of the Highway 58 bypass:
In four years, Mojave Airport has gone from an under-utilized airport and civilian flight test facility to a spaceport with a worldwide reputation as a “Silicon Valley” for the emerging commercial space industry.
New companies are arriving and established tenants are seeing their contracts and payrolls grow.
Companies such as Scaled Composites – which won international acclaim for SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded, manned space program – and XCOR Aerospace are among the cutting-edge aerospace firms outgrowing their existing facilities as they add employees and projects.