For those who think that Intelligent Design is a “conservative” (as opposed to a religious) fetish, Anthony Dick has a review of what sounds like an interesting documentary, Flock Of Dodos, over at National Review. No new arguments in support of science, but he puts forth the old ones well.
All posts by Rand Simberg
What, Me Worry?
Well this certainly inspires confidence in the ability of the federal government to protect me:
How much do you think Osama bin Laden would pay to know exactly when and where the President was traveling, and who was with him? Turns out, he wouldn’t have had to pay a dime. All he had to do was go through the trash early Tuesday morning.
It appears to be a White House staff schedule for the President’s trip to Florida Tuesday. And a sanitation worker was alarmed to find in the trash long hours before Mr. Bush left for his trip.
Well, it seems to be at least as effective as TSA at the airports.
It’s The Women, Stupid
Bernard Lewis says that women hold the key to winning the war against the Islamofasciomisogynists.
It’s The Women, Stupid
Bernard Lewis says that women hold the key to winning the war against the Islamofasciomisogynists.
It’s The Women, Stupid
Bernard Lewis says that women hold the key to winning the war against the Islamofasciomisogynists.
The Age Of Emotion
Thomas Sowell asks if thinking has become obsolete.
I doubt if this is a new phenomenon. I suspect that it’s been a problem down the ages, as have many aspects of human nature.
[Update a couple minutes later]
More evidence for my proposition.
A Blooming Islamic Reformation?
Maybe. In Morocco:
More Hypersonic Hype
Via Clark Lindsey, here’s one of those periodic stories that someone is working on a Concorde successor. As usual, it makes little technical or economic sense (at least the story, if not the reality).
It is full of contradictory statements, to anyone who understands basic aeronautics. Example:
Japan is trying to leapfrog ahead in the aerospace field with a plan to build a next-generation airliner that can fly between Tokyo and Los Angeles in about three hours. But a string of glitches, including a nose cone problem during the latest test flight in March, has led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to look for an international partner.
Growth Industry
This is a good example of how it’s easier to make your investments grow with small companies than big ones (albeit riskier). Just a few days ago at the ISDC, Jeff Greason was saying that XCOR’s sales had increased dramatically, to about three million per year in the coming year. I noticed that Jeff disappeared for a day after that announcement on Thursday, arriving back at LAX late Friday night. I suspect that this may have been the subject of that excursion. They just doubled their sales for this year again:
XCOR Aerospace announced today that it had won a $3.3 million contract with ATK as part of ATK
Attack Of The Flying Robots
It’s actually a potentially serious problem:
The technology for remote-controlled light aircraft is now highly advanced, widely available — and, experts say, virtually unstoppable.
Models with a wingspan of five metres (16 feet), capable of carrying up to 50 kilograms (110 pounds), remain undetectable by radar.
And thanks to satellite positioning systems, they can now be programmed to hit targets some distance away with just a few metres (yards) short of pinpoint accuracy.
Security services the world over have been considering the problem for several years, but no one has yet come up with a solution.
Sounds like a job for the hive mind of the blogosphere.