I’m a firm believe in the saying that when the government occasionally does the right thing, it’s almost always for the wrong reason.
Here’s an example. I’m not sorry to see it happen, on general principles, because I thought that what happened in Iran-Contra was mind-bogglingly stupid (though fortunately the Democrats were unable to make political hay out of it, because they were upset, and thought that the public would be upset, by the wrong thing–the funding of the Constras, rather than the dealings with Iran…), and I was underwhelmed by the Total Information Awareness deal. But I find it amusing that Poindexter has resigned over the event futures market proposal, which was arguably a good idea, and certainly not as bad as its idiot instant critics in the Congress made it out to be.
Jim Oberg points out an insidious effect of this–a dysfunctional culture at the agency. This is one of the many reasons that NASA’s manned spaceflight program needs a dramatic overhaul, assuming that it should even continue to exist in anything resembling its current form.
Some of the latest thinking about T. Rex was that it was a scavenger of carrion, rather than a predator.
“I believe it was a scavenger pure and simple because I can’t find any evidence to support the theory that it was a predator,” paleontologist Jack Horner said at the opening on Thursday of “T-Rex — the killer question.”
Horner, the inspiration for scientist Alan Grant — played by Sam Neill — in Steven Spielberg’s “Jurassic Park,” said the lumbering giant was too slow, its arms too small and its sight too poor to catch anything moving.
Another fact from childhood down the drain. Fantasia will never be the same.
[Update on Friday at 4 PM PDT]
Reader (and Transterrestrial site designer) Bill Simon points out this discussion on the subject raging in the comments section.
The Apollo XV lunar module landed on the Moon. This was the third to last manned lunar mission. I recall the mission because it was the one in which Dave Scott dropped a hammer and a feather to the surface, and they both hit at the same time.
We also thought of it as a Michigan flight, because Al Worden and Jim Irwin were both Ann Arbor grads. Worden was from Jackson.
I remember when I was in engineering school at Michigan that Worden came in and gave a talk to our systems design class. At the time, Apollo already seemed like ancient history, though his flight had only been seven years earlier.
Now it’s been almost a third of a century. How long until we do it again?
It’s a natural and evolutionarily inevitable phenomenon, that appear in a wide range of cirumstances. We are in a small-scale arms race in Iraq.
It will only end when we cut off the resources to those engaged with us, with the help of the Iraqi people. At some point, it will have simmered down to mere background crime. I suspect that, despite the fervent wishes of the Democrats, that day isn’t far off.
Dan Weintraub has the latest twist in the recall saga. The words “if appropriate” are rearing their ugly head again. The author of the 1974 amendment that added them (presumably a Democrat, though Weintraub doesn’t say), claims that he added them for the purpose of ensuring succession of the Lt. Governor in the event of a recall, rather than allowing an election. He’s going to court, and if he wins, it will be a choice between Grayout and Bustemante, with the second half of the ballot nonexistent.
Go sign this petition to get Daniel Pipes on the board of the United States Institute of Peace. Let’s get some balance on it, despite the terrorist apologists at CAIR and in the Senate.
Go sign this petition to get Daniel Pipes on the board of the United States Institute of Peace. Let’s get some balance on it, despite the terrorist apologists at CAIR and in the Senate.
Go sign this petition to get Daniel Pipes on the board of the United States Institute of Peace. Let’s get some balance on it, despite the terrorist apologists at CAIR and in the Senate.
Although the various test audiences differed on the preferred methods of death, they seemed unanimous on one point.
“We were very surprised at how many viewers thought that, no matter what, Affleck and Lopez should not be entwined in a romantic embrace at the time of their deaths,” Zitterman said. “Everyone was perfectly clear on that.”