This is refreshing. A scientist who thinks it may be there now, and has no problems with terraforming. Usually such people are concerned about the ethics.
All posts by Rand Simberg
Yes, You Really Can Say That
My lawyers, on the limits of the First Amendment as applied to libel and slander.
Jewish Conservatism
Some thoughts from David Goldman.
[Saturday-afternoon update]
American Jewry’s moment of decision:
During the next two months, Obama will be focused on closing his deal with Iran, and Clinton will be avidly seeking to lock up the Democratic nomination for president by building an impregnable fortress of campaign funds. If the American Jewish community uses this critical period to leverage Clinton’s financial requirements to convince her to oppose Obama’s deal that paves the way for a nuclear armed Iran, then they will reassert their relevance in American politics and they will restore support for Israel to its pre-Obama position as a bipartisan position.
If they fail to do so, then Obama’s bid to transform Israel into a partisan issue will succeed. If a Republican wins the White House in 2016, he will face an anti-Israel Democratic opposition. And if Clinton wins the White House, she will have no reason to support Israel.
I’d still like to see the video of the Khalidi birthday party.
[Bumped]
[Sunday-morning update]
In Syria there are real massacres of Palestinians. But where are the Muslim mobs and their European useful idiots? Where are the drones chanting in the streets of Paris? Where are the thousands of tweets we saw in 2014? They don’t exist because Israel was not involved, which reveals the utter hypocrisy and malevolence behind the execrable anti-Jewish and anti-Israel campaign.
Shelley Neese, who is Vice President of a Christian Zionist website called “The Jerusalem Connection”, has produced a remarkable music video “There is a Storm Coming”,about the rise of anti-Jewish prejudice and bigotry.
She compares it to the horrors of seventy years ago. She also warns the French Jewish community that time is short and their future lies in the ancestral and biblical Jewish homeland: Israel.
She was assisted by Andrew McKain, a talented musician and rapper whose hard-hitting lyrics should particularly appeal to young people who so desperately need to learn the past and what the present may foretell.
They should know how the totalitarian movements defeated in the 20th century have mutated and how the Islamo-Nazis and today’s far left are making common cause to the same end as their predecessors — the destruction of the Jews and of freedom worldwide.
When they said “Never again,” they had their fingers crossed behind their backs.
Social Justice Warriors
They’re appropriately named, “angry, vicious people who want to eliminate disagreement.”
Ultimately, they want to eliminate more than just that.
Inspirational messages for "straight white men" from the Assn of Writers & Writing Programs https://t.co/HulpMI8OOb pic.twitter.com/uoZxLVaPAj
— Andrea Castillo (@anjiecast) April 18, 2015
[Afternoon update]
Here’s an example: Hey, remember that First Amendment?
I touch on these other assaults on free speech to provide a context for Hillary Clinton’s foray into the battle to shut people up (a procedure, it is worth noting, that is often a harbinger of a battle to lock people up). The constitutional amendment that Hillary Clinton told the world she would consider would be directed against the Supreme Court decision in the case of Citizens United. “We need to fix our dysfunctional political system,” quoth Hillary, “and get unaccountable money out of it once and for all, even if that takes a constitutional amendment.”
Free speech for me, not for thee.
[Update a few minutes later]
Women ejected from a conference to protect (beta, or perhaps even omega) men. This whole notion of “safe spaces” is culturally insane. What happens to these delicate flowers when they have to go out in the real world? But these people have to politicize every freaking thing. They are totalitarians.
Ubuntu
Partly out of interest, and partly because there don’t seem to be any yum packages for Kerbal, I decided to load it on a spare SSD (not using grub, I just go into the BIOS and decide which drive I want to boot). I set up an account. It didn’t ask me to create a password for root, just a personal account. I try to ‘su -i’ and it asks me for a password. I use the one I created for my personal account. Nope.
Way to go, guys.
The SpaceX Landing Attempt
Chris Bergin has a pretty detailed account. The focus still seems to be on a slow response in the throttle valve.
He seems to be ignoring Aaron Mehta’s interview with Gwynne last week, though, in which she said the next attempt would probably be on land.
Middle Age
I hope so. I certainly don’t feel old.
Linux Question
I just set up a new system on an SSD. Can I simply clone the old root LVM to it with DD (from a live USB, neither partition mounted)? If so, would I have to delete everything except /home first, or just overwrite?
The Real Problem With The Hugos
Chad Orzel says there’s just too much to read.
[Update a while later]
Sort of related: The culture war has gone nuclear. And yes, that young man was a waste of a good heart.