Thoughts on the perversity of the incentives.
Category Archives: Business
Continuing Progress
History Taught Backwards
…and the educational crisis.
I think that our educational system lies at the heart of all of our other problems. We can’t expect to get good leadership when the people who vote for them are so ill informed.
On Starship Prices
The world has finally seen a launch system that can find out what the price-demand elasticity curve looks like. Elon wants to maximize flight rate and revenue, because he wants to drive costs down to make Mars more affordable.
Starship
[Afternoon update]
Starship has to work, or SpaceX is at risk of bankruptcy.
Bill Nelson 2.0
First he called cost-plus contracts a “plague” on the agency, and now he’s praising SpaceX (while pretending that he wasn’t one of the “poo pooers” himself, who told Lori to “get her boy Elon in line”). And I love this:
“When there was the beginning of the space cargo and crew [programs], the two serious bidders were SpaceX and Boeing, and everybody poo-pooed SpaceX and said, ‘Oh, Boeing is a legacy company,'” Nelson said. “Well, guess who is about to make its sixth flight after its first test flight with astronauts, and guess who’s still on the ground?”
That’s got to leave a mark.
The Rice Speech
Today is the sixtieth anniversary. I wrote this on the fortieth anniversary, and it holds up pretty well, I think. “Because it is hard” is a dumb reason to do something.
Blue Origin
Hearing that they had an in-flight abort on a research flight (no one on board). Capsule reportedly landed safely.
[Update a few minutes later]
[Update a few more minutes later]
Here is the story at SpaceExplored.
[Update a while later]
Bob Zimmerman has video.
[Update a few minutes later]
Here’s the story from Eric Berger.
[Afternoon update]
The Covid Fascists
Despite the Democrats’ desires, never forget them, or what they did, especially to the children.
Particularly, remember when you vote in a few weeks.
The Fall Of Los Angeles
A grim assessment. I was particularly amused by the LAT’s complaint that Caruso doesn’t have a “climate plan.” Because, you know, climate is at the tippy top of southern California’s problems.
We’re not in LA, but California itself is headed downhill as well.