Category Archives: Business

Bicyclists

How do we get them to obey traffic laws?

I almost hit a guy in my neighborhood this week driving Patricia to the bus stop. I was in a four-way stop intersection, about to pull out, when I catch him coming from the left out of the corner of my eye. He didn’t even slow down for the stop sign, let alone stop. It would have been Darwinian if I’d hit him, but I’d still feel terrible.

The Last Beetle

I disagree that the one that rolled off the line was the last one. I was a VW mechanic as my first job out of high school. As far as I’m concerned, VW hasn’t built a Beetle since 1978. If it doesn’t have a flat-four air-cooled engine with a number 3 cylinder that eats valves and rings due to having its airflow cut off by the oil cooler, it’s not a Beetle, regardless of a vague resemblance of body type.

Lunar Resources

Is there a conflict between science and sustainability?

Meanwhile, there is a symposium on space settlement in DC today. You can follow the livestream.

[Late-afternoon update]

I know this is what you’ve all been waiting for: The Slate article about this crap.

Though most of the symposium was actually useful and interesting, ignoring the nonsense about colonialism in North America.

Buzz Speaks Out

Yes, this would be a much better architecture, but unfortunately, while Buzz is probably the most famous moonwalker, he’s also not taken as seriously by many in the industry.

Two comments: I’ll have to ask Eric where he gets the $1.5B/flight number for SLS. And is he proposing to do this in the ISS orbit, or at a lower inclination?

[Update a while later]

Meanwhile, Bob Zimmerman reports that NASA is preparing us for another SLS delay.