Are we a step closer?
It would sure be nice to get away from hydrazine.
Category Archives: Business
ObamaCare
…is dead:
The fact is that Obamacare has fallen apart without Republicans’ dismantling it. Almost all of its basic promises have failed, it is an economic shambles, and it is a political mess: Unsurprisingly, people still don’t like it. Less than a third of Americans support the individual mandate, three-fourths oppose Obamacare’s tax on high-end health-care programs, and more voters oppose the law categorically than support it. A quarter of voters say the law has hurt them personally. The question isn’t why Republicans haven’t gotten around to repealing and replacing it — the answer to that question resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for a while, still — the question is when Democrats will get around to admitting that, purity of their hearts notwithstanding, they and they alone — not one Republican voted for Obamacare — have created a mess that has introduced nothing to American health care except chaos.
"Dead" is such a harsh word, @KevinNR. We prefer the phrase "metabolically challenged." https://t.co/UsB0Zmpvmd
— HealthCaliphate (@HealthDotGov) November 4, 2015
[Update a few minutes later]
Surprise! Rates going up three times as much as reported.
Tesla
Is it doomed?
Frankly, if so, I won’t shed a tear. I’ve never been a fan of companies that require government subsidies (as opposed to government contracts, as is the case with SpaceX) as critical to their business model. My only concern is any effect a Tesla bankruptcy would have on SpaceX, but there’s not reason in theory that it should, unless Elon has been continuing to fund it with his own money, which seems unlikely.
Reaction Engines Hype
The UK investment into Reaction Engines is drawing some hilarious stories. First, it should “keep Elon up at night“:
Skylon, thanks to BAE investment and backing, has the chance to become the first true space plane that can take off from an airport, fly into space, and then safely return to the atmosphere and land on the same tarmac where it took off. From there, the path to further space exploration can be achieved. For the time being, SpaceX has not yet been able to produce an effective disposable rocket.
This incident, together with the loss of the Progress rocket last April and Cygnus in 2014, are likely to cause some logistics problems for the ISS. Had SpaceX’s launch been successful, it would have marked a significant milestone for the future of space travel. However, this is not yet the case. Despite SpaceX’s reassurances, there is evidence the company may need to make significant changes or abandon ship.
And yet, interestingly, no such “evidence” is provided. #ProTip: A rocket that has successfully delivered payloads to orbit nineteen consecutive times, and which continues to sign up launch customers, is an “effective” rocket, disposable or otherwise.
This is what happens when airplane designers try to build a launch system (I saw this with North American people during the NASP program as well). They don’t understand how launch systems work, they don’t understand the source of the cost, and they think that the solution is to build an airplane, because everything look like a nail. No one actually familiar with the launch industry would write a silly article like this.
And then there’s this:
The 24-hour slog from Sydney to London might soon(ish) be a thing of the past, thanks to the UK government.
The Brits have just pumped £60 million (USD $92.40 million) into a next-generation engine that — its makers claim — will make low-cost space travel possible for commercial customers.
But you and I might not be stepping abroad this super-plane for a while yet. The new ‘Sabre’ engine — a hybrid rocket and jet propulsion system which theoretically allows travel anywhere on Earth in four hours or less — is still at least a decade away, the Independent reported.
And if and when it happens, tickets will be a million dollars each.
Obama’s Court Quagmire
His (unlawful, unconstitutional) environmental agenda is at risk.
Good.
Back In Missouri
We drove back to Columbia today from west of Ann Arbor, after visiting family and friends up there. Initially took back roads, not the freeway, as we were trying to catch the last of the fall colors. I took Route 12 from south of Manchester all the way to Coldwater, through the Irish Hills which, despite having been raised in southeast Michigan, I’d never done, so if I had a bucket list, I’d cross that one off. Lovely (but looking a little depressed in off-season), and Michigan International Speedway was impressive from a distance.
From there we headed south to Fort Wayne, went east on 24 across northern Indiana. The plan was to go to Peoria, then continue down to Hannibal, but we realized that we would run out of light (and butt stamina in the car) long before we ran out of road, so we bailed not long after getting into Illinois, and took 57 south to 72, then 55 south to 270, then 370, then 70 west to Columbia. Got in about 7:30. Always nicer to gain an hour from the time change than losing it (we got into Michigan about 10 PM when we drove up Friday).
Anyway, here until Friday when I fly to Seattle for a book signing at the Museum of Flight on Saturday. Hope locals can make it.
A Cancer-Killing Virus
The first one has been approved by the FDA. Expect more.
Faster please.
Antares
It’s been one year since the launch failure.
Three days later, SpaceShipTwo would be lost, killing its co-pilot. It was a rough week for commercial spaceflight.
That Venezuelan Airliner
Sounds like a maintenance problem to me. There’s no excuse for a fuel leak in an aircraft like that.
Fixing Broken Bread
An interesting article on going back to pre-industrial wheat.
It isn’t clear the degree to which grain is intrinsically bad for us, and to which it’s been made much worse by the current varieties and processing methods.
I found this an interesting statement: “The giant band of wheat that stripes the center of America is a byproduct of the industrial age.”
That could be said of many unhealthy things, including the public school system.