Category Archives: Business

Business, Media Criticism, Space, Technology and Society

Why SpaceX Will Be Flying Again Quickly

14 Comments

Some thoughts from Iain Thomson:

SpaceX doesn’t have those issues; it’s a single company that conceived, designed, built, and flies the Falcon rockets. Finding fault is going to be a lot easier under such circumstances because there’s a single data set and everyone knows everyone else.

The company is packed with highly motivated individuals and has a very flat management structure. Mistakes made are owned up to, and when the issue that caused the loss of the Falcon is identified, you can bet it will be dealt with quickly.

The current SpaceX resupply missions are on hold while this process is worked through. But you’re not going to see the kind of dithering that left the Space Shuttles grounded for 32 long months. If I were a betting man I’d guess the next Falcon will fly in 32 weeks, and maybe sooner.

Very likely sooner, I think. In fact, I think they’ll either figure it out quickly, or not at all. If they can’t figure it out at all, they have a huge dilemma, as I told Leonard David yesterday (he’s working on a piece with quotes from me and others).

[Update a while later]

Some thoughts (and links) from Bob Zimmerman on the media negativity about space.

Business, Education, Humor, Media Criticism, Political Commentary

Chelsea Clinton Too Expensive?

6 Comments

Hire Ashe Schow instead!

For those who like to get the most for their money, here’s an itemized menu of what you can get if you hire me instead:

• Bargain basement price of $200 per minute (limit of three-hour event)

• $10 per person for a handshake (light grip but not limp)

• $15 per person for a photo with me*

• $20 per person for a handshake and a photo

• $25 per person for a photo in which I appear enthusiastic

• $30 per person for a hug**

• $5 per person for a minute of light conversation

• $10 per person for a minute of light, enthusiastic conversation

• $15 and speaker will call your mom on your cell phone

• $25 per person for a lengthy, deep conversation with your mom in which I tell her we’re best friends***

Seems like a much better deal to me. I like the a la carte plan, particularly the hug.

But as Ed Driscoll notes, that doesn’t allow them to contribute to the Clintons’ personal slush fund.

Business, Law, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Social Commentary

Legal Polygamy

10 Comments

Not that I care that much, but it’s probably inevitable now. But as noted there, Richard Epstein makes a great point:

In particular, Kennedy never explains why his notions of dignity and autonomy do not require the Supreme Court to revisit its 1878 decision in Reynolds upholding criminal punishment for polygamy, which is still on the books. Nor does he ask whether the dignity of workers could, and should, be used as a reason to strike down the full range of labor regulations on both wages and hours that make it flatly illegal for two individuals to enter into a simple employment contract on mutually agreeable terms.

That would require them to rule consistently, rather than just making it up as they go along based on stuff they like.

Business, Health, Science And Society, Technology and Society

Telomere Extension

5 Comments

…turns back aging clock in cultured cells:

“This new approach paves the way toward preventing or treating diseases of aging,” said Blau. “There are also highly debilitating genetic diseases associated with telomere shortening that could benefit from such a potential treatment.”

Blau and her colleagues became interested in telomeres when previous work in her lab showed that the muscle stem cells of boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy had telomeres that were much shorter than those of boys without the disease. This finding not only has implications for understanding how the cells function — or don’t function — in making new muscle, but it also helps explain the limited ability to grow affected cells in the laboratory for study.

The researchers are now testing their new technique in other types of cells.

“This study is a first step toward the development of telomere extension to improve cell therapies and to possibly treat disorders of accelerated aging in humans,” said John Cooke, MD, PhD. Cooke, a co-author of the study, formerly was a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford. He is now chair of cardiovascular sciences at the Houston Methodist Research Institute.

“We’re working to understand more about the differences among cell types, and how we can overcome those differences to allow this approach to be more universally useful,” said Blau, who also is a member of the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine.

“One day it may be possible to target muscle stem cells in a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, for example, to extend their telomeres. There are also implications for treating conditions of aging, such as diabetes and heart disease. This has really opened the doors to consider all types of potential uses of this therapy.”

I wonder if there’s some political reason they won’t use the R word? Anyway, faster, please.