OK, here we go. I’ve launched my new Kickstarter. Spread the word.
Category Archives: Economics
Space Access Update
The latest version is out, describing the current hijinks in Congress:
Full-throttle political support for full-funding Commercial Crew at the requested $1.24 billion is a top (if not the top) political priority for this year. Down-selecting to one vendor to save money over the next two years would add multiple unacceptable program risks and lead to long-term monopoly pricing. Successful flight before the end of 2017 already apparently involves optimistic assumptions about not needing the full $300 million in NASA-required-extras contingency funding. NASA says that any shortfall from the $1.24 billion level this year risks further program delays, and our look at the numbers seems to bear that out.
Yes, as Bolden said a few weeks ago, they can’t accelerate it with more money, but they can delay with less, and they seem determined to do so.
[Early evening update]
OK, here‘s an even more recent update.
Space Blogging
I won’t bother to link to individual pieces, but Jon Goff seems to have been blogging up a storm over the past few days.
Kickstarter Video
Try, try again. I’ve punched up the audio in this version, though it still sounds like I’m in an empty lecture hall.
[Update a while later]
I think I’m ready to launch the project (and Kickstarter says I can do it at any time), but here’s the draft page, if anyone wants to provide feedback before I do so.
My New Kickstarter
I’m having trouble uploading the video to the Kickstarter page (they’re figuring out what the problem is, hopefully), but meanwhile, here’s a higher-quality version of it on Youtube. I’m not thrilled with audio quality (it sounds sort of like I’m in an echoey lecture hall), but I don’t have a sound studio, just a Sennheiser headset.
[Update a few minutes later]
Oops. Just noticed, it looks like I lost the end credits. Have to look into what happened there.
[Update a while later]
For some reason, I hadn’t included the final credits in the build. Here’s the new version.
[Update a while later]
Sorry transitions are so choppy. I’m sure it has something to do with Youtube’s post-processing.
[Monday-morning update]
@moneyman10k SLS won't achieve Spruce Goose status until it flies at least once. @rocketrepreneur
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) May 31, 2015
Medical Health Records
Let’s force doctors to spend a lot of money to become technology dependent and adopt electronic health records when the old way of doing things was working just fine. And hey–as a bonus, our health information is now more vulnerable to hacking and we can lose some privacy along the way! Electronic health records haven’t saved a single life or a single dollar, but they have created a lot of expense, confusion, and tremendous demoralization for our health care providers. It wasn’t broken, and it shouldn’t have been “fixed.” If the Republican Congress was smart, it would repeal this onerous, useless provision of Obamacare.
There are a lot of things the Republicans would do if they were smart. On the other hand, I can understand why they don’t want to repeal this abomination piece meal. They need to scrap the whole thing and start over, but it won’t happen until we get someone in the White House who actually understands markets and actually gives a damn about others.
The Rashomon Of Apollo And Shuttle
Stephen Smith has a lengthy review of John Logsdon’s latest book.
As he notes, the dual myths of Kennedy as space visionary and Nixon as space villain don’t stand up to any sort of realistic historical scrutiny. In fact, with Apollo, Kennedy set us up for decades of failure, in terms of making spaceflight economically realistic.
Global Cooling
A study predicts decades of it ahead.
Cold is much more deadly than heat, by an order of magnitude.
I have no more confidence in this prediction than I do of predictions for warming (and particularly predictions of catastrophic climate change). The lesson is a) the climate can always be counted on to change, b) we don’t really know what the future holds for climate, c) we need to be prepared for anything, which means maximizing economic growth and d) (related) we need to stop fantasizing that carbon dioxide is a magical climate-control knob.
An Immunotherapy Breakthrough
Via a new cell-squeezing device.
Faster, please.
Space Settlement
Rick Tumlinson says the concept is taking hold within the space community.
Meanwhile, the Center For American Progress is having a symposium on the past and future of human spaceflight. Interestingly, as Jeff Foust notes on Twitter, NASA isn’t involved. Interesting also that it’s sponsored by a lefty institution. I suspect that this topic may set off a civil war on that side of the spectrum.