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Category Archives: Political Commentary
We Are All Overconfident Idiots
Some useful thoughts on epistemology and psychology, in the context of climate science.
[Update a while later]
Related: Climate change in the land of Gruber/Obama, and Gaia as the opiate of the masses.
Scott Walker
I had a beer with Stephen Fleming a few months ago, and we were discussing potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates. We both agreed that the Wisconsin governor should be a leading contender. Rich Cromwell agrees:
Does Walker sizzle? Not exactly. Is he a particularly charismatic speaker? No, he isn’t. But does he sit upon a throne made of the skulls of his enemies? Yes, yes he does.
Heh.
Commercial Spaceflight’s Terrible Last Week Of October
My thoughts on what it all means, over at PJMedia, with some bonus @ISPCS coverage and history.
The RD-180 Replacement
Congress won’t like this. Insufficient opportunities for graft.
Note the implicit acknowledgement that they’re going to be using Falcons.
The Next Apology
In light of his previous speech, I expect that Obama will attempt to appease the comet for this morning’s attack on our European allies’ spacecraft.
Sat Fat Resistance Continues To Crumble
This is a pretty significant paper, considering the author.
Lest We Forget
Today’s Remembrance Day is particularly poignant, the first one on a century anniversary from the beginning of the war. And I think that no one who fought it is with us any longer. My paternal grandfather was a veteran. He had emigrated from Eastern Europe as a young man, and then returned to fight in France.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
The Asteroid Retrieval Mission
Lee Billings describes the ARM policy mess.
It’s a mission they came up with for an overpriced, non-existent and unnecessary rocket looking for a mission. And note this rationale:
She and other NASA officials note that the advanced propulsion required for ARM would be enabling technology for a broad range of future missions and that ARM would be a crucial test for many deep-space activities crucial for someday reaching Mars. And it would do all this while keeping astronauts sufficiently close to home so that if something goes wrong, they could attempt an emergency return to Earth.
Safety is the highest priority.
Valerie Jarrett
A link roundup.
But here’s what I find interesting. If you read through Scheiber’s piece, there’s a word that doesn’t appear in it: Iran. That is, her place of birth (she reportedly grew up speaking Persian as a child). Does no one really think this influence is one of the reasons he seems so eager to do business with the mullahs?