Category Archives: Science And Society

Business, Economics, Health, Science And Society, Technology and Society

Anti-Aging Research

August 28, 2019 Rand Simberg 1 Comment

Breakthroughs will occur faster than you think.

I hope they occur faster than I hope, but at least I’m in good shape for my age.

Business, Economics, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

The NASA IG

August 28, 2019 Rand Simberg 3 Comments

…has told Congress to butt out.

It will be interesting to see how they respond. Culberson isn’t there any more. I’m not sure that Shelby will care, as long as the money continues to flow to Huntsville.

[Update early afternoon]

Here’s the story from Space News.

Culinary, Health, Media Criticism, Science And Society, Technology and Society

My Calcium Score

August 28, 2019 Rand Simberg 2 Comments

I had a scan done on Monday, and my score came out as a total of 17, most of it in my right coronary artery (my left was zero). This is in the bottom quartile, particularly for my age, but they still say I should get my cholesterol down to 200 (it’s currently about 240, with a good ratio and low tryglycerides, and has been for years) with medication, and cut out the saturated fat from my diet. What BS.

Business, Economics, Education, Mathematics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Social Commentary, Technology and Society

Climate Hysteria

August 27, 2019 Rand Simberg 2 Comments

How the media enables and feeds it.

Education, Mathematics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Technology and Society

The Hockey Stick

August 26, 2019 Rand Simberg 3 Comments

What does the lawsuit loss for Mann mean? Why indeed was he unwilling to respond to the discovery?

Business, Economics, Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Technology and Society

Lunar Prizes

August 23, 2019 Rand Simberg 1 Comment

Casey Dreier thinks they’re a bad idea.

My comments:

I agree with much of this, though I do think that Scott has always mischaracterized SLS as a useful national capability. My biggest problem with it is phrase "space exploration." It's pretty clear that getting back to the moon has never been a national priority, and isn't today.
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

Until we decide why we're going back to the moon, we can't come up with a sensible idea of how to do it. If we do a prize, it shouldn't be to just get back, but to set up a demonstrably economically sustainable infrastructure, not for "exploration," but for lunar development.
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

That is, the prize should be for (e.g.) maintaining a base at Shackleton of at least two dozen people for five years. That's the only way to avoid another flags and footprints event (and it's something that cannot be done with anything resembling NASA's current plans).
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

So let the Shelbys of the world continue to massively waste taxpayer money as the danegeld to allow us to offer a much smaller amount, risk free, to do something useful (since clearly getting back to the moon is not and has never been nationally critical).
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) August 23, 2019

[Late-morning update]

Bridenstine: NASA is considering all options, including prizes.