…and its enemies (to steal a phrase from Virginia Postrel). Why space settlement is important.
[Via Clark Lindsey and Trent Waddington, who made it]
Category Archives: Science And Society
Is Neil Stephenson…
…becoming too conventional? A review of his latest book.
[Update a couple minutes later]
A new book about the high frontier, and an accompanying 3-D space colony app.
[Update a few minutes later]
An interview with Stephenson about the book.
AtlasGate
How Many Continents Are There?
This is a lot like the Pluto brouhaha.
I Wonder If This Will Apply To Deep Space Missions?
Why the return trip seems shorter.
[Update a few minutes later]
Speaking of deep-space missions (not that it’s likely to ever fly any, or fly at all), Chris Bergin has a pretty extensive write-up on the Senate Launch System.
Kick The Wheat Habit
This looks like an interesting book
A Lack Of Transparency From The Administration
Why should science be different from any of the other things there’s a lack of transparency on? Just because he made campaign promises? Please.
[Update a few minutes later]
This seems related: some thoughts on the rule of law. It’s a shame that Ryan isn’t in the race.
The War Against Science
Here’s an example of it by the Left, or rather, the loss of one of its battles. Yes, women really are less predisposed to go into science. The Left opposes on principle the notion that many human traits are born, not made, because to admit that environment isn’t all is to concede defeat on their continual project to fight human nature. And it leads to absurdities like affirmative action demands that blacks, women, etc., must be represented in all endeavors in proportions equivalent to their proportions in the general population, and any deviation from this is prima facie evidence of racism and sexism. Larry Summers was famously bitten by this phenomenon a few years back.
Jenny McCarthyism
I agree with Adam Keiper and Yuval Levin that Michele Bachmann jumped the shark with her ignorant comments about Gardasil. I usually don’t care that much about Democrat whining about Republicans being “anti-science,” particularly when they are themselves, and in much more politically destructive ways, but she has to be held to account for this nonsense.
Plumbing Mystery
The bathtub has two separate valves for hot and cold water, not a mixer. When I turn on the hot water valve, the cold one starts leaking from the stem.
Any ideas how that works? It’s not really a problem, because it only leaks when the water is running, and it leaks into the tub. So it’s not worth fixing in and of itself. I just think it’s very strange.