Category Archives: Technology and Society

World’s Fairs

Reflections from Lileks.

We went to New York in 1965 and Montreal in 1967. I remember on the way back from the latter we had to pull over and duck in a ditch for a tornado between Port Huron and Flint. New York had some things that later went to Disneyland, including the wretched “It’s A Small World.

I also went to Vancouver in the 80s, but don’t recall the year. I was particularly amused by the Romanian Pavilion (this was before the fall of the communists) that claimed they’d invented the airplane in 1906.

From Cars To Star Wars

We’re not buying what they’re selling.

The average age of our two cars is seventeen years. I might buy something newer if my finances dramatically improved, but I’m also leery of all of the “features” in the newer cars. When I look at new car prices, I think about what I could do with the (2000) BMW if I put two or three thousand into it, especially given how new stick shifts are an endangered species.

I hope that SCOTUS will force a rollback of all the illegal mandates coming from Washington.

Virgin Galactic’s Future

The amount of money wasted on this flawed concept is tragic, when considering what better things could have been done with it to advance suborbital flight.

Are they still using hybrid propulsion? I haven’t seen much detail on what’s different about Delta, other than size.

If SpaceX is offering orbital rides for a few hundred thousand, I’m having trouble seeing how VG would compete with a suborbital system. They were way too late to market, and they’ve probably missed it. I would never have put a dime into this business, and I wouldn’t now.

Space History

Several firsts today. I think this is the first time we’ve seen an entry without a plasma blackout. It’s amazing that it managed to do a soft landing with all of that damage to the fin. I’ll be curious to know if all of the fins suffered like that, or just the one in the video, but it’s a testament to how robust the design is.

[Update a while later]

I suspect that this is going to upstage Starliner docking with ISS.

[Update a while later]

Commentary from David Strom.

[Friday-morning update]

Reflections from Glenn Reynolds.

Centuries from now, on other worlds, Joe Biden and Donald Trump will be minor footnotes in history, but everyone will know the name Elon Musk.

[Update a while later]

Ellie Sheriff interviews Elon: