It’s no surprise, but they finally admitted that they want the BE-4, because they don’t want to continue Atlas. But at least AJR got hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in cost-plus contracts to develop an engine that no one wants to buy.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Luxembourg
This looks like a potential interesting conference, but the “Agenda” gives one no idea about who will actually be on the program, or what they’d be talking about. You’d think they’d have some speakers confirmed two months before the event. Another issue is that the “Accommodations” section says to grab a room early, because there is a conflicting event and rooms may be in short supply. That may just be to get people to pay $500 a night for a conference that only costs $350.
Japan To The Moon
…privately. Yes, it’s ambitious, but I don’t think this is the problem:
The longer-term goals are laudable, but the company seems to seriously underestimate the difficulty of reaching lunar ice, harvesting it under extremely cold conditions, and producing propellant from ice. These are all significant engineering challenges in unprecedented conditions. Moreover, even under optimistic circumstances, NASA’s plans to return to the Moon wouldn’t put a handful of humans—let alone hundreds—on the lunar surface before the late 2020s, and China doesn’t intend for such landings until the early 2030s.
I don’t think that NASA’s or China’s plans are relevant to private lunar plans.
The Latest Russian Malware
…embeds itself in the BIOS. It seems to be a Windows issue, though, which is another reason I use Linux.
Local Crime
Still working on the house in Florida. Went to a sports bar to watch the KidsLions (damn you autocorrect) game last night. When I got back to the house, my Dell notebook was missing. But not obviously anything else. They left the SSD, fortunately, which had the OS and my data on it. I’m sure they were disappointed that a $200 notebook with a bad battery was the most expensive electronics in the house. This morning, I noticed that the kitchen window was wide open, which was how they got in.
[Afternoon update, from my new computer]
For those asking, yes, I called the Sheriff’s department (we’re in an unincorporated part of Palm Beach County). They sent out a deputy who took some fingerprints off the window sill.
I went out to Best Buy this afternoon, and found a duplicate of the stolen machine, open box, for $160. Plus, as a bonus, unlike the previous one, its battery charges. So it was a blessing in disguise. I had to go through the pain of setting up Windows on it, but once I finished that, I booted into Linux from a USB SSD, and all is back to normal, with the additional ability to unplug it without losing it,
Government Nutritional Advice
Maybe it should just stop giving it.
To paraphrase Inigo Montoya: It killed my father. It should prepare to die.
Hospital Food
There’s no doubt it could use a lot of improvement, but I think this is bogus:
Dr. Eisenberg says the jury is no longer out on the benefits of eating a more plant-based diet with less refined foods, sugar and red meat. A study published last year in JAMA estimated that nearly half of the deaths from heart disease, stroke and Type 2 diabetes are caused by poor diet.
They are, but there’s zero evidence that red meant causes any of them. Patricia had to spend a night in the hospital for a procedure a few weeks ago, and her breakfast was terrible, nutritionally.
[Update a few minutes later]
Related: Incorrect diagnoses kill 80,000 people per year.
The medical profession gets far too much respect.
Senescent Cells
The evidence continues to accumulate that clearing them is very beneficial to health.
Timekeeping
This is an interesting history, but it makes me wonder how Huygens knew how long a second was to adjust the pendulum length.
Gmail
I have an account, but I only use it as an emergency back up. This is why.