Sam Dinkin looks at the business case.
There’s not currently a ferry terminal in the South Bay, so they’d have to build one somewhere, maybe by the Marina or King Harbor to make it more convenient to LAX.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Block 5
Loren Grush on the significance of today’s launch.
At this point, SpaceX rules the world on expertise in developing and operating space transports. BFR is largely simply scaling up current systems. And rockets scale up quite nicely, within facilities limits.
[Update a few minutes later]
More from Doug Messier.
[Update a while later]
And more, from Chris Gebhart.
This will be an historic day if the flight is successful. Or even if it’s unsuccessful. Only way it won’t be historic is if they scrub.
[Update Friday morning]
OK, they scrubbed yesterday, and have another opportunity today. I haven’t heard yet if they found the problem, but here’s a transcript of a very interesting telecon with Elon yesterday.
[Bumped]
[Afternoon update]
I did a little tweetstorm.
Point many don't understand yet: SpaceX has shown not just the way to reusability, and low-cost launch, but low-cost DDT&E. It's revolutionary in the launcher business to be able to affordably do so many flight tests of a vehicle.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) May 11, 2018
As I note over there, in terms of opening space to humanity, historians will record that today was a more significant day than July 20th, and the most significant event in spaceflight since Sputnik and Gagarin. We’re finally making spaceflight routine and affordable to others than governments, over half a century after we first started.
[Monday-afternoon update]
More from Jeff Foust over at The Space Review today.
[Bumped]
Today’s X-Rated Links
A visit to a s3x-robot factory, and the furniture of Catherine the Great. Latter definitely NSFW.
Stick Shifts
What’s the best new car you can get with one?
I wish I had the budget for some of these. One of my favorite features is that they’re much less likely to be stolen, since so many people don’t know how to drive them these days.
Akins’ Laws Of Spacecraft Design
I’ve known Dave for decades, but this is the first time I’ve seen these.
I particularly like 39(s):
39. Any exploration program which “just happens” to include a new launch vehicle is, de facto, a launch vehicle program.
39. (alternate formulation) The three keys to keeping a new human space program affordable and on schedule:
1) No new launch vehicles.
2) No new launch vehicles.
3) Whatever you do, don’t develop any new launch vehicles.
Shame that NASA and Congress can’t learn this.
The Jaguar
…is made for the age of humans. A nice nature piece from Nadia Drake.
And though this is a leopard, not a jaguar, it’s interesting.
It's always seemed pretty clear to me that my cats knew what a mirror was, and didn't treat it like another cat. But maybe the leopard is figuring it out. https://t.co/8z4UnokOs6
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) May 10, 2018
America The Weird
Victor Davis Hanson on the appeal of the West:
America remains the exceptional Western nation, whose influence and stature transcend the size of its economy and population, and its vast land mass of rich natural resources. Its cocktail of property rights, unfettered oil and gas development, muscular national defense, gun rights, religiosity, free-market economics, limited government, philanthropy, and great private universities is, again, unlike anything in the West.
Likewise, its excesses that arise from the marriage of free-market affluence and constitutionally protected unfettered expression, in the eyes of the world, appear often as license and indulgence. Certainly, the First and Second Amendments, the National Football League, rap music, the U.S. Marine Corps, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, the Ivy League, or 24/7 cable news could not originate elsewhere.
The result is that America exists both as the world’s refuge and its beacon, the sole place where individuals can find a safe harbor. Only in America can the individual remain free and able to live his life under the assumption that the major decisions of his life are his own and not predicated on state approval. Only in the United States does the rags to riches story still exist, given that neither regulation, the deep state, nor an entrenched aristocracy can fully suppress entrepreneurs or aspiring capitalists.
A key goal of my Outer Space Treaty project is to extend this to the solar system. Speaking of which, Michael Listner has an analysis of the latest U.S. legislation along these lines.
Rejuvenation
This seems like a very promising approach. First dogs, then use the revenue to do clinical trials on humans. I’m holding up pretty well for my age, but I’d really like to set the clock back.
[Update a few minutes later, after reading]
I’d note that one of the “diseases of aging” listed is diabetes. I think it’s pretty clear at this point that this is mostly a problem of poor diet, based on decades of criminally terrible nutrition recommendations, and can largely be reversed by simply going keto. In fact, they’ve found that it can even be an effective treatment for Type 1 (and it was, prior to the development of insulin).
[Thursday-morning update]
New at Analog: Can we reverse aging?
[Via Gary Hudson]
[Bumped]
Blog Issue
Is anyone out there seeing the mobile site from their desktop?
[Update early evening]
Reading comments, this seems like a WordPress problem (or a problem with the mobile site add-on). Have no idea what I could do about it, except to disable it.
[Late-evening update]
OK, seems to be a problem that occurs “at random,” according to comments. I have not idea how to fix that…
[Thursday-morning update]
I just did a WordPress update a few days ago. It may be that I need to update some plug ins as well. I’ll give it a try sometime today.
Nitrogen
I’ve been wondering for years why states don’t do this for capital punishment. I can’t imagine a more cheap, pleasant, painless way to go.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Some of the objections are ridiculous. For instance, there would be no need to “clear the room” of nitrogen if you use a mask.