Here is a stupid piece on space.
I don’t even know where to begin.
Example: Try to logically parse this sentence:
"A NASA spokesperson confirmed to Salon that those contracts have a fixed maximum value, yet the companies get their payments when they achieve milestones."
What does "yet" mean in this context?
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) January 21, 2018
On the other hand, this is a good antidote to the idiocy.
I’m switching to Dogpile.
News you can use: You could get a UTI from it. I generally let mine cool down before opening, if I can, but I guess I’ll start wiping the seal as well.
I haven’t gotten around to reading it, but Bob Zimmerman has, and he’s not impressed.
Bill DeBlasio is suing oil companies for creating bad weather. Ross McKitrick points out what are no doubt only a few of the lies and BS in the filing.
I hope not. I don’t trust them, or Facebook (or Twitter, though I don’t really share that much personal stuff there). I wish there was a good non-Apple alternative to Android, but it’s one of the reasons that I minimize my mobile use.
[Update a few minutes later]
Google caters to furries, transgenderism, and a “yellow-scaled wingless dragonkin.” But no conservatives viewpoints allowed.
Just few in from San Jose. May go walk up the hill to see the Delta launch from Vandenberg in half an hour, but I suspect there’s too much moisture in the air. It was fogged in at the beach when we landed.
Light posting because I decided at the last minute to fly up to San Jose for the workshop at NASA Ames. Been listening to lunar stuff all day. Highlight: a talk by Jack Schmitt, the only geologist to walk on the moon, and the second to last to walk on it, a little over 45 years ago. And with the death of John Young a few days ago, only one of five remaining moon walkers. He’s looking pretty good at 82, and I think he stands a good chance of seeing the next person walk on the moon.
France and Germany are studying reusability in rockets. I found this amusing:
The idea for Callisto did come in part as a response to SpaceX, which has now landed 20 boosters and flown five customers on used rockets, but both Astorg and Dittus describe the project as very different.
“It’s not a copy of what SpaceX is doing,” Dittus said. “In some aspects we are also skeptical [about reusability as] the right path, but we will see what is best and then we can come up with ideas of how we proceed.”
Riiiiiiiight.
Meanwhile, Orbital ATK is taking USAF money to try to resurrect Liberty.
When all you have is a hammer…