He was one of the greats of early blogging, and a brilliant man in many fields. I have to confess that I feel partially responsible (though I’m sure I was far from alone) in chasing him away from blogging with an ill-thought email. I think I later apologized, but if I didn’t, Steven, if you can read this, please accept my deepest apologies.
[Tuesday-morning update]
More thoughts from Jim Geraghty.
Take a break from this absurd depressing election with a tour of a 35,000-year old French cave. Check out the slide show.
He had an AMA yesterday. I’d be more interested in this, if I gave a rat’s patoot about Mars.
I found this bit more interesting:
Musk was asked about the reusability of the Falcon 9 rockets currently flying. He stated “I think the F9 boosters could be used almost indefinitely, so long as there is scheduled maintenance and careful inspections.” He emphasized that the current Falcon 9 rockets in production would be retired soon and that their next version would be designed for easy reuse. The new Falcon 9, which he calls “Falcon 9 Block 5” – the fifth and final version in the Falcon series, is scheduled to have its first flight in six to eight months.
I assume the cores for the heavy will be of similar design. I wonder how often “careful inspections” need to occur? Every flight?
Speaking of space in The New Atlantis, thoughts from Bob Zubrin about Elon’s plans.
…and other joint cartilage, from noses.
Faster please. Though I do have to say it sort of reminds me of the end of Sleeper.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has seen the impact site. Burn was ten times too short, fell from 2-4 kilometers, almost-full tanks probably exploded on “landing.”
But they think it was a software error, which is good news.
My longish print essay at The New Atlantis is now on line.
Someone is learning how to take it down.
Ironic, considering that the original purpose of Arpanet was to prevent exactly this sort of thing. https://t.co/mYDqxbWGaA
— Apostle To Morons (@Rand_Simberg) October 21, 2016
[Update a few minutes later]
Oh, goody, a vulnerability in the Linux kernel that’s been there for nine years.
The roof blows off it:
There’s no way to tell what people think. It’s impossible for most Americans to form a judgment with which they feel comfortable, because they do not have sources of information they can trust. Fox News is in a civil war between the pro- and anti-Trump Republicans. The other networks are with Hillary. The major media outlets have lost credibility. Only 32% of Americans said they had “a great deal” or “a fair amount” of confidence in the news media in a September Gallup Poll survey. That’s the lowest level in history, and should be no surprise: the major media has to spin a new cover-up every couple of days, before it is finished putting the previous set of lies to bed.
That’s why Americans don’t simply watch the nightly news and go to bed. They read the rumors on the Internet and circulate them to their friends. They create networks of people they trust in the hope of obtaining an accurate account of what is happening around them.
That’s why I’m still calling this election for Donald J. Trump. The polls are meaningless. Perceptions are morphing as rapidly as the new-model Terminator in the molten steel vat at the end of the movie. The election will be won and lost a dozen times between now and Election Day. And when Americans finally go into the voting booth, they will not be able to think of a any reasons to vote for Hillary Clinton–only reasons to vote against Donald Trump. There are far more compelling reasons to vote against Clinton. And that’s how the election will go.
I hope this is true, but I’m skeptical.
The orbiter is in orbit around Mars, but things aren’t looking good for the lander. Loss of signal a few hundred meters above the surface.
Space is hard. Mars is harder.
— SafeNotAnOption (@SafeNotAnOption) October 19, 2016
[Thursday-morning update]
Bob Zimmerman: Did Opportunity see Schiapperalli?