Category Archives: Technology and Society
Delta IV
Is it near the end of the line for the rocket? Looks like SpaceX has killed it.
DMSP Explosion
Almost certainly died of old age, when its battery overheated. Makes one wonder how many others are at risk. Maybe worth deorbiting them before that can happen to more.
The New Space Development Alliance
Jeff Foust has the story from last week. As I noted at the time, I’m not sure that a prize is the best way to go. I’d rather see an airmail approach.
Billionaires In The Space Business
The list grows. This is the future of spaceflight and space development, not NASA.
A Mini-Fusion Reactor
This would be a huge game changer, for earth and space, if it can really be done.
Site Redesign
You probably noticed a new look here. I just did a WordPress upgrade, and switched to the new standard theme Twenty Fifteen. Not sure I’ll stick with it (for one thing, it’s not clear how to get the column structure I want) but I’ll play with it for a while.
[Update a while later]
Well, it looks like you can have as many columns as you like, as long as it’s not more than two. Only one sidebar. Not sure whether to stick with this.
[Update a few more minutes later]
OK, looks like the only way to get multiple sidebars is to create a child theme with them. Not sure how much time I want to invest in writing PHP.
[Update a few minutes later]
Last time I tried TwentyFourteen, it was kind of a disaster, but I just got the latest version, and am trying that now. I’ll have to tinker with it, but it at least gives me two customizable sidebars. Definitely have to resize sidebars, and play with style sheet. Feedback appreciated.
The Soon Et Al Paper
What is right, and wrong with it.
It’s always worth noting that the notion that CO2 is a greenhouse gas has never been in serious dispute, or even that the planet has been warming, in fits and starts, since the end of the LIA. The issue is feedbacks, and the limits of our ability to model them. We will probably get better at that in the future, but we currently suck at it, and it would be insane to base public policy on the models.
An Anti-Scientific Screed
…by a supposed climate “scientist.” Even ignoring the “denier” lunacy, this is wrong headed on multiple levels. No, science is not “an expert trust-based system.”
And then there’s this:
You cannot decide that you believe in penicillin or the principles of flight while at the same time disbelieve humans evolved from apes or that greenhouse gases can cause climate change.
I hope he understands climate better than he does evolution. I suspect he doesn’t.
Feynman wept.
Spock
How he became a sex symbol.