A good survey at The Economist on the coming tsunami on unskilled labor, for which no government is prepared. They’re right that the most important thing is to reform K through post-grad education, root and branch, but there are a lot of entrenched interests that will continue to fight that.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
Ariane
Looks like they’re in big trouble. It was a business model set up to compete with the Space Shuttle, not a truly reusable vehicle with modern technology. They may continue to get some business for Ariane 5 for political reasons, but I’d say their only chance is back to the drawing board with Ariane 6.
Synthetic Tracheas
The good news just keeps coming, even if not as fast as we’d like.
Unless this sort of thing gets killed off by ObamaCare.
Making Things On The Internet
This is pretty hilarious.
[Update a few minutes later]
Yeah, I should have put up a “slightly NSFW” warning on that.
How Smoggy Is Beijing?
So much so that they’re showing sunrises on outdoor big screens.
The Heinlein Award
Congratulations to Geoff Landis.
I don’t always agree with Geoff, but it’s great to see him getting recognition for all that he’s done over the years.
Remember Peak Oil?
Out: Peak Oil.
In: Peak oil demand.
And it’s good news for the airlines and travelers, and bad news for the aircraft manufacturers:
The losers in this scenario would be aircraft manufacturers, which have built up record backlogs on a cocktail of high fuel prices, low cost of capital, and new technology. Lower oil prices mean new aircraft models promising 15-20% fuel consumption reduction are not as attractive from a financial perspective. Coupled with the current trend of increasing cost of capital, this could mean a wave of cancellations of sexy new aircraft models. Or it could mean manufacturers need to revisit pricing assumptions. What is a fair price for a new widebody like the Boeing 777X, for example, in an $85/barrel world where its annual fuel cost falls by $3-4 million?
All is happening as I have foreseen.
3D Printing Advances
Printing aircraft structural parts.
A Private Railroad
…is born in Florida.
I think a high-speed rail between LA and Vegas could potentially make sense, if they tunnel through the mountains.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Here’s an older article about the project. The FEC line runs a couple miles blocks from the house we own in Boca Raton.
Aspiring To Be Elon
