…and social engine. A (literally and figuratively) pretty cool story.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other
The Manhattan Project, ICBM development, Apollo, the Vision For Space Exploration.
Understanding which is the outlier, and why, provides insight into policy going forward.
Me, Neither
“Why I don’t want an iPad for Christmas.” I’m pretty sure my next phone will be a Droid, and if I get a tablet, it will be as well.
Abolish The FCC?
I agree that it has outlived its usefulness. But when was the last time we actually got rid of a government agency? The Interstate Commerce Commission, almost three decades ago?
107 Since Kitty Hawk
The Wrights first flew a controlled heavier-than-aircraft over a century ago, on this date in 1903. On the hundredth anniversary, I wrote three articles that are still worth reading if you haven’t, or rereading if you have. They contain a lot of lessons for spaceflight development.
[Update a couple minutes later]
I notice that the TCS Daily link from the old Instapundit post is busted. Here‘s another one.
Digital Archaelogy
I’ve got a bunch of five-and-a-quarter floppies from the eighties that I’ve been hanging on to. Even if I could muster up an old drive, with a mobo with an interface and a cable, what are the chances that they’re still readable? I hate to throw potential data (and personal history) away. I’d love to be able to hoover them up on a hard drive.
A CCW Joke
From an email list:
A guy cruises through a stop sign and gets pulled over by a local policeman.
He hands the cop his driver’s license, insurance verification, plus his concealed carry permit.
“Okay, Mr. Smith,” the cop says, “I see your CHL permit. Are you carrying today?”
“Yes, I am.”
“Well then, better tell me what you got.”
Smith says, “Well, I got a .357 revolver in my inside coat pocket. There’s a 9mm semi-auto in the glove box.
And, I’ve got a .22 magnum derringer in my right boot.
“Okay,” the cop says. “Anything else?”
“Yeah, back in the trunk, there’s an AR15 and a shotgun.
That’s about it.”
“Mr. Smith, are you on your way to or from a gun range…?”
“Nope.”
“Well then, what are you afraid of…?”
“Not a damn thing…”
The Weirdness Of The Human Mind
Often, when I mistype, unless I’m in a huge hurry and just sit on the backspace, I’ll be careful to not delete letters I’ve already typed, but move the cursor around them if they’ll be useful in the fix, because I don’t like to waste them.
Just so you know. I’m a child of parents who were children of the Depression. What can I say? I’m just frugal, if not always rational.
Not So Much
I’m surprised it’s that high, actually. It’s probably because I have a lot of friends, and I check several times a day. I almost never manually update my status, and the answers to most of the other questions were “no.”
By the way, vanilla friend requests from people I don’t know are generally ignored. If you want to be my Facebook friend, tell me who you are and why.
Surviving A Big Bang Event
All it takes is to be a Type VI civilization.