Ummmmmm…no. Just no.
Though they might be useful in space.
Fort Hood Was Islamist Terror
…not “workplace violence.”
I signed the petition.
One Cheer For Mike Bloomberg
Senator Leahy says that he actually hurt the gun-control cause. So, sometimes bad intentions can have good results.
Baghdad Bob At The White House
What in the hell does “the core of Al Qaeda” even mean?
It’s a de facto “core” even if the administration doesn’t want to call it that, just as there’s a de facto U.S. retreat is in progress even if the administration doesn’t want to call it that. After all, the evacuation of personnel and the closure of diplomatic missions are physical acts involving actual people being transported thousands of miles. They are actions in which real concrete and steel buildings are being shuttered, at least temporarily. Set against these tangible events are Carney’s word games about the core and the periphery.
This is nothing except a pathetic attempt to continue to maintain the campaign lies of last year.
Randall Munroe’s Time Comic
The back story.
This is something that used to concern space activists even in the seventies:
“In my comic, our civilization is long gone. Every civilization with written records has existed for less than 5,000 years; it seems optimistic to hope that the current one will last for 10,000 more,” Munroe told WIRED. “And as astronomer Fred Hoyle has pointed out, since we’ve stripped away the easily-accessed fossil fuels, whatever civilization comes along next won’t be able to jump-start an industrial revolution the way we did.”
You could think of fossil fuels as the yolk of an egg. If we eat it up, but fail to hatch and get into space, then this planet won’t reproduce.
Don’t Stare, And Avoid The Big Smile
An interesting article about dating on the autism spectrum. I have some of these problems, but only mildly.
Lori Garver
I’m a little surprised, but not shocked, that she’s leaving NASA. I’m sure it’s been a very frustrating situation for her. What shocks me is this (via an email from her, though many got one):
I will be resigning from my position as NASA Deputy Administrator, effective September 6 and have accepted a new position in the private sector outside the space industry.
My emphasis.
She gave no hint when I talked to her in San Jose a week and a half ago, but that’s no surprise, either. If I had any brains, I’d probably do the same thing. I’ve been beating my head against this wall, and damaging my finances in the process, for over a third of a century now.
The DC-X Anniversary
Both Bill Gaubatz and Henry Vanderbilt remind me via email of this upcoming event in a week and a half. Look like a lot of interesting speakers and discussion.
To The New Editor Of Science Magazine
An open letter:
…you do have an unparalleled opportunity, which is to turn what has become just another glossy advocacy magazine back into a distinguished scientific journal.
Unfortunately, during the intervening 35 years of your remarkable scientific career since you were a graduate student, a once-stellar magazine has fallen on hard times. Starting with Donald Kennedy, and continuing under Bruce Alberts, it has become a shabby vehicle for strident climate activism … and that experiment has proven once again that Science can’t be both an activist journal and a scientific journal. Science magazine has thrown its considerable (but rapidly decreasing) weight behind a number of causes. And yes, some of those causes are indeed important.
The problem is that you are convinced the causes are hugely important, and you want to convince us of the same. But once you convince people that your causes are more important to you than your science, that’s it for your authority regarding the science. You either get to have activism, or you get scientific authority. You don’t get both. And the past actions of your magazine have clearly demonstrated that these days your activist causes are much more important to you than the science.
Read all.
Smart Diplomacy
The Egyptians turn on us. But there is this:
The idea that observing the treaty with Israel is something the US “buys” from the Egyptian military with aid is a typical US liberal media construct. It magnifies our importance and flatters our narcissism, distorts the nature of our relationships with Israel and its neighbors, and provides a simplistic picture of both Egypt and US policy. The Egyptian military supports the peace treaty with Israel because stability on its eastern frontier (and the return of Sinai, which came with the treaty) are in Egypt’s national interest.
I think that one of the reasons the military tossed out Morsi (in addition to the obvious public dissatisfaction with his incompetent and ideological, undemocratic rule) was that they didn’t want to get sucked into a war with Israel.