Reason number 154,976: one third of all Americans on welfare live there.
[Update a while later]
California sounds a (slight) retreat in its ongoing war against arithmetic.
The Rock
Lileks is unimpressed:
Time was a sculptor looked at a big slab of stone and saw the figure within he would liberate with hammer and chisel; time was, people gathered to see a monolith pass because it was a gift from Egypt, and stood for the power of another culture your culture had managed to subdue. Plus, it was cool; it was exotic. Time was, you valued something for what we could make of it, not the fact that you could just drag it somewhere else and say “now walk under it, and think things about big rocks.” Feh.
I have to confess, I couldn’t figure out what the big deal was, either, but if I had gone to watch, it would have been to see the vehicle, not the rock.
Derbyshire
Well, this sucks, big time. Hope he can beat it.
A Successful Test Jump
From over seventy-thousand feet:
Baumgartner is gearing up for an even bigger leap — his so-called “space jump” — from 120,000 feet (36,576 m) this summer. The current record for highest-altitude skydive is 102,800 feet (31,333 m), set in 1960 by U.S. Air Force Captain Joe Kittinger.
Baumgartner hopes his attempt will also set several other marks. He is chasing the record for longest freefall (estimated to be about 5 minutes and 30 seconds from 120,000 feet), and he hopes to become the first person to break the speed of sound during freefall.
At some point, this raises the question: at what point does a space suit become a very small, tight-fitting supersonic aircraft?
Another question. If someone wanted to try this from (say) an Armadillo vehicle, would the expectations of safety during ascent be the same as (again, say) someone doing a research experiment? Or someone who just wanted to enjoy the view?
The Power Of Property Rights
Pictures of East Germany, before and after the fall of the Wall.
As An Energy Secretary…
…Steven Chu is a great scientist. But there’s nothing in his experience or education that would equip him for running a federal department, or to be a competent venture capitalist with other peoples’ money, and with billions of losses to the taxpayer and energy prices going through the roof, it shows. The notion that he deserves anything short of an F is laughable.
Don’t Know Much About History
In attacking his critics as “flat earthers,” Obama screws up.
Yes, people who, unlike him, actually understand the math and physics (and business prospects) of alternative and conventional energy are “flat earthers.” Once again, the man is impervious to irony. And how insufferable this kind of thing is.
[Update a couple minutes later]
Heh: “Obama in Tucson & today: “Make sure we talk with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds, you Flat-earthers.”
[Update a few minutes later]
Where Obama gets his history.
Doesn’t explain the Rutherford B. Hayes slander though. And against a man who was wounded four times freeing Obama’s ancestors. Wait, what?
[Update a while later]
Don’t know much about energy, either. The US has sixty times as much oil as Obama claims.
It’s almost as though he just makes stuff up.
[Update mid afternoon]
#BarackObamasPresidentialFacts:
“Purple Hayes” was the first Jim Hendrix song about a president.
They’re hilarious. I think I’ll steal MfK’s from comments and add it to the mix.
Renting A Home
Is it about to get very expensive? Just one more catastrophic result of decades of horrible government policies.
“It Would Be Cool To Be Born On Earth…”
“…and die on Mars. Hopefully not at the point of impact.” Quote du jour from Elon Musk.
Grad School
…and the career lies.
I think this bubble is starting to pop.