Behind the scenes, with Michael Belfiore.
A New Cocktail
@VodkaPundit should like this: an Alien Brain Hemorrhage.
[Via Geek Press]
A Reminder Of Crucial Truths
Some thoughts from Paul Hsieh on man, technology and the state of nature.
Nineties Nostalgia
Congressional Democrats are gearing up to cover for the lying and corruption of an administration official:
Last night, Cummings released a
95 page waste of paper and taxpayer moneyreport, alleging that top Justice Department officials did not authorize the program, despite evidence showing otherwise. The report tries to pin the blame back on a few “rogue” managers in the ATF Phoenix Field Division. This is the same argument we’ve heard since the beginning of the scandal: it was a local operation, nobody important knew anything.
It worked pretty well in the Clinton administration, since the media aided and abetted them. They’ll try again this time, but I think that it may be a little tougher, with the new media watching.
Fast-Forward Radio
I’ll be on tomorrow night with Brian Wang, to discuss moon colonies.
Campaign Lunacy
Jeff Foust has a comprehensive story about the space-policy discussion in the Florida primary over the past week.
We Need Real Rocket Science
…to solve the Russian spaceflight problems. Thoughts from Jim Oberg, over at The Space Review.
Rick And Gus And Dick
One of the candidates for the nation’s highest office offers an imaginative space initiative and the other candidates poke fun at it. I don’t know which is worse: offering a goal with no resources or belittling the idea of having goals at all. Personally I am disgusted with the whole process – and the polls tell me that I am far from alone. I wonder what Gus and Dick and Rick would have thought of that, too.
It is clearly presumptuous on my part to imagine what those heroes who made the supreme sacrifice would want. But they were all on record, before they died, giving voice to what they wanted. That record is one we can listen to, read, study, and evaluate.
Without exception, they were going into space because they thought it was worth the cost, worth the risk. They saw the future out there.
As I said, Romney could have criticized Newt’s plans without sounding like such an empty man.
John Carter’s Long Road
…from the Civil War to the silver screen. Might be worth seeing in a theater.
By the way, we had a discussion at dinner Sunday night as to whether Cowboys And Aliens is the worst movie ever made. It’s pretty bad, but that’s very high bar.
It’s The Way Our Fathers Did It
So obviously, it’s the only way that it can be done:
All planning must be timid and scoped to be within the limited capabilities of what was done by past over-priced government projects. If I bought a Ford Pinto, I cannot buy a new car next time. I have to plan on car trips with the assumption that I must always own a lemon.
Quoting Homer Simpson (and apparently Lawrence Krauss)
“You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try.”
Trying to change this mindset is a never-ending battle.