Political Commentary, Space, Space History

Just How Important Is Space Policy?

24 Comments

Traditionally, though it’s not a written rule, vice presidents have been in charge of space policy, though some are more so than others. Johnson was very much so, Agnew was somewhat, Ford and Rockefeller not much, Mondale tried to kill the Shuttle and succeeded in reducing the fleet size, GHW Bush wasn’t particularly involved as far as I recall, but Quayle was considerably, as was Gore. Sean O’Keefe was supposedly a friend of Dick Cheney’s, being groomed for bigger things when he was tapped as NASA administrator.

So I was over at Barnes & Noble, and picked up a copy of Cheney’s new book, and turned to the index. Mentions of O’Keefe? None. Mentions of the moon? None. Mentions of the Vision for Space Exploration? None. Mentions of NASA? None.

Come to think of it, I didn’t do a search for “Shuttle” or “Columbia,” but it’s hard to see how they would have been mentioned without mentioning NASA or O’Keefe. Basically, it wasn’t important enough to him to discuss it in a several-hundred-page book.

I would also note that, thankfully, Joe Biden doesn’t seem to be involved with space policy.

Media Criticism, Political Commentary

An Early Obama Letter

12 Comments

…confirms his inability to write:

Although a paragraph from this letter was excerpted in David Remnick’s biography of Obama, The Bridge, I had not seen the letter in its entirety before this week. Not surprisingly, it confirms everything I know about Barack Obama, the writer and thinker.

Obama was prompted to write by an earlier letter from a Mr. Jim Chen that criticized Harvard Law Review’s affirmative action policies. Specifically, Chen had argued that affirmative action stigmatized its presumed beneficiaries.

The response is classic Obama: patronizing, dishonest, syntactically muddled, and grammatically challenged. In the very first sentence Obama leads with his signature failing, one on full display in his earlier published work: his inability to make subject and predicate agree.

I am completely unsurprised by this. I think it at least partially explains why we aren’t allowed to see his transcripts.

Administrative, Business, Technology and Society

SoCal Verizon

10 Comments

Anyone else having slow connection problems? I’m dropping packets, and some sites (e.g., National Review) are timing out. I’ve also had to reboot my modem a couple times today (I’m on FIOS). There’s a half-hour wait time for help on chat.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here is the chat session so far:

Chat Subject:Slow Throughput
Your Question:Slow connection.
A Verizon Service Representative will be with you shortly. Thank you. (17:37:58)
Agent Kapil has joined. (17:38:13)
Kapil : Chat ID for this session is 08291149279. (17:38:13)
Me (17:38:24): Dropping packets, have to repeatedly reboot modem.
Kapil(17:38:29): Thank you for contacting Verizon HSI Technical Support. My name is Kapil and I am the technical support analyst assigned to help you. Please stay online for a few moments while I review the information generated by your trouble ticket.
Kapil(17:39:05): As you are having a FIOS account. Please stay online with me while I connect you to our FIOS department.
This session is being transferred. (17:39:15)
17:54:53 Estimated wait time is 5 mins 15 secs. We apologize for the delay. You are 22 nd in the queue.
Me (17:39:55): 36m wait time? That tells me I’m not the only one…
Me (17:46:33): OK, time is jumping around.
Me (17:51:39): OK, now what how much time?
Me (17:52:27): If there are still 21 ahead of me in the queue, it’s hard to see how it will only be three and a half minutes.
Me (17:54:19): Hello?
Me (17:54:24): I have a life.
Me (17:54:53): Now the time is back up to five minutes. No, six. This is ridiculous.
Me (17:57:01): OK, now it’s back to 21 minutes.
Me (17:57:37): If I were just working, I might keep an eye on this, but I have to make dinner.
Me (17:59:06): This is pointless. I have no idea how long it will be until I get help. Closing this effing chat window, so I can get back to life.

Political Commentary

One In Four Democrats

3 Comments

…are racists:

In response to the question, “Do you think the Democratic party should renominate Barack Obama as the party’s candidate for president in 2012, or do you think the Democratic party should nominate a different candidate for president in 2012?” — 72 percent said they wanted to see Obama renominated. But 27 percent, slightly more than one in every four, said they wanted to see Democrats nominate a different candidate. One percent had no opinion.

Only one in four?

Science And Society

Good News For Texans

14 Comments

They may be getting a break in the drought soon:

A significant shift in the atmospheric circulation is predicted for the region, with the ridge of high pressure that has brought Texas its record heat and drought predicted to shift eastwards and allow a flow of moist, tropical air into the state. A low pressure region is forecast to develop in the Gulf near the coast of Texas on Wednesday or Thursday, and this low will need to be watched for tropical development. The shift in the large scale weather pattern does not signal a permanent end to the Texas drought, but it should bring welcome rains and cooler temperatures to the Lone Star state beginning on Thursday. This will be a relief to the residents of Austin, where the temperature topped out at 112°F yesterday–the hottest day in Austin’s recorded history, tied with September 5, 2000. By Labor Day, hot and dry weather will settle back in over the state, but the new ridge of high pressure will be weaker, and temperatures will not be as hot as this week’s.

From what I understand, it’s been brutal. It’s one of the reasons that I’m glad I’m in coastal CA and not TX.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!