Yeah, blogging’s light. I’m busy with the work I’m doing out in LA, plus I’m coming down with a cold, which often happens when I travel. As long as I hermit up at home I can go months without getting sick, but exposure to all of the exotic bugs in airplanes and with new people tends to get to me.
Delta Launch Tonight
A Delta II, out of Vandenberg, with a new weather satellite, with a ten-minute window starting at 2:22 AM Pacific. The place I’m staying has a good view from the roof patio, but I’m afraid that the Pacific storm moving in tonight and tomorrow will obscure it. On the other hand, it may also delay it. If they don’t get out tonight, though, I’d guess they’ll have to scrub until after the second front moves through on Saturday.
The First Subway
Not just in New York, but in the world.
And note, like all of New York’s subways, it was originally privately financed. And the government contract to demolish it was corrupt and screwed up.
A Hundred Million Here…
…a hundred million there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real job losses.
Nancy Pelosi: “Every month that we do not have an economic recovery package, 500 million Americans lose their jobs.”
At that rate, we’ll all be out of work before the end of the month, with hundreds of millions of fantasy Americans to go.
Whenever the Speaker opens her mouth, I have this sense that she is saying only what she imagines will be politically effective to the dolts who continue to elect her and her fellow partisans, and that she is either unaware of, or completely indifferent to the fact that any relationship between what she says and objective reality is purely coincidental. In short, the woman is a hyperpolitical idiot.
[Via Mark Hemingway]
Just Words?
Keith Cowing notes that President Obama read to schoolkids about the moon landings.
It would be nice to think that this is a harbinger for his space policy, but I would note that he’s been in office for two weeks now, and despite all the rumors prior to the inauguration, NASA continues to operate on an acting administrator. Of course, it would actually be unusual for an administration to name a NASA administrator so early. This is because it’s hard to find a candidate who is both capable and willing to do the job. The other reason is that space isn’t important…
“And Then The Fight Started…”
A collection.
Reefer Madness
I don’t blame Michael Phelps for apologizing. He has a living to earn, so he did what he had to do.
In the meantime, I merely note that this broken wreck of a man’s failure to win any more than a pathetic fourteen Olympic gold medals (so far) is a terrifying warning of the horrific damage that cannabis can do to someone’s health—and a powerful reminder of just how sensible the drug laws really are.
At any rate, now we know the real story of why he ate 10,000 calories a day…
Time To Check My DNA
Is there a longevity gene? If true, this seems like good news. It shows that life extension is possible, and that it might even be achievable with genetic surgery.
Change!
The Obama administration is going to continue rendition:
The European Parliament condemned renditions as “an illegal instrument used by the United States.” Prisoners swept up in the program have sued the CIA as well as a Boeing Co. subsidiary accused of working with the agency on dozens of rendition flights.
But the Obama administration appears to have determined that the rendition program was one component of the Bush administration’s war on terrorism that it could not afford to discard.
See, it’s only evil when Chimpy McHitler does it.
[Tuesday morning update]
The case for the hypocrisy of the leftists’ defense of Obama is made:
Here’s a summary: the liberal defense is strained, dishonest, surprisingly nuanced, and contrary to true progressive politics because it elevates “party” over principle.
You don’t say.
As a commenter there notes, these people don’t give a goddamn about human rights (as evidenced by their blind eyes toward people like Fidel Castro). It’s all about partisan politics.
[Bumped]
Rough Night
So, after being up for about twenty-two hours, I got to bed about 11 Pacific. I got a call about quarter after one informing me that my luggage had arrived at LAX (no mention of where it had arrived from). I said, yes, please deliver it.
A while later, I got another call telling me that they were at the condo. I got the luggage (I thought) after a long and unnecessary dispute over the proper amount of the tip to the delivery guy, who (at the risk of seeming racist) seemed to be in both accent and appearance Middle Eastern. I ended up giving him more than I should have from cash that I hadn’t realized I had. Then (at least so I thought) back to bed.
About 2:40 AM, there was a knocking on the door downstairs. I thought “now what?” and ignored it, hoping that it was one of the other doors. But it persisted. I got up, and there was a guy claiming to be delivering my luggage. He said he would have just left it outside, but didn’t know if it was a good neighborhood for that.
He was right. He did have my luggage. The other delivery had apparently been an annoying dream. I took delivery (with no tip) and went back to bed, hoping that it had been real this time. In the morning, it turned out to have been.
And note, I really couldn’t have twattweeted this:
Lugj l8t to LA. Got urly morn call to delivr from LAX. Got nther call was here. Rgu bout tip. Was dream. Real dlvry l8tr. Finely got sleep LOL.
See, it’s just not the same.