I have a 6:15 AM flight to LA in the morning, and am packing. I’ll have to deal with my computer problem when I get back. For now, I grabbed some data off the drives and put it on my file server so I could transfer it to my laptop, which will get me through the trip, which will be for the whole month of February (though I may come back for a weekend). Anyway, blogging may be light until tomorrow night.
Obama Dozed…
…people froze. Someone should ask the president why he hates white people.
Note that I don’t actually think that it’s the president’s responsibility to go and give hugs to people in a natural disaster. I’m just (continually) sickened by the media double standard.
Insane Commenters
Robert Oler has attempted to comment a few times over the past few weeks, but Word Press seems to be smart enough to not allow them through. I thought that I’d note this latest attempt, on this post, though:
well Rand ….you are the guy who believes in the Falwell theory of HRC murdering people…
Note first that it is a complete non sequitur in the context of the post.
Note second that this is nutty. I don’t even know what the “Fallwell theory of HRC murdering people” is, let alone believe in it. Robert apparently bought a copy of The Clinton Chronicles and then somehow has projected his fascination with it on to me (someone who has never even seen it).
I’m not sure why he engages in this kind of lunacy, but it is nice to have blog software that is smarter than him, so in general we don’t have to view it.
Why The Size Of Government Matters
Some useful thoughts from Ilya Somin.
Non-Vanishing Rain Forests
They’re actually increasing in size. I blame global warming. Or George Bush (is there a statute of limitations on being able to blame things on George Bush?).
Of course, the new growth doesn’t necessarily preserve the species that were being lost in the original cutting, but it’s unclear what, if anything, had actually gone extinct.
Lies, Damned Lies, And Tax Cuts
I have a piece up at PJM today on the ongoing misleading (if not mendacious) discussion of taxes.
They’re Baaaaaccckkk
George Abbey and Neal Lane have a new white paper on space policy recommendations. I haven’t read it yet, but I expect it to be pretty bad, based on history.
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, I skimmed it. Other than the recommendation to cancel Ares 1, almost everything else is wrong. Certainly turning our backs on missions beyond LEO is, as is a focus on energy and the environment. There are other agencies responsible for this. I was amused by this:
It is distressing to observe the current state of the U.S. space program as the nation moves into a new progressive era with the inauguration of President Barack Obama in January 2009.
Emphasis mine. I don’t think that word means what they think it means.
[Mid-afternoon update]
Like one of the commenters over at NASA Watch, I too am shocked, shocked that John Muratore wants to revive X-38 and come back in a lifting body.
Thank You, Redmond
I just did a Microsoft security update on my Windows 2000 machine, and now it bluescreens (something I hadn’t seen on this machine in years) when it reboots. I booted into safe mode, and removed the update (I think I removed the right one — I’m assuming that the latest one would be highest number, but that might not be right). It still won’t boot. I’m posting this from my Fedora box.
Any ideas?
[Late afternoon update]
Great. Now it blue screens going into Safe Mode.
I’ll have to find my setup disk, but I doubt if I’ll have time before I go to CA on Monday.
Continuing Culture Problems At NASA
Wayne Hale is shocked, shocked to discover gambling in this establishment.
Sorry, but that’s how bureaucracies work, Wayne. It goes with being a federal agency, unfortunately, particularly when what the agency is doing is perceived to be politically unimportant.
More discussion over at NASA Watch, where I found this.
Twitter For The Uninitiated
From Lileks. But “tweeted” for the past tense of “tweet” just doesn’t sound right. Wouldn’t “twat” be better?
Oh. Right.