People have been speculating about this sort of thing for years, but one of the nice things about having a decent-sized orbital facility is that we can actually prototype them, and figure out if any are interesting enough to think about building inflatable stadia for them.
One Of The Many Reasons…
…I don’t use Microsoft Server software.
Why would anyone use Microsoft on their server? I can understand the desktop, for naive users, who also use the crap at home, but on a server?
Stop The Presses
I hope you’re sitting down.
People are driving less because of higher gas prices.
Gee, somebody should write a book
If McCain Loses This Election
…this will be the reason:
My support for McCain has been just as tentative as McCain’s support for market liberty, the Constitution, limited government, low taxes and not buying in to the leftist takeover on climate change.
I’ve had it with him with this latest insult. I didn’t like him showing up that Cincinnatti guy supporting him either. If he doesn’t like their tone, tell them in private. I want an apology to the North Carolina GOP or no more money.
Treat other Republicans with respect, period.
This anti-Republican schtick endears him with the press, but he can’t count on enough independents to win, if the base stays home.
Fascists Of The Corn
David Freddoso is still angry about our insane and, in my opinion, criminal ethanol and sugar policies:
The problem is that our sugar industry has even better lobbyists than big ethanol. They enjoy price supports, which we pay for both through the Treasury and in the supermarket. The price of our sugar is usually twice that of the world market. The sugar growers love it — even if they cannot sell all of their sugar, they have a guaranteed government buyer at an inflated price. The corn growers love it too, because high U.S. sugar prices push our food industries to use high-fructose corn syrup (ever seen that on a product label?) as an alternative sweetener — yet another artificial support for the world price of corn.
Not to mention wreaking havoc on the Everglades. Price-supported sugar cane is using up a lot of the water that both south Floridian humans and animals need, and they do this with the same political clout that they use to get the subsidies and tariffs, for an industry that is not all that big in terms of the economy.
Even if we want ethanol, we can’t solve the problem by importing sugar, because there are tariffs in place. We can’t import the ethanol itself because there’s a high tariff against that, too. Wherever you turn, there’s no way out — Americans don’t enjoy economic freedom, we live in a managed economy.
It makes me especially proud of my country when I see Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) call foreign delegates’ concerns over a potential doubling of world hunger “a joke…”
Let’s call these people out for what they are–Republicans and Democrats alike–fascists. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
[Update a few minutes later]
[Update early evening]
Oh, wonderful:
Key House and Senate farm bill negotiators reached agreement today on the main elements of the farm bill…[T]he five-year bill would raise the target prices and loan rates for northern crops beginning in 2010, raise the sugar loan rate three-quarters of a cent and include a sugar-to-ethanol program.
Oh, that’s just great. We have a program that makes us overpay for sugar, and now we’re going to start a new program to subsidize the ethanol we create from it — because without the subsidy, the inflated sugar price we’ve created will make the ethanol unprofitable.
Just when you think it can’t get any worse, they always find a way.
Naming The Enemy
Are we at war with Jihadism?
Of course it is true that Islamic reformers are trying to redefine the very troubling concept of jihad as a positive: viz., an internal struggle for personal betterment. Much as I’d love them to succeed, it is a well-intentioned folly — largely because of modern culture, which puts such a premium on authenticity. If you want to encourage the reformers, then encourage them to drop the concept of jihad altogether. As a matter of history, jihad is a military obligation. As long as it is accorded a central place in Islam, the militants are always going to be deemed more authentic, more true to the faith of Mohammed, than the reformers.
If correct, this makes the latest State Department policy all the more idiotic.
I still prefer the term Hirabis myself.
Tastes Like Chicken?
New (and apparently controversial) genetic evidence that dinosaurs (and particularly T. Rex) were closely related to birds.
Eight Pointless Laws
…that all comic books turned into movies must follow.
[Via Geek Press]
Oh, Dear
Just…oh, dear.
Well, it is an unfortunate acronym.
A Brief Tutorial
…on centrifugal force.