Economics, Philosophy, Political Commentary, Popular Culture, Social Commentary

How Would They Tell?

17 Comments

Robert Bidinotto wants me to boycott Starbucks. It’s a worthy cause, I guess, but I’ve been boycotting Starbucks ever since they opened their first store. I’ve never purchased anything there for my own personal consumption, with the possible exception of a bottle of water once.

The simple reason is that they have never offered anything for sale in which I have an interest in consuming. It’s nothing but various forms of coffee, which I don’t drink, and high-glycemic carbs, which I tend to avoid, particularly since there is no protein on offer to go with them (in my limited experience–I suppose it’s possible that that’s changed). And I’m not that into the “coffee house” experience.

So I can’t really help make a dent in reducing their sales, because it’s not possible for me to purchase less from them than I already do. If everyone were like me, they wouldn’t exist at all to denigrate the capitalism that has made them so successful. But maybe some of my pro-free-market readers can reduce their consumption.

It occurs to me, while I’m on the subject, to write about a topic on which I’ve often mused, but never posted–what the world would be like if everyone were like me. Well, obviously, it would be a lot more boring place. With no s3x, other than self congress, because there’s no way that I would get it on with me.

Just off the top of my head, there would be no rap music. In fact, most popular music wouldn’t be popular at all. No dance clubs. There would be college football, assuming that some of me were willing and able to play (not obvious, as my athletic ability is marginal), but probably not pro. There would be baseball (again, my skills permitting), but no hockey or basketball. Or boxing or wrestling, or martial arts. There would be Formula 1, but no NASCAR. Lots of hiking trails in the mountains. No one would live in south Florida.

No coffee houses, as noted above, or coffee production, period. Same thing with tea. No tree nuts would be grown or harvested, because I’m allergic. The Asian restaurants would be much better, as would Mexican ones (they’d all be Sonoran style). No wraps or vegetarian places.

It would also be a much messier place, because I’m kind of a slob.

On the up side, though, traffic would move much faster, and much more smoothly. And we’d all get on and off airplanes extremely expeditiously. And there would be no wars, both because (I know that this will surprise some of the trolls here) I’m not that into them, and I’m not sure what we’d fight about. Oh, and we’d have a sensible space program.

So, what would the world be like if it consisted of only you?

Economics, Education, Political Commentary, Science And Society

This Would Be A Disaster

3 Comments

Academia has already been greatly damaged by post-modernists and an extreme leftist bias over the past few decades, but fortunately math and science have been spared, to date. Those days may be coming to an end, though, as Christina Hoff Sommers warns about the potential Title IXing of science, based (ironically) on shoddy science (similar to the “comparable worth” myth).

Space

Parabolic Arc Update

5 Comments

A few weeks ago, I mentioned a new space blog, called Parabolic Arc, which had pretty good content. Unfortunately, the colors chosen for it (gray text on black background) made it almost literally unreadable. That problem has been fixed, so I’d urge folks to check it out again. (It’s been in the blogroll for a while. I’m actually tempted to move it up higher in preference to some others that are being updated very infrequently).

Business, Economics, Space

Rockets For Sale

7 Comments

John Carmack mentioned this at the conference a week and a half ago, but I don’t think I reported it, at least not in any detail. Armadillo is willing to sell vehicles to anyone who wants to fly them (presumably subject to ITAR restrictions):

The way to look at it is as a “rocket trainer”, rather than a vehicle that can perform any kind of real lunar or suborbital mission. We don’t pretend that the vehicles could actually land on the moon, but if you want to hack on a real, flying system, there is a lot of value to be had.

The price is $500k. The experience of the Lunar Lander Challenge shows quite clearly that you aren’t likely to do it yourself for less, even if you spend a couple years at it. Several intelligent and competent people thought otherwise, and have been proven incorrect.

You can have either a module or a quad, at your choice. The quad has more hover duration, but it is more of a hassle to operate. A module could be fulfilled right now, a quad would take about three months to build, since we are still planning on using Pixel for LLC this year and other tasks. The engine will be one of our new film cooled stainless chambers, and we will warrant it for ten flights. If it blows up or burns through in that time frame, we will replace it. We will not replace the vehicle if it crashes, but historically our engine problems have been visible at startup, and you should have an opportunity to abort the flight. Ground support equipment is included, except for the lox dewar(s), which would be specific to your local lox vendor. We will test the vehicle ourselves, then train your crew to operate it. You get copies of our experimental permit applications and information about the insurance policies we use for permitted flights. Details on modifications to the flight control software are negotiable.

If he got a big order, or multiple customers who wanted delivery ASAP, I wonder how he’d respond? Would he ramp up production (with the intrinsic risks to quality), or keep supply constant and crank up the price? As I’ve said for a long time, at some point this is going to have to transition from a hobby to a business for him, and it seems to me that this has the potential to force that decision, if he has a significant number of takers.

I also wonder how much new engines will cost, assuming that they’re only good for ten flights (he doesn’t say that, but it’s all he’s willing to warrant them for). Let’s say that the engines are half the cost of the vehicle. That would mean a cost of $25K a flight to amortize the engines, which is a lot more than propellant costs. It seems to me that if he only thinks that he can get ten flights, engine life is where his emphasis needs to be for reducing operating costs. It’s also hard to see how he can charge the same amount for a module as a quad, since the latter has four engines in it. I’d really like to understand more about this proposition.

He follows up the offer with his assessment of the industry (and his competition), but I’ll save my thoughts on that for another post.

Administrative, Science And Society

Don’t Panic

C’mon, people, I appreciate the concern, really, but get a grip (or is that grippe?). It’s just the flu.

In most cases, you don’t need to see your doctor when you have a cold or the flu. However, if you have any of the symptoms below, seek medical advice.

  • A cold that lasts for more than 10 days
  • Earache or drainage from your ear
  • Severe pain in your face or forehead
  • Temperature above 102° F
  • Shortness of breath
  • Hoarseness, sore throat or a cough that won’t go away

Emphasis mine. The first five bullets never happened, the hoarseness lasted about three days last week, I never had much of a sore throat, and the cough is a lot better today (i.e., I didn’t do it much). I’ve got most of my energy back, and I think I’m mostly over it.

I think that there is a lot of wasted money in the health care system of people seeing doctors when there’s really not much that they can do. It also clogs up emergency rooms. It’s particularly bad when they bully them into prescribing antibiotics, which have no effect on a virus, and then they take half the course and quit, thus breeding more resistant bugs. I’m not the type to avoid a doctor if I need to see a doctor, but really folks, it’s just the flu.

Administrative, Science And Society

Don’t Panic

C’mon, people, I appreciate the concern, really, but get a grip (or is that grippe?). It’s just the flu.

In most cases, you don’t need to see your doctor when you have a cold or the flu. However, if you have any of the symptoms below, seek medical advice.

  • A cold that lasts for more than 10 days
  • Earache or drainage from your ear
  • Severe pain in your face or forehead
  • Temperature above 102° F
  • Shortness of breath
  • Hoarseness, sore throat or a cough that won’t go away

Emphasis mine. The first five bullets never happened, the hoarseness lasted about three days last week, I never had much of a sore throat, and the cough is a lot better today (i.e., I didn’t do it much). I’ve got most of my energy back, and I think I’m mostly over it.

I think that there is a lot of wasted money in the health care system of people seeing doctors when there’s really not much that they can do. It also clogs up emergency rooms. It’s particularly bad when they bully them into prescribing antibiotics, which have no effect on a virus, and then they take half the course and quit, thus breeding more resistant bugs. I’m not the type to avoid a doctor if I need to see a doctor, but really folks, it’s just the flu.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!