Apparently, women have thicker skulls than men.
The Three Little Multi-Culti Bureaucrats
Lileks has some commentary on the latest display of dhimmitude in the formerly great nation of the United Kingdom.
The judges criticised the stereotyping in the story of the unfortunate pigs: “Is it true that all builders are cowboys, builders get their work blown down, and builders are like pigs?”
These are judgments and decisions made by people who, one suspects, have never poked their heads out of the bubble that extends over the entire professional caretaker class. You really have to have multiple years in higher education to craft a statement so packed with radiant stupidity. Is it true that all builders are cowboys? No. The likelihood that 100% of the British construction trades are populated by laconic men wearing chaps, a Stetson and a sidearm is small, and the paucity of actual cowboys in England will probably mitigate against an impressionable child making this inference. Is it true that builders get their work blown down? No. It is also not true that Winnie-The-Pooh is a bear who walks erect and has a kangaroo as a neighbor. It’s called a story. This may come as a grim revelation to people who only read their kids bedtime stories about a Bangladesh seamstress who successfully repays a microloan, but kids like made-up stuff, and can tell the difference between fantasy and reality. Which makes them eminently unqualified for a position in a government book-award granting organization. Is it true that all builders are like pigs?”
No. On the other hand, some builders are like pigs, specifically the third pig who chose brick. The story of the Three Little Pigs was a famous Depression-era Disney cartoon that hit a sweet spot in the national mood. Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? In retrospect, that wasn’t really the lesson, since the pigs who sang the song had reason to fear the wolf, due to substandard construction techniques. Does this mean all cowboy pig builders use straw? No. But the third pig, who planned ahead and built for the storm, was able to shelter his feckless brothers when the wolf came, and afterwards everyone could scoff at the wolf. Lesson learned.
Off Line For A While
Not just me, you also. I may be attempting a software upgrade tonight or tomorrow, and I’ll have to shut down access to the site temporarily while I do it. So if you can’t get in, that will be why. It’s nothing personal. Not even for the trolls. I’ll be keeping this post at the top for a while, so until it happens, look below for new ones.
[Wednesday update]
OK, even though (or maybe I should say particularly because) no one can comment yet, I’m going to start blogging again. I just can’t get the monkey off my back. New posts will continue to appear below until the issue is resolved, or I give up on it and ban everyone permanently. And again, if there is an MT doctor in the house, please email me.
Commercial Space Roundup
Dale Amon has some thoughts, though as I note in comments, Mercury is an unlikely prospect for prospecting.
No Virgins For You
A suicide bomber blew himself up by falling down the stairs.
Well, at least we can be pretty sure that alcohol wasn’t involved.
Max Power
OK, amidst my ongoing MT template woes, I want to bring your attention to the nine manliest names in the world. Well, the English-speaking world, anyway. Though some of them are Germanic.
Anyway. I know a man who works (or worked) for British Aerospace named Roger Longstaff. I think that beats most on the list, myself. And it’s Anglo-Saxon as all get out.
The post title, of course, is the name that Homer Simpson picked for himself when he decided that he was ashamed of his name (not for anything that he did, though he should have been multiple times over) but when it was used for an embarrassing television character. As he notes, he saw it on a hair dryer.
And yes, I know you’re dying to comment on this. I’m working on it.
Yet Another Test
Let’s see if the comments work on this one…
Starting With A Clean Sheet
Apparently, there is no clean path to get from the old version to the new version with the comments template intact. The new version of MT doesn’t allow pop-up comments–you have to go to the individual entry page. So I decided that I’d just start with a fresh set of templates that work in the new software, and gradually restore the look of the page. At least we’ll be functional. Now that I have a clean setup, the first thing I’ll do is get comments working properly again, then I’ll start reprettifying the site.
The Definitive Interview
. By The Unveiling
There’s very little news in Virgin’s announcement today, except for the pretty picture and the schedule. Many more questions are left unanswered than answered. There’s a little more, but not much more info at the New York Times (registration required). The Times piece has an error, calling SpaceShipTwo SpaceShipOne.
Are they really claiming that they’re going to start SS2 flights in June? Or just White Knight 2? And if SS2 flies in June, how many flights will there be with ballast for the propulsion system (i.e., simply drop tests) and at what point will it first fire the rocket motor? I ask because, despite Scaled’s fine for not properly training its employees in the handling of nitrous oxide, there has been no announcement as to the cause of last July’s accident. Do they know? If not, have they moved forward with engine development anyway? Or have they switched gears and gone to a different propulsion system? Seems like a pretty tight schedule, if so.
I think that they could learn a lot and start test flying the airframe this summer, assuming it’s well enough along, and perhaps they’re betting on the come when it comes to the powerplant to meet that schedule. Finally, I wonder what Burt thinks about the announcement?
Jeff Foust has more thoughts. The dual cabin design of WK2 is interesting. I wonder if that’s for additional passenger revenue?
[Update a little later]
A lot of posts and links over at Clark Lindsey’s place (not a permalink).
[Update at 5 PM EST]
Alan Boyle has more details, with some comments from Virgin. But none on propulsion. As I suspected, the initial flights for SS2 will be drop tests (naturally), which can go forward without engines.
And Alan has pretty mixed response from his commenters, some of whom sound like morons. At least I don’t have to worry about that until I get my comments fixed, which is turning out to be a much bigger deal than I thought it would. Again, if there’s an MT doctor in the house, email me at the address in the upper left corner.
[Evening update]
Clark Lindsey has more info. As I was guessing, the flight tests this summer will be WK2, not SS2, and Burt still says they don’t know what happened or what they’ll do about propulsion. That’s not good if they want to be in operations in ’09. He surely must have some options in mind. I’d recommend going with a liquid, from XCOR or someone else, and dumping the hybrid, which adds ops cost, and whose safety is overrated. But we’ll see.