Space

Sputnik Week Dust-Up

The LA Times has a feature on their editorial section called the “Dust-Up,” which is sort of a daily two-sided debate on a given issue, with each week having a theme. This week, in recognition of the half century since Sputnik, they’re hosting a dialogue between Homer Hickam and yours truly. Homer went first today, and I get the last word du jour. It will be the other way around tomorrow, when we talk about destinations.

And note, I did not lead off with “Homer, you ignorant slut.”

[Update in the evening]

I see that Keith is whining again, that I’m not sufficiently obsequious to the space agency to which I’m giving the best technical advice that I can, for pay.

Well, Keith, here’s the deal. I’m a (I like to think) competent space systems engineer, who can help NASA execute its goals, however misguided. I do that because I like to think that I have professional integrity, and (honestly) because doing such things is my job, and it’s how I pay my bills. They don’t (at least for now) pay me to tell them how to open the cosmos, so I don’t do that for pay from them. I do it in other venues. I just help them do what they’re trying to do, as mistaken as it is, as best I can.

I didn’t realize (as you seem to think) that part of my job is to praise their programs publicly, even though I think them not in the best interests of the nation, or our goals of opening space. If NASA thinks that’s part of my job, I guess I’ll hear about it. If they want to pay me to do that, I’ll consider it, but I doubt if I’d take the job.

But if they did, I think that would be a sad commentary on the federal space program, and NASA’s belief in what it’s doing. And I’m willing to stick my neck and mortgage out and continue to write what I think.

I’ll do you the courtesy of thinking that you do the same.

Political Commentary

Would Gore Have Gone Into Iraq?

Roger Simon thinks so.

I’m skeptical, at least insofar as there would have been an actual invasion and occupation. I’m not sure that he would have even overthrown the Taliban. He might have bombed the hell out of them, but I’m not convinced that we’d have a democratic government there now had Gore been in charge. I find this support for Roger’s thesis uncompelling:

The Clinton-Gore administration wasn

Weird

“I Just Flew In To Moscow…”

“…and boy, are my arms tired.” Brings a whole new meaning to the old joke:

After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukovo Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.

What in the world did he grab on to, at 400+ knots? I wouldn’t think that there would be much to give him a hand hold on a 737 wing, particularly in flight, once it had been trimmed out for cruise. In the wheel well, I could believe, but not on the wing.

Weird

“I Just Flew In To Moscow…”

“…and boy, are my arms tired.” Brings a whole new meaning to the old joke:

After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukovo Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.

What in the world did he grab on to, at 400+ knots? I wouldn’t think that there would be much to give him a hand hold on a 737 wing, particularly in flight, once it had been trimmed out for cruise. In the wheel well, I could believe, but not on the wing.

Weird

“I Just Flew In To Moscow…”

“…and boy, are my arms tired.” Brings a whole new meaning to the old joke:

After clinging on for the entire 1300-kilometer (808-mile) flight to Vnukovo Airport, the boy, named Andrei, collapsed onto the tarmac. His arms and legs were so severely frozen that rescuers were at first unable to remove his coat and shoes, the radio station said.

What in the world did he grab on to, at 400+ knots? I wouldn’t think that there would be much to give him a hand hold on a 737 wing, particularly in flight, once it had been trimmed out for cruise. In the wheel well, I could believe, but not on the wing.

General Science

Is There A Meteorologist In The House?

One of the things that I hate about living in Florida is the fact that it’s the Sunshine State. I actually am not a big fan of ol’ Sol, and would probably be happier in Seattle. Accordingly, one of the few things that I like about Florida in the summer (and late fall) are thunderstorms and frequent showers. Unlike many here, who apparently watch the Doppler radar with trepidation, over fears of a missed golf game, or boat outing, I watch it with hope. Hope that is often dashed, because often, one will see a huge storm heading one’s way, only to watch it fizzle out as it approaches.

This happened all afternoon yesterday, in which I could see a vast amount of heavy rainfall over the Bahamas, but as it approached the Palm Beach County coast, the reds would turn to yellows would turn to greens, and then entirely disappear, all the while it continue to storm fifty miles off shore. It’s doing exactly the same thing today. I’ve never heard anyone on the local weather discuss this phenomenon. Is there something about the difference between the land (even as low as the land is here) and the sea that dries out the air as the storm approaches? I’m guessing that it’s being fueled by the humid ocean waters below, but I still don’t understand why it dies before it even gets here, when it’s still ten or twenty miles from the coast.

[Update at 1 PM]

It’s continuing to threaten us ineffectually, though a few showers are starting to pop up along the coast. Patricia suggested that we go for a walk. “Maybe it will make it rain,” she joked.

You guessed it. Just after we turned around and started to head back home, it started to sprinkle. Then it started to come down harder.

“You know,” I said, as we walked/trotted, dripping, “it will quit just as soon as we get back to the house.”

And that’s exactly what it did.

War Commentary

Turning The Other Cheek

We can’t necessarily remove every dictatorial regime on the planet, but there were many reasons to remove the one in Iraq. Critics of that decision often claim that it was up to the Iraqi people to stand up to Saddam and remove him if that’s what they wanted. Some of them (particularly the pacifists among them) even cite Mahatma Gandhi as an example, and advocate the use of non-violent resistance techniques.

What they ignore in doing so is that Gandhi faced an almost unique situation–imperialists who were not monsters, and were unwilling to put down the rebellion with the brutality necessary to do so. To think that Gandhi’s tactics would have been effective against a Hitler, or a Stalin, or a Saddam, is foolish.

And here we have a textbook example, that demonstrates the fatuity of such thinking. Who, after all, is more pacifist, and (according to their theory, should be more successful with such tactics) than Buddhist monks?

Liselotte Agerlid, who is now in Thailand, said that the Burmese people now face possibly decades of repression. “The Burma revolt is over,” she added.

“The military regime won and a new generation has been violently repressed and violently denied democracy. The people in the street were young people, monks and civilians who were not participating during the 1988 revolt.

“Now the military has cracked down the revolt, and the result may very well be that the regime will enjoy another 20 years of silence, ruling by fear.”

Mrs Agerlid said Rangoon is heavily guarded by soldiers.

“There are extremely high numbers of soldiers in Rangoon’s streets,” she added. “Anyone can see it is absolutely impossible for any demonstration to gather, or for anyone to do anything.

“People are scared and the general assessment is that the fight is over. We were informed from one of the largest embassies in Burma that 40 monks in the Insein prison were beaten to death today and subsequently burned.”

The diplomat also said that three monasteries were raided yesterday afternoon and are now totally abandoned.

At his border hideout last night, 42-year-old Mr Win said he hopes to cross into Thailand and seek asylum at the Norwegian Embassy.

The 42-year-old chief of military intelligence in Rangoon’s northern region, added: “I decided to desert when I was ordered to raid two monasteries and force several hundred monks onto trucks.

“They were to be killed and their bodies dumped deep inside the jungle. I refused to participate in this.”

But such regimes can always find people who will not refuse (and some who will even take pleasure). If there is a solution to tyranny and dictatorship, it does not lie in passivity and non-violence. Or “dialogue.”

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!