Did an extraterrestrial impact cause the Ice Age extinctions? If so, this could be one more motivation to get our act together in terms of finding and managing these things.
You Mean It Wasn’t The Aboriginals?
Did an extraterrestrial impact cause the Ice Age extinctions? If so, this could be one more motivation to get our act together in terms of finding and managing these things.
Wind Shear
A tutorial. This should be of interest to anyone in hurricane country. In many ways, wind shear is a more important factor in the intensity of storms than water temperature (one reason that the effect of global warming, if it occurs, is not obvious, with respect to more or more intense hurricanes).
It Came From Outer Space
Supergerms. No word on whether or not kryptonite has any effect.
Remembering Sputnik
I could hardly think of myself outside the context of the cold war. Without the intense Soviet-American competition epitomized by the space race, I would not have become a science journalist who wrote about astronauts going to the Moon to
Speech “Rights” Nonsense
I’ve heard a lot of silly blather about how Ahmadinejad has a “right” to speak at Columbia University.
No.
This is the problem with positive “rights” such as right to health care, or food, or housing. It’s not possible to grant such a “right” without violating someone else’s.
If you have a “right” to groceries, then someone else has to pay for them, with taxes. If you have a right to housing, then someone else has to pony up to satisfy it. If you have a “right” to earn a minimum wage, and your labor isn’t worth that much, then the employer must subsidize you by paying more than your value on the market.
Everyone has a right to free speech in general, because in doing so, no one else is prevented from speaking.
But no one has a “right” to speak at Columbia University. There are limited opportunities to do so, and to grant it to one is to deprive another of the opportunity.
To speak at Columbia University is a privilege, and it is not one that should have been granted a murderous propagandistic fascist like Ahmedinejad. While Bollinger is to be commended for his harsh introductory comments, that doesn’t excuse his misjudgment in inviting the man to speak. That he was applauded there was a travesty, and a stain on the judgment of the Columbia students (if they were students) in attendance.
[Update in the afternoon]
And who is one of the idiots who thinks that Ahmadinejad has a “right to speak” at Columbia?
Speech “Rights” Nonsense
I’ve heard a lot of silly blather about how Ahmadinejad has a “right” to speak at Columbia University.
No.
This is the problem with positive “rights” such as right to health care, or food, or housing. It’s not possible to grant such a “right” without violating someone else’s.
If you have a “right” to groceries, then someone else has to pay for them, with taxes. If you have a right to housing, then someone else has to pony up to satisfy it. If you have a “right” to earn a minimum wage, and your labor isn’t worth that much, then the employer must subsidize you by paying more than your value on the market.
Everyone has a right to free speech in general, because in doing so, no one else is prevented from speaking.
But no one has a “right” to speak at Columbia University. There are limited opportunities to do so, and to grant it to one is to deprive another of the opportunity.
To speak at Columbia University is a privilege, and it is not one that should have been granted a murderous propagandistic fascist like Ahmedinejad. While Bollinger is to be commended for his harsh introductory comments, that doesn’t excuse his misjudgment in inviting the man to speak. That he was applauded there was a travesty, and a stain on the judgment of the Columbia students (if they were students) in attendance.
[Update in the afternoon]
And who is one of the idiots who thinks that Ahmadinejad has a “right to speak” at Columbia?
Speech “Rights” Nonsense
I’ve heard a lot of silly blather about how Ahmadinejad has a “right” to speak at Columbia University.
No.
This is the problem with positive “rights” such as right to health care, or food, or housing. It’s not possible to grant such a “right” without violating someone else’s.
If you have a “right” to groceries, then someone else has to pay for them, with taxes. If you have a right to housing, then someone else has to pony up to satisfy it. If you have a “right” to earn a minimum wage, and your labor isn’t worth that much, then the employer must subsidize you by paying more than your value on the market.
Everyone has a right to free speech in general, because in doing so, no one else is prevented from speaking.
But no one has a “right” to speak at Columbia University. There are limited opportunities to do so, and to grant it to one is to deprive another of the opportunity.
To speak at Columbia University is a privilege, and it is not one that should have been granted a murderous propagandistic fascist like Ahmedinejad. While Bollinger is to be commended for his harsh introductory comments, that doesn’t excuse his misjudgment in inviting the man to speak. That he was applauded there was a travesty, and a stain on the judgment of the Columbia students (if they were students) in attendance.
[Update in the afternoon]
And who is one of the idiots who thinks that Ahmadinejad has a “right to speak” at Columbia?
Lunar X-Prize Carnival
I missed this last week, but Henry Cate, who originated the idea, hosted last week’s Carnival of Space.
Fill’R’Up
My Popular Mechanics piece on propellant depots is up now.
[Tuesday morning update]
Jon Goff has related thoughts.