A long but interesting article on the history, and current state of the art:
Cog was designed to learn like a child, and that
Max Population Predicted
The cover story inThe Economist this week predicts that population will peak this century:
Last year the United Nations said it thought the world’s average fertility would fall below replacement by 2025. Demographers expect the global population to peak at around 10 billion (it is now 6.5 billion) by mid-century.
This peak is only temporary. Fertility plotted vs. money income is U-shaped. Poor can’t afford family planning, but the rich want to have kids.
They further opine:
States should not be in the business of pushing people to have babies.
Yes they should. A baby will become a taxpayer and a useful citizen. Zero population growth did far more to hold back development of China and India than Reagan’s (anti-) family planning policies.
We can grow food indoors, reuse our water and get the energy to do it from carbon free sources. The carrying capacity of the Earth is easily one trillion people. At the current rate of waste heat per person, we would be generating only 2% of what we get from the Sun. We could site 72 billion at the density of the Netherlands, 3.8 trillion at the density of Manhattan with the current land area.
Sad Day
From a statement from members of the Personal Spaceflight Federation:
We will persevere
Space Utopianism
Thomas James righteously rails against it. If humans settle space, we will take human institutions with us, and the ones that have proven successful here will do so there as well.
You’d Think We Have Enough ITAR Problems
…without it being administered by imbeciles.
You’d Think We Have Enough ITAR Problems
…without it being administered by imbeciles.
You’d Think We Have Enough ITAR Problems
…without it being administered by imbeciles.
Bob And Bambi
Our deer management policies are insane, due to animal rights loonsactivists. And is Bob Byrd suffering from Lyme disease? Eric Scheie explains.
When I consider the current prices of beef, it seems a shame to let all that venison go to waste.
The Investigation Begins
Allison Gatlin has the latest on the test explosion in Mojave. There are quotes from Jeff Foust and Brett Alexander, including this one, with which I agree:
“Because of the nature of this accident, I think that there will be limited media attention from here on out of this accident,” Foust said. “I suspect that you’ll see a lot more coverage over the next few days of NASA’s peccadilloes – intoxicated astronauts and sabotaged computers – than you will of this accident. As a result, this is going to be out of the general public’s minds pretty quickly, outside of those directly affected by the accident.”
It’s ironic and amusing that NASA’s latest foibles may knock the biggest accident to affect NewSpace off the headlines, but I think he’s right.
[Update in the evening]
Aaaarrrgghhh…
This is one of my biggest pet peeves:
“Today, as we are focused on the human side of this mishap we can’t loose sight of what it is we choose to do and to whom we serve,” airport General Manager Stu Witt said Friday.
It’s bad enough when people do it on unedited internet fora, but you’d think that professional editors and reporters could get it right. I wonder if it’s going to become the accepted spelling, because we can no longer hold back the tide of ignorance?
And yes, I know it’s confusing, as demonstrated a few grafs later:
“Our nation enjoys the safest transportation system the world has known, largely because people like the ones who populate the companies engaged in systems research and testing at Mojave, Edwards and China Lake choose this location to practice their craft,” Witt said.
Same pronunciation, different spelling. Yes, English has idiosyncratic spelling conventions. But again, professional writers and editors are paid to know the difference.
Spaceship Enterprise
When I saw Glenn Reynolds in Dallas at the ISDC in May, he mentioned to me that he’d been reading a review copy of Rocketeers