Space

Heading For A Cliff?

I haven’t had much to say about the submitted NASA budget, because I’ve been really busy (and have some personal problems right now), but there’s a lot of good discussion over at Space Politics (there are other posts on the subject as well).

Jeff Foust noted yesterday that it’s crunch time for NASA, sooner than many expected. I agree with Chair Force Engineer that if the program dies, or never gets beyond LEO, it will be an own goal by Griffin and company, who insisted on building new unneeded launch systems instead of focusing the funds on actual exploration hardware.

[Update a few minutes later]

Clark Lindsey has been doing some budget analysis to determine the potential fate of Centennial Challenges and COTS.

Space

Astronauts Behaving Badly

Wow. Talk about the wrong stuff.

Dr. Sanity (a former psych profiler for NASA) has some thoughts on a culture of toxic narcissism.

Unjustified astronaut worship is one of the unfortunate consequences that lingers on, almost half a century after the Cold-War space program began. Just one more reason to try to privatize things ASAP. And of course, this is going to unfairly reflect badly on all the astronauts who really do have the “right” stuff.

[Late morning update]

Heh. Comment #50:

As another famous pilot once said,

“a trench coat and wig and, a knife, BB pistol, rubber tubing and plastic bags….Gosh a feller could have a pretty good time in Vegas with this stuff.”

[Afternoon update]

It’s already been added to her bio at wikipedia.

I see that she’s only flown once, last July. I wonder when this behavior started? Several astronauts have been profoundly affected by their trips into space. Some have gotten religion, some became addicted to various substances. The Overview Effect isn’t always benign. I wonder if we’ll find out that she had a personality change after her flight?

[Late afternoon update]

I’m a little surprised to see that this has become the news story of the day, at least on Fox. But maybe I shouldn’t be. There’s probably a TCS column or two in this somewhere.

[Another update a couple minutes later]

I fearlessly predict that some kind of “space adaptation derangement” will play a key part of the defense. I say this because I already heard it on John Gibson’s show. Seriously, I do think that it will be played as insanity and a crime of passion. And I wouldn’t rule out the Overview Effect.

Science And Society

He’s Just Not That Into Ewe

Here’s some interesting data on sexual orientation of sheep that, if it holds for humans as well, would seem to confirm my thesis (actually, a better exposition of it is found here):

A bare majority of rams turn out to be heterosexual. One in five swings both ways. About 15 percent are asexual, and 7 percent to 10 percent are gay.

That seems, to me, empirically to be about right for humans as well.

Does anyone here really believe that there are Freudian explanations for this among sheep? Well, I think the ones for humans are just as bogus.

And the potential consequences?

The more likely path is gentler. Science will gradually convince us that sexual orientation is innate, more like the color of your skin than like the content of your character. Condemnation of homosexuality as a sin will subside. Freed from the culture wars, we’ll turn to the biological differences between race and sexual orientation: Homosexuality defies the aspiration to procreate with your mate, and it’s easier to isolate and alter in embryonic development. Resentment will give way to pity. We’ll come to view homosexuality as a kind of infertility

Science And Society

He’s Just Not That Into Ewe

Here’s some interesting data on sexual orientation of sheep that, if it holds for humans as well, would seem to confirm my thesis (actually, a better exposition of it is found here):

A bare majority of rams turn out to be heterosexual. One in five swings both ways. About 15 percent are asexual, and 7 percent to 10 percent are gay.

That seems, to me, empirically to be about right for humans as well.

Does anyone here really believe that there are Freudian explanations for this among sheep? Well, I think the ones for humans are just as bogus.

And the potential consequences?

The more likely path is gentler. Science will gradually convince us that sexual orientation is innate, more like the color of your skin than like the content of your character. Condemnation of homosexuality as a sin will subside. Freed from the culture wars, we’ll turn to the biological differences between race and sexual orientation: Homosexuality defies the aspiration to procreate with your mate, and it’s easier to isolate and alter in embryonic development. Resentment will give way to pity. We’ll come to view homosexuality as a kind of infertility

Science And Society

He’s Just Not That Into Ewe

Here’s some interesting data on sexual orientation of sheep that, if it holds for humans as well, would seem to confirm my thesis (actually, a better exposition of it is found here):

A bare majority of rams turn out to be heterosexual. One in five swings both ways. About 15 percent are asexual, and 7 percent to 10 percent are gay.

That seems, to me, empirically to be about right for humans as well.

Does anyone here really believe that there are Freudian explanations for this among sheep? Well, I think the ones for humans are just as bogus.

And the potential consequences?

The more likely path is gentler. Science will gradually convince us that sexual orientation is innate, more like the color of your skin than like the content of your character. Condemnation of homosexuality as a sin will subside. Freed from the culture wars, we’ll turn to the biological differences between race and sexual orientation: Homosexuality defies the aspiration to procreate with your mate, and it’s easier to isolate and alter in embryonic development. Resentment will give way to pity. We’ll come to view homosexuality as a kind of infertility

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!