Particularly those on cable news networks struggling to get enough viewers to even count as being in last place. Do not exude idiotic commentary if there’s any chance that James Lileks will hear of it:
Hear ye: if ever I announce that the lightning is sending me messages about how the government seeks to control what I think, please have me commited for paranoid schizophrenia.
He is also spectacularly unimpressed with Ahmadinejad coddlers.
[Note: The dangers of blogging.
I put up a regrettable post last night. The title of it is all that remains (well, also comments), but it takes on a whole new, and appropriate meaning. As I said in it, I was grumpy from lack of sleep, and frustrated from a seeming inability to post all day, but that’s not an excuse. I can’t even claim that I had overimbibed, but that’s not an excuse, either–no one (at least as far as I can remember) has ever strapped me down, cackling, and thrust a one-gallon funnel down my gullet. Short version of it: I was childishly whining because I couldn’t log on from the conference.
I’m not deleting it completely because that always seems a little Orwellian, but it was, as Keith correctly notes in the comments that I am leaving up, an epistle that the AIAA neither would or should appreciate, and it should not remain on the web (this note is mainly for those who might still manage to read it if Google was so unfortunately overdiligent as to have cached it last night).
Even if it were true (I understand now that it was not), it was completely unjustified, and simply a symptom of how spoiled we (or at least I) have become in the early twenty-first century, with expectations, if not outright demands, of the instant gratification of ubiquitous abundant bandwidth. I have had my differences with AIAA over the years, but they are a vital institution to this industry. Like NASA, they are staffed and supported by great people operating under the constraints of their institution. This conference in particular is great (of which I’ll write more later), and despite that churlish growl, I do appreciate them much.
Mark Twain once wrote, “A dog will not bite the hand that feeds him. This is the principal difference between a man and a dog.” Although you can’t always tell on the Internet, I am not a dog.]
But the plane got in at 10:30, and it took me over an hour to get my luggage. Didn’t get to bed until after 1 AM. I’m headed over to the conference, so maybe I’ll check in from there, bandwidth permitting.
But not LA, this time. Do you know the way to San Jose? I do. Fly into SFO via Dallas, rent car, and down the 101.
Excuse me. Make that down 101, just so the locals don’t confuse me with one of those degenerate hicks from southern California. In Sherman Oaks, it’s the 101, but no definite article is required in Silicon Valley. I’ve always wondered, driving up, just where it loses the “the.” I’m guessing somewhere around Paso Robles.
Anyway, that digression aside, I may do some conference blogging, but I’m there to schmooze mainly. I will feel an obligation to write up interesting things that go on there at some point, though. I have a press pass waiting. I hope.
Rich Lowry, on the self-imposed economic woes of my home state. In a lot of ways, Michigan reminds me of California. A place of great national beauty, being run into the ground by its elected officials.
The Methusaleh Foundation just got a major donation.
Paul Krugman brought some great analysis of economics, the dismal science, to the New York Times Op-Ed page, but has consistently beat the drum in recent years for being dismal about every Bush decision and inaction. I am going to start an anti-Krugman column to take apart each criticism. These antibodies might allow us to have a debate that would allow both less reactive talking points for Democrats and more constructive criticism for the Administration.
The Krugman column is behind the Times Select wall. The cheapest way to pierce this wall is to order home delivery of the Times and go on regular three-month vacations.
Today’s Krugman column has the title “King of Pain”.
But they should:
“You did not treat my brothers with respect. You refused to acknowledge them, like you’re refusing to acknowledge me. You mocked their southern accents. You literally turned your backs on them, like you’re turning your backs on me tonight.
“You should be ashamed of the way you treated those soldiers. Ashamed! If that is what you think supporting the troops means — turn your backs on them when they come to talk to you — then you are either a fool, a coward, or a hypocrite. I leave it to each of you to decide which word fits you best.
“The charade is over. We all know that you do not support the troops. If you did, you wouldn’t turn your backs on them. You disrespected my brothers, on our front porch. So let me be absolutely clear: You may have a slip of paper from the City of Washington recognizing your right to stand here, but you are not welcome here.
Speaking truth to…well, not power, but to self-righteous foolishness.
I’d enjoy this pre-flight announcement a lot more than the stuff they usually say. Speaking of which, I’m flying to San Jose this afternoon to attend Space 2006. Blogging may be light this week.
Bob Clarebrough says that space settlers should take some lessons from the Polynesians, and Jeff Foust writes about the continuing debate over the term “space tourist.”