Space

I’m Shocked, Shocked

Remember Safe, Simple, Soon? Well, I guess they never explicitly said it would be cheap, but they sure implied the hell out of it:

NASA’s initial internal estimate of what it would cost to modify the current SRB used for Shuttle missions to serve as the first stage of the new Crew Launch Vehicle had been around $1 billion. That estimate has been revised up to around $3 billion.

Nice bait and switch–you have to admire ATK for their marketing, if nothing else.

And tell me again, what was the estimate to “human rate” an EELV? And more to the point, how many very juicy first, second and third prizes for low-cost crew access to LEO could three billion dollars fund?

Also, for any enterprising muckraising space journalists out there, this has been a juicy scandal waiting to happen, what with Scott Horowitz’ recent job change, and all. Moreover, it could potentially be one that kills the Satay (or as Henry Spencer calls it, Porklauncher I).

I’m just sayin’…

Space

I’m Shocked, Shocked

Remember Safe, Simple, Soon? Well, I guess they never explicitly said it would be cheap, but they sure implied the hell out of it:

NASA’s initial internal estimate of what it would cost to modify the current SRB used for Shuttle missions to serve as the first stage of the new Crew Launch Vehicle had been around $1 billion. That estimate has been revised up to around $3 billion.

Nice bait and switch–you have to admire ATK for their marketing, if nothing else.

And tell me again, what was the estimate to “human rate” an EELV? And more to the point, how many very juicy first, second and third prizes for low-cost crew access to LEO could three billion dollars fund?

Also, for any enterprising muckraising space journalists out there, this has been a juicy scandal waiting to happen, what with Scott Horowitz’ recent job change, and all. Moreover, it could potentially be one that kills the Satay (or as Henry Spencer calls it, Porklauncher I).

I’m just sayin’…

Space

I’m Shocked, Shocked

Remember Safe, Simple, Soon? Well, I guess they never explicitly said it would be cheap, but they sure implied the hell out of it:

NASA’s initial internal estimate of what it would cost to modify the current SRB used for Shuttle missions to serve as the first stage of the new Crew Launch Vehicle had been around $1 billion. That estimate has been revised up to around $3 billion.

Nice bait and switch–you have to admire ATK for their marketing, if nothing else.

And tell me again, what was the estimate to “human rate” an EELV? And more to the point, how many very juicy first, second and third prizes for low-cost crew access to LEO could three billion dollars fund?

Also, for any enterprising muckraising space journalists out there, this has been a juicy scandal waiting to happen, what with Scott Horowitz’ recent job change, and all. Moreover, it could potentially be one that kills the Satay (or as Henry Spencer calls it, Porklauncher I).

I’m just sayin’…

Media Criticism

Yo, Idiot

Yeah, you, Pete Yost. I know you guys in the Washington press corps are leak happy, but here’s a free clue, for future stories of this nature: if the president authorizes it, it’s not a “leak.”

[Update a few minutes later]

Apparently the original version of this story claimed that the president authorized the “leak” of Valerie Plame’s name (a little wishful thinking, huh, guys?). That one has been changed to this one, which is still wrong in its terminology of “leak.” I’ll keep a screenshot to see if it changes again.

Political Commentary

Getting Nervous?

Cynthia McKinney apparently just apologized on the House floor. Maybe she’s realizing that the security and integrity card may trump the race card.

[Update]

It’s a non-apology apology:

“There should not have been any physical contact in this incident,” McKinney said in brief remarks on the House floor. “I am sorry that this misunderstanding happened at all and I regret its escalation and I apologize.”

Translation: “He started it.”

I’m sure she’s sorry that it happened, but only because she may have to answer for it, not because she really believes that she did anything wrong. I hope that the GJ returns an indictment, but if not, there’s always the Constitutional option. Unfortunately, this “apology” will give Dems the cover they need to not support even censure, let alone expulsion.

[Update at 3 PM EST]

Then again, maybe not. This woman is like the Energizer Bunny of stupidity. She has hired a personal body guard, who apparently shoved a reporter outside the Capitol Building. Was he going to accompany her through the checkpoints, in case the Capitol police gave her any more trouble?

Amazing.

Administrative

New Regex Question

OK, I’m still getting these weird blog spams, like this:

A new comment has been posted on your blog Transterrestrial Musings, on
entry #4886 (Lousy Salesmen).
http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/004886.html

IP Address: 61.102.44.56
Name: Kimberly
Email Address: naomi@pochta.net

Comments:

Great work!
[url=http://aouyktgf.com/nntn/hzmj.html]My homepage[/url] | [url=http://wtjpdovz.com/iure/alke.html]Cool site[/url]

They tend to come in pairs, with the same nonsense URLs, but different email addresses and IP addresses.

I’ve been just deleting them without adding to the blacklist, because I don’t want to clog up my blacklist with these nonsense strings that seem to be one (or two) shot deals.

But how about refining previous attempts at a pattern match? Instead of just looking for a string of consonants, how about a string of five consonants containing at least one of the letters “z,” “x,” or “q”? That would seem pretty safe to me, from a false positive standpoint, and would catch most of them. If so, what would that regex look like?

And I’d like to know what the point is, other than annoyance. Any theories (other than perhaps incompetence on the part of the spammer)?

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!