Some amusing comments. I don’t mind clowns all that much, myself. But mimes–that’s a different story. I’m not a violent person, generally, but they make me want to take a bat to them.
Boomtown
Mojave seems to be recovering from the construction of the Highway 58 bypass:
In four years, Mojave Airport has gone from an under-utilized airport and civilian flight test facility to a spaceport with a worldwide reputation as a “Silicon Valley” for the emerging commercial space industry.
New companies are arriving and established tenants are seeing their contracts and payrolls grow.
Companies such as Scaled Composites – which won international acclaim for SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded, manned space program – and XCOR Aerospace are among the cutting-edge aerospace firms outgrowing their existing facilities as they add employees and projects.
Two Confidence Anecdotes
I recently got a call from Chase left on my answering machine telling me to call an 800 number and have my credit card available to authenticate myself. The trouble is, they didn’t authenticate themselves. Anyone could have made that call to me and if I did what the call said, I would be giving my credit card number (and probably the date, secret code and every else they asked me) to a bad actor. I authenticated them by dialing the number on the back of my card, but I worry that there will be a smart confidence man who will figure this out before the rest of the world figures out how to stop leaving openings.
I also received two calls about my “Virgin lottery territory” piece that Buzz Aldrin liked. Two other people called because they received checks from a “Virgin Lottery” that didn’t cash, they searched for that on the web and my article and phone number came up. Never mind that my article dealt with the 17th century lottery that helped fund Virginia colonization, they thought I might know something about modern fraud.
Truth, Justice, and …Ummmm…
Lileks is kind of tough on the politically correct naifs who castrated the most recent Superman film:
“We were always hesitant to include the term `American way’ because the meaning of that today is somewhat uncertain,” said co-writer Michael Dougherty. “I think when people say `American way,’ they’re actually
talking about what the `American way’ meant back in the ’40s and ’50s, which was something more noble and idealistic.”Ah. Of course. Well, in the ’40s, the American Way included incinerating German cities, nuking Japan, installing occupying armies with remnants to this day, and imposing our form of government — all the while referring to the enemy with hurtful ethnic slurs. All this plus forced relocation. If these actions are deemed noble and idealistic now, it’ll be a handy sentiment the next time the U.S. gears up for total war.
But the inconstant left doesn’t believe any of this is permissible in the service of a noble goal. The right, after all, can’t lead the war on terror because they don’t “walk the walk” on human rights: witness those POWs slaving away in the cane fields of Gitmo. Unless we lead by example, no one will choose the American Way. Never mind that the internment of the Japanese didn’t keep the Germans — or the Japanese, for that matter — from following our example after World War II. (Note to the dense: The above is not an endorsement of internment. Just a reminder of which party has more practice.)
More Waking Hours
There is more than one way to extend the total work and leisure enjoyed during one’s life. In addition to living longer, one can sleep less if it doesn’t degrade the rest of the hours. Not too much research on the latter. Here’s a gem in this week’s Economist; the good news:
With the help of Chiara Cirelli, who also works at the University of Wisconsin, Dr Tononi has created a mutant fruit fly that sleeps only two or three hours a night. (A normal fly sleeps between eight and 14 hours.)
The bad news:
…though the mutant fly is capable of learning things, it forgets them within minutes. Healthy flies retain learned information for hours or even days.
Would you trade your memory like in Johnny Mnemonic, Memento or Paycheck for an extra six hours every day? It’s like living an extra 25 years.
Unfortunate Choice Of Words
Iran’s hard-line president warned Friday that continued Israeli strikes against Palestinians could lead to an Islamic “explosion…”
Yes, I know I pulled context, but I think he may be right–just not in the way he means, or hopes.
Another Blogroll Change
In addition to dropping Andrew Sullivan, I’ve added Space Cynic to the roll. I don’t always agree with the posts there, but they’re usually provocative, and occasionally present good devil’s advocate positions to help hone arguments, one way or the other.
The Friendliness Problem
Some thoughts.
Overdue
Andrew Sullivan has been near the very top of my blogroll since I started this blog, but I haven’t read him in months (except to follow someone else’s link to something in particular) because he seems to have come unhinged against the administration and his critics over “torture” (but I really think it’s about the gay marriage thing). Things like this are also why. I’ve finally removed him.
For Those Who Fear Christians More Than Islam
The argument seems to go that the “religious right” is attempting to impose its morality on the rest of us. If that’s the case, you’d think that “conservatives” would support blue laws against alcohol sales on Sunday, right?
Go read this thread at Free Republic, in which the vast majority of the posts are opposed to them. And the overwhelming reason is that, even for the professed Christians, small government is more important to them than government attempting to enforce morality.