Anti-war folks keep coming back to their false myths.
No Space Elevators?
Maybe not:
Laboratory tests have shown that individual nanotubes can withstand an average of about 100 GPa, an unusual strength that comes courtesy of their crystalline structure. But if a nanotube is missing just one carbon atom, this can reduce its strength by as much as 30%. And a bulk material made from such tubes is even weaker. Most fibres made from nanotubes have so far had a strength much lower than 1 GPa.
Recent measurements of high-quality nanotubes have found them to be missing one carbon atom out of every 1012 bonds; that’s about one defect over 4 micrometres of nanotube length1. Defects of two or more missing atoms are much more rare, but Pugno points out that on the scale of the space elevator they become statistically probable.
Using a mathematical model that he has devised himself, and which has been tested by predicting the strength of materials such as nano-crystalline diamond, Pugno calculates that large defects will unavoidably bring a cable’s strength below about 30 GPa. His paper has been posted to arXiv2, and will appear in the July edition of the Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter.
Pugno adds that even if flawless nanotubes could be made for the space elevator, damage from micrometeorites and even erosion by oxygen atoms would render them weak. So can a space elevator be made? “With the technology available today? Never,” he says.
This seems like kind of an oxymoronic statement, because “never” implies the technology available any time, not just today. I would think that devices that continuously repaired redundant cables at a molecular level could solve this problem, though they’re not “technology available today.” In any event, I remain an agnostic.
Why I Didn’t Vote For Kerry
I have to say that I agree with almost every word of this (hint: it’s not because we think that Bush is a great president). For instance:
I didn’t vote for Kerry because in every domestic policy with which I disagreed with Bush, Kerry seemed to be worse. I deplore Bush’s immigration policy, his lack of commitment to free trade, his wishy-washy position on gun control, his big government spending, his unrealistic environmental policies, his generally anti-science positions, and so on and so forth. But in every way, whenever Kerry could actually be pegged down as having a position it was even worse than that of Bush.
Why I Didn’t Vote For Kerry
I have to say that I agree with almost every word of this (hint: it’s not because we think that Bush is a great president). For instance:
I didn’t vote for Kerry because in every domestic policy with which I disagreed with Bush, Kerry seemed to be worse. I deplore Bush’s immigration policy, his lack of commitment to free trade, his wishy-washy position on gun control, his big government spending, his unrealistic environmental policies, his generally anti-science positions, and so on and so forth. But in every way, whenever Kerry could actually be pegged down as having a position it was even worse than that of Bush.
Why I Didn’t Vote For Kerry
I have to say that I agree with almost every word of this (hint: it’s not because we think that Bush is a great president). For instance:
I didn’t vote for Kerry because in every domestic policy with which I disagreed with Bush, Kerry seemed to be worse. I deplore Bush’s immigration policy, his lack of commitment to free trade, his wishy-washy position on gun control, his big government spending, his unrealistic environmental policies, his generally anti-science positions, and so on and so forth. But in every way, whenever Kerry could actually be pegged down as having a position it was even worse than that of Bush.
They Should Be Coming To Take You Away, Ha Ha
Clark Lindsey has some thoughts on the myths about radiation in space. I should note that this is one of the more popular lunatic (and I use that phrase in its most pejorative sense) theories about why we never went to the moon.
Local Boosters
The Antelope Valley Press has a self-serving editorial on spaceports. Agenda revealed in last graf:
Right now, there is a serious and dangerous shortage of viable commercial airports. It would be far better to deal with that overwhelming present-day need than to try to compete for space tourism that will become a reality through the good works of Burt Rutan and Sir Richard Branson.
It’s certainly true that there are more spaceports being planned than are justified by current demand (or constraints of locale), and it’s also true that there’s a hard regulatory road ahead for many of them, given the issues that they’ll have with general aviation (something solvable with a more rational approach by AST). But to think that only Mojave will have a spaceport, and only Burt Rutan and Richard Branson will succeed or are even making any progress is, at the least, disingenuous. This was the line that Burt took in his luncheon speech in LA a couple weeks ago, and Stu Witt (manager of Mojave Airport) said the same thing when I met with him in Mojave last week (no confidences broken here, as far as I know–he’s happy to tell the same thing to anyone who asks).
I expect Burt and Stu to say those things, and I expect the Antelope Valley Press to stenograph them, but Oklahoma has a tenant with funds, developing vehicles, and we don’t know what Jeff Bezos is going to do out in the middle of Armadillo* Scrotum, Texas, where he’s not near either populated areas or military ranges, and may in fact have an easier time getting a site license than some of the more “conventional” choices. In any event, such editorials are to be taken with the prescribed amount of sodium chloride.
[* Update: Sorry, no slight to these guys intended]
Is There An Objective Truth?
Jonah wants to know:
There are more persuasive games to be played in order demonstrate that there is truth out there (think science, math, Irish whiskey). But Matt isn’t saying (I assume) that there isn’t any such thing as truth, he’s saying he doesn’t believe in moral truth.
Well, actually, the science and math aren’t examples of truth, either (I can’t speak to Irish whiskey, though I suspect that Goedel would shoot that one down as well). No, sorry, there is no absolute truth of any kind, moral or otherwise, sad to say. Scientific truth is so only in the context of science. If you don’t accept the premises of science, or the postulates of math, then there’s no truth to be found there, either. It’s a cruel world for conservatives.
That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t defend our civilization from barbarous misogynistic Islamonutballs, though.
He Drank A Whole Barrel Of Koolaid
I haven’t had a very high opinion of Kevin Phillips for a long time, but he seems to have recently gone completely nuts:
I realize that this is still pure speculation, by legal yardsticks entirely premature. However, the succession aspect is extraordinary. Under the Constitution, the resignation of Bush and Cheney would hand the presidency to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, at present Dennis Hastert, a former high school wrestling coach, well liked but manifestly less than qualified for promotion. Wise Republicans, however, would be aware of a critical anomaly: the person elected as Speaker of the House does not, as a matter of law, have to be a Member of the House. If Bush and Cheney were obliged to resign this summer, the House GOP could elect as Speaker a plausible interim president and have the presidency devolve on him. Someone like Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, the respected Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, comes to mind.
Another tragic victim of BDS.
Latest Kitchen Setback
The countertops were installed yesterday. The cut was perfect, and the installation was very professional. They precisely and cleanly installed the wrong selection of stone. Patricia’s (who spent a lot of time shopping for it, and spent extra money for a contractor with a large selection) upset has no bounds.
Two steps forward, one step back.
I’m assuming that a) the wrong countertops can be removed with minimal upset to the new cabinets and b) that the place will recognize the necessity to do so, at their expense. They’d be out the cost of the labor to to a desinstallation/reinstallation, plus whatever they can’t salvage from the ones they cut from the wrong slab for other potential customers. I’m sure they’d like us to just keep it and take a discount on it, but the color really doesn’t work with the kitchen. I’m hoping that they won’t want the word to get around that they expect their customers to bear the cost of their mistakes.
We’ll find out Monday, when we get back to Florida.
[Update at noon on Monday]
They’re replacing it, and should have it done this week. It’s a shame, because it’s a beautiful stone, but it just doesn’t work in the kitchen.