I’m posting this a little after midnight, but May 5th was the forty-fifth anniversary of Alan Shepard’s historic flight. And I have to get to bed for about four hours sleep so I can catch a 6 AM flight to Detroit, where my niece is having her first communion this weekend. Blogging will be light. Thoughts about the conference upon return.
The Violent Pacifist
Thomas James vivisects his favorite moonbat.
Coffee Maker Blogging
Instapundit is discussing coffee makers.
As a non-coffee drinker who makes the coffee for Her, she objects to me performing initial preparation the night before, because the grounds aren’t fresh. I have to get up before her, and make a latte on a little two-cup Krups (model 872-42
Lest one think me a true hero of domesticity, let it be known that I work at home while she has an often-ugly commute.
Burt Rutan Is Not God
Dale wants me to comment on yesterday’s entertaining but unconstructive rant from the sage of Mojave. I know it will sound like heresy to some, but the post title is all I have to say at this time, for those commenters at his post who seem to think the opposite. He won the X-Prize because he got funded, not because he’s the only person who could do it, or even had the best way to do it. The fact that he doesn’t know how to get to orbit means nothing, except that he doesn’t know how to get to orbit. There are smart people who do, given sufficient funds, and there is more than one way to do it.
[Update a couple minutes later]
I just noticed that Sam had some other thoughts on one of Burt’s other unuseful and illogical comments.
Rutan and Safety
Rutan said anyone offering spacecraft for commercial service should demonstrate their confidence in the system’s safety by having their children be among the first fliers, as Branson has said he will do.
“Spaceship guru roasts his rivals,” Alan Boyle, MSNBC.com
Should cigarette makers force their children to smoke or withdraw their product? Should parachute makers force their children to skydive or withdraw their product?
This does not follow. People afraid of heights should be allowed to sell bungee jumping supplies without personally testing them. The deathly afraid maker might design better equipment than a fearless one. Makers of hazardous products do not have to partake and may be sending a clearer message if they don’t. That does not mean their product should be shunned.
It is ironic that Virgin Galactic will be required to disclose its product is quite risky. It will require flying thousands of times before showing a spacecraft is as safe as a military jet. Very little is learned from a single draw on a distribution. 98% of shuttle astronauts returned. All that Branson and his family flying prove by flying is that they are risk takers, not that his craft is safe. It is a greater disservice to create a false impression of safety than to put a product on the market where hazards are fully disclosed and no effort is made to express false confidence.
Rutan’s sentiment is a throwback to medieval food testers to test for poison. He is not alone–Transportation Safety Administration required people to take a drink of liquids they were carrying (at least in Austin). Weird.
We will have a choice of vendors for spaceflight. Some of them will fly the owners first. Some of them will fly with a pilot and others will be remotely operated from the ground.
Would Space-Shot.com customers like me to raise the price of an entry so I can fly personally before the first winner?
Should Rush Have Gotten Twenty-Five Years?
Jacob Sullum, on the absurdity and ongoing misjustice of the War on (Some) Drugs:
“Perhaps the only way for draconian drug laws to change,” says Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelmann, “is for people like Limbaugh to join other nonviolent drug offenders behind bars.”
One of those nonviolent drug offenders is Richard Paey, who faced allegations remarkably similar to those against Limbaugh. Both men suffered severe back pain for which they underwent unsuccessful surgery, and both were accused of fraudulently obtaining more narcotics than they really needed. But while Limbaugh remains a free man and will not even face criminal charges if he continues to attend drug treatment for the next 18 months (something he was planning to do anyway), Paey is serving a 25-year sentence in a Florida prison.
The Profundity Of Lileks
…on bubble gum:
I thought
Boeing 797 Flying Wing
Looks like window seats may be harder to get soon. Last week New Tech Spy said this.
Texas Space Authority
Bill Hulsey and various other concerned Texans are forming the Texas Space Authority. We meet next week at University of Texas at Austin.
I found a couple of documents about Texas space plans. They are from 2003 and 2004. The Texas 2003-2007 strategic plan is here. Another is a 12 MB spaceport plan file. Email at dinkin@space-shot.com if you want me to share it with you on xdrive.
ISDC Update
I’m not blogging the conference–I’m too busy schmoozing, and I’m not staying at the conference hotel, so it’s a PITA to haul a laptop around there. But Clark Lindsey has already built a page of links to his and others’ comments so far. I may have some thoughts on the conference early next week, after things have calmed down and I’ve had some time to gather some. Anyway, there are three days remaining (though I will only be attending today).