But we’ve ordered new cabinets for the kitchen, and just found out that they’re going to be here three weeks earlier than previously anticipated. Which mean that we start tearing down walls, because I have to go back to CA Monday morning. No blogging for me.
Well, except for this.
…of Accutane. Jupiter is developing a new red spot.
In this month’s Journal of Fusion I am told by Prof. Manuel of U. of Missouri-Rolla, you can read about evidence for a neutron star at the center of our very own sun kicking off nuclei to power it instead of via hydrogen fusion as we thought. There is some controversy about Manuel’s theory. If true, they might have to change the name of the journal to Journal of Fission.
I don’t know how history will rank Jimmy Carter among the presidents (my guess will be pretty low, definitely in the bottom quarter), but there’s not question in my mind that he’s absolutely the worst ex-president we’ve ever had:
Mr. Carter said he made a personal promise to ambassadors from Egypt, Pakistan, and Cuba on the U.N. change issue that was undermined by America’s ambassador, John Bolton. “My hope is that when the vote is taken,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations, “the other members will outvote the United States.”
…Asked yesterday about his views on religion, Mr. Carter said, “The essence of my faith is one of peace.” In a clear swipe at Mr. Bush’s faith, and to a round of applause, he then added, “We worship the prince of peace, not of pre-emptive war.” Mr. Carter then went on to attack American Christians who support Israel.
Shameful.
While I thought that Harry Browne went off the deep end in the last few years on foreign policy, he was a great, and I think good (if occasionally misguided) man in advancing the ideas of liberty. I always thought it a shame that he wasn’t allowed to participate in the presidential debates–he would have mopped up the floor with both candidates, at least in being coherent and articulate. And passionate (unlike Al Gore, who considers bellowing absurdities and wonktalk with a red face and bulging veins to be passion).
Brian Doherty has a tribute over at Reason’s Hit’n’Run.
Michael Belfiore describes what looks like a potentially great book on the new space age.
Maybe we’re doing a better job of monitoring for nukes domestically than I thought. A woman was pulled over in her SUV for being radioactive:
“These are very sensitive devices,” Seymour said, adding that some officers have reported them going off in buildings “because someone in the next room on the other side of the wall had a stress test.”
Doctors said they have heard of radiation sensors going off at nuclear plants after patients have had stress tests, but not along highways…
…”Nobody at my doctor’s office warned me this could happen,” the woman said she told the officer. “He said, `That’s because they don’t know.'”
Virgin Galactic mailed me a survey which you can access. Answer truthfully. I (owner of SpaceShot) am not like the competitors that Julian Simon talks about in his mailorder books that tries to muck up competitors’ surveys. They inquire about pricing for Virgin Galactic Quest in $10 increments from 0-60+. Drop me a line at transterrestrial@dinkin.com or comment what you think tournament entries for a trip to space should cost. Also tell me what kind of profit margin you think would be fair. And whether a bundle of more than one entry would be OK. Note that credit card fixed charges are $0.30 + 2-3% at paypal which has a restrictive skill games policy and $0.40 or more elsewhere so credit cards will eat up 6-7% of a $10 charge, but only 4-5% of a $20 charge. Can someone give me a quote for the cost of building and analyzing one of those surveys? (I don’t want to buy one, just validate my decision not to.)
I don’t know whether to categorize this as “Space” or “Media Criticism” (often the case, given how often the media get space issues, like most issues, wrong).
Jeff Foust has a follow-up on the Wired News article that said March Storm was a front for people who wanted to militarize space. I was originally willing to give the reporter the benefit of the doubt, and just consider it shoddy reporting, and him a shoddy reporter. But it’s clear now that he had an agenda (something that should probably have been clear at the time, given that he took a nutcase like Bruce Gagnon far too seriously). As far as I’m concerned, he has zero credibility from this point forward.
, on the war that Europe seems to be losing against Islamism. I wonder if any of the other networks will pick