Ireland has finally gotten around to repealing laws against the Irish imposed by the English from the era of the Norman invasion.
Another good argument for sunset clauses…
Front-Row Seats
Want to watch a rocket blow up on the pad, at night (warning: about a hundred-megabyte wmv file)? I’ve never heard so much cursing in such colorful European accents. It happened three and a half years ago at Plesetsk, in Russia. Here’s the story.
[Via Jim Oberg]
Mojave Winter
A test flight of the X-37 was postponed for snow. There are some beautiful, and rare shots of the phenomenon in the high desert and the Tehachapis over at the Mojave weblog.
I wonder how good the poppies will be this year? So far, it doesn’t look good.
[Via Clark Lindsey]
Mass Exodus of Davids
Rand Simberg has already covered an Army of Davids here. Consider that some of the last vestiges of the old media that author Glenn Reynolds eulogizes. Simberg got a pre-print, I didn’t. There will soon be scant difference between the press and the public making the question of who to receive a pre-print something to be settled in shades of gray by Slash Dot ratings and auctions. That will make it easier for a media outsider like me to compete on a level playing field with more traditional media that gets their books early.
Reynolds’s book stands at the precipice of the future and treating different subjects seeks to penetrate the “fog of war” obscuring what will happen shortly. In places, Reynolds is foresighted and confident, especially in areas far along the path to individual control. In others, he seems flummoxed to explain what lies right around the corner despite having a well developed theory in another context.
In this extended review, I will take many of Reynolds’s claims and incomplete predictions and fill them out and complete them.
A Summary of What’s New from SpaceX
The news is coming fast from from SpaceX and Musk.
- Keith Cowing told us about Dragon on March 6.
- Alan Boyle asked one of the questions I wanted to ask him, “Do you talk to Jeff Bezos?” Yes occasionally. “Musk … will probably seek outside funding once the company has a few successful launches under its belt.”
- Jon Goff’s supposition that Dragon development has not require more than $100 million founder funding was confirmed with Musk by Boyle
Makes my interview (part 1 and 2) of Dianne Molina, Marketing Manager at SpaceX just the tip of the iceberg.
A Summary of What’s New from SpaceX
The news is coming fast from from SpaceX and Musk.
- Keith Cowing told us about Dragon on March 6.
- Alan Boyle asked one of the questions I wanted to ask him, “Do you talk to Jeff Bezos?” Yes occasionally. “Musk … will probably seek outside funding once the company has a few successful launches under its belt.”
- Jon Goff’s supposition that Dragon development has not require more than $100 million founder funding was confirmed with Musk by Boyle
Makes my interview (part 1 and 2) of Dianne Molina, Marketing Manager at SpaceX just the tip of the iceberg.
A Summary of What’s New from SpaceX
The news is coming fast from from SpaceX and Musk.
- Keith Cowing told us about Dragon on March 6.
- Alan Boyle asked one of the questions I wanted to ask him, “Do you talk to Jeff Bezos?” Yes occasionally. “Musk … will probably seek outside funding once the company has a few successful launches under its belt.”
- Jon Goff’s supposition that Dragon development has not require more than $100 million founder funding was confirmed with Musk by Boyle
Makes my interview (part 1 and 2) of Dianne Molina, Marketing Manager at SpaceX just the tip of the iceberg.
Still Busy
I’ve got a lot of work to do today, and then I’m heading home on a red eye tonight. In the meantime, lots of interesting stuff over at Clark Lindsey’s place.
The Energy Source Of The Future
That’s what fusion has always been called. The old joke is that it’s the energy source of the future, and it always will be. Back in the seventies, we used to talk about the fusion constant–forty years–as the time it would take until fusion became commercially viable. That glorious day continues to recede off into the future. Now we learn that a leading researcher in the field threw in the towel shortly before he died.
I’m not as pessimistic, but I can see how someone could get discouraged after devoting one’s life to the goal and seeing so little progress. I think that we probably will still need better materials, but I wouldn’t give up hope yet. On the other hand, I wouldn’t bet on it, either–we need to be working on a number of fronts (including space power).
[Update a few minutes later]
I’d still like to hold out hope for fusion propulsion, even if it won’t be practical for electric power generation. How much harder/easier is that problem? It’s one that hasn’t gotten as much effort, but it’s not clear whether or not if you get one, you get the other.
Losers
Jason Zengerle isn’t impressed with Markos Moulitsas Zuniga’s attitude about “winning”:
If there’s one animating idea that’s shared by liberal bloggers like Kos and Atrios and all the others, it’s, as Wallace-Wells called it, “the ideology of winnerism.”
Which is why it’s bizarre that these very same bloggers are always so eager to celebrate moral victories. After Howard Dean went down to defeat, they boasted about how they took a virtual nobody to the precipice of victory. Ditto for Paul Hackett. And the same thing is happening today now that Ciro Rodriguez–the former Texas congressman who became a blog darling after his Democratic primary opponent, incumbent Congressman Henry Cuellar, was shown hugging President Bush at the State of the Union–has apparently lost…
…But more often than not, these liberal bloggers (especially Kos) act like they already have taken over the world–writing manifestoes, issuing threats, and engaging in all sorts of chest-thumping behavior. But, like I said, their batting average is still a big fat zero.
What was it I called people who win “moral” victories? Oh, now I remember…