Weird

Domesticity

In this corner, we have a hot-blooded (though it remains unclear whether she was hot) Argentinian woman who stabbed her husband for not having s3x with her. And further north, in the Sunshine State, a man beats his male roommate to death with a clawhammer (and a sledge hammer–apparently he thought he really needed to be hammered) for running out of toilet paper.

I guess that there are some cautionary tales here, somewhere, but as that great philosopher, Homer Simpson, once said, sometimes there is no moral to the story. Sometimes it’s just a bunch of stuff that happened.

Political Commentary

The Man Who Would Not Be King

I didn’t note this article by Lee Harris on the “father of our country” yesterday, when it would have been more appropriate (though it still wouldn’t have been his actual birthday), but it’s still certainly worth reading today, or any day. And I wholeheartedly agree with this:

Today we now call it President’s Day, and no longer celebrate Washington’s Birthday. This is a pity. For without the greatness, wisdom, and humanity of our first President, the office of the Presidency would almost certainly have become something radically different from what any of us are familiar with

War Commentary

Not Turning The Other Cheek

Frustrated Christians in Nigeria have struck back:

Residents and witnesses in the southern, predominantly Christian city of Onitsha said several Muslims with origins in the north were beaten to death by mobs which also burned two mosques there.

Expect the usual mindless platitudes from the usual suspects about the “cycle of violence.” But as in Israel, such language indicates a symmetry that doesn’t exist. The Islamists were rioting and killing people and burning chuches over cartoons. The Christians are rioting and killing people and burning mosques because they’re finally, at long last, tired of the Islamists rioting and killing them, and burning their churches, and aren’t going to take it any more.

If the Islamists really seek a war with the west, they should be careful what they wish for. Any time that they’ve had to seriously engage a motivated western military, they haven’t done well.

Space

The State Of Play

The latest newsletter of the Space Access Society is out, and it has a long, but good rundown of the current situation in space transportation (at least that portion of the industry that actually promises to reduce costs and improve reliability).

We are seeing signs that this industry is growing up fast. One trend is specialization – rocketship builders are starting to differentiate from rocketship operators, something that happened to the air transport industry too around the time it was getting serious.

Another is that rocketship builders are beginning to access a novel method of finance for this industry: Paying customers, both government agencies wanting a mix of tech development and delivered payloads, and commercial operators wanting actual ships to fly.

And while most company finance in this industry is still via some variant of “angel investors”, aka wealthy individuals, there have been a number of signs that the venture capital industry may not be that far behind. First there’s all the positive press buzz of the last year, of course. Never underestimate the herd factor in investment trends.

There are also signs of a fundamental VC investment requirement firming up: The exit strategy. One time-honored way to cash out investment in an innovative startup is by selling out to an established player that wants a foot in the new door. Arianespace showed up at the X-Prize Cup’s Personal Spaceflight Symposium last fall “looking for possible connections” in this new industry. We’ve seen indications the US launch majors too are keeping a close eye on developments among the startups. Looking to eventually buy what they can’t foster internally? It wouldn’t be unprecedented.

I think we’re a long way off from a rocketcom bubble (that would be fun, for a while…), but it’s nice to see the money finally starting to flow.

It also announces the final date and location of the next Space Access conference, which is a must-go for people really into this subject.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!