Kevin Parkin has an interesting post on post-graduate education for blue brass. This is a problem not just for procurement and program management in general, but for strategic military vision for space.
SpaceX PRess Conference
I played hooky today for an hour or so and attended the press conference that Elon Musk held over at SpaceX. Bottom line, a launch next Friday at 1 PM Pacific (Saturday morning at Kwajalein). I took a couple pictures and some notes, and may have more info later. Attendance was sparse, at least partly because all the local television camera crews were covering the fire up in Ventura.
Sorry!
This war continues to resemble something out of Monty Python:
The speaker on the tape, identified as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, also said the group’s suicide bombers did not intend to bomb a Jordanian wedding party at an Amman hotel last week, killing about 30 people…
…Al-Zarqawi accused the Jordanian government of hiding casualties among Israeli and American intelligence agents, and he insisted al-Qaida in Iraq was not targeting fellow Muslims.
“We want to assure you that … you are more beloved to us than ourselves,” al-Zarqawi said, addressing Jordanians.
See, he’s right. This was supposed to be a happy occasion. Let’s not bicker and argue about ‘oo killed ‘oo.
Swamped
Thanks to Sam for picking up some of the slack here (good post).
I’m working like all get out (where in the world did that expression come from?) to get a deliverable out to our favorite friendly neighborhood space agency, and probably won’t come up for air until Tuesday, though I may be able to blog a little on the weekend. Then again, there is the game.
Energy Intensity
The amount of energy used in the economy per real dollar of GDP, “Energy Intensity”, has been steadily dropping and is now about half what it was in 1950. So a barrel’s worth of oil in 1950 now stretches to two barrels worth of work.
This is before the coming hybrid capital turnover in the transportation sector to double the efficiency there. So I guess prices will have to nearly double again to curb energy use like the 1970s oil shocks.
Three Decades
I take all pronouncements about the Chinese space program with a heavy dosage of sodium chloride, but for those who breathlessly (and wishfully, if it feeds their fantasies) believe everything they read on the subject (and yes, Mark, before you start whinging about it, this is a strawman–I figure turnabout’s fair play), here’s a report that says they’re three decades from landing a human on the moon.
That sounds a lot more realistic to me than “one year before NASA.” Of course, when they do, they won’t need to bring much in the way of supplies–they’ll be able to check in to the Lunar Hilton.
[Update on Friday morning]
Mark hilariously demonstrates his cluelessness about my attitude once again:
Rand Simberg breaths [sic] a sigh of relief…
No, Mark.
In order for one to “breathe a sigh of relief,” one would have to have something to be “relieved” about. I’ve never expressed any concerns about the Chinese space program (one of the reasons that you continually go off the rails), so it’s nonsensical to describe me as “relieved” at news that simply confirms my continuing skepticism. You’re the one who should be relieved, but I know that, on this subject, you’ll continue to make Chicken Little look calm, collected and rational.
Roosevelt Lied…
…people died.
No, really.
Time For A Google Campaign
Remember (hey, they won’t let you forget!) the standard anti-Bush^H^H^H^Hwar talking point–that Saddam Hussein never cooperated (and never would have cooperated) with bin Laden or Al Qaeda? Well, let’s make “boogie to Baghdad” a phrase known across the web.
Eating The Seed Corn
Clark Lindsey says that NASA’s R&D priorities are exactly reversed.
Not All Birds Of A Feather
I just went and watched the latest GOP commercial, which is pretty devastating against the Donkeys who are currently trying to rewrite history about their own beliefs about Saddam. But I’m not sure it’s totally fair. Has Hillary been backtracking on this, or Evan Bayh? If not, I’m not sure they should be lumped in with the others. And it’s too bad they don’t have a clip of Kennedy.
Not that I’m a Hillary fan–there’s plenty of reason to oppose her and fear her ascendance to power, but I think she’s been playing the war pretty smart all along (as would behoove her if she wants to win the presidency, though it may cause her grief in the primaries).