According to Gallup, the Germans are the most pessimistic people on the planet.

If I lived in Germany right now, I’d be pretty glum, too.

John Carter McKnight says that the space community needs a P. T. Barnum.

Among many other good bits of advice:

Know Your Product: Space tourism is no different from Barnum’s wax museums, giant elephants and General Tom Thumb. You’re not selling paraffin, big pachyderms and small men. You’re selling what Barnum would call “humbug,” or “ballyhoo.” You’re selling exotic experience. Bear in mind that this product is at the other end of the universe from the “space product” that NASA “sells:” they sell safe, routine government operations. Consider how few people pay to watch tax-legislation proofreading… and that about as many watch the feed from NASA TV. If you try to sell the NASA product, you won’t be in any business very long.

This is a message that I’ve been trying to get through peoples’ heads for more than a decade. The success or failure of Space Camps says nothing about the market for space tourism. We need to stop selling NASA, and start selling Space.

Simply amazing.

At least some of these people used to have interesting things to say, occasionally. Has the war completely unhinged them?

Shawn Steel says that the ongoing GOP disaster in California should be laid at the feet of Gerry Parsky, the White House’s guy.

He makes a good case, and is optimistic about Republican chances in the Golden State with a change in strategy. And leadership.

[Thanks to Lloyd Albano for the tip]

Shawn Steel says that the ongoing GOP disaster in California should be laid at the feet of Gerry Parsky, the White House’s guy.

He makes a good case, and is optimistic about Republican chances in the Golden State with a change in strategy. And leadership.

[Thanks to Lloyd Albano for the tip]

Shawn Steel says that the ongoing GOP disaster in California should be laid at the feet of Gerry Parsky, the White House’s guy.

He makes a good case, and is optimistic about Republican chances in the Golden State with a change in strategy. And leadership.

[Thanks to Lloyd Albano for the tip]

From a discussion over at sci.space.shuttle (I know, it seems pretty off topic for that newsgroups, but anti-semitism came up in the context of Ramon’s Shuttle flight tomorrow, and it brought out the usual Palestinian apologists…)

Sure, individuals within that group have committed terrible acts, as have individuals from every other group on the planet. Did Timothy McVeigh make you fear and hate white christians?

To which I responded:

This is a truly odious comparison.

You’re comparing the act of a deranged individual to a conscious and deliberate murderous policy, supported by large segments of a population.

Maybe you can refresh my memory, but I don’t recall any public opinion polls of significant numbers of “white Christians” supporting Tim McVeigh’s actions.

And perhaps I missed it, or it didn’t get adequate coverage because of “white-Christian bias” in the news media, but I can’t recall any instance of “white Christian” people thronging in the streets, and passing out candy, and cheering and ululating when they heard the news of the Oklahoma City bombing.

I must have been watching something else when they ran the endless interviews with “white Christians” about how those dumb Okies deserved to be blown up because of their support for their oppressive government.

And were “white Christian” parents dressing their pre-school kids up like Tim McVeigh, and getting them to chant “Death to the Fascist Amerikan Government!” and giving them little truck bombs as toys? Did I miss that, too?

Can you point me to any links for anything like that? I’d love to see them.

Oh, and, by the way, I hate to break it to you, but McVeigh was agnostic…

Really.

I’m having trouble getting my sympathy mill grinding on this one, though. It’s an odious practice.

Guess he should have been better at “choking the chicken.”

The Europeans (not including the Brits) continue to make themselves irrelevant.

Does anyone know the origin of the title for this post?