A nice profile of George Low, as we approach the half-century anniversary of Apollo 8, when the race was won.
The Keto Diet
Myths versus facts, from Nina Teicholz:
I think the larger question is why we are seeing such a sudden rash of anti-keto stories. So many of them quote no experts [sic] sources and do not provide citations for their claims. Skeptics with little acquaintance with the diet are quoted exclusively instead. From a journalistic perspective, this lack of balance of viewpoints and the failure to back up claims with evidence falls below basic reporting standards. Offenders on this list include even the Harvard School of Public Health, which recently published more than one unsourced, one-sided article on the keto diet (This is in addition to the Lancet Public Health article cited above, by Harvard researchers, which suggests that a low-carb diet kills you). These stories could reflect lazy reporting or they could very well be scare tactics to steer people away from the keto diet. Why would reporters or scientists at Harvard be doing such a thing? That’s material for another post. Stay tuned.
I’ll look forward to her thesis.
Landing On Mars
A little over half an hour away. Watch live.
[Update after the successful landing]
I’m seeing a lot of the usual nonsense about how if NASA can land a robot on Mars why don’t we believe them about climate? That’s like saying, if someone on a baseball team is a really good pitcher, why don’t we pay any attention to the outfielder’s opinions about politics?
Also, this.
This is a chronic pet peeve of mine about space, and "rocket scientists." People who design rockets are engineers, not scientists. It also feeds into the association of space with "science," when in fact human spaceflight has little to do with science, and never has.
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) November 26, 2018
The Space Settlement Summit
I attended it a few weeks ago. So did Jeff Foust.
It’s not going to happen until the line of affordability crosses the line of desirability for a sufficient number of people. Over the weekend, Elon made the point that living on Mars is not for the faint of heart (or as a haven for rich people).
Meanwhile, the NatGeo series Mars has started to explore the legal issues, an area in which I am currently involved. Note that Dennis O’Brien is a big fan of the Moon Agreement (that he calls the “Moon Treaty”). I am not.
News That Should Not Be News
Monica Lewinski says that Bill Clinton pressured her to lie.
This is only news to people who didn’t actually follow what was going on at the time, or people who have been fed a false history for two decades (he was impeached for a BJ, or “lying about sex”). Which is most people. Subornation of perjury (and not just Lewinski’s, but from Linda Tripp, via Lewinski, with physical threats to her family) was one of the reasons he was impeached.
Curing Aging
Aubrey de Grey is working on it whether you like it or not.
The arguments against it do generally strike me as irrational.
Stop The Bleed
A worthy cause.
As I’ve noted on Twitter several times, expertise in removing bullets from bodies does not confer any policy knowledge of how to prevent them from being inserted.
The Miscreant Who Got Us Into This Mess
Too few people know what a horrible person and president Woodrow Wilson was. Our first fascist dictator.
Parkinson’s Disease
Does the appendix play a role?
Interesting.
The New Space Regulatory Rules
Some thoughts from Laura Montgomery. Who I need to talk to about my space property-rights project.