It’s not a giant rabbit (and the name will likely be retired after this storm). When he’s not reporting on space, Eric Berger (a Houston resident) covers tropical storms. He says the rain outlook is grim.
The Permian Basin
An analyst says that it’s a virtually infinite source of oil.
There will be no peak oil, just peak oil demand. https://t.co/wmEDGeboJE
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) August 25, 2017
And it’s bad news for bad people around the world.
[Update a few minutes later]
Mexico’s largest shale field is now open for business. In theory, this should help the economy down there as well, and perhaps relieve the pressure to emigrate. But the place is still pretty corrupt.
The Hunley
Sounds like the crew died in a classic southern “hold mah beer” moment.
The Latest Internet Meme
My space take:
Distracted NASA pic.twitter.com/lI6vp6ctIw
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) August 25, 2017
Feline Personality Traits
New York University
This account of life there reads like something from the Soviet Union:
This is daft, certainly. Even funny, in a macabre way. But it also raises a serious point: the university experience in America is now not one that will adequately prepare students for real life. In real-life democracy, people disagree — and normally they don’t die or suffer emotional injury because of it. In normal life, there’s no reason not to like someone with whom you disagree politically. On campus, opinions are often ontology: you are what you think. But this is dangerous logic: if I hate what you think, I must hate what you are.
Who is going to want to hire these people?
[Update a few minutes later]
“American higher ed is rapidly becoming a worldwide joke. What if the high-dollar foreign students stop coming?”
[Update a couple minutes later]
This seems related: Video shows that Millennials support socialism even if it results in starvation.
Totality
Here’s the difference between 99% and 100%.
This is the difference between 99% & 100% totality. Literally, night & day. So stoked I was able to capture this fleeting moment! #eclipse pic.twitter.com/v84kaug2gj
— Amy Ulivieri (@amyULo) August 22, 2017
[Friday-morning update]
“I’ve always thought eclipse chasers—these people who spend thousands of dollars flying around the world to spend two minutes looking at a solar eclipse—were a little nutty. I mean, that’s a little extreme, right? If you want to see what a solar eclipse looks like, type solar eclipse into Google.”
“I was wrong.”
Afghanistan
Trump has no strategy there.
But to be fair, he has no strategy in general. He’s more of a tactics kind of guy, which sometimes work, and often don’t.
[Update a few minutes later]
“We Will Fight In Afghanistan Until Victorious, Or I Change My Mind, Get Distracted, Look Bad, Or Get Bored.”
The “Pipeline” From Libertarianism To The “Alt-Right”
Nick Gillespie says it doesn’t exist.
[Afternoon update]
The real reason that libertarians become “fascists.”
Scientific “Consensus”
Why we should expect scientists to disagree. In general, science is much more complex than many people are comfortable with.