How many lives would have been saved over the past four decades if this study had been interpreted properly?
The Future Of Space Construction
Is the ISS the last aluminum spacecraft?
Maybe for spacecraft launched from earth, but I think it partly depends on sources of materials. There’s a lot of aluminum on the moon, and not much carbon.
Donald Trump Versus Howard Roark
If Trump really is an Ayn Rand fan, I suspect it’s because (like other Democrats) he views The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged as how-to manuals, rather than cautionary tales.
The Space Renaissance Act
Bridenstine has introduced his bill. It has its own domain. Haven’t read yet, but will have thoughts when I have.
Space Exploration’s Impact On Society
The NASA History Office has issued a new book, that is quite long, but has some interesting-looking essays in it.
Nuclear Power
Why it’s time to dispel the myths about it.
Long past time, I’d say. The Guardian has had surprisingly good science and technology coverage lately.
The CEI Subpoena
I flew to Denver yesterday from Phoenix after the conference, and drove down to Colorado Springs for the National Space Symposium, which has a crazy schedule of events, so blogging will be light. I haven’t talked about the insanity of what the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands (and others AGs) are attempting to do, but Megan McArdle has some thoughts:
I support action on climate change for the same reason I buy homeowner’s, life and disability insurance: because the potential for catastrophe is large. But that doesn’t mean I’m entitled to drive people who disagree with me from the public square. Climate activists have an unfortunate tendency to try to do just that, trying to brand dissenters as the equivalent of Holocaust deniers.
It’s an understandable impulse. It seems easier to shut down dissenters than to persuade people to stop consuming lots and lots of energy-intensive goods and services.
But history has had lots and lots of existentially important debates. If you thought that only the One True Church could save everyone from Hell, the Reformation was the most existentially important debate in human history. If you thought that Communist fifth columnists were plotting to turn the U.S. into Soviet Russia, that was also pretty existentially important. We eventually realized that it was much better to have arguments like these with words, rather than try to suppress one side of them by force of law.
Unfortunately those who wield the law forget that lesson, and we get cases like the CEI subpoena, intended to silence debate by hounding one side. The attorney general doesn’t even need to have the law on his side; the process itself can be the punishment, as victims are forced to spend immense amounts on legal fees, and immense time and money on complying with investigations. (And if the law were on the attorney general’s side in a case like this, then that’s a terrible law, and it should be overturned.)
“The process itself can be the punishment.” Gee, where have we heard that before?
[Update mid-afternoon]
Not to mention, Attorneys General, that conspiring against free speech is a crime.
Laws are for the little people.
A Cruz Defeat Of Trump
In comments I was asked why Cruz should be preferred. This seems like a pretty good argument to me.
Elon’s Good Week
First he sells several billion dollars worth of cars, then he lands a rocket on a ship, live on television, while throwing a private expandable hab into orbit.
From SpaceX’s standpoint, they now have another used rocket that they will almost certainly refly, for testing if not another operational mission.
If I could retweet this x100 I would. Space Access! https://t.co/oWuMBkj8tO
— The High Frontier (@thehighfrontier) April 8, 2016
[Update a while later]
I tweeted prior to flight that they were probably expecting a successful landing, given that (unlike last time) they weren’t downplaying chances of success. Nice to see Elon confirm that.
[Update a few minutes later]
Russian Actors And Seminar Callers
An interesting theory about the Trump phenomenon:
No doubt some of the protestors at Trump events protesting against Trump were also paid protestors. But what if much of the social agitation online for Trump is manufactured?
On radio, I assure you it is. Last Tuesday night, my radio show saw a wave of callers calling in to complain about what I was saying that very night on radio. The callers assured my call screener they were listening. The calls were coming from area codes all over the nation and they were very angry about what I had just said on the radio that very night about Trump.
I was on vacation. The guest host had been talking about local matters and had not even mentioned Trump. Hello, seminar callers. Likewise, many of the calls to my radio station demanding I be fired or disciplined for insulting Trump have come from people making statements about my radio show that clearly indicate they have not listened to the show or the station.
Similarly, whenever I get a wave of emails attacking me for things about Trump, frequently the same IP address pops up. On Twitter, the waves come from people with rarely used or new Twitter accounts that are suddenly all in for Trump — every tweet an attack against someone or Trump propaganda. More often than not, the accounts have pictures of someone other than the the person tweeting and most do not use real names.
Certainly it could be people with low social connectedness, as Michael Barone has noted, but it sure seems odd to suddenly get a a wave of #whitegenocide tweets from accounts that are just suddenly active and all in to attack people who oppose Trump.
Donald Trump right now has support from about 35% of the smaller of the two American political parties. That is different from 35% of the nation as a whole. His polling is so terrible, Utah, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, and other states become in play for Hillary Clinton in ways they would not with a different candidate.
But his supporters are convinced they are actually a majority because they have entered an echo chamber (and a cult) where everyone agrees with them, they are the loudest voices, and they don’t see anyone online who can stand up to the overwhelming presence of Trump support. Everywhere they turn there are more people just like them.
Given that Trump has only the support of a third of the smaller of the two American political parties, that level of support makes no sense unless there is more than meets the eye.
I think this is definitely a part of it.