The Muslim Hum

David Solway has thoughts on living with it:

Our electrician is a fundamentally decent man, as are probably the majority of his fellow citizens whose views are shaped by skewed reporting and yellow journalism, and who share the same erroneous beliefs. Moreover, many do not enjoy sufficient disposable leisure to research the topics and issues on which they vote. I suspect that even if they did, however, they lack the interest, desire and will to educate themselves, to acquire a historical perspective and a grasp of the less obvious details that ultimately impinge on their well-being. Vigilance is a desideratum of informed citizenship.

Even more dispiriting, many do not want to hear the Muslim hum for what it is, instead attributing it to other sources or re-interpreting it as something it is not. Perhaps the hum is only an auditory hallucination or, for those with ears differently attuned, the hum is “really” a sweet and appealing melody. Robert Spencer recounts a recent instance of such a convenient transposition, involving a young woman affiliated with Georgetown University’s Saudi-funded Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. She was photographed at a Washington demonstration carrying a sign reading: “I’m a Christian and I LOVE the Quran.” The woman presumably believes, Spencer comments, “that Jesus is the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, who was crucified and rose from the dead for the salvation of the human race. Yet she is professing love for a book that not only denies all of that, but also insists that Christians are accursed, vile beings who should be waged war against until they submit to the hegemony of a group that believes differently.”

This may be an unaccommodating thing to say, but what one tends to find among the temporizers is a particularly daunting combination of ignorance, stupidity and self-infatuation. Such people do not want to recognize the peril before them since that would require the impulse to think, which is always hard, and the courage to act, which is never easy. Meanwhile, it’s obvious that ear mufflers won’t work against the Muslim detonations. Living beside a construction site is bad enough; living in a destruction site is infinitely worse.

Europe is learning this the hard way.

[Update a couple minutes later]

From early in the year, but related: Islamaphobia is a myth:

“Islamophobia is a code word for mainstream European elites’ fear of their own populations, of their native hordes, whom they imagine to be unenlightened, prejudiced, easily led by the tabloid media, and given to outbursts of spite and violence.”

Yes.

[Update late morning]

The perils of Islamic apologetics: “…it’s not my job to make Islam look good, or to argue that Islam “is a religion of peace,” when the reality is more complicated.”

You don’t say.

Refurbishing Rockets

Loren Grush talked to some Shuttle engineers to assess SpaceX’s chances. I’ve pointed out to several people on Twitter that Shuttle provides very little relevant experience.

[Mid-morning update]

I mentioned it in comments, but this piece I wrote at Popular Mechanics four and a half years ago is just as relevant today: Six False Lessons From The Space Shuttle:

…the reality is that the shuttle taught us nothing about the cost of a properly designed, fully reusable launch system, because that’s not what it was.

It’s a little depressing to see how well that holds up.

Reusing Rockets

I love the opening of this piece from James Dean:

In more than 65 years of launches from these shores, a rocket landing anywhere near its launch pads meant something had gone terribly wrong.

Not anymore.

Nope.

[Update a few minutes later]

He quotes Elon as saying that the rocket “costs” sixty million, but isn’t that the price? It has to cost less than that for them to make a profit. And I don’t think they’d want to reveal the actual cost, for business reasons, but it would be nice to know just how much margin they have, and how much they can reduce the price if it’s fully reusable.

[Update a few more minutes later]

And here we have an article from Mike Wall, where he quotes Elon as saying it cost $16M to build (if true, that gives them a huge profit margin and room to drop prices in the face of any competition). I saw others reporting that on Twitter on Monday, but no one really clarified if he said “sixty” or “sixteen.” It would be nice to get the actual number.

[Update a while later]

Here’s Miriam Kramer’s take.

[Update a couple minutes later]

And Jessica Orwig’s.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Rounding the Cape of Bojador.

[Afternoon update]

Here‘s SpaceflightNow’s take on it.

Biting Commentary about Infinity…and Beyond!