Hans Koenigsmann at SpaceX just said in a press conference that he (or someone) is estimating a 75-80% chance of success, with the redesign of both the Falcon and the drone ship. And the pad-abort test is tentatively scheduled for May 2nd. Which is the final day of the Space Access conference. Cool, if it happens. It will give us something to talk about.
Yuri’s Night
If you’re in LA, this is the place to be.
Don’t go in hopes of seeing me. I can’t see spending money to be tortured with awful, loud music. But if you’re into that sort of thing, and what passes for dancing in this society, knock yourself out.
No, this has nothing to do with me being old (though I do seem, unaccountably, to be aging). I’ve never been into clubbing, or awful, loud music. The twenty-year-old me wouldn’t have gone, either.
Monday Space Events
If weather and other circumstances permit, SpaceX is flying to ISS on CRS-6, with another landing attempt, and in Colorado Springs, Tory Bruno will be announcing the design details and name of their Atlas replacement.
Cracking Down At DoJ
When a memo like this has to be issued, things have gone pretty far south. Isn’t it pretty much illegal everywhere except Nevada and some foreign countries? Why not just issue a more general memo that Department employees should obey the law?
Tech Titans And Life Extension
Here’s a good overview of what Google, Thiel and others are doing. I wish they’d stop calling it “immortality,” though. That’s not the goal, and if it were, it would be unrealistic. It’s just indefinite lifespan. As I often notes, expansion into space and extended lifespan go hand in hand.
[Update a while later]
Sorry, link was missing. Fixed now.
Hillary’s Stand On Free Trade
…changed after a donation to the Clinton Foundation.
Pure coincidence, I’m sure. Who could imagine Clintons being corrupt?
Campus Rape
Some thoughts on the increasingly insane environment on college campuses, and witch hunts in the media.
[Update a few minutes later]
“http://thefederalist.com/2015/04/09/to-lie-about-rape-is-to-enable-evil/”:
To lie about rape is to enable evil. There is no polite way around that fact. It’s not the job of survivors to package rape into a neat media package for liberals and conservatives to eviscerate each other with.
The terror clings to you. Facing it, reporting it, enduring the medical exams and procedures, and following the judicial process is unimaginably difficult. What Rolling Stone did was provide an assist to perpetrators, robbing survivors of credibility. It’s unconscionable. It degrades our shared existence as Americans.
They don’t care.
Why Go To The Moon
Makes as much sense as “…because it is hard.”
Losing Body Fat, Or Gaining Muscle?
If you focus on the muscle, the fat will come off naturally.
Scott Walker
Not a big challenge, but Obama’s unjustly arrogant condescension provided a good opportunity.
[Early afternoon update]
Iran pulls the rug from under Obama:
Obama says his doctrine is “we will engage,” but it looks like the actual doctrine is “we will be fooled.” Of course they insist that nobody will make a fool of them, however they reserve the right to make fools of themselves.
It’s painful to watch. It’s hard not to think that Iran is out to humiliate Barack Hussein Obama. With this calculated slight, they not only want to wipe the floor with his reputation, they want to see him crawl. And he probably will. Obama gave them Iraq, allowed Iran into Syria, permitted Hezbollah to take over Lebanon, and let them run him out of Yemen all in the expectation that Rouhani would give him his “game changer,” his “once in a lifetime deal.”
And now, after he’s handed in all that earnest money and proclaimed his purchase to the world, they won’t deliver the merchandise. He’s been had, pure and simple. They gave him a special surprise gift and he’s proudly opened it in front of relatives and friends, only to discover it contains a pile of … .
Iran knows he won’t fight, because he’s already scuttled his position in Iraq and allowed himself to be humiliated in Syria by drawing “red lines” with crayons. His “moderate rebel forces” in Syria have all defected to someone else. Iran watched America flee from Yemen, Obama’s counterinsurgency “model,” leaving a list of local U.S. intelligence agents to fall into their hands. Those men are probably being hunted down or dying in agony. Tehran probably gaped in amusement as he made enemies with their oldest ally in the Middle East, Israel, all for the sake of the agreement they have now thrown in his face.
But, but…legacy!