I’m heading off to Orlando for the International Space Development Conference. I’ll check in from there.
I’m No Munitions Expert, But…
OK, so I understand that if you want to quickly bust a bunker, you need a bunker buster. But what if there's no hurry? Because you completely dominate the skies? Why can't Israel just keep dropping more-conventional bombs, one after another, in each consecutive crater? Wouldn't…
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) June 17, 2025
El Segundo
Ignoring the dumb headline, Joel Kotkin has an interesting story on the new tech hub in the South Bay. I helped set up some of the plant visits for it.
The Marchers
I have to say it's so heartwarming to see so many people out today celebrating King Donald's birthday. #LongLiveTheKing #Blessed
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) June 14, 2025
The Real War Has Finally Begun
A good analysis of what’s been happening over the past day in Iran.
1. The Israel-Iran war: The first day.
— נדב איל Nadav Eyal (@Nadav_Eyal) June 13, 2025
We are now about 15 hours after Israel launched what it labels a *preventive strike* against the Islamic Republic of Iran – targeting its nuclear facilities and ballistic missile sites.
Here’s a short recap of what’s happened – and what…
It seemed pretty clear that something was going to happen when we evacuated embassies in the region.
[Update early afternoon]
Iran has been waging war on us for over 45 years, while we've been pretending they weren't so we didn't have to do anything about it. We got away with it because they hadn't yet developed the capability to hurt us other than killing our soldiers in the region (it certainly wasn't…
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) June 13, 2025
Iran has been launching retaliatory missile strikes against Tel Aviv, with most of them intercepted. I don’t think I’d want to be on Kharg Island on any day, but definitely not today.
Of Monasteries And Universities
A long but useful essay on the coming obsolescence of the current system of higher education.
Los Angeles
I generally avoid the city. The South Bay, with the resurgence of the space industry and many start ups, remains in better shape.
[Update late morning]
LA 2025: Welcome to America’s future.
I hope not.
Brian Wilson
RIP. From his home-town newspaper.
What’s Happening In California
This is a must watch to understand what is really happening in California. Thank you @shellenberger for breaking it down so succinctly 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/aKlziQJKnW
— Michelle Maxwell (@MichelleMaxwell) June 9, 2025
[Afternoon update]
The LA chaos is an illusion, and Trump will not fall for it.
On The Trump-Musk Feud
Beyond the Trump-Musk fallout?
— Victor Davis Hanson (@VDHanson) June 6, 2025
At first impression, it makes no sense that Musk would start firing away at the (admittedly imperfect) budget bill, or escalate to DefCon 1, by tweeting nonsense about impeachment, the Epstein files, or disengaging his space efforts from the U.S.…
Assuming that Trump is serious, wait until he hears that there's no Golden Dome or Mars without SpaceX.
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) June 5, 2025
[Saturday-evening update]
Sorry about the formatting issues. I’m trying to get used to the WordPress update, which munged everything up in terms of how I post. Among other things, it made it a lot more effort to insert HTML.