Looks like it’s been around since January, but Alan Wasser draws my attention to Colin Doughan’s Space Business Blog, where he has an interview with Alan on space property rights.
Category Archives: Political Commentary
Refined Carbohydrates
…worse for you than saturated fats?
I’ve thought this for years. The fataphobes, particularly the ones at the FDA, have a lot of illness and death to account for. The food pyramid is one of the big causes of the obesity epidemic, and it’s still awful, even with recent improvements. Of courses, we have a problem in that a healthy diet is an expensive one.
We Control The Horizontal
We control the analog output.
OK, I don’t get it. I don’t take the input for my audio receiver and recording devices from my television — it comes from my satellite receiver. Functionally, the television is just a video monitor. Are they saying that they’ll be cutting off analog output on the satellite receivers/cable boxes as well?
[Update a few minutes later]
OK, I think I understand now. They’re saying “set top-boxes,” so I guess that means the cable box (though apparently satellites are going to be a separate issue). That would probably also apply to digital fiber from Verizon or AT&T. And the sets that are affected are the ones without digital inputs? I still don’t see how this prevents piracy, unless you don’t have HDMI or other digital inputs to your DVD recorder.
Four Ways
…that Congress caused the financial crisis. And they seem determined to continue (completely leaving Fannie and Freddie out of the new legislation).
[Update a while later]
Some thoughts on popping bubbles and the demonization of short sellers by clueless politicians.
[Update mid afternoon]
Don’t know what happened to the second link above — it was working when I put it up.
Meanwhile, Matt Welch points out that we are out of money. Or more precisely, we are out of other peoples’ money, which is, as Lady Thatcher famously pointed out the point at which socialism quits working.
New Space News
The latest issue is out, with links galore.
E Pluribus Non Unum
You know, if you’re really going to have a protest against the display of your nation’s flag, maybe you should be living somewhere else. Do they really believe that this helps their cause?
Where Is My Critique?
You know, the essay I wrote at The New Atlantis last summer has been up for many months now, and I have never seen anyone critique it, with the exception of an idiotic attempt by Mark Whittington. I’ve received nothing but praise for the most part (which is why I wish more people would read it). The editor has also told me that he received no letters to the editor objecting to it. Is anyone aware of a serious, informed critical review? If there are none, I suspect that one of the reasons why is that I circulated drafts of it among a lot of smart people in the process of writing it.
The reason I ask is because I’m in the process of working up a book proposal, and I want to hone it, if there are any serious and useful issues with it, because a lot of the book will be based on it. And of course, people will be reviewing drafts of the book as well.
[Saturday morning update]
I’m not looking for suggestions for improvement (I have no plans to rewrite it or republish anywhere else). I’m looking for things that people think I actually got wrong.
Too Late For Me
Arizona is going to end its speeding camera program. I didn’t even know they had one, until I got a notice in the mail a few days ago with a picture of me at the wheel, on my way back from Space Access in Phoenix last month. Seventy one in a sixty zone.
I wonder how hard these are to challenge? With conventional tickets, you can demand a trial, and to see the calibration records on the radar, and such, and often win. Of course, being out of state, that would be a PITA.
One Good Result From The Oil Spill
It’s apparently, at least indirectly, killed climate legislation for this session.
Some Sanity From Jay Barbree
He has a surprisingly (for him — considering what an Ares koolaid drinker he’s been over the past few years) calm and objective assessment of the state of the new plan. I don’t know whether he’s right or not, but it’s politically plausible, for the near term. If we have to waste a few billion continuing to pretend to develop an Ares-based heavy lifter for a few years to keep the Florida rice bowls full, I can live with that, as long as the orbital technology funding doesn’t get starved for it. I’m still hoping that eventually, and before we sink too much money in that money pit, we’ll realize that we don’t need it. As for lunar landings and bases, there’s also plenty of time to change peoples’ minds on that. Everything planned for the deep-space missions will support it, and all we’ll need is a lander (which Masten and Armadillo, not to mention Blue Origin, are developing prototypes of now). If a fueling depot is established at L-1, that’s a natural time to decide whether to use it as a staging point for lunar surface activities.