Wow.
Thanks for the birthday wishes. Here is what I wrote in 2010 about Challenger.
[Update a while later]
On the thirtieth anniversary, there were still lessons to be learned. In fact, many remain to be learned today, on the thirty-seventh.
Wayne Hale has been reposting his remembrances of the loss of Columbia.
Asteroids may be a bigger problem than we thought.
One thought: Weave a giant net out of space-sourced materials and consolidate it, then tow with a gravity tractor. Or hell, a gravity tractor would probably work without the net.
Last week’s Beyond Earth Institute seminar is on line.
No, we don’t know more about the moon than the sea bottom. We haven’t even started to drill it.
Thoughts from Joel Kotkin:
…to thrive and evolve, these firms need a more positive business climate, Sadeghi says. Attempts to impose a wealth tax would not fit into the plans of aspiring entrepreneurs, some of whom have already exited the state.
The Legislature is also mulling over a proposal to reduce the workweek to four days or 32 hours, and has already passed a host of bills meant to regulate small businesses, such as fast-food outlets. This will not help encourage entrepreneurs to start businesses here.
Essentially, California can go one of two ways. It can continue on its current path, toxic for its middle and working classes, driving away even long-established businesses, and hope that another tech bubble will come around to pay the price for immiseration. Or it can focus, as it has before, on improving basic infrastructure such as roads and water, and on creating opportunities for entrepreneurial ventures that will benefit the state’s citizens and communities.
Unfortunately, my money’s on continuing on the current path.
Leonard David interviews Tim Dodd.
Wayne Hale is going to republish some of his blog posts leading up to this year’s anniversaries (it will be the twentieth anniversary of the loss of Columbia).
I left a comment over there. Perrow was right.
Withdrawing from the Moon Agreement is a pretty big deal. Let’s hope it leads to a stampede.