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.
Category Archives: Technology and Society
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.
Blue Origin Speaks
It’s time for NASA to get out of the launch business.
I’ve only been saying this for over two decades.
Don’t read the comments, though.
[Tuesday-morning update]
Bob Zimmerman is very encouraged about the future of America in space.
Light posting today if at all, because I’ll be at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach all day.
[Thursday-morning update]
Bob has a follow up post. I do think the proposal to reduce crew size on the ISS is penny-wise pound-foolish.
Elon’s Presentation On Mars Plans
Bob Zimmerman has it, and summarizes.
Flight 8 Report
With approval for another flight as early as next week, SpaceX has released a report on what happened on the last two flights, and what they’ve done to prevent a repeat of either.
[Tuesday-morning update]
For those with X, Elon is about to talk about getting multi-planetary, as a prelude to this afternoon’s launch attempt. For the Xless, just go to SpaceX.com.
[Update a few minutes later]
It just changed the start time from 1015 PDT to 1800. So after the flight, instead of before?
Return To Flight
FAA has approved Starship’s return to flight. pic.twitter.com/NtxV5TY9jz
— Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline) May 22, 2025
The Next Starship Flight
…won’t be catching the booster.
Wasting Away In Wind and Solarville
It’s tragic how politicized the energy industry has become, due to the climate commies.
Lunar Water
An interesting essay. I’m working with several people to pursue LASSO. It’s primarily a tech demo for low-altitude lunar orbit, but if it works, we could get a good map of the resource.