A bionic hornet that can locate, chase, photograph, and then terminate individual terrorists.

A new tale of the Serenity, in the style of South Park.

Donald Lambro suggests that the Dems are not yet officially in power and their agenda of appeasement abroad and socialism at home is already in trouble.

Is Nancy Pelosi the Jimmy Carter of our generation?

This piece in the Guardian is a bit hyper about the proposed Orion asteroid mission, suggesting that it might be sent to divert a killer rock. Of course, if an Orion could--say--set up a mass driver to divert an asteroid into a very high, safe Earth orbit and that astroid had a lot of minerals that were useful for future space colonies, the cost of government run space exploration could be paid for decades. Just one small, one mile rock, 3554 Amun, has thirty times more metal than has ever been mined on Earth in human history with a worth of about twenty trillion dollars.

John Edwards, former Senator, former candidate for President and then Vice President, future candidate for President, is trying to make a splash shaking down Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart claims and Edwards denies that this fact didn't stop Edwards from also trying to score a Play Station 3 from his local Wal-Mart.

Addendum: Edwards is now blaming the gaffe on a volunteer.

Milton Friedman RIP. A great champion of free markets has passed from the Earth.

His books are still classics on the virtues of free market capitalism:


Addendum: And who of a certain age does not remember watching Free to Choose on PBS back about 1980 with rapt attention. My favorite bit was in one of the panel sessions after one of the episodes when Thomas Sowell, a black economist, a conservative, and a protege of Dr. Friedman gave this liberal white woman a smack down for claiming she knew best what black folks needed.

The GOP in Opposition, in which, like everyone else, I give out free political advice.

I have to say, Pelosi is certainly off to an entertaining start as Speaker to Be.

Stephen Hess, senior fellow emeritus in governance studies at the Brookings Institution, told Cybercast News Service on Wednesday that supporting Murtha was highly risky for the first woman in line to become House speaker.

Should the Pennsylvania congressman be defeated in Thursday's vote, Pelosi would "clearly - in her first effort to win over her caucus - [have] sustained a very serious loss" that could make her appear weak, Hess said.

On the other hand, "if he wins, she has a person as her deputy who has a very murky ethical past" that could be the target of investigations by Congress and the press.

I can hardly wait to see what the new year brings.

Addendum: Looks like Hoyer is in as House Majority Leader. First defeat for Pelosi.

Even before returning to the Moon, an Orion might be sent to an Earth approaching asteroid.

Did the sword smiths of Damascus use carbon nanontube material to forge their weapons a thousand years ago?

This is a far more useful exercise than fighting with NASA over hardware.

The most disappointing thing about the state of the Centennial Challenges is that the pro-frontier/pro-NewSpace community hasn't made Congress change its position.

Given the importance we have all attached to prizes and new ways of NASA/USG doing things in space, the tepid response of this community and its inability to raise enough pressure to get the prizes funded shows we are either too weak to effect significant change, too disorganized to do so, or we simply don't care or aren't willing to put our muscle where our mouth is.

We have a few weeks to put that pressure on and bring one home for the cause. The leaders of this community, including many of the great bloggers out there, need to wake up and make this happen. We need to both focus attention on the committee(s) involved and on NASA to fight for one of the brightest spots in its otherwise dark future. This isn't about who does the prizes or competes for them, or even how soon anyone wins, it is about the concept of trying something new with hundreds of years of proven track record, changing how we do space, supporting the fledgling NewSpace industries and movement, and showing that those of us who care about humanity's future in space is worth fighting for.

Of course it is a bit early, but if Senator Reid falls, the Senate would flip control since the incoming Governor of Nevada, Jim Gibbons, is a Republican and would presumably appoint a Republican in Reid's place.

NASA's strategy for exploring the Moon is still taking shape.

John Birmingham, he who wrote the Axis of Time Novels, has posted the Marine Corps Rules for Gun Fighting.

1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.

2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.

3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough nor using cover correctly.

5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)

6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.

9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun.

10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

12. Have a plan.

13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work.

14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.

15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.

16. Don't drop your guard.

17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.

18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.

19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.

20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.

23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a "4."

Then, of course, there are the Navy Rules for Gun Fighting.

1. Go to Sea

2. Send the Marines

3. Drink Coffee

Stacy Bartley sends this further news about the new direct to DVD Babylon 5 feature.

NASA responds to stories about problems with the Ares 1.

So where are we today, specifically on the issue of what the launch vehicle can lift and what the Orion is allowed to weigh?

First, the latest set of analyses indicate that the Ares I can lift 58 klbm to the program-specified injection point of -30 x 100 nmi. This number PROTECTS worst case propulsion performance on the first and second stage.

This compares favorably to the requirement that we specified for the Ares I to inject 52.1 klbm.

The Orion team is working to a control mass of NGT 48.4 klbm. They in turn carry margin within that allocation ranging between approximately 10-20% for mass growth as the design process proceeds.

Further, we have been fairly conservative on the amount of propellant we will load in the Orion Service Module for the lunar missions.

Both the Ares I performance and the Orion control mass are 'watch items' on our list of top program risks. This is NORMAL for any such development effort ... mass delivered to space has been and will always be a source of risk for any spaceflight project or program.

So, if all is well, then where are the stories about the Ares 1 being on the edge of catastrophe coming from?

With a combination of stupidity and arrogance that borders on the fantastic, the Senate is once again refusing to confirm John Bolton as UN Ambassador. This is despite the fact that he has proven very successful in representing our interest in that corrupt body.

President Bush could renew Bolton's tenure as another recess appointment. However, Bolton would have to serve without pay. Hugh Hewitt proposes raising funds to pay Ambassador Bolton by private donation.

The Moon has no global magnetic field as does the Earth. But there are local magnetic fields scattered about the Moon that might prove very useful.

S. M. Stirling's new novel, The Sky People, is now out. The premise is that history proceeded the same as in our world until about the early 1960s when we discovered that both Venus and Mars were habitable. The Sky People is set on a Venus filled with jungles and such like.