What If the Cuban Missile Crisis Had Started a Nuclear War?

J.K. Rowling tells fanciful story about turning down space trip 'on the shuttle'

Boat to sail the methane oceans of Titan developed by European Scientists

'Looper' Explores the Violent Implications of Time Travel

Firefly and Lessons in Contract Law

Contract formation consists of 1) Offer; 2) Acceptance; 3) Consideration; and 4) Performance. In the world of Firefly, it was often 1) Offer 2) Acceptance 3) Gunfight (also known as breach).

Paul Spudis has a new blog, Spudis Lunar Resources where he'll discuss policy and political matters related to space, retaining his Once and Future Moon blog for more science oriented topics.

First up, a critique of the L2 space station.

Supreme Court to Hear University of Texas Affirmative Action Case

Netanyahu Brings Moral Clarity on Iranian Nukes to the UN

Mars Curiosity Finds Direct Evidence Water Once Flowed on the Red Planet

Obama Phones and How They May Impact the Election

'Elementary' Brings Sherlock Holmes to Modern New York

'The Big Bang Theory' Returns with 'The Date Night Variable'

Also How 'The Big Bang Theory' depicts space travel

George W. Bush Gets New Respect, but Still Some Blame

NASA Awards Asteroid Mining Feasibility Study Contract

Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring': 50 Years of Death and Suffering

Bob Zubrin takes a shot as well.

Mia Love Gets Racism and a Double Standard for Running for Office

'South Park' Returns with 'Sarcastaball'

Soprano Sarah Brightman to make 'ground breaking space travel announcement'

I speculate that Brightman may not just be the latest person to go to the ISS. She might be the second passenger to sign up for Space Adventures' around the moon trip. I can imagine a live musical performance while the Soyuz is looping around the moon. It would be about the coolest thing ever.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's National Debt Body Art Causes Kerfuffle

Movement seen toward a commercial space port in Brownsville, Texas

NASA Mulls Mars Sample Return Mission in Face of Obama Funding Cuts

Actually, Being Immortal Wouldn't Suck

Madonna's Strange Endorsement of Barack Obama

Mars Curiosity Examines First Mars Rock, Moves on Toward Glenelg

Now someone in Colorado is hanging an empty chair.

Despite Political Advantage, Romney Campaign Attentive to Texas

For the Best of Reasons, Michelle Obama is Starving Our Children

Howard Stern's People Asks Obama Supporters Some Leading Questions

Castle and Beckett Finally Do it and a Surprising Villain is Revealed

The Man from Mars -- Chapter One

SpaceX conducts first test of Grasshopper reusable rocket prototype

Left Wing Dramas, 'Homeland' and 'Game Change,' Clean Up at the Emmys

Apparently "Game Change" beat out both "Hatfields and McCoys" and "Sherlock" both better and more popular shows. This suggests the real reason why the screed won the Emmys

Newt Gingrich Gives Tepid Support for Romney Space Policy

Sleep Apnea Likely Derailed Rick Perry's Presidential Campaign

Obama's Weakness Enhances Prospect of Middle East, Pacific Wars

Even Though Romney's Taxes Much Ado About Nothing, Harry Reid is Still Mad

Can Ron Moore Make a Great TV Series Out of 'A Knight's Tale?'

Deep space station beyond lunar far side proposed by NASA to White House

Different approach to NASA space program proposed in Romney white paper

Keith Cowing beclowns himself with the title of his post on the subject "Romney Adopts Obama Space Policy." His rationale:

But when they get into details (commerce) they want to do what the Obama folks are already doing.

The problem is, that is not true. The Romney paper mentions creating a benign regulatory environment, buying goods and services from the commercial sector, and even expeditious technology transfers. It does not mention the president's Solyndra-like program of heavy government subsidies. Keith is just being a delusional partisan by suggesting that Romney would just adopt Obama's approach to commercial space and move on. Romney, unlike the people who surround the current president, understands what makes private business work.

Clint Eastwood's 'Trouble with the Curve' a Pleasent Outing

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Announces 'Moon Shot' Against Eight Cancers

House Passes Bill to Let Apollo Astronauts Keep Space Artifacts

Why the Obama Administration Pakistan PSA is Unwise

Hollywood Stars Pledge Allegience to Obama

Republican lawmakers propose 'Space Leadership Act' NASA reform bill

The Houston Chronicle has the text of the bill.

Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk Dream of Private Mars Settlements

Austin Homeowner Hangs Empty Chair in Effigy in Anti-Obama Protest

Space Shuttle Endeavour stop in Houston bitter-sweet for NASA space workers

How Young Obama Successfully Defended a Chicago Slum Lord

How Obama Raised Taxes on the Poor and Middle Class

NASA's Bolden accuses critics of 'undermining' American space program

Supreme Court Allows Texas to Use Interim Redistricting Map for 2012 Election

Debate: Should Religion Be Allowed on Board a Starship?

Addendum: Rev Carpenter responds

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Obama Campaign Endorses Maureen Dowd 'Anti-Semitic' Column

Obama's Belief in 'Redistribution' is Bad, but Not Shocking

In 'Covert Affairs' Annie Walker Crosses the Line

Paul Sadler Runs as a Champion of Government in Texas

NASA awards contract to study NanoThor tether deployed satellites

NASA Space Experts Call for an End to the Robots Vs. Humans Debate

How Romney Could Appeal to the '47 Percent' of Government Dependents

Why Releasing Omar Abdel-Rahman, the 'Blind Sheikh,' is a Bad Idea

If Only 'The Mob Doctor' was as Interesting as 'House'

How 'Bones' Came in from the Cold and Egypt Gained a Cyber Terrorist

Ron Paul Speaks Out on Causes of Benghazi Massacre, Middle East Turmoil

NASA Scientists to Begin Warp Drive Experiments

How Jeffrey MacDonald May Get Justice and Sarah Palin Revenge

One Year Later, Occupy Wall Street a Shadow of Its Former Self

How the liberal critics of the Apollo program were proven wrong

Addendum: Rand Simberg clearly did not read article I was responding to with any comprehension. Otherwise he would not post things like this:

Most people don’t realize how close it came to not happening, which is why they foolishly insist on trying to do it again.

But here's a quote from the piece that shows that if anyone is being foolish, it's Rand

Polls both by USA Today and Gallup have shown support for the moon landing has increased the farther we've gotten away from it. 77 percent of people in 1989 thought the moon landing was worth it; only 47 percent felt that way in 1979.

That means support for Apollo and by extension space exploration projects like it have actually increased since the 1960s. Suggesting that we should not use the model for space exploration because of fifty year old polling data is sort of like suggesting we should not fight a war ever again because of Vietnam or that the Great Society is still a great idea because government poverty programs were popular in the 1960s.

The problem is that the Apollo model worked. Kennedy set the goal and the goal was achieved. Liberals opposed (and still do) Apollo because they don't particularly care for space exploration. Libertarians claim that they like space exploration, but only through a particular unproven model of Solyndra or Obama's commercial crew.

Mind, if I were made Space Czar, I would modify the Apollo model a little bit to include both international and commercial partnership. But stating a clearly defined goal and pursuing it with adequate resources and a coherent plan works every time.

How Memories of a Journey to Egypt Have Turned Bitter-Sweet

Sequestration could devastate NASA programs

NASA to Study Building Spacecraft in Space with 3D Printing

University of Texas Campus Evacuated Due to Bomb Threat

Obama Administration Reaction to Middle East Crisis Incompetent

Super PAC Head: Liberals Prefer Name-Calling to Policy Disputes

As Neil Armstrong is memorialized, a vision of what might have been

Addendum: Ashes buried at sea.

I don't always drink beer, but ever since my wife told me that it tastes horrible, when I do it is never Dos Equis. Now, another reason to doubt the "most interesting man in the world."

Mitt Romney Refuses to Rally Around the President

Confusion Arises About NASA's Space Exploration Plans

Sunken Civil War Ship USS Hatteras Imaged by Sonar in Gulf of Mexico

Why There Really Needs to Be a 'Covert Affairs'/'Burn Notice' Crossover

Watchdog Group Gives Ron Paul 'Dishonorable Mention' in Corruption Report

NASA: Cost of Operating Space Launch System $500 Million Per Launch

Obama State Department Responds to Embassy Attacks with Appeasement

Obama Response to '2016: Obama's America' Too Late

JFK's 'We choose to the moon' speech commemorated

NASA's Garver lists moon as goal for astronauts against Obama space policy

Rand Simberg thinks I'm confused and that the president's very clear and specific exclusion of the moon was an "off-hand, off-teleprompter" remark about policy. I have to admit that Rand is actually right that I am a little confused. But then so is he, so is Garver, and so is the president. That is because the policy, such as it is, is confused. More than one respondent has suggested that the real policy is to not have any American beyond LEO for the foreseeable future. I can certainly agree with that judgment.

Christine Ha, a Blind Cook from Houston, Wins 'MasterChef'

Aerospace Experts Step Up Criticism of Obama NASA Space Policy

What If the 9/11 Attacks Had Not Happened?

Bear-Hugging the President and Why Pizza Should Remain Above Politics

Julian Castro Basks in Newfound Fame as Family Controversy Looms

Water on Mars May Not Mean Life, but May Mean Trouble

Taylor Dinerman has some helpful suggestions for fixing space policy for Mitt Romney should he become president. Some are obvious, such as returning to the back to the moon then on to Mars goal. However, there is this little gem:

It should be noted that both of NASA's commercial programs, COTS and the CCP, have been carried out under the "Space Act Agreement" law. This legislation has enabled the COTS and CCP contractors to build their vehicles to fill NASA crew and cargo transportation needs without having to fulfill the costly and time consuming requirements of the Federal Acquisition Regulations. This raises the question: Why doesn't NASA ask all its contractors to work under the Space Act Agreement rules?

Indeed.

Addendum: In the meantime Paul Spudis gives the so-called "New Space" rent seekers the back of his hand.

Addendum 2: Mike Griffin adds a lengthy and sober critique of the current administration's space policy. Rand Simberg is annoyed as are many of the people leaving comments. I am hard pressed, though, to read anything in Dr. Griffin's talk that could be argued with or is at variance with known facts. But arguing with "New Space" people is often like trying to tell a flat Earther that the world is round. They just get mad.

Chicago Should Fire Striking Teachers, Convert to Charter Schools

President Obama was Against 'Medicare Vouchers' Before He was for Them

'Star Trek into Darkness': What Does the Title Mean?

Environmentalist opposition to SpaceX Brownsville spaceport persists

Space vs. poverty debate in India similar to one raging in the United States

Apparently back in the 1970s 400 Islamist rebels took on nine British SAS commandos in Oman. They regretted their folly fairly soon.

The FBI Thought Ray Bradbury Might Have Been a Communist

NASA's 'Mighty Eagle' soars 100 feet, lands autonomously

'Revolution': J.J. Abrams' Post Apocalyptic Mystery Thriller

If all of the presidents got into a Hunger Games style knife brawl, who would win? Who indeed?

The end of the world in cinema.

Final Flight of NASA's Space Shuttle Endeavour Causes Debate

Controversy Surrounding Impending Opening of 85 mph Toll Road in Texas

John Kerry Defends Obama Foreign Policy, Disses Sarah Palin

Story About the President's Mother and the Insurance Company Misleading

President Obama Delivers Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing

Obama campaign takes credit for congressional mandated NASA Space Launch System

Study: Neptune's Moon Triton May Have Subsurface Ocean

Democrats from Deep Red Texas Cope at the Charlotte Convention

Sandra Fluke is Still Affronted by Those Meanies Rush Limbaugh and Mitt Romney

God, Jerusalem, and the Sullying of the Democratic Party

Bill Clinton Shows Once Again How He is Without Shame

NASA's Dawn Departs Vesta, Headed for Ceres

Space Pioneers, O Space Pioneers

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro Delivers Biography, Red Meat at DNC Keynote Speech

Obama Flunks, Giving Himself an 'Incomplete' on Economy

Why the Democrats Left 'Jerusalem' and 'God' Out of Their Platform

Addendum: Jerusalem back in. More anon.

Addendum 2: Also God.

I'm not sure which is more frightening, that they believe it or if they said it.

This decides it. Who could go against Chuck Norris?

Michelle Obama Delivers Formulaic Speech with Passion and Finesse

If you even watch this video, you're probably a racist...

Texas Companies Team with Norwegian Firm to Build Robotic Oil Rigs

Obama, Romney Respond About Space in Science Debate 2012

'National Empty Chair Day' Mocks President Obama

Addendum: Sarah Palin gets in on the fun

Organic Food Not Worth the Extra Cost or Effort

Democrats vague about NASA's 'new mission' in party platform

What if Neil Armstrong Had Died on the Moon?

Also: The Death of Neil Armstrong and the Past and Future of Space Exploration

Paul Sadler Goes Negative in Texas Senate Contest Against Ted Cruz

Mr. President, Sometimes Older Ideas are Better

Things I Would like to See Banned

Coming Soon, an Obama Micro Brewery?

From Down Under, ruminations on the great age of space exploration that might have been via Paul Spudis. It is my belief that it is a tragedy that Neil Armstrong's passing was not marked with ceremony at a lunar base that bore his name.

110 years ago today, the first movie about a voyage to the moon was released in France

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More questions raised about Romney's lack of a NASA space policy

'2016: Obama's America' -- the President as Anti-Colonialist