Monday, December 31, 2012

Happy New Year. May this one be better than the last one.

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Best way to recycle a Christmas tree ever.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

It is a sad commentary when a court in France is more sensible about government overreach that the United States Supreme Court. Anyway, Via Le France!

A liberal senator gets a damn fine thumping from a real reporter when he tries to tap dance about the fiscal cliff.

For your Christmas viewing pleasure, a documentary on the making of "A Charlie Brown Christmas," one of the best TV Christmas specials ever. One interesting factoid: the network hated Linus quoting from the Book of Luke, but not for the reasons one might think. Remember, it was a different era.

Merry Christmas to one and all.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Now some crazy person wants President Obama to withdraw from the Outer Space Treaty and claim the moon as sovereign American territory.

Addendum: The 'Claim the Moon' White House Petition - Why I Did It

Addendum 2: Rand Simberg, whose own ill-considered space property rights proposal was such an embarrassment, screams and leaps.

Addendum 3: Bob Zimmerman is much more supportive.

Bumped

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

For your edification, the complete 1980s miniseries "Amerika" which depicted the United States under Soviet occupation. It was, to say the least, controversial and has not be aired since. But it is now apparently available in 13 parts thanks to YouTube. The series starred Kris Kristofferson as a John Kerry like Senator who is put in the American Gulag and Sam Neil as a somewhat sympathetic KGB agent.

Union thugs engaged in violence and terrorism, which will no doubt be blamed on some video or perhaps Sarah Palin.

Monday, December 10, 2012

Proof positive that Sarah Palin still terrifies the left, coming for 2013, an alternate history novel called "Christian Nation." Here is the blurb:

“They said what they would do, and we did not listen. Then they did what they said they would do.”

So ends the first chapter of this brilliantly readable counterfactual novel, reminding us that America’s Christian fundamentalists have been consistently clear about their vision for a “Christian Nation” and dead serious about acquiring the political power to achieve it. When President McCain dies and Sarah Palin becomes president, the reader, along with the nation, stumbles down a terrifyingly credible path toward theocracy, realizing too late that the Christian right meant precisely what it said.

One is chillingly reminded of the persecution of non Christians that occurred in Alaska when Palin was that state's governor...oh, wait a minute. That didn't happen. In any case, it is hard not to laugh at such fancies when one is living in a real life dystopia run by left wingers.

Ayn Rand's John Galt as a secular Jesus Christ?

Saturday, December 08, 2012

Now some libs think that Obama might "cave," though it seems to be a unique definition of the term.
A movie based on the life of Arminius, the German warlord who ambushed three Roman legions and thus destroyed the Roman Empire's power in Germany beyond the Rhine is now in development. It is said to be kind of like "Braveheart," but with legionaries instead of English knights.

Friday, December 07, 2012

Today is the anniversary of two events, one horrible and the other magnificent albeit bitter sweet.

I wrote Meditations on Pearl Harbor Day four years ago and Pearl Harbor Birthed Modern Super Power in America two years ago.

Two years ago, I wrote about Apollo 17 which departed to the moon 40 years ago, No one has been back since.

Star Trek: Into Darkness Trailer

Some production footage from "Game of Thrones" Season Three:

Sunday, December 02, 2012

Currently reading the following:

My call for a new tea party uprising is starting to bear fruit
Opposition to Obamacare fueled the Tea Party wave of 2009-2010. The next wave will include continued opposition to Obamacare, along with other fiscal issues, The Tea Party tsunami at the gates. The fight over Obamacare as a law ended when Chief Justice John Roberts enganged in mental gymnastics to uphold the law under Congress’ taxing authority, and then again when Obama’s reelection removed any possibility of complete repeal. The fight over Obamacare now is over implementation. There are inherent problems in the law itself which will raise popular ire, but the battle now is over exchanges and other aspects of implementation. One of the first orders up is whether states will implement the Obamacare exchanges, or let it default to the federal government, which will have a difficult time doing so. Only 13 states have taken steps to set up the exchanges, and 17 state governors have declared an intention not to set up exchanges. One state where there is a disconnect between the population and the governor is Tennessee, where Governor Bill Haslam is wavering. The Lt. Governor has come out against implementation. In response, a variety of groups led by local Tea Party organizations are organizing rallies for December 5,

Friday, November 30, 2012

How Looper should have ended...

What has Mars Curiosity found anyway?

Addendum: NASA downplays 'earthshaking' Mars Curiosity discovery

Friday, November 23, 2012

A heart warming Thanksgiving story:

A retired officer in the Saudi Navy strongly suggests that the Arabs rethink their hatred of Israel and start concentrating on improving the lives of their own people.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Monday, November 19, 2012

Rand Simberg is considering a Kickstarter bleg to finance the publication of his book on space safety, currently entitled "Safe Is Not An Option: How Our Futile Obsession To Bring Everyone Back Is Killing Spaceflight"

The first thing I would lose is the title. Something like "Spaceflight Should Be Dangerous" or "The Price of Space Admiralty" with apologies to Kipling.

Dumb ways to die...

Saturday, November 17, 2012

For all you fans of the Twilight series of books and movies, a different kind of vampire, Gabriella Doria

Charlotte Allen makes the case for Sarah Palin running for president in 2016. She's pretty much hated by the establishment. But we ran with their candidate and now see how that turned out.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

This is how missile defense works.

Report: commercial astronauts may beat NASA and China back to the moon by 2020

Addendum: Predictably Rand Simberg has gone orgasmic.

If this is true, it’s going to make it harder for NASA to justify SLS. Or even being in the human spaceflight business at all. We’ll soon see, perhaps. December isn’t far off.

Actually, no. Rand did not quote the part of the article that suggested that the current thinking on space exploration involves heavy lift and fuel depots. We don't have any details about the venture or who is involved. So it is a little premature to predict the death of NASA as a space exploration agency.

The first two installments of SyFy's web movie "Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome" are now up.

Rand Simberg is spinning fairy tales of secret plans to scrap the heavy lift Space Launch System in favor of the latest scheme to put more money into Elon Musk's pocket, fuel depots in space supplied by "commercial" launches. If such a plan were to even be proposed it would be proof (if it was needed) that space policy under Obama is driven by politics and graft. But it would not fly otherwise because (a) it's unworkable and much more expensive and risky than some people pretend and (b) Congress will never go for it.

Tuesday, November 06, 2012

God help us.

Monday, November 05, 2012

My predictions, for what they are worth:

Romney: 51 percent

Obama: 48 Percent

Romney 300+ electoral votes.

It looks like that one of Obama's biggest supporters and an intellectual leader of the Democratic Party has started to make terroristic threats to support his candidate. The sorry part of it is that he is not even promising to go after Romney supporters himself.

Friday, November 02, 2012

Rudyard Kipling returns from the grave with reproaches in verse about Benghazi, 2012.
Seaside Heights, N.J., Turns Away Utility Workers for Being Nonunion; Words Almost Fail

Apparently it was the the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers [IBEW] and neither the local power company nor local government that is holding back nonunion utility workers from helping to restore power.

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

We'll be touching down at Hobbiton International presently...

Devastation of the Jersey Shore by Sandy has devastated 'Jersey Shore.'

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

How might 'Star Wars Episode 7' affect real world space travel

Of course this means Leia is officially a Disney Princess. And maybe she will show up on "Once Upon a Time" along with Han Solo

Disney has bought Lucasfilm and intends to release Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015. Since Lucas will not be making it, this has possibilities.
NASA Mulls Space Launch System for Planetary Missions, Large Space Stations

Addendum: Keith Cowing, not surprisingly, has a decidely negative take. The problem is that none of these missions will fly until the 2020s at the earliest. Predicting the budget situation for ten years from now is folly to say the least. In the meantime NASA is playing it smart by imagining what the extra capabilities the SLS will buy it. This gets the planetary science community behind continuing the rocket's development.

The ultimate battle of the Bonds to the death.

Hurricane Sandra proves that the president has not followed through on his promise to stop the rise of the oceans.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

A wonderful and disturbing combination of humor and utter Hollywood rich guy cluelessness as I have rarely seen. Joss, I love your work, but really, seriously?

Addendum: It occurs to me that Joss is wrong and it was Obama who started the Zombie Apocalypse in the form of the Occupy movement. Fortunately, unlike in the movies, it was contained in time.

Addendum 2: 'The Zombie Apocalypse' is a Strange Campaign Issue

It appears that Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty killed 60 of the attacking force in Benghazi while saving 20 or so Americans. I know they were technically no longer in the military, but this is Medal of Honor stuff.

Happy St. Crispin's Day

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Rand Simberg is being named in a lawsuit brought by Michael Mann, a climate scientist and global warming advocate who apparently does not take criticism very well. Rand will likely set up a legal defense fund, but in the meantime feel free to contribute to his regular tip jar.

Mark Steyn too.

Just reading between the lines, but I think this Challenger disaster project appears to be oriented toward the commission that determined the cause. One hopes it will be better than the exploitive movie of the week that was made a few years back.
If Mitt Romney Carries Pennsylvania, the Race Will Be a Wipeout

Addendum: Sure enough, the return of the bitter clingers.

Scott Pace, formerly of NASA,and Eric Anderson, commercial space magnate: ... Or Ready To Restore Lost U.S. Leadership in Space?

Sunday, October 21, 2012

A video game about the Yakuza reviewed by the Yakuza.