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On Research
Sep. 4th, 2007 07:23 amLogbooks: My personal nemesis.
( Learn from my mistakes! )
Don't be like Teleri! Keep your logs up to date!
( Learn from my mistakes! )
Don't be like Teleri! Keep your logs up to date!
Sep. 4th, 2007
The Night Paddy Murphy Died
Sep. 4th, 2007 08:35 amThey stopped the hearse on George Street outside Sundance Saloon
They all went in at half past eight and staggered out at noon
They went up to the graveyard, so holy and sublime
Found out when they got there, they'd left the corpse behind!
That's how they showed their respect for Paddy Murphy
That's how they showed their honour and their pride;
They said it was a sin and shame and they winked at one another
And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died
They all went in at half past eight and staggered out at noon
They went up to the graveyard, so holy and sublime
Found out when they got there, they'd left the corpse behind!
That's how they showed their respect for Paddy Murphy
That's how they showed their honour and their pride;
They said it was a sin and shame and they winked at one another
And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died
Space news round-up
Sep. 4th, 2007 11:33 amChina Says Work Underway to Mitigate Space Junk
Free hint for China: Don't blow satellites up in heavily-trafficed LEOs. That helps lots.
CNN discovers that some scientists favor robotic over human space exploration.
As they have for at least the past ten or twelve years, but whatever.
Once upon a time, robots were so lame it was clear that, for anything to get done, humans were going to have to do it. But robots have gotten much more capable, while sending humans into space hasn't gotten any easier.
Human Space Exploration (HSE) needs to have a long, hard look at itself and its ad campaigns. There are arguments for HSE. None of the honest ones have much to do with science. Yeah, there's a little science, but it's darn little for the amount of money spent.
Look, we spend federal money on ephemeral things like art. As a society, we agree that such things have value. There is nothing wrong with admitting that the current HSE program is largely an off-key hymn to human drive and curiosity and exploration and all the lovely romantic things we associate with it.
Or insist on some kind of new funding structure and oversight committee that actually has a snowball's chance of seeing one of HSE's Grand Projects through.
Free hint for China: Don't blow satellites up in heavily-trafficed LEOs. That helps lots.
CNN discovers that some scientists favor robotic over human space exploration.
As they have for at least the past ten or twelve years, but whatever.
Once upon a time, robots were so lame it was clear that, for anything to get done, humans were going to have to do it. But robots have gotten much more capable, while sending humans into space hasn't gotten any easier.
Human Space Exploration (HSE) needs to have a long, hard look at itself and its ad campaigns. There are arguments for HSE. None of the honest ones have much to do with science. Yeah, there's a little science, but it's darn little for the amount of money spent.
Look, we spend federal money on ephemeral things like art. As a society, we agree that such things have value. There is nothing wrong with admitting that the current HSE program is largely an off-key hymn to human drive and curiosity and exploration and all the lovely romantic things we associate with it.
Or insist on some kind of new funding structure and oversight committee that actually has a snowball's chance of seeing one of HSE's Grand Projects through.
Compassion
Sep. 4th, 2007 12:25 pmThe worst sin in American politics, methinks, is hypocrisy. Which is deeply ironic, given that so much of politics is the art of compromise.
There are, I'd estimate, three camps calling for Larry Craig's head. There are the folks who say that since he plead guilty, he should resign. There are the folks who say "since he plead guilty" and mean "since he's probably gay." And there are the folks who are incensed over the hypocrisy of a possibly/probably gay man who has been so opposed to LBGT rights.
I admit that I kinda felt sorry for him, as a man if not as a senator. How awful must it be to be 62 years old and resorting to anonymous trysts? I've only ever heard that the closet is a terrible place to be, and this man appears to be deeply, deeply in the closet. If he believes the policies he's supported, how much self-loathing must he have?
Former NJ governor Jim McGreevey, who resigned when it came to light that his foreign (male) lover had been given a security-sensitive government job, gives his account of his double life and expulsion from the closet.
There are, I'd estimate, three camps calling for Larry Craig's head. There are the folks who say that since he plead guilty, he should resign. There are the folks who say "since he plead guilty" and mean "since he's probably gay." And there are the folks who are incensed over the hypocrisy of a possibly/probably gay man who has been so opposed to LBGT rights.
I admit that I kinda felt sorry for him, as a man if not as a senator. How awful must it be to be 62 years old and resorting to anonymous trysts? I've only ever heard that the closet is a terrible place to be, and this man appears to be deeply, deeply in the closet. If he believes the policies he's supported, how much self-loathing must he have?
Former NJ governor Jim McGreevey, who resigned when it came to light that his foreign (male) lover had been given a security-sensitive government job, gives his account of his double life and expulsion from the closet.