So, picking up after a *slight* delay…
In 1985, Rockwell International considered the possibility that there might be profit in an orbital radar system that looks back at Earth. Such a system would have both civilian and defense applications… air traffic control and spotting sea ice were possibilities for the civilian sector, and spotting cruise missiles, fighters, bombers and surface vessels for the military. In reality a system like this would probably be far more interesting to the military.
From the Washington Post:
A number of reasons are given for why Americans are just kinda shrugging at the ~300,000 deaths from the Commie Cough. One reason: it’s just too big, the human brain refuses to try to conceive of such vastness and simply shuts down trying. Another is that many people have bought into conspiracy theories. Another is that people are isolated from the actual deaths, the infected dying alone, sealed away from friends and family.
But there are two obvious reasons that didn’t seem to get mentioned:
1: We’ve all heard about overcounting… someone dying of cancer dies with the CCP virus in their system so it gets notched up to the Commie Cough. How often does that happen? Is it statistically insignificant? Or is it a sizable fraction? We just don’t know.
2: And perhaps most importantly, look at how the pandemic was sold to us in the beginning:
Now, assuming the vaccine works well enough, the pandemic should start tapering off in a couple months I’d think. We’re currently sitting at about 318,000 *official* deaths, losing about 2,600 more per day. Two more months of that, assuming that the death rate somehow stays constant (which would be damned peculiar) will lead to a total of about 473,000 deaths. Substantially less than the 1.2 million, especially if a large fraction of those deaths weren’t really killed by Pinko Pox but were already sick folk just sorta pushed over the edge.
3: The lockdowns indicate that the Government Takes This Seriously. That riots were allowed to proceed and that liquor stores were considered essential businesses, indicates that the Government Does Not Take This Seriously.
When were were oversold into a panic from the beginning, and then the data is not only well below the original fearmongering but is not widely trusted, and the government sending massively mixed signals… well, it only makes sense that lots of people kinda stop worrying about things too much.
I honestly wonder what practical value there is in the White House putting out memos on national strategy at this point, when the Manchurian is soon to be installed into power. Perhaps it’s just a poke in the eye… “go ahead and overturn this and show yourself to be a tool of the ChiComs,” perhaps?
Section 1. Policy. The ability to use space nuclear power and propulsion (SNPP) systems safely, securely, and sustainably is vital to maintaining and advancing United States dominance and strategic leadership in space. SNPP systems include radioisotope power systems (RPSs) and fission reactors used for power or propulsion in spacecraft, rovers, and other surface elements. …
(a) Develop uranium fuel processing capabilities that enable production of fuel that is suitable to lunar and planetary surface and in-space power, nuclear electric propulsion (NEP), and nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) applications, as needed. …
(b) Demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the Moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kilowatt-electric (kWe) and higher to support a sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars. …
(c) Establish the technical foundations and capabilities — including through identification and resolution of the key technical challenges — that will enable options for NTP to meet future Department of Defense (DoD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission requirements …
(d) Develop advanced RPS capabilities that provide higher fuel efficiency, higher specific energy, and longer operational lifetime than existing RPS capabilities, thus enabling survivable surface elements to support robotic and human exploration of the Moon and Mars and extending robotic exploration of the solar system. …
(a) By the mid-2020s, develop uranium fuel processing capabilities that enable production of fuel that is suitable for lunar and planetary surface and in-space power, NEP, and NTP applications, as needed. …
(b) By the mid- to late-2020s, demonstrate a fission power system on the surface of the Moon that is scalable to a power range of 40 kWe and higher to support sustained lunar presence and exploration of Mars. …
(c) By the late-2020s, establish the technical foundations and capabilities — including through identification and resolution of the key technical challenges — that will enable NTP options to meet future DoD and NASA mission needs.
Even had Trump won re-election I have serious doubts that this memorandum would have changed things much… the anti-nuclear religion is far too powerful. Still, better to have a forward-thinking document like this than not. We are *generations* behind where we should be in the development of space-based nuclear power systems and nuclear thermal rockets.
So I put an empty pop bottle on top of my car and watched it walk itself off of its own volition.
One of them days, I suppose.
Seems damned unlikely:
The Parkes radio telescope in Australia detected a radio transmission at 982 megahertz coming from the direction of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri in April of 2019. It was not noticed in the archival data until October.
The planet Proxima B is roughly Earth-sized and lies in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri. But the star is so small that the planet orbits it once every 11.18 days; the solar winds are thousands of times stronger than Earth gets and the planet is subject to Proxima’s periodic flare activity. In all likelihood Proxima B is tidally locked to the star and stripped of atmosphere; it’s a *really* unlikely place to find life, much less advanced technological life. Still… attention must be paid.
A few days ago some random confluence of data conspired to make a few neurons fire that hadn’t fired in a very long time. I happened to see a reference to Phoenix, Arizona, and for some reason it caused me to think “didn’t I see a movie where Phoenix got hit by a comet?” Sure enough, the 1978 TV movie “A Fire in The Sky” features an impact just outside Phoenix, illustrated by the very finest in halfassed late-70’s TV-budgeted special effects. I highly doubt I’ve given this movie much thought since I saw it 42 or so years ago. But hey, with the internet all things are possible. So if you want to see it, or see it again, behold, here it is in potato-resolution:
Witness Michael Biehn before he fought Terminators, Xenomorphs and water tentacles. The man was a menace… wherever he went, disasters followed.
While listening to NPR tonight, this story made me chuckle:
The story itself isn’t funny. The harassment being heaped upon officials isn’t funny. What’s funny? That NPR is shocked, SHOCKED to find out that this sort of thing is going on in 2020 outside private homes:
“They had a bullhorn and were talking into that and then running sirens, and they were banging on some kind of drums outside. They were playing the soundtrack from Scarface,” Lachiondo said.
Oh… NOW you care?!?!
But wait, it gets better:
And while there have been instances of violence across the political spectrum in recent years, Kleinfeld said that right now there seems to be more violent rhetoric and behavior on the conservative end of the spectrum.
“We’re at a moment of polarization right now that’s much higher than the last moment of militia activity,” she said. “The level of polarization [is] quite a bit higher even than the 1970s, when we had a lot of political violence in this country, mostly from the left then. Now it’s mostly from the right.”
Riiiiiiiiight.
Gotta love a chart that presents only part of the data as being *all* of the data…
Second important news item of the day. It seems that not only is the ATF going after owners of legally purchased 80% lowers, they may soon be going after owners of legally purchased pistol braces. There are a *lot* of them out there. You may very well know someone who owns one or more. Someone who might soon find themselves the owner of an unregistered Short Barreled Rifle, which means – HUZZAH! – a raid by the ATF and a term in federal prison. For owning something they bought legally.
A more optimistic – yet still quite pessimistic – view of the situation here:
Biden isn’t even in office yet and the ATF is already going nuts with UNLIMITED POWER. They are now going after private citizens for having legally purchased legal items. Even right now, an 80% lower is not considered a firearm… but the ATF is knocking on doors and demanding that they be turned over as illegal firearms.
If you’ve purchased a “Polymer80” “Build Buy Shoot” kit, get ready for a visit from the Federal government.
