Iowa caucus results
If you are obsessed with politics and have a need to know immediately the results in Iowa, go here.
FYI, at 7:36 pm (Mountain time) Romney and Santorum were tied.
Robert Goulet – If ever I would leave you
An evening pause: From the Broadway musical, Richard Rogers’ Camelot.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Space exploration and the unexpected consequences of government decisions
On Thursday, December 15, 2011, NASA management announced what seemed at first glance to be a very boring managerial decision. Future contracts with any aerospace company to launch astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) will follow the same contractual arrangements used by NASA and SpaceX and Orbital Sciences for supplying cargo to the space station.
As boring that sounds, this is probably the most important decision NASA managers have made since the 1960s. Not only will this contractual approach lower the cost and accelerate the speed of developing a new generation of manned spaceships, it will transfer control of space exploration from NASA — an overweight and bloated government agency — to the free and competitive open market.
To me, however, the decision illustrates a number of unexpected consequences, none of which have been noted by anyone in the discussions that followed NASA’s announcement back in mid-December.
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The tiny thrusters that could.
Now available in hardback and paperback as well as ebook!
From the press release: In this ground-breaking new history of early America, historian Robert Zimmerman not only exposes the lie behind The New York Times 1619 Project that falsely claims slavery is central to the history of the United States, he also provides profound lessons about the nature of human societies, lessons important for Americans today as well as for all future settlers on Mars and elsewhere in space.
Conscious Choice: The origins of slavery in America and why it matters today and for our future in outer space, is a riveting page-turning story that documents how slavery slowly became pervasive in the southern British colonies of North America, colonies founded by a people and culture that not only did not allow slavery but in every way were hostile to the practice.
Conscious Choice does more however. In telling the tragic history of the Virginia colony and the rise of slavery there, Zimmerman lays out the proper path for creating healthy societies in places like the Moon and Mars.
“Zimmerman’s ground-breaking history provides every future generation the basic framework for establishing new societies on other worlds. We would be wise to heed what he says.” —Robert Zubrin, founder of the Mars Society.
All editions are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and all book vendors, with the ebook priced at $5.99 before discount. All editions can also be purchased direct from the ebook publisher, ebookit, in which case you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
Autographed printed copies are also available at discount directly from the author (hardback $29.95; paperback $14.95; Shipping cost for either: $6.00). Just send an email to zimmerman @ nasw dot org.
The quasicrystal from outer space
Presenting 2011’s Top 10 Most Corrupt American Politicians
Presenting 2011’s top 10 most corrupt American politicians.
The list is very non-partisan, and includes nine incumbents. And it also includes detailed information about why each is on the list.
For anyone to vote for any of these bums in 2012 shows not only a disgraceful willingness to be screwed, but a desire to bend over and thank the rapist who is screwing you.
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel, can be purchased as an ebook everywhere for only $3.99 (before discount) at amazon, Barnes & Noble, all ebook vendors, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big oppressive tech companies and I get a bigger cut much sooner.
Winner of the 2003 Eugene M. Emme Award of the American Astronautical Society.
"Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into space that I have ever read. It will be invaluable to future scholars because it will tell them how the next chapter of human history opened." -- Arthur C. Clarke
Why Irish soldiers who fought Hitler hide their medals
Why Irish soldiers who fought Hitler hide their medals.
How to deal with the leftwing press
Rick Perry demonstrates how to deal with the leftwing press. With video.
Politico reporter: “These are members of your staff.”
Rick Perry: “You got a name?”
Politico reporter: “Who say –”
Rick Perry: “You got a name?”
[pause]
Politico reporter: “You won’t listen to –”
Rick Perry: “You got a name?”
Politico reporter: “Uh.”
Rick Perry: “If you don’t have a name to tell me this individual said this, then I don’t take that as a corroborating source.”
Politico is the same outfit that destroyed Herman Cain based on unnamed sources and undescribed charges. They are also the same outfit that has had plagiarism problems recently. Perry shows us how this kind of shoddy reporting deserves to be treated.
Top 10 Ways Hollywood Can Win Its Audience Back
The top ten ways Hollywood can win its audience back.
As someone who spent almost twenty years in the movie business, I think Nolte hits the nail on the head. I also think Hollywood will not do any of the things he suggests, mostly because it would require them to abandon their elite, leftwing ideology that for the past thirty years has become the only thing too many Hollywood people care about.
Fun with dry ice
An evening pause: Fun with dry ice.
The new Arctic ozone hole
An interesting and very informative paper was published by the American Geophysical Union this past Saturday, entitled “Arctic winter 2010/2011 at the brink of an ozone hole.” The first paragraph of the introduction essentially summed up the paper’s key points:
Large losses of Arctic stratospheric ozone have been observed during winter 2010/2011, exceeding observed losses during cold winters over the past decades, characterized as the first Arctic Ozone Hole. Although in general Arctic ozone is expected to recover because of the reductions in ozone depleting substances as a result of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments, the observation that apparently the cold Arctic winters in the stratosphere have been getting colder over the past decades raises some concern that Arctic ozone depletion may worsen over the next decades if the cooling trend continues while concentrations of ozone depleting substances remain sufficiently high. [emphasis mine]
Two important take-aways:
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A Saudi woman has been beheaded for “witchcraft and sorcery.”
Islamic justice: A Saudi woman has been beheaded for “witchcraft and sorcery.”
The top 10 tech ‘fails’ of 2011
Olympic VIPs will get 4000 BMWs and their own private traffic lanes in what the Olympics bill as the “green Games.”
Equality and environmentalism among the elite: Olympic VIPs to get 4000 BMWs and their own private traffic lanes in what the Olympics bill as the “green Games.”
It is understood that at least 250 VIPs will be given their own designated BMW, complete with a personal chauffeur, to escort them from their Park Lane hotels to the Games. Several thousand other officials, sponsors, dignitaries and athletes – known as the ‘Olympic family’ – will share the remaining pool of plush cars, worth up to £30,000 each.
Members of the public will be urged to walk or try to board crowded trains and buses.
Trinity University’s winning lateral play vs Millsaps
An evening pause: In honor of college football today, here is probably one of the most unlikely winning plays in the history of football.
The second Grail space probe has entered lunar orbit
The second Grail space probe has entered lunar orbit.
Iran claimed today that it has produced first nuclear fuel rod
Fiddling while Rome burned: Iran claimed today that it has produced its first nuclear fuel rod.
At the end of 2011, America, like much of the rest of the Western world, has dug deeper into a cocoon of denial.
“At the end of 2011, America, like much of the rest of the Western world, has dug deeper into a cocoon of denial.”
Tens of millions of Americans have yet to understand that the can can no longer be kicked down the road, because we’re all out of road. The pavement ends, and there’s just a long drop into the abyss. And, even in a state-compliant car seat, you’ll land with a bump. At this stage in a critical election cycle, we ought to be arguing about how many government departments to close, how many government programs to end, how many millions of government regulations to do away with. Instead, one party remains committed to encrusting even more barnacles to America’s rusting hulk, while the other is far too wary of harshing the electorate’s mellow.
Occupy Albany protesters threaten a police officer and his family
Thugs: After being pepper-sprayed by police during their eviction from an Albany park in which they were camping illegally, Occupy Albany protesters have responded by mounting a campaign threatening a police officer and his family.
A “wanted” poster seeking information including the home address, telephone numbers and “map to home” of Officer Richard Gorleski was posted Wednesday on a Facebook page used by Occupy Albany. Gorleski’s address and telephone numbers are not publicly listed. But Gorleski’s father, a Troy resident who has the same first name as his son, began receiving unsettling telephone calls from blocked numbers this week. Troy police said they have taken measures to keep watch on the residence.
This “Occupy Whatever” movement is not the peaceful expression of freedom of speech. It is instead terrorism, the violent effort of a few spoiled leftwing brats who believe in the use of force and violence to impose their will on everyone else, including the right to destroy anyone who disagrees with them.
Any politician who provides this kind of behavior aid or comfort should be voted out of office at the first opportunity, regardless of party.
Eddi Reader – Auld Lang Syne
An evening pause: For the New Year.