Posted in Opinion on Oct 31st, 2005
[FMARS, Manned, Mars, NASA, Science, Space Exploration, The Space Review]I wrote an article that was published today for The Space Review about the capability of human planetary explorers relative to robotic rovers. I based my article on my experiences up on Devon Island, and some research I’d done as part of a 1-credit seminar […]
Posted in Opinion on Oct 28th, 2005
[China, Foreign Affairs, Politics]You can’t help but read stories about China these days. Here are just a few of the themes in the news about China I’ve come across in the last few weeks:
- Chinese consumers promise to be a huge market for American companies.
- Chinese workers threaten to work for far less money […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Oct 24th, 2005
[Indictments, Libby, Politics, Rove]While listening to NPR this morning Cokie Roberts, one of their usual news analysts, said that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) and the WSJ editorial page suggested that an indictment of Karl Rove and/or Scooter Libby on obstruction of justice or perjury charges would not be “that serious” and she suggested that […]
Posted in Informative Articles on Oct 19th, 2005
[Art, Futurism, Technology]Somewhat belatedly, I came across the Long Now Foundation, a group devoted to promoting long term thinking. When I say long term, I mean 10,000 years, not 8, as goes the political definition. They are that “dances around the maypole” of the 10,000 year clock, as conceived by Danny Hillis. […]
Posted in Informative Articles on Oct 17th, 2005
[Beauty, Materialism, Nature, Science]I have wondered for a long time what exactly causes leaves to change colors. I remember reading several years ago about the color change being associated with the reuptake of cholorplasts by the trees in preparation for winter. If this is true, then there must be some reason, energetically, why […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Oct 13th, 2005
[Climate Change, Energy, Global Warming, Science]Today’s WP (via MSNBC) has this article reporting preliminary data from NASA that says that 2005 will be the warmest year on record, breaking the record set in 1998. 2002, 2003, and 2004 will then be the third, fourth, and fifth warmest years. This is just one more […]
Posted in Opinion on Oct 12th, 2005
[Advocacy, Moon, NASA, Space, Space Exploration]Last week I wrote a rather critical entry about NASA spending more than a hundred billion on a Moon exploration plan of uncertain value. I’ve continued to read details of the mission and have relaxed my critical view a bit. For one, the number $100 billion is still […]
Posted in Opinion on Oct 7th, 2005
[Alt.Space, Mars, Moon, NASA, Space, Space Advocacy]Since last year’s successful X-Prize competition, the private space industry has received a serious shot in the arm. Websites buzz with the excitement of new companies entering this “Space Race 2″ to get regular paying customers into suborbital space. There are at least 5 different companies now […]
Posted in In The News, Opinion on Oct 6th, 2005
[Creationism, Evolution, Intelligent Design, Psuedoscience, Religion, Science]The NYTimes has been running a really nice series of articles about Evolution and Creationism/ID over the last month or so. Today’s is another fine entry in the series. It profiles the two week voyages down the canyon taken by two opposing groups in the debate. […]
Posted in Opinion on Oct 2nd, 2005
[Book Review, Career, Technology, Web 2.0]I’m reading a really fascinating book right now: “Radical Evolution” by Joel Garreau. In it, three scenarios for the future are presented, all based on the idea that continued technological development will soon become the driving force in human “evolution.” Garreau is undoubtedly a shiny-eyed optimist when it comes to […]
