Damper Design (07:31AM)

Design review this morning for the precession damper Andre is designing for Whorl-I in the SSSL. I'll post some details later.

:: Comments left behind ::

Wasn't there some basketball news last night? Seems I heard something about something.

:: winston February 18, 2005 12:05 PM

i heard somethin' about some kind of close fight between a large birdlike creature and a strange-coloured denizen of the flame. but it might just be a rumour :^}

:: chris February 18, 2005 12:41 PM

This is a very unusual topic for a blog.

Hence, I must send you my Blog Pros Survey, to get your insights for my "Secrets of the Blog Pros" book.

More at:

http://www.blogpros.blogspot.com

Join Cory Doctorow (BOING BOING), Mark Cuban, Dave Pell (DAVENETICS), Michael Wiley (GM FastLane Blog), Richard Edelman, Steve Hall, Chris Sells, etc. in this new book on the Best and the Brightest in the Blogosphere.

Hope to hear from you soon.

I've bookmarked this blog.

:: Steven Streight February 18, 2005 10:14 PM

Virginia Tech Sounding Rocket Project (07:12AM)

The VTSRP launch date is getting closer; the launch window opens on March 14, and will remain open for about one week. The Improved Orionwill launch from the Wallops Island Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, carrying the MAGIC instrument to an altitude of about 85 km. The payload will be recovered at sea for future study of the dust particles it collects.

What's next for VT Rocketry? We're working to evolve the project into a club, with rocketry projects including model rockets, amateur rockets, and sounding rockets. Watch this spot.

:: Comments left behind ::

Commander Binnie & SpaceShipOne (11:14AM)

Yesterday, Virginia Tech had a distinguished visitor, Commander Brian Binnie, one of the three SpaceShipOne pilots, who had the distinction of being the pilot of the X-Prize-winning flight, as well as the flight where he "got dirt all over the plastic spaceship." The university gave the event a lot of publicity. He was supposed to arrive on Monday evening and be here all day, including a tour of our Space Systems Simulation Lab. The students worked hard getting the lab all shiny and some demos ready to show. Alas, Roanoke airport was fogged in, and the airline pilot refused to allow him to parachute into the VT Drill Field. So, he got to spend the night in Cincy instead of Blacksburg, and since he didn't get to Blacksburg until later in the morning, the tour of our lab was cancelled.

He did, however, spend a couple of hours with a small group of students and faculty in the early afternoon, had dinner with another group, and gave the Big Public Lecture at 8 PM last night, in the 3000-seat auditorium in Burruss Hall. I attended all three of these events.

The "small group" seminar began with an informal "gather around the astronaut" session where the students got to interact with Binnie. A few of them had posters or newspapers that they got him to autograph. Very cool. Then there were some introductions, and he spoke informally for about 35 minutes on "How I Got Here." Unfortunately, his comments included a bit of NASA-bashing, which I thought cheapened it a bit, and sent the wrong message to the students. Again, mostly very cool. Then the floor was opened for questions, and several students asked good questions.

One student asked an excellent question: Of the other X-Prize competitors, which do you think had good design ideas? Aha, I thought, here's his chance to be a good sport; criticizing NASA is one thing, but surely he'll have some good things to say about the competition.

His response was first that they weren't paying any attention to the competition, but he then went on to describe some of their concepts in a manner clearly intended to illustrate that they were amusing but not serious approaches. I found his reply to this excellent question to be disappointing, to say the least.

Later in the evening he gave an entertaining 90-minute lecture with powerpoint slides and embedded video to an audience of at least 1000 folks. Needless to say, he charmed the crowd with his anecdotes about the development, test, and successful flights of SpaceShipOne. He got quite a bit of laughter when he presented his one-chart description of "The Other Space Agency": Nay-Say. Continued laughter greeted his comparison of the $30M crew compartment door of the Space Shuttle to the $20 crew compartment door of the SpaceShipOne. He described at length the differences between the two doors' designs in both concept and implementation. He did not mention, however, that the Shuttle version is required to take 6-10 people and 20,000 pounds of spacecraft parts into Earth orbit for 7-14 days, as compared with SpaceShipOne's taking 1 test pilot to the edge of the atmosphere for 5 minutes. Well, those distinctions probably aren't that important anyhow.

In summary, much of his talk was fascinating, illuminating, and inspiring. But a substantial bit in the middle seemed to be based on the premise that anything that makes my competition sound bad makes me look good. In general, I disagree with that premise, and I hope that many of the VT students in the audience recognized the less-than-graceful tone that it set. I would rather that he had focused on the many challenges that the Scaled Composites team faced and how they overcame them, rather than spending time denigrating NASA and other X-Prize competitors.

:: Comments left behind ::

Come Spring, Where To? (10:44AM)

Just a little something I wrote for posting to my motorcycle club....

Blackberry, Blue Sulphur Springs, Camp Creek, Clear Fork, Dillons Fork, Eagle Furnace, Ellison Ridge, Figsboro, Hopper, Huddle, Irving, Jumping Branch, Kibler, Moss Run, New Hope, Owens, Pannill Fork, Riverhill, Scruggs, Spanishburg, Suck Creek, Volunteer Gap, Woodlawn.

I'm fairly certain I've never been to Suck Creek nor, with the certain exceptions of Blue Sulphur Springs and Volunteer Gap, to most of the rest of these places, but I think they'll make a nice run. How did I pick them?

Once upon a time, when I was first sent to England as one small brick in the western world's defense against communism, I had this thing for castles. Well, for castles and pubs, but the pubs were easy, since they were strategically placed within walking distance from anywhere. The castles, though, big masonry bricks in the medieval world's defense against barbarians, were spread out, so some planning was required.

First, a map. A nice big paper map of Great Britain, unfolded and stapled to my barracks room wall in a clean well-lighted place at just the right height for study.

Next, a compass. Not the North-South-East-West variety, but the pointy-end-and-pencil-holder compass. Insert marker, anchor the pointy end at Mildenhall, Suffolk, East Anglia, and make circles: 25 miles, 50 miles, 75 miles, 100 miles, ....

Then, a visit to the library. Find all the books about castles and lug them back to the barracks. Book One, Castle One: find it on the map, mark it with a yellow highlighter. Book One, Castle Two: find it, highlight it. Continue until all the books are ready to be returned to the library, and all the castles shine like little beacons on the well-lit map.

This last bit took a while, and my roommate thought I was a wee bit odd, but eventually I had a nicely labeled map with destinations to fit any travel opportunity. A day off? A quick bus trip to Bungay and back -- there's a pub conveniently situated at the head of the footpath leading to the castle ruins. A free weekend? Off to Norwich and Great Yarmouth. A week or more? Take the train to Ayr and the ferry to Isle of Arran, hire two lads to paddle across the firth, visit Broadick Castle and backpack to the top of Goatfell.

In three years I saw enough castles to last me a lifetime, and eventually I became less interested in the castles than in other features of the small towns and villages I visited, the churches and cathedrals and thatched-roof houses and crooked lanes, and of course, the pubs. But that map defines my three years in England in a way that nothing else does. Well, I met my wife there too, and we visited many of those castles together.

After England I moved to Alabama and new maps showed me the way to creeks and rivers and backroads through nowhere. Then to California where I was bitten by the motorcycle bug and the roads were at least as important as the places they connected. Then to Ohio and New York and Ohio again, and Virginia. Always the maps, the gazetteer, the brochures from the visitor centers, recommendations from the similarly afflicted ... showed me the way.

And now that I've been in Virginia for nearly 8 years, I begin to feel that I know all the roads, that there's nowhere new to ride, to explore, to discover, without packing up and riding to Alaska or Labrador or Baja. But that's not true.

In the past few months, I've found new roads in the West Virginia forest along the New River and Bluestone Lake, over Clinch Mountain, through Belfast Mills, Blacklick, Meador, and Pittsville. Sometimes I've found these roads accidentally, just noticing a promising bit of pavement or gravel ending on a familiar stretch of favorite byway, or being shown the way by a fellow rider. But usually I've found them by studying the Virginia Gazetteer while using Streets &
Trips to plan another ride to somewhere different.

Eventually I suppose I really will have ridden all the paved and dirt roads within a day's drive, and maybe then I'll have no choice but to pack up and ride to Alaska, but until then, my maps and I will continue to find plenty to explore right around here.

Blackberry and the rest? I used the Streets & Trips "circle" tool to draw a circle around Blacksburg with radius 42 miles (Life, the Universe, and Everything), and all those places are near that circle. I'm looking forward to that ride, once the ice has melted for good and some of the gravel and salt have washed off the backroads. Maybe I'll find out how Suck Creek got its name. I'll let you know how it goes.

:: Comments left behind ::

He lives! I normally remove dead links from my blogroll, but since you were the first blogger to link to me, your site will stay there until you shut it down and tell me to get rid of the link.

Nice story about exploring Britain.

:: JohnL January 28, 2005 12:30 PM

A friend of mine's Grandmother owns the Confederate Eagle Furnace over on Cripple Creek.

We use it now for a barbeque pit!

:: Mike Puckett January 29, 2005 12:09 PM

I keep checking back because I know eventually you'll post something, and it's always worth reading. How's it going?

:: Ted January 30, 2005 08:48 AM

Good to see you are "back," Chris. You mention running out of roads to travel in Virginia as well as castles. Have you ever been to Staunton Hill? Very neat inn down in Southside. See this link.

http://www.vintagedesigns.com/architecture/gothic/castle/sthl/hgva/

:: Salt Lick January 31, 2005 10:59 AM

The one near Pipestem? I am sure my coworker from near there knows.

You like the gazeteers?

Try www.topozone.com

and www.terraserver-usa.com

:: Mike Puckett February 1, 2005 07:10 PM

National Treasure, The Incredibles, Flight of the Phoenix (04:27PM)

My family and I loved National Treasure. The reviewers hated it. Said it wasn't realistic. They loved The Incredibles, though. Go figure. Personally, I thought they were both excellent. Flight of the Phoenix, on the other hand, was merely very good, an enjoyable adventure about the merits of doing something vs doing nothing.

:: Comments left behind ::

Who Needs Oil? (04:21PM)

Also appearing in the December 14, 2004 Roanoke Times was this juicy piece by Michael Abraham. I'm working on a rebuttal, which I'll post here after it appears in the RT (assuming they print it).

Feel free to give the piece the fisking it calls out for.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Our oil dependency is catching up with us

Michael Abraham
Abraham is a businessman who lives in Blacksburg.

It is an inextricable fact that we are hopelessly dependent upon oil and the energy it provides for virtually every aspect of our material lives. And because oil is a nonrenewable resource, from the time we burned the first barrel we began the process of running out.

While we will never completely exhaust oil, the point at which our demand will outstrip the ability of the planet to supply it is of the utmost strategic importance to the future of our society.

Horrifyingly, many experts believe that time is imminent. When it occurs and when we face the prospect of each day bringing less oil to our plate than the day before, life as we know it will never be the same.

How did we get in such a situation?

Nature abhors a vacuum and responds seemingly automatically to the abundance or shortage of energy. In the current situation, an apparently endless supply of affordable petroleum has initiated a society engineered to consume it in a lusty, insatiable way.

America, in particular, has parlayed this amazing bounty into the richest, most consumptive society the world has ever known.

While most of the world walks, bicycles or uses efficient mass transit options, we make virtually every trip by private automobile. We have re-engineered our communities to make automobiles necessary for every trip.

Food production and distribution are intensely oil-dependent. Our buildings are often inefficiently heated and cooled. Our sports and leisure activities are supremely oil-wasteful.

We are completely dependent; we have no working paradigms to do without it, or even with less of it.

History will come to prove this amazing endowment of oil, provided by our planet to its most sapient and dominant species, to be short-lived. Leading petro-economists agree that extraction patterns, when graphed over time, resemble the well-known statistical bell-shaped curve, with periods of escalation, peak and decline.

The late M. King Hubbert, the "petroleum century's" foremost scholar, predicted in 1956 that U.S. domestic production would peak between 1966 and 1972. Although widely derided, he was right; the peak occurred in 1970.

Before Hubbert died in 1989, he forecast the peak in worldwide production between 1990 and 2000. A series of unknowable factors (notably, better technologies for exploration and extraction) caused his calculation to be pessimistic, but others have continued his work, and the news isn't good.

L.F. Ivanhoe, founder of the M. King Hubbert Center for Petroleum Supply Studies at the Colorado School of Mines, said that the critical date "when global oil demand will exceed the world's production will fall somewhere between 2000 and 2010, and may occur very suddenly due to unpredictable political events...." A terrorist act perhaps? "This foreseeable energy crisis will affect everyone on Earth."

Hubbert himself said we are in a "crisis in the evolution of human society.... [Running out of oil] has never happened before and can't possibly happen again. You can only use oil once."

When in each coming year we're forced to make do with less, how bad will it get? There's little agreement even within the intelligentsia. Forecasts range from benign (minor disruption) to horrible (massive upheaval and famine). Minimally, the end is near for consumptive activities such as NASCAR racing, airplane trips to Disney World and 30-mile commutes.

We seem destined to debate the accuracy of these predictions endlessly, at least until the pumps run dry. But it is entirely likely that the year of peak production is near, certainly within a generation. Still, we do not act.

Is this because the situation is unprecedented and thus unfathomable? Are we delusional, uninformed or merely selfish? Are we confident a technological salvation will arise?

Illustrative of our delusion is the Virginia Department of Transportation's ongoing planning for a new Interstate 73 and for the widening of Interstate 81. These projects are not only disruptive, unpopular and costly; they also have no chance of being completed before the peak in oil production has passed. When the nation's gas gauge points to "E," these discussions will evaporate faster than a summer rain on a hot parking lot.

We once had the opportunity to prepare. Jimmy Carter, at the height of the oil embargo of the 1970s, suggested declaring "the moral equivalent of war." But we laughed him out of office and installed Ronald Reagan, who told us what we wanted to hear and quickly restored our Zeitgeist of profligate consumption.

Had we followed Carter's lead, we would be in an immeasurably better position today, but we didn't follow his lead. The era since will be characterized as one of lost opportunities and failures of leadership in light of perhaps our society's most dire and unprecedented challenge.

There's talk about improving the fuel economy of automobiles and mandating better-insulated buildings. But more far-reaching and fundamental changes are essential in the way we produce and distribute products, grow and disseminate our food, heat and cool our interior spaces, plan our communities and transport ourselves from place to place.

Avoiding complete societal collapse will take wisdom, fair-mindedness, international cooperation and engineering ingenuity beyond any crisis faced in modern history. The way we react to this impending challenge will define our generation.

:: Comments left behind ::

Alberta Tar Sands?

Synthfuels from Coal?

Oil Shales?

Methane Hydrates?

Wind?

Solar?

High temp cracking hydrogen as a byproduct of Nuclear electric generation?

Or all of the above.

Remember, the oil will not run out overnight. We merely need to replace production with alternatives at the rate it is lost plus a bit more for growth. We need not replace all of it at once.

My quick and dirty strategy for battling Hubbert's Peak would be shifting from Cola to Fission for power and starting high temp cracking of Hydrogen. Shift to Coal for carbon feedstock for industrial processes and gasoling. Also hydrogen could be used to enrich uneconomical low grade petroleum for gasoline and the like.

Lets nto alos forget my favorite: Thermal Depolymerization.

http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/05/08/140006.php

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/11/1125_031125_turkeyoil.html

Chris,

Tell chicken little the good news is the sky is not falling. The bad news is we want his poop and guts!

:: Mike Puckett December 23, 2004 07:15 PM

Coal, not cola! Duh!

:: Mike Puckett December 23, 2004 07:17 PM

Who Wants A Draft? (04:18PM)

I think we all know the answer to that question. John Fugel, "a writer and video producer who lives in Roanoke," makes it clear who wants to draft who. His piece appeared in the December 14, 2004 Roanoke Times, and I've included it here in the extended entry.

I'm allowing comments in case you're so inclined.

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Support our leaders; ante up your children

John A. Fugel
Fugel is a writer and video producer who lives in Roanoke.

Now that America's "morally concerned" voters have elected President Bush for another four-year term, I think it's time that he and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld urge Congress to reinstate the military draft for all able-bodied men and women of 18 to 28 years of age. Bush is now a lame-duck president, and he won't have to worry about taking political flak for this decision (or any other).

There's no doubt we need more troops if we are to continue to wage the president's no-end-in-sight "war on terror." It's only a matter of time before we're forced to continue our pre-emptive war policy and bring the "forces of democracy" to bear against Iran, Syria and North Korea (not to mention Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, as both have actively supported terrorists).

And with Condi Rice as our new secretary of state, there'll probably be a lot less talking and a lot more shooting.

The Pentagon is currently recalling members of the Individual Ready Reserve - soldiers who have completed their military enlistments, but who are still subject to recall despite the fact that they have not had continuing training (unlike the National Guard and Army Reserve).

Most of these people are older and have established careers and families they must now leave behind to meet this obligation. (So much for reading the small print on your contract - caveat emptor!)

My niece's husband, a 36-year-old Idaho wheat farmer, was recently recalled and will deploy to Iraq this month (just in time for Christmas). He had already served his country in combat as a tank commander in the Gulf War, and the Army needed his skills and leadership ability. He was offered a commission as a first lieutenant, a position that pays more than wheat farming. And despite the fact that he leaves behind a wife and two little girls, his family is very proud of him for meeting his obligation (twice).

But what about the rest of America's young people? Haven't they enjoyed the benefits of living in a free society? Don't they feel an obligation to their country?

That's where the draft comes in - just in time to solve a number of problems:

• It would provide the armed forces with a new pool of young, educated and talented people.

• It would bring down the nation's unemployment rate, especially in areas of the country (like ours) that are suffering from major job losses.

• It would give young people a cause, other than their own selfish interests, to which to dedicate themselves.

• It would open up more job opportunities for experienced middle-aged and older workers, who are being pushed out of their positions.

• It would result in a generation of physically fit Americans, at a time when our nation is becoming increasingly obese and out of shape.

The military provides a strong moral framework for young people who need a straight-and-narrow path to walk in life. This time, however, the draft should be truly egalitarian.

There should be no exemptions other than physical disabilities, no college deferments that allowed many to avoid service during the Vietnam War. If you move out of the country to avoid conscription, you can never return. Both men and women should be conscripted. Everyone should serve in some way, based on his or her individual abilities. The children of the wealthy and politically connected should be first in line, as they've enjoyed a larger piece of the American pie all their lives.

It's time for all Americans to realize what we've got ourselves into. It's just not fair for a small number of people to bear the burden for our nation's policies.

We chose the leaders who make and implement those policies. If you really believe in them, it's time to ante up your sons and daughters, and not just paste a "We Support the Troops" banner on your SUV.

Call or write the White House today, and urge the president to bring back the draft for a better America.

:: Comments left behind ::

This would be the draft that Democrat Charlie Rangel tried to implement back during the election? The draft that President Bush has explicitly rejected? The draft that we don't need anyway as the only thing preventing us from getting back up to a Reagan-era-sized military is that Congress won't authorize it and Rumsfeld doesn't want it?

We don't need a draft, we need an intelligent government...alas, the draft is far more likely.

I do like the bit about using the draft to fight unemployment. If only military service (valuable though it is) were an economically productive activity. But as it's not, saying that it's a good way to reduce unemployment is like saying a good way to stimulate the economy is to break lots of windows so glaziers will have more work.

:: Jason Bontrager January 3, 2005 06:54 PM

I was surprised to find my op-ed piece posted on this site after doing a Google search on my name. I hope readers realize that was written as SATIRE. I needed to respond to the neo-cons calls to "Support the Troops." I'd like to see their kids make a few sacrifices for a change.

:: John A. Fugel February 3, 2005 03:55 PM

Satire? I'm sorry, we poor dumb rocket scientists (you did read the title of this blog, didn't you?) don't know what that means.

As for

"I'd like to see their kids make a few sacrifices for a change"

Well, everyone knows that the volunteers in today's US Military are all liberals, sons and daughters of liberal Parents, not a Neo-Con among em. That's why people like Senators John Kerry and Hillary Rodham Clinton are so popular and respected. Just look at the photos at http://www.command-post.org/2_archives/018660.html for example.

:: Alan E Brain February 4, 2005 09:22 AM

Reading (03:38PM)

I recently re-read Gene Wolfe's The Knight so that I could read the conclusion of this incredible fantasy story, The Wizard. I'm not a fiction book reviewer, so I won't write a review of the book. However, I will say that it's an excellent novel, with an entirely different approach to fantasy than the numerous Tolkien clones have been offering for years. I was a little disturbed by the number of typographical errors though.

Right now I'm reading Isak Dinesen's Out of Africa, which had been on my list for years. To abuse an abusive pun, safari so goody. Still, it's not as good as Beryl Markham's West with the Night.

:: Comments left behind ::

Explanation, Assorted Comments, Merry Christmas! (02:48PM)

I haven't been blogging because I've been sick and almost just barely keeping up with work and the occasional motorcycle ride. I'm much better now, and mostly caught up, so I'll be back to blogging in the next couple of weeks. For now, I'm looking forward to celebrating Christmas with the family (last year of having two full-time children as the oldest graduates from high school in May and will be heading off to college, somewhere).

One of the things that killed my blogging was the onslaught of blog comment spam, and a malfunction of MT-Blacklist. Well, it turns out the MTB malfunction was due to having too many entries in my blacklist (3878 is the magic maximum), and it took a while to figure that out, and then to delete the several thousand spam comments. You'll note that I'm not allowing comments any more, so send me an email if you want to make a comment. I'll add it to the entry if appropriate.

Even though I'm an Auburn grad and a Virginia Tech Professor, I'm not going to go to the Sugar Bowl. Folks have asked me which side I'd sit on, and I have to answer "The Orange side, of course!"

Comment on motorcycle-brand-bashing: You'd think that motorcyclists would have enough to do without thinking of ways to bad-mouth other folks' choice of bikes. In my motorcycle club, Twin Valley Riders, we have nearly every type of bike imaginable. Once in a while, someone will post a joke that is offensive to folks who love Harley-Davidsons. For example, back in April, someone posted this collection of jokes, and sure enough a couple of Harley owners got their panties in a knot. I don't get it, but that's just me. Anyhow, today one of the Harley owners, who also owns a Ducati and a BMW, and has just purchased a new Triumph, added to his signature the tagline "No Jap Crap." I guess it's time to dust off the BMW/Ducati/Harley/Triumph jokes.

Well, I've got a bit more shopping to do, and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! See you next year.

:: Comments left behind ::

Thoroughly Irrelevant Marshall (03:49PM)

Josh Marshall is articulate, and at sometime in the past, he has probably written something meaningful. But over the past couple of years, he has become more and more muddled. His "concession" entry, Well, What To Say? is an excellent example. In just 1500 words, he manages to reveal his inability to cope with the real world.

He makes the unsupported claim that President Bush wrung "some de facto concession out of Sen. Kerry...." Marshall provides not a scrap of evidence, but then, why should he? His entire case has been based on incessant parroting of a string of lies.

Echoing the trial lawyer VP candidate (ed: What was his name again?) Marshall snipes that "The fact that the president is 'convinced' that he won is not only meaningless but offensive." What ever is this statement supposed to mean? If it means anything, what does that meaning have to do with anything?

Marshall blindly states that "when I look at the results from last night what I see is that they are virtually identical to four years ago." Did he notice that the President's support went up significantly in all but four states? He goes on to note that "if the Dems had been crushed, that would have been one thing." Did he notice that the President not only won a majority of both the popular vote and the electoral college vote, but that he also was handed an increased Republican majority in both Houses? An increased number of Republican governors? An increased number of Republican-controlled state legislatures? Sounds like a bit of a crush to me.

He goes on to blame President Bush for dividing the country. He's talking about the same President Bush who has been called a liar and worse by the Democratic Party leadership, without ever resorting to the same tactics in response, who has been the subject of a wildly popular trashing-by-documentary, without ever resorting to equivalent criticism of the character of his opponents.

And finally, he moves on to his grand proposal for the establishment of a new liberal counter-culture. He makes no mention of whether flowers-in-their-hair will be mandatory or optional, but he's giving his audience a few days or weeks to recover from this defeat (not a crushing defeat, though) before beginning the new movement. That should give us time to set up our lawn chairs for a good ring-side seat.

:: Comments left behind ::

I have to admit, Mr. Marshall seems a bit, well, bitter. A misplaced reaction, in my opinion. Mr. Bush won. And, I feel much better about this election than the debacle of 2000. The electorate has spoken, and Mr. Bush's agenda has prevailed. I don't agree that his path is the best one for the country, but the choice was clear. No Nader protest vote, no butterfly ballots, no hanging chads, no Supreme Court intervention. Mr. Bush won because more voters believed he should lead the country. I disagree, and I'm sure I will continue to be critical of his policies. My viewpoint did not prevail, but I can sleep at night. To paraphase and reverse the popular Chinese curse, "May he NOT govern in interesting times."

:: shoveldog November 3, 2004 08:43 PM

I read through lots of election reaction on liberal and left-wing sites yesterday. I actually came away feeling sorry for all those people saying "How could we lose to this corrupt, complete idiot?" I felt their pain, seriously, because I felt similarly during the years Bill Clinton was President. I thought he was a degenerate psychopath from the very first, and I think that opinion was pretty much confirmed. I simply could not comprehend my countrymen's, and even some of my family's, high regard for the man. So I understand that kind of frustration and bewilderment.

If we are to judge by poll numbers, Bush has actually united the country more than Clinton. Clinton never received more than 49% of the vote.

I grew up partly in Texas. I understand why some people say that cowboy hats and hemrhoidds are similar because sooner or later every a**hole gets one. What Josh Marshall needs to understand is that as big a jerk as some Texans can be, they think America is basically a good country, with occasional lapses, that has been a positive force in the world. Marshall and his folks believe the opposite, that America is basically a bad country that can earn redemption from its sins if it will just tame its aggressive tendencies and give away lots of money.

Let the new liberal counter-culture flourish. My favorite song is "If You're Going to San Francisco."

:: Salt Lick November 4, 2004 07:56 AM

"Marshall and his folks"? If you're going to talk about uniting the country, that probably isn't the best way to start. First of all, I don't know who you include in that grouping, and second, I don't know anyone who exhibits the political philosophy you suggest. You think Clinton is a degenerate psychopath and I think Bush is a vapid little moron, but we both are capable of analyzing our political situation in a larger context. Some folks, however, on both sides of the fence, can't get beyond those personal opinions, and I think you've read some reactions to the election that bear that out. Still, don't group me with Marshall, and don't fictionalize a viewpoint just to ridicule it. There are plenty of areas of legitimate disagreement without pretending liberals think America is a "bad country."

I may think that the "evangelical Christians" whose votes helped George W. Bush win this election are hypocritical nutcases, but I'm not going to tell you that they're inherently bad people. Misguided, I might argue, but they believe they're making the best choice for the country. And, there are clearly more people who hold those views than people who believe as I do.

I'm a litigator, not an office practitioner, and for the most part, I've lived the last 15 or so years in courtrooms. As you might imagine, rejection is something you learn to accept. While I try to be somewhat selective with cases, you can't always prevail. I lose objections, motions, trials and appeals. You move on. All I ask for is a fair process and a clean result. I think we accomplished that in this election. I can move on. Can you?

:: shoveldog November 4, 2004 08:46 AM

Good morning. Just got around to reading comments (busy preparing lecture notes on aircraft stability & control).

1. Shoveldog, I think many of us on both sides like and don't like the policies and approaches of leadership on both sides, but we have the choices we have. I was resigned to the strong possibility of a Kerry victory, and I would have supported him throughout, opposing the wholesale cry of "liar" every time he opened his mouth, which I'm sure some (maybe many) Republicans would have done. Certainly many Democrats have done done the same for Bush for the past four years, and I'm sure many will continue for another four.

2. Salt Lick, I agree with you about the similar feelings when Clinton was elected. I think he's a heck of a charmer, but I think he was pretty much worthless as a President. If it hadn't been for the internet boom, I doubt he'd have any but the most devout leftwing nutbags in his camp. As it is, times were good, through no doing of his own, and he left us with a recession for which Bush is blamed every day in spite of the strong recovery.

3. Shoveldog, I don't think that Salt Lick's comment was aimed at your comment, but rather at Marshall's Brave New Movement proposal. I could be mistaken, but that's the way I read it.

:: chris November 4, 2004 09:00 AM

shoveldog wrote -- "Marshall and his folks"? If you're going to talk about uniting the country, that probably isn't the best way to start. First of all, I don't know who you include in that grouping, and second, I don't know anyone who exhibits the political philosophy you suggest."

Don't know how to answer that one, shoveldog, other than to say Marshall writes for the liberal-left side of the spectrum and those are his "folks." I work in academia. I hear the political philosophy I mentioned ALL THE TIME.

"You think Clinton is a degenerate psychopath..."

No, I KNOW Bill Clinton is a degenerate psychopath. It's, as lawyers say, "in the record." A 51 year old man who holds the highest office in the land pushes cigars up the vagina of a 21 year intern, and gets a blowjob from her while he talks to a Congressman about troop deployments in Bosnia -- that man is a degenerate. A pyschopathic personality is one whose behavor is largely amoral and asocial and who is characterized by irresponsibility, lack of remorse or shame, perverse or impulsive (often criminal) behavior.

"..and I think Bush is a vapid little moron..."

Bush is sometimes annoyingly cocky, often inarticulate, a little above average height, and an intelligence study done shortly before the election showed his IQ to be higher than Kerry's.

" Still, don't group me with Marshall, and don't fictionalize a viewpoint just to ridicule it."

Sorry if you took my comment as aimed at you, shoveldog. I didn't address you specifically in my comment, and I wasn't even thinking of you. I was just pitching in my 2 cents to the Spacecraft.

"There are plenty of areas of legitimate disagreement without pretending liberals think America is a "bad country.""

Maybe all of liberals don't think America is basically a bad country, but I have noted this as a distinguishing feature on my campus. The prevailing scholarship in historical and social studies promotes this idea. The attitude I mention divides liberals and conservatives. And to note such does not mean I see liberals as "bad people," it just notes they are "misguided."

"I'm a litigator,... All I ask for is a fair process and a clean result."

Me too, which is why I helped start my campus chapter of the ACLU about 25 years ago. In those days, intellectual diversity was more valued, but still needed protection.

"I think we accomplished that in this election. I can move on. Can you?"

Certainly, shoveldog. Let's move on.

:: Salt Lick November 4, 2004 09:22 AM

Salt Lick, still don't agree with your characterization of liberal philosophy, but if you've experienced it, I accept that; I just don't believe it's widespread.

I agree that we should move on.

I'm off to court.

(Chris, I need to e-mail you later about a bike I'm considering, but it will probably be tonight. I'm not sure how good a deal this really is, but you can tell me.)

:: shoveldog November 4, 2004 09:39 AM

Bush ha vinto a causa del vostro sistema elettorale del cazzo (il compromesso in sede di Convenzione costituzionale a Filadelfia, nel 1787), che da fin troppo potere agli stati meno popolati (guardacaso tutti repubblicani).
Certo che siete bravi a cantarvela, bigottoni che non siete altro, ma del resto, negare la realtà è una caratteristica tipicamente americana.

Ciao padre fondatore

P.S: if you want read this post ask a "spaghetti" (you usually call my people in this way) to translate it for you.
P.P.S: Good blog, a real information hub about space missions and technology, in spite of Esa underrating. As far as political side...ugh!

:: Caronte November 4, 2004 03:27 PM

Here's a straight babelfish translation of the previous comment: Bush has won because of your electoral system of I haul (the compromise during constitutional Convention to Filadelfia, in 1787), than end too much to be able to the less popolati states (guardacaso all republicans). Sure that you are good to sing it to you, bigottoni that you are not other, but of the rest, to deny the truth it is one characteristic typically American.

There you have it: characteristic typically American, that's me.

However, I can categorically deny ever having heard any American refer to Italians as "spaghetti." Of course, there is that series of westerns known as "spaghetti westerns," but I don't think that's quite the same thing.

I try not to underrate ESA, but I do take exception to the way ESA reports their achievements with scant reference to prior achievements by others.

I'm not sure I get much out of "ugh" as a comment on the "political side" of my posts, but feel free to visit often and add more.

I visited Italy last summer (first time), and had a wonderful time. I didn't blog too much about the trip, but a brief entry is here.

Ciao

:: chris November 4, 2004 04:41 PM

Friend of mine married a Spaniard, so most of my time across the Atlantic has been spent there and Portugal. Friend's Spanish wife has always said Italy is the most beautiful country in all of Europe, even more than Spain, and highly recommends a visit.

"A spaghetti?" Never heard anyone in the US call an Italian by this name. I did once see a guy snort a spaghetti pasta up his nose, though. Yuck.

BTW, Caronte, George Bush won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote.

Arrivederci

:: Salt Lick November 4, 2004 04:58 PM

SL: I'll take Spain over Italy, though the Alps and Appenines are beautiful. I love the Iberian peninsula, and last time I was there, I visited Portugal too (University of Beira Interior), putting about 2000 miles on an Aprilia Pegaso (650cc thumper).

I like the food and restaurant atmosphere better in Spain too. In Italy, everything's more expensive, and everybody smokes. I recall seeing a few folks in Spain who weren't smoking. :^}

:: chris November 4, 2004 05:09 PM

Caronte - Nowadays, when I think of Italians, I think of that brave hostage in Iraq who, when the jihadis were about to cut his head off, held it high and spat at them "I will show you how an Italian dies!".

I've never heard of an Italian called a "spaghetti" and, I certainly would not stand to hear anything derogatory said of Italians in my presence. As for the ESA, it is held in high esteem hereabouts. And, we are seeing space hardware coming out of Europe now that is top notch.

:: Reid November 5, 2004 02:06 PM

Salt lick wrote:
" BTW, Caronte, George Bush won the popular vote as well as the Electoral College vote."

It's true. America made his choice, a questionable choice (it's only my point of view), a democratic one anyway. I apologize for my previous assertions.

I'd like also apologize to the blog owner, Chris, for my assertions about him. I had forgotten the main reason I have been following this blog for 6 months: space technology and nothing else. I won't post political opinions anymore.

Chris wrote
"I try not to underrate ESA, but I do take exception to the way ESA reports their achievements with scant reference to prior achievements by others."

I 've read the Esa Press Release about Integral and let me say that's the typical french style: simply snob. Fortunately ASI, the tiny Italian Space Agency, is different, and I don't say that because I'm Italian.

Reid wrote:
"Caronte - Nowadays, when I think of Italians, I think of that brave hostage in Iraq who, when the jihadis were about to cut his head off, held it high and spat at them "I will show you how an Italian dies!"."

Thanks Reid, even if I'm pretty sure the poor Fabrizio Quattrocchi was only trying to pluck up one's courage. Anyway, whatever thing he was doing in Iraq, I sincerely sorry for him, their parents and everybody lost their life on duty (both soldiers and civilians). I said this because in my country this fact divided the public opinion - for someone he was only a sort of mercenary. I'd prefer don't say nothing about this, because nobody know the truth really: the only real thing
is the mercy for the victims.

Chris wrote
"However, I can categorically deny ever having heard any American refer to Italians as "spaghetti." Of course, there is that series of westerns known as "spaghetti westerns," but I don't think that's quite the same thing."

I've heard this expression in San Diego a couple of times. In some american films, tv-series and novels you can find this expression.
Anyway, never mind.

Spaghetti western? Sergio Leone rules.

Sorry again and greetings from Milano (Milan)

P.S: eventually sorry for my english

:: Caronte November 5, 2004 06:51 PM

Never got to Italy while stationed in Europe, but I do know that they've got a growing hobby rocketry group going. Most of the Scandinavian countries do too, as does England.

:: Ted November 8, 2004 07:00 AM

Caronte:
your apology is not necessary, but is certainly accepted. i welcome you to add political commentary to posts that are clearly political (such as this one). and rest assured that we americans love italy. heck, most of us even like france! :^}

:: chris November 8, 2004 12:50 PM

The Captain Speaks (01:55PM)

Steven Den Beste provides an uncharacteristially succinct summary.

:: Comments left behind ::

An Attack Ad I Missed! (11:15AM)

Watch it here.

:: Comments left behind ::

Dismissed (12:47AM)

Ramesh Ponnuru stayed up 'til 12:41 AM on November 3, 2004, just so he could blog:

JOHN KERRY, You are dismissed from duty.

Looks like a done deal. Of course, the lawyers will still have their say.

:: Comments left behind ::

...and then they voted (01:04PM)

Found in my inbox:

_____________________________
While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the North?" When another person jumped in and explained that the sun rises in the east, ( and has for some time ), she shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff." . . . And then she voted.
_____________________________

_____________________________
While looking at a house, my brother asked the real estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, "Does the sun rise in the North?" When another person jumped in and explained that the sun rises in the east, ( and has for some time ), she shook her head and said, "Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff." , , , And then she voted.
_____________________________
I used to work in technical support for a 24x7 call center. One day I got a call from an Individual who asked what hours the call center was open. I told him, "The number you dialed is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." He responded, "Is that Eastern or Pacific time?" Wanting to end the call quickly, I said, "Uh ... Pacific." .. . . And then he voted.
_____________________________
So my colleague and I were eating our lunch in our cafeteria, when we overheard one of the admin. assistants talking about the sunburn she got on her weekend drive to the shore. She drove down in a convertible, but "didn't think she'd get sunburned because the car was moving." .. . . And then she voted.
_____________________________
My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car. It's designed to cut through a seatbelt if she gets trapped. She keeps it in the trunk. .. . . And then she voted.
_____________________________
My friends and I were on a beer run and noticed that the cases were discounted 10%. Since it was a big party, we bought two cases. The cashier multiplied two times 10% and gave us a 20% discount. ....and then he voted.
_____________________________
I was hanging out with a Liberal friend of mine when we saw a woman walk by us with a nose ring attached to an earring by a chain. My friend said, "Wouldn't the chain rip out every time she turned her head?" "I had to explain to her that a person's nose and ear! remain the same distance apart no matter which way the head is turned." .. . . And then she voted.
_____________________________
My girlfriend and I were picking up some sandwiches from the sub place last week and she asked the clerk which one of two sandwiches was better. The clerk didn't have an opinion but did say that the first sandwich was more expensive. My girlfriend got a quizzical look on her face and asked, "If that's the case, why are they both listed with the same price on the menu?" To this, the clerk responded, "I don't think they tax the turkey." .. . . And then he voted.
_____________________________
I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage area. So I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because they were trained professionals and I was in good hands. "Now," She asked me, "has your plane arrived yet?" .. . . And then she voted.

:: Comments left behind ::

Re:
My friends and I were on a beer run....

I trust you then immediately went back in and bought 10 cases? Before you voted.

:: Alan E Brain November 11, 2004 07:05 AM

Motorcycle Helmet Testing (08:03AM)

Video demonstration (2 MB mpeg) (via Shoveldog).

Any questions?

:: Comments left behind ::