LCROSS Anecdote

About two years ago, I was completing an Aerospace Project Management Certificate course. The Risk Management module was taught by a gentleman (in the purest and best sense of the term) named Steve Carman. His regular 'day job' was being Northrop Grumman's Program Manager for the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) program.

As part of the course we discussed potential risks (and opportunities!) he was dealing with in delivering the LCROSS to NASA. He described the LCROSS mission to us and the question arose (I'm not saying WHO asked it):

What if the impact indicates there was water at the Lunar pole...until we blew it to smittereens?

The answer was pretty staightforward.: It was a calculated and accepted risk that NASA was willing to take [;-)

Best Take on David Letterman

Victor Davis Hanson has the best take on Letterman's latest steps on his descent into absolute irrelevance:

"The self-serving, creepy apology was as bad as the initial slur. Letterman is emblematic of an aging, baby-boomer culture, that dresses up street vulgarity with a tie and coat."

A boor and a coward indeed.

Dowd Conundrum Indeed

Best subtitle ever!: Why Vulcans and Other Intellectuals Don't Belong in the Big Chair

Bill Whittle absolutely skewers the fawning media coverage of President Obama and the 'Smartest Man' myth in one thrust.

The only point I would take issue with is his use of the term 'intellectuals'. Perhaps it is accurate in the sense the term is currently applied and as they view themselves, but I think of those people as more pseudo-intellectuals...or suckers (take your pick).

(Be sure you watch all the credits at the end)

"Disdain for U.S. Policies"

You call that a defense?

Instapundit, links to another news story concerning the two 'govnoed' (see previous post) who were allegedly (wink wink) selling out our country due to some perceived disillusionment on their part.
Hmmm.
I wonder, what tipped them over the edge? Was it perhaps the disappointment of being able to only save up enough Dinero for a 38' yacht on a State Department salary? I mean, would a bigger one have kept them from selling us out?

But Gee! I thought they were happy with the one they had:

We have the most beautiful boat!
It is 8:00 PM here; we are having a drink and are practically melting in our chairs while repeating to one another, ”we have the most beautiful boat.”

Today the temperature was around 60 degrees and the wind from 4 to 8 knots. We sailed the good ship Helene on the Bay for 4 hours. Kendall sailed then napped for an hour on a pad behind the helm’s seat. I used a finger to occasionally touch the wheel while the boat sailed herself. Clouds were mesmerizing. No other boats around so thoroughly relaxed. Our only comments were how well balanced she is, how smoothly she sails, and how fast she is in any wind.
Two weeks ago we took her on her first sail of the spring and were surprised by a 24 knot gust. She took the blow like a champ, rounding up to wait for us to ”come to!”
We just want you to know our happy we are with our decision to purchase this gem from you!

Cheers,
Gwen and Kendall

Somehow I think the link to the above will disappear soon. Update 06/10/09 1020hrs: The link no longer works. No worries though, as I saved a copy:


We will next begin to hear that what they gave the Cubans wasn't THAT important. That will be even more disgusting.

Cuban Spies In The State Department?

Who'd a Thunk?

If the case is valid (and I'd say we have every reason to believe it is) these people are disgusting. The Soviets used to call them 'govnoed' (Sh**eaters):

Officers of both the GRU and the KGB have very much more respect for their agents than for the sh**-eaters. The motives of agents are clear — an easy life and plenty of money. If you take risks and lose, then no money and no easy life. To the end of his life the agent will not be able to tear himself away from this servitude — as is the case in the criminal world. But the behaviour of the numerous friends of the Soviet Union is utterly incomprehensible to Soviet people. --Victor Suvorov

Or could it just be the Conservative in me that makes me too easily disgusted? Well, that's probably what Psycheboy Pizarro thinks anyway.

~Sigh~ @#^*!%! Freaking Hippies and punk-a** Postmodern Academes.

Mythbusting Busted

Yes! Poetic indeed.

Take that nattering Nabobs of negativity.

A man, and Man, needs some Truths.

Hopeychange n' Stuff #1

Maybe he's just trying to make Biden look smart.

More "Verde" Hybrid Nonsense

Hat tip: WUWT

THE Times (Not one of the American ones) has an excellent article dissecting and dissing Honda's new Insight car model (a hybrid). The author, Mr Clarkson, also looks a little closer into the 'green' aspects of hybrids and electric cars. As cited by a commenter at WUWT, Mr Clarkson I believe gets particularly close the what the hub-bub about these so-called 'green' cars is really all about:

The nickel for the battery has to come from somewhere. Canada, usually. It has to be shipped to Japan, not on a sailing boat, I presume. And then it must be converted, not in a tree house, into a battery, and then that battery must be transported, not on an ox cart, to the Insight production plant in Suzuka. And when the finished car has to be shipped, not by Thor Heyerdahl, to Britain, where it can be transported, not by wind, to the home of a man with a beard who thinks he’s doing the world a favour.

(Emphasis mine).

I don't know if there was a 'beard' in this car or not, but the 'doing the world a favor' part definitely applied.

Post script: just drove the new (used) ride cross country: 27+ MPG @ 75-80 MPH. No hybrid under the hood, just a handbuilt AMG 3.2L supercharged engine driving a 5 speed autostick-- made the trip sooo much more fun. About 1500 miles and I only had two brain-dead 'smug' hybrid polluters pass me at those speeds. Yeah I burn premium, but I know those POSs weren't getting as good MPG highway as I was getting either.

Blogroll Change: Bye Bye LGF

Not that it will make a whit of difference to the world, but I've removed my Little Green Footballs link in the Blogroll.

I still pretty much agree with Charles Johnson on most things and will be visiting his site as always. I just think the site, while suitably ardent on most of Johnson's 'causes', is too overwrought on the Evolution vs. Creationism issue. I don't think I even materially disagree with Johnson on Evolution, but his postings on the subject seem to be taking on an ever-increasing 'religious' fervor on what should be discussed in terms that are serious, scientific, and calm. Today's strained and ill-considered parsing of what is best described as imprecise statements by Rush Limbaugh on Darwinism have pushed things over the top for me.

I think Mr Johnson's views on some things are ill-informed (Anthropogenic Global Warming for example), but honest disagreement isn't off-putting - unlike hyperventilating on one side of an issue about others hyperventilating on the other side of the same issue.

I would recommend to Mr Johnson. Prof. Laurence Principe's lecture series Science & Religion for a more reasoned critique of Creationism as a false science.

Update 05/20/09 @2120 Hrs:
Well gee whiz.... One day after LGF jumps all over El Rushbo for his pointing out that the big 'Fossil Evidence for Human Evolution' story as being basically little more than hype, some scientists reinforce Rush's point . Article at link complete with today's OTT (Over the Top) Google header reference.

NY Times Covers Up a Crime For "Their Guy"?

Aren't we lucky to have such an 'unbiased' press?

From Powerline:

"I am sorry," she wrote, "but I believe in Obama and did not want to help the Republicans."

Oh.

Well...I guess that makes it all right then?

Go. Read it all. Follow the link as well.

Hopefully (and I'm not a 'hope' kind of guy) every blog in America will soon have more readership than the NYT.

Jon Stewart Smackdown

As if you need another reason to kick Jon Stewart's a** if you ever see him outside his bubble, there's this.

The link takes you to a video of one of the most cogent decompositions of the 'Nukes Weren't Neccessary' revisionist bile ever delivered. Well done!

2018 Bomber May Have Been Delayed for Right Reasons

For a Change.
H/T Dewline
Well actually, I find THIS is pretty heart-warming:

It was clear the Secretary was not comfortable … with how we define what attributes this aircraft will have," Schwartz said. He added, "There is no question in my mind that there is a need for long-range strike in our portfolio," but that Gates wants to be further "persuaded" on what the "essential characteristics" of the next bomber should be. He said, "Certainly that’s what we intend to do, here in this upcoming cycle." The characteristics will be some mix of stealth, speed, payload, persistence, and whether the aircraft should be manned or unmanned.

Read the rest at the link.

Heck, if they want to know what they really need in a long-range strike capability, all they have to do is ask. I'll be standing by, but not holding my breath.

Celebrate Earth Day: My Least Favorite Pagan Holiday

Iowahawk has a link up that captures what I believe is the correct spirit for Earth Day, my least favorite Pagan holiday.

Geez, why won't the stupid Hippies just go away already?

Yeah, That's Me! I'm Johnny Republico!

Iowahawk has outed me:

Republico matches every profile we have for a dangerous sleeper terrorist - pallid complexion, male, military veteran, weirdly unenthusiastic about paying taxes...
...In fact, we believe he may even have a gun.

Rats, I'm busted.

Read it all - TOO funny. Sad too...but funny!

Happy Endings off Somalia: AP Pi**ing in Wind

Sheez,
Captain freed. Mostly dead pirates. A good day. But no matter how good things go, the AP tries to put a negative spin on what goes down. Case in point: "Military crackdown hasn't deterred Somali pirates" put out just 7 hours ago and authored by someone named Lara Jakes. The opening:

"The U.S. military's moves to crack down on high seas piracy have done little to deter the epidemic of ship ransoms that preceded Sunday's Indian Ocean rescue, a top Navy official said Sunday."

Is that what was really 'said'? - Or is that just Lara Jakes' and/or her editors' creative 'interpretation'? The article does provide more insights...

"Despite heightened ocean crackdowns that led to criminal charges against 130 suspected pirates over the last three months,it wasn't having an effect of drawing the number of attempts down," Gortney told reporters during a telephone conference call from Bahrain.
...
For months, the Navy has sought to prevent or disrupt scores of ship hijackings near the Gulf of Aden. More than 100 ships off the Horn of Africa came under siege in the past year.

Well there you go!, sounds like the AP is just reporting the facts. But... wait a second! What's this?

But as the Navy began focusing on the Gulf of Aden and seeing results, Gortney said, the pirates shifted their activity south into the Indian Ocean. Over the past week, pirates commandeered at least seven new ships, including the Maersk Alabama.

Seeing results? Pirates shifting their activity? No deterrence in effect there eh? Any other info provided?

"As a result of our activity and a lot of Navy presence up in the Gulf of Aden, we saw both attempts and successful attacks go down," Gortney said. "But the last couple of weeks, we saw activity, attempts and successful attacks occur on the east coast of Somalia — where this one did."

So the pirates 1.) changed their behaviors such that we "saw both attempts and successful attacks go down" (i.e. the response we wanted) and 2) are trying something different (which I'm sure we expected them to do...after all, they're just turd-world thugs) . But I guess just stating the obvious isn't doom-laden enough for the AP, at least not as doom-laden as implicating our efforts are bearing no fruit.

BTW: How does the AP rule out the possibility that the last couple of weeks are not just a rough patch on the road to success? Especially since:

"Additional Navy ships also have been sent to the region to patrol for pirates, Gortney said."

Not to mention the pirates knew they screwed up by accidentally attacking an American ship.

Quick! Somebody send AP (and President Obama) a copy of Frederick Leiner's book The End of Barbary Terror, maybe they will catch a clue that success doesn't come in a day or a week.