The unimportant news thread

[Spotted Horses]

Your comment displays a short-sighted and parochial viewpoint. Unsurprising though.

I disagree with that. As was once explained to me, NASA has two competing cultural influences, the scientific mentality in which data is paramount, and the Air Force mentality in which there must be a man holding a stick in the nose of the spacecraft.

Sending people to the moon, or especially to Mars, is of dubious value. Robotic scientific probes have collected mind boggling data which has enhanced our understanding of the universe, for scientists and for non-scientist, and has produced images of foreign worlds of almost inconceivable beauty. They shouldn't be wasting money on manned flight and should be investing in more ambitious scientific missions.

[Todd]

Your comment displays a short-sighted and parochial viewpoint.

Incorrect.

[Todd]

The cracks in the US Treasury bond market

[LKB]

Incorrect.

A short-sighted and parochial person might think so. He would still be wrong.

[Todd]

A short-sighted and parochial person might think so. He would still be wrong.

Incorrect.  Again.  The SLS (aka, Senate Launch System) recycles old technology rather than innovating.  Private market solutions should have been used.  I refer you to comments made by Lori Garver, among others.  NASA bungled Artemis, to the tune of $93 billion.  Well, $93 billion assuming it doesn't go over budget - which it invariably will.

This is all apart from whether manned spaceflight is particularly meaningful.

[Todd]

US moves to shield Saudi crown prince in journalist killing

Upholding the concept of "sovereign immunity" helps ensure that American leaders in turn don't have to worry about being hauled into foreign courts to face lawsuits in other countries, the State Department said.

No kidding.  Imagine Biden standing trial for the partial liquefaction of seven children at an Afghan wedding last year.  Or Trump for his various deeds.  Or Obama.  Or Bush.  Etc.

Justice will be meted out in the next life, and so on.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Elizabeth Holmes to be sentenced today for Theranos crimes:  https://apnews.com/article/elizabeth-holmes-technology-health-sentencing-crime-7ea71f015b874c6e454dcdd4f0857bd4

Will be quite interesting to see what the judge ends up deciding.  Since she was charged, she had one child and then while out on bail, she became pregnant a second time (due date not announced).

PD

[LKB]

I disagree with that. As was once explained to me, NASA has two competing cultural influences, the scientific mentality in which data is paramount, and the Air Force mentality in which there must be a man holding a stick in the nose of the spacecraft.

Sending people to the moon, or especially to Mars, is of dubious value. Robotic scientific probes have collected mind boggling data which has enhanced our understanding of the universe, for scientists and for non-scientist, and has produced images of foreign worlds of almost inconceivable beauty. They shouldn't be wasting money on manned flight and should be investing in more ambitious scientific missions.

Robotic probes are effective platforms for observing astronomical processes and testing theories. But they cannot supply enough useful data in the most important areas: how human bodies tolerate long-duration spaceflight, and the accumulation of the required survival and maintenance procedures for living somewhere other than the Earth.

( Listens to the sound of eyeballs rolling ).

Pie-in-the-sky Sci-Fi, some of you might think, but consider:

Global Warming/Climate Change is a real phenomenon, the effects of which some researchers believe we're already experiencing. I personally have doubts that the industrial and societal changes required to  mitigate these effects are going to transpire. If that turns out to be the case, we'll not only need an alternative locale for our survival - getting there is only half the battle, if that - We'll need techniques and the ability to efficiently prioritize resources, and an idea of the limits within which such an endeavor can succeed.

( This Climate Change scenario is only one of several which could force humanity to relocate. Nuclear war, a large enough asteroidal or cometary impact, a more virulent pandemic... choose your poison. )

The return of humans to the Moon, and subsequent exploration of Mars, is the beginning of this learning.

[Todd]

If that turns out to be the case, we'll not only need an alternative locale for our survival

Humans will live and go extinct on earth.  People really ought to watch and read less science fiction.

If billionaires and their acolytes want to "colonize" Mars, or whatever, that's fine.  NASA should focus of science.  Space Force should focus on low-orbit offensive and defensive capabilities.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Robotic probes are effective platforms for observing astronomical processes and testing theories. But they cannot supply enough useful data in the most important areas: how human bodies tolerate long-duration spaceflight, and the accumulation of the required survival and maintenance procedures for living somewhere other than the Earth.

( Listens to the sound of eyeballs rolling ).

Pie-in-the-sky Sci-Fi, some of you might think, but consider:

Global Warming/Climate Change is a real phenomenon, the effects of which some researchers believe we're already experiencing. I personally have doubts that the industrial and societal changes required to  mitigate these effects are going to transpire. If that turns out to be the case, we'll not only need an alternative locale for our survival - getting there is only half the battle, if that - We'll need techniques and the ability to efficiently prioritize resources, and an idea of the limits within which such an endeavor can succeed.

( This Climate Change scenario is only one of several which could force humanity to relocate. Nuclear war, a large enough asteroidal or cometary impact, a more virulent pandemic... choose your poison. )

The return of humans to the Moon, and subsequent exploration of Mars, is the beginning of this learning.

Speaking of climate change:  High energy prices lead to coal revival in Czech Republic   

https://apnews.com/article/science-health-czech-republic-pollution-ostrava-c7586f97598079751677be577586cc4b?utm_source=hubpage&utm_medium=RelatedStories&utm_campaign=position_02

PD

[Todd]

High energy prices lead to coal revival in Czech Republic   

Not just the Czech Republic: Coal to Europe's rescue

[LKB]

Humans will live and go extinct on earth.  People really ought to watch and read less science fiction.

If billionaires and their acolytes want to "colonize" Mars, or whatever, that's fine.  NASA should focus of science.  Space Force should focus on low-orbit offensive and defensive capabilities.

Still short-sighted and parochial, you are consistent.

[Todd]

Still short-sighted and parochial, you are consistent.

Incorrect.  Yet again.  I rely on facts and scientific reality and not fantastical notions rooted in childhood.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Not just the Czech Republic: Coal to Europe's rescue

Not surprised to hear it (sadly).

PD

[Jo498]

Humans will live and go extinct on earth.

When I read that book "The Martian" a few years ago, it really cemented my opinion that this was true. I am not sure it was the author's intention and the book is only decent, not very good (too many nerdy infodumps) but it clearly shows how incredibly hostile to human survival the closest and least hostile planet is. Any nuclearly or otherwise devastated earth is a million times better than pristine Mars

[Spotted Horses]

Robotic probes are effective platforms for observing astronomical processes and testing theories. But they cannot supply enough useful data in the most important areas: how human bodies tolerate long-duration spaceflight, and the accumulation of the required survival and maintenance procedures for living somewhere other than the Earth.

( Listens to the sound of eyeballs rolling ).

Pie-in-the-sky Sci-Fi, some of you might think, but consider:

Global Warming/Climate Change is a real phenomenon, the effects of which some researchers believe we're already experiencing. I personally have doubts that the industrial and societal changes required to  mitigate these effects are going to transpire. If that turns out to be the case, we'll not only need an alternative locale for our survival - getting there is only half the battle, if that - We'll need techniques and the ability to efficiently prioritize resources, and an idea of the limits within which such an endeavor can succeed.

( This Climate Change scenario is only one of several which could force humanity to relocate. Nuclear war, a large enough asteroidal or cometary impact, a more virulent pandemic... choose your poison. )

The return of humans to the Moon, and subsequent exploration of Mars, is the beginning of this learning.

Do you think that climate change or a pandemic will make the earth more uninhabitable than Mars, where human life is utterly impossible? If we have to live in bubbles on Mars we can just as well live in bubbles here on Earth. As far as figuring out how to live in a self-contained environment under a dome, we have had Biosphere and Biosphere 2, which showed we are no where near being able to do that. But it can be much more easily studied on Earth, where you can open the hatch and let the people out before they die of starvation or asphyxiation.

[Todd]

...but it clearly shows how incredibly hostile to human survival the closest and least hostile planet is.

My understanding is that the closest potentially habitable planet to earth is Proxima Centauri b.  It is 4.2 light years distant.  Humans will never be able to travel distances necessary to inhabit planets or other potentially habitable celestial bodies outside our solar system.  Humans will never be able to transform celestial bodies in our solar system into habitable bodies.  The best humans will be able to do is create tiny outposts capable of supporting small numbers of people with material support delivered from earth on a recurring basis.  Any idea that such outposts could ever serve as some type of extraterrestrial human civilization is laughable on its face.

The engineering efforts and associated expenditures to build even modestly sized colonies on even the moon, let alone Mars, are so gargantuan that they will never happen.  Countries do not have trillions to spend on such endeavors.  When they might, such endeavors will cost quadrillions.  Science fiction has severely warped people's minds with respect to what is physically possible, let alone economically and politically possible.

I am quite confident that nuclear holocaust will be avoided, and I also think humans will handily survive ecological devastation wrought by industrialization and the imperative of economic growth.  (Both capitalist and socialist economic models rely on economic growth, which is intrinsically exponential, and thus incompatible with ecological stability.)  There will be a huge of amount of suffering and staggering excess deaths just this century due to climate change.  (I think the Nature Communications estimate of 83 million excess deaths is too low.)  But humans will survive as a species for millennia to come.  Eventually, humans, like all species, will go extinct, though that is far in the future.  The absolute endpoint is when the sun destroys the earth, but I think extinction will occur long before then.

In the meantime, I will personally consume all manner of goodies and food like they are going out of style.  I mean, Thanksgiving is less than a week away here in the States.  And as long as humans make it to at least Christmas, it's all good.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Elizabeth Holmes to be sentenced today for Theranos crimes:  https://apnews.com/article/elizabeth-holmes-technology-health-sentencing-crime-7ea71f015b874c6e454dcdd4f0857bd4

Will be quite interesting to see what the judge ends up deciding.  Since she was charged, she had one child and then while out on bail, she became pregnant a second time (due date not announced).

PD

I found Sen. Cory Booker's support letter very interesting.

[Jo498]

Elizabeth Holmes to be sentenced today for Theranos crimes:  https://apnews.com/article/elizabeth-holmes-technology-health-sentencing-crime-7ea71f015b874c6e454dcdd4f0857bd4

Will be quite interesting to see what the judge ends up deciding.  Since she was charged, she had one child and then while out on bail, she became pregnant a second time (due date not announced).

Not sure about the US but I remember some historical fiction book I read about late 18th/early 19th century (or so) Britain where convicted women could "plead their belly" when pregnant and would receive milder verdicts. Such as transportation to a colony instead of capital punishment.

[Todd]

It will be interesting to see if Mr Booker or any other prominent politicians plead for leniency for Samuel Bankman-Fried when the time comes.