Venezuela as a macroeconomic example, and the Parting of the Ways.
Author: publius
Fools! I will destroy you all!!
ASFO 2021–07–24
A restatement of basic principles, including why the Cosmos is the true home of Man ; and how Sesame Street and peanut butter demolish the “Marching Morons” ideology.
ASFO 2021–07–17
More about copper, as well as the development of ancient agricultural civilizations, and what those apparently unrelated things tell us about the concept of “overpopulation” ― also best wishes for Jeff Mezos’ ascent to the Bezosphere, planned for the Glorious 20th of July.
ASFO 2021–07–10
Gold, copper, value added, and the economy of Chile (with a digression into trains) ; the SpaceShip Two concept of operations, and Tim Pickens’ hybrid rocket motor ; the Karmann Line and the definition of “Outer Space” ― no, “explosive decompression” is not a thing spacemen have to worry about, unlike deep–sea divers ; and intellectual blind spots.
ASFO 2021–07–03
Personal spaceflight participants versus passengers ; the concentration of wealth and its consequences (good and bad), an expression of doubt regarding “employers” as a concept ; and the Xinjiang PV sanctions.
ASFO 2021–06–26
Is Brazil hoping that signing the Artemis Accords will get the USA to stop blocking its space program? Is Jeff Bezos going to get a chance to build a lunar lander for NASA? Is space settlement an existential threat to humanity? Is blue-green algae responsible for nuclear power?
ASFO 2021–06–19
More about the Will of God ; more on means versus ends, and the question of why I see a most instructive contrast between nuclear energy and “renewables”, but a vital conflict between nuclear and fossil fuels ; a brief description of the (non–) problem of nuclear wastes ; and a thumbnail sketch of the potential of space solar (pops ’em like popcorn!).
ASFO 2021–06–12
Grain bin robots, bicycle dynamos, and the Will of God.
ASFO 2021–06–05
In which I take a long digression on the significance of energy to women in particular, and then a further one to address the fraught topic of “Nazi rocket scientists”. Some folks find it difficult to accept that the USA employed Wernher von Braun, and I don’t say they’re wrong to feel this way ― but there is some context which desperately begs to be discussed.
ASFO 2021–05–29
This is the first ASFO show to have been archived, and was done by dialing in to the conference bridge (x1088) on the SDF VoIP system, also used for aNONradio OpenVoIP. I spent much of the time discussing the growth in energy use since 1700, why the movement toward a high–energy society is a good thing, and why it has relied up to the present on fossil fuels despite their obvious problems. I end with a cliffhanger, so tune in next time!
Supplementary Show