[LIVE]: SCM Show with scm
Best–selling books written by very wealthy people are usually along the lines of “The Secrets of My Success” ― but this is a space–travel story!
This is regarded as the first “Gothic novel” of terror and suspense. I had trouble restraining my laughter all through.
Horace Walpole (1764)
For those who wish to follow along at home, the text is available on Project Gutenberg.
An intentional minute of silence to follow some unplanned dead air ; acknowledgements ; things worse than Venezuela ; Man, the animal who (for better or worse) creates his own environment ; Grid is Good.
Venezuela as a macroeconomic example, and the Parting of the Ways.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!).