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Hillary Clinton has decided to vote against John Roberts. Earlier I had suggested that she was the real bellwether of the Democrats. I had predicted she would vote for Roberts because, as Michael Corleone would say, It's the smart move....

Going Up?...all the way to Geosychronous Orbit

A couple of articles on a concept found in science fiction from Arthur C. Clarke and others: a tethered orbital elevator system! At first glance if one is unfamiliar with the concept it sounds like something from a hallucination - but the physics works, and with recent new developments in materials technology, the means are also now available.

The big advantage: CHEAP cost to orbit, especially compared to rocketry. Check these articles out: one from this weeks Sunday (London) Telegraph, and the other from none other than the big gorilla of the blogosphere hisself: Glenn "Instapundit" Reynolds writing on Tech Central Station.

Click on image to enlarge. (Image from liftport.com)

Stairway to heaven

The race is on to build the first "space elevator' - long dismissed as science fiction - to carry people and materials into orbit along a cable thousands of miles long.

In a significant step, American aviation regulators have just given permission for the opening trials of a prototype, while a competition to be launched next month follows in the wake of the $10 million (£5.6 million) "X Prize'', which led to the first privately developed craft leaving the Earth's atmosphere, briefly, last year.

Folks, this isn't pie in the sky conceptualizing - it's going into the engineering phase - that's about as concrete as it gets!

Space Program: Looking Up

I've written here in the past about NASA's work on space elevators, and on the new leaner, meaner, prize-oriented approach favored by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin. Now there are some signs of real progress on a number of fronts. As I noted earlier, NASA was offering prizes for space elevator research. That's still going on, but there are some new studies suggesting that space elevators may be closer to practicality than previously thought.

Indeed!

From David Limbaugh: I believe Gen. Russel Honore's classic admonition to reporters, Don't get stuck on stupid, was one of the best lines so far of the new millennium. Part of its enduring value is its uncanny applicability to politics...

Sweet Jesus: Rita Swirls Into 150-Mph Monster in Gulf. Don't put away your wallet yet, and if you're helping out with some other ongoing relief efforts, keep up the good work. Last night I helped a service organization I belong...

These people interviewed by ABC at the Astrodome must not have gotten the memo: ABC News producers probably didn't hear what they expected when they sent Dean Reynolds to the Houston Astrodome's parking lot to get reaction to President Bush's...

Just like Daschle began running tv ads in July 2003 long before his November 2004 election, Democratic Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota is doing the same thing this time around. From the great blog Taking Back North Dakota:Senator Conrad...

Here is what the Galveston Texas school buses are doing as a hurricane approaches: Caption: Galveston Independent School District buses carrying evacuees head north on I-45 in Galveston, Texas. Here is what New Orleans did with their school buses: This...

From Rush Limbaugh: The money sound bite is from Lieutenant General Russell Ragin' Cajun Honore. He has a press conference. (sigh) I guess I gotta play all of these. I don't want to play all of these. I got four...

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