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Just When South Dakota Looked Safe appears on the very prominent blog, Captain's Quarters. It covers the story that SDP has been following closely. It seems clear that Daschle wants to be a player in politics, and he may well...

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!

The last few songs I've downloaded on iTunes: Heard It In a Love Song -- The Marshall Tucker Band. Black Water -- The Doobie Brothers. Sloop John B -- The Beach Boys. A Pirate Looks at Forty -- Jack Johnson,...

How does the old saying go about wherever the beautiful women are, so too is the revolution? If that's the case, we're winning. The exact wording of the phrase escapes me, and after visiting the link I think you'll see...

From the AP: Earlier this year, gun control advocates failed to block a Florida bill allowing people to use deadly force in the street to defend themselves. The advocates vow not to let that happen in Michigan. The battle in...

Only at a place like the DemocraticUnderground would people be worried about stuff like this....

It has now rather suddenly become the official position on, well, at least part of the liberal wing of American politics. In a post on September 20, I argued that, within reason, Presidents are entitled to get the nominees...

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