[Straits Times] A NEWS report says a Malaysian court has ordered two lovers to pay a fine of four buffaloes and a pig after they were found guilty of having an illicit affair.
The Star newspaper says the Native Court in Penampang district on Borneo island ruled Friday that the man and woman must compensate their communities with the animals, valued at about 6,000 ringgit (S$2,533), for their tryst.
They were also fined 1,000 ringgit each.
The man's wife filed a complaint last year after finding her husband in shorts and her colleague in a sarong at the man's second home. The court rejected their claim that they were just 'best friends.' Officials could not immediately be reached Sunday for further details.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] A Saudi couple had their marriage restored more than four years after a court ordered them to be divorced because they were from incompatible tribes, a Saudi newspaper reported on Sunday. "Incompatible tribes." That means they weren't closely enough related.
The Supreme Judiciary Council in Riyadh on Saturday accepted a request by Mansour al-Timani and his wife Fatima to overrule the June, 2005 decision that annulled their marriage against their wishes, Arab News said. "The divorce ruling is void, therefore the return of the couple together is inevitable now and does not require (another) marriage ceremony," their legal representative Ahmad al-Sudairi told the newspaper.
The original complaint about the marriage had been lodged in court by Fatima's half-brothers, who said that Timani had lied to their father about his tribal roots when he married Fatima in 2002. The couple, who had moved away from Fatima's family to avoid harassment, was not even aware for several months that they had been officially divorced by the court, the paper said.
They remained together until they were arrested in 2006, reportedly for living together after being divorced. Her husband was released on bail, while Fatima was sent to prison with the couple's two children. In a November 2006 interview she told Arab News she would not leave the jail unless she could go back to her husband.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Police have arrested an Arab man who stabbed to death an Emirati citizen who had pressed him to have sex, local media reported on Sunday. "C'mon, Mahmoud! How about a little?"
The assailant and the victim were not identified but according to the reports the stabber was described as a drinking pal of the Emirati man who was killed in his own villa in Abu Dhabi during a fight between the pair. "Unhand me, you beast! [WHACK!]"
"The suspect got angry and engaged in a fight with the victim who picked up a knife from the kitchen and tried to stab him," Gulf News quoted Colonel Hamad Ahmed al-Hamadi of the Abu Dhabi police as saying. "Hrarr! Take that!"
"Take what?"
"The suspect, however, managed to grab the knife and stabbed the victim several times," he added. "Gimma dat knife! Here's how y'do it! [STAB! STAB! STAB!]"
"Aaaiiieee!"
The incident happened on December 27, reports quoted Hamadi as saying. It was not clear when the arrest took place. "You sober yet?"
"Yeah. I think so."
"Yer under arrest."
Gulf News said that the Arab man admitted to the stabbing, but said he acted in self-defense.
Based on the number of this kind of story we've had here at Rantburg, the behaviour seems to be traditional in that part of the world.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Yokay, I'll bite, this is too close on the heels of comedian-actor ANDY DICK's incident.
Robinho's departure from Manchester has left one man feeling particularly blue - die-hard fan Chris Atkinson has the Brazilian's name tattooed on his chest.
And to make matters worse the tribute is etched next to another Samba star who never even signed for the club.
Mr Atkinson, 26, of Altrincham, got a Kaka tattoo soon after the Blues lodged a £100m bid - only for him to sign for Real Madrid.
The part-time Hollyoaks actor said he was "gutted" Robinho had left City.
"I got the Kaka tattoo and got quoted saying I'd get Robinho done next," said Mr Atkinson, who also works in a pub in Timperley.
"My mate had a bet with me that I wouldn't get it done - so I did it."
Posted by: john frum ||
02/01/2010 15:08 ||
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#1
"Robinho"??!!!
Can we presume strong spirits were involved with this?
Does anyone understand it?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/01/2010 15:19 Comments ||
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#2
Robinho!!
Barbara, what sort of blasphemy is this. We're talking about the largest religion in the world here - soccer. Not knowing who the nominated Son Of God (Pele) is, would have to be the greatest sacrilege.
For your sins you will be sentenced to watching endless replays of handball, gridiron I think they call it.
Russian police broke up anti-Kremlin protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Sunday, and detained more than 100 demonstrators, including several opposition leaders.
In Moscow, several hundred demonstrators gathered in a central square, defying a ban imposed by authorities. The protesters said their rally was banned in violation of the Russian constitution's guarantee of the right to gather. The Soviet Constitution was also quite beautiful. Lots of rights.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
ION WMF > RUSSIA MISERABLE: THE CHINESE HAVE, WILL DECIDE THE FATE OF SIBERIA, in prac every aspect
TREND > in LT, rowards more BILATER SINO-RUSSIAN COOPER oer SIBERIA + RUSS FAR EAST, but its already clear that unless something seriously proactively changes in Russia as per MOSCOW-BASED LOCAL, NATIONAL POLICIES, CHINA WILL DIR OR INDIR SLOWLY BUT DETERMINATIVELY COME TO DOMINATE SIBERIA + RFE [ETHNICALLY, CULTURALLY, ECON, ETC. CHIN + other NON-RUSSOSLAVIC ASIAN/ORIENTAL in all but Name andor Pol Sovereignty].
* DAILY TIMES.PK > "AGING ASIA" PROBLEMS AS SERIOUS AS CLIMATE CHANGE.
Chinese state media laid into the United States on Monday after the Obama administration unveiled its first arms package for Taiwan, a move that prompted China to impose sanctions on the firms involved.
The latest spat between the world's biggest and third-biggest economies threatens to add to a litany of other issues straining ties, including the value of China's currency, trade protectionism and Internet freedoms.
The official China Daily said U.S. weapons sales to the self-ruled and democratic island "inevitably casts a long shadow on Sino-US relations."
"China's response, no matter how vehement, is justified. No country worthy of respect can sit idle while its national security is endangered and core interests damaged," it said in an editorial.
"The U.S. decision not only runs counter to the common dream of pursuing development and cooperation among the people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, but also exposes the U.S.' usage of double standards and hypocrisy on major issues related to China's core interests." President Obama might try bowing lower next meeting.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
They could have reined in their lapdog Kimmy and their weapons to Pakiwakiland....
Take their fumes and shove them where the sun don't shine.
#6
they delay and delay, they have thousands of years to implement their plans. time means different things to the asians than it does to the north americans. we need to beware!!!
Irritating, isn't it? How about you work to keep arms out of the hands of our enemies? And no matter what you think, Taiwan isn't an enemy. Unless you want it to be, of course . . . .
He's been grilled by Congress and blasted by critics, but the chief executive of Goldman Sachs may soon have $100 million reasons to smile.
Lloyd Blankfein, who leads the world's richest investment bank, stands to collect an eye-popping $100 million bonus in defiance of President Obama, according to bankers meeting in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum.
"This is Lloyd thumbing his nose at Obama," a banker at one of Goldman's rivals told The Times of London.
The prospect of a $100 million bonus would dwarf the $67.9 million Blankfein collected in 2007. It also would come after Obama called such payments "shameful."
Goldman Sachs refused to comment, but will have to report the pay of its top executives by the end of next month.
#1
Well, Fannie Mae and Mac just had another $200 billion dollar infusion of Treasury [that's yours and mine] money, but the exec's still get million dollar bonuses. Goldman Sachs just had a better year. /sarc off
#5
...or the Russian Revolution or for that matter any place where the Marxist eventually gained control of power. It may be Spring Time at Sachs now, but their paid agent of Hope and Change is not a capitalist.
#6
The ONLY '60s counter-culture BS bumper sticker I ever brought into was, "Eat the Rich..."
IMHO, the Rich would probably taste unsavory, funky, putrid and rancid. But as a 21 year-old 'Nam-era vet listening to(and getting) Barry Farber's WABC nightly NYC radio talk show; I was a happy young man with a dream. That dream probaly won't be an option for my daughter & son-In-Law. We've had it. -as-
"BLANKFEIN, LAURA
NEW YORK,NY 10028 SELF EMPLOYED/ATTORNEY 3/12/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LAURA
NEW YORK,NY 10028 SELF EMPLOYED/ATTORNEY 3/12/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LAURA
NEW YORK,NY 10028 8/28/08 $-2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD
GARDEN CITY,NY 11530 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 11/27/07 $28,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD
GARDEN CITY,NY 11530 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 9/30/09 $2,400 Pagliuca, Steve (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 11/2/09 $5,000 Goldman Sachs
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 3/21/07 $5,000 Goldman Sachs
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 6/16/08 $5,000 Goldman Sachs
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10028 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 9/29/09 $2,400 McMahon, Michael E (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO./INVESTMENT BANK 2/21/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10028 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO/INVESTMENT BANKE 2/21/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C MR
NEW YORK,NY 10028 GOLDMAN SACHS/CHAIRMAN AND CEO 5/10/07 $2,300 Dodd, Chris (D)
#7
The ONLY '60s counter-culture BS bumper sticker I ever brought into was, "Eat the Rich..."
IMHO, the Rich would probably taste unsavory, funky, putrid and rancid. But as a 21 year-old 'Nam-era vet listening to(and getting) Barry Farber's WABC nightly NYC radio talk show; I was a happy young man with a dream. That dream probaly won't be an option for my daughter & son-In-Law. We've had it. -at-
"BLANKFEIN, LAURA
NEW YORK,NY 10028 SELF EMPLOYED/ATTORNEY 3/12/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LAURA
NEW YORK,NY 10028 SELF EMPLOYED/ATTORNEY 3/12/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LAURA
NEW YORK,NY 10028 8/28/08 $-2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD
GARDEN CITY,NY 11530 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 11/27/07 $28,500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD
GARDEN CITY,NY 11530 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 9/30/09 $2,400 Pagliuca, Steve (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 11/2/09 $5,000 Goldman Sachs
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 3/21/07 $5,000 Goldman Sachs
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 6/16/08 $5,000 Goldman Sachs
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10028 GOLDMAN SACHS/INVESTMENT BANKER 9/29/09 $2,400 McMahon, Michael E (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10004 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO./INVESTMENT BANK 2/21/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C
NEW YORK,NY 10028 GOLDMAN SACHS & CO/INVESTMENT BANKE 2/21/07 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
BLANKFEIN, LLOYD C MR
NEW YORK,NY 10028 GOLDMAN SACHS/CHAIRMAN AND CEO 5/10/07 $2,300 Dodd, Chris (D)
President Barack Obama's proposed budget predicts the national deficit will crest at a record-breaking almost $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, That's 11% of GDP. In one year.
Income $2.2T, expenses $3.8T. Result national misery.
/Barack Macawber
then start to recede in 2011 to just below $1.3 trillion. That's just 9% of GDP. No biggie.
Still, the administration's new budget to be released Monday says deficits over the next decade will average 4.5 percent of the size of the economy, Riiight. Average deficit of 10% GDP in the first 2 years and then magically cut that in less than half? Where's the spending reduction plan? Where's the economic growth plan?
a level that economists say is dangerously high if not addressed. No comment. Too disgusted.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Now that we've POed the Chinese w/r to Military sales to Taiwan do you think they will buy our paper to cover this? Or will they have a "side agreement" for Øbama first?
#4
There is only one way to deal with this. We need to cut spending. Cuts to the programs that are causing this, Social Security, Medicare/caid and Defence. We should eliminate the COLAs from SS and MM and return, yes, return, to having Congress set the level of spending on these welfare programs. And there is no capacity for spending on them to go up.
Defence needs to have an ax taken to it also. Procurement spending on gold plated systems is out of control. There is no way we would procure systems so wastefully if we were at war.
Whatever is done to ther programs is window dressing. If we want to cut spending, we have to go where the big spending is and that's these three programs. We need to cut spending.
#5
Procurement spending on gold plated systems is out of control.
Technically, that would be Acquisition and R&D. DoD procurement is food, fuel, spare parts, etc, to keep the organization running. I remember well what happened when they really did cut procurement in the 70s. The phrase 'hollow Army' comes to mind.
#6
Followed by the mass forced retirements of USAF personnel under Clinton. Which led pretty directly to the bumbling management of strategic nukes at Minot a few years later.
Technically, in budget speak what Procopius2k is saying is that food, fuel, salaries etc. are Operations and Maintenance budget lines, as opposed to early stage R&D to address capability gaps and then specific Programs of Record for systems in final development or manufacturing.
Which sounds like nitpicking until you realize that, for instance, under continuing budget resolutions O&M dollars are dribbled out to DOD but the other funding lines aren't. Which in turn can result in higher overall program costs if, say, manufacturing lines were shut down for 4 months.
It's a bit more complicated than this, even, since different budget lines are authorized to spend monies across different spans of fiscal years. But it's too early in the day to bore y'all to sleep with the details ... ;-)
#7
I stand corrected, P2K. O & M is not what we should be going after, but the programs like the DD-1000, Ford, and F-35 that have become out of control spending vehicles to build weapons to fight enemies that have been defeated for 20 years. The Soviet Union is dead. Why are we building these systems when we are sending people into combat with rifles designed 50 years ago? The waste is enormous and should not be tolerated in wartime.
#8
Poor comparison, Nimble; a modern rifle wouldn't cost any more than the heavily modified (with sights and such) M-16's the army currently uses; but the army doesn't seem to want to admit that the M-16 has shortcomings to begin with.
Lest we fergit, MSM-NET PERTS > US-GLOBAL RECESSION [DEPRESSION?] will last DECADES, SCORES OF YEARS LONGER ["Score" = 20 Years ea.]than the original "Great Depression" experienced by our Parents and prior Ancestors-in-Precedence.
For a ANTHROPOGENIC "MAN-AND-ONLY-MAN-IS-THE- CAUSE" GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHANGE [MSM-Net "Hoax"?] + OWG-NWO + "RISE OF THE REST OF THE WORLD", ..................@ETC. that
To wit,
* AFAIK No Amer has yet formally voted for - Locally andor Nationally.
* IMHB Few iff any Amer Politicians wants to describe in detail to their electoral Constituents iff they had a choice.
#15
The good news today for Amerika, the mighty USSA = weak anti-sovereign United Socialist Republiks of Amerika OWG SSR, is that despite its econmoy contarcting EIGHT PERCENT in 2009, RUSS MEDVEDEV = VLADVEDEV wants to revive the Cold War SOVIET WARTIME COMMAND-AND-CONTROL SYSTEM FOR SMOOTH POST-SOVIET RUSS "C4I".
Less actually. Annual increases in entitlement spending are (nearly?) completely the product of existing legal mandates that no one is proposing to change. At least not yet. Slash defense but welfare grows automatically. Yeah, that'll work out well for us.
#1
Outstanding, and I wish them the best of luck. Gun control has caused incalculable harm around the world to innocent, law abiding citizens. Only criminals and tyrants benefit.
Especially tyrants. And wanna-be tyrants like our present gummint.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/01/2010 19:18 Comments ||
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#3
On a NOT-NECESSARILY-UNRELATED-NOTE, DAILY TIMES.PK > CHINA WILL NOT RELAX ITS GRIP ON TIBET.
Also from DAILY TIMES.PK > PAKISTAN WILL NOT ACCEPT THE "TALIBANIZATION" OF AFGHANISTAN.
* ALso, PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > [Poster Op-Ed = Paraph] BETTER THAN THE PAKISTANI NUCLEAR BOMB: SINO-PAKISTANI WAR TREATY, as per MUTUAL DEFENSE + OTHER SECURITY ASSISTANCE.
Read, Treaty rights for CHINESE = PLA MIL INTERVENTION agz any and all anti-PAK hostile entities.
* SAME/WMF >PAKISTAN: THE BULLY-ENEMY OF THE CHINESE PEOPLE IS ALSO THE BULLY-ENEMY OF PAKISTAN.
02/01/2010-According to Dow Jones, Monday the Obama administration said it has targeted $10.3 billion in savings in fiscal 2011, more than half of which will be garnished by cutting the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Constellation rocket program and Boeing's C-17 transport plan, while an alternative engine for Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter is expected to save an additional $475 million.
The Pentagon has tried to cut funding for the C-17 since 2007, determining that it had purchased more than enough aircraft to meet its needs, but Congress has continued to fund the purchasing program, including $2.5 billion in fiscal 2010.
Similarly, the Pentagon has been trying unsuccessfully to cancel funding for the Joint Strike Fighter engine for several years, since it is no longer considered necessary to prepare for a failure of the main engine.
#1
Both have been pushed by Democrats who have businesses in their districts/states that depend on these contracts.
I'm not sure that canceling the most modern transport in our inventory is wise, but I'd like to think that the Air Force knows what it needs. I'm in complete agreement on canceling the extra engine program.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2010 12:56 Comments ||
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#2
We'll know they're serious when they start cutting the C-130.
#4
The C-130 pipeline will never die. Too many congressional districts depend upon it for jobs. Not to mention it's about the best medium-haul transport the US has built since the C-47. It's generally an all-around capable transport, with the capacity for dozens of different jobs. Most of the rest of the Air Force transport fleet is best at one or two things, and pi$$-poor at everything else.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/01/2010 13:31 Comments ||
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#5
"We'll need the plowshares after I collapse the economy."
#11
GLENN BECK Show segment this AM > IIUC OBAMA'S "THIRD STIMULUS" Package is aka the "JOBS BILL". Iff the Dems can achieve it + Universal Health Care [so-called "ObamaCare"] up front in one piece, they'll get it roundaboutly via SIDE-BAR/SIDE-CAR LEGISLATION ["Rider" Bill attachment(s) to diversionary, PDeniable House-Senate original Legislation].
* ION WMF > NEW USDOD BUDGET WILL SHIFT US FOCII FROM FIGHTING TRADITIONAL LARGE-SCALE INTER-NATION CONVENTIONAL WARFARE TO FIGHTING SMALL ORAGNZIED GROUPS OF ISLAMIC, OTHER EXTREMISTS. RESORT TO UAV ADVANC TECHNOLOGIES, COVERT SPECIAL FORCES-OPERATIONS, DIRECT "POLITICAL ACTION".
VARIOUS NETTERS > IOW, thanks to POTUS BAMMER< America = Amerika has all but officially supplanted the Cold War SOVIET-WARPACT KGB, RELATED OR ALIGNED TRANSNATIONAL COVERT ENTITIES IN WORLDWIDE SOCIALIST COUNTER-REVOLUTION???
** 21st Century "RED DAWN" THE REMAKE > what was formerly in the movie "FREE AMERICA" [FA] versus "OCCUPIED AMERICA" [OA], now add "OTHER FREE/OCCUPIED AMERICA(S)"???
#13
Over at Danger Room today was an article that had SecDef Gates firing the head of the JSF ( a 2 star, and replaceing w/ a 3 star)as well as dressing down L-M for performance on the contract so far.
This is the latest in a series of leask detailing the F-35s performance and cost comparing it to ( drum roll please) the F-18, in whatever flavor you want.
Then tonight in our little old home town Whidbey News Times comes the report that the USN is getting 26 (or28) more unasked for Growlers ( the electric lawn dart; the Ea-6B replacement) due here w/in 2 years.
i think the JSF is heading for a crossfire encounter.
US President Barack Obama will today formally propose abandoning plans to return US astronauts to the moon. B.O.'s admission that we're no longer a great power...
The move means the President will be ending the costly Constellation next-generation rocket program. "The money can be better spend here, on social programs..."
Arguing it must trim spending in tough times, the administration will instead direct NASA to turn to long-range research and development which could eventually lead to a manned space program to Mars, a senior US official said. "We are cancelling the program, not delaying it,'' Obama's budget chief Peter Orszag told reporters. "Make no mistake: We're no more exceptional than Paraguay."
The decision will mean NASA will be constrained to low-earth orbits for years to come, and will transform the aspirations of the US space program following the planned retirement of the Shuttle fleet in September. A few years from now NASA can either quietly disband -- unheard of among bureaucracies -- or be folded into HHS...
Under the new plan, Obama will also propose boosting the development of commercial rockets and other vehicles that can ferry US astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), an outside US government advisor said.
The Constellation program was launched in 2004 by then-president George W Bush after the Columbia space shuttle mission ended in disaster with the death of all seven crew members in 2003.
NASA has faced growing pressure to cut its budget as the US government's debt soars and the United States buckles under the deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
The agency has also seen dwindling political support, with its White House and congressional paymasters reluctant to fund the type of expensive manned space exploration that saw the agency put 12 men on the moon.
#1
Replace the 'N' in NASA with an 'I' as in International. Move the entire kit and kaboodle to Chicago. He'll replace all the scientists and engineers with Cook County patronage employees and fund it immediately. Florida and Texas are for rich people and jooos. Few of them play basketball.
#2
NASA has outgrown it's use. Spin-off the directly military applicable functions to the Pentagon and privatise the rest to serve as competition to Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic etc.
#3
Correct VS. Most gov't agencies should be put to death by age 20 with functions (if still required) privatized or moved elsewhere. I give you the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, DOS, Education, and the miserably failed Department of Commerce are just a few prime examples. A longer list can be found here.
That's what LBJ wanted from his days as a Senator, and once he became President he made it happen. Houston. Huntsville. Canaveral. Contractors who understood what was what made sure the jobs got spread around the south as well as in their home towns. They got it.
The Ares/Constellation project was just one more major jobs program. Didn't matter if the sucker ever worked or not as long as several thousand engineers and technicians were employed.
This is one thing Obama has done that I'd actually support. Let NASA be an R & D, pure science organization. Carve out the part of NASA that focuses on manned-space flight safety and have them regulate the private industry much like the FAA does airline safety. Then let the government contract for complete spaceflight packages instead of hiring a contractor like Boeing or Lockheed to 'manage' a facility.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/01/2010 9:33 Comments ||
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#5
I predicted several years ago that Constellation/Ares would never get off the ground since it would be superceded by events long before it could actually fly.
SpaceX has been very successful with its Falcon rockets and will have the ability to put humans in orbit within a couple of years. Once you reach Earth orbit you are halfway to the Moon. All this is being done for a tiny fraction of what NASA had budgeted for Ares development alone.
#6
Carve out the part of NASA that focuses on manned-space flight safety and have them regulate the private industry much like the FAA does airline safety.
Because federal regulation of industry is, y'know, just soooo efficient. That's a recipe for guaranteeing that the US never develops a successful commercial manned space industry.
Let the private sector sort it out and if a few unsuspecting citizens purchase seats not comprehending that strapping themselves to thousands of tons of high explosive in an effort to reach an environment that will kill them in seconds should they be exposed to it is an activity that carries with it a few inherent risks of which the nanny state need not inform them in great detail beforehand, so be it.
#7
Az, I suspect that anyone with the money to undertake something like this will understand the risk. If not, there will be plenty of luddites, naysayers, and class envyists around to tell them. Hollywood celebrities and other pop-culturists might be an exception but if they get blown up in the cause of science who cares? The resulting bump on the learning curve will probably be the closest they have ever come to a worthwhile contribution to human progress.
#8
I couldn't agree more AC. My objection is to the installation of NASA as regulatory overlord of an industry that does not yet exist and likely never will if the bureaucratic sclerosis settles in before the industry is both well established and highly profitable. Commercial space needs to be allowed its wild west days before we kill it via regulatory fiat.
Given the extraordinary amount of time that has passed since NASA's last successful new manned spaceflight program it's a near certainty that the organization lacks the requisite competence to oversee the commercialization of manned spaceflight and its attendant new architectures. Regulation requires at minimum competent regulators and we, essentially, have none.
#11
Az, we would do well to incite a bureaucratic turf battle over space regulation. NASA has a superficially obvious case for it but the FAA and the Pentagon could equally claim part of the pie. So could the State Department if civilian efforts actually reach the Moon. The trick is to keep any one of these competing entities from accreting enough power to seriously interfere with progress.
#12
Not only has he canceled the moon project, he has also canceled the space shuttle replacement. So the US now has NO manned space flight program and we are completely dependent on the Russians for that capability.
#13
AC - At the dawn of the 20th Century Henry Ford and other entrepreneurs were tinkering with horseless carriages powered by internal combustion engines. By 1909 Ford had begun producing the Model T at his Piquette plant at an initial rate of 11 per month and selling the same for $850. By 1915 he'd moved to a new facility at Highland Park, cut his assembly cycle time by a factor of 8, greatly reduced his manpower needs on a per-unit basis and had reduced the retail price of a basic Model T to around $450.
Could Ford have put the Model T on the road in 1909 if a blizzard of regulatory agencies had popped up to regulate every aspect of the production, operation, sale & use of the product prior to its initial commercial availability? Could he have cut his production cycle time, manpower demands and (most importantly) the retail price of the product if he'd had to contend with with OSHA, the EPA, the NRLB and a dozen other agencies battling & thwarting him and imposing massive costs by regulatory fiat at every turn? Had Ford had to contend with precisely the sort of environment you propose as the best available alternative for commercial space the 1915 Model T would probably have carried a per unit retail price tag closer to $45,000.00 ($955,000 2009 dollars) than $450 ($9,500 2009 dollars). Had that happened would any of the massive advances in quality of life in the developed world, nearly *all* of which are due directly or (barely) indirectly to cheap & readily available transportation have happened?
That's not to say that there isn't a perfectly reasonable role for the government to play. Basic science comes to mind or, with respect to the commercialization of space, how about pioneering the process of automated propellant production from materials native to the moon & mars and dropping a few prototype factories in those locations? Entrepreneurs will reach low Earth orbit quickly & routinely if allowed to do so, the proper governmental role, if such exists, is to induce them to take the larger risk and go much farther much sooner. If the government simply tosses the Frisbee an enormous number of entrepreneurs will spend their own money attempting to fetch it.
Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, Burt Rutan [insert your favorite here] and other entrepreneurs are hanging around out in the desert kicking around ways to slip the surly bonds of Earth in a cost effective way. If they succeed they'll have a more dramatic effect on the human race than did Henry Ford though it's going to take a very long time. If I should be so fortunate as to live that long I'd hate to look back from the dawn of the 22nd Century and wonder what might have come to pass if only we'd kept the bureaucrats at bay for a bit longer.
I'm 40. Getting old. I want my fraking moon base NOW. Not in 50 years, when it becomes 'commercially viable'. Hell, I'm never going to be able to afford one of the commercial suborbital flights.
Yeah, I agree with above posters. It's a boondoggle. But if we're gonna have government boondoggles, I can't think of many better, and more meaningful. This kind of shiat allows the U.S. to wave its fraking foam finger and say "We're No. 1".
How many future scientists, etc., did we get out of the Apollo project?, something that proved nothing other than our big govt. entity can beat your commie big govt. entity, and 'how does our ass taste, Russia?'
I fear we're quickly going to go the way of Portugal after the discovery of the Americas. Those that don't set the trends - are footnotes, at best.
I want telescopes looking for extrasolar life. I want a submarine underneath the ice pack on Europa, looking for life, Jim, but not as we know it.
I want a man on Mars. And women, too. Mars needs women.
I want to tank up my vehicle on the petrol-covered surface of Titan.
I want to mine the asteroid belt. I want to look at the rings of Saturn from a viewing platform. At least a virtual one.
#17
Problem is we could put a man on the moon when I was just turning old enough to vote, but we can't put a man on the moon when I'm creeping up on social security.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2010 16:47 Comments ||
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#19
"wonder what might have come to pass if only we'd kept the bureaucrats at bay for a bit longer."
By and large, bureaucrats do bureaucracy because they CAN'T do science and engineering, and it enhances their self-esteem to be able to rule over those who can.
#20
True Glenmore but it's even worse in the commercial space arena as they may wind up regulating something that doesn't even exist yet. Regulations should follow problems but never lead them.
[Iran Press TV Latest] Scientists have suggested a new theory saying that the Moon was created as a result of a nuclear explosion on Earth.
The new hypothesis is based on the 19th century fission theory, which said Earth and Moon were created after a molten rock collided with the planet and part of it was thrown into the orbit around it, becoming the Moon.
Rob de Meijer of the University of the Western Cape and Wim van Westrenen of Amsterdam's VU University, however, do not believe that this was the case.
They believe that if the Moon was had been knocked off by an impacting external force, it would have the same composition as that of the Earth and the object that hit it.
"Models of solar system evolution show that it is highly unlikely for the chemical composition of the Earth and impactor to be identical," they wrote in their research paper 'An alternative hypothesis for the origin of the Moon.'
Recent lunar samples, however, showed that the moon has almost the same chemical composition as of the Earth, mailOnline reported.
"A more likely possibility for the large degree of compositional similarity... is that the moon derives directly from terrestrial material," the paper said.
"Supplied by a supercritical georeactor in Earth's core-mantle boundary producing sufficient heat to vaporize and eject part of the bulk silicate earth."
Clay Dillow of the Popular Science supported the newly suggested theory, saying, "According to their explanation, the centrifugal forces on Earth concentrated heavier elements like uranium and thorium near the surface around the equatorial plane."
"Enough of these elements in high enough concentrations could set off a runaway nuclear chain reaction, similar to the kind that cause nuke plant meltdowns," he explained.
"In this way, a natural-born nuclear georeactor was pushed to supercritical levels and: BOOM! The moon was cleaved from the Earth and rocketed into orbit by a massive nuclear explosion."
So if nuclear explosions are natural, that means Allah looks favorably on them, which means that Iran is doing Allah's will.
See? It's quite clear if you look at things correctly.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Space -1999!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/01/2010 0:31 Comments ||
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#2
Hey! The Illudium Q-36 really does work.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2010 0:42 Comments ||
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#3
Actually, there is evidence of natural georeactors.
#4
I thought the impactor theory was sufficient, but what is curious is that this is reported in Iran Press TV, meaning it's either a really slow news day, or there is some substance to the teal comment at the end of the article.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/01/2010 6:08 Comments ||
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#5
The best best is probably the foreign body collision theory, but not, as is supposed by a Mars-sized rocky body, but by something more like a high speed black hole, that tore off a quarter of the Earth and dragged it away from Earth, but did not consume it.
#6
It is my understanding that the impactor, if smaller than Earth, would likely have its outer layers removed and mixed with Earth's crustal material. So you would end up with what is left of the impactor being left with pretty much just its core and the crustal material of both bodies being mixed together in orbit around Earth. Some of which would fall back to Earth, the rest would clump together and form the moon. So when all is said and done, Moon and Earth have pretty much the same crust composition and what is left if the impactor ends up looking a lot like the planet Mercury.
Thousands of Iranians gathered at dusk against a snowy mountain backdrop to light giant bonfires in an ancient mid-winter festival dating back to Iran's pre-Islamic past that is drawing new interest from Muslims.
Saturday's celebration was the first in which the dwindling remnants of Iran's once plentiful Zoroastrian religious minority were joined by thousands of Muslims, reflecting a growing interest in the strict Islamic society for the country's ancient traditions. Better than bowing to the birthplace of some Bedu five times a day.
Posted by: ed ||
02/01/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ahura Mazda, At least they have'nt forgotten what's important. Now if the Muzzie Freaks in power could just figure it out.......duh
#3
More likely, it is one in the eye to the Mullahs, who have strongly tried to suppress this fire festival in past. By joining with the Zoroastrians, it hearkens back to when they were the Persian upper classes, and were much better rulers than the Mullahs.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Al Arabiya Latest] A Saudi couple had their marriage restored more than four years after a court ordered them to be divorced because they were from incompatible tribes, a Saudi newspaper reported on Sunday.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Police have arrested an Arab man who stabbed to death an Emirati citizen who had pressed him to have sex, local media reported on Sunday.
