Healthcare ‘08 - candidate positions, issues, health insurance, coverage, reform

Larry Lessig put together a presentation on why he supports Obama. [Original]

A Rocket To Nowhere

Future archaeologists trying to understand what the Shuttle was for are going to have a mess on their hands. Why was such a powerful rocket used only to reach very low orbits, where air resistance and debris would limit the useful lifetime of a satellite to a few years? Why was there both a big cargo bay and a big crew compartment? What kind of missions would require people to assist in deploying a large payload? Why was the Shuttle intentionally crippled so that it could not land on autopilot? 1 Why go through all the trouble to give the Shuttle large wings if it has no jet engines and the glide characteristics of a brick? Why build such complex, adjustable main engines and then rely on the equivalent of two giant firecrackers to provide most of the takeoff thrust? Why use a glass thermal protection system, rather than a low-tech ablative shield? And having chosen such a fragile method of heat protection, why on earth mount the orbiter on the side of the rocket, where things will fall on it during launch?

Taken on its own merits, the Shuttle gives the impression of a vehicle designed to be launched repeatedly to near-Earth orbit, tended by five to seven passengers with little concern for their personal safety, and requiring extravagant care and preparation before each flight, with an almost fetishistic emphasis on reuse. Clearly this primitive space plane must have been a sacred artifact, used in religious rituals to deliver sacrifice to a sky god.

As tempting as it is to picture a blood-spattered Canadarm flinging goat carcasses into the void, we know that the Shuttle is the fruit of what was supposed to be a rational decision making process. That so much about the vehicle design is bizarre and confused is the direct result of the Shuttle’s little-remembered role as a military vehicle during the Cold War.

I’m convinced. This essay makes a pretty good argument that we ought to scrap the whole shuttle program. I can certainly think of better uses for my tax dollars. How about, for starters, more basic science research?

The Twelve Tribes of American Politics

The most surprising finding, given common stereotypes of religious people and their politics, was that the Religious Left is almost exactly the same size as the Religious Right, both at about 12.6% of the total voting-age population. It’s good to know that the Religious Right is not as massive it is commonly made out to be. (Even if you combine them with the Heartland Culture Warriors, they still comprise only 24% of the voting-age population.)

Miami, originally uploaded by NathanF.

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Del Toro to take charge of The Hobbit

Guillermo del Toro has officially signed up to direct The Hobbit, according to reports leaking out from a film premiere in France. The Pan’s Labyrinth creator will oversee a double-bill of films based on JRR Tolkien’s fantasy adventure, which paved the way for The Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson, director of the Oscar-winning Rings trilogy, will serve as executive producer.

Pan’s Labyrinth was good.