June 09, 2004
Kerry on Nuclear Weapons and Materials
In January 2004, during a Democratic primary debate, candidate Kerry stated that President Bush "has exaggerated the threat of terrorism." That statement was preceded in recent history by several terrorist attacks that might give a thoughtful person reason to pause before making such a statement. But that was when Kerry was playing to the Democratic base, which believes that America is the most evil nation on Earth. Now Mr. Kerry has a different audience, or perhaps different audiences.
In May 2004, Kerry's line is that President Bush is not taking the terrorist threat seriously enough, and that the possibility of terrorists gaining access to weapons of mass destruction "is the single gravest threat to our security." As part of his effort to meet this threat, he "will launch a global initiative to fully secure the materials needed for nuclear weapons that already exist and sharply limit and control future production."
One presumes that the first step of this initiative will be the continuance of the President's Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), established in May 2003, and unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council in April 2004. The PSI is already credited with the elimination of Libya's WMD program. Kerry has evidently not mentioned the PSI in his national security speeches. Possibly he is unaware of the initiative, but more likely he just doesn't want to call attention to the successes of the current administration.
One might ask: How will a President Kerry "fully secure the materials needed for nuclear weapons"? Does he know where they all are? Will he issue a warrant for the arrest of yellowcake merchants? Will he invade any nation that is in possession of these materials but is uninterested in allowing their possessions to be secured by imperialist Americans? What if France doesn't like Kerry's plan?
And on the homefront, Kerry has another nuclear philosophy, one aimed specifically at Nevada's five electoral votes, leading him to promise "If I'm president, Yucca Mountain will not be a depository." He may be able to keep that promise, but it will require some fancy footwork in a Congress that will not be too different from the body that overrode the Nevada governor's veto of the Yucca Mountain repository. If a President Kerry refuses to accept the reality of nuclear materials in the United States, one wonders how well he will confront the far more complicated reality of nuclear materials around the globe.
Perhaps a President Kerry will be an effective leader in meeting the threats of terrorism, exaggerated or not. Personally, I believe that, except for his lifelong opposition to the application of American military force for any purpose, Mr. Kerry simply says what he believes the audience of the moment would most like to hear. As President, who will that audience be? Besides the mysterious foreign leaders who wish to see him elected, of course.
June 07, 2004
Back Again
I'm back, though blogging will be intermittent. Highlights of the past week include a very interesting workshop on undergraduate engineering education (Conceive-Design-Implement-Operate), Dickey Betts at the Rams Head Tavern in Annapolis, sailing in Severn Creek (we lost the race, but had fun anyhow), some interesting backroads between Blacksburg and Annapolis, good NC-style bbq at Lexington Trimmings, and a baby shower for my youngest brother's wife. Now I'm back and gotta get some work done.
Why Haven't the Fascists Rounded Up Michael Feingold?
He's a movie reviewer and is evidently mildly anti-Republican:
- No U.S. president, I expect, will ever appoint a Secretary of the Imagination. But if such a cabinet post ever were created, and Richard Foreman weren't immediately appointed to it, you'd know that the Republicans were in power. Republicans don't believe in the imagination, partly because so few of them have one, but mostly because it gets in the way of their chosen work, which is to destroy the human race and the planet. Human beings, who have imaginations, can see a recipe for disaster in the making; Republicans, whose goal in life is to profit from disaster and who don't give a hoot about human beings, either can't or won't. Which is why I personally think they should be exterminated before they cause any more harm. (emphasis added)
Here's a link to the movie review that he begins so boldly, throwing all caution to the wind. Frankly, though, I'd be careful about reading it, since you never know who they will be rounding up next.
May 31, 2004
Roanoke Times on Blogging
The RT editorial page usually includes a little tidbig called "Briefly Put" that is supposed by the editorial staff to be amusing or enlightening or both. Here's the Monday May 31, 2004 contribution:
- As if there were not addictions enough to ruin lives, the worldwide Web has created a high-tech obsession: the Web log, or blog.
One tracking service, The New York Times reports, has counted 2.5 million of them. Bloggers might make the occasional posting, or spend hours a day writing their thoughts and observations for ... anyone in the whole wide world.
In simpler times, people who succumbed to the impulse to jot down their reflections kept diaries - usually under lock and key. People craved privacy, not notoriety - and, as technology now shows us, usually, wisely so.
On The Road Again Again
We had a fantastic two-day ride to Birmingham, including the Blue Ridge Parkway from Fancy Gap to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, then various backroads and highways to Birmingham. Little River Canyon northeast of Birmingham is a must-see. Then enjoyed two nights and one day of partying and making sure the Happy Loving Couple got properly hitched.
In the middle of Saturday afternoon there was some downtime so the wife and some other folks went to the Birmingham Zoo, while I visited the much more interesting Barber Motorsports Park and Vintage Motorcycle Museum. A motorcycle track day was going on, so from inside the museum visitor could watch folks hauling bikes around the track. The track is 2.38 miles and my crude timing showed the fastest folks were under two minutes. Wot fun!
Sunday morning, we arose and took the interstate home to Blacksburg, covering 500 miles in about 8 hours, including two gas stops, one pizza stop, and one nap stop (we were out pretty late Saturday night).
And now I'm on my way to the U. S. Naval Academy for a workshop on design in undergraduate aerospace engineering. I'll tell you all about it when I return (next week). Alas, I'm not riding the bike as we pretty much cooked the tires on our trip. The trip down to Birmingham ate up all the tread on the sides and the trip back ate up the tread in the middle. So, I'm driving the Protege.
May 26, 2004
On The Road Again
My wife and I are heading out in the morning for a wedding in Birmingham, Alabama. We'll be riding the ST1100 approximately 1400 miles between now and Monday.
Have a safe weekend!
I Will Have Something To Say About This
Right here in southwest Virginia, an enemy of western civilization in general, and the United States in particular. Professor Glen T. Martin composed the essay in the extended entry. I've looked into the World Constitution and Parliament Association and will be writing something specific about this soon. This essay appeared in today's Roanoke Times.
Continue reading "I Will Have Something To Say About This"MT Comment Problem!
For some reason, my Movable Type comments has gotten prudish. It rejects comments as having questionable content. Example:
- Comment Submission Error
Your comment submission failed for the following reasons:
Your comment could not be submitted due to questionable content: what
Please correct the error in the form below, then press Post to post your comment.
Thanks!
UPDATE: Thanks to Ted for suggesting I look into my Blacklist entries. I deleted the last entry and that seems to have fixed it.
About Time
John Miller writes in WSJ about the proposed Victims of Communism Memorial: The Price of Tyranny: Communism's victims await their memorial. The organization has a website here. They are looking for contributors. I think they should hire a good blogger and evolve the site into a Higher Being (or at least Playful Primate). Then I'll bet the Tip Jar would fill right up.
Iced Earth
I've never heard of this band, but I think I'm going to buy their latest album, Glorious Burden. Andrew Sullivan linked to an interview of the band's leader, Jon Schaffer, by a Canadian magazine called Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles. As Sullivan noted, some of the bits are brilliant. Here's one of my favorite exchanges:
- BW&BK;: "So you don't see the Bush regime as being cultural imperialists? You don't see them as trying to force the American way of life on to a nation that maybe doesn't want it?"
JS: "No. If you think that's true, then why are 70 or 80 percent of the people are thrilled to have us there. Have you not seen that? And it's not a regime, by the way. You keep up that kind of language I'm going to end the interview right now."
BW&BK;: "Ok. I understand."
JS: "I'm serious."
BW&BK;: "I'm sorry. It's just my Canadian bias I guess."
JS: "Yeah, it is your Canadian bias. I'm sure it is."
May 25, 2004
Astute Visionaries?
Just received this email from an old "girlfriend."
"Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work.
Continue reading "Astute Visionaries?"And What Do They Want To Do?
JunkYardBlog. In case you've forgotten,
- An al-Qaida leader has said 4 million Americans will have to be killed "as a prerequisite to any Islamic victory."
- Al Qaeda wants to kill you while you cut your grass, sit at your desk, take your child to the zoo or fly across the country to visit your grandparents. And it wants to kill your family, your children, your friends and neighbors and everyone else it can kill as long as they are Americans.
Wanted 1,296,000 Virgins. No Experience, Required
Study: Al Qaeda Increasing in Strength: "18,000 potential terrorists"
France Wants To Arm Arabs?
Dissident Frogman found this in Debates of the European Parliament:
- There is, however, another serious imbalance for which we are in part responsible, namely the imbalance of forces. I have no hesitation in saying that we must consider giving the Arab side a large enough force, including a large enough nuclear force, to persuade Israel that it cannot simply do whatever it wants. That is the policy my country pursued in the 1970s when it gave Iraq a nuclear force. We have now destroyed it. So we will carry on with our policy of imbalance and what is happening today is merely the annoying but inevitable result of our collective blindness and cowardice.
-- Paul-Marie Couteaux, French Delegate to EU, May 16, 2001
Spacecraft Design
This search string is in my referrer log this morning:
- i want to major in spacecraft design what college should i go to
Why, Virginia Tech, of course!
At great professional risk, I will put together a post on the various universities that offer spacecraft design. In the meantime, in case you didn't know, google has a "site" option. Just type the following into your google search:
- site:.edu spacecraft design
- site:vt.edu spacecraft design
May 24, 2004
Brain on Moore
Alan Brain has another excellent post at the Command Post: Moore Jumps the Shark. Read entire.
Sex and Chocolate
Kathy has something not to say about the non-existence of Better Than Sex Chocolate Cake.
Hunter Thompson's Glue Bag Permanently Stuck On Nose
We all know he's an idiot, but I think he's finally consumed so much airplane glue that his brain is a total loss. Thanks to Drudge for linking to this POS:
- Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these photographs did.
As Kathy says, "I'd like to meet someone else from my own planet."
People of Mass Destruction
Thomas Friedman wonders where they're coming from. Raymond Stock has some idea:
- When young, angry, futureless, sexually repressed people are taught that death is a permanent vacation of guilt-free pleasure, and they see it glorified in countless videos, all you need is a willing truck driver to ferry them over the border from Syria, Jordan, Turkey or Saudi Arabia and presto — a human bomb.
- The people running the suicide operations in Iraq, whether they are working independently or are just one organization, don't even claim credit, let alone make any demands. They just want to ensure that America fails to produce anything decent in Iraq and they are ready to sacrifice all Iraqis for that end.
- We must shut this play down before it comes to a theater near us.
Lies and the Lying Liar Who Tells Them Best
Fred Barnes points out yet another Michael Moore lie, and is recruiting Al Franken to investigate.
Nothing To See Here
Thunder Bay: Kakebeka Falls Incident Attracts U.S Security Attention
Two Muslims were paid $4500 to drive a van with 12 drums of incendiary red phosphorous from Canada to the U.S. They were charged and released, with a court date in July. I wonder if they'll show up. (via Charles Johnson)
Terrorists Like Rogue Mountain Lions
Clinton Taylor has an excellent essay in National Review on the analogous behavior of the fluffy mountain lion activists and the pro-terrorist activists: Traitors to Animal-Kind. Read entire.
Madonna On The Ropes
Terror threat: We'll kill Madonna if she performs in Israel. So, she cancelled her show. I wonder if she'll change her anti-war tune now. Nah.
May 23, 2004
In This Corner
By now, everybody knows that Bush fell off his bike, and everybody knows that Kerry once fell off his bike.
According to Matt Drudge:
- Kerry told reporters in front of cameras, 'Did the training wheels fall off?'... Reporters are debating whether to treat it is as on or off the record...
The fact that the media pay no attention to Kerry's assholishness really bugs me.
Incidentally, you can see a bandage in this picture. I guess that puts his wound on a par with Kerry's alleged Purple Heart-winning scratch.
Updated Cat Blog
I clean forgot to mention Hobo when I blogged about Cats I Have Known. I have corrected that oversight.
To Watch A Mockingbird
There is a mockingbird in command of a lamppost in the parking lot outside my office window. He (or she?) has been there for several days now. The bird sits on top of one of the two lamps and every couple of minutes or so flies more or less straight up about 15 feet and falls back to land on one or the other of the two lamps. I've seen mockingbirds do this before, but never any other birds. Anyone else ever observed this behavior?
UPDATE: I was thinking it might have been some kind of mating ritual, but there was only one mockingbird. Another one just arrived and they seem to be discussing where to go for their honeymoon.
Fritter Away The Hours
In the latest US News & World Report: Sniffing out trouble. Suspicions about a new terrorist attack have U.S. spies scrambling
- U.S. surveillance . . . intercepted a number of messages from suspected terrorists suggesting planning for a massive, multipronged assault on the United States. When? Between this summer's political conventions and October, one month before the presidential election.
Which Asian Nations?
This Knight-Ridder article, Asian Nations Find Human Rights Hypocrisy in Prison Abuse Scandal, sounds like it might be fairly general, and it does mention several Asian nations. But let's list them and see what article actually says.
- China: has "a chance to disparage Washington's human rights record, and it's done so with unreserved gusto."
- South Korea: "observers fretted that the U.S. campaign in Iraq may become the catalyst for definitive changes to the U.S.-Korean military alliance. The pending troop relocation 'puts many Koreans on edge,' ...."
- Australia and Japan: committed to keeping troops in Iraq
- China: "state-controlled news media have given extensive play to photographs of military abuse at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison"
- North Korea: declared "last weekend that U.S. prison guards 'committed shuddering atrocities without hesitation.' Pyongyang called the United States an 'empire of evil,'..."
- Singapore: "There is a growing doubt that Americans know what they are doing in Iraq"
- China: "I always stand on the side of Muslims" (a Chinese Muslim)
- China: "Let's pray that Mr. Bush won't be re-elected" (another Chinese Muslim)
Let's not forget that China commits some 70% of the world's executions, and that North Korea maintains the most horrific prison camps in the world. And we should care what China and North Korea thinks?
Most Everything You Wanted To Know About Sarin
Alan Brain, writing at The Command Post, provides a thoroughly useful summary: Facts about Sarin, Binary Agents, and 155mm Shells
Fix Bayonets
Mark Steyn: Don't give Iraqis self-rule all at once.
- Here's a story no American news organization thought worth covering last week, so you'll just have to take it from me. In the southern Iraqi town of Amara, 20 men from Scotland's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders came under attack from 100 or so of Muqtada al-Sadr's ''insurgents.'' So they fixed bayonets and charged.
May 22, 2004
Another Noun Verbed, Proper
Jeff Jarvis describes the Abu-Ghraibing of the Governor or New Jersey and its relationship with the Presidential election.
Pictures from Abu Ghraib
Alan Brain also has a good post on some previous, and slightly more horrific, torture that took place before the most recent and most highly publicized events. He has this to say:
- If anyone thinks the shameful acts of some US MPs are just a case of 'same business under new management', then may I suggest they get a prosthetic sense of proportion, as they obviously don't have one.
Check it out.
Miles History
Alan Brain has written a nice historical article about Miles Aircraft. Ironically, he knows more about this history than your average bloke, because his "father originally wanted to build bridges." Read entire.
The Other Side
Mort Kondracke: Congress, Media Could Talk U.S. Into Iraq Defeat
- The American establishment, led by the media and politicians, is in danger of talking the United States into defeat in Iraq. And the results would be catastrophic.
Motorcycle Blogger
Carolyn's a motorcyclist and she's got a blog: BluepoofBikes Motorcycle Adventures.
One of these days, I'll meet Carolyn, and our conversation will go something like this:
Me: You're not in your tree.
Carolyn: It's not my tree.
And then maybe we'll just go for a motorcycle ride. And since she's riding a Suzuki SV650, I'm sure it'll be a bit on the brisk side.
And by the way, she's been at this motorcycle blogging thing since 2000, so there are lots of interesting archives.
Webcam: Spacecraft Simulators
Here's a link to a new webcam in our lab: Space Systems Simulation Lab. Username: sssl, no password now.
You'll see two simulators: Whorl-I and Whorl-II (named after Gene Wolfe's whorl in Book of the Long Sun). Whorl-II is in the back corner and you can see it rotating, 24/7.
Questions are welcome.
Progressive Rock
I just discovered Ground and Sky, "a music review resource featuring the honest opinions of 15 knowledgeable music fans." Great place to browse reviews of progressive rock albums while listening to Aural Moon.
Heinlein Died 16 Years Ago This Month
Bill has a memorial of sorts: Sixteen Years Without Heinlein. Go, read entire. "You won't get brainwashed. But it might brush away some of those cobwebs in your brain."
May 21, 2004
One Reason Not To Tailgate
I don't tailgate. I don't like tailgaters. Neither does Frank J.
Story time. One of my colleagues told me this morning about an automobile accident her son-in-law had yesterday. He was driving home from work around 6 PM. He probably wasn't tailgating, but I expect he was following a little closer than he should have been. The car in front of him swerved to miss some road debris, but her son-in-law didn't see it in time and so ran over a cinching strap that had fallen off of a truck. His tire was demolished by the metal and he lost control of his car, slid along the guard rail a ways, then wrestled the car back onto the pavement, only to cross the median and come to rest on the far side of the divided four-lane highway. The car was totalled, but fortunately the young man was not hurt.
My point is that if he had been following a little less closely, he would almost certainly have seen the strap and avoided the accident altogether.
Don't tailgate. I mean it. You don't really need to get there one second faster, do you? If you do, then by all means, pass and get on with it, but tailgating will just bring you grief.
Hussein-Era Videos Released to Contrast Prison Scandal
On Page A21 of today's Washington Post:
- Scenes of floggings, forced amputations and a beheading were distributed to a small number of news organizations....
Cats I Have Known
Last night, walking past my laboratory, I heard laughter coming from the open door, so I peeked in to see what could possibly be amusing about simulating space systems. Aha! I caught one of my graduate students and his fiancee in the act. Yes, they were browsing the Kitties in Need of a Good Home website, considering the adoption of a pet. Apparently the page includes some videos and they were laughing at kitty antics. We had a brief discussion on the dogs vs cats question, me firmly in the canine camp. But on the way home, I started thinking about some of the cats that I have known: Valcyr, Eet, Pearl, Dakota, Governor, and a few who were either nameless or were just never properly introduced.
Letter in Roanoke Times
This so-called newspaper gets my bile up every morning. But at least, when I write the editors a letter, they usually publish it. Here's the latest:
- Republish 'other' must-go editorials
In your May 7 editorial "Donald Rumsfeld should resign," you called for Rumsfeld's resignation as secretary of defense. You should consider publishing some of your earlier "X must go" editorials.
I'm sure we'd all love to reread your April 20, 1993, editorial calling for the resignation (or did you demand imprisonment?) of Attorney General Janet Reno after she ordered the attack that led to the deaths of 80 American citizens, 22 of them children.
And surely your Sept. 5, 1995, editorial would resonate with your Rumsfeld indictment. Remember? You called for the resignation of Secretary of Defense William J. Perry after three Marines raped a 12-year-old girl in Okinawa.
What? I'm imagining those diatribes? Perhaps my memory isn't as good as it used to be. But, then, perhaps it's possible that Rumsfeld isn't your target at all, but rather President Bush.
As Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman has said, "The Congress will politicize this, will spend too much time investigating it." And with the help of relentless media bias, Congress will do just that instead of getting on with the business of winning the war.
Rumsfeld is still the right man for the job.
CHRISTOPHER D. HALL
BLACKSBURG
We'd Better Not Mistreat These Nice Fellows
Four Detained in Iraq in Berg Murder. Wouldn't want to arouse any latent anti-American hostiles, now would we?
May 20, 2004
Outdoor Photography and Commentary
If you like beautiful photographs of outdooor scenes, especially closeups of flowers, spiderwebs, and tractor parts being eaten by trees (not by Ents, they don't eat tractor parts, hrum), then you should regularly visit Fred First's beautiful blog: Fragments From Floyd.
Floyd County is one county South of Montgomery County, where Blacksburg and Virginia Tech are. There are some wonderful motorcycle roads in Floyd County, including the incomparable Blue Ridge Parkway. Incidentally, my wife and I are riding the motorcycle to Birmingham AL next week, and we'll be doing about 300 miles of the BRP from Tuggle Gap to the Smoky Mountain National Park.
Interplanetary Monitoring Platform 8
IMP-8 was launched when I was a high school junior, about the same age as my #1 son. It's also known as Explorer 50.
Initially its orbit was highly elliptic, with perigee at 25 Earth radii and apogee at about 45 Earth radii, but over time its orbit eccentricity has decreased so that its eccentricity is now about 0.12. Current orbital elements are available here.
Its attitude control is simple spin-stabilization with a spin rate of approximately 23 rpm. Amazingly enough, IMP-8 still works and still transmits useful data to scientists here on Earth, nearly 20 years after its 10-year mission life ended. Apparently its batteries failed years ago, but it is rarely in eclipse so the solar panels keep going and going.
Lunar News Network
Blogging about Space Exploration, particularly Lunar Exploration: Joel, from the University of Arizona. He's been at it since January.
"Nifty historical links"
Ted has rounded up some good ones. One, Castles of Britain, reminds me of one of the first things I did upon arrival at RAF Mildenhall, about 35 miles from Cambridge, in November 1978.
I bought a large map of Britain, oh, about 2' x 3' or so. I pinned it on the wall in my barracks room. I put a dot at Mildenhall, and I drew a few concentric circles at 25 miles, 50 miles, and so forth. Then I went to the library and got all the books about British castles, and I highlighted their locations on the map.
And during my three-year tour, I managed to visit many many castles. Eventually I grew a little ambivalent about my collection, but I still enjoyed the visits. One of my favorite castle visits was in Bungay, also in East Anglia. My girlfriend at the time (now my wife) and I were in a pub. I recalled that there was a castle there, and I figured after we'd finished lunch and a couple more jars of bitter, we'd go find it. Well, nature called, and I spotted the pointing hand that informed me of the general direction to the loo. The loo was outdoors, and not just outdoors, but down a little footpath in the woods, and the loo was just a brick wall standing there with a little roof over it. You could use either side, without getting wet (so to speak).
After taking care of business, I decided to see where the path continued to. I followed it another 20 yards or so and there was the castle. It's pretty much a ruin. There was a single-strand of cable fence around the entire castle, about 2' off the ground, and there was a sign on the fence, beside a lock, explaining that the key could be obtained in the village office for interested explorers. After a 1-second debate with myself about going to get that key, I stepped over the fence, explored the castle, and walked back to the pub. My girl said "I thought you'd fallen in!" After we finished visiting the pub, we went out to the castle. Fortunately for her delicate sensitivities, there weren't any gents using the facilities when we passed by.
Peter O'Toole
Mark Whittington also links to this story about Peter O'Toole, one of my all-time favorite actors. Highlights, for me, are My Favorite Year and The Lion in Winter, though I don't recall anything I didn't enjoy. My Favorite Line occurs in My Favorite Year, when a drunken Alan Swann (O'Toole's character) chooses the Ladies' Room to answer the call of nature. A Lady enters, and declares "This is for ladies only!", to which he replies "And so is this, ma'am. But every now and again I have to run a little water through it."
Michael Moore Hates America
I'll go see this one. Actually, I haven't seen all of Bowling for Columbine, though I did catch part of it on the toob during my recent trip to Chincoteague. In fairness, I intend to watch Bowling sometime this summer. (via Mark Whittington)
Run Bush Run
Earlier this month, there was a story in USA Today about Army Captain David Rozelle, who lost his foot in Iraq: Losing a limb doesn't mean losing your job. That article contains this little tidbit:
- He hopes to get [a running prosthesis] by summer, when he has been invited to join President Bush for a run.
I wonder if President Bush would have called him a son-of-a-bitch if he'd accidentally bumped him during the run. Actually, I don't wonder at all.
Stand Back
Fred, Keeper Of The Eternal Golden Braid, links to this story, which reminds me of the story of the first thing Adam said to Eve.
M.S. Thesis Defense Tomorrow
Decentralized Coordinated Attitude Control of a Formation of Spacecraft
214 Hancock Hall
May 21, 2004
10:00 AM
Matthew Clark VanDyke
Spacecraft formations offer more powerful and robust space system architectures than single spacecraft systems. Investigations into the dynamics and control of spacecraft formations are vital for the development and design of future successful space missions. The problem of controlling the attitude of a formation of spacecraft is investigated. The spacecraft formation is modelled as a distributed system, where the individual spacecraft’s attitude control systems are the local control agents. A decentralized attitude controller utilizing behavior-based control is developed. The global stability of the controller is proven using Liaponuv stability theory. Convergence of the attitude controller is proven through the use of an invariance argument. The attitude controller’s stability and convergence characteristics are investigated further through numeric simulation of the attitude dynamics of the spacecraft formation.
Light This Candle
What was he doing at NASA Wallops Flight Facility? you may have asked yourself, or may have even muttered aloud.
Good question.
Some undergraduate students and I had our Design Review for 30.056/Hall/WFF, a Sounding Rocket mission that is scheduled to launch on November 15, 2004, from Wallops Island.
The rocket is an Improved Orion, and with the payload on top will be 229" tall and weigh 1100 pounds. The payload itself is 160 pounds and will reach an altitude of about 90 km before descending and landing in the Atlantic Ocean where it will be recovered.
I'll write more about it later. (By the way, the title of the post is a reference to one of our favorite Rocket bloggers, Ted, who has a Rocket Jones.)
A Curious Incident at Charlotte Court House
Short Version
May 19, 2004
Around 11 AM, I was cited for 47 in a 35 on VA 40 entering the small town of Charlotte Court House, Virginia from the east.
Long Version
May 19, 2004
Around 5 AM, I woke up in the Waterside Inn, in Chincoteague, Virginia, packed up, tied the big yellow dry bag onto the back of the V-Storm, and headed out of town, over the causeway, out past NASA's Wallops Flight Facility to US 13 and turned South. An hour or so later, I stopped for breakfast somewhere south of Onancock. Can't remember the name of the diner, but there was a big table in the middle, evidently reserved for locals, a bunch of whom were catching up on the news of the past 24 hours. One of them was having snake problems down at his dock and a hunting expedition was in the works. Wouldn't want to be a snake in his neighborhood.
Another hour later I made my second trip this week across and through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel for a measly $10, complaining, as I always do, that Motorcycles and HUMVEES get charged the same toll (it's going up to $12 next month, even for motorcycles). I-64 goes West through another tunnel, or East then South around the metropolitan area, and I took the latter, planning
to ride on US 58 to Lawrenceville and then follow some backroads home.
In Lawrenceville, I took VA 46 North and West, then 137 West until it bumped into VA 40 in Kenbridge. Even though VA 40 in these parts is nothing like the Ferrum-to-Woolwine stretch we all know and love, it's still a nice backroad, with beautiful scenery and a gradual buildup of curviness. Needless to say, there were plenty of opportunities to pass, even in the "motorcycle-only" passing zones, you know, the ones with two solid yellow lines running parallel to each other in the middle of the road (hat tip to Beemerjohn for naming these special passing zones at breakfast a couple of weeks ago).
Somewhere between Eureka and Charlotte Court House, I came up behind a string of four cars followed by one pulpwood truck, all zipping along at a hasty 45 MPH. There weren't many passing opportunities, but in a genuine passing zone, I managed to get around the truck and two of the cars. The fellow in the car now behind me seemed to be a little offended at my maneuver and decided to harrass me by tailgating, light-flashing, horn-blowing, and finger-waving, so needless to say, I figured it'd be safer to go 'head and pass the two slowpokes in front of me, in the motorcycle-passing zone, rather than deal with the hostile bozo behind me. And I did.
There were no more genuine passing zones between there and Charlotte Court House, so if I hadn't passed, I would have been stuck with my new friend for a while. In any case, when I arrived at Charlotte C.H., there was a Reduced Speed Ahead sign, then a little hill, then just on the other side of the hill, a 35 MPH sign. I saw the sign, looked ahead and saw that I was still nowhere near any townlike activity, and just let the bike slow down naturally rather than
braking down to 35. That was my big mistake.
There comes Smokey, heading out of town, did a big u-turn and followed me into town, gave me the flashing blue performance award treatment, and I pulled over.
Smokey: May I see your driver's license and registration.
Me: Yessir. [handed 'em over]
Smokey: Tell me why I stopped you.
Me: I was probably going about 45 MPH back there coming into town.
Smokey: I clocked you at 47. Why were you doing 47 in a 35?
Me: I was slowing down after coming over that hill and seeing the sign, but I didn't slow down fast enough.
Smokey: I guess you must have been going pretty fast. Just like you were going fast when you passed four cars on a double yellow. I just got a phone call with a perfect description of you.
Me: I did not pass any four cars on a double yellow --
Smokey: The caller gave me a perfect description. I'm going to cite you for the speed I clocked you at. [walked back to his car]
Smokey: [returns] Sign here.
Me: [sign, take my copy, fold it, put it in my pocket] Thank you.
So, sometime in June I'll be riding back to Charlotte C.H., this time making a stop in the actual Court House, to 'splain it to the judge. Wish me luck.
The rest of the ride was fairly uneventful, except for the bigass thunderstorm I encountered in Rocky Mount. I waited it out in the Exxon downtown, then continued on Six Mile Post Road, through Callaway, onto US 221 at Adney Gap, through Simpsons and Alleghany Springs, and finally to Blacksburg via Den Hill, Lusters Gate, and Harding Avenue, arriving about 3 PM.
Total ride for the day was about 420 miles in about 9 hours. Not quite 50CC or SS2K material, but still a whole lot of fun.
I almost forgot to add that I had a nice ride Tuesday evening with a NASA Rocket Scientist. He took me on some of his favorite backroads, leading the way at a brisk pace on his OBB ZX-6R. Somewhere along the way, we swapped bikes. I told him he needs to bring that rascal up our way where he can have some real fun.
Just Back
Just returned from a trip to NASA Wallops Flight Facility for a sounding rocket design review (launch 11/15/04). I'll be stringing out a few posts later today.
May 15, 2004
Bush Doctrine Is Newtonian
- [F]or things that can be measured by ordinary benchmarks, Bush is as Newtonian as they get.
Library of Alexandria Discovered
- Archaeologists have found what they believe to be the site of the Library of Alexandria, often described as the world's first major seat of learning.
And in related news, Ptolemy's overdue fines are estimated at $79,168.50.
Brain on SpaceShipOne
Alan Brain has prepared a nice Historical Perspective on this marvelous vehicle. Go, read entire, enjoy the pictures too.
Spacecraft Design Graduates
I should mention that Virginia Tech commencement was yesterday and today. The graduate commencement was yesterday, the university-wide undergraduate commencement was last night, and the various colleges' commencements (where the actual diplomas are handed out) were this afternoon.
Not all the seniors graduated, some due to not quite making the required 2.0 GPA, some due to not quite having all their coursework completed, some due to flunking one or another required course in the last semester.
In any event, 25 out of 26 seniors in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering successfully completed the year-long Spacecraft Design course and most of them earned their diplomas today. There were also 40 or so seniors in Aerospace Engineering who completed the Aircraft Design course.
If you see them, say congratulations!
Orbital Recovery & Space Tugs
Orbital Recovery is based in the United Kingdom, and "has signed a long term contract with Arianespace to launch five of its space tugs as secondary payloads on future Ariane 5 launches," according to this story at Universe Today.
ConeXpress: artist's concept from Orbital Recovery
Three years ago, one of my senior design teams worked on this type of concept. Their design focused on using solar energy to heat a block of carbon, passing hydrogen through the carbon block, where the hydrogen expands and generates thrust. If you're interested in reading about such things, here's a 2.25MB pdf document for your reading pleasure: Solar Orbit Transfer Vehicle.
American Cannibalism
Several bloggers have already linked to this excellent Victor Davis Hanson essay, but just in case there's someone who has missed, here it is:
- Indeed, there are two constants in this war: Every time the United States engages the enemy it wins, and every time Iraqis are given a chance at a secure, peaceful local election they act responsibly and eschew candidates of violence and hate. Unless those facts change, America will win the peace. If we will fight more aggressively in the shadows while the new government basks in the light of success, the miracle of Iraq will come to pass — and it simply would not have without the likes of a Donald Rumsfeld.
Einstein Says
I occasionally see this bumper sticker:
- You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war.
--Albert Einstein
Was Einstein right? Taken by itself, the statement is clearly nonsense. Is the quote taken out of context? I don't know.
But lest anyone think that Einstein was right about everything, consider this oft-quoted epigram:
- I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
And now we are in the middle of World War IV, also known as the War on Terrorism. As others have noted, this war is in fact a war against the darkest elements of radical Islam, who have chosen terror as their primary means of attack. In any case, this war is not being fought with sticks and stones, at least not on our side.
However, one might say that our enemies within are relying heavily on sticks and stones. One example: as noted by Joe Mariani, Ted Kennedy
- has sought to damage the morale of US troops in the field of combat -- by comparing them to Saddam Hussein's torture squads, speaking of the same prisoner mistreatment. ''On March 19, 2004, President Bush asked, 'Who would prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open?' '' said Kennedy. ''Shamefully, we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management: U.S. management.'' Saddam Hussein's torture methodology included eye gouging, the piercing of hands with an electric drill, suspension until ligaments were torn, acid baths and feeding the victim feet-first into a plastic shredder.
- For the successful prosecution of the fight against terrorism, our enemies must see that while we may argue among ourselves, we are united against them. For the good of the country, Senator Kennedy must step down from the Senate.
So, I've come back to the original question: Was Einstein right? Maybe so, but not in the sense that he intended.
Armed Forces Day
Today is Armed Forces Day:
- President Harry S. Truman led the effort to establish a single holiday for citizens to come together and thank our military members for their patriotic service in support of our country.
On August 31, 1949, Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson announced the creation of an Armed Forces Day to replace separate Army, Navy, Marines Corp and Air Force Days. The single-day celebration stemmed from the unification of the Armed Forces under one department -- the Department of Defense.
Ferrari 275 GTB 4
A friend and mentor owns this car. Apparently there were only about 300 or so made, and Ferrari's putting on a big anniversary celebration bash this summer, in Italy. My friend's car was selected and is currently on a ship to Italy, where he and his wife will rendezvous with it and spend five weeks touring Italy and France. Ah, the good life.
Nick Berg Video
Murdoc Online has the video, here. Read his post, and like he says, Use common sense if it's available to you.
I'm still not sure if it was the right thing to do, watching the video, that is. But I did watch it. At the beginning Berg is sitting in a chair, talking, but I can't make out what he's saying. After a few seconds, the video jumps to the primary scene of the five hooded animals standing behind Berg, who is bound and sitting on the floor. The middle animal reads a prepared speech for about 5 minutes, then the gruesome execution is performed and the trophy displayed.
As others have noted more eloquently than I can, this behavior represents the norm for our enemies, whereas the relatively benign (by comparison), but nonetheless unpleasant, treatment of Iraqis by a small subset of our soldiers is the extreme. Our soldiers will be punished and the behavior will be corrected, while the world and the media rant about the arrogance of the evil American empire. The Islamist animals will continue to perpetrate their crimes with barely a grunt of disapproval from the press or the UN.
One of the comments in Murdoc's post says
- It is my personal opinion that we should pull all of our troops out of Iraq and let that country kill itself. They have been fighting for thousands of years--it has become the nature of the people. The idea that Iraq can become a democracy is ridiculous. I support Bush but this has gotten completely out of control. Let's leave now before we're all dead.
Leaving Iraq now is exactly the right move if we all want to end up dead at the hands of these animals. Who can imagine that they would balk at using any weapons they can lay their filthy paws on? If we do not persevere in this war to eradicate this entire movement, then we will almost certainly get to experience the horror of the application of WMDs in the United States and elsewhere in the sharia-free world.
UPDATE: Donald Sensing has some comments and links on the history of beheading in Islam. He also has an excellent discussion of the role of blogs in the media.
MUST READ: American Digest: Invitation to the Beheading of an American Jew
UPDATE: I found that succinct statement I was looking for:
- Abu Ghraib represents a betrayal of our principles, while this murder represents an expression of theirs.
-- Mister Green
More Torture Videos and Photos
Roger Simon has particulars:
- I also would like to know what Senator Kennedy has to say about the moral equivalence of our actions after watching these tapes.
Also, go read this article in WSJ by Daniel Henninger: Want a Different Abu Ghraib Story? Try This One. Saddam had their hands cut off. America gave them new ones.
May 14, 2004
Modern Art
Winston commented on the recent sale, for $12 million, of a fairly awful piece of "modern art." Even though that piece is awful, there are some nice works that fall into the category. This is one of my favorites:
Marcel Duchamp's Nude Descending a Staircase
50CC
Two members of my motorcycle club just completed the Iron Butt Association's 50CC Quest. That's 50 hours to ride from Coast to Coast. They started in Jacksonville FL and rode across the southern US to San Diego CA in 48 hours. That route's the easiest 50CC route, but by no means easy. They had to average nearly 50 MPH, including gas stops, rest breaks, and the sleep break they took somewhere in Texas.
Hank was riding his BMW R1100GS and Jim was riding his Ducati ST2. Well-done, guys.
Top Ten Geek Subjects
Following John following llamabutchers, I'm going to make a Top Ten list of things "about which I am pretty passionate, about which I know at least slightly more than the average person and about which I am constantly in fear of talking too much":
I'll probably come back and edit this list later, adding links, making it actually go to 10 (maybe even 11!).Yes
John Lanius lists 10 things he knows more about than is healthy. One of them is
- The various incarnations of the rock group Yes.
Yes. Yes!
I've been a huge fan since 1973 and I've lost count of the number of times I've seen them perform. The most recent was the Masterworks Tour a couple of years ago: they opened with Gates of Delirium, and I don't think they played a single piece that was less than 10 minutes. Fantastic show.
My first Yes concert was c. 1974, Greensboro NC, the Relayer tour. Gryphon opened and we were stunned and amazed at a prog rock band with a bassoon.
But I think my favorite was the ABWH tour in 1989. They played at a racetrack in Weedsport NY, a few days after my wife's due date for #2 son. I made the decision to buy a ticket and if she hadn't delivered, well, I'd just have me a nice collector's item. As it turned out, the boy came along on time, and I got to see another excellent show. It was outdoors and there was a full moon, and when Jon sang "in the full moon" in Brother of Mine, he reached out to touch the moon as if he had put it there himself. And in that concert, my favorite bit was the duel between Tony Levin and Bill Bruford.
Whittington/Oberg on Kennedy
Just a little reminder of why we should ignore the senior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
I'm continually amazed at the pass this man gets from the media. His latest assault on the American military surely comforts Al Qaeda, but the major media aren't likely to find anything to complain about there. In today's Roanoke Times, there's an LA Times political cartoon exploiting this meme. I'd post a link if I could find it online.
However, his remarks last November labelling three women judges as Neanderthals should surely have created an outcry.
SpaceShipOne: Another Success
SpaceShipOne makes third rocket-powered flight is the headline in USA Today.
- With pilot Mike Melvill at the controls . . . SpaceShipOne appears to have reached an altitude of a little over 200,000 feet.
May 13, 2004
Noonan on Government Aid
Peggy Noonan, whose WSJ columns I usually thoroughly enjoy, today leaves me a little disappointed. Her column, inspired by Tony Soprano's concerns about Vulnerability in Newark, is titled "Bada Bing? Bada Boom. Tony Soprano worries about terrorism. So do I." And, so do I. She mixes in a little "worry about cloning" too, though I don't quite get the connection (other than the NJ connection). But what really bothered me are these questions:
- Why doesn't our government provide us all with the means to survive an expected nuclear, biological or chemical attack? Why doesn't our government provide us with what I think of as a "get out of Dodge" kit--a protective suit, a regulation gas mask, information on which direction to walk in, or rather run in, and how soon, after Port Newark, or Times Square, or the Sears Tower, or the Shrine Auditorium, is hit? Why aren't they doing this?
We are not issued fire extinguishers, blankets, food and water, or any other survival gear. We should each learn what we need to know about the risks of living where we live, and act accordingly. This is not to say that our government has no role in helping us learn how to select appropriate gear, but I do not see a government role in providing the gear.
UPDATE: Phil Bowermaster comments on the cloning aspects of her column.
