Comments Posted By Michael L. Cook
Displaying 21 To 26 Of 26 Comments
IRAN'S MAIN MAD MULLAH: " WE CAN WIN NUKE WAR WITH ISRAEL"
If I can spell Ahmanidejad, I will propose that he is making the wild, provocative statements because he feels his party will lose its grip in Iran if that nation continues creeping Westernization. He and his buddies don't care if they start a nuclear war with Israel that throws Iran (what's left of it) back into the 12th century.
Obviously, the more catastrophic social destruction Ahmanidejad can do, the more his party will like it. Probably their biggest fear is that Israel will do nothing, putting it on them to figure out how to deliver one of their brand new nukes. It takes a lot of social organization and a certain degree of trust to get a nuclear program off the ground.
I would rather suspect that Israel, the U.S., and a lot of other nations have pretty active little intelligence efforts going involving the sane Iranians who must be scared out of their minds by these idiots.
Comment Posted By Michael L. Cook On 20.12.2005 @ 23:03
But seriously, NASA has to find a way to do manned exploration on a budget built for unmanned exploration. Why? Because the media will pay precious little attention to anything that doesn't have a human interest angle, which manned missions automatically do.
NASA seems to have its heart set on upgrading the existing space shuttle. If you are a huge bureaucracy composed of people whose careers have been built on the existing shuttle, that is reassuring.
Were I George W. Bush, I wouldn't talk about a Mars mission so much as I would work behind the scenes to direct money to the "space elevator" concept and "stepladder to space" concepts. The former uses advanced carbon filaments to literally run loads from sea level at the equator to large mass anchor objects in geostationary orbit. The latter generally uses winged, air-breathing high lift vehicles to carry or tow space vehicles to 40,000 feet or better for launch. The Rutan Ansari-prize winner was one of the latter, but there are much bigger and equally innovative concepts out there that promise dramatically lower launch cost-per-pound of payload.
Once we get this cost-per-pound barrier whittled down, then talk about manned Mars missions will be a lot harder to throw cold water on. Maybe even a few Democrats can be located who still believe that space is the final frontier.
Comment Posted By Michael L. Cook On 17.12.2005 @ 13:41
Allow me to propose an explanation for the perturbation of the orbits of Pluto and Charon. I believe that a massive dark moon must be the waltz partner of these two in the general relativity ball room.
I have decided to name this dean of as-yet-unseen moons "Howdizzy" after Dr. Howard Dean and the famous St. Louis baseball pitcher, Dizzy Dean, whose baritone version of "Wabash Cannonball" kept me entertained during many a baseball game during Dizzy's memorable career as a commentator. Dr. Dean's career is memorable in its own way (Eeeeee---ahhhh!)and I think that Howdizzy is a completely suitable memorial to two uniquely American characters.
Comment Posted By Michael L. Cook On 16.12.2005 @ 09:11
IRAQIS HOPEFUL ON ELECTION EVE
At this point, what poll numbers really reflect on Iraq is "garbage in, garbage out." Because the majority of media reporting has been either subtly or openly negative, stonewalling the positive trends, the public mood will undoubtedly be negative.
It is unfortunately true that a "Tet" type even could shift the numbers even more. Americans have always been impatient with wars in which there are not constant reports of victories.
I believe that the Iraq intervention was a good thing to do in the first place and it will be a very good thing if we manage to endure to the end.
What constitutes victory in anything? Pride in your effort. Consciousness that you played by the rules, at least more so than the opponent in a game with no real rules. Awareness that there is a reason for everything. Things are generally getting better in this groaning old world. Some type of human destiny is unfolding that is beyond politics and even beyond current religious explanations.
Comment Posted By Michael L. Cook On 14.12.2005 @ 10:43
MARVIN MOONBAT TAKES UP THE CUDGEL FOR DEMOCRACY
I'm trying to find out which nations never did express any kind of condolences, regret, or any kind of a sympathy message after 9/11. It seems inconceivable that Saddam said anything of the like, nor did the PLO. But I am not sure about other nations.
Comment Posted By Michael L. Cook On 12.12.2005 @ 20:52
Forget pie-in-the-sky agreements on limiting CO2. The quick way to de-fuse the problem is to grind iron ore into a fine powder and sprinkle it over the southern Pacific Ocean. Iron-starved plankton will bloom crazily and suck CO2 like the atmospheric fertilizer it is. A fleet of 100 ore tankers pumping slurry would work best.
Comment Posted By Michael L. Cook On 2.12.2005 @ 10:48
The only real consequences will be a vast increase in the entire southern hemisphere food chain, remembering that the southern hemisphere is mostly ocean. One ultimate consequence will be more penguins. This means more penguin poop. On land, the penguin droppings will be frozen, but perhaps an international conference should be called to deal with the potential hazards of floating penguin poop on the oceans. I am ready to be a full-time consultant on this for the right six-figure fee.
