Volcanic Ash Jet Fighter Gap? Try a Rocket!

Now the news has discovered that not only have commercial aircraft been grounded by the Iceland volcano's ash cloud, but military aircraft are, too. Amazing minds they must have...

There is a solution, if only we had some ready--rocket fighters don't take in air, so they can fly fine, except for a bit of windscreen fogging, perhaps.

Paint over the damn swastikas and get the Rocket Planes on alert!

Millions into defense and where are the rocket planes when you need them? Somebody tell the politicians that this is the 21st century, already!

The Iceland Ash Cloud-Bad, Bad Planet!

Satellite Image of Iceland Volcano Ash Cloud, April 2010

This is what comes of living on a planet with poor eating habits. One minute you're just getting the air clean thanks to your anti-aerosol and pro-electric car regulation, the next minute your ill-fed planet lets loose a real trouser-burning bit of flatulence and there's more pollution in the air than has been released by all of mankind.

If it's not Iceland, it's the Philippines. I blame the diets rich in fermented fish.

Of course, it may be a good thing all those airplanes can't fly, right. After all, they create man-made pollution, unlike the Earth, which produces nice, sanctimoniously acceptable Earth-friendly pollutants that live in harmony with nature and the Great Cycle of Whatever.

Visible light image from space. That diesel soot you see at the bottom is Mother Earth living in harmony with herself.

It's very funny that so called scientists here on Earth decide that we're destroying the atmosphere with aerosol cans and fire extinguishers filled with chlorofluorocarbons (which, as it happened, saved many many human lives each year, particularly in data centers and aircraft). The ionosphere, in fact. A layer of the atmosphere which they've yet to show a way in which things down in the troposphere, where we live, interacts with in such a way as to get the CFCs from down here to up there.

There are two events well known to make the troposphere interact with the upper layers of the atmosphere, as it happens. Especially powerful hurricanes and volcanoes will do the job. They're about all that has the power. Sure, plenty of scientists claim that someday we might find scientific backing for what are presently bold-faced (ahem) assertions, that is that CFCs down here ruin the ionosphere, as do other pollutants that they have decided to popularize, focusing on human sources which are pretty well completely insignificant compared to what the Earth is up to all the time. But the fact is they'd have to be far more subtle than the well known and currently measurable interactions known today.

All Ur Air Pollushuns Belong to Uz

The fact is that the folks who push the clean air crap (as opposed to any clean air reality) want you down here fretting over fly-speck counts rather than living your life in a free and comfortable fashion. They know that the stuff close to you--like your aerosol cans and car--look a lot bigger to you than they really are in the greater scheme of thing. They use that against you to convince you that, as an enlightened and thoughtful individual (you are an enlightened and thoughtful individual, aren't you?) you want to make sure that you don't leave things dirtier than you found them, that you don't want to be the flutter of the butterfly's wing that brings the whole Earth's ecosystem crashing down after four billion years of loving care by Nature. So you need to circumscribe yourself.

Hairshirt life has a certain appeal to it. Otherwise even hermits in the desert wouldn't subscribe to it. But it doesn't fix anything when if comes to reality. It's a withdrawal from reality, and a surrender of any control or power over the larger situation. Which is what the present powers that be desire. They want you wasting your time working on how to save a milliwatt while they run your lives for you, keep you busy, and push you another step, or another mile, down the road to slavery.

Don't forget to touch your forelock as your eco-superiors ride past.

X-37B: So Secret it Ain't

It seems somebody's decided that there's something sinister and secret about the X-37B Spacecraft. Yahoo! News has dubbed it a Mystery Space Plane and even Fox News calls it a Mystery Space Plane with a Mystery Mission.

OoooOOOooooh. Creeeepy.

The X-37B Being Prepared for Launch
On Orbit, It Will Creep Out the Easily Duped

Not So Secret, Really.

Actually, this thing's been in the works long enough that its uses are pretty well known. But that doesn't sell soap or get internet clicks. Check it out:

Operationally Responsive Spacelift

Near Term Manned Space Logistics Operations(See the section on reusable logistical vehicles.)

Exactly why it should be such a mystery that the military feel the need for a reusable, quick-to-launch system is a mystery to me. The Shuttle is on its way to retirement and the military's been kicked off its manifest since the Columbia disaster. Current boosters like the Atlas and Delta vehicles are not quick to launch, not reusable. The ability of other nations to knock out satellites is already here, and that means there's a need to be able to field replacements quickly, especially since the military relies so heavily on satellites.

X-37B in Orbit, Stealing Ur Megahurtz

But mysteries sell, it appears. Even when it takes holding back well known information to create a mystery, as the idiots in major media outlets have done here.

If you'd rather have information than mystery, keep reading:

Operationally Responsive Space
Responsive Space
FAST Program

Of course, if you think we ought to hinder our own defense by keeping it difficult to get to space, you can go back to your regularly scheduled conspiracy theories...

Sleek White Exterior, All the Better to Read Your Mind
Tinfoil hats, ON!

Guam Tipping Over: Use a Skyhook!

He had the answer to global communications. Perhaps he saw how we can save Guam from tipping over?

There's a Congressman who's deeply concerned that Guam tipping over. He's shows a great degree of concern for the inhabitants of the island, and rightly so, given the nature of the threat to them this would pose.

Something must be done. We must understand the problem, then find a solution.

Stress Test the Islands

Maybe he's onto something that the rest of us are blinded to by our "conventional" thought, however. In the spirit of leaving no stone unturned, I think it's important that we start doing careful tests of the islands managed by the U.S. to make sure they won't tip.

First, we need to clear paths between the two sides of some of our smaller islands--across the narrow way, of course. Then, have the population march from one side to another while satellites measure the amount of movement. Perhaps draw them there with free beer and soda. Once they've sated themselves on one side of the island, open up restrooms on the far side. Put out bowls of chips and popcorn, then they'll be back at the sodas soon.

Careful measurements should allow us to figure out which islands need to have outriggers and pontoons attached to them for the safety of their population. Perhaps this would be a good reason to develop the "skyhook" technology Arthur C. Clarke was talking about. It would:

• Steady the island, and hold it up if necessary (perhaps raising it above tsunamis!)


• Provide a convenient navigational reference to islanders travelling in traditional means, without GPS aids.


• Boost the local economy, allowing the locals to lift satellites to orbit without the use of noisy, expensive, and ecologically unsound rockets.

Sounds like a win-win-win scenario!

The Real Concern

I'm more concerned about the Congressman, myself. From the sounds of things he should be getting medical care, rather than being sent to Congress. He's got real mental problems with a medical cause, and it's unfortunate that he's being used this way by those around him.

What's the excuse for the people who elected him, the people in the party that put him in this position, and those people that call themselves "reporters" in his district?