Category: The Future

Posts about the Future

Launching Aircraft With a Railgun

cvn-78-painting.jpgThe newest Aircraft Carrier in the US arsenal, USS Gerald Ford CVN 78,  is under construction now and the cats are definitely going future tech. The new system launches aircraft with a rail gun (Linear Induction Motor, or LIM) and looks like it will be a great improvement over current Steam Catapults. Just think of all that plumbing sailors won’t have to maintain for one thing. The EMALS (Electro-Magnetic Aircraft Launch System) is highly configurable and adjustable to the ride needed for the aircraft being launched — whether that’s a light frame future UAV, or a Hawkeye.

For more detail please visit Defense Tech. (Oh, and when you’re there tell Ward that the video at page bottom uses a Trebuchet, not a Catapult, but it’s well worth watching anyway.) 

The Gridiron Dinner

“Many argue that global warming is manmade,” Cheney said, “and it looks like they found the man.”

The annual Gridiron Dinner held for journalists is a long standing Washington dinner, and is usually good for some humorous snips. Last night Dick Cheney had this to say about Al Gore and his profligate use of energy at his home while as “The Goracle” he poses as a prophet of doom:

 the-goracle-testifies.jpg

“Many argue that global warming is manmade,” Cheney said, “and it looks like they found the man.”

International Polar Year

antarctica_radarsat.jpgThe IPY is underway, a two-year study of the Earth’s, the Moon’s, and Mar’s polar regions. This is pretty exciting stuff, and I am sure that large quantities of data on the warming of the planet will come out of it.
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Anthropogenic or Anthropomorphic Global Warming?

Personification of the forces of nature has occurred since the dawn of time, and mankind has painted his face on the forms of nature, assigned human likeness and sentience to the gods of nature, and even perpetuated the myth that human intervention shaped the appearance of the stars in the night sky. (Orion, other constellations.)

Note this Lion statue from ancient Crete — the shortened muzzle and the expressive brows humanize the face; beside it you see a more modern interpretation from the Duomo Di Modena cathedral in Italy.

As the definition from The Oxford dictionary of Etymology explains, this is known as “Anthropomorphism”

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Global Warming Swindle Documentary attacked

Martin Durkin responds to the attacks on The Global Warming Swindle documentary stating that they were expected — what was unexpected was how feeble the attacks were.

In an update at the UK Telegraph, Martin Durkin responds to the attacks on The Global Warming Swindle documentary stating that they were expected — what was unexpected was how feeble the attacks were.

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21st Century Goals

Let’s not lose sight of the future, because it’s going to happen, no matter what the debate of the moment is. Both parties seem to have done so. The Republicans are so focused on winning the war [admirable to a point,] that many are not looking beyond the next ten years. The Democrats are so invested in shifting political debate back into the last century’s philosophical Gordian knot that most can’t see beyond the last news cycle, and even their best strategists and soothsayers can’t see beyond the next election cycle.
Neither party is offering the electorate a reasonable vision of the future, in both parties the future appears bleak; and who wants to vote for nihilists?

Whether it’s a bleak generational struggle, or a grim global warming catastrophe, the future is transformed from something gleefully anticipated into a bogeyman to scare up votes. Grim nihilism coupled with clear lack of direction beyond the moment are the banners waving in both major political camps right now.

So with that in mind, let’s look at goals that are common to both parties, apply some reason, and extend them farther into the future than either party is willing to look.
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Universes Spawning Ever bright

A new cosomological model has been created by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the new model, there is no big bang, the universe and time does not stop, but instead spawn endlessly.

A new cosomological model has been created by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In the new model, there is no big bang, the universe and time does not stop, but instead they spawn endlessly into new universes. The new model takes into account Dark Energy, and the potential of the “Big Rip” at the turnaround.

This is exciting news, and I’d like to take this opportunity to just say no to entropy! 🙂

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Peace Jirga Outcome

For a good rundown of the Peace Jirga among the Pashtun tribes in Pakistan and Afghanistan please stop by Crumbling Spires. This is a lead in to the Grand Jirga, or Jirga Loya that will include government and tribal leaders from both countries, and it looks to be a good start.

We should respect the willingness of tribal leaders to recognize this problem, and help them take it as their own, even though the Taliban is fighting back by killing and maiming those leaders when they can. The Pashtuns have pride and independence that is ancient, it precedes the coming of Islam to their land, and in many ways Pakistan is like the brawling frontier of the American West in the late 19th and early 20th century.

It’s dawning on many Islamic leaders that extremism and terrorism are their enemy as well as ours, and it’s heartening to see signs such as this.

 

Peace In Nepal !

The decades old Maoist insurgency in Nepal has now come to an end, at least on paper. For almost a year Royalists, Freedom Advocates, and the Maoists have been at loggerheads, but the agreement is now final, and calls for the Maoists and the royalists to cease hostilities and obey the arms accords previously agreed to.

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Renewable vs Nonrenewable Energy

The real point is that Energy Independence for the US is just not enough — we must instead have energy abundance for the entire world. We do not want to be the lone island of energy wealth in a sea of misery, and it’s a simple formula for strife unending if we take that path.

Please take a stop by Anthonares for an interesting new study from Rand, as well as some good analysis. The study is cost comparison/future projection between renewable and nonrenewable energy prices and essentially concludes that it will be a wash.

Personally, I don’t think cost comparision studies are needed anymore — the days of exploration for new technologies for energy are really over. Anyone doing cost comparisons is jockeying for government grants, not implementing a real solution.

There are many viable energy alternatives, and we will need them all. We can also build them all now. Capitalism will do the rest once the wind, hyrdo, nuclear, and geothermal farms are built.

The real point is that Energy Independence for the US is just not enough — we must instead have energy abundance for the entire world. We do not want to be the lone island of energy wealth in a sea of misery, and it’s a simple formula for strife unending if we take that path.Â