Author Archives: billgamesh

In my view, space is either going to go a certain way or we are not going. The first deciding factor is whether getting human beings off-world into independent colonies is going to be made the goal. This is actually how it all must start- by everyone agreeing that these survival colonies are the ultimateContinue reading “The Future of Human Space Flight”

800,000 subscribers and over 15,000 views today. Wow. And Paul Shillito managed to get the single most important piece of information concerning space radiation and Human Space Flight…wrong. In 2006 Eugene Parker wrote an article for Scientific American that remains the best popular science guide to “Shielding Space Travelers” from radiation. Parker explains cosmic radiationContinue reading “Curious Droid Envy”

As of this day in history, 27 March 2020, there are this morning 86,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the U.S. and over a thousand have died. The Mayor of Boston has stated what is needed is a “Consistent Approach.” When this is over in a couple years, and based on the history of theContinue reading “The Consistent Approach”

Evan Vucci/AP/Shutterstock Trump Suggests States Need to Bribe Him With Praise to Get Federal Assistance for COVID-19 “But, you know, it’s a two-way street,” the president said of states desperate for equipment. “They have to treat us well, also.” By RYAN BORT Shocked me…it really did send a chill up my spine. The President saysContinue reading “Two Way Street”

Image: Salon It is possible that many in this country are now beginning to understand exactly what Neoliberalism is all about. Remarks continue to be made to the whole world by politicians and certain wealthy individuals that place money above human lives. They seem to accept this as a matter-of-fact and are unapologetic. Let’s beContinue reading “Making America Sick Again”

Image: ObjectsInFilm A decade after I was born the science fiction movie “Beneath the Planet of the Apes” depicted a race of horribly mutated humans living underground and worshiping a doomsday weapon designed to destroy the Earth. My parents were moviegoers and I dimly remember going to the theater as a boy to watch theContinue reading “Worshiping the Bomb”

Image: Atomic Heritage Foundation https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200316152211.htm It has been said we are all “children of Rome” in the modern world as much of our society functions like that empire did. The Romans were Neo-Liberals in that latifundialization eventually destroyed the fabric of their society- much like it is in the process of destroying the social fabricContinue reading “Fragile Empires”

Image: Smithsonian Though I am not a fan of Bob Zubrin or going to Mars I have to admit a chapter in his book “The Case for Mars” changed my worldview. The Chinese burning their exploration fleet of giant sailing ships was, for me, a very important lesson- though many of these history lessons IContinue reading “Burning the Superships”

image CNN https://www.ibtimes.com/nasa-warns-airburst-causing-asteroid-arriving-week-2940563 Whatever happens, whether you succeed or fail, people with high expectations always feel better. They usually attribute success to their superior ability and failure with “bad luck.”  The pure act of anticipation makes us happy. We enjoy imagining the better days ahead. People with mild depression are actually more realistic than healthyContinue reading “Optimism Bias and Extinction”

Gateway No Longer Mandatory for 2024 Moon Landing The Gateway never really made sense when the radiation environment makes any long duration missions impractical without a massive cosmic ray water shield. Eugene Parker explained this for the layman back in 2006 in a classic popular science article published in Scientific American: Shielding Space Travelers. InContinue reading “The Fat Workshop”