Posts by Charles W.E. Johnson

The show Musk go on: Elon asks Uncle Sam to let him fly his Starship over Texas, scores fat NASA contract

Techno Hobbiest?

Really? Musk seem to be the only competent space provider in the U.S.A right now.

Space Force is go, go, go! Because we have a child as President of the United States

Re: Don't compare Trump to children.

That applies to the entire political aristocracy.

Re: You lot are all cheesed off because

Another question is whether USAF Strategic Ballistic Missile forces will come under Space Command, a la the old Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces.

Re: What I don't get is

Anti-American, and especially Anti-Trump, snark is how key-board monkeys who want to be called "journalist" get to hang out with the cool kids.

Re: Deception

Orbital mechanics make the "ball-bearing"/shotgun/"Brillient-Pebbles" solution harder than it may intuitively seem.

There are both pros and cons to a Space Force. On one hand, it is just carving out current USAF SPACECOM personnel and assets, the same way USAF was carved out from Army Air Corps in 1947 - so nothing immediately lost. On the other hand, (a) Space Force will need to compete with the other components in the budget battles; (b) other components, including current USAF, will have a competing customer relationship with Space Force, which may not align well with component priorities; and, (c) Space Force will now likely build redundant and costly administrative infrastructure, instead of availing of USAF personnel/administration/disbursing support. I'm not enamored of Space Force mainly for reasons (b) and (c), gratuitous cheap shot at President Trump notwithstanding.

NSA gunning for Google, wants cop-spotting dropped from Waze app

Re: Just radar, not police.

So maybe a time/distance filter would allow speed-trap warning, but not provide situational awareness of broader deployment patterns which might facilitate criminal operational planning.

Re: strange...

Bias, or situational awareness?

I'm afraid I agree of the potential danger to law enforcement

Although I'd personally love to know where the speed traps are located, as these are generally BS municipal revenue generators having little to do directly with public safety, I have to agree that the law enforcement tracking function of the service poses unacceptable dangers to the LE officers as well as to the public. I'd support outlawing this kind of service for the public good.

US space-station crisis: 'We have enough of our own problems' sighs Russian deputy PM

To our Russian friends, I say thank you, sincerely, for pointing out so graphically why reliance on a foreign country who considers herself an adversary was such a terrible idea. Now, I hope and trust, we'll have learned our lesson once and for all, and will swiftly recover capacity in space lift. Once again, spasibo.

So what's in a URL? The Reg URL?

URL

Regarding URL: I don't imagine that it makes a difference. It doesn't to me at least.