Dream of the Dragon

Tag: Panzer Kunst

June 22, 2010

Poison Gets Palatable

by Justin

The focus of the Gulf spill damage has understandably been upon the crude drifting on the surface – it takes no expertise to recognize the dying marine life and the swells of copper and black floating along or lashing the shores. The effects are immediately visible and visceral to communities of both people and local wildlife.  Statistics are always useful in gauging the scale of disaster, but the photographs of Deepwater Horizon’s wake have been especially stirring. There’s no lack of material, but the Boston Globe’s website killed it yesterday with its Big Picture account of recent events. The copper tendrils are really quite beautiful, if ultimately terrible, in photos like the one below – more painting than ecological catastrophe. Please follow the link. It’s incredible work.

Unreal. The amazing revelation today in the NY Times, however, is that the poison ballooning onto the surface may have the opposite effect in the abyss below. Read the rest of this entry »

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April 16, 2010

Old-fashioned spacemen.

by Justin

When the Constellation program was launched, I’ll admit that I was completely behind George W. Bush’s plan to get us back onto the moon. I was excited exclusively because it sounded exciting and sort of idyllic, like a return to a more glorious age. Forget the deficit, let’s get back into outer space.

Now that program has been cancelled, the Ares rockets abandoned, and President Obama unveiled a vision that looks far beyond the moon. He said himself, conceding that it was a blunt statement, that we’ve already been there. And you know, I’m really not sure about the benefit of dedicating billions to revisiting the Sea of Tranquility.

Neil Armstrong (and two other Apollo shuttle commanders) wrote an open letter to the administration, condemning the new vision for NASA and challenging Obama’s judgment. Read the rest of this entry »

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