I guess I’ll start with reviewing some interesting news over the last few days. (Yeah I’m bored)
-First off, Scott Peterson gets to move his trial over to a new county. Guess where his lawyer wants to go now. When asked, defense attorney Mark Geragos was quoted to say, “My top three choices are: LA, LA, LA.” Gee I wonder why; I mean you don’t suppose just because OJ Simpson was found innocent there has something to do with it do you (sarcasm implied)? I guess even after all these years, the stereotypes about the stupidity of people who live in LA live on. (Read the SF Chronicle’s article)
-“The Governator” Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled the new California budget and man is it a hard pill to swallow. I mean so many cuts and raising student fees. It’s funny how me and my old roommates were joking about Arnold being governor. Now who’s joking? (Read the SF Chronicle’s article)
-President Bush is calling for a mission to Mars in the future. I guess he got wowed by all the pretty pictures of the Red Planet. Seriously, as much I would like to see this, I’m not really sure how this can happen right now. Reading this Washington Post editorial, it states that the possible cost of doing this is $400 billion dollars. I love space travel as much as the next guy (okay a lot more than the next guy) and a big project like this can spawn a whole revolution of new technology, like how the moon project launched part of the computer and telecommunication age. However, it’s too much money, especially when there are so many projects to be done on Earth like those wars. You know the one’s in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the waistline. Speaking of being fat…
-Finally, You’ve Got to be Kidding Me. How about a car that can tell you if you’re overweight? Yeah you heard me. Apparently, one man has invented such a device. My question is why? I mean it’s embarrassing enough being told you’re overweight by your loved ones, your coworkers, and that fat guy on the subway (editors note: how did I come up with that one?), but once your car starts tell you’re fat, you’ve got major problems. Find out about it here.
I have pros and cons in regard to the proposed Mars and Moon projects. First of all, I didn’t expect something like that coming out of a Republican president (the Apollo project was the work of Democrats after all), but I guess Bush & Co. were really touched by the success of the current Mars mission and finally recognize that the future lies in space. Or he’s just paranoid from the war on terrorism and tries to boost his popularity for next year’s election. In any case, the move is obviously conceived to appeal to the intellectual parts of the society.
What will not make this initiative popular is, as you mentioned, the cost. $400 billion is a lot of money, however, the Apollo mission was not cheap either. It cost $25 billion back then, which, translated in today’s values, whinds up at about $150 billion. I don’t remember exactly how long Apollo existed, something like 12 years I think, but as you said, it was one of the main reasons for the launching of the computer age. Same opportunities exist here.
Yea, so it will cost a lot, but we have to start somewhere. Currency will continue to depreciate as long as no global regulated economy exists, so the costs will continue to go up. We don’t have much time left with the population of the planet growing at this exponential rate, so we have to get our act going. We’re already late. We never followed up on that lunar program in the ’60s and ’70s. We wasted 30 years with that stupid Cold War, when we almost drove ourselves to extinction. The best opportunity was during Clinton’s administration, when the economy was strong, but we let it slide by. Now, even though we live in hard financial times, I think we need to think really well about it. I would support Bush’s proposal, one of the few I agree with, but Congress might not think the same way.
This year, or next year, or in ten years, it has to eventually start. The future lies in space.
The future of space
See I like the idea of a Mars mission, but I’m totally not sure a moon base is a good idea at the moment. The technology for setting up a base on a heavenly body outside of the Earth is far and away. That’s what I’ll say on the matter.
Allen, I have this vision of you writing a news column. When I thought I should go into journalism, maybe I was thinking of you instead. You have an undeniable flair to your writing and I’m totally seeing you with your own column in a Southern Californian lifestyle or men’s magazine. That’s it, I’ve decided your life path for you. =)
That’s News to Me
Hmm, you know I always did sort of want to write a news column, but I never thought for a So-Cal or Men’s mag. I’m flattered that you said this, but as always I have to ask why? I mean I’m not exactly Mr. Pop Culture or Mr. Hollywood.