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The N-Prize. The best idea in space flight since Sputnik.
Being the anorak that I can’t deny I am, I keep a close eye on what’s happening in space. Whether it’s the life and times of Phoenix, Spirit and Opportunity on Mars or New Horizons on the way to Pluto, if it flies or rolls and it’s somewhere up (or down) there, I’m keen. Now a chap called Dr. Paul Dear has come up with the N-Prize. Obviously a tongue in cheeck version of the X-Prize, it’s rules are simple:
The N-Prize is a cash prize of £9, 999.99 (nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine pounds and ninety-nine pence, sterling), which will be awarded to the first person or group to put into orbit, around the Earth, a satellite with a mass of between 9.99 and 19.99 grams, and to prove that it has completed at least 9 orbits. The cost of the launch (but not ground facilities) must fall within a budget of £999.99. Imaginative use of string and chewing gum is encouraged. Entrants are responsible for everything, organisers are responsible for nothing.
There are already some teams from all over the world at work, with the most advanced from the UK, although it’s tricky to decide what’s hyperbole and what’s truth. Good luck to them anyway. The cheap and clever way to achieve low earth orbit, making it achievable for hobbyists to get up there (hopefully) must be the easier way to democratise space than handing 200.000$ (US) to Richard Branson to enjoy 3 minutes of weightlessness. 200.000 dollars given to one of the N-Prize teams is probably going to be enough to help these guys achieve their goal and buy them 100 gallons of beer and some sausages to celebrate their success.
Maybe I should put my money where my mouth is and sponsor one of them.
Where’s the paypal button where you need it…
British Politics in interesting times.
It’s certainly interesting to follow British politics these days. It also challenges my notions of good and bad, red, green and blue, libertarian, conservative and socialist, autocracy, democracy and tyranny. With the British parliament a confrontational slugfest arena, this makes it even more interesting, especially compared to the rather sedate German federal parliament that’s of course in the iron fist of a majority of teachers and lawyers.
Picture courtesy of accrama on Flickr
So yesterday parliament decided that the executive and judicative powers in this country can lock me away without a charge for up to 42 days. I find that hard to defend and – being of rather simplistic nature – understand. If there is a suspicion that somebody is planning a terrorist act (or is a terrorist) the police will do what the police (and the secret services) in every country do what they do best: they investigate, research the facts and then arrest the individual, present him with the charges and get him in front of a judge who will then decide whether the charges are founded enough to bring him to trial.
So easy, so normal.
So, lets follow the British Government’s argumentation. The police/MI5 pick up that some bad person is planning a really nasty deed threatening human life. They are quite sure but lack the hard facts, so they arrest him under the counter terrorist bill and put him in a cell while they investigate further before charging him. I can understand that as well. But does is really have to be 42 days? And why 42? Is Jacqui Smith – the British Home Secretary – an avid Douglas Adams fan and finds that within 42 days she might find the answer to life, the universe and terrorist activity? And why did only 36 Labour MPs vote against this. And who knew that the DUP was actually still in parliament?
It makes me feel profoundly uncomfortable. This is a country that already has the highest number of CCTV cameras per capita in the world (one camera per 60 inhabitants) and easy access to ISP’s records. Together with wideranging powers of arrest without charge this is more than a little bit creepy.
And here’s where my confusion begins, but not ends. Being a left leaning liberal, plenty of ideas that the labour party stands for I support wholeheartedly: a (more or less) comprehensive health insurance for all, a commitment to excellent state education, egality in front of the law regardless of your sex or ethnicity, a safetynet for these not being able to thrive in society and who need support by the state. All these are goals I am happy to pay my taxes for. But then I look at the current labour government and I start becoming uncomfortable again. There are some policies that have profoundly backfired: Privatisation of the NHS? Polyclinics? Primary Care Trusts (don’t get me started)? No incentive for microgeneration? 10 pence income tax evaporation? Iraq? Still in Iraq after what, 5 years? Then I look at the policies of the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and start recalibrating my political compass.
And this morning David Davis, Shadow Home Secretary for the Conservatives resigns from parliament to express his outrage about the 42 days issue with some of the most stringent arguments on personal freedoms I have heard for some time.
My political compass is all over the place.
Hillary Clinton says ‘Goodbye’. With an excellent speech.
I have just read Hillary’s valedictory speech, and by jove, it’s a cracker. It reminded me while I was wanting her for president in the first place, before her bizarre policy mistakes.
Anyway, the team of speechwriters who came up with this masterpiece should really pat themselves on the back.
Here’s the link.
Let the footyfest begin. But who to cheer for?
Picture courtesy of Phreak2.0 on Flickr
It’s a gorgeous day up here in Scotland, and the European Soccer Championship has begun. While I am writing this, Group B has begun to play, with Austria and Croatia hard at it. The big problem for the Brits and the Irish is of course to choose which nation to cheer for (btw, Croatia leads 1:0 via a penalty). While it would be obvious to cheer for your closest neighbours (The Netherlands, France or Germany) it looks like the UK has chosen Poland as its favourite footynation (no wonder, with half a milion polish migrants prepping up the economy). Apart from the general move towards the poles, each pub wil probably chose its own nation, depending on the ethnic mix of its neigbourhood, though I find it unlikely that a pub in Sutherland will suddenly sport a plethora of German flags and serve Weissbier.
Nevertheless, since the Worldcup in 2006 the tone in the red tops here in the UK towards Germany has become much more conciliatory. Must have something to do with millions of tipsy Brits having a smashing time in German town centers during the tournament. Which of course proves what Charlemagne, one of The Economist’s columnists once said:
Brussels is full of monuments to the “builders of Europe”. There is the Schuman district, the Monnet circle, the Spinelli building. It may now be time for a Stelios Square or a Boulevard O’Leary. For in recent years, Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Michael O’Leary, the two pioneers of Europe’s low-cost airlines, have done more to integrate Europe than any numbers of diplomats and ministers.
With dozens of European players featuring every weekend in the lineup of Premiership teams, it can’t be hard to find your favourite team. Maybe even distribute one team to every homenation? The Scots could prop up the auld alliance and cheer for the French, the English could swallow their pride and support a nation that doesn’t have a problems with penalty shootouts (e.g. Germany), Northern Ireland could pick a nation that has had an eqaully galling civil war, for instance Croatia, and the Irish could take up a hopeless cause, like Switzerland.
There. All sorted out. Now go get your drinkies, phone your friends and settle down in front of the TV, watch some footy and cheer for the Germans.
Prost!
