Association Of Catholic Bloggers

"I've been poor and I've been rich. Rich is better!" (Attr. Beatrice Bakrow Kaufman ; from Leonard Lyons' column, The Washington Post (May 12, 1937) ... via Wikiquote) Whoever said that first, I think the one-liner makes sense. This week I'm talking about a new book, "The Art of Spending Money". Instead of rehashing the usual budget advice, Morgan Housel shows how you can make yourself miserable by thinking about money the wrong ways. That actually makes sense, since knowing what's daft helps you avoid 'what everybody knows' about money and life. Bottom line, I think there's considerable good sense in Mr. Housel's book. But something he said about treating money and religion — gave me an opportunity to look at curiosity from a Catholic viewpoint. Living on the Income Ladder's Less Showy Rungs "...Simple Choices for a Richer Life": Money and Making Sense Happiness is NOT Having Just a Little More Money...

Things keep changing. That's hardly a new idea. "Everything changes and nothing stands still" ("πάντα χωρεῖ καὶ οὐδὲν μένει", quoted by Plato in " Cratylus " ) ( Heraclitus , Wikiquote) I'll be talking about the new mural in my town's Walmart, how this isn't the America I grew up in, changes that have been for the better, and why the latest thing in looming dooms — looks both familiar, and not all that distressing. Sauk Centre's Walmart Still Here: So is Downtown Sauk Centre A Marvelous Mural, Mainly America Has Changed: Good News, Actually Good Ideas and Perspective Crises du Jour, Doing Our Job ... More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A new mural in a store that was new two decades back. Changes and constants in America, a crisis of yesteryear, good ideas, and doing our job.)

Sooner or later, I figure someone will develop a spaceplane that takes off from places like Tampa International Airport, carries passengers and cargo to low Earth orbit, and flies back: either to the airport it came from, or the next stop in its flight schedule. It might be a next-generation version of Dawn Aerospace's Aurora, or an advanced Radian Aerospace model. But it won't be Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon. Developing their two-mode SABRE rocket engine ended up costing too much and taking too long. I'll take a quick look at Skylon. After that, I'll take a longer look at Seattle-based Radian Aerospace's PFV01 spaceplane. PFV01, a prototype of Radian's Aurora spaceplane, is the one that's been making test flights near Abu Dhabi. Closing the Book on Skylon Radian Aerospace PFV01: Another Step Test Flights Living With and Working Around Rules Rocket Sled — — To the Stars More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Reaction Engines Ltd. de...

This isn't what I’ll be talking about this week, but today's (August 27, 2024) planned commercial test flight is — my opinion — a big deal. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (A very quick overview of a commercial human spaceflight mission, an excerpt from the news, and an embedded video which may provide live coverage.)

When I was young, the future was exciting: cities on the Moon, computers that can fly spaceships, and more. Then we tried making those dreams a reality; which we've been doing. In part. One goal of this week's Starliner test flight was having a human pilot handle part of the spacecraft's approach and docking at the International Space Station. It was a methodical process, pretty much the opposite of dramatic. Starliner handled the actual docking; which, again, was a methodical process. And successful. If you read nothing else in today's post, by the way, read Butch Wilmore's "Just a Thought", a Few Minutes Before Liftoff . Or check out whatever looks interesting: Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test Saturday's Attempt, a Ground Launch Sequencer, and Paying Attention Another Glimpse Inside Starliner's Crew Capsule Launch Complex 41, Crew Access Arm, and — Starliner: Lucky 13?? Butch Wilmore's "Just a Thought", a Few Minutes Before...

For some reason, I expected Monday's Starliner launch to go ahead on schedule. It didn't, which is probably a good thing. But the delay, and staying up far later than I usually do, waiting for a news conference that I slept through anyway — The long and the short of it is that, instead of focusing on the Starliner spacecraft this week, I decided to start talking about Boeing's reputation, SpaceX, the shift to commercial space travel and exploration; and see where that led me. As usual, I've made a list of links to this week's headings: so feel free to skip ahead to whatever looks most interesting. Or go get a cup of coffee, take a walk, whatever. This post should still be around when you get back. SpaceX Dragon, Working Since 2010; Boeing Starliner, ... Third Starliner Orbital Test Flight, the First With Astronauts "Ad Astra Per Aspera": "To the Stars Through Difficulties" Lilienthal's Letter, a Lunar Plaque, and a Work in Progres...

Nations and organizations running the International Space Station agreed to keep supporting it until 2030. That's what I'll be talking about this week. Along with why the ISS won't last forever, plans for either ditching it in the South Pacific or starting an orbiting salvage yard, commercial space stations and something my oldest daughter and I thought of. The (Comparatively) International Space Station Cooperation, Complications, and Doing Science Anyway ISS Support Promised Through 2030 Best Structural Engineering of the 20th century Slow and Careful Docking at the ISS Looking Ahead: Commercial Space Stations Point Nemo, the Spaceship Cemetery and “The Call of Cthulhu” Concerns, Reasonable and Otherwise More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (Complications and doing science anyway: ISS support promised through 2030. Commercial space stations, dealing with defunct spacecraft, and a Cthulhu connection.)

This week I’ll talk about the SpaceX Starship and ispace test flights. Whether or not they were successful depends on who’s talking. I’ll also look at the usual hand-wringing over threats to the status quo. News and Views “We Will Keep Moving Forward” Fireball After Four Minutes: Starship’s Orbital Test Flight Starship Planned Mission Timelines: April 17 and 20, 2023 Changing the Game, and Why That’s a Good Thing Neocolonization, Environmental Racism and Gentrification: EEK! Villainy Runs Rampant as Chaos Stalks the Streets! Defending the Status Quo: A Cautionary Tale “My End of the Boat”, Obligations and Being Catholic More at A Catholic Citizen in America . (The SpaceX Starship and ispace test flights, how SpaceX is changing the game, and hand-wringing over threats to the status quo.)

A tip of the hat to Anthony Stevens, whose recent op-ed started me thinking about this week's topics. " NoMoNASA " Anthony Stevens, Anthony Stevens' Weblog (November 25, 2022) I'll be talking about ideas that didn't work out, or haven't yet; three cool single-stage-to-orbit vehicles, including one that flew; and, finally, looking back and ahead. Or, rather, the other way around. Plus, I've included short videos showing Skylon, the VentureStar, and a test flight of the McDonnell Douglas DC-X Delta Clipper prototype. More at A Catholic Citizen in America . Spaceplanes, from Max Valier to Skylon. DC-X: a single-stage-to-orbit vehicle that was canceled. Historical perspective and the Kardashians.

The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has survived Louis XIV-style redecorating, the French Revolution, Napoleon and 19th-century remodeling. I'm pretty sure it will survive repair and reconstruction, following the April 16, 2021, fire. Notre-Dame de Paris is Burning (From Getty Images, via BBC News, used w/o permission.) Somewhere between 6:50 p.m., Paris time, and 7:18 p.m., April 15, 2019, something caught fire under the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

A few groceries have been offering delicacies like elk steaks for decades, at least. But the odds are that hunters aren't supplying your grocery's meat department with wild game. That's not surprising, or shouldn't be. I'll be talking about an indoor Florida fish farm, wild rasberries, chickens, and why genetically modified foods don't fill me with fear and foreboding. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The BEAM Bigelow Aerospace habitat module, will be launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) today: if all goes well. BEAM is packed in the Dragon spacecraft's pressurized section. This cargo run also carries supplies for the ISS crew, and for several dozen of the roughly 250 experiments planned for Expeditions 47 and 48. ( SpaceX press kit ) After getting attached to the ISS and inflated, BEAM will mostly just sit there for at least two years: empty except when someone in the ISS takes samples and swaps out radiation sensors. I think that's a good idea, since BEAM is testing technology for Bigelow Aerospace rental properties in low Earth orbit. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Stories like " Rip Foster Rides the Gray Planet " and " Red Dwarf 's" Dave Lister singing "...Lived an old plutonium miner / And his daughter Clementine..." probably didn't help make asteroid mining seem like a serious idea. Then there's the 1966 Outer Space Treaty treaty: a tribute to the high ideals, and international politics, of the '60s. The idea was that anything we find outside Earth's atmosphere would belong to everyone. Nifty idea, not entirely wrong, and I'll get back to that. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The Curiosity Mars Rover sent a 'postcard' from Mars, a 360-degree view of dunes and a mountain in Gale Crater.... ...As usual, I'll ramble on about science, technology, and being human before getting to the interesting stuff: assuming that you think a robotic selfie from Mars is interesting. Not-entirely-as-usual, I wasn't finished rambling when I started the 'postcard' stuff, so this post has an afterword. I've done that before.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

I grew up in the 'good old days,' when many Americans enjoyed the seemingly-secure middle class lives of the Cleavers and Andersons . Some parents, mine included, remembered that there's more to life than wealth: so I never considered running away to a commune . But I understood why some folks my age, and a bit older, decided that buying stuff you don't need with money you don't have to impress people you don't like — made no sense at all.... ...I didn't have the horror that some older folks had for places like Drop City . It seemed to me that 'those crazy kids,' with their 'un-American' talk about peace, love, and brotherhood, had decided to take at least some of my Lord's values seriously.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

The 'Vatican science academy' is in the news again: this time because they've said we should use our brains. The topic was climate change, which tends to stir up sound and fury more than rational discourse. Meanwhile, one scientist implied a link between our "carbon dioxide crisis" and a lot of dead critters, some 201,000,000 years back. More to the point, I think, the team he was on has added a few more pieces to the puzzle of what caused the Triassic-Jurassic extinction event. More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

This year's Ebola outbreak has killed thousand of folks in West Africa: and one in the United States. By any reasonable standard, it's a very serious health problem.... ...As I've said before, being healthy is okay. ( June 13, 2014 ) Not being healthy is okay, too: but I'm expected to take care of my health: within reason.... More at A Catholic Citizen in America .

Getting scared silly by the latest doomsday prediction is silly. So is ignoring real threats. (Copyright M. Ahmetvaleev, via NASA News, used w/o permission.) The Chelyabinsk meteor didn't kill anyone. Only 1,100 or so folks needed medical treatment: for injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to a broken spine. Next time, we may not get off so lightly. Now is a very good time to start getting ready for an incoming asteroid.... ...Looking Ahead (Reaction Engines Limited/Terra Novus, via Wikimedia Commons, used w/o permission.) (Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon spaceplane.) Apart from Space Shuttle fleet, now out of service, and recoverable capsules like Space-X's Dragon, launch vehicles are still a single-use technology. That makes getting into space very expensive. A decade from now, we'll probably see shipping rates go down: dramatically, I suspect. Reaction Engines Limited's Skylon is scheduled for a test flight to the International Space Stati...