This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

The vote is in, “Cover Your Ass,” rules the day. Chairman Trump said it was okay to vote yes. And Republicans needed little prompting, as it was damn near unanimous. To cushion the blow and ease the pain, the great orange bumkin received Saudi Arabia’s MBS. Nothing cheers up the boss quite like visiting with dictators and killers. It’s a psychological wishful thinking thing “Gee, I’m a murderous dictator too!” At least, he wishes he was. He will release the Epstein files with that famous Trump grace and speed.

But for a few minutes, it was like the good old days of 60 days ago. Saudi Arabia is buying $100 million dollars jet fighters. Sounds like a good deal, doesn’t it? Trump has called the Saudis our Non-NATO allies. But what does that even mean? When NATO allies no longer trust the United Snakes. How can Saudi Arabia ever help us in a crisis? With money, of course. Hard cash on the barrelhead.

There is a difficult dynamic at work here. US fighter planes once had to be superior to Soviet fighter jets. That is no longer the case. Why buy the super expensive jets when cheaper (Good enough) European models which can do 85% of the job of high-priced jets at half the price? The battle of Jutland exposed the weakness of super expensive battleships that were too expensive to risk in battle. The battle of Ukraine has exposed the weakness of fighter jets period. Fighter jets launch missiles and glide bombs from far behind the front lines. Suddenly, war has changed. Today, unmanned drones and cruise missiles can do the same job at a fraction of the cost. Without risking a pilot or an airplane and with a radar signature of a blue jay.

Plus, why spend billions on jets with an unstable leader at the helm, who could shut off the parts pipeline if you criticized his tie? Crazy has a cost. Not paying attention has a cost too. The US is selling full sized Cadillac El Dorados when the world is looking for Toyota Corollas. The misadministration lives inside of a bubble and they ignore everything outside of it. For fantasy’s example NASA is looking at a Spaced X’d proposal to return to the moon. Fantasy maybe? Comedy or maybe both.

Under this proposal, the Tardship will launch into low earth orbit. Then it will be refueled in space with ten more refueling launches before heading off to the moon. If your math skills are poor. That’s eleven launches for each single mission. Refueling in space has never been done once, let alone ten times. The Tardship has barely reached low earth orbit once, itself. “God’s speed, John Glenn!” But Spaced X’d predicts they can be ready by 2027 or 2028 or 2030 or 2035. You get the picture; just send us the check and we’ll get right on it.

But the comedy doesn’t stop there. The Tardship will act as its own lunar lander. A fifteen-story tall lander on a set of small landing legs. Landing butt first on the unprepared lunar surface. With the astronauts stuck on the fifteenth floor. What could possibly go wrong with that scenario? They’ll have an elevator to lower them down to the surface. And if the elevator malfunctions? What then Macduff?

These questions were all hammered out and debated in the 1960s by serious engineers. They quickly abandoned the one giant spaceship idea, as far too risky. OSHA would take issue with a fifteen-story exposed outdoor elevator on earth. But on the moon, are you kidding me? Here is another funny aspect of the proposal because the Tardship would have to still be heavy with fuel for the return trip. And the payload of astronauts and equipment would all be at the precipice. What do you suppose would happen if the Tardship were to land even five degrees off of dead level on soft lunar soil in a fifteen-story tall rocket? Timber!

Oh, but we have technology! But technology doesn’t supersede physics or gravity. Top heavy is top heavy on earth or the moon. It’s just another one of Elon’s follies. Like his tunnel from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Given the choice, which would you rather attempt to land on the moon? A stable Lunar lander or a fifteen-story office building?

We’re going to the moon in two or three years in a spacecraft which has never carried a single human into orbit. There is no Tardship refueling vessel built yet. How much will this all cost? Cheap! Cheap! Cheap! Real cheap! You can trust Elon! Carrying tons of fuel to the lunar surface, only so you can lift a fifteen-story office building back to earth is a stupid idea. It was a stupid idea in 1960, so they abandoned it. It’s still a stupid idea in 2025. It’s the zeppelins of outer space!

“That’s one small step for man and one giant fail in outer space.” There is a reason why they did it that way in 1969. Because it was the safest and most efficient way. Elect bassackwards corrupt leaders and expect bassackwards corrupt ideas. There is still one more impediment to Elon’s folly. Trump has cut the NASA budget by 25%. No bucks, no Buck Rogers!

But speaking of crashes from the stratosphere. Bitcoin had reached $122,776.84 on October fourth. Today it is at $91,410.56. Guess which way it’s going from here? It’s only attraction is that it’s opaque and can’t be seen by the tax man. Its one drawback is it is uninsured and opaque. I’ll give you a hint, while I was writing this Bitcoin dropped another twenty dollars in value.

The Home Depot is also in trouble. They had forecast a strong second half earnings which did not arrive. Leaving the Depot heavy in inventory and short on customers. Big-ticket item sales are virtually non-existent. Remodel the kitchen or bathroom? Not today! Throw it on the fire along with the farmers and the car companies. Car lots, Fast food restaurants, retail sales, and the space Zeppelins. Living in a dream world which is actually only a scheme world.

Don’t worry, AI will save us! AI will save us! Just you wait! AI is going to save us, I’m almost sure of it! Maybe, AI will save us. I sure hope AI will save us. Please, please AI, please save us! It was predicted to be the greatest thing to come along, ever. Then after spending billions and billions and billions of dollars of borrowed money. It was discovered that no one has earned one thin dime yet or expects to in the foreseeable future.

“There’s more than one way of working. If it’s for human beings—make sure and do it properly. If it’s for the big man—just make it look good.” – Alexzander Solzhenitsyn