Change I Can Believe In?

Now, I have been, and continue to be, supportive of President-elect Obama, but the latest bit of news that I have come across has created some doubt for me.

According to Daily Tech, the Obama transition team is looking to scrap the next-generation manned spaceflight booster program. The Ares was being designed to replace the Space Shuttle and has been in development since 2005 (though initial concepts were thrown around as far back as 1995).


Note: Ares IV development has been discontinued.

Now I realize that the economic crisis and need to cut the federal budget means that money is at a premium, but I must iterate the importance of the space program. Mr. Obama, among others, has talked about investing in the future of America and it's hard to find a better symbol for that future than the manned spaceflight program. I cite the 1960s NASA programs that inspired a generation of young Americans to become scientists, engineers and advocates.

Critics legitimately point-out that the costs of the Ares program are ballooning and that using old heavy-lift rockets such as the Delta or Atlas series would be cheaper. Cost estimates of the Ares program have usually hovered around $3 billion, which is a lot, but nowhere close to other major government aerospace programs of the 21st century. In 2000, four years before the first delivery, a Congressional committee report indicated that the cost of developing the F-22 fighter aircraft would be $14 billion (up nearly a billion from six months earlier). In 2005, the Washington Post reported on the $44.8 billion cost to development of the F-35 strike aircraft (cost was partially mitigated by contributions from other governments). 2006 Department of Defense budget: $527 billion (not counting expensive things like foreign wars); 2006 NASA budget: $15 billion.

The safety of the Delta and Atlas rockets is also a major concern. Right now, these boosters are used to get satellites and probes into space. The benefit of the Ares is the top-to-bottom focus on delivering people into space. Furthermore, Delta and Atlas boosters are not true heavy-lift rockets and would not be able to send astronauts to the moon. If we want to send astronauts to the Moon and beyond, which we should want for a plethora of reasons, we need to rediscover and reinvent the heavy-lift capability of the 1960s. In order to illustrate the heavy-lift question:

Delta IV Heavy: 23,000 kg to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)
Atlas IIIB: 10,000 kg to LEO
Ares I (shuttle replacement): 25,000 kg to LEO
Space Shuttle: 24,000 kg to LEO
Ares V (heavy-lift): 188,000 kg to LEO/71,000 kg to TLI (Trans-Lunar Injection)
Saturn V: 118,000 kg to LEO/47,000 kg to TLI

As I blather about the manned spaceflight program, the other important things that NASA does, like planet-side research and development, should not be neglected either. As the Daily Tech article noted, during the campaign, Mr. Obama was inconsistent in his plans for NASA. Fortunately, Mr. Obama has nominated some very smart people for science and educational roles. Hopefully, they can keep the next administration from neglecting science, research, technology, and the future.

Twice in one week?!

That's what she said...

Anyway, of late I have rarely taken the time to post on my blog twice in one week, but I came across something on the interwebs that I had to mention.

For about six months now I have been visiting Tom's Games, the gaming and movie portion of the Tom's Hardware site. On Wednesday, they announced that they will stop doing video game and movie commentary. In its place, they will have a "cutting edge site designed to deliver the latest in online games." What a shame.

Now, I occasionally play online flash games like almost everyone, but this is a shameful step. Tom's Games offered interesting and insightful commentary, opinions and reviews. However, their greatest asset was the distinct lack of fanboy-ism that permeates that particular sector of the internet. They had an deep appreciation for the PC game platform, but did not let that cloud their judgement of console games. Lastly, the discussion forums are usually civil, another rare thing for this neighborhood of the internet.

Now Tom's Games is going concern itself with the lowest common denominator of the gaming world. These are cheap, simple, mindless games that are trumped by only the great World of Warcraft in amount of lost productivity.

The two editors-in-chief of Tom's Games, Rob Wright and Travis Meacham, wrote a letter to their readers which can be read here. If you are so inclined, take a look at their weekly video series, Second Take; it was one of my favorite internet video series.

A dark day for quality gaming journalism, indeed.

On a brighter note, the Red Wings completely annihilated the San Jose Sharks tonight! For those that haven't been following hockey as closely as I, San Jose has a very good team this year. A little over 30 games into the season, San Jose had lost only 3 games in regulation and were among the top 10 teams in nearly all the major statistical categories. They are on pace to break league records for number of wins and points in a single season. The Wings are hardly having a bad season, but the sheer brilliance of the San Jose squad makes the great Wings team look a bit tarnished. This was definitely a big statement game for the Wings.

That Time of Year

Anyone who appreciates sports (at least the way I do) recognizes the magical times of the year when certain schedules converge:

March-April: NCAA Basketball Tournament, MLB Season Openers
October: NCAA Football mid-season, NHL season begins, no NBA until end of the month
Late December-Early January: compelling NFL games, NCAA Football bowl games (hopefully future playoff games), more NHL games including the Winter Classic

Since I don't want to talk about football anymore, the NHL is the topic for the day.

Ice Hockey is the most under-rated sport in America. It's fast, physical, entertaining and the athletes are, for the most part, not overpaid children like those littering the other major sports. Unfortunately, the NHL is a sick business. League revenues have been declining for years, labor disputes have ended multiple season over the past 20 years and the only place to watch a hockey game on TV is the Versus channel or local sports channels if you live in the right place. Fortunately, the source of these problems is easy to point out.

Gary Bettman is the current commissioner of the NHL. He has presided over the decline of one of North America's great professional sports leagues. I won't even go into the heretical rule changes that he has allowed to pass (most meant to compensate for his biggest blunders). His first big blunder was failing to completely resolve the labor dispute during the 1995 lockout half-season. Nine years later, the NHL lost an entire season because management and the NHLPA could not agree upon a salary cap. The two parties were within $10 million of each other, but they decided to lose a season instead. The NHLPA ended up being the biggest losers in the deal since the post-lockout deal was the worst deal offered.

After the 2004-05 lockout season, the sport lost sponsors, TV coverage (yes, ESPN used to cover the NHL and even had a dedicated analysis show), and fans.

However, before the Lost Season, Mr. Bettman decided to expand the league into untested southern markets through awarding franchises and relocating franchises out of traditional hockey markets. Minnesota, Quebec City and Winnipeg all lost franchises. New franchises were given or moved to Dallas, Phoenix, Raleigh, Tampa Bay, Anaheim (stupid Disney), Ft. Lauderdale, Nashville, and Atlanta.

Currently, most of these southern teams are in financial trouble. 30 teams seems like a good number for a professional sports league, but, in the current state of affairs, all of these teams are hurting league revenues and diluting the talent on the ice. The best solution for this problem is a league contraction and franchise relocation. It just so happens that I have a plan.

Franchises to fold or move:

Tampa Bay Lightning
Florida Panthers
Nashville Predators
Carolina Hurricanes
Atlanta Thrashers
Phoenix Coyotes
Columbus Blue Jackets

New Franchises:

To be honest, I'm not sure where to put new franchises. They should be in Canada at the very least. For the sake of argument, we'll put a franchise in Winnipeg and another in Quebec City.



I'm not terribly pleased with the extra team in the Eastern Conference, but New Jersey could be on the cutting block. I also feel sad about leaving an Original Six team, Chicago, alone in the West, but it's their own fault for being on central time.

Still Alive

As the title of this post would have you believe, I am still alive. I had a bunch of family over for the holiday weekend and between the food and Rock Band (one of my guitars partially broke) I had little time to blog. For those who are concerned, I think one of my brothers-in-law was a bit over-zealous with his strumming and the down-strum detector died. However, this brought upon a fascinating new discovery! I was playing the bass part of a song with up-strumming only on Hard (yeah, I am a badass) and when the song was over, I received the "Authentic Strummer" tag under my completion percentage. One of my brothers-in-law, who is actually a guitarist in a band, informed me that the game wasn't lying, then I recalled watching jazz bassists and rock bass players plucking the strings when they played. Rock Band: Fun and Educational as long as you don't play alone or "sing" a Beastie Boys song.

I don't have anything in particular to talk about, so I'll just point out some great stuff on the internet that everyone should look at this week.

The first is for fans of Valve's Half-life games. The official trailer for Black Mesa was released over the weekend! Black Mesa is a top-to-bottom remake of the first Half-life game using the Source engine that powered Half-life 2, Portal and Left 4 Dead. What makes this all the more interesting is that Valve has nothing to do with this game (except for the inspiration and developer tools). You can visit the developers here and view the trailer below!



Once again, the BCS is at the center of a season tainting controversy. Oddly enough, I can't actually blame the BCS for the mess, but the mess definitely exposes the weaknesses of the BCS system. Anyone who follows college football on the internet (save Okla-homers, haha) has undoubtedly read a number of articles condemning the Big 12 tiebreaker methodology. Long story short, Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech were tied for first place in the Big 12 South with a spot in the Big 12 Championship game on the line. The Big 12 rulebook dictates that BCS ranking breaks the tie in the current circumstances. Going into Thursday, Texas was #2 and Oklahoma was #3. On Monday, Oklahoma was #2 and Texas was #3 with both teams winning big. This is where things get bad. Earlier this season, Texas beat Oklahoma, on a neutral site, 45-35.

The claim made by BCS defenders that the regular season serves as a playoff is truly foolish now. The winner of the Big 12 South is a virtual shoe-in for the BCS Championship game. Missouri, the Big 12 North champ, is a mediocre team with little chance of success against Texas, Oklahoma or Texas Tech. Texas beat Oklahoma head-to-head at a neutral site, end of story. If there is any justice in college football, then the regular season playoff victory of Texas over Oklahoma is all that should matter here. However the current state of college football is a greed-driven, farcical fraud perpetrated by the BCS and its delusional advocates in collusion with ruling bodies of the Big 12 and other BCS conferences. If you want to read more, I suggest checking this and this out.

Only one thing will make this more amusing, a Missouri victory on Saturday. Here's a list of potential opponents for the Alabama-Florida victor should this happen:

• Texas: failed to win it conference or division, but the most deserving*
  

• USC: lost to Oregon State and plays in the relatively weak Pac 10

• Utah: highly questionable strength of schedule

• Texas Tech: see Texas, maybe more deserving* than everyone except Oklahoma
  

• Penn State: lost to Iowa and plays in the relatively weak Big 10

• Boise State: see Utah

• Teams ranked 10-119: unprecedented, dream on

*Texas Tech beat Texas 39-33 at Texas Tech with that tragic dropped interception with 11 seconds to go.

Dear Santa,

I will sacrifice all of my Christmas gifts for the next five years if you will get FBS college football a playoff system this year. I really want an epic 16-team tournament, but I will settle for an 8-team playoff. If you give FBS college football a "plus one" system, a.k.a. bandaid over the chainsaw laceration, then you only get one year of sacrifice.

However, I know that bargaining with you is like bargaining with God, it doesn't work like it does in the movies. I expect to see Prince of Persia for my Xbox under the tree this year. Failure to comply will result in more meaningless letters in the future.

Yours truly,

Dan