What Happened to That Crazy Asteroid Mining Plan?
"I do not remember it," said O’Brien.
Two years ago, a group of Silicon Valley luminaries and space entrepreneurs introduced a startup whose goal seemed straight out of science fiction: extracting precious minerals from asteroids.
Winston’s heart sank. That was doublethink. He had a feeling of deadly helplessness. If he could have been certain that O’Brien was lying, it would not have seemed to matter. But it was perfectly possible that O’Brien had really forgotten the photograph. And if so, then already he would have forgotten his denial of remembering it, and forgotten the act of forgetting. How could one be sure that it was simple trickery? Perhaps that lunatic dislocation in the mind could really happen: that was the thought that defeated him.
With much fanfare, Planetary Resources Inc., the closely held company financed partly by Google Inc. GOOGL -0.87% Chief Executive Larry Page and Chairman Eric Schmidt, and supported by British billionaire Richard Branson and space tourist Charles Simonyi, outlined plans to mine platinum or other rare metals with robotic spacecraft and return the metals to Earth.
O’Brien was looking down at him speculatively. More than ever he had the air of a teacher taking pains with a wayward but promising child.
Backers described the project, with its potential to reach tens of millions of miles into space and generate billions of dollars in profits, as "the future of entrepreneurial space."
Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
May 6, 2014.
Elite Colleges Don't Buy Happiness for Graduates
He stepped across the room. There was a memory hole in the opposite wall. O’Brien lifted the grating. Unseen, the frail slip of paper was whirling away on the current of warm air; it was vanishing in a flash of flame. O’Brien turned away from the wall.
A word to high-school seniors rejected by their first choice: A degree from that shiny, elite college on the hill may not matter nearly as much as you think.
"Ashes," he said. "Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist. It never existed."
A new Gallup survey of 30,000 college graduates of all ages in all 50 states has found that highly selective schools don't produce better workers or happier people, but inspiring professors----no matter where they teach----just might.
"But it did exist! It does exist! It exists in memory. I remember it. You remember it."
The poll, undertaken this spring, is part of a growing effort to measure how well colleges do their jobs. This survey adds an interesting twist, because it looked not only at graduates after college; it tried to determine what happens during college that leads to well-being and workplace engagement later in life.
He stepped across the room. There was a memory hole in the opposite wall. O’Brien lifted the grating. Unseen, the frail slip of paper was whirling away on the current of warm air; it was vanishing in a flash of flame. O’Brien turned away from the wall.
A word to high-school seniors rejected by their first choice: A degree from that shiny, elite college on the hill may not matter nearly as much as you think.
"Ashes," he said. "Not even identifiable ashes. Dust. It does not exist. It never existed."
A new Gallup survey of 30,000 college graduates of all ages in all 50 states has found that highly selective schools don't produce better workers or happier people, but inspiring professors----no matter where they teach----just might.
"But it did exist! It does exist! It exists in memory. I remember it. You remember it."
The poll, undertaken this spring, is part of a growing effort to measure how well colleges do their jobs. This survey adds an interesting twist, because it looked not only at graduates after college; it tried to determine what happens during college that leads to well-being and workplace engagement later in life.
Monday, May 5, 2014
May 5, 2014.
Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Takes Center Stage Ahead of IPO
An oblong slip of newspaper had appeared between O’Brien’s fingers. For perhaps five seconds it was within the angle of Winston’s vision. It was a photograph, and there was no question of its identity. It was THE photograph. It was another copy of the photograph of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford at the party function in New York, which he had chanced upon eleven years ago and promptly destroyed. For only an instant it was before his eyes, then it was out of sight again. But he had seen it, unquestionably he had seen it! He made a desperate, agonizing effort to wrench the top half of his body free. It was impossible to move so much as a centimetre in any direction. For the moment he had even forgotten the dial. All he wanted was to hold the photograph in his fingers again, or at least to see it.
Last May, 40,000 Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. employees and customers met at a Hangzhou soccer stadium in driving rain to watch Jack Ma step down as chief executive of the Chinese e-commerce giant he founded in his apartment 15 years ago.
"It exists!" he cried.
Before his valedictory speech, Mr. Ma belted out the Chinese pop song "I Love You, China," from the stage. The crowd roared.
"No," said O’Brien.
"Taking over from Jack Ma is a difficult job," he said, dressed in oversize glasses and a shiny silver jacket.
An oblong slip of newspaper had appeared between O’Brien’s fingers. For perhaps five seconds it was within the angle of Winston’s vision. It was a photograph, and there was no question of its identity. It was THE photograph. It was another copy of the photograph of Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford at the party function in New York, which he had chanced upon eleven years ago and promptly destroyed. For only an instant it was before his eyes, then it was out of sight again. But he had seen it, unquestionably he had seen it! He made a desperate, agonizing effort to wrench the top half of his body free. It was impossible to move so much as a centimetre in any direction. For the moment he had even forgotten the dial. All he wanted was to hold the photograph in his fingers again, or at least to see it.
Last May, 40,000 Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. employees and customers met at a Hangzhou soccer stadium in driving rain to watch Jack Ma step down as chief executive of the Chinese e-commerce giant he founded in his apartment 15 years ago.
"It exists!" he cried.
Before his valedictory speech, Mr. Ma belted out the Chinese pop song "I Love You, China," from the stage. The crowd roared.
"No," said O’Brien.
"Taking over from Jack Ma is a difficult job," he said, dressed in oversize glasses and a shiny silver jacket.
May 4, 2014.
Nigerian Insurgency Leader Says He Has Taken Abducted Girls as Slaves
"I remember that until only a week before I was arrested, we were not at war with Eastasia at all. We were in alliance with them. The war was against Eurasia. That had lasted for four years. Before that----"
The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgency said in a video message on Monday that he had taken as slaves more than 200 abducted teenage girls, as foreign governments joined in the hunt for the missing students.
O’Brien stopped him with a movement of the hand.
In his first public claim of responsibility since his group kidnapped the students from a rural high school in Nigeria's northeast, Abubakar Shekau said he would sell the girls "because they are our slaves."
"Another example," he said. "Some years ago you had a very serious delusion indeed. You believed that three men, three one-time Party members named Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford----men who were executed for treachery and sabotage after making the fullest possible confession ----were not guilty of the crimes they were charged with. You believed that you had seen unmistakable documentary evidence proving that their confessions were false. There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this."
The girls don't appear in the video, and their whereabouts aren't known.
"I remember that until only a week before I was arrested, we were not at war with Eastasia at all. We were in alliance with them. The war was against Eurasia. That had lasted for four years. Before that----"
The leader of Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgency said in a video message on Monday that he had taken as slaves more than 200 abducted teenage girls, as foreign governments joined in the hunt for the missing students.
O’Brien stopped him with a movement of the hand.
In his first public claim of responsibility since his group kidnapped the students from a rural high school in Nigeria's northeast, Abubakar Shekau said he would sell the girls "because they are our slaves."
"Another example," he said. "Some years ago you had a very serious delusion indeed. You believed that three men, three one-time Party members named Jones, Aaronson, and Rutherford----men who were executed for treachery and sabotage after making the fullest possible confession ----were not guilty of the crimes they were charged with. You believed that you had seen unmistakable documentary evidence proving that their confessions were false. There was a certain photograph about which you had a hallucination. You believed that you had actually held it in your hands. It was a photograph something like this."
The girls don't appear in the video, and their whereabouts aren't known.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
May 3, 2014.
Pro-Russia Militants Release OSCE Observers in Ukraine
"With Eastasia. Good. And Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, has it not?"
MOSCOW----Military observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who have been held hostage in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk for more than a week have been freed, the Vienna-based organization said Saturday.
Winston drew in his breath. He opened his mouth to speak and then did not speak. He could not take his eyes away from the dial.
The seven officials from Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Czech Republic, including a translator, were released on Saturday, Kremlin special envoy Vladimir Lukin told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. He said the five Ukrainian military personnel detained with the mission were also released. A week ago, one of the detained observers, a Swedish major, was released for medical reasons.
"The truth, please, Winston. YOUR truth. Tell me what you think you remember."
"They have freed all the 12 people on my list," Mr. Lukin, who helped negotiate the release on the Kremlin's behalf, said Saturday. "This was a voluntary humanitarian act, and we are very thankful to the bosses of the city for it."
"With Eastasia. Good. And Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, has it not?"
MOSCOW----Military observers for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who have been held hostage in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk for more than a week have been freed, the Vienna-based organization said Saturday.
Winston drew in his breath. He opened his mouth to speak and then did not speak. He could not take his eyes away from the dial.
The seven officials from Germany, Denmark, Poland and the Czech Republic, including a translator, were released on Saturday, Kremlin special envoy Vladimir Lukin told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. He said the five Ukrainian military personnel detained with the mission were also released. A week ago, one of the detained observers, a Swedish major, was released for medical reasons.
"The truth, please, Winston. YOUR truth. Tell me what you think you remember."
"They have freed all the 12 people on my list," Mr. Lukin, who helped negotiate the release on the Kremlin's behalf, said Saturday. "This was a voluntary humanitarian act, and we are very thankful to the bosses of the city for it."
Friday, May 2, 2014
May 2, 2014.
The New Math of Renting vs. Buying
"When I was arrested, Oceania was at war with Eastasia."
Buying a home has long been part of the American dream. But rising prices have made renting less expensive in many places.
"With Eastasia. Good. And Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, has it not?"
People often aspire to own a home for reasons that have little to do with money, and rental options are limited in some communities. Yet owning property can limit your flexibility to move when you want and ties up a lot of your money.
Winston drew in his breath. He opened his mouth to speak and then did not speak. He could not take his eyes away from the dial.
The median sales price of existing single-family homes rose 11.4% in 2013 from the previous year----the highest yearly increase since 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. Prices in many places, including Los Angeles, Baltimore and Portland, Ore., rose even more last year.
"When I was arrested, Oceania was at war with Eastasia."
Buying a home has long been part of the American dream. But rising prices have made renting less expensive in many places.
"With Eastasia. Good. And Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia, has it not?"
People often aspire to own a home for reasons that have little to do with money, and rental options are limited in some communities. Yet owning property can limit your flexibility to move when you want and ties up a lot of your money.
Winston drew in his breath. He opened his mouth to speak and then did not speak. He could not take his eyes away from the dial.
The median sales price of existing single-family homes rose 11.4% in 2013 from the previous year----the highest yearly increase since 2005, according to the National Association of Realtors. Prices in many places, including Los Angeles, Baltimore and Portland, Ore., rose even more last year.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
May 1, 2014.
Turkey's Erdogan: One of the World's Most Determined Internet Censors
"Yes," said Winston.
ISTANBUL----Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rode around Google Inc. GOOGL +0.68% headquarters last spring in the company's self-driving car, tried on Google Glass eyewear and vowed to keep digitizing the economy in the country he has ruled since 2003.
O’Brien’s manner became less severe. He resettled his spectacles thoughtfully, and took a pace or two up and down. When he spoke his voice was gentle and patient. He had the air of a doctor, a teacher, even a priest, anxious to explain and persuade rather than to punish.
Since then, the 60-year-old Mr. Erdogan has turned his democratically elected government into one of the world's most determined Internet censors.
"I am taking trouble with you, Winston," he said, "because you are worth trouble. You know perfectly well what is the matter with you. You have known it for years, though you have fought against the knowledge. You are mentally deranged. You suffer from a defective memory. You are unable to remember real events and you persuade yourself that you remember other events which never happened. Fortunately it is curable. You have never cured yourself of it, because you did not choose to. There was a small effort of the will that you were not ready to make. Even now, I am well aware, you are clinging to your disease under the impression that it is a virtue. Now we will take an example. At this moment, which power is Oceania at war with?"
His political party passed laws letting him shut down websites without a court order and collect Web browsing data on individuals. He put a veteran spy in charge of Turkey's telecommunications regulator.
"Yes," said Winston.
ISTANBUL----Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan rode around Google Inc. GOOGL +0.68% headquarters last spring in the company's self-driving car, tried on Google Glass eyewear and vowed to keep digitizing the economy in the country he has ruled since 2003.
O’Brien’s manner became less severe. He resettled his spectacles thoughtfully, and took a pace or two up and down. When he spoke his voice was gentle and patient. He had the air of a doctor, a teacher, even a priest, anxious to explain and persuade rather than to punish.
Since then, the 60-year-old Mr. Erdogan has turned his democratically elected government into one of the world's most determined Internet censors.
"I am taking trouble with you, Winston," he said, "because you are worth trouble. You know perfectly well what is the matter with you. You have known it for years, though you have fought against the knowledge. You are mentally deranged. You suffer from a defective memory. You are unable to remember real events and you persuade yourself that you remember other events which never happened. Fortunately it is curable. You have never cured yourself of it, because you did not choose to. There was a small effort of the will that you were not ready to make. Even now, I am well aware, you are clinging to your disease under the impression that it is a virtue. Now we will take an example. At this moment, which power is Oceania at war with?"
His political party passed laws letting him shut down websites without a court order and collect Web browsing data on individuals. He put a veteran spy in charge of Turkey's telecommunications regulator.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)