Month: September 2016

Obama offers Laos $90 million to help clean up the biggest trove of unexploded ordinance in the world.

Obama offers Laos $90 million to help clean up the biggest trove of unexploded ordinance in the world. These bombs continue to kill dozens of Lao people every year, most of them children.

From 1964 to 1973, the US dropped more than two million tons of ordnance on Laos during 580,000 bombing missions—equal to a planeload of bombs every 8 minutes, 24-hours a day, for 9 years – making Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. 

http://legaciesofwar.org/about-laos/secret-war-laos/

Well it is Capitalism.

Well it is Capitalism. Every minute spent on the launchpad double and triple-checking makes a financial officer somewhere cry.

Originally shared by Lauren Weinstein

It is rocket science. // The Florida accident is also rippling through the insurance market. Insuring the risk of getting a satellite into space comes in two stages. The preflight insurance is intended to mainly cover the risk of damage to the rocket and satellite on their way to the launchpad. Premiums are a fraction of a percent. Launch policies, which take effect when the rocket is fired up, are costly, ranging from 5 to 15 percent historically. But the Falcon 9 exploded during a prelaunch test. So launch policies did not kick in. And the insurance payout will fall on the roughly two dozen preflight insurers. //

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/business/spacexs-explosion-reverberates-across-space-satellite-and-telecom-industries.html