Build Date: Tue Sep 29 07:40:20 2026 UTC
The ultimate sin of any performer is contempt for the audience.
-- Lester Bangs
Stop Prohibition in Space NOW!!!
2000-11-01 16:07:55
Today marks the first day of the permanent occupation of the International Space Station (ISS) as one American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts move in for a planned 115 day stay.
It is likely that over the 15 or more years that ISS is operational, it will always have someone in residence. And hopefully, when it becomes time to retire ISS there will be a multitude of other human occupied space stations. That means it is possible that yesterday, Oct 31, 2000 was the last day EVER that a human being was not in space.
Which is a cool thought, but not what this article is about.
It seems that NASA has decided that alcohol is bad and much like the U.S. Navy has on its ships since the early 1900's, has banned booze in space.
Not that I'm surprised about this. NASA is one of the more conservative departments in the federal bureaucracy. "No Fun", seems to be their motto. But their Puritan policy are not only grating, but as far as I'm concerned, blatantly unconstitutional. States and not the federal government control alcohol - and there are no states in space. So as far as I'm concerned, outlawing liquor is space in a civil rights violation against anyone in a 400 mile orbit.
As an unabashed and unrepentant drinker, I find this policy to abhorrent and demand that NASA not only immediately rescind this policy, but also send up a large case of vodka in the next Progress resupply mission. And, I also demand that they immediately begin work on a bar/pub section for the space station that will serve a variety of mixed drinks, wine and beer.
And while I hate to be a single issue voter, I'm letting all the politician running know that I'll vote for whomever has the best Booze in Space policy.
I think everyone reading this article would like to visit space someday. But if NASA has its way, after a hard day's work in space, come 5 o'clock, you can forget about Miller Time. And that's just wrong!!! Write your Congressman folks and let them know that you find prohibition in space as unacceptable as you find it down here.
T O P S T O R I E S
John Dvorak has passed. I’m of mixed emotions. First off I’m more positive about his contribution to the overall technology journalism of the early PC days through the 90s, despite how many things he got wrong. He was a firebrand and commanded attention. (More...)
America's National Recording Registry Inducts Culturally Significant Artist - Weezer!
America's Library of Congress calls them "defining sounds of history and culture" and "audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time based on their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance in the nation’s recorded sound heritage." Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Weezer! (More...)
The Crossroads are real and The Blues is a place; The enduring myth of Robert Johnson (More...)
California Glory Hole attracts huge crowds
A glory hole at Napa's Lake Berryessa is drawing huge crowds. According to Chris Lee, the general manager for the Solano County Water Agency, the glory hole hasn't been active since 2019, and only restarted operations on Feb 4. (More...)
Republican State Senator busted after soliciting a teenage girl
Republican State Senator Justin Eichorn of Minnesota was arrested for soliciting a teen girl on Monday just hours after he introduced a bill proposing "Trump derangement syndrome" (TDS) as a form of mental illness. (More...)
Parents claim measles is not that bad after having only one child die
The parents of a Texas girl who died from the measles are defending their decision not to vaccinate their daughter. "She says they would still say 'Don't do the shots,'" an unidentified translator for the parents said. "They think it’s not as bad as the media is making it out to be." (More...)
C L A S S I C P I G D O G
The Liquidation of Hobo Junction
Albany, CA's homeless hooverville by the Bay, "Hobo Junction," is going to be torn down by The Man. Entrances are already being blocked off, and it's now difficult and dangerous to get there. Worse, these obstacles are making it hard to get to the nearby HORSE TRACK on foot. Local historian, Pao Tzu, has an overview of situation. (More...)
Pigdog dispatched special correspondent Ratsnatcher for a holiday reconnaissance of America's frozen hell. After ten days of silence, our shortwave radio cackled with Ratsnatcher's static-filled transmission. (More...)
Three Days and 25 Spocktails: A Cautionary Tale
Johnnie Royale picked me up from the dental surgery. I felt warm, safe, cradled in the anathesia's loving embrace. The pharmacy downstairs gave me a bottle of Vicodin and a few instructions: take it with food, don't mix with alcohol, don't operate heavy machinery. I put it in my pocket and we left. "Do you want to go home, or do you want to go to a bar?" asked Johnnie. (More...)
Patient Joab's scientifick editorial discusses aspect of the space-time-beer continuum never before processed by sub-bush-robot minds!!! Too fabulantastic to contempulate! (More...)
Skunk School -- Learn Why Not To Keep Skunks As Pets
There is an alarming trend in pet purchasing habits this fall. People inspired by the WWII film, "Life is Beautiful" -- the one with that annoying Italian guy -- are buying descented skunks by the millions. (More...)
A Day in the Life of a Beverotologist
It was starting to look like a very boring Saturday, trapped as I was in the suburban wastelands of the outer Bay Area, so I called my Able Assistant (AA) and proposed that we perform some Spocktail field tests. For some time I've been working on creating the quintessential cinematic beverage and even tho' SMRL does most of its testing during nocturnal hours, this seemed an opportune time to roll up the sleeves of our labcoats and get some science done. While the beverotology creation tested this day (The Neurotoxin) must be deemed a success, this article focuses more the journey of the experimenters, rather then the science of beverotology. (More...)
