1st Heinlein Prize Awarded 116
baxissimo writes "The first ever Heinlein prize for Advances in Space Commercialization is going to be awarded to Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, for various activities including his efforts as Founder and Chairman of the Ansari X Prize. The prize is a cool 1/2 million USD plus a few other nifty trinkets -- a gold Heinlein Medallion, the Lady Vivamus Sword (as described in Heinlein's book Glory Road) and a Laureate's Diploma. The award ceremony will be held in Houston, July 7, 2006. This prize has been around a good while (since Heinlein's death in 1988?) with no awardees. Hopefully this will make the existence of the prize a little more widely known, and help spur further developments like the X Prize."
Space commercialization? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Space commercialization? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Space commercialization? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Space commercialization? (Score:4, Funny)
“space commercialization”:
That could be the “Gillette” business model, sure. Send ’em up for cheap, and then ding ’em for the oxygen and the CO2 scrubbers. A little less transparently exploitative than the more obvious launch-for-free-and-charge-for-re-entry scam.
The perfect lady (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The perfect lady (Score:4, Funny)
Re:The perfect lady (Score:3, Funny)
Any way you slice it, it's still Slashdot.
Re:The perfect lady (Score:2)
Re:The perfect lady (Score:1)
Re:The perfect lady (Score:1)
Re:The perfect lady (Score:1)
But what about the Heinlein Award for Sexually Perverse Fantasies Involving Your Own Mother? [wikipedia.org]
Ok, if my mom looked like that, I'd probably have cranked out more than a couple while she sunbathed, too.
I doubt it. (Score:1)
Not much call for cavalry sabers these days, anyway.
Wrist Breaker (Score:3, Interesting)
>she'd be something of a wrist-breaker.
I'm not sure how it would work on a saber, but you see that angled grip on hammers and other tools these days. That grip would put the line of the blade in direct line with the line of your forearm. Less arm fatigue when hacking at the annoying peasantry from horseback.
Re:Wrist Breaker (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Wrist Breaker (Score:1)
Swords are more about poking than hacking. The baddest ass person on the battlefield just prior to guns and metal shafted arrows was a guy in armor with a 2-handed sword, which was used much more as a poking polearm. Nobody with a shorter weapon could get within range without...dying.
But having a guy wind way back and slam down looks so much cooler in an RPG, eh? Screen shakes, gib! Ahh, Baldur's Gate. I still remember the pat-
Slashdotted, of course (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Slashdotted, of course (Score:2)
--Rob
You'd think... (Score:5, Insightful)
But on a serious note, I'm glad this prize is out there. Aside from the usual flamewar about private industry versus government-driven research, it seems to me the more people/companies/organizations/entities that are trying to get into space, the faster our species as a whole will get off this rock and start exploring the universe.
Re:You'd think... (Score:1, Funny)
From this moment on, you will be known as Mister Obvious.
Re:You'd think... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:You'd think... (Score:2)
Re:You'd think... (Score:2)
Re:You'd think... (Score:2, Funny)
I think you meant "the award would be time travelling back to when your mom was still hot."
Re:You'd think... (Score:1)
Heck, in some of his later works, he dances around, then finally gets it on with his momma after going back in time. Of course, if my momma was a hot redhead with waist-length hair and a hip to waist ratio a supermodel only dreams of, I might feel differently too.
It occurs to me, was his momma a long-haired redhead in real life?
So Good! (Score:3, Funny)
Re:So Good! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:So Good! (Score:3, Informative)
"TANSTAFFL"? Is that a "fine" free lunch?
The funny thing is that bepolite has instantly marked himself as a poser by linking to "TINSTAAFL" - which actually goes to "TANSTAAFL", especially given the link text. If he'd even read the article he linked to, he'd have known how it actually went.
I guess people DO know you're a dog on the internet.
Re:So Good! (Score:2)
That was fast (Score:2)
Re:That was fast (Score:3, Funny)
I actually saw the web-site before it went down. IMHO, It was a pretty poor design and we are all better off without it.
$2500 (US) (Score:2)
What? It says so on the web site [albion-swords.com]. Just scroll to the bottom of the page.
Re:that sounds like a cool sword (Score:2, Funny)
Let me get this straight... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Let me get this straight... (Score:5, Funny)
Exactly. And now that the first Heinlein prize has been handed out, the first Alfred Bester Award for excellence in the field of distributing the first Heinlein Prize can be given out as well.
Re:Let me get this straight... (Score:1)
Re:Let me get this straight... (Score:1)
Re:Let me get this straight... (Score:2)
Re: SARCaSM (Score:1)
The best part? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The best part? (Score:1)
Re:The best part? (Score:2)
Re:The best part? (Score:1)
Re:The best part? (Score:2)
Space commercialization!? (Score:1)
Maybe Gates or Allen can win it (Score:2)
Re:Maybe Gates or Allen can win it (Score:2)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:3, Interesting)
Too centered on US authors, may be?
(Btw, I consider Heinlein one of the best SF storytellers of the last century. I'm just wondering at this prize, because Glory Road ain't one of his good books. He's written great stuff, but this run-of-the-mill fantasy doesn't come close.)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:2)
>no boobs or underage sex
You have obviously not read Child of Fortune by Norman Spinrad.
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:1)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:1)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:1)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:1)
The terms "left" and "right" as applied to politics originally meant the commoners and the nobility. As used today, they're best applied to the workers and the owners or "capitalists" - like the nobility of old, the owning class is defined and backed by the state (which issues corporate charters, land and resource deeds, patents, copyrights, etcetera).
"Left" and "right",
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:1)
R reactionary, faschist, other stuff I quickly forgot, generic conservative Moderate Libertarian (Ala Locke, i suppose) generic liberal, anarchist, so
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, you mean libertarian [wikipedia.org]?
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:5, Insightful)
Er, not quite so much. That may be one of the more common positions that seem to be advocated by his books, but it is not by far the only one. For instance, "starship troopers" is more about the nature of war and civic duty than about commerce. Also springing to mind are "Stranger in a strange land", which some have suggested was part of the origin of the whole "free love" movement. "The Moon is a harsh mistress" doesn't so much go for capitalistic propaganda as the assertion that paying for what you get is unavoidable, even in a society that tries to obscure it. "Beyond This Horizon" goes farther, with money being considered just a representation of a share in the production of the society.
All in all, my impression is that the primary purpose in the whole set is to get people thinking. Some of the books make Heinlein seem to come from one side; other books make it look like his actual opinion is completely on the other side. The predominant impression I got from them was one of "relationships are important" and "human beings should think". I mean, one of the main themes in "starship troppers" was the idea of formulating a system of morals based on clear and precise reasoning from a set of axioms.
Re:What is it with Heinlein? (Score:1)
Science Fiction Classics (Score:5, Interesting)
Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke, Larry Niven, to name a few.
Heinlein also had some interesting commentary on some "not PC" topics as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_a_Strange _Land [wikipedia.org]
Do you grok?
Re:Science Fiction Classics (Score:5, Informative)
Yes, Heinlein really cared about his science
However, nearly all of his stories depend on "torchships": ships with nuclear drive engines that have a combination of high thrust and high specific impulse that is extremely unlikely in the real world. The closest thing that has been proposed is Zubrin's Nuclear Salt-water Rocket [wikipedia.org] which uses an aqueous solution of plutonium or uranium salt as both fuel and reaction mass, expelling this radioactive mixture out the back -- and a lot of physicists aren't even sure the NSWR could really work. It does have the charming feature of completely ruining the landscape underneath the launch site, which matches Heinlein's torchships pretty well.
There's a fantastic discussion of all this [projectrho.com] at a website called The Atomic Rocket [projectrho.com], which collects in one place all the useful scientific information about space travel and ship design for anyone who is writing fiction or designing games.
For my money, it's the best damn geek site in the history of the web by a clear margin. (Though you have to be an old-school geek who thinks space is even cooler than computers.) Every few months I get sucked in and read the whole thing over again (and it's huge).
Re:Science Fiction Classics (Score:2)
No, RAH *appeared* to care greatly.
Sure he did that. But if he didn't find any numbers that worked - he simply didn't use any and forged ahead
Re:Science Fiction Classics (Score:2)
The writer implies. The reader infers. When the writer is not attempting to imply, is he responsible for what the reader infers? Oh sure, it's a good idea to think about it, but he's not responsible
water bed (Score:1)
Re:Science Fiction Classics (Score:2)
That wasn't all he stimulated. Very engaging reading for the early pubsecent teen male, too.
Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:2)
That sounds eerily familiar.
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:1)
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:2)
Look around you. The time scale might be a little off, but with "our" president (it's not like we voted him in) moving unilaterally to fuck over the populace at every turn, it looks like it's the direction we're heading, anyway.
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:1)
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:2)
Bush has constantly and deliberately been eroding our freedoms, and taking care to keep it secret for as long as possible, making threats against the media to try to keep them in line, et cetera. If you don't think that this is an intentional move toward a totalitarian dictatorship, then we'll just have to agree to disagree. I don't believe (as some others do) that bush will try to hang onto the presidency past his terms, but he's laying the groundwork for continued oppression, and the people really don't
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:1)
I thought the same thing until I re
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:1)
Re:Heinlein was remarkably prescient... (Score:1)
Misplaced recognition (Score:4, Funny)
An award for someone who gave out an award? Why don't we recognise actual innovators?
Re:Misplaced recognition (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Misplaced recognition (Score:4, Insightful)
Did you even read the linked page? I think his list of accomplishments more than qualifies him for the prize:
2004 - Co-founded and currently serves as Chairman of Rocket Racing League - Combining the excitement of Indy car racing with the challenge of Rocketry, this league will have rocket planes race against each other on a 3D race track in the sky. Races are scheduled to begin next year.
1997 - Co-founded Space Adventures Ltd - Space Adventures is the leading space tourism travel agency. Space Adventures is best known for arranging the flight of Dennis Tito to the International Space Station in 2001, making him the first space tourist.
1996 - Founded and currently serves as Chairman and CEO of the X PRIZE Foundation - In addition to the successful Ansari X PRIZE, Diamandis is leading the Foundation in its effort to create prizes in several other industries including genomics, water treatment, education, as well as, the automotive industry.
1995 -Co-Founded and served as President of Angel Technologies Corporation - Angel Technologies Corporation is a commercial communications company developing wireless broadband communications networks.
1993 - Chairman & CEO of Zero Gravity Corporation - The only commercial space company in the world offering FAA-certified weightless flights utilizing a Boeing 727-200 aircraft. More than 200 people have experienced weightlessness since flights began three years ago.
1991 - Founded and served as Director of Constellation Communications, Inc. (CCI) - CCI is one of five low-Earth orbit applicants designing a low-Earth orbit satellite constellation for voice telephony.
1989 - Founded and served as CEO of International MicroSpace, Inc. (IMI) - IMI was an entrepreneurial space technologies company focusing on the provision of low-cost launch services (ORBEX(TM) launch vehicle program).
1987 - Founder & Managing Director & CEO of International Space University (ISU) - ISU is the world's leading graduate program for multi-national and multi-disciplinary study of space.
1985 - Co-founded the Space Generation Foundation - A non-profit organization to create a sense of identity in all people born since the advent of the Space Age on October 4, 1957. The Foundation supports numerous educational and research projects.
1980 - Founded the Students for Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) - SEDS is currently the world's largest student based pro-space organization.
Serial entrepreneur (Score:2)
Yes, I read it. I stand by my assesssment. The guy is a charlatan and a serial entrepreneur who has never created a successful venture. But I am sure he has pocketed lots of other people's money.
Wow. (Score:2)
Myself, I'm only an aspiring charlatan. Ready? Nothing up my sleeves....
Re:Misplaced recognition (Score:1)
Re:Misplaced recognition (Score:3)
Up came amightywind (Score:1, Offtopic)
My user name rocks! What is yours, you loser? Owned!
Re:Up came amightywind (Score:2, Funny)
Whos Pwned Now
(woo, end of day immaturity)
Re:Up came amightywind (Score:1)
I wonder how long you've been waiting for the opportunity to do that.
<grrr
Re:Misplaced recognition (Score:2)
Lunar Lander ~ XPrize (Score:2)
Anyone else?
But seriously congratulations to Dr. Diamandis for winning! On to the moon!
http://www.xprizefoundation.com/news/LunarLanding
Re:Lunar Lander ~ XPrize (Score:1)
http://lunarlander.spaceracenews.com/ [spaceracenews.com]
Happy Birthday to Us!!! (Score:5, Interesting)
The article doesn't mention it, but I assume this date was chosen because it is Heinlein's Birthday.
I know this because it is also mine, and I always thought that was cool.
-Tommy
Re:Happy Birthday to Us!!! (Score:1)
We should do something special!
The Sword (Score:1)
But what if it's not as described? Who will know? Sounds like undercover advertising to me.
Heinlein's thoughts on net neutrality? (Score:2, Insightful)
"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this
country the notion that because a man or a corporation has made a
profit out of the public for a number of years, the government
and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such
profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances
and contrary public interest."
-- Robert Heinlein, "Life-Line" (1939)
1st Heinlein Prize Awarded (Score:1)
Re:1st Heinlein Prize Awarded (Score:1)
i know it's fashionable and noble to take any opportunity to denounce someone's drug use, but fact is, phil had more issues than a newsstand [philipkdick.com]. Go read VALIS...
the flip side of your coin is maybe the mainstream would make better visionaries if they tried a dangerous chemical now and then besides alcohol, tobacco, the atmosphere, and the opiate of the masses...
Re:1st Heinlein Prize Awarded (Score:1)
What about Burt Rutan or Richard Branson? (Score:1)
Re:What about Burt Rutan or Richard Branson? (Score:1)
It _might_ be considered commercial _after_ he delivers on those tickets - for all the good tourism is.