Things have been a bit link happy here, as of late, and this post is no exception. In fact, I aggregated the interesting links into a link mashup.

In Reason, Katherine Mangu-Ward has a nice profile of the burgeoning private space industry, though her first graf tends toward the dramatic.

Barbed wire surrounded the Bigelow Aerospace compound, set in a stretch of dry, rock-strewn Nevada desert. Las Vegas glittered in the distance, but otherwise the vista had the desolate look of a lunar landscape, with one difference: The summer heat was oppressive—enough to make you long for the cool vacuum of outer space.

A "dry desert," eh? Whoulda thunk? And I must agree: when it's steamy outside, I wish I was in a cool vacuum somewhere near the Kuiper Belt (or by "cool vacuum" does she mean this?).

Another goody from Reason, courtesy of Christopher Faille: Trading on Reputation. I'd give you a quote from it, but I inadvertantly closed the tab and sloth is preventing me from reopening it. It's an excellent review of a book that discusses stateless means of pursuing justice, by examining the practices of the Mahgribs, a 10th century trading class in the Mediterranean. Worth an eyeball or two.

Finally, if you needed more incentive to wish that Jimmy Carter would just stick to Sunday school, this resignation letter ought to provide it. Sadly, it is not Jimmy resigning from being a boob.

Dear President Carter,

As members of the Board of Councilors each one of us has been proud to be associated with the Carter Center in its noble struggle to repair the world. However, in light of the publication of your latest book Palestine; Peace Not Apartheid and your subsequent comments made in promoting the book, we can no longer in good conscience continue to serve the Center as members of the Board of Councilors.

The full letter deserves a read, since this is coming from Carter partisans who have worked with him for years.