Derek Scruggs

I was a fan of Arthur C. Clarke when I was a kid and, like many, was sad to hear of his death. Today I learned this:

While a radar technician in the Royal Air Force (1941-1946), Clarke had an idea which he wrote up in a 1945 technical paper: “Extra-terrestrial Relays: Can Rocket Stations Give World-wide Radio Coverage?” It was the invention of the geosynchronous communications satellite. He calculated that by putting a satellite at 22,300 miles above the equator, it would orbit the Earth at the same rate that the Earth rotated on its axis, making the satellite appear to always stay directly above a point on the equator. That way ground stations could always point to it, and it could relay signals. The 22,300-mile orbit is now officially known as the “Clarke Orbit”, but it took nearly 20 years for the first operational satellite to be placed there (and 10 before the first orbital rocket flight). Today, that band of space is stuffed with satellites. He mused he “lost a billion dollars in my spare time” by not patenting the idea.

Courtesy of This is True’s always-interesting Honorary Unsubscribe.

Hilarious!

“Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators.”

Dick Cheney, March 16, 2003 on Meet the Press.

Five years later:

Iran leader’s Iraq visit eclipses US, Arab ties

BAGHDAD, March 2 (Reuters) – Pomp and ceremony greeted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his arrival in Iraq on Sunday, the fanfare a stark contrast to the rushed and secretive visits of his bitter rival U.S. President George W. Bush.

Heckuva job, W.