OPEN THREAD: I haven’t forgotten you.

GOOD LUCK! SpaceX now eyeing April for Starship’s 1st orbital launch, Elon Musk says.

CHEMISTRY: What Makes Electric Vehicle Fires So Difficult To Extinguish?

NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG: US Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Grew $300 Billion in the Last Week.

FASTER, PLEASE: Step forward in gene therapy to treat cause of sudden cardiac arrest in athletes.

NEWS I HOPE YOU CAN’T USE: Hair loss in women may signal other health conditions.

QUESTIONS I NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE ASKING: Why is an NHL team’s Twitter account lecturing fans about gender theory?

JOHN PETHOKOUKIS: The Long Boom that wasn’t — and what we can learn.

This newsletter occasionally looks at the failed economic and technological forecasts of the past, including those by well-known futurists such as H.G. Wells, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ray Kurzweil. No space colonies, no flying cars, no $100 trillion American economy, and, of course, no flying car in every garage. My point in highlighting such disappointing predictions isn’t to mock those who made them. It’s to mourn for the world we could’ve had but don’t.

One of the best sources for late 20th-century futurist forecasts is the archives of Wired magazine. One of my all-time favorite pieces is a 1997 essay by Peter Schwartz and Peter Leyden, “The Long Boom: A History of the Future, 1980–2020.”

Some things they got correct, such as Rising China, the sharp decline of global poverty, and the pervasive power of the internet. Other things, less so. Today, we’re not all driving around in hydrogen-powered cars or watching humanity walk on Mars. Broadly, the rapid productivity and economic growth of the late 1990s didn’t continue into the 21st century as they and many others of that time predicted.

Well, the grafters and grifters took control of the economy.

READER FAVORITE: Walker’s Electronic Earmuffs for Shooting, Hunting, Hearing Protection. #CommissionEarned

NEWS YOU CAN USE: A driver’s guide to hydroplaning and how to handle it.

MICROBIOME NEWS: Boosting survival of a beneficial bacterium in the human gut.

FASTER, PLEASE: Britain backs Rolls-Royce effort to develop micro-reactor to power moon base.

REVISITING MACHEN’S ‘CHRISTIANITY VS LIBERALISM:’ It was a century ago this year that Professor J. Gresham Macen of Princeton Seminary wrote what in many respects remains the most authoritative explanation for how and why orthodox Christianity and modern liberal theology have a lot of words in common but very little in the way of principled faith. Over at PJ Media today, Chris Queen notes how much of Machen’s work reads as if it was just composed yesterday.

“One of the most powerful points in the book is when Machen points out how liberal Christians cherry-pick certain things from the Bible to hold up as examples of how to live while ignoring others. The phenomenon of the ‘Red-Letter Christians’ who say we should only live by the direct quotes of Jesus and then twist those words to fit a leftist agenda, is a prime modern example,” Queen writes.

And as one of many examples of Machen’s prescience, Queen cites this paragraph:

“Place the lives of children in their formative years, despite the convictions of their parents, under the intimate control of experts appointed by the state, force them to attend schools where the higher aspirations of humanity are crushed out, and where the mind is filled with the materialism of the day, and it is difficult to see how even the remnants of liberty can subsist.” Queen’s excellent analysis of Machen’s classic will hopefully help spark a renewal of reading of and appreciation for a man who foresaw so many of the destructive consequences of the continuing power of the theology of liberalism.

HMM: More patients concerned about allergic reactions to metal implants.

BUT YOU HAVE TO WEAR THE RIBBON! San Jose Sharks Goalie James Reimer Declines Wearing Pride Night Jersey; Usual Couches Fainted Upon.

Reimer, who is something of an NHL anomaly in that he is an outspoken Christian, provided a statement as to why he would not wear the Pride Night jersey.

Naturally, the usual subjects typed their furious replies through clutched handkerchiefs.

The You Can Play Project, which works to promote inclusiveness in sports, said the organization was disappointed in Reimer’s actions.

“Religion and respect are not in conflict with each other, and we are certainly disappointed when religion is used as a reason to not support our community,” the organization said. “Wearing pride jerseys, like any celebration jersey worn, is not about the personal feelings of an athlete; rather the communication from the team that a community is welcome in the arena and the sport.”

Whoever updates the San Jose Sharks’ Twitter account also got into the uber-woke action: Last night the San Jose Sharks’ Twitter account really posted a bunch of “LGBTQIA+ information” instead of covering the game. Here are the tweets along with my indispensable commentary.

2001: A POLYVINYL CHLORIDE ODYSSEY:

I was forced to watch this among numerous other trailers before seeing the new German version of All Quiet on the Western Front in a Fort Worth theater yesterday, so now you must suffer as well. Incidentally, the new All Quiet is well worth seeing that way (err, minus the Barbie trailer) if you get the chance. It felt somewhat the reverse of watching it on Netflix — the quiet scenes in-between the massive set piece battles are much more fascinating to observe on the big screen than a TV screen. And while tanks have been in the movies since forever, seeing them emerge on the big screen and the soldiers’ initial reactions really gives a sense of how utterly terrifying to opposing foot soldiers they must have been during their first introduction in WWI.

DEAL OF THE DAY: VTOMAN V6 Jump Starter. #CommissionEarned

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: ‘Close To Sinful:’ Biden Floats Possibility Of Nation-Wide Transgender Law.

President Joe Biden appeared to criticize Ron DeSantis on his handling of transgender youth and floated the possibility of a nation-wide transgender law in an interview clip released Monday.

“What’s going on in Florida, is as my mother would say, ‘close to sinful.’ I mean, it’s just terrible what they’re doing,” Biden said while speaking with actor Kal Penn.

“It’s not like … a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘you know, I decided that I want to become a man or I want to become a woman … I mean, what are they thinking about here? They’re human beings, they love, they have feelings, they have inclinations,” Biden continued. “It’s cruel.”

“And the way we do it is we make sure we pass legislation like we passed on same-sex marriage. You mess with that, you’re breaking the law and you’re going to be held accountable,” Biden added.

Well, it’s good to see that “devout Catholic” Joe Biden has the same definition of sin as his former boss: “Being out of alignment with my values.”

HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: ‘Diet culture’ course teaches UVA students to call people ‘fat’ to avoid being ‘fatphobic.’

DON SURBER: Highlights of the Week.

ITEM 17: The Daily Mail reported, “One of the progressive liberal politicians pushing for reparations in cash-strapped San Francisco also wanted to defund the police, and believes some Honduran fentanyl dealers are human trafficking victims who should be protected rather than prosecuted.

“Hillary Ronen is one of the 11 supervisors who will decide on a wide-eyed reparations plan for the city’s black residents that would pay them each $5 million, promise them $97,000 salaries and wipe away personal debt.”

We all identify as black San Franciscans now.

ITEM 18: The Daily Mail also reported, “Hallie Biden received a cut of $3 million in cash from China sent through an associate of Hunter, according to Republicans who released information from subpoenaed bank records.

“Beau Biden’s widow was identified on Thursday as the third member of the first family wrapped up in Rep. James Comer’s investigation into allegations they used their names to profit on business deals around the world.

“In a memo seen by DailyMail.com, Hallie received $35,000 in two transfers in March from Biden family associate John ‘Rob’ Walker, after he received a $3 million wire from the Chinese State Energy HK Limited, a firm affiliated with CEFC China Energy.”

Correction: We all identify as black San Franciscans named Biden.

Heh, indeed. Read the whole thing.

IT’S A DISGRACE THAT THEY EVER STARTED ONE: University of Alabama drops investigation into pro-Kanye chalkings.

ALSO THE ANTI-TRUMP CAMPAIGN HAS OPENED A LOT OF PEOPLE’S EYES TO THE GENERAL CORRUPTION OF OUR INSTITUTIONS:

The strategy of going back to the old days by destroying DJT is doomed to failure because **even if it succeeds** the factors which stoked the 2016 rebellion still obtain and even more so. Restoring the economy, cooling the ideology and limiting corruption are all that can work.

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) March 18, 2023

DESTRUCTIVE BUT MOSTLY PEACEFUL ROBBERY: CNN reporters doing a story on San Fran street crime hired security to watch their cars at city hall. You know what happened next.

Got robbed. Again. @jasonkCNN & I were at city hall in San Francisco to do an interview for @CNN. We had security to watch our rental car + crew car. Thieves did this in under 4 seconds. Security stopped the jerks from stealing other bags. But seriously- this is ridiculous pic.twitter.com/3zcCzckavW

— Kyung Lah (@KyungLahCNN) March 17, 2023

WELL, TO BE FAIR, MCCARTHY HAS ACTUALLY DONE STUFF: Kevin McCarthy as popular as Trump, both tower over McConnell. McConnell not so much.

LIGHTNING DEAL: EIUBUIE Steak Knives Set of 8. #CommissionEarned