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Starship: Take 2

 art, awesomeness, history, news, photography, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Nov 182023
 

The second Starship/Superheavy launched today. Vastly more successful than the first flight, but both stages were still destroyed.

This sort of thing would be unacceptable for a modern NASA launch system… but it was common in early launch vehicle development. Atlas and Titan kerploded with regularity. This sort of thing is not desirable, but it is a natural part of the learning process.

Scott Manley has done an analysis of the video and has some good suggestions about what happened with the booster. There would seem likely to be some serious issues with slosh and propellant hammer effects, caused by the sudden deceleration and flip maneuver. These are resolvable.

But beyond the technical issues and successes… this flight was simply *gorgeous.*

 

 

 

 Posted by at 4:24 pm

A law that’s illegal to follow

 AARRRGH, history, Hmm..., politics, weapons, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 122023
 

Due to a law rushed through last year, if Illinoisans don’t register their perfectly legal and common firearm (referred to inaccurately as “assault weapons”) by January 1 2024 they could get in trouble. But there’s a little wrinkle… the “Firearm Owners Protection Act” of 1986. The FOPA has a lot of problems, but it also has a fun little provision:

No such rule or regulation prescribed after the date of the enactment of the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act may require that records required to be maintained under this chapter or any portion of the contents of such records, be recorded at or transferred to a facility owned, managed, or controlled by the United States or any State or any political subdivision thereof, nor that any system of registration of firearms, firearms owners, or firearms transactions or dispositions be established. Nothing in this section expands or restricts the Secretary’s [1] authority to inquire into the disposition of any firearm in the course of a criminal investigation.

Huh. No system of registration is to be established by the US, any state or political subdivision. A gun registry is *illegal* under Federal law.

So, tell me where I’m wrong: if you know a firearm registry is illegal, you knowingly violate the law if you register your gun. So if its a choice between obeying the Illinois state law or the US Federal law… isn’t it legally safer to not violate US law? Doesn’t registering your firearm make you an accessory to breaking a Federal law?

 

A good question to ask is why would a government pass a law they know to be not only illegal under federal law but downright unConstitutional. Well, it’s always worth considering that the people who do these sort of things tend to have an amazing mix of arrogance and stupidity, leading to monumental incompetence. But it’s also worth considering that the idea may well be to set up the system of laws so that not only is virtually everyone in violation of *something,* they all know it. This will necessarily have the effect of reducing respect for rule of law. It seems counter-intuitive that the government would want to bake a lack of respect for the rule of law into the population…  but it makes sense once you realize that a lot of government types are in it for *power.* A population that no longer expects or even wants to obey the law will just naturally expect all manner of corruption from their “leaders.”

 Posted by at 2:47 pm

Ah, downtown Denver…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 082023
 

It’s many a year since I’ve driven through Denver. Last time I came close was 2019, when i drove *around* Denver and found it to be a horrible traffic nightmare; driving through it seemed like utter insanity. Apparently the years have not improved the situation any.

Video shows car driving down 16th Street Mall sidewalk, hitting other vehicles

I came downtown for the dinner but I stayed for the driver
byu/cyrpious inAbruptChaos

I think that’s a Bentley. Aren’t they kinda expensive? I’m not sure the insurance company is going to take too kindly to the claims here.

 

 Posted by at 11:35 pm

Oh yeah, gettin’ weird out there

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, religion, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 062023
 

I’ve long counseled American Jews to get armed and trained, because their “friends” on the political left will sooner or later throw them to the wolves. That day seems to be right about here, if not in fact yesterday.

Anyway, this happened today:

Several young kids escape injury after woman targets what she thought was an ‘Israel school’

One “Ruba Almaghtheh” rammed her car into the Indianapolis school, which had a single adult and four little kids in it. She damaged her car and scored herself attention and felony charges, but didn’t seem to actually injure anyone. Why’d she do it? Because it was the “Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge,” and some people are kinda psycho in their hatred of Jews.

But here’s the kicker: the”Israelite School of Universal and Practical Knowledge” isn’t Jewish… it’s “Black Hebrew Israelites.” These are black supremacists who have culturally appropriated some texts, names, clothes and ideas, but are about as Jewish as the average Fed glowie advocating online for violent rebellion is actually a Trump supporter. In one of those fantastic “make it make sense” moments, they are an offshoot of the “Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ.” They are so whackadoodle that even the Southern Poverty Law Center, which hates to even suggest that there can be such a thing as anti-white racism, has labeled them a hate group.

So… Palestine-supporters vs black supremacists? I want this show to go on for seven seasons and at least three movies.

And in other news, Palestine supporters are now outright murdering Israel supporters on American streets.

 

And in other news…

How Israel shot down a ballistic missile in space for the first time

Arrow missile-defence system took out rocket fired from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen outside of Earth’s atmosphere

Enemy missiles have been shot down before. Missiles in space have been shot down before. But this is the first time an enemy missile has been shot down in space.

 Posted by at 11:32 pm

Enterprise found

 art, awesomeness, blather, history, Hmm..., models, news, science fiction, spacecraft  No Responses »
Nov 042023
 

Several models of the Starship Enterprise were built for the original “Star Trek” series. The most famous is the 11-foot model which was used for most of the effects shots, and *amazingly* managed to survive long enough to end up in the hands of the National Air and Space Museum. But before the 11-footer was a 3-footer. This was made early on, and was solid wood with no lighting; still, it was used in a number of shots. This model stayed in the hands of Gene Roddenberry, modified to rest on a mike stand bolted to a wooden base. This model was lent to the first special effects house during the production of the aborted “Star Trek Phase II” series in the mid-70’s… and then it vanished. Whether it was stolen, misplaced or lost has not been clear, but Roddenberry considered it to be stolen. Stuff like this that disappears stands a good chance of never being seen again. Witness many of the models made for “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

But then, the “Aries Ib” model for “2001” was found a few years ago. And as it turns out, that 3-foot Enterprise was recently found. It was in a storage unit, purchased by someone who buys such things at auction. The new owner then put it on ebay with a starting price of a mere $1000. And then Star Trek fandom found out about it and has been going nuts. The Roddenberry estate contacted the seller and the auction has been pulled.

News was revealed here:

https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/red-alert-lost-3-ft-tos-enterprise-found.354596/

The current seller has broken no laws… it seems he just bought an abandoned storage unit. But the Enterprise remains stolen property and should be returned to the Roddenberry estate. Still… it sure seems like the seller aught to be compensated for finding this thing, even if he didn’t really know quite what he had. It’s in pretty rough shape, as can be expected. With luck it’ll receive some sort of restoration, though arguments can be made for exactly how far that should go. It should definitely be cleaned up. It’s drooping and cracked; that should be fixed. But fixing the paint and decals? I don’t know about that. Perhaps it, unlike the NASM Enterprise, should retain the appearance of years. There are some “errors” that were there from the beginning, those should stay.

It is very unlikely that this will ever see an auction. But if it does, it’ll doubtless go for Lotto-levels  of cash.

The photos from the ebay listing:

 Posted by at 10:13 pm

Year Zero in astronomy

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., history, news, politics, science, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Nov 032023
 

So they’re coming for the night sky, too:

The Magellanic Clouds must be renamed, astronomers say

Anything and everything to erase any mention of the people who built the world. The wokies want to rename the Magellanic Clouds because by modern standards Magellan was not a great guy. But you don’t see them wanting to rename anything named by the Sumerians or Babylonians or the Arabs, do you.

 Posted by at 3:04 pm

Here’s a biological horror of interest…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, critters, Gah., Hmm..., science, Worldwreckers, youtube, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 302023
 

A barnacle that attaches itself to female crabs and convinces said crab that it is her eggs so that the crab will take care of it, and help it distribute its own eggs. But it sometimes attaches itself to male crabs.In that case, it releases hormones that convince the male crab that it is female, sometimes to the point that the gonads actually flip sex.

Well, that’s horrifying.

But it’s also… well, huh. Hormones being fed into an organism without the organisms knowledge or consent, causing it confusion about its gender. one wonders if there might be some sort of analogies that can be drawn. Such as to chemicals in the water and food supply… birth control pills flushed down the toilet, entering the sewage treatment systems, *not* getting processed out and then dumped into the water supply. “Forever chemicals” added to plastic drinking bottles that mimic gendered human sex hormones, and which are now detectable in *rain.*

 

 Posted by at 11:31 pm

Everything old is new again

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, religion, russian empire, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Oct 292023
 

Old-school antisemitism: not just for western leftists.

 

For the brain dead who think “this is an over-there problem, nothing to do with us,” the chumps who set off the Boston Marathon bombs back in 2013 were from, in part, Dagestan, and were of the same mindset as this jet-swarming mob.

 

 Posted by at 2:27 pm

Digital clothes

 art, awesomeness, blather, Hmm..., science, youtube  No Responses »
Oct 242023
 

I guess this is kinda cool, a dress – at least the front side of one – composed of “scales” that can change from mirror-chrome to dull metallic on command. But even though it’s made of individual scales, it does not appear to be terribly flexible, and seems likely to be uncomfortable.

Still, if it could do more than just “shiny/matte,” but actually change colors, it seems like it might have a future. Specifically… plate *actual* steel scales with this material and make practical lamellar armor that can change color. That seems like it might be an interesting fashion for the future as society continues to get “enriched.” Shiny, perhaps even golden, armor when you’re out and about, and at the flick of a switch it turns matte black when the time comes to throw down.

Sure, here it seems to be pitched at the female market. But I suggest culturally appropriating the tech and making it the Must Have Man Product of the 2030’s.

 

 Posted by at 11:51 pm
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