Starship to launch as soon as Monday

 awesomeness, history, news, rockets, spacecraft  No Responses »
Apr 152023
 

They’ve got FAA approval:

Green light go: SpaceX receives a launch license from the FAA for Starship

If it goes to plan, as soon as 7AM Texas time on Monday Starship/Superheavy will launch. The booster will splash down 30+ kilometers from the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico; Starship will climb to 235 kilometers, get into *almost* a circular orbit, and re-enter and bellyflop into the Pacific 225 kilometers north of Oahu. Of course the chances of everything going right are probably low; I would not be surprised to see an enthusiastic unassembly early in the flight (though hopefully far enough away to not tear up the launch site). If it claws its way off the pad, it’ll be the most powerful rocket ever launched.

With the state of the world, and especially with the plethora of mysterious “accidents” happening to industrial facilities around the country, I expect to see things not go quite to plan. I hope to be be proven wrong.

 Posted by at 4:42 am

Racism-Industrial Complex

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 142023
 

When you need a lot of racism, but society just isn’t producing it anymore… you manufacture it.

Former Florida State Professor Pushed Doctored Data to Create False Sense of Racism

Several studies conducted by Eric Stewart, a former professor at Florida State University, were found to have been doctored to create the impression that the public wanted harsher sentences for black and Hispanic Americans, when in reality, the opposite was true.

Huh. That’s an odd thing to do. Why would a professor commit academic fraud in order to invent racist attitudes?

Stewart, a highly regarded professor at Florida State University with expertise in the intersection of race and criminal justice … held a job as a professor at Florida State University from 2016 to 2022, with a recent 2022 record showing a salary of $189,604.94, which is significantly higher than the average pay for co-workers and the national average for government employees. In 2019, he earned $103,458 as a professor. 

Hmm. Nope, got nuthin’.  It’s a mystery.

 Posted by at 1:54 pm

“Ultra Right Beer”

 blather, Hmm..., news, politics  No Responses »
Apr 132023
 

Conservative activist launches ‘Ultra Right’ beer as rival to Bud Light after Dylan Mulvaney controversy

I’m amused by this, but also very, very dubious of long-term success. I don’t know from developing a beer brand from scratch, but I suspect it’s not something you can slap together at a moments notice. I suspect developing a *good* beer is a process that takes a lot of time, trouble, money and expertise… not to mention infrastructure.

I get the idea of developing a “non-woke” counter to large corporations that hate you. But I’ve also seen a lot of “right wing/Christian” movies. Or to be more accurate, I’ve seen a few minutes of a number of these entertainment products… and those few minutes were generally painful. When your *primary* goal is Messaging rather than Good Product, you tend to end up with crap. Hollywood is coasting on decades of building up the infrastructure and talent for Good Product; the Message came to dominate after the process for good entertainment-making was already in place. A “right wing beer” sounds like the sort of thing that will be released long before it’s actually a *good* beer, will disappoint the intended fanbase, and fade into oblivion, leaving the supposed market to be dominated by the corporations that were meant to be challenged in the first place.

 Posted by at 8:32 pm

A good ruling

 awesomeness, news, politics, weapons  No Responses »
Apr 122023
 

As a non-user of mind-altering substances… good:

Federal Judge Tosses Gun Possession Case Against Drug Users

“In short, the historical tradition of disarming ‘unlawful’ individuals appears to mainly involve disarming those convicted of serious crimes after they have been afforded criminal process,” Judge Cardone wrote in her opinion. “Section 922(g)(3), in contrast, disarms those who engage in criminal conduct that would give rise to misdemeanor charges, without affording them the procedural protections enshrined in our criminal justice system.”

As with “red flag laws,” a case can be made for disarming someone. But that case requires the rule of law, the presumption of innocence, due process, the right of the accused to put up a defense. Just yeeting someones rights Because Reasons is unAmerican. And taking someones guns because they smoke dope is pretty stupid when we *don’t* take someones guns because they drink alcohol. I’ve seen drunks, and I’ve seen stoners… and I know which of the two I’d consider more chill, more likely to just sit there and gnaw on some Cheetos, and which group would be more likely to fly into an irrational rage.

 Posted by at 10:57 pm

A bit of a problem with security

 dumbassery, I'm from the government, news, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 122023
 

Security fears mount after top-secret Biden Belfast visit plan found in street

I gotta say, I’ve never come across top secret documents about ongoing Presidential security matters just flopping about on the road. The story is unclear, but this seems to be an Irish document rather than a White House document. Which, given this White House, is honestly a bit surprising.

 Posted by at 10:35 pm

Yay, tornado

 AARRRGH, Crazy, news, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 062023
 

National Weather Service confirms a tornado touched down a few blocks from here. It was puny as such things go… EF-1, winds of 95 miles per hour. But it did raise a ruckus.

Destructive Winds, Very Large Hail & Tornadoes: April 4-5th, 2023

Date 04/04/2023
Time (Local) 09:41 AM – 09:43 AM
EF Rating EF-1
Est. Peak Winds 95 mph
Path Length 1.6 miles
Max Width 150 yards
Injuries/Deaths 0
Summary:

A brief tornado touched down in Rock Island, Illinois. The tornado knocked over and snapped large trees and produced minor damage to several roofs. Widespread damaging straight line winds up to 90 mph also caused significant damage across the city.

 

 Posted by at 11:45 pm

Behold the exciting new trend

 AARRRGH, Crazy, Forward!, Gah., news, politics, Worldwreckers, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Apr 062023
 

In Colorado Springs:

Former D20 student accused of planning attacks on three campuses

“D20” here is “district 20.” The new trend isn’t “19-year-old tries to shoot up a middle school and some churches.” Guess what it is.

Go on, guess.

Here’s a subtle hint:

William Whitworth who identifies as “Lilly” has been charged with felony criminal attempt to commit murder …

Did you spot it?

That’s right: the mass shooter was arrested *before* the mass shooting.

Nothing else here is noteworthy. Nothing.

NOTHING.

 Posted by at 8:41 pm

Cyanotypes: one step forward…

 AARRRGH, blather, cyanotype blueprints, news  No Responses »
Apr 052023
 

As I’ve previously mentioned, something holding back my return to cyanotyping is a sudden lack of availability of the transparent film required. Without that I can’t print off new negatives. Early on in this protracted process I managed to get a few prints from a local print shop; these prints were made at a distant affiliate and shipped in. But later efforts to get more printed not only failed, the local print shop *lied* to me about what was going on. This pissed me off, of course and now they are on my Do Not Do Business With list.

Another local print ship has been attempting for some months to procure a roll of the stuff. I will have to buy the whole roll, hundreds of dollars of it, because there are not other customers. Well, yesterday, just before the storm came in and took out electricity and communications, I received and email letting me know that, at long last, the roll had arrived. Woo! This morning, with the return of electricity and comms, I sent them a followup email asking if they were ready to proceed with printing new cyanotype-transparencies.

Answer: the storm took *them* out, they are still without power, and there were hints that equipment might have been damaged.

Sigh.

Well, at least there’s some measure of forward progress.

 Posted by at 11:11 pm
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