“Optimus” is not exactly a Boston Dynamics masterpiece, but it’s certainly better than anything *I* could cobble together. Musk promises a ticket price of less than 20 grand. It’ll be interesting to see if U.S Robotics or NorthAm Robotics can match that.
Huh. Who woulda guessed.
It kinda seems like Ukrainian interest in NATO membership has been on the rise for a while. One wonders why that might be.
Historical remark on historical day: It is Russia that persuaded Ukrainian people that the best security option is #NATO. Today, more than 80% of Ukrainians support it! #UkraineWillWin pic.twitter.com/TDjmDaM1ro
— Petro Burkovskyy (@PetroBurkovskyi) September 30, 2022
Interesting:
The Hubble and Webb space telescopes both observed the DART asteroid impact, and both saw distinct “streamers” in the ejecta. Which seems rather odd given that the asteroid appears to have been a loosely-assembled gravel pile, with nothing holding the ejected particles together… no surface tension, no magnetic fields, not even any appreciable gravity.
Webb’s view in near infrared:
Hubble’s view in visible light:
Neato:
Using the Shuttle for basic servicing missions was always kinda silly when all that was really needed was a guy in a suit, a few tools, a place to stand and some replacement parts.
For starters, it has the FBI actually doing its job. Shocking, I know.
Not so much “leak” as “sell.” The medical information seems to be medical records of military personnel and their families, a pile of data that does not immediately seem all that terribly useful. But then, the Russians do not seem to have actually been involved here; these people were baited by the FBI. And what people they are:
During an initial Aug. 17 meeting in a Baltimore hotel room, (Anna) Gabrielian told the agent she was “motivated by patriotism toward Russia to provide any assistance she could to Russia, even if it meant being fired or going to jail.”
Nice. But where it gets more interesting: the female doctors spouse, also arrested, has been in the news before:
(Jamie Lee) Henry received attention in 2015 after becoming the first known active-duty Army officer to come out as transgender. A Buzzfeed article from that time said she was also, to her knowledge and to the knowledge of LGBTQ advocates, the first and only active duty service member who had changed her name and gender within the United States military.
In the one photo in the article Henry looks like a dude. But I guess Henry considers Henry to be female. Shrug.
“My point of view is until the United States actually declares war against Russia, I’m able to help as much as I want,” Henry, 39, told the agent, according to the indictment. “At that point, I’ll have some ethical issues I’ll have to work through.”
“You’ll work through those ethical issues,” Gabrielian replied.
Henry also told the agent she had looked into volunteering to join the Russian Army after the conflict in Ukraine began.
Wonderful. *These* are the sort of people the military is hiring *and* promoting.
It seems that both of these characters consider themselves women. So the fact that they have some number of children is a bit unusual; once again, biology ain’t what it once was. But also:
Gabrielian did fear what might happen to the couple’s children if she put herself at risk of arrest, demanding that the kids be put on “a nice flight to Turkey to go on vacation” if arrest seemed imminent.
What the hell is in Turkey awaiting these kids? “Gabrielian” is an *Armenian* surname. I may not be a world-reknowned historian, but I do seem to recall some unpleasantness between the Turks and Armenians that would tend to suggest that they’re not real fond of each other.
Say what you will about United Launch Alliance and the fact that it is far, FAR behind the times when compared with SpaceX, they’ve recently been issuing some damned impressive videos.
Found it! Ok, since you asked so nicely… here is a full duration @BlueOrigin #BE4 firing. #VulcanRocket #CountDownToVulcan. Enjoy… pic.twitter.com/HZB2z33ted
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 28, 2022
OK. By popular demand, my ultra secret, most favorite spot. #NROL91 pic.twitter.com/OdqaUsPHuC
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 27, 2022
Here’s a cool fisheye shot for all you flame trench fans. Don’t forget to turn up the sound. #NROL91 pic.twitter.com/yv2JWbCP1w
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 27, 2022
Want to see some fire close up from my favorite secret SLC6 viewing spot? (turn up the volume…). #NROL91 pic.twitter.com/Ss3Hzfkcb1
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 26, 2022
Gotta love a rocket that is so metal, it sets itself on fire before launching into space. Getting excited for #NROL91 #DeltaIVHeavy pic.twitter.com/9RIJV6LAK0
— Tory Bruno (@torybruno) September 19, 2022
And they’re retweeting some good vids of their Delta IV launch:
Video from the #NROL91 Delta IV Heavy launch yesterday. @ulalaunch @torybruno @SuperclusterHQ pic.twitter.com/taa3Usgo9Z
— Justin Hartney (@justinhartney) September 25, 2022
Wide angle shot of ULA Delta IV Heavy – NROL-91 successfully launched from Vandenberg SFB yesterday. @NASASpaceflight pic.twitter.com/habqHr7NVs
— Jay L. DeShetler (@jdeshetler) September 26, 2022
Some great launch videos. Now, to release some equally impressive landing videos, demonstrating that ULA is in the business of recovering and reusing rockets to not only lower launch cost (and compete with SpaceX) but also to ramp up launch rates in order to save western civilization off-world, because it’s going to hell on *this* one.
Lots to contemplate here:
On top of everything else, the Library of Congress deemed it proper to hand over a priceless (and doubtless fragile) historic artifact to be used as a prop or a toy on stage by someone with demonstrated and clearly obvious impulse control issues.
“B****! I just twerked and played James Madison’s crystal flute from 1800’s!” she said, after handing the flute back to a representative from the Library of Congress.
Indeed.
https://www.dictionary.com/browse/desecration
I feel so warm and secure.
Huh.
It’s happening 😡😡😡😡😡 pic.twitter.com/ihSvgbqBr5
— WILL (@KRTN_Will) September 27, 2022
Another video has emerged of Birmingham anti Hindu hate crimes at Durga Bhavan. #Leicester #Birmingham#AntiHinduHateUK pic.twitter.com/F5Rr7vkboP
— 𑆩𑆳𑆬𑆴𑆤𑆵 Sarah L Gates (@SarahLGates1) September 28, 2022
When I was a kid, the British Army patrolled cities in Northern Ireland. Why are they not now patrolling the cities of England? They could be kept busy for *weeks* grabbing riotous foreigners and tossing them onto deportation flights.
