Firefly Will Replace Russian Engines On Antares Rocket With Beta Booster
The two RD-181 rocket engines on the booster stages are to be replaced with Firefly “Beta” engines.
Aug 212022
Aug 212022
Do you want to see the *dumbest* approach to math you’ll see today? If so, behold this presentation from the University of Michigan:
http://www.math.lsa.umich.edu/~glarose/dept/teaching/resources/RehumanizingMathematicsSlides.pdf
If that link doesn’t work, the Wayback Machine can hook you up:
This presentation is on the topic of “Rehumanizing Mathematics” by one Rochelle Gutiérrez. Right from the get-go you can tell it’s stupid… if there’s one thing mathematics is *not* it’s “humanized.” Math doesn’t care about your feelings. Nor your politics, religion, ethnicity, family history, gender or any other kind of identity. 1+1=2 no matter your beliefs on the matter. 1+1=2 even if you are *dead,* or you are a parrot, or a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri, or a godlike entity from beyond the Antares maelstrom. And yet…
1. How we think/talk about our work matters
• Diversity (attention to difference, also used when no difference, often ignores history, no attention to positionality)
• Equity (often highlights universal approaches, closing achievement gaps, leaky STEM pipelines)
• Inclusion (tolerate, allow, participate on own terms, focus on individuals, understand exclusion)
• Centering historically oppressed (place at the core, dedicate resources and energy there, requires political clarity)
Ummm… no.
If you ever wonder why our infrastructure is falling apart and we can’t seem to do Great Things anymore… well, here ya go.
If you *really* want to burn off some excess brain cells and don’t have the funds for a few gallons of white lightning, watching this video will probably help. It’s about an hour of the person responsible for the above presentation. I can’t *really* say what all’s in it, as I only got a few seconds in before my Brain Worms alarm went off: “I just want to start by acknowledging that as a white settler nation we are standing on stolen grounds…” Blah, blah, virtue signal blah. What do you want to bet she happily collects those white settler dollars?
Also: anyone else get a distinct AOC vibe from her voice? Yeah, that’s not a compliment.
And here’s an idea. if you believe that this is a “white settler nation” *and* that that’s a bad thing…
Aug 202022
You want food deserts? because this is how you get food deserts. Every store in a ten block radius that sells food or medical supplies should shut down until 90% of the people on camera here are arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to a term of at least several years… or are “otherwise dealt with.” It’s up to the community to police themselves now that the police have been defunded and the prosecutors are “progressive.”
If you act like you’re in the third world… you’ll end up getting treated like you’re in the third world.
Aug 202022
DC vs Marvel vs Public Domain:
Aug 202022
Possibly something new to worry the invaders:
For those who think the Russians should be rightly upset that they’re facing American weapons: How many times have US forces gone into battle against dirtbags armed with AK-47s, RPG-7s, T-64s, T-72s and MiGs?
Aug 182022
Sure, it’s only 1/3 scale, but it’s still quite impressive. The inlets for the jet engine are relatively well hidden… NACA-style flush inlets below the wing roots. It can be yours for the low, low, incredibly low price of only € 2.995 9not counting the jet engine). And when you crash it on your first flight… well, you’ll have that authentic “aww, scheisse” experience the Luftwaffe so often enjoyed.
Aug 172022
Reportedly, this is a French shopkeeper fending off three robbers a day or two ago. From all appearances, the man’s a legend.
Aug 172022
Heh.
Aug 172022
This pulsejet powered little cart seems to run a little hot:
Additionally: he needs more GoPro cameras, mounted on fixed supports rather than hand-held so he can focus on driving, not aiming a selfie-stick.
Ya can’t fault the guy for not living to his fullest.
Aug 172022
It seems the Russians are dropping air-burst incendiary weapons onto Ukraine, videos linked below. This is certainly visually impressive and doubtless monumentally intimidating… but damned if the engineer in me doesn’t wonder about how incredibly inefficient this seems to be. I mean… it looks like a *lot* of the WP magnesium is burning up while still in the sky. What’s you’d want is for it to burn in the *ground,* where it could do some damage. Clearly a lot of it is making it to the ground, but every bit that combusts Up There is that much less to do actual damage Down Here. Clearly these sort of weapons need to be set off somewhere above the ground for maximum area effect, but these seem to be getting set off way too high. I’m fuzzy on the legality of using incendiary weapons like this against civilian areas. I know it was a popular pastime during World War Two, but it was my understanding that the rules have changed a bit since then. But then, invading a sovereign nation in order to annex their territory is *also* supposed to be disallowed, and yet here we are.
We see it quite often in Kharkiv region. pic.twitter.com/CIZOIF68Dd
— Ognivo_v (@VOgnivo) August 17, 2022
I just saw this on TikTok pic.twitter.com/Rm5TOQh6bs
— 🌧 (@woerayne) August 17, 2022
UPDATE: more vids
Yeah, it’s visually damned impressive. It just seems like a *lot* of the incendiary potential is getting wasted. Which, under the circumstances, is a good thing, since these seem to be attempts to turn neighborhoods into firestorms.