So SpaceX launched Starship #9 today. Grat launch. Great flight. Great descent. A bit of an overcorrection from bellyflop to tail-first. End result; Well, poop.
One of the engines never lit and there wasn't enough thrust to stop in time: pic.twitter.com/BvkPHGIy5l
— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) February 2, 2021
If you look at the base of the engine that failed to light there's a lot more fire there than I might expect pic.twitter.com/LKgWjn43Xs
— Scott Manley (@DJSnM) February 2, 2021
So, first there’s this:
Where some science guys discuss the idea that there *might* be a “preferred” direction for light in the universe, meaning that instead of the speed of light being “c” in every direction, in one direction is *might* be 0.5 c and in the 0ther, infinitely fast. if this was the case, people trying to measure the speed of light would not be able to figure that out since the only way to measure the speed of light is, essentially, to bounce a beam off of a distant mirror and measure the time.
All terribly interesting, but then the Institute for Creation “Research” got hold of the video and spent three months trying to come up with some propaganda based on it:
The ICR author’s premise is that since these two guys discuss the possibility of directionality to the speed of light, then we can no longer assume that the speed of light is measurable. And thus the stars we’re seeing that are a billion light years away no longer present a problem for a world view that has concluded that the universe is a mere 6,000 years old… because that light could have zapped here more or less instantaneously.
Of course the idjit fails to mention that the whole idea of there being preferred directionality for lightspeed trashes his idea. If there was in fact a direction where the speed of light was infinitely fast and the universe was only 6,000 years old… then, yes, we could see distant stars far further than 6,000 light years away. BUT… only in that direction. The other direction where the speed of light was half of c? The furthest you could see *that* way would be 3,000 light years. You could see the nearer stars, and that’s it. The speed of light at an angle perpendicular to the direction of min/max speed would be right at ‘c’ presumably, and in that direction you could only see out to 6,000-ish light years. Most of the friggen’ Milky Way galaxy would be cut off from view. It’d be *dark* across most of the sky, with no other galaxies visible, and every year a few new stars would just seem to pop into existence as the radius of the visible universe expands by (in one direction) another half of a light year.
That’s not what happens, of course. The ICR author is either to dim to figure that out or not honest enough to mention it.
Now, as to the problem of calculating the speed of light in different directions.
In the video they use as an example sending messages from Earth to Mars and back. If ‘c’ was constant either way, or greatly different, the video shows that you wouldn’t be able to tell. But… I suspect they’re wrong. They are right *at* *any* *particular* *moment.* But do the experiment over the course of a year or so. Sometimes Earth would see Mars as it really is Right Now. Sometimes it would see it as it was some time in the past due to light speed lag. OK, so… watch the moons of Mars. Their orbital speed around Mars will seem to subtly change as the speed of light varies. In fact this very experiment was carried out in the late 1600’s; by watching the moons of Jupiter and how the timing of the eclipses seemed to slightly vary, astronomer Ole Rømer was able to determine that the speed of light was finite, and got – for the time – a reasonably good estimate, about 26% short of the actual value. With modern equipment, the variation of the apparent speed of the moons of Mars or Jupiter of Saturn could be used to calculate “drift” in the speed of light based on where the moons *should* be at any instant given a fixed speed of light. Or am I wrong here?
Pretty sure ships aren’t generally supposed to do this:
Whoopsie.
Turns out that the Ukranian-owned, Palau-flagged “Arvin” sank on January 17, losing three sailors in the process. The ship was hauling 2,900 tons of urea. Bleah.
WTF, Kamala.
Will this be the new “learn to code?” If your job has just gone away, taking decades of experience and expertise down the drain, just work on “reclaiming abandoned land mines.” Because, sure, digging coal out of the ground gives you the skill sets to dig generations-old explosive booby traps out of the ground on the far side of the planet.
Unless, of course, she’s planning on planting millions of land mines around government facilities to prevent those dirty, dirty “citizens” from getting too close, and she’ll need an army of depressed expendables to deal with them.
Your next President, people. All sales are final.
This bill, the “Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act’’ would make illegal any ammunition .50 caliber or greater. This would mean that your .50 BMG rifle and your .50 Action Express pistol would now be a Federal crime. To own such ammunition would *mandate* a minimum 10 year prison sentence. (there does not seem to be an exception or 12 gauge deer slugs, nor for black powder musket balls) Also: the bill would require that *all* firearms be registered with the government within three months.
REQUIRED INFORMATION.—Under the firearm registration system, the owner of a firearm shall transmit to the Bureau— ‘‘(A) the make, model, and serial number of the firearm, the identity of the owner of the firearm, the date the firearm was acquired by the owner, and where the firearm is or will be stored;
This information – who you are, what guns you own, and where you store them – would be kept in a database. Which, interestingly… “The Attorney General shall make the contents of the database accessible to all members of the public, all Federal, State, and local law enforcement authorities, all branches of the United States Armed Forces, and all State and local governments, as defined by the Bureau. “
Huh. Well, looky here: a handy-dandy database of stealable firearms and where they’re stored, available to all criminals.
What’s more: in order to possess a firearm, you will need a license. In order to get a license, you will need to pass a background check, a psychological evaluation and a training course… all at your expense, of course, as well as having special insurance policies ($800). If your firearm is “military style,” the training course will be TWENTY-FOUR HOURS. If you are depressed by this, that’s considered a psychological condition that will preclude you from obtaining a license to keep your guns. it will be illegal for you to give a gun to a friend or family member… or even *ammunition,* unless you inform the Attorney General of that transfer. Failure to do so leads to a $75,000 fine and 15 to 25 years in prison. Owning a standard capacity magazine will now be illegal, with fines of $50,000 to $100,000 and prison terms of 10 to 20 years.
Will this bill become law? Even with the current makeup of Congress and the White House, I have doubts. But the fact that such a bill can make it as far as it has speaks ill of the intentions of those behind it. The bills sponsor, Sheila Jackson-Lee, is one of the least honest and least intelligent people to have ever occupied a seat in the US House, and that’s really saying something.
You can track the progress of this blatantly unconstitutional bill here (there is a *CITATION* *NEEDED* estimate of 3% for this bill passing):
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hr127
Lexington and Concord come to mind.
Pee Wee Park: you didn’t know you needed it. But here it is.
California’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is awful. Rather than posting small snippets, just read this… and wonder just how long California has before it devolves into full scale race war.
It is full not only of all the racism and historical revisionism we’ve come to expect from the far left in recent years, but blatant anti-semitism and outright Marxism. No parent should allow their children to be subjected to this rubbish.
Of course California is not alone in using the educational system to twist and ruin the minds of children. Take a look at this monstrosity from Seattle:
SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS K-12 Math Ethnic Studies Framework (20.08.2019)
It’s child abuse, plain and simple. Some people shriek that YouTube and Parler and Gab and such lead to radicalization. No, the schools do an adequate job of that.
SpaceX is politically troublesome for certain groups. You’ve got your SLS fans, terrified that Starship/Superheavy will make the SLS and all its pork go away. You’ve got people terrified of the idea of capitalism, American exceptionalism, western civilization spreading out to the planets. You’ve got your crackpots who dislike western science and engineering rigor, thinking that such things are tools of the cishet white patriarchy or some such foolishness. Take your pick of villains, they’re opposed to SpaceX. As evidence, behold:
Who are SpaceX being accused of discriminating against? Non-US citizens. A US company that makes rockets and launches Defense Department payloads would rather employ Americans? How is this even remotely controversial?
“The charge alleges that on or about March 10, 2020, during the Charging Party’s interview for the position of Technology Strategy Associate, SpaceX made inquiries about his citizenship status and ultimately failed to hire him for the position because he is not a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident,” DOJ attorney Lisa Sandoval wrote in a court document filed Thursday.
Ina rational world, this would be laughable. How is it even possible that non-citizens can demand employment at *any* US company, much less one vital to the continued existence of the United States as a going concern?
UPDATE: Elon lays it out. Several years ago.
Lots of YouTubers have “reaction videos,” where they react – usually with their face on screen – to some music video or movie or something. This is me – audio only, because as we’ve seen in the comments sections, there are some weirdos in the world – reacting to a moment of pure awfulness from Keiko O’Brien on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. My commentary is witty and eloquent and pithy and not at all NSFW. Well, except for the bit that is.
October 2020:
“I have this strange notion, we are a democracy … if you can’t get the votes … you can’t [legislate] by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”
.@JoeBiden in October: “I have this strange notion, we are a democracy … if you can’t get the votes … you can’t [legislate] by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus." pic.twitter.com/7UotJCXSm3
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 26, 2021
So, legislating by executive order is something dictators do.
In completely unrelated news that in no way could ever possibly reflect poorly on anyone…
In his first six days in office, Biden issued 33 executive orders, actions, proclamations, memoranda and agency directives, primarily focused on addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and undoing former President Donald Trump’s actions.
Of those 33, apparently 21 are Executive Orders. Trump was the previous reigning champ with four EOs in his first week in office. Behold the majesty of democracy in action as President Baizuo spends a surprising amount of time trying to figure out what to do with his pen:
All sales are final.