Pride and Shame

 art, blather, history, Hmm..., humor, politics, ಠ_ಠ  16 Responses »
Dec 072016
 

This cartoon makes an important point:

As an American, I’m often confronted with people who demand that if I take any pride in American developments such as the space program or defeating Communism I must also take responsibility for things like slavery and the mistreatment of the Indians. On a simplistic level… sure, I suppose. But the distinction I make: I refuse to feel shame or pride for things that NO LONGER EXIST. The space program? Still exists. Slavery? A century and  half gone.  Nuclear power? Still exists (despite the best efforts of the anti-nuke activists). Jim Crow? Generations gone. First and Second Amendment? Still in force. Trail of Tears? Long over.

There are wrongs that still exist. The War on Some Drugs, for example. The Great Society programs that have contributed to the collapse of the family structure and the permanence of poverty. Idiotic rules and regulations on *everything,* political correctness and speech codes, the lack of forward progress on nuclear power, astrologers, televangelists, dubstep. They still exist, so we should own them. But demanding that people alive *now* take responsibility for things that happened and *ended* long before they were born is just stupid and wrong.

 

 Posted by at 9:56 am

Early Saturn C-5 Color Art

 art, history, Patreon, projects, rockets, spacecraft  3 Responses »
Dec 072016
 

From the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center, December, 1961: An illustration of the forthcoming Saturn C-5 S-IC stage. This appears to be *mostly* as the S-IC would be built, but there are some detectable differences. Missing are the four small (and apparently superfluous) stabilizing fins that appeared on the outboard engine fairings. And located at the front are the eight retro rockets that would end up inside the aforementioned engine fairings.

c5booster

This illustration came via EBay. The full-resolution scan (all 15+ megabytes of it) is available in the 2016-12 Dropbox folder for APR patrons. If you’d like to gain access to this and two years worth of high-rez aerospace goodies like this, as well as help out the effort to procure and preserve aerospace goodies like this, please consider joining the APR Patreon.

 Posted by at 3:49 am

Trump Derangement Syndrome

 AARRRGH, blather, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., Hmm..., politics, THIS is why Trump won, wisdom, ಠ_ಠ  9 Responses »
Dec 062016
 

It’s difficult to read stuff like this and not conclude that a lot of lefties have lost their damned minds:

Trump’s election stole my desire to look for a partner

Poe’s Law comes into force here as well. It *could* be that the author is a right-winger cranking out fictional BS, simulating the stereotypical loonie leftie. And it could be that this is just an annoyed leftie, pretending to more crazy than she actually feels.

However it works out, it does point out a bug in the human operating system that I think is one of the more dangerous flaws we have: the desire to be seen as a victim.

We see it in several religions: the idea of the “martyr” as the ultimate in virtue. People getting upset about a mythical “war on Christmas” because some bored barista said “happy holidays” rather than “merry Christmas.” Or believing that there’s a “war on Christians” because they are not granted a special position in government-funded organizations like public schools or city council meetings. Or in one particular Religion Of Peace that thinks that it is in a House of War, that the whole world wants to destroy them because they have a monopoly on The Truth.

And of course we see it in the political realm, where a whole lot of people seem to think that armies of Evil Right Wingers are going to come and lock up Teh Gheys or force women into staying home barefoot and pregnant, or that there is a genocidal war by cops against black men. We see it in the faked “hate crimes,” where a people vandalize their own stuff in order to get… what? Sympathy? Funding in a GoFundMe account? Five minutes of fame, even if much of it is ridicule? And even the ridicule plays into the sense of persecution… which is what far too many people seem to thrive on. “I’m persecuted, therefore I’m Special and Important and my opinions carry special importance, and my failures aren’t really *my* failures, but signs of just how important I am that The Man has to put me down.”

Bah.

All I can say about the author of the piece above is that she seems… a little excitable. She mentions that she was dating someone when the election happened and that she halted the process when her candidate didn’t win.I imagine the feller was a little confuzzled about what just happened. But with any luck, that guy will read this essay and realize “Wow, did I ever dodge a bullet here.” And then he will give a little smile of relief like Billy/William/Man In Black/Gunman/Best Damn Character On TV here did in the season finale of “Westworld.”

billy-says-hooray

Sadly, while Westworld has been picked up for a second season, it apparently won’t air until 2018. Feh. This is an outrage!

 Posted by at 8:44 pm

This is why property rights should be sacred

 critters, dumbassery, politics, ಠ_ಠ  51 Responses »
Dec 052016
 

In Britain, trespassing doesn’t seem to be a crime. Heck, it seems that trespassing is specifically *legal,* with “roamers” being given extraordinary protections under the law while they are clambering around on property that is not their own.  Witness:

Cow attack farmer given suspended sentence over walker death

In short: someone decided to go wandering around on a farmers property, property that had cows on it. You know, those big-ass thousand-pound bundles of muscles, anger and dumb. This someone took his dog with him… you know, those yappy little bundles of energy that cows Just Don’t Like. In the end, the cows stomp the dude to death.

So how does the British legal system respond? Not by admonishing the walkers family for having raised a dumbass, too stupid to recognize that other people property is, you know, not his, and too stupid to avoid animals that *individually* could easily kill him – and which come in herds. Instead they punish the farmer for not having somehow made his farm idjitproof.

 Posted by at 11:55 pm

Shuttle 2 Art

 art, history, projects, rockets, spacecraft  29 Responses »
Dec 022016
 

A late 1980’s concept for NASA by Frassanito & Associates for a “Shuttle 2.” Clearly derived from Space Shuttle general ideas, it features a number of important differences, including:

  • A separable cockpit for use in emergencies (a concept given substantial study in the wake of Challenger)
  • Separate liquid hydrogen drop tanks above the wings
  • No boosters, but instead LH2/LOX engines mounted under the ET (presumably SSMEs, which appear to be in individual re-entry and recovery “capsules”)

s89-20011

It’s not certain, but the ET looks bigger than the standard STS ET. Which would make sense given that it needs to be filled with substantially more propellant to take the place of the SRBs.

This piece of art, and two more providing a closer look at the orbiter, are available in high-rez for APR patrons on the APR “Extras” Dropbox folder, under the 2016-12 APR Extras sub-folder. If you’re interested, take a look at the Aerospace Projects Review Patreon page and consider joining!

 Posted by at 10:42 pm

My One Piece of Cat Wisdom

 blather, cats, wisdom  8 Responses »
Dec 022016
 

A few minutes ago I heard a science reporter on NPR say something to the effect that it is difficult to get a cat to do what you want them to.  This is true. This is also not the point of cats.

If you want to do “cat” properly… take joy in cats doing what cats do. Not in trying to get them to do what *you* want them to do. If you want a critter that does what *you* want, get a dog.

If a cat does what you want… great! If a cat does something you don’t want, adjust your goals.

 Posted by at 12:29 pm

S.1911 – Flag Protection Act of 2005

 Forward!, history, Hmm..., politics  4 Responses »
Dec 022016
 

A few days ago I called out President Elect Giant Middle Finger for suggesting in a  tweet that there should be legal consequences for flag burners. Well, looky here:

S.1911 – Flag Protection Act of 2005

“(c) Flag burning.—Any person who shall intentionally threaten or intimidate any person or group of persons by burning, or causing to be burned, a flag of the United States shall be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned for not more than 1 year, or both.

Hmmm. Now, I wonder who might have sponsored that bit of (ultimately failed) legislation.

Sponsor: Sen. Bennett, Robert F. [R-UT]

Cosponsor Date Cosponsored
Sen. Clinton, Hillary Rodham [D-NY]* 10/24/2005
Sen. Boxer, Barbara [D-CA] 06/27/2006
Sen. Carper, Thomas R. [D-DE] 06/27/2006
Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR] 09/28/2006

Hmmm.

HMMM.

Now, one might argue that the caveat here is that the law specifies that the flag burnin must be done as a threat or form of intimidation. Well, guess what: like being offended, intimidation is pretty much in the eye of the beholder. If you burn an effigy of *me,* I could take that as intimidation. Well… as an American, I could interpret burning a flag as a symbolic burning of the US, which means you’re burning all of the US in effigy, which I could theoretically take as intimidation. Plus, there’s this:

“(b) Actions promoting violence.—Any person who destroys or damages a flag of the United States with the primary purpose and intent to incite or produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace, and under circumstances in which the person knows that it is reasonably likely to produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace, shall be fined not more than $100,000, imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

Burning a flag is free speech. But it is arguably also “fightin’ words.” If you burn a flag within sight of a veteran, for instance, chances are good he’ll take the opportunity to apply boot to ass… and you know this. So if you burn a flag and get your ass handed to you by a PO’ed biker, under Angry Grandmas Flag Burnin’ Law, you could *also* get fined a hundred grand and tossed into the hoosegow for a year.

 Posted by at 12:38 am
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