So SpaceX has made history by both launching and safely recovering an orbital spacecraft containing four private citizens. By any rational measure, this is one of the best news events of the last few years. And yet, silence from a certain individual…
He’s still sleeping
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 19, 2021
There are lots of uses for a flamethrower on a car… lighting up carjackers being the most obvious. But flamethrowers mounted to fire directly forward seem to actually be somewhat unwise; if fired while at speed, like as not you’ll end up dousing your own car in flaming napalm. And an argument can be made that that wouldn’t be such a great idea.
Hmmm…
Not impossible, of course. But *something* just seems indefinably off about the footage:
Video of North Korea's TLBM (train-launched ballistic misisle) pic.twitter.com/tbcjBgJFco
— Colin Zwirko (@ColinZwirko) September 16, 2021
Of course it didn’t take the internet too long to mock it:
Mad props to the anonymous genius who made this pic.twitter.com/rh0CKa1xMv
— Dave Schmerler (@DaveSchmerler) September 17, 2021
In any event, it’s good to know that in this time of rapidly accelerating stress and crisis, we have such trustworthy and astute leadership.
“Iranian agents working for the Mossad had parked a blue Nissan Zamyad pickup truck on the side of the road connecting the town of Absard to the main highway. The spot was on a slight elevation with a view of approaching vehicles. Hidden beneath tarpaulins and decoy construction material in the truck bed was a 7.62-mm sniper machine gun.” … the sniper who took out Fakhrizadeh did so remotely from Israel, over 1,600 kilometers away, since the hit squad had long ago left Iran.
Say, I saw that movie!
If you contributed to my SAC Museum SR-71 photographic trip, you should by now have access to the relevant Dropbox folders with the photos. For those who contributed $10, this includes the “Best of” folder with 94 photos at 1.15 gigabytes. If you contributed at $30 or more for “All The Photos,” you should have access to:
ALCM: 47 photos, 546 megabytes
B-36: 159, 1.99Gigabytes
B-45: 85, 1.05 Gb
B-47: 168, 2.09 Gb
B-52: 179, 2.22 Gb
B-57E: 79, 1.00 Gb
B-58: 283, 3.48 Gb
Misc: 191, 2.36 Gb
SR-71: 280, 2.44 Gb
XF-85: 22, 282 Mb
You should have received a notification from Dropbox of your access to these folders. If you have just the regular personal account or no Dropbox account at all, most of these are too large for them to be allowed to sit on *your* Dropbox account… but you will still be allowed to download the photos, either individually or as a complete folder ZIP file. The description Dropbox gives is a little vague in that regards.
Also, because why not, I’ve added some “bonus” folders including photos taken during previous visits. For those who contributed $50 or more, you should have:
B-47: 75 photos, 89 megabytes
B-52: 53, 204 meg
And for those who contributes $100, you should have:
B-36: 60, 315 meg
B-58: 78, 304 meg
If you’re interested in the photos, or helping me pay for this trip (which included not only car repair/preparations, but also cat food, because *everything* includes cat food), or to help me work on the next couple of books and projects that this trip was in aid of, you can still sign on:
—
Note: Amazon still has my SR-71 book, but, jeez, it’s a bit pricey just now at $39. Did it sell out? Dunno. I *guess* that’s a good sign?
And what change are they pushing for? I’ll give you one rather obvious guess.
Strange New Worlds should make Spock queer, and it should do so with the support of the fans and the canon behind it. In fact, since we’re talking about Spock’s passion, it’s the only logical thing to do.
Sigh. Anyone who watches TOS and sees Kirk and Spock being gay for each other *really* doesn’t understand normal male friendship. And such worldwreckers shouldn’t write for Star Trek. But chances are they will, because that’s where society has sunk. “You don’t understand straight men, and you despise them? Here, *you* get to control the narrative!”
Bah.