Perseverance vids and images

 awesomeness, history, news, nukes, rockets, science, spacecraft, youtube  No Responses »
Feb 222021
 

A NASA press conference livestream with some interesting vids. At 11:58 to about 15:00  you can see multiple camera angles of the actual landing… on the skycrane looking down at the suspended rover, on the rover looking up at the skycrane, on the rover looking down at the surface. Various still images start at about 28:44. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter was able to image the rover, the skycrane, the heat shield and the parachute scattered on the surface at 37:25… but more interestingly, a still image of the actual landing in process at 38:07, where you can see the parachutes fluttering away and the rocket exhaust scattering dust on the surface. The first audio recording from Mars is at 41:21, with a cleaned-up audio at 42:26 giving the sounds of winds on Mars. It’s not spectacular audio, but it’s better than anything produced by astrologers, gender studies majors or critical race theorists. Engineering rigor for the win. AGAIN.

Nuclear powered cars, baby!

 Posted by at 3:31 pm

Space colony art: slightly different

 art, awesomeness, history, projects, science, spacecraft  No Responses »
Feb 212021
 

One of the things about art is… what’s the “right” version? These days most concept art is probably produced digitally so the colors are mathematically defined, at least in the original. They are of course easily tweaked… but the original can in theory be infinitely reproduced without alteration. But with old-school art, reproduction methods varied in accuracy. Photos would make paintings look different based on lighting and film stock and a myriad of other variables. And then simple *time* causes colors to change and fade in prints. So… what’s “right?” Whatever looks best, I suppose.

So here is a slightly differently  version of a piece of art I posted about late last month. The colors are distinctly different: last months post was brighter and more vibrant; this one is more subdued. Click here for the full rez version.

 

As comparison, here’s the one from a month ago:

 Posted by at 11:22 am

Claim vs. evidence

 Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Hmm..., news, politics, ಠ_ಠ  No Responses »
Feb 212021
 

This is an interesting case:

Local UofM Student Makes Case of Racial Profiling-UMPD Responds

Short from: a guy writes on Instagram of his horrifying interaction with racist cops. Cops respond with a video of the incident which show that it was remarkably benign 9to the point where at the end of the *brief* interaction, he asks *them* for a ride). So the question is: did the guy lie intentionally? Or did his brain step up the event in his memory, perhaps after being egged on by others? Did mental illness or drugs twist his interpretation of the event… or was it ideology?

So far, there do not seem to be any indications of consequences for the person who posted the false story. Even his identity seems to have been scrubbed. But given that this sort of thing, as we’ve seen, can lead to riots, arson, assault and death, you’d think that there *should* be some sort of investigation, with the end result being that the guy either needs assistance for his mental illness or legal consequences for incitement to riot, attempted domestic terrorism and insurrection, given that he explicitly uses his false story to support a policy of destruction of the rule of law. If this was not the result of mental illness, he should at least face expulsion.

 Posted by at 8:34 am

Woo.

 blather  No Responses »
Feb 202021
 

New  (i.e. new from the pawn shop, freshly factory reset, slathered with new anti-virus software) laptop being used to post this message. And not a moment too soon… as mentioned before, the old laptop seemed to have given up the ghost as far as connecting to the WiFi, but then it got back on the ball. And then… it fell off the ball. And now it’s back on. I suspect it’s not doing so great. At least this time I’ve got the replacement up and running while the old one is still seemingly functional.

Reminder to self: stock up on cheapo laptops. Build a good supply, keep in cold, dry place…

 Posted by at 6:19 pm

If you can get online…

 AARRRGH, Crazy, dumbassery, Forward!, Gah., humor, news, politics  No Responses »
Feb 202021
 

… you ain’t black. So sayeth the most popular and non-senile President in American history.

 

It’s really remarkable… the left has been burning the midnight oil for *years* proclaiming that anyone who wants low taxes, limited government, gun rights, objective reality, cops and non-crappy comic books are racist white supremacists. And yet, who is it that you can consistently rely upon to talk down to anyone darker-complected than a paper bag?

 

 

 Posted by at 2:42 pm

How to behave in Britain

 art, history, Hmm..., politics, wisdom, youtube  No Responses »
Feb 202021
 

This training film for US soldiers deployed to Britain during WWII is a little uncomfortable. It comes across as a film made by clueless Hollywood types based on crude cliched British stereotypes… but it was made by the British Ministry of Information. So… I guess it’s cool?

I’m curious whether:

1: The stereotypes were broadly accurate

2: The stereotypes were what the MoI *wanted* to be real

3: The stereotypes were what the MoI wanted the Yanks to *believe*

And interesting ponderable: about 80 years ago, Americans flooded into Britain. They were expected to learn the local customs and laws and to behave themselves accordingly. Feel free to compare and contrast to events from more recent years.

 Posted by at 10:22 am

Rush on Phil

 awesomeness, history, Hmm..., humor, politics, youtube  No Responses »
Feb 192021
 

This is an interesting summary of Rush Limbaugh from nearly 30 years ago. Much of it applies as much today as it did then, including the brain dead moron who accuses Rush of being a fascist, but who cannot actually *define* fascism. Most of the topics discussed are such that it could have been filmed today… except, of course, one of the fellers being dead and the other being long since culturally irrelevant.

Note that it includes the original commercials. Most of them are utterly forgettable… but a few of them might, if you are old enough, give you flashbacks.  “Jean Luc!”

 Posted by at 11:27 pm
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