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.
An interesting if short video from the day of the troubles at the Capitol:
Would be interesting if the media were to run with this and try to figure out who they are. You know… actual investigative journalism.
Two pieces of (presumably McDonnell Aircraft) artwork depicting the Mercury capsule:
These were procured from eBay thanks to the contributions of Patrons and subscribers. They have been made available at 300 DPI to all $4/month patrons/subscribers in the 2021-02 APR Extras folder at Dropbox, and at 600 dpi directly to all patrons/subscribers at more than $10/month. If you would like to help fund the acquisition and preservation of such things, along with getting high quality scans for yourself, please consider signing on either for the APR Patreon or the APR Monthly Historical Documents Program.
Welllllll… sorta. Insofar as to take old film and photos and enhance them, making them seem almost contemporary.
This one turns old black and white photos into full color moving images. There are a bunch of “tells” that the final products aren’t really videos shot of the subjects; the process is far from perfect. But at first glance one or two might pass.
This one upscaled a 1939 film apparently shot at the New York World’s Fair of a bunch of people – mostly women – dancing (the “Lindy Hop,” it seems). Kinda surprising to see a racially mixed crowd like this, something that doesn’t really square with what we’re usually told.
I could see a market for this sort of thing for older folks, turning old photos of long dead loved ones into moving portraits.
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.
An interesting idea, but likely an efficient way to start collecting lawsuits:
In short, if you advertise political views counter to those of, say, plumbers and electricians and HVAC repairmen, they tell you that you are in violation of their terms of service.
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.
A brief video I shot way back when in my Thatcher, Utah, days.