I’ve never been too enamored of watching other people play video games. “Watch as I blitz my way through Halo!” Meh. But you know what can be damned entertaining? Someone playing the game *wrong.*
Sep 132020
Sep 122020
An interesting use of computer image manipulation technology. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but if you want to watch Stalin, Hitler, Tojo, FDR and such singing in harmony… well, today’s your day, I guess.
And because 2020 is – at least until 2021 – peak weird, behold:
Sep 122020
As Elon Musk points out… “Rockets are hard.” Having their first vehicle shut down in flight and fall back to Earth is a shame, but it’s not shameful. They did a lot better than many… it didn’t kerblam on the pad.
Astra’s 1st orbital test launch fails during first-stage engine burn
— Jennifer Culton (@CultonJennifer) September 12, 2020
Thanks, @elonmusk. We appreciate that and are encouraged by the progress we made today on our first of three flights on our way to orbit https://t.co/CrH8iBYNpS
— Astra (@Astra) September 12, 2020
Sep 112020
NASA has released an interesting Request for Quotes:
Purchase of Lunar Regolith and/or Rock Materials from Contractor
A.The Contractor shall:1.Collect from 50g up to 500g of Lunar regolith and/or rock materials (“Collected Material”) from the surface of the Moon (Luna).a.Be responsible for performing all activities necessary, including:1.Determining method(s), providing and or developing equipment, deployment/launch/landing, and operation of all systems the Contractor’s method(s) requires. (this purchase does not include development, production, or launch of space vehicles)2.Identify, negotiate, and conclude, all necessary agreements and approvals for the Contractor’s method and all associated systems, personnel, and operations.2.Provide imagery to NASA of the collection and the Collected Material, and data that identifies the collection location on the Lunar surface.3.Provide the Collected Material to NASA upon its collection from the Lunar surface by in-place ownership transfer from Contractor to NASA. After ownership transfer the collected material becomes the sole property of NASA for use as NASA may determine.
It seems what NASA wants is for someone to go to the moon and box up samples… and leave then there for later collection. Which seems odd… if NASA is going to send a mission of some kind to the moon to collect those samples, it seems that that mission could probably collect them itself. But perhaps by having one or more rovers trundling around picking up samples from various places and delivering them to a central “depot” for collection, things could work better.
Seems very likely that this sort of thing is in service of preparations for mining operations on the moon… digging up water to service a base, or industrial elements for lunar or space-based industry, or perhaps even very rare elements for return to Earth. And this is not only fine, this is praiseworthy. Except, of course, to Certain People. You know the kind. The kind who live off Daddy’s Trust Fund and bitch about capitalism over their ten dollar lattes. Behold:
NASA Is Soliciting Bids to Bring Capitalism to the Moon
Article is what you’d expect: “hurr durr, capitalism bad.”
Sep 112020
Police arrest Puyallup man for starting large wildfire
The evidence that Antifa is/are starting a substantial number of the fires is not extensive. However… arson is what Antifa does. By starting wildfires they cause chaos and destruction; they divert resources away from their city-based chaos; they give their fellow travelers in the environmental movement ammunition in their “hurr durr climate change bad” war against capitalism and progress. If leftist terrorists aren’t doing this, you can bet that they wish they were.
If the best way for your ideology to win is through destruction and misery, at some point ya gotta ask “Are we the baddies?”
Sep 102020
As you’ll recall from the Disney flick “20,000 Leagues Under The Sea,” one of the defensive features of the submarine Nautilus was the ability to electrify the outer surface. Thus when the sub was boarded by a bunch of cannibals while high-centered on a coral reef, Captain Nemo threw a switch and the invaders got electrozapped until they retreated off the boat.
Watching recent episodes of criminals in the street swarming cars and preventing them from proceeding, it occurs to me that the ability to flip a switch and electrify the outer panels of the vehicle might be a useful ability. Someone throws themselves onto your vehicle, you could gently persuade them with 50,000 volts of persuasion to get *off* your vehicle. Is this a practical possibility? Would it require so much modification so as to be essentially a whole new vehicle? I kinda think you’d have to have a non-conductive fiberglass skin with metal studs every few centimeters, each pair connected to a reduced-power version of a stun gun. Modern computer and sensor systems would allow the system to select which set of studs to electrify based on pressure; Tesla-level cameras and whatnot should allow the system to *see* where threats are and adjust the Dumbass Deflector accordingly. That seems like a whole lot of bother to go to, but as we start slipping deeper into the Cthulhu Era, this sort of thing might be more and more reasonable.
Alternatives to electrification:
- Skin panels that get real hot. 200F should probably do it. Energy intensive.
- Skin panels that vibrate unpleasantly. Probably noisy and heavy.
- Skin panels that “sweat.” Anything from simple water to skunk stank.
- Combine 1 and 4: skin panels that emit hot steam. This could be simplified with discrete emitters underneath or between panels. Especially around the front grill, which is where most of the problems lie anyway.
- Skin panels that project small, short points, like thumbtacks. Heavy again.
- Back to 3… but it sweats *glue.* If they’re going to plop themselves onto your car, making them stick there could prove entertaining, if probably illegal. But here’s the thing: if it’s illegal for *you* to detain them, why isn’t it illegal for them to detain *you*?
Sep 102020
Now going after BR2049 aesthetic:
Sep 102020
My “Zaneverse” stories are set about 500 years down the line. The main characters are just regular folk living in a space opera world where mankind is out among the stars, flitting about in ships with hyperdrive and artificial gravity, interacting with a limited range of aliens species. Perhaps not so innovative, I suppose. But humanity in these stories is not and overwhelming wave of colonists sweeping the galaxy aside in our trillions… because humanity out in space is derived form a relatively tiny few who survived the collapse of terrestrial civilization. At the beginning of the 22nd century, humanity is nearly wiped out and has to rebuild and expand off-world. The 21st century turns out to be a long litany of horrible things.
In my stories, this back story is hardly ever mentioned. In a story set in t he current day, how much jibberjabber will there be about, say, the Renaissance or various wars and migrations four or five hundred years ago? Sure, *today* you could well have a story where characters Just Will Not Shut Up about how their ancestors were oppressed hundreds of years ago; but let’s be honest, these people are dreary and meaningless. Still, in order to set up my world of 500 years from now, I had to work up a basic framework of their past. And one of the more important series of events from the mid/late 21st century was to be the “Pan Asian Wars.” China vs Japan. India vs China. Pakistan vs India. Korea vs Korea. Korea vs Japan. Russians getting involved, the US trying Real Hard to stay uninvolved. The end result would be ecological destruction and mass death unlike anything in prior history.
It was *supposed* to happen a few generations from now…
World War 3: India retaliates as Pakistan violates ceasefire – violent clash breaks out
Come on, people. Ya gotta wait until the US sets up a few self-sustaining off-world colonies before you blow the planet to hell and gone.
Sep 102020
The Russian tradition of just leaving their amazing aircraft to the whims of nature continues…
Russia’s Flying Sea Monster Broke Free
It was being towed across the Caspian Sea when it broke loose and beached itself. Hopefully it’ll get rescued.
Someone snuck past the sleeping guard on duty and took a number of photos of the interior of the craft. They’re impressive; check ’em out.
Sep 102020
Take a moment away from the craziness for some nice, calming, peaceful music: