More hot and humid, for at least the next 30 days, probably 60. So there’s that.
Was doing pretty much nothing outside yesterday, given the ‘boil your brains in saline’ temperatures outside and in the garage, but I did eventually go out and do some small things.
And while I was doing those small things I was keeping an eye on the fridge temps. So I noticed when it got to 50F inside. Which isn’t good. Rolls of biscuits pop when they’re at 50 for any length of time. It’s actually a pretty good warning that the fridge got hot…
Long story short, I replaced the fridge with the new (to me) one that can be a fridge or freezer that I picked up cheap a couple of weeks ago. The little voice in my head told me not to sell it. Since it wasn’t telling me to kill anyone or burn things, I listened. That paid off. There was still a lot of monkey+fornication+football to get the fridge unloaded into working fridges, doors off of both, and squeeze one out and on in… A bit of lube wouldn’t have gone amiss for the narrowest spot in the path. Then put it back together and watch the temps drop, while putting some stuff in the fridge that didn’t quite fit in anywhere else. I’ll get stuff organized today at some point. So, prepping success! Go me! And now I’ve got a probably broken fridge to get rid of.
We’ll see if the A/C in the garage caught up overnight, and if there’s anything I can do to help it (like install the powered ventilator I bought last year) or something similar. Since that would involve roof work, I probably won’t. Too danged hot.
Now, I’m not saying you should have a fridge sitting idle in case your’s fails, but it was very nice to avert a crisis once again through /start echo-y voice/ the power of preparednessssssssss….. /end voice/
Keep stacking, you know you want to…
nick
I don’t suppose you know where Shinola Jackson Lee’s house is?
So everyone that says postponing elections is impossible? Could never happen?
–modern democracy, hardly any cases (although stamping hard on outbreaks is the way to contain them, and note that no one is saying where the cold storage guy got HIS case.) Maybe they’re one of those countries that is always calling elections at random times, but it is still concerning.
n
So everyone that says postponing elections is impossible? Could never happen?
Stretch has the House returning from the convention/Labor Day holiday recess on Saturday. Assuming Plugs emerges from this week as the Dem nominee, the fun and games will have to begin next weekend.
Looks like we got about 1.7 inches of rain overnight. It started blowing around 2am and was raining at 3.
Currently 85F and overcast outside. 90F in my garage, despite running the window unit all night. It did drop from 101 to 90….
n
“Austin City Council votes to cut police department budget by one-third, reinvest money in social services”
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/13/austin-city-council-cut-police-budget-defund/
“The Austin City Council unanimously voted to cut its police department budget by $150 million on Thursday, after officers and the city’s top cop faced months of criticism over the killing of an unarmed Black and Hispanic man, the use of force against anti-police brutality protesters and the investigation of a demonstrator’s fatal shooting by another citizen.”
Wow. Austin is not only weird, they are crazy.
Looks like the suburbs around Austin will be staffing up their police departments.
New Zealand is like the UK, elections are not set on any schedule, they are called by the party in power when they think they have a good opportunity to win. Not at all the same as the US. They can have elections when they like.
Looks like we got about 1.7 inches of rain overnight. It started blowing around 2am and was raining at 3.
Currently 85F and overcast outside. 90F in my garage, despite running the window unit all night. It did drop from 101 to 90….
Ain’t no rain out here on the west side of Fort Bend County. It is 85 F though, rather cool for August at 11am.
https://spacecityweather.com/yes-an-august-front-has-moved-into-houston/
Here in Indian Country (Muskogee Creek Nation) we are moving to a week of lower than normal (95f) temps and low humidity. Lows will be in the mid 60s. Time to open the windows at night.
No way could I stand Houston heat & humidity. Spent 3 miserable years in Hong Kong, similar heat & humidity but all year round.
@NickF – What kind of remote freezer monitor do you have?
When I get my $1500+ of beef later this month I will for sure want to keep an eye on my freezers temp. We have a medium size newish chest freezer in the garage and an older (20 yr ) upright freezer in the pantry. I will want to know if either one goes TU.
From an interesting article about spectrum crowding and its effect on military comms, comes this interesting little snippet. They are discussing a very powerful new portable test equipment for basically sucking up ALL of the signals in ALL of the RF spectrum and then later analyzing the result.
If you have any interest in radio, the future battlefield, .gov surveillance, or counter-surveillance, or .gov overreach…… at least skim the article.
Wow. Austin is not only weird, they are crazy.
Looks like the suburbs around Austin will be staffing up their police departments.
Williamson County Sheriff. “As Seen On Live PD”.
Austin has been like that since we moved to the area six years ago. It isn’t new. Heck, the swish Mayor was reelected despite city’s water supply being under “boil before drinking” orders for almost two months prior to the election and homeless encampments on the median of the “scenic route” to Downtown from the airport.
The suburbs are changing too, however. “Doors” lives somewhere near me — I swear we looked at the house in the opening of her Scorsese-ripoff campaign commercial which went viral.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zi6v4CYNSIQ
@harold, I’m currently using some Oregon Scientific indoor outdoor digital thermometers and checking them throughout the day. I’ve got the outdoor sensor inside the fridge and the unit stuck to the side. They don’t actually alarm.
When I looked at alarms, there were very cheap and basically ineffective toys from chine, and industrial/restaurant quality from major thermometer manufacturers that were NOT cheap at all. None of them really did what I want, which is a really noticeable alarm when temps exceed a self set range, for a self set period of time. The ones focused on food safety came closest, with their logging functions.
I will look again, as someone pointed out, a couple of hundred bucks to monitor thousands of dollars in food isn’t a bad deal.
n
If you find something you like, please share.
@nick –
Maybe build your own freezer temperature sensor with a Raspberry Pi project. Here’s one that looks interesting https://alonsostepanova.wordpress.ncsu.edu/raspberry-pi-freezer-alarm-wifi/
It will send email alerts when temperature goes above a set level. Also keeps track of temps. I suspect that you could easily send a text to your phone (via an email). Just need a few parts (under $40), a bit of time, and all the software is available on the site. Connects to your local wi-fi network. Needs a power source for the Pi – you could attach to a battery backup system for alerts during power outages.
Looks pretty easy to build. You could easily add a small monitor to the Pi to display info all the time. Of just use a VNC connection to monitor and grab data.
Defunding the Police – what effect will that have?
The radicals ignore that a majority of police work involves HELPING citizens who are in distress. Either medical distress, roadside distress, or family distress. MOST 911 calls come from the low income / minority areas. Reducing or eliminating the police will have the immediate effect of hurting the low income and minorities. Who will respond to 911 when your teen has a drug overdose, when your mother has a stroke, when your daughter is involved in a car wreck, when your drunken ex attempts break in to your trailer? As we have seen recently in Portland and Seattle, most 911 calls will go unanswered.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B9N71VC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1%3C%2Fa%3E&tag=ttgnet-20
This is the temp monitor I got for my freezer. It has two wireless sensors. I put one in the new freezer and the other in small freezer on our fridge. I stuck the display to the big freezer. It's in our laundry room, and I'm in there every day anyways (where our small beverage fridge is) so I can't help but see it.
It's already proved handy. I noticed a few weeks ago that the small freezer was at 15 degrees, and not the -3 it was set at. I moved everything out and into the big freezer and watched the temp for a few days. It looks like the drawer (bottom freezer unit) was just slightly open, but not enough for the door ajar alarm to sound. Maybe something got caught between the gasket and the frame. After seeing the temps go back to normal, I moved the contents back.
Thanks @ITGuy1998, I ordered one just now. My two freezers are less than 12 ft from the kitchen so range shouldn’t be an issue. This looks perfect for my needs.
I don’t really need an alarm for my chest freezer, as during the summer it’s in the kitchen and is opened several times a day (that’s where The Brat’s freeze pops are kept) and in the winter it’s in the garage, where it’s often cold enough that the compressor motor barely kicks on.
I could use one for the main refrigerator and freezer, on account of someone-who-isn’t-me leaving the doors ajar a couple times a day, but … the two prime candidates for being someone-who-isn’t-me also have the habit of unplugging or taking the batteries out of things which make annoying noises. Things like the natural gas detector next to the stove.
There were several articles on “The Google News” pages this morning that divulged the Democraps plans for this election. The articles highlighted a number of States (MN and CA were the big two) and cities (like Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Lost Angeles…). The plans are basically to conduct rallies of insurrection and sedition where there will be a lot of burning, stone-throwing, looting, and hate speech against us, the real majority of Americans.
If I had a place to flee to I would. I can only foresee CWII and a death toll that will be unprecedented in history.
I’m prepared to stand my ground.
On a local note, there have been numerous night-time gatherings of people in parking lots and parks to protest social distancing and requirements to wear face masks. Our local Health Department has just reported a spike in new WuHuFlu cases with 75% being attributed to these gatherings. Argue the validity of their findings, the effectiveness of social distancing, and the wearing of masks, the fact of the matter is WuHuFlu is not under control. As many schools are choosing to reopen we will soon see pandemic numbers that will hit new highs and then do who knows what.
So, enjoy your electrical power while you have it and be prepared to protect your generator and property with deadly force.
This is a battle I doubt we can or will win, but don’t go quietly.
Have a nice day.
Hagar The Horrible: Logistics
https://www.comicskingdom.com/hagar-the-horrible/2020-08-17
Yup, war logistics are hard to get right. There are not many second chances.
On a local note, there have been numerous night-time gatherings of people in parking lots and parks to protest social distancing and requirements to wear face masks. Our local Health Department has just reported a spike in new WuHuFlu cases with 75% being attributed to these gatherings. Argue the validity of their findings, the effectiveness of social distancing, and the wearing of masks, the fact of the matter is WuHuFlu is not under control. As many schools are choosing to reopen we will soon see pandemic numbers that will hit new highs and then do who knows what.
“Why Texas’ coronavirus data comes with caveats”
https://www.texastribune.org/2020/08/04/texas-coronavirus-data/
“It’s hard to collect good numbers on an unknown virus, and Texas health officials have made errors. But experts say the state’s coronavirus data is useful as long as users understand its limitations.”
“But Texas officials keep correcting the data — whether it’s because of human error, shifting benchmarks or bureaucratic changes. Last week, Texas increased its coronavirus fatality toll by hundreds of people — then lowered it again, lending fuel to skeptics who question the accuracy of the government data. The state does not typically report complete hospitalization data, and during a recent week was reporting even less than usual. And a myriad of tests with varying accuracy have confused its metrics, with some local health departments including test results the state considers unreliable.”
State government workers cannot count right. Much less the kids in the classroom.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/companies-start-to-think-remote-work-isnt-so-great-after-all-11595603397?shareToken=stc74e5537c6454510b17cb619417caa30&mod=ffgua
Shocked. Really.
AND
as, I have a kind of motto
IT is an eternal deja vu
someone working at Bell Labs or IBM invented it eons ago, for SAGE
https://www.theregister.com/2017/02/08/ibm_no_more_telecommuting/
suuuuurprise
I suspect that a lot of companies are going to continue moving out of the large city centers due to the totally incompetent way of handling SARS-COV-2 and the absolute overcrowding causing it to spread like wildfire in large buildings.
And IBM has been looking for a place to lay down and die for several years now.
“‘Straight out of a Movie’: Portland Cops CHARGE Antifa shield wall in FULL-ON STREET BATTLE, internet ERUPTS”
https://therightscoop.com/straight-out-of-a-movie-portland-cops-charge-antifa-shield-wall-in-full-on-street-battle-internet-erupts/
We are getting closer to the “nuke Portland from orbit” option. In other words, the US Marine Corps.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
@harold:
Not true since the passage of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2011, which set the term to 5 years, unless a supermajority of MPs so permit. That said, Teresa May (the pevious PM) asked permission to “go to the country” in hopes of increasing the Tory majority. She succeeded – much good it did her, because the Tory party voted her out as its leader, and hence PM, in favour of Boris Johnson.
Note: our PM is the leader of the political party in the House of Commons that has a majority of MPs. No general election is needed for a change like this, the mandate that the party obtained at the last election is still valid, in our usage.
G.
I suspect that a lot of companies are going to continue moving out of the large city centers due to the totally incompetent way of handling SARS-COV-2 and the absolute overcrowding causing it to spread like wildfire in large buildings.
And IBM has been looking for a place to lay down and die for several years now.
IBM will survive as the distributor of Red Hat Linux but not much else.
My generation destroyed work-from-home. The big companies have known that not a lot of actual work gets done that way for about a decade.
@Geoff Powell – Thanks for correcting me. We moved out of NZ in 2004 long before this act so I didn’t know about it. When we lived there the government would always call an election just after passing some kind of hand-out bill that would win them favor. We were surprised to see that conservatives always won local races but liberals won national ones.
We loved NZ dearly and were planning on permanent residency until my wife’s heart attack. She was given quick treatment but forbidden to have followup care for 6 months because she was over 50 and had diabetes. Now you can get private insurance but back then we were told it wasn’t an option so we returned to the US where we could get her good continuing care.
We are getting closer to the “nuke Portland from orbit” option. In other words, the US Marine Corps.
Portland cops could easily pacify the city if the political will was there to do so. Cut the transit, raise the bridges, close Portland State Univerisity, and clean house Downtown.
Watching the video we see that once the “shield wall” is breached they run like frightened rabbits. They are not fighters and present no threat to an organized operation. I’m simply amazed that the Portland police even tried to mount an offensive given that the city hates them and wants to eliminate them. I wouldn’t take any risks at all if I were a cop there.
We are getting closer to the “nuke Portland from orbit” option. In other words, the US Marine Corps.
Portland cops could easily pacify the city if the political will was there to do so. Cut the transit, raise the bridges, close Portland State Univerisity, and clean house Downtown.
Yup, no political will. Gonna be US Marines Corps, just like LA in 1992.
https://www.wearethemighty.com/history/marines-la-riots?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1
“Individual Lives Matter” by Sarah Hoyt
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2020/08/17/individual-lives-matter/
“If you think that saying “All Lives Matter” somehow diminishes the fact that black lives matter, you might have a chunk of Marx in your eye. You might also be a stone cold racist.”
“Look, the way a Marxist explained it (I got it second hand) is that if you tell someone that your kid is having a really sh*tty time in school, and they say “all the kids are having a sh*tty time” you are somehow diminishing that parent’s experience.”
“Sure you are. IF the kid is having a particularly sh*tty time, in fact. For instance, when younger son was going through hell with no galoshes, if someone had said “all kids have a terrible time in that school” I’d have said “uh, not all, but you’re right, the school resembles a prison camp, and when I went to have lunch with him, I was appalled.””
“I wouldn’t have said “you’re disrespecting my kid for saying that.””
Watching the video we see that once the “shield wall” is breached they run like frightened rabbits. They are not fighters and present no threat to an organized operation. I’m simply amazed that the Portland police even tried to mount an offensive given that the city hates them and wants to eliminate them. I wouldn’t take any risks at all if I were a cop there.
Its a job. Lots of Portland cops live on the Vantucky (WA State) side of the river even though they still pay full Oregon income tax and receive none of the benefits.
Not that the WA State side of the river is that much better politically, but the further east you go from I-5, the better the schools become — much better than Portland — and the streets are safer. I’m not joking when I say that part of my pricetag to go back to the metro is what every other doctor’s wife wants: a big house on Prune Hill in Camas.
Ok, check the level of your fridge. Raise the front a bit so the door shuts. Yeah, it is a pain in the you know where with the stupid thing closing on you while putting groceries away.
When it starts to stick, clean the hinge side of the gasket. Maybe some silicone spray on a rag to slick the area up.
Natural gas detector? It goes off? Like at random times? Have you checked for leaks?
With the Army coming in behind to shovel up the scraps.
@harold:
You misunderstand me. It’s the UK that has the Fixed Term Parliaments Act. NZ may, I don’t know. I would have thought the names Teresa May and Boris Johnson would have clued you in.
G.
“Yup, no political will. Gonna be US Marines Corps, just like LA in 1992”
With the Army coming in behind to shovel up the scraps.
Do we really want to spend the money? The people in Portland will just turn around and vote for Plugs.
The surrounding countryside is beautiful, but Portland itself is a hole.
A great revelation:
Kamala Harris, Descendant of Slave Owners, Alienates Black Voters
That link does not work. Somehow it is borked.
@dadcooks – your link is borked … goes to this site … and a 404.
Did you mean to link to Limbaugh’s site ? https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/08/17/kamala-harris-descendant-of-slave-owners-alienates-black-voters/
Not a lot of actual work gets done in a traditional office setting. “Stuff” gets done, but how much of it provides value to the customers? I’d guess 50% or more of office employees are essentially in make work positions. Everyone THINKS they’re important, but whole departments could be cut – like diversity, community engagement, brand management, and I’m sure others.
n
“Starship SN5 Likely to Fly Again – Possibly “Many Times””
https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2020/08/starship-sn5-likely-to-fly-again.html
““… make flights simple & easy — many per day” is no small task, yet it’s completely in keeping with what we know about Musk’s dream for Starship. The model of commercial aircraft is cited often; the goal is to make launches happen routinely, with less schedule slip due to weather. For one reason, if they need to send a fleet of Starships to Mars, they need to fly with extreme reliability. In the past, SpaceX has talked about using Starship as a rapid flight service as supplement to airline travel. Transoceanic flights in minutes instead of hours. This suggests the next several months could be full of Starship hops.”
Looks like they are going to fly SN5 until she spectacularly blows up. Or crashes.
The doors (side-by-side fridge and freezer) naturally swing closed. The main problem is when stuff is put in the fridge which sticks too far out so the door can’t shut. The secondary problem is pushing either door closed forcefully, which sometimes blows the other door open just enough that gravity won’t swing it closed again. The gaskets with magnets probably should be replaced, but given the main problem that won’t help all that much.
Random times? No, not exactly. The problem is when the burner is turned all the way down it’s barely enough to stay lit and will go out if someone (say, someone plump) walks by or flaps a dishtowel at the stove (say, because they lit the food on fire again). When the burner is turned all the way down, even before it blows out grannies who can’t see too well and don’t wear their glasses can’t see that there’s a fire, so they think the burner’s off. And then when the gas detector starts shrieking, it’s obviously broken and should be unplugged.
It’s a burden, making sure my mother-in-law doesn’t burn down the house, flood it because she clogged the sink drain and turned the water on to clear it and then walked away, or cause other disaster. And my wife isn’t much better. Not as bad, but not much better. However, I’m pretty well stuck. Either I stay here and constantly fix things, I walk away and wash my hands of it, or I have at least the mother-in-law and ideally both her and my wife institutionalized.
Quoted for truth.
Quoted in whole for truth, because there’s nothing in that paragraph which is not demonstrably true and which does not need to be repeated.
Understand.
Well, Six More Years, eh?
Agreed. There seems to be this misconception that people IN the office are working simply because they’re IN the office. So not true. Heck, even I’ve had jobs where I had repeatedly asked for more work, received none, and so surfed the web and took 2 hours lunches for weeks at a time. But hey, at least I was IN the office.
“Democrat Platform Calls for Health Insurance Coverage of ‘All Medically Necessary Care for Gender Transition’”
https://cnsnews.com/article/national/cnsnewscom-staff/democrat-platform-calls-health-insurance-coverage-all-medically
And give every boy and girl a pony !
Wait, that is gender exclusive. And give every youth a pony !
Wait, that is ageist. And give every person a pony !
Wait, that is human specific. I quit !
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
That riot video should be on everyone’s watchlist. That is NOT protesting of any kind, not even pretend.
GunFreeZone lays it out if you need more convincing.
https://gunfreezone.net/this-is-my-question-about-antifa/
n
For any of you here who might be wavering on the issue of vote-by-mail:
NALC endorses Biden-Harris:
In other good “nooz” (as OFD spelled the word at least once):
Teachers’ Unions Falling Out of Favor With Americans. Is It Any Wonder?:
The whole approach to starship is rapid development and testing. They have blown-up a number of the Starships on the way to 5 and I seem to recall that 6 and 7 are under development and construction.
They are not afraid of blowing-up things as long as they can learn from that, rectify, improve and move forward. Nobody has moved things forward as fast as they have in such a short period of time and the cost reductions for the final products are just unbelievable.
Their own engines, their own rockets (small and large), their own astronaut capsule and their own barges for rocket landing. The rockets are reusable with rapid check and re-deployment.
Compare that to Any other offering and the time it has taken them to get here. Gotta love the guy and his team.
@RickH, yes that is the site I thought I pasted into the “link”. I must have forgotten something. Thanks for posting the correct one. My bad for not checking it after I posted it.
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2020/08/17/kamala-harris-descendant-of-slave-owners-alienates-black-voters/
I refuse to subscribe to this conspiracy theory.
And the big dust-up about the UPS is related to their current plea for a budget increase. All of the ‘doom and gloom’ regarding the UPS and mail and mailboxes and delays are just political theatre.
Here’s another conspiracy theory: The recent shortage of pepperoni is all Papa John’s fault.
You are free to share that one, too.
“Democrat Platform Calls for Health Insurance Coverage of ‘All Medically Necessary Care for Gender Transition’”
You would be surprised at how many people apply but do *not* get approved by one of the US clinics. That’s why so many go to Thailand.
The problem that arises from not being in a US program is that once they get back from the surgery overseas, they need expert endocrinology care to compensate for the sudden change in body chemistry. Sometimes they find a GP like my wife who can manage the hormone therapy, but, either way, they will need “medically necessary care” for the rest of their lives, and that will be expensive.
Up until the surgery, wherever it gets done, “medically necessary” is debatable. Afterwards? No.
They are not afraid of blowing-up things as long as they can learn from that, rectify, improve and move forward. Nobody has moved things forward as fast as they have in such a short period of time and the cost reductions for the final products are just unbelievable.
General Graham, Dr. Pournelle, and the rest of the DC-XA team accomplished more in a shorter time frame on a smaller budget adjusted for inflation. Go search YouTube for the footage, in particular the clips from 1995.
It isn’t a dark age until everyone forgets that a certain thing could be done.
“The Sci-Fi & Fantasy Authors You Love Recommend Their Favorite Books”
https://theportalist.com/sci-fi-fantasy-authors-recommend-favorite-books
An interesting group and an interesting list.
Hat tip to:
https://varley.net/nonfiction/news/most-important-books/
Looks like they are going to fly SN5 until she spectacularly blows up. Or crashes.
The whole approach to starship is rapid development and testing. They have blown-up a number of the Starships on the way to 5 and I seem to recall that 6 and 7 are under development and construction.
They are not afraid of blowing-up things as long as they can learn from that, rectify, improve and move forward. Nobody has moved things forward as fast as they have in such a short period of time and the cost reductions for the final products are just unbelievable.
Their own engines, their own rockets (small and large), their own astronaut capsule and their own barges for rocket landing. The rockets are reusable with rapid check and re-deployment.
Compare that to Any other offering and the time it has taken them to get here. Gotta love the guy and his team.
I look forward to taking the daily ballistic from Houston to Tokyo with a travel time of 30 minutes. I am just hoping that I can do weightless 10 minutes without barfing.
They are not afraid of blowing-up things as long as they can learn from that, rectify, improve and move forward. Nobody has moved things forward as fast as they have in such a short period of time and the cost reductions for the final products are just unbelievable.
General Graham, Dr. Pournelle, and the rest of the DC-XA team accomplished more in a shorter time frame on a smaller budget adjusted for inflation. Go search YouTube for the footage, in particular the clips from 1995.
It isn’t a dark age until everyone forgets that a certain thing could be done.
Musk and his merry band of SpaceXers are definitely standing on the shoulders of giants.
But, they are moving forward in the space business and that has a value all its own. I definitely remember Jerry Pournelle singing their praises. IIRC, one of his sons works or worked at SpaceX back then also and took him for a tour one time.
https://www.jerrypournelle.com/chaosmanor/space-x-and-nasa-taxes-and-subsidies/
If you are not on 2004 you may be getting it soonest:
https://www.neowin.net/news/more-blocks-being-lifted-from-installing-the-windows-10-may-2020-update
Blocks lifted are for:
PCs with aksfridge.sys or aksdf.sys is present on system.
PCs with older Nvidia GPU driver.
PCs with Realtek Bluetooth radio drivers.
PCs with Variable refresh rate in Intel iGPU.
PCs with Storage Spaces.
@Geoff Powell – We left the UK (Ilford) in 2000 so missed both Ms May and Boris.
But, they are moving forward in the space business and that has a value all its own. I definitely remember Jerry Pournelle singing their praises. IIRC, one of his sons works or worked at SpaceX back then also and took him for a tour one time.
Pournelle’s son worked at Rotary Rocket.
Yes, I agree! After all, the Wright Brothers blew up 37 airplanes at Kitty Hawk, prior to their success.
Well, yes, but half of them were because Wilbur said, “Hey, Orville, hold my beer and watch this.”
They are not afraid of blowing-up things as long as they can learn from that, rectify, improve and move forward. Nobody has moved things forward as fast as they have in such a short period of time and the cost reductions for the final products are just unbelievable.
Yes, I agree! After all, the Wright Brothers blew up 37 airplanes at Kitty Hawk, prior to their success.
Yeah, they never did get the hang of the inside loop.
Orville and Wilber were not the actual inventors, don’t you know. The REAL inventor of the airplane is a female no one had ever heard of who lived next to the brothers and had all the ideas. The brothers of course ripped her off as members of the dominant patriarchy, burying her contributions, without which man would never have mastered heavier than air flight longer than it took to fall from the barstool to the floor.
Watch for the movie of her heroic fight for flight, coming soon to a theater near you.*
n
*viewing by males is man-datory, and your $23.99 entry fee will be used to fund abortions of male babies, but only if they’re melanin free.
“Sept. 17, 1908: First Airplane Passenger Death”
https://www.wired.com/2010/09/0917selfridge-first-us-air-fatality/
“The flight tests set out by the Army required the airplane to carry two people for a set duration, distance and speed. There was a committee of five officers to evaluate the Wright Flyer’s performance, including the 26-year-old Selfridge.”
“Selfridge was a member of the Aerial Experiment Association and had designed the group’s first powered airplane. The Red Wingfirst flew on March 12, 1908, but crashed and was destroyed on its second flight a few days later.”
“During the first two weeks of September Orville made 15 flights at Fort Myer. He set three world records Sept. 9, including a 62-minute flight and the first public passenger flight. By Sept. 12 Orville had flown more than 74 minutes in a single flight and carried Maj. George Squier for more than 9 minutes in one flight.”
“On Sept. 17 Orville was flying Selfridge on another of the test flights. Three or four minutes into the flight, a blade on one of the two wooden propellers split and caused the engine to shake violently. Orville shut down the engine but was unable to control the airplane.”
“The propeller had hit a bracing wire and pulled a rear rudder from the vertical position to a horizontal position. This caused the airplane to pitch nose-down, and it could not be countered by the pilot.”
“The Wright Flyer hit the ground hard, and both men were injured. Orville suffered a fractured leg and several broken ribs. Selfridge suffered a fractured skull and died in the hospital a few hours later.”
Wow, that was about their tenth ? twentieth ? thirtieth ? plane (both powered and glider) with the fatal crash.
You can read about their various planes (both powered and glider) at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers
The air base named after Lt. Selfridge.
Ah, you mean this is the week? It looks pretty certain, actually. They won’t play any really stupid games, or else they’ll piss off the voters who actually take the DNC seriously.
And companies have to make money, so they occasionally clean house. This is *the* problem with government: since no housecleaning is ever required, the number of useless drones is probably 80%-90%. Of course, they are needed to make sure that all the regulations are followed – the regulations that they, themselves created. What’s the saying? “The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.”
While some few people do genuinely have a medical condition requiring correction, the vast majority of trans-folk appear to have mental issues, and are just hopping on a bandwagon. It would be better to get them the care they actually need.
At the same time, I am amazed at those people who seem to constantly need therapy, need emotional support animals, claim to have (self-diagnosed) anxiety, PTSD, or whatever.
Psychological medicine is still in the Stone Age.
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We’re fighting stupid problems with the new house: The internet provider is missing a report from the company that installed the glass fiber. That company has apparently provided the report multiple times, but it keeps getting lost. So we’re living off of smartphone hotspots, and reception here is pretty poor.
Meanwhile, the post office apparently cannot find our mailbox. Which I kind of understand, because it’s a bit off the main road – it has to be on the edge of *our* property, and we have this access road across our crazy neighbors’ property. But we’ve been fighting this for more than a week now, which is nuts.
On the good side, all of our stuff is schedule to arrive today. The movers will unload as much as they can, spend the night, and finish tomorrow morning. We’re organizing beer and pizza tonight for the moving crew.
@harold:
OK, so you missed most of “El Presidente” Tony Blair, and all of Cameron. Not that there’s much to distinguish them. Some one (I think RAH) once said, “Anyone who desires power over others should be prevented from gaining it”, or words to that effect.
And a majority of our politicians are PPE graduates (Politics, Philosophy and Economics)
It shows.
G.