This is the first time in 11 years that the U.S. has launched astronauts into space on a U.S. rocket, from U.S. soil. Even more impressive, it's a private company providing a launch service which opens up vast possibilities for future space endeavors.
"No. No this is good! Musk and his crackerjack engineers are squeezing all the extra 'splodies out of the out of his new rocket before putting people on it."
1
So this "Will it break" channel takes the NSF video, re-uploads it to their channel with a highly inaccurate click-bait title, without so much as one bit of additional content... I'm tempted to ping Chris Bergin, he's already indicated at NSF that he's not interested in giving publishing rights to any major media that's never interested in anything but explosions.
Posted by: David at Fri May 29 20:03:52 2020 (UmjNG)
2
I should have looked at the comments, NSF has already asked for it to be removed.
Posted by: David at Fri May 29 20:05:02 2020 (UmjNG)
Alright: We Need to Quarantine All the ArchDukes Until We can Figure Out What The Hell Is Going On
Since there is nothing going on right now that might warrant the Politburo's attention, China is having a border clash with India.
Yet another battle occurred May 5 in the Pangong Tso Lake area when an estimated 250 Indian and Chinese army personnel fought with iron rods, sticks, and stones. Soldiers on both sides sustained injuries.
"Wait. What?"
Fortunately, they appear to be escalating slowly, from fists to rocks and now rebar. If they don't reach a diplomatic solution soon, I give it no more than another week before they break out the bows, arrows and edged weapons. I suspect that both sides may already be secretly fabricating trebuchets in anticipation of further escalation.
1
I wonder if they're fighting with the low-tech stuff because it's actually what they have, if they have better but it's (apparently wisely) locked up in an armory, or if they're just choosing to put the rifles down and "if it's not my military issue weapon, it's just good clean fun."
Posted by: David at Tue May 26 00:31:40 2020 (UmjNG)
How Quick It Comes (Updated)
Monday, my sister's in-laws were visited by their daughter wearing a respirator and wielding scissors. She cut their hair, dropped off some medicine and was relieved that they were fine.
Tuesday, my sister's father in law had a cold and developed a terrible headache.
Wednesday, he was having difficulty breathing and tried to get a doctors appointment but was told that he could not bee seen.
Thursday he could not walk unassisted and his daughter and wife took him to the ER where he was put in intensive care. By that evening he was in a coma with COVID-19. His prognosis is grim.
My sister's mother-in-law has been told to stay home pending tests, but has many Wu-Flu including headache, flu-like aches and blue toes. Why they won't let her into the hospital is unclear. Her daughter, who one would expect would be quarantined for two weeks at this point, was told that her test had come back negative and she did not need to self isolate...because apparently the doctors in North Carolina do not understand the concept of incubation periods.
The Xi JinPox lingers for weeks without symptoms but spreading itself to the for winds, and when it manifests itself, it can take you down quick.
Look.
While the lockdown certainly has to end, masks still need to be worn and those who decide to go to high traffic venues need to avoid the old and frail, at least when they are without a mask. A mask is not a civil rights violation. It does little good to protect its wearer, but its effect in aggregate in slowing the spread of infections is profound and that they can work better than the lockdowns themselves is now proven by testing on a national scale.
How to make people understand that this lack of hygiene is not mere defiance of unreasonable authority but an abdication of civic responsibility is difficult, especially when those who are most vocal about demanding that this be done are those who never turn down an opportunity exercise some petty power over us.
But the case has to be made, so I'll give it a go, as bluntly, rudely, crudely and in a manner as non-compliant with the establishment's gestalt as I possibly can.
Those who are refusing to do the most basic hygiene steps are not just abdicating their civic responsibility, they are no different from the bug-chasers who spread AIDS though their community and beyond because they would not be dissuaded from frequenting bathouses and doing unhygienic things. So wear a mask...or you're a fag.
UPDATE: So...re-reading the post a day later...Yeah. I should probably not hit "post" when I'm upset, in pain, and on a muscle relaxant.
Suffice it to say that I think masks in shops and on public transit are a very good idea right now.
1
Isn't it a little too short of an incubation period?
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue May 26 11:38:51 2020 (LZ7Bg)
2
Sure, the last line may be a bit spiteful, but not an objectionable sentiment, IMO.
Posted by: Ben at Tue May 26 12:24:02 2020 (osxtX)
3
Pete,what do you mean regarding incubation period?
If you're referring to my sister's mother-inlaw, she lived with her husband so they both probably got infected weeks ago. Their daughter is much younger, so if she does manifest symptoms it will likely be in a few weeks.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Tue May 26 13:48:54 2020 (5iiQK)
4
By leaving out how he might have gotten infected in recent weeks, you made it plausible to interpret the story as "infected Monday, despite her precautions". I had to go back and reread the paragraph to be sure that wasn't what you meant by "how quick".
I hope the prognosis has improved, and that he comes through this.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Tue May 26 14:08:11 2020 (ZlYZd)
5
Yeah, he better work through it. I heard of a 104 year old veteran of WWII beating WuFlu a month ago. Chances are there.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Tue May 26 14:47:26 2020 (LZ7Bg)
6
I sincerely hope that your sister's Father-in-law manages to recover. I honestly feel that mask wearing in public, along with all the other lockdown and social distancing measures, is not the best approach to saving the lives of those who are most at risk though.
Those who are most at risk from contracting the Coronavirus, mostly the elderly, but a few others as well, really ought to have been quarantined for the duration while the virus spread through the rest of the population. That sounds like perhaps a tall order, but should have been doable in most cases for a few weeks or a month or so. Months on end with essentially no end in sight is a different matter however. For instance, in the case of your sister's Father-in-law, just how long should he and others in his situation have been expected to avoid exposure when it continues slowly spreading through the population at large for months on end.
The fact is, for the vast majority of the population, it really wouldn't be that dangerous to catch. This is becoming more and more apparent as data comes in.
Posted by: A Griffin at Thu May 28 15:08:24 2020 (DONPe)
1
That's really cool, and undoubtedly a lot more fun than climbing a ladder. But you can't carry much if any gear with you, any hostiles would have great fun shooting you out of the air, and I can't imagine those things are much good in the foul weather/high seas that go with a lot of Coast Guard activity. But as a way to get the first person aboard to evaluate a situation, perhaps take the helm, receive a messenger line, etc., it could be quite nice. I'm not sure about inspections, you'd have to take the gear off and leave it on deck while you poked around.
Posted by: David at Sun May 24 13:30:10 2020 (UmjNG)
Absolute Genius!
So, as mentioned in the last post, I got the face mask that I'd ordered 8 weeks ago. It was oh the porch as I left so I opened it and after a quick lookover donned it and went to work. It was great, it didn't fog my glasses up nearly as bad. Yesterday, I sat down and went through the process of disassembling and cleaning the now salt encrusted face covering and changing the filters.
Those filters...which cover the interior of entire mask except for two screen covered breathing holes.
Those are supposed to be one way breathing valves. They are not.
I've now cut down a regular medical face mask and put inside the other filter, much like I did with the coffee filters and my plague-doctor mask. This results in much more fogging of the glasses but does not result in the mask being a completely pointless inconvenience.
1
I clicked the link in your previous post and if you look carefully at the picture, it does show a hole in the filter. Genius! If it weren't out of stock and probably never likely to return I'd suggest a 1-star review.
Posted by: Rick C at Thu May 21 19:30:48 2020 (Iwkd4)
2
The hole in the filter is for the exhalation vents, which are supposed to be one way valves....not screens. The masks are a standard design and I have a maintenance kit coming that has spare valves and filters, so I should be able to fix it soon.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu May 21 19:58:46 2020 (5iiQK)
3
Ah, TIL.
So you may have just gotten a unit that missed a piece, which does happen from time to time. (I worked in a convenience store years ago and a couple of times I got a box of cracker packages or whatever that was missing a package.)
Posted by: Rick C at Thu May 21 20:37:05 2020 (Iwkd4)
4
Of course, exhalation valves mean that you can SPREAD the virus if you actually have it and are asymptomatic, as any Karen can plainly screech at you.
Posted by: Mauser at Thu May 21 20:46:20 2020 (Ix1l6)
5
Yes, though that's not an issue with the medical mask doinserted over it the vents now. I honestly thought that there were filters in those vents until I took it apart.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu May 21 23:42:18 2020 (BAdr4)
The Journey of Discovery Never Ends
I've learned two things this week.
First, after 50 years on this earth, I belatedly discovered that if you cook instant ramen in a rice cooker and just let it cycle as if it were rice, it comes out absolutely perfect. Why did I never try this before?
Second, my reusable mask finally arrived. Alas, I discovered that sneezing while wearing it at work it is a transcendentally unpleasant experience.
Picture is unrelated to any of these discoveries, but does get Cacodaemon-girl off the top post.
1
Clearly you need to add a disposable mask to keep the reusable mask clean. And a source of oxygen, because it can't be fun to do real physical labor with your breathing compromised.
My sister sent me a reusable mask from Etsy, made with Doctor Who fabric. I'd have to find longer elastic to wear it without tearing up my ears, and I still have a large pack of discount surgical masks if I need to keep cosplaying an Obedient Subject much longer. I don't want to use the non-vented P95 masks I've had for years, because they're even harder to breathe in (tried them out when I bought the CNC router, then immediately upgraded to a proper 3M respirator and full-face shield).
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Wed May 20 11:44:58 2020 (ZlYZd)
Ars Technica seems quite sanguine about the situation however, and says that this is vastly less terrifying than the rootkit anti-cheat/DRM programs put in other games.
In other news, malaria is less scary than smallpox.
Now I don't know jack about coding and to me a kernal is an individual corn seed or a non-naval officer rank right under Brigadier General.
So....Those of you in IT, please opine.
Is this actually as bad as it looks?
[Topical Illustration Goes Here]
Cacodemon moefication services provided by Substance-20, who can be supported via Ko-Fi
1
It is every bit as bad as it looks, if not worse. Claiming it's not as dangerous and insecure as other products that claim to prevent cheating/piracy is like saying "we lube the chainsaw before inserting it".
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon May 18 11:06:11 2020 (ZlYZd)
2
Yeah, think of the kernal as the computer's central nervous system. They're essentially inserting a control mechanism into it.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at Mon May 18 14:26:10 2020 (udqL+)
3
I can't find the reference at the moment, but one of Microsoft's senior engineers once published some numbers on what causes Windows to crash based on many thousands of auto-submitted reports, and badly-written kernel drivers were way out in the lead.
And that's with things that are trying to make your computer work correctly. Drivers that are designed to detect undesired behaviors and stop them have the potential to be far worse. After all, do you really think they're hiring the best and most conscientious developers and QA testers, and bending over backwards to ensure they cause no harm?
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon May 18 17:10:22 2020 (ZlYZd)
4
The thing about this particular anti-cheat is that apparently not many people are playing multiplayer, but it's still around in single player. I don't generally cheat in games, but it's none of Bethesda's damn business if I want to cheat in single-player.
I already wasn't going to buy this because, honestly, I haven't finished the last DOOM yet, but now there's no way I'm buying it before it's inevitably cracked and Denuvo/Bethesda patch it out (which is what normally happens when Denuvo for a particular game is cracked.)
Posted by: Rick C at Mon May 18 19:12:38 2020 (Iwkd4)
5
BTW I don't know what's up with that picture but Firefox really hates it--it's coming in like a 24-bit animated GIF on dialup, one scan line at a time. (I don't know if it's FF or a temporary site hiccup, as I loaded this post in Edge and the picture came in instantly.)
Posted by: Rick C at Mon May 18 19:14:19 2020 (Iwkd4)
"Rats! Now no one will know about my prize-winning rodeo pig!"
You see in Chinese, 共匪 is the pictograph of a slang term that means "Communist Bandit"*.
The paper says comments will be deleted within 15 seconds and having tried this myself, I note that it will indeed happen within 12 and 20 seconds of the comment being posted. That's some pretty impressive bot work.
Anyway, it's just another example of YouTube enthusiastically doing censorship for the disease spreading, organjacking, genocidal, slavers, in the CCP.**
1
FYI, I do not recognize that as any Japanese word, and neither does JMDICT. The only compounds I find containing 匪 pronounce it "hi" and refer to bandits; none of them also use 共, in any combination. Wild boar is either 猪 or 野猪.
This doesn't excuse Google, of course; they really do look up to China as their Big Brother.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon May 18 10:56:51 2020 (ZlYZd)
2
I recognized "boar" and the common boar in Japan is their smaller wild boar. The compound had me befuddled so I....Oh right.
I have found the source of my error.
I used an unreliable citation.
I do wonder if this compound has been targeted even in translation software, or this is just a glitch. The former does not seem implausible and has terrifying implications.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Mon May 18 18:22:40 2020 (5iiQK)
3
I find it interesting that Google doesn't even try to pronounce 匪 in its "translation". Bing autodetects simplified Chinese and translates it character-by-character, giving "co-bandit". Telling it to try to read it as Japanese just gives the reading "Kyo-yi" as the non-translation, and the suggestion to try Simplified Chinese...
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon May 18 20:23:41 2020 (ZlYZd)
4
Language Log has a post about it, of course! It is pronounced "gongfei" with the usual weird diacritical marks as pitch markers. It means "Commie bandit".
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at Tue May 19 07:52:06 2020 (sF8WE)
5
As of this morning, pasting that into Google Translate & letting it detect the language (Chinese) results in a translation to English of "Gangster" for me.
Also, Facebook isn't deleting posts with that in them.
Posted by: Rick C at Wed May 20 10:27:35 2020 (Iwkd4)
6This is a splendid website! I"m extremely content with the remarks!. CBD Bud
Posted by: CBD Bud at Mon Nov 23 01:11:29 2020 (hEwye)
Posted by: Pixy Misa at Mon May 18 09:32:05 2020 (PiXy!)
3
For me, stuck at home in California, the most interesting development has been that Amazon is no longer quoting lengthy delays of "non-essential" items. The only obvious delays are sold-out items that are popular for people stuck at home, and shipped-from-China knockoff items that are not restocking for the foreseeable future. Not that there still aren't plenty of products from randomly-named fly-by-night "companies" with suspicious 5-star reviews...
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Mon May 18 10:43:23 2020 (ZlYZd)
Now one of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes has come to bring us the news that the committee of ominous sky omens has successfully requisitioned a replacement from the comet dispensary.
Comet Swan should be visible in the northeast at dawn in the next week or so. It will be viewable with binoculars and possibly to the naked eye just above the horizon to the northeast around dawn between now and early June. Peak brightness is expected in the morning of the 21st..
Here's what it looked like via telescope on April 20th. This is a compressed one hour exposure taken by Terry Lovejoy.
More On The Chinese and Their...(Checks Rolodex of Mayhem)...Nuclear Arsenal
So, the other day, it was reported that Hu Xijin, the head editor of China's Global Times news outfit published an op-ed calling for a vast expansion of China's nuclear arsenal. He has since clarified this position with two follow up opinion pieces...and by clarified I mean doubled down.
There are a couple of things to keep in mind here. The Global Times is in a weird place in the state approved news ecosystem. They are a subsiudiary of the official CCP mouthpiece the People's Daily and the staff are all party members in good standing, yet they seem to veer from the party line frequently as The Economist notes regarding their coverage of the situation with the Uighurs in Xianxing:.
Even as Chinese spokesmen denied the (Uighur)] camps’ existence, the Global Times, in its English-language edition, acknowledged "counter-terrorism education†among Xinjiang residents and work to "rectify†the thinking of imprisoned extremists. Whether the way Xinjiang is run violates human rights "must be judged by whether its results safeguard the interests of the majority in the regionâ€, said the Global Times in August. Its editor, Hu Xijin, tweeted that Xinjiang had been saved from becoming "another Chechnya, Syria or Libyaâ€.
Thus it seems they publish the actual party line as opposed to the official party line and given their ownership and the party memberships of everyone on staff, it can be safely assumed that the Editor in Chief does not take a dump without it being approved in triplicate by the Politburo. (Which probably explains his blue check-mark).
In recent week's there's been concern expressed about China's nuclear ambitions and the possibility they are conducting low level nuclear tests. China's nuclear stockpile is unknown but western intel agencies put it at 290 warheads of various sizes. That's less than France and anomalously low for a nation that, from its point of view, has to deter nuclear rivals and "frenimies" U.S., Russia, and India....and nominal allies, Pakistan and North Korea also border China, adding to their sense of serenity.
How that rather small number is arrived at is unclear, but the western intel services seem to have a history of dismissing and underestimating China until recently as a matter of policy, and given the secrecy surrounding the program, and the accuracy our intelligence services have demonstrated over the last 30 years, some caution is, therefore, advisable.
Both the U.S. and Russia have invited China into the ongoing arms control talks between the two countries, but China has demurred, Indeed China has little to gain by tipping its hand and opening itself up to inspection, and less to gain if it's acting in bad faith. In fact, China is hypothesized by some to be pursuing a strategy of "Nuclear Thoughtlessness" which, frankly, are two words that ought not to be merged into a compound.
But about that 290 warhead number: China has 6 operational SSBNs with two more on the way. Each carries 12 ballistic missiles. that's 72, and soon to be 96 missiles. The follow on class is reported to have 24 missile tubes but we won't count them for now. 96 missiles is over a third of all China's arsenal. But wait.These missiles are known from observations of China's missile tests to be capable of carrying at least three warheads. Which....even using my simple liberal arts math (96 x 3 ) gives us 288 warheads out of an estimated 290, leaving two warheads to be shared amongst all the bombers and ICBMs and there are at least 20 of the DF-41 -ICBM's
For example, Fish said it is not known if each Second Artillery ICBM unit operates with six or twelve launchers, and it is likely that all units include one "reload" missile for each launcher.
"So it is possible that 12 to 24 DF-41 missiles would be included in a unit," he said, noting that if the DF-41 can carry up to 10 warheads, each unit may deploy with between 120 to 240 warheads.
This wild-mass guessing does not take into account bombers or any tactical nuclear weapons at all.. Note too that the US in the mid 1960s was fielding the UGM-73 Poseidon missile, which is smaller than China's JL-2/3 and carried up to 14 MIRVed warheads. This is not to say that is putting that many warheads on their SLBMs or that they are likely to, (Poseidon was to be launched from close to the U.S.S.R. and could trade range for a bigger payload ). However, we could do that 50 years ago and so it is probably best to assume that 1-3 warheads per missile is a very conservative estimate.
Thus, whatever China's stockpile is now, 290 warheads does not even fill all of the missiles we know it has.
The upshot of all this is that China is very likely either in possession of a much larger nuclear force than is generally credited to it or is rapidly building up to that goal.
When this virus situation resolves itself, I suggest everyone keep those beans and rice stocked up.
To help you, gentle reader, visualize the implications of all this, here's some cool Chinese nuclear test footage.
There's an extensive disquisition on the history, policy and general inscrutability of the Chinese nuclear forces here.
well, it turns out that due to current regulations, in the U.S.A. right now, you cannot sell meat to a restaurant unless you have...
1: at least one USDA inspector in your facility
2: said USDA inspector must have their own office and private bathroom.
This eliminates most small farmers and mandates adding middlemen.
It's one of those regulations that specifically favors larger businesses with money to spare, thus kneecapping competition to the big firms. USDA inspectors ought to still drive around to the farms to provide surprise inspections, but they ought to be able to use a laptop and the farmers loo.
Meanwhile....In the Dystopian Hellscape of a Less Liberty Minded Country
A walk through Shibuya under covid-19 guidelines. Japan, hardly a libertarian bastion, has nevertheless instigated largely voluntary measures and not engaged in mandatory closures except for a very few specific instances. Nevertheless, a majority of businesses are shut down voluntarily, and mask usage is is near universal.
For those who suggest that I'm being philosophically inconsistent, note that three weeks ago, while posting skepticism about the wisdom of mass cheek to jowl gatherings without masks, I suggested that while the shutdown was advisable, many of the lockdowns were ridiculously heavy handed and that we should probably start relaxing things in all but the hardest hit areas after about two weeks.
Note: Because we live in the current year, it is necessary (for reasons of Brobdingnagian societal stupidity) to note that, despite complaints in his comments, the thumbnail is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the lockdown and not an endorsement of slavery.
Good grief! Several of these Vector SP1s have one or both of their bolt lugs shorn off, making them simple blowback pistols and not locked breech. As the gun is chambered for 9mm Luger and not 9mm Kurtz or 9mm Makarov, that's bad. It's an easy fix if you haven't already been killed or injured by it.
It is reported that spambots are hacking YouTube accounts via the comments section by asking "Wanna be friends?". Hambly, with permission, pasted the original Evanz111 video on the end of his which goes into depth on the matter.
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