February 05, 2021
What?
Oh LOOK!
It's all ok.
more...
They're not afraid anymore!
It's all Oh Kaaay!
There's no reason to hide anymore.
They can come right out in the open and say it.
It wasn't a conspiracy THEORY.
Saying something as spicy as this, even yesterday would get you banned from social media and perhaps loose your job or even your bank account.
Now the conspiracy theory is a virtue signal.
Why in God's name would Time publish this?
I can think of four reasons.
1: TIME is a principled publication seeking unfettered truth and published this bombshell out of a sense of civic responsibility.
2: The editors at TIME have lost the plot and decided that the Q-Anon idiots should not be allowed to have all the fun.
3: They are gloating and rubbing our faces in our helplessness to further demoralize us.
4: They aim to incite people on the right to act out of desperation and despair, as the degenerate fuckwits did at the Capitol last month, because they need a better Horst Wessel moment.
That last is kind of outre' but one wonders, given the tensions in the country, and the assumption that the editorial staff at TIME are not blithering idiots, if that isn't at least possible in current year.
The message of the Time story, is as follows.
The Left control's the horizontal.
They control the vertical.
There is no escape.
Not by boat.
Not by plane nor foot or even rocket.
Please dissuade me of my crazy rantings and troublesome conclusions in the comments.
In case of the article getting memory holed, as often happens, it will be copied and pasted below the fold.
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February 04, 2021
And Just Like That...
... the Decepticons happened.
Twitter link here. HT Ace.
more...
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February 03, 2021
Ouch.
My steel toed boots did their job today.
Though I was in pain most of the day at work.
Only after I got home did I realize HOW much pain I'd have been in if I had not had the steel toed boots.
(Trigger Warning)
The whole foot is swollen but nothing is broken except the nail.
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Elon Musk's SN-9
Makes a PERFECT test flight!
"Their landings need some work."
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February 01, 2021
A New Take on NERVA
One of the Brickmuppet's Crack Team of Science Babes brings us this video on recent developments in the the world of rocketry.
The Scorpion is also described on pages 214-237 of the July 2019 issue of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Almost everything in this ship is off the shelf, it's just tweaking existing technologies. Of course, system integration can be fraught to say the least, but this doesn't require any real breakthroughs.
In fact, this was initially studied as an alternate history study by the British Interplanetary Society of what COULD have been developed given a more robust space program from the mid-'90s on.
The ship design is pretty interesting, with a layout similar to the Eagles from Space 1999. That is is because the nuclear engines can't really be throttled, and landing in one's own radioactive dust cloud is not a spaceflight best practice.
The landing engines are at 90 degrees to the main engines and the ship is designed to carry cargo in the manner of a flying crane.
"Tell them about the engine! The engine!"
'Kayy...
The SCORPION nuclear rockets are similar to the old NERVA rockets but use integral arc-jets in the nozzles to accelerate the exhaust to insane velocities. This gives both good thrust AND a very high exhaust velocity. It's not quite a torch ship but it combines the best traits of arc-jets and ion drives with nuclear thermal rockets.
But wait.
There's more!
Once a nuclear, thermal rocket is lit off, it becomes deadly to any unshielded people within about 100 miles. There is a shadow shield that protects the crew quarters of a nuclear ship, but operating around space stations, or even in lunar orbit passing over a settlement is problematic.
This reactor design has enough thrust to allow for a shield that completely surrounds the engine, and the fuel rods can be retracted into a sort of safe when the engine is not thrusting. this allows the rocket 360 degree safety when the main engine is disconnected, allowing it to dock at space stations or land on moons near settlements without worry.
Because the control rods, once activated, will be hot (thermally as well as radioactively) a liquid cooler and radiators will be required. This has the happy side effect of using the waste heat of even the inactive main engine to power a generator or thermocouple, allowing for enough auxiliary power to support an active cooling system for the propellant and any conceivable hotel load.
Finally, the ship does have artificial gravity, but without the engineering malpractice involved with a rotating pressure seal.
This is a really interesting design particularly when one remembers that it was designed with more modest lift capabilities than we now have in prospect in the form of Musk and Bezos's new large rockets.
UPDATE:
Unsurprisingly, it turns out there is a very good overview of this design and the engine at Atomic Rocket. It notes that the performance of this "Integrated NTR Arcjet" is close to that of a Nuclear Lightbulb engine.
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January 31, 2021
An Even Better Overview of the Gamestop Mess
Via Pixy
This video comes with the following list of citations in the description.
Like everything nowadays this has become polarized. I've had conversations with and read missives by people, including a few friends who are convinced the Redditards are in the wrong, and are the only bad actor here. Some have made it plain that to disagree with them on this point is to reveal oneself as a bad person.
Here is where I take off the mask and reveal myself to have been secretly working for the forces of darkness all along.
I think the Redditards are probably assholes. They likely are vulgar, blunt and rude people, who don't engage in the insincere social niceties so necessary for polite upper middle class society. Hell, they're probably just jerks and I don't think they'd be fun to hang out with.
I do NOT think they did anything wrong here.
I think the hedgefund shortsellers in the affair are probably well-spoken affable individuals, articulate and fun to be around.
I think that shorting struggling companies 140 percent is and this being a common practice, is troubling. I think that the ability of a few firms to do this in such a way it affects the whole market is scary. And I think that the stink of corruption in the firms with fiduciary responsibilities to the hedge funds ; the ones that stopped trading, but not selling, on the very stocks that the hedge funds desperately wanted people to sell...is suss to say the least. I think that lying about one's liquidity to investors and customers is not a best practice.
Finally, I think that struggling companies that might have turned the corner, not being crushed like grapes before they have the chance to maybe save the livelihoods of their owners, investors and at least some of their employees...well that's not bad per se.
As for a bunch of assholes making money because they saw a legal opportunity and took it? Well, more power to them.
Did some people get hurt in this? Yes, those with retirement funds...like mine have gotten burned. But they got hurt, not because some asshole on Reddit NOTICED that hedge funds were manipulating the market, but because the hedge funds pursued a short squeeze in the first place.
So there, your milage may vary, but now you all know.
The vast depth and breadth of my evil is laid out before you. Get your affairs in order, I'll be crossing the Rivr Isen on Midsummer Eve...and I'll be wearing black.
(Or something...June 21st is in the middle of my vacation this year but COVID makes it hard to plan. )
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Meanwhile: In the world of English V-Tubers (Updated)
V-Shojo had their latest V-Tuber debut. V-Shojo, if you are not aware, consists of several English Language Twitch streamers with large followings by the standards of V-Tubers not from Hololive. Unlike Hololive, the streamers have creative control to the extent that while it is an LLC, it seems to operate more like a Co-Op. All of the members of the group thus far have been, in their own way quite talented and entertaining.
Then this happened.
Today is the first time that someone has actually debuted that was not a very established talent and while all V-Shojo members have had Hololive style intro videos done (after V--Shojo was formed) this was the first time that it it was one of their streamers' actual internet premiere.
Hajime is an alien princess... a robotic space dragon titty monster sent to give a definitive answer to the Fermi Paradox...and conquer Earth...but mostly conquer Earth. Due to various complications she lacks an organization, significant infrastructure, and useful resources. Having landed/crashed/ cunningly concealed her ship outside of Tokyo, she was contacted by a certain rogue A.I. who helped her get a small apartment. Through said A.I. (Projekt Melody), she got a rundown on what a V-Tuber is, and hatched a cunning plan...
She will run a Twitch channel and get thousands of adoring simps to send her money, which she will use to gather resources and eventually take over the world. Her skillset includes, Loudness, Video Games, Serial Killer Trivia, Birthing lots of Dragonspawn, and speaking English, Japanese and Thai. Also lovingly animated fluid dynamics.
As V-Shojo lore goes, this is straightforward and devoid of any caveats*, She's from space. Each of her tits is as big as her head . SHE WANTS YOUR MONEY.
Thats it.
There were some technical issues (she had over 16,000 viewers when she started) and boy is she shrill.
I'm not sure about this. Aside from any cringing that might or might not have occurred, the word "simp" is now against Twitch TOS. (because the world is stupid).
But after enduring a chunk of the debut, I wonder if V-Shojo is going to be doing something like Pro-Wrestling and having her be a designated villain.
That might be her niche.
UPDATE: Well. Twitch suspended her after her first stream. Rumors are that her character design was too sexy...though I note the use of the word "simp" multiple times is a TOS violation.
* Or wolf-plant hybrids
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January 30, 2021
As Good A Rundown as I've Seen On The Gamestop Thing
I've seen people asking what Musk is commenting on this for, and I think it's because Musk was almost put out of business by shortsellers in 2017-18. Musk sued the shortsellers in 2018, and still is trying to end the crooked practice.
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January 29, 2021
Space X
Well, there are a lot of conflicting stories as to what happened with the FAA and the SN-9 test flight scheduled for yesterday.
However, as I type this they are rolling out SN-10 to the launch pad.
Reportedly, SN-9 is scheduled for a Monday launch, but SN-10 is scheduled for "soon".
We'll see.
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Well This Bodes Ill
Yesterday there was a bit of confusion regarding Space-X's test flight (which failed to transpire). Specifically, there were conflicting reports that the FAA had or had not rescinded their flight authorization at the last minute.
Well, Space-X does appear to be in trouble with at least one other branch of the government, the Justice Department.
It seems that they are being investigated for workplace discrimination. Specifically, they are accused of refusing to hire non-U.S. citizens.
They're gonna be prosecuted for not hiring foreigners at an ITAR sensitive firm, and one of the Few U.S. firms with a global technological lead in its fields. There is no info on what the nationality is but as this doesn't seem to have been an issue until president Djo Bai Din came into office, I would be very interested in knowing that crucial fact.
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It's Like an...Analogy, or a Metaphor
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January 28, 2021
On Gamestop
So for those who may have missed it GamestopGate (seriously, does it HAVE a name?) is where a bunch of Redditards, on a lark, decided to use their $600.00 dollar stimulus checks to white-knight for the dying retail chain that meant so much to them in their youth. The firm was being targeted by short sellers whose business plan is to kick struggling businesses in the nuts. The Redditatrds in question, thousands and thousands of them, did the exact mirror image of what Melvin Capital was doing to Gamestop, and boosted its stock from 3 dollars to over 300. The result is that Melvin Capital is loosing their shirts, having borrowed money with which to invest in Gamestop stock once they wrecked its price.
The problem as I see it is that people whose retirement funds are locked up in Melvin Capital are getting burnt by this too. This is sad.
It's also dangerous.
The outrage by the Wall Street types is shining a light on the fact that they are really angry that someone from outside the their clique doing what they do all the time, just without sneakiness or subtlety. And that is a genuine danger because it brings into stark relief how fake the current Wall Street situation is, and that brings to mind...Tulips.
Oh. Oh no.
And that's not good for ANYBODY.
A rock solid argument can be made that this is unacceptable. But if that's the case, then it has to be unacceptable for everybody including the people who were perfectly content to profit mightily from doing the exact same thing to the less powerful and now whine like stuck pigs that what they did to the peasants is now being done to T...THEM!
The establishment is gathering the wagons around the predatory short sellers, freezing trading on this and other stocks that are getting relief from the short sellers. as Glenn Reynolds notes in the Post....
Meanwhile, regulators huffed and puffed, and CNBC was filled with industry bigshots arguing that this sort of thing shouldn’t be allowed — although, as critics noted, the Reddit mob was just doing to the short-sellers what Wall Street insiders do all the time to retail investors.The Biden administration, meanwhile, weighed in with the sort of response we’ve come to expect from the Really Smart Peopleâ„¢. Asked if the White House was concerned about the stock market and the movement of GameStop stock, Press Secretary Jen Psaki responded: "Well, I’m also happy to repeat that we have the first female Treasury secretary.â€
Uh.
'Kaay.
That we are in fact living in Clown World is demonstrated by the fact that the pithiest and most cogent take is from...Glenn Greenwald.
And that...is why we're here.
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Lets See If They Launch
UPDATE: 15:35:58 It sounds like the FAA has rescinded their launch clearance for today...but there's an appeal being made.
UPDATE: Nope
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Oh
It's My Math lab.
Not My Meth Lab.
So the spam wasn't QUITE as toxic as I thought.
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Who Hit the Box Button?
Yesterday, I was lamenting the ridiculously low volume we were getting at work recently. Today, wow; cardboard tsunami!
This was particularly surprising as it coincided with a blizzard.
Yeah, I need to do something about that ivy.
Now Pete, Wonderduck and everyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line are all like "That's not a blizzard, that's a Thursday."
And indeed work was not materially affected...except for all the people who did not show up.
"It's a blizzard!"
" I can't open my door!"
"I can't get out of my driveway!"
" My neighborhood 's roads are impassable"
" I can't get out of bed!"
Kids today.
Despite the sudden spike in volume and dip in staffing we got everything out on time and I worked my first full day in nearly two weeks.
I also suspect from those lame-ass call-ins that the overstaffing situation is about to change.
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Brickmuppet Blog: Trendsetter
OK, not really.
However, about a week ago I noted the U.K.s decision to allow Hong Kongers to immigrate there and stated that our not doing the same was a missed opportunity for the U.S..
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January 27, 2021
Leading Indicators
Today was the first day in 2 weeks I've worked more than an hour and a half. There's been an astonishing drop in volume at my work over the last 2 weeks. There always is a severe drop after Christmas, but before Christmas we had Christmas level volume because of the COVID restrictions...which have gotten much more onerous during that time.. Now I'm not laid off, I have sufficient seniority that when they lay people off I can volunteer to be one of them and I've had errands, family issues and doctors appointments so I've taken advantage of that several days, but we're still very short of volume. Even in slack years, even in January, we did not finish unloading packages after an hour and a half on a nominally 4-5 hour shift.
Given the increasing intensity of he lockdowns and the volume of vaccines that we were getting before this week, one would expect a heavier than normal January. Indeed the first two weeks of the month (which in my 28 years of experience are usually dead) were remarkably heavy.
In general the end of January and beginning of February are a bit heavier than most of the post-Christmas winter since stores are restocking their inventory. However, this is the very time that we're seeing volume DROP.
One shipping center is not representative of the company, let alone the economy. In fact it's a ridiculously inadequate data point, but it is concerning, and the lack of pay is of some personal concern.
U.S. economic numbers lag a fair bit in relation to the current time, so I checked out the Baltic Dry Index, which is a current measure of the cost of international shipping. It is an imperfect metric, particularly now as COVID restrictions have likely added considerable overhead to shipping costs, but in general it is a leading indicator of how robust world trade is, the lower the cost the less trade is happening.
However, the BDI is an indicator of bulk raw material shipping prices, not retail. It proceeds in fits and starts with production.
Other leading indicators are at the precise moment that I type this, on a generally downward trend, but I don't know enough to say if it is precipitously so.
Note that that is a screenshot of an active, constantly updating chart that has one or two indices occasionally switching between red and green.
The sudden, unexpected drop in volume from its aberrant and bonecrushing highs to lay-offs where I am may be a localized phenomenon and should not be a cause for undue concern.
A focus group of one is a woefully inadequate data set.
However, in my 28 years of experience our volume trends quite closely with the overall economic health of the nation, so I'm very curious if anyone else here has noted any drop-offs in economic activity.
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January 26, 2021
Meanwhile: At the Freedom of Information Act Office
Over at Unwanted Blog, Scott Lowther (as part of his job) is filing FOIA requests. This morning he provided a link to the USAF FOIA Reading Room, which is spectacularly sparse on information. But, right between Telephone Directory and Slickspot PepperGrass is, uh, Teleportation.
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My Baby Sister Just Had a Heart Attack
She's 40 and has 2 kids.
I've let work know I'm going down to look after the children.
UPDATE: Well she's been released on her own recognizance and has a series of stress tests and such today and tomorrow. I called work while at the gas station and told them I can come in but they said that staffing was fine and I was already listed as off for the day. My FMLA application is obviously on hold. I'll know more tomorrow.
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January 24, 2021
Oh. They ARE Going to Finish the Trilogy.
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