Bill’s back, recorded live from the official residence before a global audience on 07/16/20.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2rWXrQZ2P0
Categories
The Stratosphere Lounge Episode 256
Recorded live before a global audience on 07/16/20.
9 replies on “The Stratosphere Lounge Episode 256”
Bill, I think that you are missing the point with the Trump impeachment, statue destruction, riot, etc..
Yes, it is done because they cannot help themselves but they also do it to increase social unrest/fear/despair. A society that is exhausted and mentally fried is way easier to control than a society that is alert, willing and capable of fighting back.
Very little is done without a plan.
Bill also misses the point that the oldster citizens (me included) are gonna die off soon. Their children and grandchildren were brought up in a different age and do not understand what they are in danger of losing.
I taught my children from a very young age to love this country like I do and to be patriots. Why did everyone of yours and my generation do that? I understand that the culture has a profound effect but the influence of a loving parent should be more
“yours and my generation NOT do that” sorry
Bill,
You mentioned the ship burning in San Diego and that you didn’t have a lot of information about it. I might be able to clear some things up for you.
1) Bon Homme Richard was in retro-fit at the time of the fire. The reason that the fire spread so quickly and far is that the isolation doors were blocked open due to power cords and hydraulic hoses running from open decks to maintenance spaces.
2) The fire most likely started due to hot work. (welding, cutting, sheet metal forming, etc.) Possibly spread heat through a bulkhead to unnoticed flammables (or really, anything. not much can withstand 1000 degree heat) in another space.
3) The biggest threat in a shipboard fire is the furnace effect. Spreading heat through the metal structure of the ship, heating adjacent spaces and setting items on fire through spontaneous combustion.
4) If the fire HAD happened at sea, it would not have been as severe, because proper precautions would have been in place and compartment doors would have been able to be shut to contain the blaze.
5) I am certain that were any of the crew on site, they were the first to volunteer to fight the blaze. Not just because of familiarity with the ship, but because “Ship Is Home. Ship Is Shelter. Ship Is Safety From The Cruel Sea.”
(That’s an unofficial motto of Navy Damage Control crews.)
6) Most of this information came from an acquaintance of mine who is a USN LtCdr stationed at 32nd Street Naval Yard.
7) Most of the opinion came from 10 years, proud service in the Navy.
AO2 LeMay
1985-1996
Semper Fortis
Thank you, Bill! It’s great to hear you talking about the free frontier, whether for storytelling or as our actual future (same ultimate goal, I know). Some imagery I want to share has been on my mind: Look at our beloved country’s flag. The answer to our future is there, and has been since the beginning. Stars, on a dark field. Imagine that deep blue field fading to black, as we ascend beyond Earth’s atmosphere and begin the journey to our future among those same stars. Red streaks become our vessels’ redshift, trailing behind; white, the glow of their mighty engines. I’ve been imagining this as the colonial flag or insignia of America’s next-generation pioneers, perhaps returning to a circle of 13 stars in recognition that only a bold few will choose to take the leap, and a nod to a return to frontier life and first principles. I’d love to see this vision realized by someone who has the talent I lack for illustration. To me it’s become a stirring and compelling symbol of where I hope we are headed.
Beautiful!
What made Star Trek, Star Wars (until recently), Firefly/Serenity, (and now The Expanse) successful was the ‘family’ created on the ships. Some were rag-tag people who ended up together unexpectedly, or they were soldiers, part of a Federation, that stuck together. You CARED about them. They fought for good and always followed their mandates, usually, and their adopted leader. You just knew each of those people would have died to recue their ‘family.’ Without that, you don’t have an interest in any outcome. Plus, there was humor.
I read the entire…so far…novels that inspired The Expanse. It is successful because of this same interaction with the crew. One leader who will fight with, and for, them. Not to mention that most of the science is pretty much correct. What I took away from the novels is that there will always be a war there will always be a people who feel oppressed, and money is still the almighty ruler that pushes people on… to greatness, adventure, or death. Kind of like today.
By the way, Bill, my dad invented the prototype of the first nitrogen instrument to keep the cold for so much longer than cotton swabs. He made them from pinpoint to roller size. They were copper on the end of a long steel rod with a wooden handle that allowed one to hold it. He had many cancers spots burned off they way you had them done. The Nitrogen was held in a thermos…hence the long handle…and the gas stayed cold for a very long time. It is less traumatic.
Good writing and development of characters one can care about and feel invested in are indeed key. Like most sci-fi fans, I will take what I can get, which often isn’t much, but when someone goes above and beyond to do compelling character development and storytelling it really stands out. That was definitely the case with Firefly, which to me felt like a well-written story first and sci-fi secondarily, and I’d even say it was true of the first two Star Trek reboots (Star Trek and Into Darkness), though I know Bill disagrees. It seemed to me J.J. Abrams did a great job of reinvigorating a franchise that had become a dull and predictable victim of the loving desire to protect its own characters and never see any real threat of harm come to them. With the exception of maybe First Contact, the movies had become an amusement with nothing real ever at stake. Abrams broke out of this pattern by making it clear in the first few minutes that he was willing to brutally and ruthlessly destroy everything we loved — ironically, to make it all the more dear to us. When the Kelvin was massively outgunned and being torn to shreds, I exclaimed something un-repeatable, sat up, and paid attention, thinking “Now this is something new.” And partly because of that element of danger, the characters and their fates became all the more gripping. Kirk’s birth as his father sacrificed his life in that beautifully cut and scored sequence was brilliant. Abrams successfully repeated that pattern with Into Darkness, in scenes that still move me many re-watches later: the Enterprise being torn to shreds by torpedoes mid-warp, crew flying out the breaches into vacuum, or spiraling helplessly to Earth billowing smoke from her wounds; Kirk making the ultimate sacrifice to save ship and crew. It’s too bad Beyond turned out such a hollow shell in comparison (IMHO). I hope they’ll find that magic again in whatever endeavor comes next, whether it’s in the style of Abrams’ first reboots or something else.
The way I heard it, this Pike series, which is far from a done deal, was originally going to be called <i>Start Trek: Enterprise</i>. Then someone told these woke 20-something producers that literally know nothing and could give a rat’s ass about Star Trek… told them that name’s already been used for a series 20 years ago. They changed the title to <i>Strange New Worlds</i> or something like that.