Just another retired engineer wandering around the cold, cold wilderness trying to find whatever's left of my witless country.
Here is a truly excellent commentary on events in France, by Anthony Esolen and appearing today in American Greatness. From the article: As I write, no one knows whether the fire was accidental or the work of arsonists. I will not speculate here. People in such moments will grasp at what comfort they can find. […]
Here, for those who are willing to venture into the mind of this crazy artist, are the trailers for every single one of the movies Gilliam directed, all 13, all in one place, all in chronological order. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975): Jabberwocky (1977): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmcO5S8Qd1o Time Bandits (1981): Brazil (1985): The Adventures of […]
Terry Gilliam, the director who gave us Brazil, Time Bandits, 12 Monkeys, and so many more, has finally finished the movie he’s been trying to make for 25 years. The production did not go smoothly. Cinematographer Nicola Pecorini claims that “never in 22 years of being in this business have I seen such a sum […]
(UPDATE: toppled, not sunk) SpaceX is a company of firsts, but this is one they probably wish they could have avoided. As reported by Stephen Clark at SpaceFlightNow: The core booster from the Falcon Heavy rocket that launched Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida tipped over in rough seas after landing on an […]
So far, this is just a blob of cells in the right shape of the organ, but it’s a significant advance. As reported by Ben Coxworth in the New Atlas blog: Led by Prof. Tal Dvir, a team at Israel’s Tel Aviv University started by taking a fat sample from a volunteer. That fat was […]
[From Breitbart:] CBS crime drama The Good Fight tweeted an image on Friday from a recent episode, entitled, “The One Where Diane Joins the Resistance.” The imaged showed a character pointing to a list of “target words” that included the phrases “Assassinate President Trump” and “Eliminate Mar-a-Lago.” The tweet, which has since been deleted, sparked backlash […]
This post is the first of a series I would like to do on the people who, while not actually being considered “Founding Fathers” nonetheless had a powerful impact on our early nation, helping to cement the American tradition of self-sufficiency, curiosity, invention, and pragmatic determination. Who is David Rittenhouse? From Encyclopedia(dot)com: Rittenhouse, the son […]
Here is xkcd’s excellent method of visualizing just how big: Remember, this thing is a sphere.
Devin Nunes, California congressman, who has until January 3rd of this year been chair of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence , goes on Hannity to say publicly and officially what we’ve known all along: the Trump campaign was spied upon. Magic words at 2:22 in this video: Justice may be beginning. […]
(Updated) All three boosters (* and fairings) recovered! Elon, you magnificent bastard! I don’t think I’m being hyperbolic when I say that this was make-or-break for this company and for humanity’s future in space. It’s full speed ahead now! I would like to see Musk drop his involvement in everything but SpaceX and concentrate on […]
On the difficulties of mixing humans with high technology.
Falcon Heavy tries again at 6:36 pm EDT, and Beresheet [tries to land] faceplants on the Moon at 3:05 pm EDT. Nice try, guys. You got to lunar orbit, and got one good picture. More about the latter is here. Live Beresheet coverage video found here. (Video dropping out frequently and needs reloading…direct to YouTube […]
(UPDATED: FH retry today, same time) Some folks requested to be reminded before the Arabsat-6A Falcon Heavy launch. We are still “go” for today’s window at 6:35 pm Eastern time. SpaceX has been very good about launching right at the beginning of the windows, so be there or be square! Rather than making a new […]