Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

[ponchi101]

How about Bezos' program? Any news on how that is going?
(Too lazy to do the search).

[ti-amie]

Mike Wyant Jr.
@mikewyantjr
Muting this thread now.

Happy folks know this clause exists (and probably always has) AND that it is now with Musk’s mysterious new corporation we know nothing about rather than the distinct social media entity, Twitter.

I’ll call that mission accomplished.

[Suliso]

How about Bezos' program? Any news on how that is going?
(Too lazy to do the search).

Delayed, unlikely to fly before 2025.

[ti-amie]

Jeff Jarvis
@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social
As ever, Elon leaves a mess behind him.
SpaceX’s Starship Kicked Up a Dust Cloud, Leaving Texans With a Mess https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/spac


https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/us/s ... d=tw-share

Brian Hawthorne
@bhawthorne@infosec.exchange
@jeffjarvis This is emblematic of Musk’s approach to things. A true engineer would have put as much work into designing and building the launch pad as into the rocket. Elon’s concept of a “Starbase” is apparently an 8-meter deep crater that will probably fill with mud the next time it rains.

Brian Reiter
@breiter@hachyderm.io
@jeffjarvis “Normally, major launch sites are engineered with a trench or water system that helps to divert the rocket’s flame away from the ground and to dampen the impact”

Elon cut corners.

And apparently SpaceX impact modelling was either inadequate or not properly disclosed.

Elon cut corners.


sxpert :large blue tick:
@sxpert@mastodon.sxpert.org
@jeffjarvis @breiter well, the flame trench appears to have been dug by the rocket itself…

sxpert :large blue tick:
@sxpert@mastodon.sxpert.org
@breiter @jeffjarvis looks like I wasn't that far from the truth, here's a picture...


S. Newbery
@ssnewbery@mastodon.social
@breiter @jeffjarvis The New York Times’ euphemism about how Elon’s rocket “kicked up dust” is a helluva an understatement for a massive bunker-busting-style explosion that sent a 25-ft-deep crater’s worth of rocket-fuel contaminated ground soil into the air in a toxic dust plume….and made residents six miles away think they were experiencing an earthquake. What does that remind me of? The fallout from 9/11.

Osma A
@osma
@ssnewbery @breiter @jeffjarvis
There was no "rocket fuel" there, though. Raptors are powered by methane. Lack of protection obvious, anyway.


Osma A
@osma
@ssnewbery @breiter @jeffjarvis
3600 tons of fuel (CH4 + LOX) burns to 1940 tons of CO2 and 1660 tons of H2O. That is approximately equal to 125 Americans' annual CO2 footprint per launch.

Inconceivable? Not at all. A lot? Not compared to what its capability vs other vehicles. Wasteful or unnecessary? Only of you don't value space technology. To that I'd point out that without space tech, we would not know a lot of our planet we now know.

Osma A
@osma
@ssnewbery @breiter @jeffjarvis
You can dislike Elon, or object to the way Starship development happens, or whatever, but it would be advisable to base the arguments on facts.

The launch site is based in a wildlife refuge, doesn't protect the birds and other animals there, and has wildly insufficient blast barriers. That is entirely separate from the rocket being much higher capability and (projected) lower cost than anything else built previously.

Klausfiend
@klausfiend@dcerberus.com
@jeffjarvis in all seriousness I am enjoying the Phony Stark schadenfreude that followed yesterday's explosion, but isn't this a risk for rocket launches anywhere? It's been a while since there was a launch failure at Canaveral, did this kind of thing happen with those as well (eg Vanguard?) Or is there something unique to Boca Chica that makes it susceptible to this kind of pollution? Or is the takeaway here that NASA is still better at rockets than the private sector?

[ti-amie]

Some updates on Elmo's Blue Check shenanigans









Stephen King
@StephenKing

I think Mr. Musk should give my blue check to charity. I recommend the Prytula Foundation, which provides lifesaving services in Ukraine. It's only $8, so perhaps Mr. Musk could add a bit more.

[ti-amie]

Chris Trottier
@atomicpoet@mastodon.social
Celebrity Twitter accounts with 1 million accounts have their Twitter blue checks back.

Twitter says they’re paying for Twitter Blue but I have my doubts.

See Justin Bieber as an example. I mean, he might be paying for Twitter Blue, but I suspect that Twitter is lying.

[ti-amie]

No way Elmo is paying jack for anybody. He just wants his RWNJ friends to feel they're part of an accepted elite.

[Owendonovan]

Funny how some folks can't live without twitter and others easily avoid it. I wonder what the science behind that is?

[ponchi101]

Funny how some folks can't live without twitter and others easily avoid it. I wonder what the science behind that is?

Excellent question. For example, I know I am completely out of the demographics for TWT (or any social media, really) but I am an exception. We also know that TikTok has captured more of the youth population, but as you say: who uses TWT the most? And WHY?
Would be a great psychology major thesis.

[ponchi101]

A long article on AI, and most importantly, ChatGPT.
Europe sounds the alarm on ChatGPT

The genie is out of the bottle; it would be almost impossible to get rid of AI by now. But regulations "could" be put in place. Or so some people could think.

[ti-amie]

Karl Bode
@KarlBode

over and over again. Rinse and repeat. an ad-engagement based press is why we're so easily victimized by (expletive) artists like Adam Neuman to Elizabeth Holmes, who'd be weeded out much earlier if the US press was remotely interested in meaningful introspection

[Suliso]

One shouldn't throw out baby with a bath water. SpaceX is still the most innovative company in US this mistake with stage zero and Musk himself notwithstanding. Feel free to try to prove the opposite.

[ponchi101]

I say the point is that the technology to avoid such damages to the launch pad is well known, and he cut that corner.
He is a polarizing guy and, unfortunately, that brings both ends. The sycophants and the detractors. Usually, the reality is not in the middle, but neither it is at the extreme (see, Jobs, Steve and Gates, Bill).

[ti-amie]

[Owendonovan]

One shouldn't throw out baby with a bath water. SpaceX is still the most innovative company in US this mistake with stage zero and Musk himself notwithstanding. Feel free to try to prove the opposite.

Who is this innovation for? A few wealthy folks to take a ride in space for a few minutes? The no chance of succeeding colonizing the moon or Mars? Satellite manufacturers? Manboys who like to see things explode?