With outbreaks gaining momentum at summer camps across the country, AP reporting seems ominously foreboding. With past pandemic warnings gone unheeded, we appear to be in for one helluva school year coming up in 2021.
Asked and Answered
Michael Collins
Sorry for the late posting on this, but it seems I’m always in catch-up mode these days. The astronaut community is large, diverse and growing fast. It wasn’t that long ago there were only a dozen or so, doing some pretty incredible stuff. Michael Collins was one of those early pioneers leading the way in space travel.
“We … know how lucky Mike felt to have lived the life he did … Please join us in fondly and joyfully remembering his sharp wit, his quiet sense of purpose, and his wise perspective; gained both from looking back at Earth from the vantage point of space and gazing across the calm waters from the deck of his fishing boat.”
Worst Fire Season Ever
This group of blazes was one of the first to start, now grown into the biggest ever. It’s been unseasonably warm right through October so far. Still can’t believe Trump had the unmitigated gall to say/do that in California. This one has burned largely un-contained for over 2 months. Flaring here right outside 5712 into the 600’s on the PM2.5 scale today.
You’ve seen it with your own eyes living out here in the West. The only flora left is near shrinking waterways or where people are watering it. Natural growth is slowly dying out – and burning. What we have here, is the epitome of willful ignorance, leading the country:
Solar Time Lapse
I just thought this was so cool: “Every second of the 61-minute video represents images taken over a single day, starting on June 2, 2010, with the last frame captured on June 1, 2020.”
Crew Dragon, Baby!!
It’s been a long time coming. Space-X and NASA did us proud, at a time when we really needed it. The greatest American space achievement so far this century was unfortunately overshadowed by civil rights unrest last week, so I waited to add a couple extra follow-on clips to round out the post. Congratulations to Elon, Space-X, NASA and the whole team of contractors and suppliers! Once again U.S. leads the way to space. Best pics.
Daily Testing
I eagerly anticipate the day we learn Trump’s daily testing regimen for him and top cronies comes to real fruition. With false result rates up to 50% in some examples, that’s not odds I’d brag about in my fantastically successful non-existent SARS-COv2 testing program. They should have been testing the tests six months ago. Get sick and die, you miserable piece ‘o shyt.
“With a few months left until a second wave of coronavirus infections is expected in the fall, that could leave the U.S. once again unprepared and vulnerable.”
A glaring omission from the Modern Healthcare article overlooks the push to re-start economic activity along with the abysmal testing situation. Countries around the world have already started banning some tests. We won’t have to wait until fall for wave #2.
Wake-Up Call?
Informed people understand how the Gov/Pharma/Christian bloc of economic and political control freaks torpedoed Cannabis research for decades. Will SARS-CoV2 be the big Wake-Up call?
With Trump still touting things like household cleaners as recently as yesterday, I suppose we can only pray to their non-existent Gawds.
How We Use Science
Elon sending a quarter-million N95s
A recent (yesterday?) poll said the majority of Americans approve of Trump’s crises handling. They must have asked 10 people what they though about getting free money. For those more reality-based readers.
These assholes called a government spent months watching the Wuhan disaster unfold as if it was some new entertainment channel on Youtube. Now the Cunt-in-Chief stands before the country spreading misinformation and lies, while his crippled administration stands behind him in stark disbelief. The good part is at least we saw it coming. The bad news is we are woefully un-prepared.
He really wanted to do a full facepalm. Is he fired yet?
Another 1st for Social Media
I suppose it was inevitable. But the first spacewalk selfie done in orbit at the ISS makes it interesting to me. Of course a girl had to be the one to do it, but the whole idea pretty much puts the gender inequality debate to rest as far as I am concerned.
The Decade in Space
Not sure if it was that Saturn-V rocket model I got for xmas when I was 10 years old or what, but by the time I left my 1st assignment with the newly formed USAF Space Command at Buckley ANGB in 1984, I was hooked. Interest really ramped up for me during my time in Bosnia, where I helped establish Navy SATCOM assets bringing the HUMINT mission closer to real-time for our folks there on the ground.
This past decade was the 1st of the past five in which I was not recently directly involved with U.S. military space ops. But I haven’t stopped following it, and probably never will.
Space Race is On
This time we are competing with ourselves. Ballistic, warhead-bearing spacecraft are about the only space-faring news coming from the other side of the planet these days. Boeing and SpaceX are presently engaged in crew capsule ops, as candidates vying for NASA contracts to ferry ISS-bound astronauts. SpaceX’ Dragon capsule should be ready for humans next year, and Boeing has the new Starliner almost ready for a first test flight tomorrow.
(Late Update) “We have since experienced an off-nominal insertion and the spacecraft is in a stable position…” Both the Dragon and Starliner have experienced significant anomalies in development.
Climate Change
It might be melting the polar ice caps, but things are getting chilly up here in Colorado:
“Temperatures plunged around the state Tuesday morning, with -34 degrees reported in Waverly (5,321′), -32 degrees in Cowdrey (7,917′), -22 degrees in Tabernash (8,333′), and -18 degrees in Dillon (9,111′). It was even colder at Antero Reservoir, where early morning temperatures dipped down to a teeth-chattering -44 degrees at 8,942′ of elevation.”
We had snow on the ground three times before Thanksgiving this year – first time ever, in my recorded memory. I remember a big Thanksgiving blizzard of ’84 at Buckley ANG base, but that was a total surprise immediately preceded by warm, sunny weather, as usual. This year it just got cold and stayed cold – almost no autumn whatsoever. A few of the leaves frozen on the trees before they finished falling are still up there. Should be interesting to see what remains alive in the spring.
One of a Kind
“This outsize influence explains why NASA broke the mold in the PSP name. It’s the only agency spacecraft ever named after a living person.”
Thinking outside the box is an understatement when it comes to getting the job done at the outer edge of the envelope. Eugene Parkeris one of those rare scientists truly exemplifying that rare character trait.
It’s got rings! Mind Blowing Results!
I Hate it when that Happens!
Don’t look now, but Venice Italy is flooded. Again. Must be climate change.
Got 2 inches higher November ’66. Musta been climate change that time, too. The real truth about Venice canals. There’s no question the sea level is rising. Alot of these people will soon be swimming in their own shyt. Time to start planning some mass migrations.
Interstellar Space
Putting things in perspective – if that is even remotely possible, considering the dearth of knowledge and vastly unlimited expanses in this area – we have finally scratched the surface of space. Real analysis of the immense emptiness of space has begun, giving previously unknown perspective to our own heliosphere and how it interacts with the cosmos.
Then I have to consider Neil Degrasse Tyson’s view or opinion on the whole space travel/exploration topic: If we have the technology to go to Mars, why aren’t we prioritizing it’s use to fix our own broken planet first?
I'm Not Surprised…
“Death is all around us, yet when it comes to our own deaths, we are not updating our prediction to assimilate that reality, Dor-Ziderman said. It’s unclear what evolutionary purpose this breakdown serves.”
Eventually these researchers are going to get past scratching the surface.
…but considering evolutionary issues, and how much some folks love their beer…