https://instapundit.substack.com/p/run-silent-run-very-very-deep

Most cutting edge technology starts out as a rich man’s toy. Automobiles, passenger airplanes, VCRs, etc. all started out that way. Letting rich people buy the tech drives the technology and pushes prices down over time so that ordinary people can afford it.

I don’t think ordinary people will ever be interested in doing miles-deep dives, but improved subsea technology is a very big deal. We often hear about how unexplored the deep ocean depths are, and there’s a reason for that – we aren’t very good at it yet. We get better at it by doing it. We can do it more if people are willing and able to pay for it.

The same is true with the various space tourism efforts. Sure, it’s mostly rich people buying a thrill. But by doing so they open up the technology for the rest of us. Unlike the test pilots, they aren’t doing it for a living; they’re doing it out of love, and even paying for the privilege. That seems commendable to me. //

Cleetus | June 29, 2023 at 7:37 am
There is a disease of arrogance that seems to infect virtually everything today. Everybody is an expert while true experts and experience are treated with disdain. People claim expertise based simply on their race or gender when, in reality, they know little. Rigor in education and training is longer valued lest we hurt people’s feelings.. In this case, people with this attitude were rewarded with death. This should be a wake up call. How much longer are we going to allow this disrespect for reality interfere with just about every aspect of our lives?

Rickover was an absolute beast about safety, yet took military necessity into account when necessary, in ways that I can’t discuss but that are a major reason why the U.S. Navy’s submarine force is such a force to be reckoned with. As Wikipedia says about the Cold War, “U.S. submarines far outperformed the Soviet ones in the crucial area of stealth, and Rickover’s obsessive fixation on safety and quality control gave the U.S. nuclear Navy a vastly superior safety record to the Soviet one.” Of note: Rickover had seven rules that seem mostly applicable to OceanGate. They are:

Rule 1: You must have a rising standard of quality over time, and well beyond what is required by any minimum standard.

Rule 2: People running complex systems should be highly capable.

Rule 3: Supervisors have to face bad news when it comes and take problems to a level high enough to fix those problems.

Rule 4: You must have a healthy respect for the dangers and risks of your particular job.

Rule 5: Training must be constant and rigorous.

Rule 6: All the functions of repair, quality control, and technical support must fit together.

Rule 7: The organization and members thereof must have the ability and willingness to learn from mistakes of the past. //

During my time, which was mostly after Rickover’s passing, another feature that became embedded in submarine culture was the concept of “forceful backup,” meaning that junior members of a watch team were empowered, encouraged, and required to speak up when something didn’t seem right, even if they were the newest person on the ship and the action being taken was the Captain’s. //

Reading the dozens of stories about the OceanGate disaster, the things that stand out to me are that Stockton Rush, OceanGate’s CEO, employed personnel not based on merit, refused to have the Titan inspected by a third-party, and did not like to hear bad news. None of those are good. //

A submarine pilot hired to assess the now-missing Titanic submersible warned in 2018 that its hull monitoring system would only detect failure “often milliseconds before an implosion.”

David Lochridge, a submarine pilot and inspector from Scotland, said in court filings that he was fired after expressing concerns about the safety of the Titan — a 22-foot submersible that disappeared on Sunday while carrying five people to see the wreck of the Titanic.

Recent scientific experiments reveal a dangerous desire — and the increasing ability — to alter the fundamental elements of life. //

In truth, if a behavior is both pleasurable and possible, then a few powerful people are bound to do it — if they haven’t done it already. Yet by the time they get caught, it’s probably too late.
At What Point Have You Sold Your Soul?

Today, your kid needs braces to feel good about her smile. Tomorrow, she’ll need a Neuralink chip to keep up in school. Given the laws of supply-and-demand, the price of fresh fetal tissue could be the crypto bubble of tomorrow. Indeed, that trend appears to be well underway.

Again, the question for regular people isn’t how to stop this technocratic revolution from taking place. Barring some circuit-frying electromagnetic pulse, that ship’s already sailed. The question is how to stay human in this emerging world.

At what point are you just being stubborn? On the other hand, at what point have you sold your soul?

Frederik Ljungström of AB Ljungström Ǻngturbin (ALǺ) in Stockholm, Sweden invents and patents the Ljungström® Air Preheater
1920

ALǺ’s first installation in USA was manufactured in Wellsville [New York] for installation at the International Paper Company of Niagara Falls, New York, USA
1923

The USA great depression lead ALǺ to sell Air Preheater Corporation (APC) to the Superheater Company of America
1933

Air Preheater Corporation (APC) and The Superheater Company merged with Combustion Engineering Company, Inc. (CE)
1948

On February 24th APC changed its name to Air Preheater Company Inc.
1965

Asea Brown Boveri Ltd. (ABB) acquires the power business of Gadelius K.K.
1988

ABB acquires Air Preheater Company and Combustion Engineering, Inc. and ABB Air Preheater Inc. was formed1990 The power business of Gadelius K.K. renamed to ABB Gadelius K.K.
1992

ABB acquire the air preheater business of Kraftanlagen Abgastechnik GmbH, in Bammental, Germany
1995

ABB Air Preheater Inc. acquire all intellectual property rights and assets to the Ljungström® Air Preheater technology from SRM in Sweden
1997

ALSTOM acquire sole ownership of the ABB Power business
2000

The oldest known operating Ljungström® Air Preheater is retired after 83 years of operation at the Fitchburg Paper Company in Massachusetts, USA
2009

LJUNGSTRÖM, as a division of ARVOS Group, separates from ALSTOM
2014

Coolest Thing made in Elkhart County, 2020

Sonset Solutions Waterlink

Rocket Ice Cream

Gillette Generators

Gen-Y Trailer Hitch

Ford Autonomous Vehicles operations chief John Rich believes in a future where the world’s roads are populated by full self-driving vehicles. In a recent interview, the executive revealed that he also believes that this upcoming world will have autonomous cars that only last four years before they are retired. Rich’s point comes as a response […] //

In a way, Rich’s surprisingly short prediction for the lifespan of full self-driving cars might be due to his expectation that a significant number of Ford’s autonomous vehicles will be powered by an internal combustion engine. Extended mileage is less of an issue among all-electric cars, after all, mainly on account of their significantly fewer moving parts. Tesla’s electric motors, for example, are expected to last one million miles. The electric car maker is working on developing a battery pack that is expected to last a million miles as well.

During a recent interview with Tesla owner-enthusiast Sean Mitchell, Detroit veteran Sandy Munro of Munro and Associates mentioned that among the Model 3’s unique components, its “Superbottle” is one of the most innovative. Combining two pumps, one heat exchanger, and one coolant valve in one cleverly-designed bottle, the Model 3’s cooling system is arguably the most unique in the auto industry.

The traditional automotive industry is all about suppliers and outsourcing the different components of a vehicle to different companies. This results in cars having redundant components. The Chevy Bolt, for example, has three cooling systems: one for its battery pack, one for its cabin, and one for its electronics. This is not the case with the Model 3, as the fondly-named Superbottle handles the entire cooling system of the whole vehicle — battery pack, cabin, and electronics included.

Instant Pots are just affordable, easy to use pressure cookers that come with a ton of recipes. If that appeals to you, then buy an Instant Pot, you won’t regret it. But don’t buy an Instant Pot just to replace your rice cooker or slow cooker, or you may end up disappointed.

We aren’t trying to downplay the fact that Instant Pots are genuinely wonderful, super useful, and totally worth $60 if you actually want one. In fact, just about every writer at Review Geek owns and loves the Instant Pot. We’re just trying to say that you shouldn’t buy an Instant Pot just because it’s been hyped up as a replacement for every kitchen appliance you’ve ever touched, that’s all.

COMMENT:

"Name one thing that has come from "space exploration" that we couldn't do without. Tang?"

You probably misunderstood.

Well, many did.

Background of the problem:

Sweeney had the devil of a time during his bombing run. Nagasaki was his secondary target, and he had reluctantly headed for it when he could find no break in the cloud cover over his primary target of Kokura. When he reached Nagasaki, and finally found a brief opportunity to drop "Fat Man," because of where it was released, it ended up detonating over the industrial heart of the city, instead of the vast, sprawling suburbs. These suburbs happened to be separated from the industrial heart of the city by hills and valleys.

Even though "Fat Man," a plutonium device, was about twice as powerful as the uranium 235 bomb that had completely destroyed Hiroshima three days before--"Fat Man's" detonation only yielded about half as many casualties.

You see, for a nuclear weapon to be a credible deterrent, it must be understood that the bomb will be placed at a precise, predetermined location.

The German V2 had proved, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that a warhead-tipped ballistic missile could defeat any anti-aircraft defense anyone could devise. A fleet of fighters planes, indeed even fighter jets, and concentric circles of the most powerful antiaircraft cannons ever developed could not stop a V2 from dropping its payload. And it could do so with with no more than a few seconds warning.

Where a bomber could not get through, a V2 could. It had proved unstoppable during the war.

But V2s weren't accurate at the relatively short range from Peenemünde to London. The problem was vastly more formidable at a distance like that between Washington and Moscow, for instance.

And that fact reveals the value of space exploration.

In 1957, the Soviet Union put up a small radio emitting satellite into low earth orbit with their version of the new, improved V2 rocket. Sputnik orbited the earth in such a way that it traveled over nearly every major city on the globe before its batteries died and its elliptical orbit decayed and brought it back to the surface. People in New York and Virginia, et al, looked up at the sky in terror as Londoners had just 12 years before.

But the Soviets did not demonstrate they could bring Sputnik down at a precise, predetermined location. Their V2s were not credible threats yet.

The Soviets needed to demonstrate that they could put up a Sputnik, and drop it directly over the Washington Monument. America needed to prove they could launch a V2 into orbit and drop it over Red Square.

The race was on.

America, being populated by the greatest marketers the world had ever produced (think Kellogg's Cereal, Elvis and the Beatles here), decided to beat the Soviets by winning the Hearts and Minds of the world. The USSR made no pretense: their space program was run entirely by their military. The US decided to pretend that its own "space program" was a non-military civilian venture.

NASA was born.

Never mind that NASA inherited its missile technology program from the classified military program. Never mind that all of America's astronauts were Air Force officers.

It was still sold as a civilian-government venture. And lots of people bought it.

Heh.

But its primary goal was to show that it could launch a missile into orbit, and bring down a payload at a precise location. By 1961, the US was beginning to demonstrate success. Allan Shepard completed one orbit of the earth. John Glenn orbited the earth 3 times in 1962. But when their capsules splashed down it was only within about 50 miles of target.

But we and the Soviets were getting closer.

John Kennedy, a consummate Cold Warrior, began to think of the Moon as the "ultimate high ground."

The idea of putting up orbiting missile platforms was thought to be the Checkmate move in the race for effective nuclear weapons delivery systems.

The problem with orbiting platforms was they were just too damned provocative. There was just no way to put one up in orbit and pretend it was for a peaceful or benign purpose. We would never allow the Soviets to put up a missile platform over us, and likewise, they would be willing to go to war if we ever tried to put one up over them.

Hence, the Moon.

The Moon isn't in geosynchronous orbit over earth, but it is tidal locked. Moscow slides underneath of it once every day. Whoever got to the Moon first could then threaten to build or secretly build a missile base, and achieve the same checkmate that an orbiting missile platform would achieve.

This was Kennedy's aim, and this was the urgency behind the project.

The problem was, just as Neil Armstrong was misspeaking the most famous sentence ever uttered from the surface of the Moon, the defense department contractors had perfected the solid rocket fuel Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. Suddenly, the US could launch a low maintenance missile from a silo in Iowa, and it could drop its payload over Red Square about 30 minutes later.

The problem with the Moon is it's really, really, really far away. 250,000 miles.

Most people think of the relationship between the earth and the moon as this:

O__o

In reality, it is more like this:

O___0

It takes days to go that far.

30 minutes, 1 1/2 days. It was a no brainer. We didn't need missile bases on the Moon anymore.

So, to the dismay of everyone who had bought into the marketing that made everyone believe NASA was a cross between Queen Isabella, Lewis & Clark and Sir Edmund Hillary, the astronauts played a couple of rounds of golf on he Moon, and then left, never to return.

You're right that there's nothing of value on the Moon.

But there are other reasons for exploring space and improving rocket technology.

The greatest goal within our reach today is SBSP, of course. SBSP is the very essence and sine qua non of man's future.

But there are many other reasons as well.

They were looking for a direct route to India, and found oh so much more back in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

It's not a waste of time. It never has been, even with our shifting priorities, needs and goals as a people and a nation.

Men will continue to venture into space whether you think it's a waste of time and resources or not.

And it's not.

But it's never going to be what you expected.

COMMENT: "Space exploration" is government waste on steroids.

REPLY:

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943.
"Where a calculator on the ENIAC is equipped with 18,000 vacuum tubes and weighs 30 tons, computers in the future may have only 1,000 vacuum tubes and weigh only 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, 1949
"I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won't last out the year." -- The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957.
"But what...is it good for?" -- Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.
"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home." -- Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977.
"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Attributed to Bill Gates, 1981, but believed to be an urban legend.
"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." -- Western Union internal memo, 1876.
"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys." -- Sir William Preece, chief engineer of the British Post Office, 1876.
"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" -- David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.
"While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially it is an impossibility." -- Lee DeForest, inventor.
"The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C', the idea must be feasible." -- A Yale University management professor in response to Fred Smith's paper proposing reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express Corp.)
"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" -- H. M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927.
"I'm just glad it'll be Clark Gable who's falling on his face and not Gary Cooper." -- Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in "Gone With the Wind."
"A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make." -- Response to Debbi Fields' idea of starting Mrs. Fields' Cookies.
"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out." -- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.
"Radio has no future. Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible. X-rays will prove to be a hoax." -- William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, British scientist, 1899.
"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'" -- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this." -- Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.
"It will be years -- not in my time -- before a woman will become Prime Minister." -- Margaret Thatcher, 1974.
"I see no good reasons why the views given in this volume should shock the religious sensibilities of anyone." -- Charles Darwin, The Origin Of Species, 1869.
"With over 50 foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big slice of the U.S. market." -- Business Week, August 2, 1968.
"That Professor Goddard with his 'chair' in Clark College and the countenancing of the Smithsonian Institution does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react--to say that would be absurd. Of course, he only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools." -- 1921 New York Times editorial about Robert Goddard's revolutionary rocket work. The remark was retracted in the July 17, 1969 issue.
"You want to have consistent and uniform muscle development across all of your muscles? It can't be done. It's just a fact of life. You just have to accept inconsistent muscle development as an unalterable condition of weight training." -- Response to Arthur Jones, who solved the "unsolvable" problem by inventing Nautilus.
"Ours has been the first, and doubtless to be the last, to visit this profitless locality." -- Lt. Joseph Ives, after visiting the Grand Canyon in 1861.
"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy." -- Workers whom Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.
"Stocks have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau." -- Irving Fisher, Professor of Economics, Yale University, 1929.
"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." -- Albert Einstein, 1932.
"The bomb will never go off. I speak as an expert in explosives." -- Admiral William Leahy, U.S. Atomic Bomb Project.
"Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value." -- Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure de Guerre.
"There will never be a bigger plane built." -- A Boeing engineer, after the first flight of the 247, a twin engine plane that holds ten people.
"Everything that can be invented has been invented." -- Attributed to Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899, but known to be an urban legend.
"Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is ridiculous fiction." -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872.
"The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon." -- Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.