Announcing an air-speed record from Savannah, Georgia, to Doha, Qatar, might sound trivial or even a little absurd. Until you consider the context: This was the world’s largest business jet flying 6,711 nautical miles nonstop at Mach 0.88, or 675 mph, for 13 hours and 16 minutes, on its first international flight. Then it becomes a corporate milestone.

Gulfstream’s new G700 then set another city-pair record from Doha to Paris, flying 2,953 nautical miles at an average speed of Mach 0.90 (690.5 mph) for 6 hours and 15 minutes, before returning to headquarters in Savannah.

In the latest instance of an Amazon-related venture attempting to use regulations and legal routes to suppress competition, Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet venture wants the FCC to dismiss SpaceX’s application for the next generation of Starlink satellites.

In a document filed with the FCC in late August, Project Kuiper took the significant step of asking the regulatory body to entirely dismiss a SpaceX request to modify plans for the next generation of Starlink satellites. As previously discussed on Teslarati, SpaceX submitted that modification request on August 18th with one clear focus: optimizing Starlink satellites and the constellation’s orbital ‘shells’ to best take advantage of the imminent capabilities of the next-generation Starship launch vehicle. //

Nominally capable of launching at least 100 metric tons (~220,000 lb) to low Earth orbit (LEO) in a fully reusable configuration, Starship would boost the mass of Starlink satellites SpaceX could orbit with one launch by a factor of 5-6 or more relative to Falcon 9. In other words, with Starship, SpaceX could feasibly fill out its Starlink constellation at least 5-6 times faster than with Falcon 9. //

In turn, while not unprecedented, SpaceX chose to modify its license application for the second (or third) phase of Starlink satellites – a constellation made up of almost 30,000 spacecraft – to include two distinct options: a constellation where Starship is ready on time and one where it is not. Amazon’s Project Kuiper project, Effectively a Starlink clone helmed by former senior managers and engineers that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk personally ousted in 2018 for being slow and overcautious, Amazon’s Project Kuiper was apparently not happy with the changes its competitor made. //

Published six days later, SpaceX pulls no punches in its response to Amazon, raking the company through the coals for an incessant number (dozens) of filed objections to Starlink while simultaneously failing to address crucial FCC questions about the nature of the Project Kuiper constellation. Bizarrely, SpaceX’s response also accurately points out how Amazon’s legal team seemingly fails to understand SpaceX’s modification request, which poses two mutually exclusive constellation layouts with mostly marginal differences. Amazon’s central argument appears to be that SpaceX actually hasn’t submitted enough information by meticulously detailing two constellation layouts instead of one, claiming that it left “every major detail unsettled.”

six in ten people said the country has “seriously gone off on the wrong track.” That’s a horrible indicator for Biden.

On top of that, the latest Rasmussen numbers found that 52% want Biden to resign over the disaster of the Afghanistan withdrawal, while 39% disagree. But that wasn’t all.

An even bigger number agreed with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that Biden deserved to be impeached. 60% agreed with Graham’s statement that Biden should be impeached, with 37% saying no, according to Newsmax. //

Ldeer1960
3 hours ago
"...there’s been a lot of honest reporting and a lot of truth..." for certain values of "a lot", "honest", and "truth". If the actual truth were told accurately and across all media there would be a lynch mob around the White House, Congress and the Pentagon.

Computer power supply units (PSU) deliver the power to the PC hardware via a number of cables with connectors. Their generic specifications for various desktop systems are defined in Intel's design guides, which used to be periodically revised. Their latest standard is PSU Design Guide rev.2.0 released on June 2018. This document combines the requirements for ATX12V v2.52 and its five variations. Note that some brand name manufacturers did not follow Intel guidelines and used non-standard pinouts. Also see the information on new ATX12VO standard.

Standard ATX power supplies typically have the main power connector P1, additional 12V connectors, as well as peripheral, floppy drive, serial ATA, and PCI Express® receptacles, which we will describe below.

The War in Afghanistan has always been a black box, but the Biden administration just made matters worse.

According to an admission obtained from the State Department, Biden officials recently directed federal agencies to scrub their websites of official reports detailing the $82.9 billion in military equipment and training provided to the Afghan security forces since 2001. //

The scrubbed audits and reports included detailed accounting of what the U.S. had provided to Afghan forces, down to the number of night vision devices, hand grenades, Black Hawk helicopters, and armored vehicles.

Reports further quantified 208 aircraft and helicopters; 75,000 war vehicles – including 22 Humvees, 50,000 tactical vehicles and nearly 1,000 mine resistant vehicles; and 600,000 weapons – including 350,000 M4 and M16 rifles, 60,000 machine guns, and 25,000 grenade launchers. The//

Again, to reiterate, these reports do not include recipient information, and the Taliban already likely controls the war chest in question.

This directive doesn’t seem to be designed to protect our Afghan allies—or, if it is, it’s been poorly executed. One U.S. entity that we will not name has failed to remove a report detailing the Afghan forces by rank. That report, one could argue, could be used as a tally sheet for retribution, but it’s still publicly available. //

Again, to reiterate, these reports do not include recipient information, and the Taliban already likely controls the war chest in question.

London-based Solar Water PLC recently signed an agreement with the Saudi Arabian government as part of the country's clean future $500 billion "NEOM" project. The company is building the "first desalination plant with solar dome technology", a CNN Arabia report (translated on Solar Water PLC's website) explains. //

The plant is essentially "a steel pot buried underground, covered with a dome," making it look like a ball, Solar Water CEO David Reavley told CNN Arabia. The glass dome, a form of concentrated solar power (CSP) technology, is surrounded by "heliostat" reflectors that focus solar radiation towards inwards. Heat is transferred to seawater within the dome, which evaporates and then condenses to form freshwater. The solar dome plant does not utilize polluting fibers that are typically used in reverse osmosis desalination technologies, and Reavley claims that it is cheap and fast to build at the same time as being carbon neutral.

As reported by Just the News, a series of desperate text messages between U.S. military commanders and private citizens mounting last-minute rescues tell a far different story than that presented by the Biden administration. “We are f*cking abandoning American citizens,” wrote an Army colonel, detailing how frantic, pleading Americans —waving U.S. passports — were rejected at the Kabul airport, as three empty rescue flights waited nearby, hours before the last American troops left Afghanistan.

The ancient supercontinent Rodinia may be responsible.

The US Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, which has been overseeing the slow and painful bankruptcy of the remains of SCO, announced that the TSG Group, which represents SCO's debtors, has settled with IBM and resolved all the remaining claims between TSG and IBM "Under the Settlement Agreement, the Parties have agreed to resolve all disputes between them for a payment to the Trustee [TLD], on behalf of the Estates [IBM], of $14,250,000."

In return, TLD gives up all rights and interests in all litigation claims pending or that may be asserted in the future against IBM and Red Hat, and any allegations that Linux violates SCO's Unix or Unixware intellectual property.

Why is TLD, the former SCO, finally agreeing to let this drop. Because, as some of us knew 18 years ago, they never had a case. Or, as TLD's legal representative, Blank Rome bankruptcy attorney Stanley B. Tarr, put it in a motion, "succeeding on the unfair competition claims will require proving to a jury that events occurring many years ago constituted unfair competition and caused SCO harm. Even if SCO were to succeed in that effort, the amount of damages it would recover is uncertain and could be significantly less than provided by the Settlement Agreement."

You think?

My issue here isn’t the pragmatism on display. Of course, Biden is not going to be impeached by a Democrat House or Senate. McConnell doesn’t need to bother pointing that out. Rather, the question is if Republicans are willing to show any kind of killer instinct and to hold the left to their own standards.

For example, every criticism McConnell otherwise lodges at Biden isn’t going to result in his removal from office. Yet, that criticism is still valuable, correct? That’s especially true when talking about shaping perceptions for the next elections. An impeachment push isn’t about actually removing Biden from office. Rather, it’s about consistency and showing voters that the president deserves to be held to the same standard Trump was held to. The messaging is the point.

Yes, the ballot box will be the ultimate test, but what happens at the ballot box is influenced by how Republicans choose to fight back at this moment. GOP voters are watching, and they aren’t going to respond well to more Washington knee-bending. It is not lost on them that many Republicans went harder at Trump than they now go at Biden. //

In short, the question for McConnell isn’t whether Biden will be impeached. Rather, it’s if McConnell thinks he should be. If he doesn’t, he should say that instead of hiding behind obfuscations about what is or isn’t possible. Stand up, stiffen your spine, and take a position.

Two of Poland’s richest men have signed a deal to build the country’s first nuclear power plant, which they aim to complete by 2027. They see the plans as a necessary step in Poland’s move away from its reliance on coal and towards lower-emission forms of energy. //

The investors plan on setting up between four and six nuclear reactors with a capacity of 300 MW each. The plant would operate “on the basis of the most modern and safest American technologies,” they say. However, SMR-type reactors have not yet been commercialised.

“Sadly, the aircraft [A380] is handicapped by two engines too many, and also a generation of engine design, which is way behind the modern era engines that power today the likes of the 787 and A350 in particular. So we can compare and contrast how we put service onto our network through 787…We can almost operate two and a half, 787s for the cost of putting one A380 on and it simply doesn’t make economic sense anymore.” //

Etihad is moving to a 787 and A350-only fleet by 2022 for its widebody operations. //

Etihad operates both the -9 and -10 variants of the 787, which can seat 299 and 336 passengers in their highest capacity. This means flying 2.5 787s would offer Etihad far more capacity than a single A380 and improved efficiency gains. Even the first class-equipped 787-9s seat 235 passengers in the three-class layout.

ACLU
@ACLU
BREAKING: The Supreme Court has not responded to our emergency request to block Texas’ radical new 6-week abortion ban, SB8. The law now takes effect.

Access to almost all abortion has just been cut off for millions of people. The impact will be immediate and devastating.
1:15 AM · Sep 1, 2021

In what way is it devastating for a baby to get a chance at life instead of being killed in the womb? And given the argument for abortion is often economic regarding future life choices, how is it immediate?

A woman who wants an abortion and can’t get one because of this law can eventually put her child up for adoption. On the other hand, an abortion can not be undone once performed. That life can not be untaken. Thus, even on non-moral grounds, it makes no sense to block the law as litigation continues.

But to the ACLU and so many others, life in the womb is meaningless and holds no value. Just like those who supported slavery, they’ve made the arbitrary decision to deny personhood to a segment of humanity they find inconvenient and detestable.

Richard Hanania
@RichardHanania
You can’t screen for Down syndrome before about 10 weeks, and something like 80% of Down syndrome fetuses are aborted. If red states ban abortion, we could see a world where they have five times as many children with Down syndrome, and similar numbers for other disabilities.
12:39 AM · Sep 2, 2021

Children with disabilities are some of the most joy-producing humans on the planet, both for themselves and others. Why would anyone be concerned that a lack of abortion might result in more of them? But for too many, they become numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s a symptom of just how sick as a nation we’ve become.

Others compared pro-lifers to the Taliban because everything is stupid. But honestly, if the Taliban are more moral than the American left on abortion, maybe that should be a sign something is wrong? The Taliban are also against cannibalism. That doesn’t make cannibalism a right and just choice. //

The moral depravity on display over this Texas law is just astonishing, and it continues to be a minor miracle that we can exist as a country at all while one side continues to stump for the genocide of children. God forgive us for ever becoming desensitized to it and allowing abortion to become so pervasive in the first place.