Dave Rubin @RubinReport
·
Replying to @RubinReport
“A Fractal Rube Goldberg Machine.”

That’s what @elonmusk called Twitter. As they fix the code more problems arise. A delicate balance he likened to a Jenga tower. One wrong move the whole thing collapses. They’re working nonstop, and both times I met him were after midnight.

12:57 PM · Jan 26, 2023

Dave Rubin @RubinReport
·
Replying to @RubinReport
What’s also really crazy now having seen under the hood is that Jack Dorsey repeatedly said they don’t shadowban. The entire machine behind Twitter is designed to shadowban. It’s almost as if that was the primary goal rather than the product itself.
2:02 PM · Jan 26, 2023

Dave Rubin @RubinReport
·
Replying to @RubinReport
Will share more in bit but have to catch a flight.

On a personal note Elon is funny as hell, laughs a ton and it’s just really obvious he cares about Twitter because he cares about free speech and the bigger problems facing the world. He doesn’t need this headache, he chose it.
1:23 PM · Jan 26, 2023

Dave Rubin @RubinReport
·
Replying to @RubinReport
Oh, one either thing for now…

Elon really lit up when we talked about the shifting political landscape and how anyone non-woke is now “far right.”

That notion is deeply connected to how screwy thing got at Twitter and he’s working to fix it despite the huge challenges ahead.
1:36 PM · Jan 26, 2023

Mr. Tweet @elonmusk
·
Replying to @RubinReport

Accurate thread
3:22 PM · Jan 26, 2023

Greg Price @greg_price11
·
LMAO Adam Schiff posted his first TikTok after being removed from the Intelligence committee by Kevin McCarthy.

7:33 PM · Jan 25, 2023 //

Schiff was booted off of the Intel Committee because McCarthy believes he was a security risk and someone not to be trusted with sensitive information. And what does Schiff do? He films a video on a program that has been proven to be Chinese-controlled spyware. It’s as if the California congressman wanted to prove the Speaker’s point.

Also, didn’t the government recently ban the use of TikTok by congressional members (and other government employees)? I guess the out here would be if Schiff was using a personal device, but what kind of judgment does it show to use a Chinese spy app to film a video complaining about being removed from a committee that deals in top-secret information? The answer is that it shows very, very bad judgment.

Kaiser Sosei Ars Praefectus
19y
3,474
Subscriptor++
With the outbreak at the one-year mark, it is the longest bird flu outbreak on US record. And with 57 million birds dead across 47 states, it's also the deadliest, surpassing the previous record set in 2015 of 50.5 million birds in 21 states.

Sounds like a lot. Until you look up that there are 373 million egg laying hens in the US in 2022 or 15% had to be put down, yet egg prices are up roughly 50%. Why has a pound of butter gone from $2.99 about two years ago to $4.50? Like everything else, we are getting screwed because there's not a damn thing we can do about it.

apnews.com
Soaring egg prices prompt demands for price-gouging probe
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — With egg prices more than doubling in the past year, calls are coming for an investigation into possible price gouging. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed sent a letter Tuesday asking for the Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether egg prices have been improperly manipulated by...
apnews.com

But even though roughly 43 million of the 58 million birds slaughtered over the past year to help control bird flu have been egg-laying chickens, the size of the total flock has only been down 5% to 6% at any one time from its normal size of about 320 million hens.
I'm fine using their numbers than my googling.

TheAmerican1
4 hours ago
Smokey the Bear? Pants, no shirt.
Winnie the Pooh? Shirt, no pants.

Yogi Bear: Hat and vest, no pants.

Boo-Boo: bowtie only.

pat TheAmerican1
an hour ago
All second amendment supporters, they maintain the right to bear arms, they choose to conceal and cover.

St. Joseph, Terror of Demons pat
9 minutes ago
We need the right to arm bears, too!

The accident investigation agencies disagree about what factors led to the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302. //

The NTSB and the EAIB have differing opinions as to what caused the failure of MCAS and the subsequent Ethiopian crash.

“According to the EAIB’s final report, electrical problems that existed since the time of the accident airplane’s production caused the left angle-of-attack sensor heater to fail, which resulted in the AOA sensor providing erroneous values that caused the MCAS to pitch the nose of the airplane downward,” resulting in the crash, the NTSB report reads.

The NTSB report states that it found no evidence to support the suggestion of an electrical problem resulting in a nose-high attitude and failure of the MCAS, but suggests the faulty reading was “caused by the separation of the AOA sensor vane due to impact with a foreign object, which was most likely a bird.” //

There was no mention of MCAS issues in the pilot manuals when the Max entered service in 2017.

After the first crash, MCAS manuals were made available to 737 Max crews. Boeing stressed that MCAS was designed for better aircraft handling, not as a stall prevention tool.

After the second crash, the world’s 737 Max fleet was grounded for the better part of two years while changes were made to the MCAS software and training protocols were developed. The aircraft returned to service in November 2020.

The NTSB noted the EAIB issued its final report without giving the NTSB the opportunity to review new information incorporated since the NTSB’s last review and provide comments ahead of the report’s issuance, as stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Annex 13.

The NTSB stated it had provided the EAIB with evidence supporting the bird contamination theory, but that evidence was not included in the EAIB final report.

The NTSB also noted the EAIB’s finding about the lack of MCAS documentation for flight crews was misleading since Boeing had provided the information to all 737 MAX operators four months before the Ethiopian Airlines crash.

Wallops Flight Center, VA -- Off in the southwest, the last colors of sunset lit up the rim of the sky, as a crescent Moon and two planets lined up above. It was a gorgeous scene, but one that everyone was ignoring. Instead, all eyes were focused on a bright patch of artificial light on a barrier island a couple of miles away. The lights there were focused on a small, slender needle—small enough to be hauled to the launch pad by a pickup truck.

For years, the Electron rocket and the company behind it had been stuck in limbo at the Virginia launch site, waiting on various approvals—for regulatory agencies to share enough paperwork with each other to convince everyone that the launch was safe. Then weather and the end-of-year holidays kept pushing the launch back. But on Tuesday, everything went as smoothly as it is possible to imagine, and the Electron shot to orbit almost as soon as the launch window opened. //

bruindrummer Ars Scholae Palatinae
10y

Its low weight also meant Electron left the pad in a hurry. Heavy launch vehicles often seem to hesitate shortly after leaving the pad, leaving my mind struggling to accept that their acceleration is enough to send them off to space. If Electron had an equivalent moment, it was over just as soon as it began.

The speed of a rocket off the pad is a reflection of the thrust to weight ratio (TWR) rather than simply the weight of the vehicle. The Saturn V had a TWR of about 1.2, and it had a nice, leisurely departure from the pad. The Space Shuttle, on the other hand, had a TWR of about 1.5, and it practically jumped from the pad. The Electron has a TWR of about 1.3, so it, too, is rather sporty on liftoff.

Thousands of tanks on each side have been destroyed in the 11-month-old war, though it’s unclear how many remain in play. Ukraine claims to have destroyed 3,161 Russian tanks while Russia says it’s eliminated 7,617 Ukrainian “tanks and other armored fighting vehicles,” the countries’ respective defense ministries said Wednesday. //

The M1’s superior maneuverability will play a valuable role in traversing the vast, flat open ranges in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where the majority of fighting has been occurring since the war’s early months. The US tanks also boast greater lethality and survivability and are equipped with superior cannons, guns and armor than the T-72. //

The Army declined The Post’s request for an interview about the M1’s capabilities while “we await additional guidance from the Department of Defense,” but noted that the tanks outcompeted T-72s in prior conflicts, most notably the Gulf War and the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. //

While the T-72’s top speed of 47 mph is slightly higher than the M1’s 42 mph, the system is far less agile than its American alternative. For example, it is incapable of driving in reverse at speed – a key capability the M1s and other Western systems such as the German Leopard 2 can provide. //

Joe Fliel
1h ago

Poorly written and researched. Honeywell's AGT1500 gas turbine engine is a multi-fuel powerplant. The multi-fuel capability was specifically designed by allowing the Abrams to use a variety of fuels in order to simplify logistical requirements. It can run on anything combustible from JP-8 to diesel, mogas, alcohol (which includes liquor like Russian vodka) and even perfume. HUMMWV's also had multi-fuel engines for the same reasons.

Finding North Using an Analog Watch
The watch must be operational and the time accurate for this to work. 

1) Lay the watch flat horizontally in your palm, with the watch face up. 

2) Position the watch so the hour hand is pointing directly at the sun. 

3) Note the angle between the hour hand and the 12 o’clock mark. The center of the angle marks the north-south line, with south on the side closest to the sun. 

Please remember that this information is in standard time. Daylight Savings Time is a government construct that the universe does not follow; ergo, when the watch is set to DST, substitute 1 o’clock for 12 o’clock. 

100LL is challenging to produce and distribute; it is a boutique fuel in terms of volume, hence why there is a limited number of producers. Avfuel, Epic, Titan, and others commonly swap stock to meet the ebb and flow of their stock levels. 

Aviation fuel innovation is not widespread, and it is no wonder only a limited number of entities even attempt it. No new producers are on the horizon. Fear of negative press and the EPA keep them at bay. Some reports of an endangerment finding and pushing the 100LL ban out to 2030 have been making the rounds. Even now, as GAMI has approval, a total replacement of 100LL by 2030 would “be a challenge.”

Additionally, Europe is on the brink of banning tetraethyl lead (TEL), the chemical which adds lead to 100LL fuel. Distributors can still import blended 100LL fuel but at a very high price. At press time, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is evaluating the G100UL STC.

G100UL has no toxic chemicals nor organometallic additives (like TEL in 100LL). Scavenging agents, such as the ethylene dibromide required to try to scavenge the deposits formed by the TEL in 100LL, are also not found in GAMI’s product. Another thing missing is MMT (methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl), another organometallic additive with both engine deposits, as well as health and environmental concerns.

When the transition occurs, converting to G100UL will be seamless. Operators will not worry about separate tanks nor exhausting their supply of 100LL; the new unleaded fuel can store in the same tanks as legacy avgas.

G100UL offers additional benefits. The result of going unleaded is a cleaner fuel burn, no deposits forming in the combustion chamber, and no fouled plugs. All of the above spells reduced maintenance. Trust me; you will appreciate the reduction when you see my maintenance labor total on your next shop bill.

The chief of Arianespace could not be more clear: He does not want any competition for Vega C and Ariane 6, nor does he believe any commercial European company should have a chance to compete for the development of a next-generation reusable rocket.

However, what Israël did not say is also important. With a lift capacity of about 2 metric tons to low-Earth orbit but a price of nearly $40 million, the Vega rocket is not price-competitive with commercial rockets nor India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Moreover, this Italian-made rocket has failed in three out of its last eight flights. Also, while Israël touts Ariane 6, this rocket does not yet exist. Europe has spent nearly $5 billion developing this booster, which may not fly until 2024 and will be four years late. //

MMarsh Ars Praefectus
7y
3,013
Subscriptor
Arianespace has always existed at the awkward intersection of the private and public sectors. As a commercial launch provider — indeed, the first such provider — it must continually prove its viability in the marketplace. As a symbol of European Union pride, backed by multiple governments, it is obliged to spread its operations out in inefficient ways and to make design and management decisions that stem more from politics than from engineering.

It's a structure and business model that, although inefficient, worked reasonably well for many years.

Until now.

If Europe wants to piss away a few billion euros on a vanity piece to say "hey look, we can still launch our own five birds a year from French Guiana" then they are welcome to do so. But I can think of much better ways to spend that money and those engineer-hours.