Awkward Moments
1. When Starship deploys up to 400 Starlink satellites at a time. It will be clear that the heavy cargo capability of SLS can be provided by another system for pennies on the dollar.
2. if the Lunar Starship ever docks with Gateway, the size comparison with Gateway will appear silly. Two Starships simply dock with each other and transfer propellant from one to another – like two whales making love…
Doug Plata argues that space policymakers really ought to accept the reality of where things are headed. When Starship achieves orbit, then SLS should have its overdue cancellation.
They should commit to fully utilizing Starship’s capabilities. NASA should do an evaluation of what vehicles are actually necessary.
We need to set aside the endless 3D printing challenges for later and proceed with inflatables, a technology with three examples in space now. Lunar habitats and supporting infrastructure are a much better way to spend the $2 billion a year.
SOURCE- Space Review, Doug Plata
Identify the Tank
The LCS
They don’t work, they can’t defend themselves, they burn a LOT of navy distillate (fuel), the Coast Guard doesn’t want them – gift them to the Third World?
Or we can install massive radar reflectors and sail them through the Straits of Formosa as Chinese missile catchers… Deplete their arsenal.
For the Historical Record – Arizona Life
I received an e-mail that had to do with living an ‘exciting life’. I live a good life, I live in a quiet place. There is wildlife all over. There is a bobcat that mooches milk and an egg every day. Now. the kittens are getting older they want an egg too. It’s getting out of Control.
Today I’m driving to Winslow, AZ to buy a new crockpot at Walmart because the old one broke.
Exciting, no.
From Zero Hedge
h/t Claudio
(link) Having garnered the most votes of any presidential candidate ever in November, Americans appear to be losing faith in President Biden’s ability to ‘build back better’.
From the embarrassment of his chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal to increasing concerns over his tyrannical plans to ‘control’ the pandemic; and from soaring violent crime to anything-but-transitory food inflation, Americans (both young and old) are seemingly suddenly unafraid to express their dissatisfaction, as from coast to coast, college football stadiums on Saturday were packed with fans chanting “F**k Joe Biden.”
I’d have difficulty not joining the crowd in the chant.
You wanted to know things:
Life Down Under…
The revelation of a “little joey”.
More Memes
Ontos
That was quick
Heard that, like the Sheridan, they were love-hated by the troops. Loved for the ability to put a metric crap-ton of boom down range quickly. But the backblast was a bit of a bugger. Though properly emplaced they were a Godsend as they were air-portable by helo and easy to use.
Hue?
I’d bet good money Raven is right.
I inherited a 106 section for a while, even though I had no training in direct fire. But I was available, so. The jeep came with a Sp4 who knew what he was doing and pretty much I did what he told me. Our plan was to shoot one round and haul ass. Because the back-blast told everybody where you were and sticking around to reload is no way to make a living. Hence my firm conviction that the Jarheads had it right with the Ontos. Fire a couple-three quick, no reloading and haul ass.
M50 ONTOS tank destroyer/direct fire support vehicle of Vietnam War fame.
Thank you very much for the mystery challenge and the memes.
The former was greatly appreciated; the latter were shamelessly stolen.
I always liked the M-50. It was not a main battle tank, but given sufficient infantry support, it did its job. Working with three or four, operating in conjunction, they could deter Victor Charles.
Flechette rounds will make return fire slack off, if the rpg don’t get ya first.
Sure had a lot of boom per pound!
-Kle.
Looks like the FAA is moving on/against Starship. Wonder how much Bezos spent to get this rolling.
https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-invites-public-comment-draft-environmental-review-spacex-starshipsuper-heavy-program
It doesn’t take that much in direct cash, far less than you’d think. Bezos would layer his response through expendable flunkies until it got to a fixer. (think Wag the Dog) The fixer would find out what works well for each public figure. Boy, girl, cash, whore in a limo, vacation to the South of France & tickets to the Caan film festival, yacht trip in the Med – or elsewhere.
Based on my personal experience, it’s shocking how little you have to spend. Whores, limos, and white powder tend to be the triple combo that brings the deal home quicker than anything, and of course, these days, lesbians love hookers (the way Kamala used to be involved in the trade) just as much as the guys do. A cheap flight to Vegas, a couple thousand for the table, a nice room, tickets to O or Elton John and private entertainment works if they need to change the venue.
PS It’s surprising how many C-List Hollywood types trick on the side. Wicked cocaine habits eat up that studio production paycheck. Some price themselves high, but if it’s a bribery budget, they’re well within the realm.
I’ve worked a lot of cases where judges were bribed. We’d get the whole thing on videotape and then take it to his honor/her honor to view in chambers…
Well, considering how many Hollywood A-list types trick on the straight-ahead to get their roles… nah. Not surprised.
-Kle.
“it’s shocking how little you have to spend”
You’ve confirmed something I’ve long suspected (and have been saying bitterly for some time). “I’m actually less angry that he sold us out than over how little he sold us out FOR.”
For reasons irrelevant to what we’re discussing I’ve put the academic hat back on this last week after a long hiatus. Being partly back in that mindset it reminds me of something I used to say to trainees. “I can see getting into a fight over first authorship on a New England Journal [of Medicine] or JAMA paper, but fighting over whether you’re 7th or 8th on a paper with 15 authors going to The International Journal of Rat-Fricking is just stupid. Don’t do that.” But I’ve seen people do really bad things over exactly something foolish as that. It’s generally not an open fight, but rather back-biting and sabotage, which is even worse.
The number of prostitutes I know is far smaller than the number of physicians I know, but I honestly can’t say that every member of the latter class is more trustworthy than all members of the former. Come to think of it, this also applies to person I know who sell or sold illicit drugs. Hmmm. This is a rather sad commentary on physicians.
May not be all bad.
https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2021/09/faa-releases-first-report-on-spacex.html
You better stop the eggs while you can…
Unless enough people turn against Biden to change the next stolen election outcome, it won’t matter.
Still, I would like to have seen a stadium like that.
You all be safe and God bless.
Hang in there, LindaG
Writing this before I check the comments….
Yep, kill off the SLS. It’s waaaay too expensive, and completely untested.
Sorta like this “vaccine” they’ve been pushing…
The tracked vehicle is the Ontos, one of the few armor kits I built as a kid. I thought it looked cool, kinda Science Fiction, and with six reckless rifles, packs a punch.
LCS = Little Catcher Ship? Little Catcher Sponge? I like it!
I’ve had enough “excitement” in my life, thank you. I just fear the coming “excitement”….
Yes, FJB. It’s gotten to the point where I hear other Hams laughing about him on-the-air, and in greatly increasing numbers. Other than the wackos that hang out on 14.313MHz, and some old farts on 75 Meters, you’d never hear that kind of vitriol being expressed about a sitting President. Never….
Hmmm….wonder if The Dude would wear a mask. Somehow I don’t think so…
And Mr. Woods is 100% correct.
That LCS is an ugly critter, I could design a better trimaran, in fact I have, twice.
Have to disagree with Mr Plata’s thinking on inflatables in space or on the moon. Any walk around inside or out of a building on earth will show dings that would be destructive to an inflatable. Off world structures will be industrial / heavy use facilities that will incur a lot of dings. If you had to choose between a combat rubber raiding craft , a rigid hull inflatable or a MK V for repeated / extended use, which would you choose? Stating the obvious, if the inflatable fails, the astronauts die. Relying on an inflatable for any length of time is dangerous due to natural and human impacts.
The “Chant” is getting louder and more prevalent…wonder if the FBI will arrest those for a hate crime, spend countless taxpayer dollars chasing leads down all over the country, then sticking them in jail for basically trespassing? Or will they just shoot them on sight?
Winslow huh…careful out there among those gals in flatbed Fords slowing down to take a look at you, could be a paid subversive out to get you when you least expect it.
Great write up on our dealings with space
Going to the Winslow Walmart for a cockpot would be exciting for me, it’s a 22 hour drive and I have not looked across the Grand Canyon for a few years now…
Perspective I guess…
Yup, Ontos as noted, which is Greek for “thing”. Baddest Six-Shooter on the planet.
Two of the last weapons I was trained on in Small Arms Repair School were M40 106mm Recoilless and the M8C spotting gun. Loaded with M581 flechette rounds, an Ontos could turn a jungle full of VC into so much coleslaw and raw hamburger. Also light enough to move around without sinking in the mud. However when you fire at night, everyone knows what and where you are. If anyone needs theirs tuned up, let me know. Still have my notes from school.
What’s not to like about a giant shotgun?
The guy standing within 100′ of the rear of that beast.
Other than that.. yeah, i’d love to have one.
There’s a Mule utility vehicle (that little skeletonized bedframe transport thingy) with a 106mm and the .50cal spotting rifle that’s for sale on one of the military vehicle forums. The vehicle works, the spotting rifle works, the 106 not so much but wouldn’t be hard to get it working as long as the BATFE doesn’t find out. Would make a great hunting camp vehicle, pick up multiple deer, pintle mounted cannon/rifle would scare poachers. Hmmm, make a spud-gun that fires beer cans and use cheap beer to sleeve inside the cannon….
The old LCS. Maybe we need one on Lake Whitney, as a kind of stationary base/fishing platform?
Yeah, use it for a pier….
Right. Problem? Solution.
What should be done with the Lunar Gateway. Launch a modified Starship to use as a permanent gateway.
What should be done with the Lunar Mission. Ditch using SLS to launch an Orion to the Lunar Gateway to transfer the crew to the Lunar Starship that comes from Earth to the Lunar Gateway to pick up the 2 crew (TWO FRIGGIN CREW!!!) to go to the lunar surface. Instead, once manned Starship is proven. launch Lunar Starship from Earth with 30-50 crew and go directly to lunar orbit and then to land and then back home again to Earth orbit. Or if you have to reduce the number on the first Lunar Lander to two, have a Starship as Gateway Station, with it’s own crew of 10-30, and then transfer 2 from the Starship Gateway to the Lunar Starship for the first manned landing. But since SpaceX wants to do an unmanned landing first as proof-of-concept, there’s no reason once Lunar Starship proves it can land and launch to orbit again, skip the whole 2 people first landing and go with a full cargo and crew of 10 or 20 to do some serious moon shit.
And let SpaceX take over making Lunar Excursion Suits, since NASA has forked that up also. And let SpaceX build it’s own EVA suits, since the current EVA suits for space walks are breaking down and ending their useful life and are actually just getting dangerous.
As to SLS, looks like it will fly before any of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket or United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket powered by the BE4 engines from Blue Origin are ready to be man-rated for flight.
Multi-hull vessels are a very good idea. Just not what the LCS multi-hull came out to be. It can’t do squat.
Sadly.
Maybe replace the stupid waterjet system and put in a regular screw system, maybe even a big inboard-outboard (engine on inside of ship with propulsion portion like an outboard on the outside of the ship) and the fuel consumption would go down and the overall performance would go up. Waterjets are inherently inefficient when compared to screws.
Now, a medieval wallet is what we now call a messenger bag or a manpurse.
And a purse was more of a better quality poke. Thus the cutpurse being the one who cuts the purse off of one’s belt or slits the bottom of the purse so as to allow the contents to fall out.
Best bet, if it’s money or important, put it in a purse or poke that’s on a lanyard around your neck and held between your inner tunic and your outer tunic or whatever (surcoat, doublet, cote-hardie, jack, joupon, etc, etc, etc.)
Used to carry my lunch in my wallet when going to and from big fighting events, along with my purse and my poke. Usually carried two or three pokes, one for metal repair (rivets and such) and one for leather and cloth repair (cloth rivets and needle/thread and some spare canvas.) That and a canteen or water jug (trust me, a leather bottle does not fair well in Florida or Mississippi heat…) and my helmet bag and multiple shields, and a bindle-bundle of all my long weapons and my quiver and crossbow and, fork, I wonder how I ever got my fat exhausted ass back to the camp or the car at the end of the day. And the really sad thing is, I had far more stamina and lasting ability than kids 20-30 years younger. And end up with feet issues that would last weeks even with expensive boots and insoles…
Oh to be 10-20 years younger and be able to go back to doing that to my body… Sigh. Getting old sucks.
I support your bobcat breeding program, LL.
When you have enough extra, you could mail them to politicians.
-Kle.
Comments are closed.