…was not a woman.
We need to call out the lunacy wherever we find it, and protect our right to self defense.
[Sunday-morning update]
Question asked: Why are there so many “trans” mass shooters?
The trans ideologists have been lying, and ruining the lives of confused and vulnerable people.
Yes, thank you RFK, Jr. It’s not about the guns. It’s a mental-health crisis caused by “medication.”
[Bumped]
What comes next?
OK, not tomorrow, but next Sunday, for the next Starship attempt.
[Monday-morning update
Stephen Clark has the story on what went wrong on previous flights, and what they’ve done to prevent a recurrence.
But I have no idea what the phrase “human-rated lander” means.
[Sunday-afternoon update]
Less than two hours to go, weather permitting.
Starship 10 launching tonight https://t.co/EOgGbS3Om7
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 24, 2025
[Bumped]
[Tuesday-morning update]
Third time’s the charm?
[Mid-morning update]
My assessment of the SpaceX flight test today: It was a spectacularly successful flight, with a huge wealth of data. It demonstrated the ability to deliver payloads to orbit, and to deorbit after doing so. While I'm not SpaceX, I personally consider it fully operational for the…
— Not-So-OK Boomer (@Rand_Simberg) August 27, 2025
I would add that the robustness of the design of Starship for entry was fully demonstrated as well. Obviously they will want to shed fewer parts, but it came back like a shot-up B-17.
— Rand Simberg (@Simberg_Space) August 27, 2025
"we removed over 2,100 tiles, we are flying an older generation heat shield, flaps are missing on the nosecone, we are flying a very steep profile to test the aft flaps, we do not expect the ship to survive"
— Maxarick (@Maxarick) November 19, 2024
S31: pic.twitter.com/SVmU9z9TxG
[Bumped]
[Afternoon update]
Here‘s the report from SpaceX itself.
[Thursday-morning update]
Plans for the near future:
This slide needs an update, but gives a rough idea of what we’re aiming for with V3 and V4.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 27, 2025
V3 should be built & tested (maybe flown) by end of this year.
V4 is 2027. Probably closer to 150m height and 7500 tons. pic.twitter.com/5WSUR8MORt
Versions 1 and 2 were proof of concept; versions 3 and 4 will be the operational ones.
[Update early afternoon]
This is the most badass spaceflight photo I have seen in a long, long time. pic.twitter.com/4E9BQKEuwG
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) August 28, 2025
[Update a few minutes later]
When Ship 37 blew up after its splashdown 🖤: pic.twitter.com/37AndaOZOf
— Renata Konkoly 🚘⚡🪡 (@RenataKonkoly) August 28, 2025
Don’t anthromorphize spaceships; they hate when you do that.
Thoughts from Eric Drexler.
The chameleon that destroyed California.
It’s not destroyed yet, and I still hold out hope, but he and the Democrats have certainly done a lot of damage, and it should be a cautionary warning against him as a presidential candidate.
An interesting interview on the prospects for NASA and commercial space.
“Why I left it.”
Much of the blogosphere (including this blog) emerged at the turn of the century because of this.
Why it’s so institutionalized in higher education.
It’s non-White Supremacy.
Another sign that it is probably popping: Gen Z grads can’t get jobs. The scam has been particularly brutal on that generation. It won’t end well.
This is my first trip to this venerable conference, which for decades was held in Logan, UT, where the university there, Utah State, was a hotbed of this developing technology as a result of innovative faculty. This year it’s at the convention center in Salt Lake City, and it’s huge, as would befit this burgeoning industry. There’s a cavernous exhibit hall with hundreds of exhibitors.
My concern is that the industry may be in a bubble. I’m seeing several vendors for some of the technologies, and it’s not clear to me that they’ll all survive, or how they’ll compete. But that’s the dynamic nature of new tech.