Update no.999

Update from the Sunland

No.999

1.3.21 – 7.3.21

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

            To all,

 

After watching the test launches of SpaceX Starship SN8 [987] and SN9 [995], the SN10 Starship test vehicle launched from the SpaceX facility at Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, 4.March.2021, at 17:14 [S] CST (23:14 [Z] GMT).  SN10 flew to 10 kilometers, flipped over to its horizontal descent attitude, and then fired up all three engines to right itself and stick the landing.  I actually cheered their success.  A post-landing fire at the base of the standing vehicle appeared at the base of the spaceship and seemed to be out of the ordinary but fairly small.  Fire suppression attempted to extinguish the fire.  Minutes after landing successfully, an explosion occurred at the base of the craft presumably in the engine compartment and lifted the vehicle a hundred meters in the air before crashing back down.  A good video of the SN10 events:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkXUS321oZ4

My guess is something failed in the plumbing, allowing propellant to leak in the engine compartment area that eventually ignited and exploded.  I believe they will sort out the problem in short order.  I was really excited and encouraged by the accomplishments of the SN10 flight.  They are close to a functional system.

 

            The follow-up news items:

-- In the wake of the failed insurrection [991], the latest QAnon pronouncement declared that the [person who shall no longer be named] would be inaugurated as the 19^th POTUS on 4.March.2021.  Well, surprise, surprise, QAnon was wrong, yet again.  For those who may not be familiar with the associated history, the 4^th of March was the traditional inauguration date prior to the 20^th Amendment (1933).  The [person who shall no longer be named] is still and remains a former president.  I am not sure why QAnon referred to the wannabe dictator as the 19^th POTUS, but hey, I am only reporting what they claimed.

-- The latest in a series of pandemic relief bills [948, 949, 950, 960, 990] passed the House of Representatives on the 27^th of February.  To avoid the threatened filibuster block by Senate BICP members, the Senate majority leader elected to take the reconciliation approach that only required a simple majority approval.  After a Senate vote-a-rama in which the BICP members offered 100 amendments to the bill with only one purpose—delay the final vote in hopes of wearing out the majority.  Each amendment required a full roll call vote.  After all the BICP effort to block the bill, the Senate narrowly approved H.R. 1319 American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 [Senate: 50-49-0-1(0); House: 219-212-0-1(3)].  Senator Daniel Scott Sullivan of Alaska declared that he had to return to Alaska for a family funeral and did not vote, which in turn ensured a default break of the party line tie.  The bill goes back to the House to approve the amendments made by the Senate.  The House vote to affirm and send to the president is expected this coming Tuesday.

 

A friend and frequent contributor sent along this observation:

“Your UM [Un-Mentionable] is at it, as we all suspected he would.  Is it at all possible that somehow those ‘followers’ can be re-educated to understand what a failure and controlling individual he really is?  It needs doing Cap.

“Someone needs to get started on it.”  The associated article URL:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56230998

My reply:

Spot on!  The [person who shall no longer be named] does not possess the common sense to know when it is time to bow out gracefully.  His grotesque personality defects do not allow common sense.

Yes, there is hope that his followers can and perhaps will eventually give up on the worthlessness of their loyalty to a man who does not deserve such dedication.  There is always hope.  So, we wait.

 

Early on during the COVID19 Pandemic, I thought Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York handled the pandemic response better than any other governor, especially in the face of the laissez-faire, every-state-for-themselves approach to the pandemic response by the [person who shall no longer be named].  My image held up nicely for nearly a year until accusations of altering the COVID19 data related to elder care facilities.  The question appeared to be a crack in the dam.  Since then, a half dozen women have come out with accusations of sexual harassment and a toxic workplace.  Even in the light of the Me-Too Movement, Governor Cuomo appears to be handling this situation reasonably well in that he is not going to resign and is insisting upon the due process of a formal investigation of the accusations.  I must say the current flurry of accusations are disappointing.  Cuomo is a political savvy person who knows better, and yet, the alleged conduct does not reflect understanding or appreciation of what the Me-Too Movement stands for and the frustration felt by countless women.  My impression, as I listen to the public accusations, it that of a powerful politician who is desperate for a little love.  He divorced in 2005 and split with his then girlfriend in September 2019.  That said, the accusations against Governor Cuomo are a long way from those made against President Bill Clinton, Governor Eliot Spitzer, or even Senator Al Franken, who gave up his seat in the Senate for far less.  All of this storm swirling around Governor Cuomo pales to the level of a tempest in a teapot compared to the accusations against the [person who shall no longer be named].  Some of the accusations against the [person who shall no longer be named] are working their way through the courts, so hopefully, justice shall be served.  To this point, I think Governor Cuomo was doing what has to be done and should be done in situations like this, but they are embarrassing, nonetheless.  Let the chips fall where they may.

 

The House passed HR 1 – For the People Act of 2021 – An Act To expand Americans’ access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy, and for other purposes.  The House vote was predominantly along party lines [House: 220-210-0-2(3)].  This is the first major congressional effort to reform the election process.  We shall see how the Senate chooses to address the matter.  From my perspective, this legislation does not go far enough in improving our election processes, but let us not forget, the largest portion of the responsibility for elections rest at the state level, not federal.  Regardless, there is much that can be done to improve the process.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.998:

Comment to the Blog:

“I salute your capacity to drive 60 miles across Phoenix at rush hour.  I hope my ability to do that is never tested.  I’ll get the vaccine only after seeing results from many guinea pigs.  If I get it, I would prefer the Johnson & Johnson single-shot version.  The others have too many bizarre logistical features.

“I long ago ceased believing the numbers on the virus are precise, after two different people I know were told they tested negative but should isolate ‘just in case.’ At the very least, that’s not sound science.

“It was never just King Baby.  He merely leads, for now, a segment of society that has always held hateful views of everyone not them.  Senator Cotton sees the opportunity there, as do various others.  QAnon takes that a few steps further away from reality, and they vote.

“Small correction: I didn’t coin King Baby.  People who study alcoholism/addiction did.

“Your notion of paying for an education with service is sound, but has not been available to those of us who already owe immense amounts of money for higher education.  I couldn't even get work-study at my school, and we’re not all military material.”

My response to the Blog:

We are two of your guinea pigs.  So far, so good.  I hope you can find a convenient place to receive the J&J version—a traditional vaccine.  Please keep me posted on your progress.

Nothing is perfect.  Science is not perfect.  Science does the best it can with the facts available.  I am not sure why anyone would or could think we know everything there is to know about the behavior of a microscopic viral cell.  The people you know were likely exposed to an active case.  Exposure does not mean automatic infection, but isolate just in case is the safe approach.  The science is doing the best it can.

Yeah, the [person who shall no longer be named] did not create this environment; he did not even think it up.  What he did was amplify and exploit the underlying conditions.  He legitimized these damnable conspiracy theorists, white supremacists, and insurrectionists.  He took the dissatisfaction of the Tea Party and pumped it up with steroids.  Cotton is not the only wannabe successor.  We can add Cruz, Hawley, Johnson, and a large number in the House.

Re: King Baby.  I heard it first from you, thus the credit.  I don’t know who the “people who study alcoholism/addiction” are, so I cannot credit them.  If you wish me to cite someone else, please inform me.  Thank you for the correction.

Quite so, there needs to be serious reform.  Block grants are not the correct path.  The quid pro quo system worked for me—no regrets.  Bernie can and should propose a bill for such service.  It certainly does not need to be limited to military service.

 . . . Round two:

“I’m aware science doesn’t claim to yield perfect answers.  Having studied scientific method, I merely wish scientific method would be applied to the current pandemic.  ‘Medical science’ doesn’t really use scientific method well, and the blind panic that is our national response inhibits it even more.

“I found an attribution of King Baby Syndrome to Tom Cunningham, a psychologist who wrote about it in the 1980s to refer to the connection between narcissistic personality traits and addictions in a rehabilitation context.

https://www.rehab4addiction.co.uk/blog/king-baby-syndrome

“While a term of (paid) service is a good way to pay for college, other methods have been used.  ‘Block grants’ (i.e., Pell Grants) worked pretty well as late as my earlier round of college, in the early 1990s.  Work-study worked well, too, in those days of lower tuition and fees.  All of those methods work better than requiring everyone to borrow large amounts of money.

“Enjoy your day unless you drive across Phoenix at rush hour.  That’s strictly survival.”

 . . . my response to round two:

You are a hard taskmaster.  On this, we shall respectfully disagree.  The medical profession uses the best scientific methods with the facts they have.  The problem is we cannot examine the atomic and molecular level interactions as thoroughly as we would like because it is most often living flesh that cannot tolerate destructive probing.

Blind panic is a political response, not a medical one.  The professionals give us the facts.  We must decide what to do with those facts.

Ahso!  King Baby is a general descriptor rather than a specific moniker.  Noted.  We shall credit Tom Cunningham.  Thx.

Agreed.  Now, we just need to institutionalize the alternative means.

Yeah, thankfully, we don’t have to make the journey across Phoenix again until the 25^th of this month for our 2nd & final dose.

 . . . Round three:

“‘Scientific method’ refers to a specific set of rules for conducting legitimate research.  My statements stand.  So does my attribution of blind panic to all the authority figures, ‘professional’ or not.

“Good luck with driving Phoenix.  The only worse place I've ever driven was New Orleans in its heyday.  We are being offered the Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the building where I live Friday.  If I can get the antibody test (and negative results) before then, I'll probably take it.  I haven't had any past issues with conventional vaccines.”

 . . . my response to round three:

As always, you are entitled to your opinion.  We shall respectfully disagree.

Apparently, we shall also disagree on driving in Phoenix.  I don’t know when your last experience was, but today, it is not as bad as it once was, and I can think of many other cities I would classify as worse, not least of which would be New York City, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles.  I would add San Francisco, but I love the city too much.

I do not believe the anti-body test is a prerequisite for the vaccine, but your choice entirely.  I hope you can get the vaccine on Friday—one & done.

 . . . Round four:

“The antibody test is not a prerequisite, but the man I knew who died after getting the vaccine obviously would have had the antibodies due to having survived the virus.  I am considering the various risk factors based on what I know from personal sources.  My acquaintance's death will be recorded as a virus death, not as the result of the vaccine, or so I'm told by another friend who is closer to his family than I.  I have no reason to trust the authority figures' word for anything related to the virus.”

 . . . my response to round four:

I am sorry for your loss, but with respect, there are a whole lot of dots missing.  A lot of assumptions in that one. Nonetheless, you must decide based on whatever criteria are important to you.  Good luck, my friend.

 

Another contribution:

“Just watched the video-absolutely stunning. I don’t expect to be around when we the humans land on Mars-I’d like to be.

“Rather oddly I wrote a short story about an international crew flying to Mars where the 2^nd in command, navigator, dies on board and had to be put outside…his body bag followed the ship rustling against the vessel until they changed course and he was left on his own.

“OK enjoy the benefit of your jabs both.”

My reply:

Quite so.  It was truly awesome to see those vid-clips from 300 million miles away.  We can always hope, my friend.  We went from zero to the Moon several times in a decade.  We will both hope to witness humans landing on Mars before we leave this world.

Interesting short story.  Can you share the story?

We are looking forward to moving beyond this phase of life.  I would just as soon not repeat this pandemic experience.

 . . . follow-up comment:

“Of course I can send you a little reading!  I’ll hunt it out…I wrote it some years ago so it’ll be on a memory stick somewhere!

“Rubbish weather here-fog, frost and then rain-all coming from that artic direction.”

 . . . my follow-up reply:

Thx for sharing your short story.  Situations like that are inevitable, but we always hope they never happen.

Ice fog . . . the worst.  Hopefully, the rain will clear whatever ice accumulated rather than add to it.

 

            My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)