Update no.1003

Update from the Sunland

No.1003

29.3.21 – 4.4.21

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

 

            To all,

 

SpaceX carried out a flight test of their SN11 Starship vehicle on Tuesday, 30.March.2021.  They launched at 08:00 CDT in very foggy conditions on the ground at Boca Chica, Texas.  The fog was so thick that the most the ground cameras recorded was a momentary orange glow.  They had no airborne cameras that I am aware of, other than the on-board, telemetry cameras.  They achieved the planned altitude and completed the belly-flop descent attitude maneuver.  At T+05:49 and the beginning of the landing sequence, the engine compartment camera showed the first of three engines light and the transmission ended.  At that moment, the ground cameras recorded another orange glow, a loud boom, and then falling debris.  The available evidence suggests one of the engines disintegrated, destroying the vehicle.  Elon Musk tweeted that the no.2 engine had a problem on ascent, failing to achieve proper chamber pressure. Whether it was the no.2 engine that failed on relight is unknown.  The publicly available evidence suggests the vehicle exploded as the landing sequence began.

As of this writing, SpaceX has not disclosed their data telemetry, the findings of their investigation, or the corrective action.  Each flight so far from SN8 [987] to SN11 have resulted in mishap of one form or another.  SN10 [995] flew successfully and stuck the landing, only to be destroyed by a post-landing explosion.

The engineer and experimental test pilot in me asks one overriding question.  Why would anyone on God’s little green earth launch a test flight in conditions like that?  Just because you can does not mean you should.  The only visuals we had (and presumably anyone else) were a few of the onboard cameras on the SN11 Starship, and they do not offer much since we could not see the event that destroyed the spacecraft.  The vehicle did not need good visibility, but the human beings who must figure out what happened surely would benefit from direct video of the event.

Reportedly, the next vehicle to fly is SN15, which is the first block upgrade craft.  Hopefully, from this point, they will have better luck and performance.

 

For the space enthusiasts among the readers of this humble Blog, I noticed a particularly unusual and awesome video clip in my daily routine.  The title in the archive is: 2021 April 01: Rocket Launch as Seen from the Space Station. The associated URL is:

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210401.html

This is not some April Fool’s joke.  The video represents my fascination with space in so many ways.  Enjoy.

 

Sign of the times . . . they are a changin’.  For the first occasion in nearly 14 months, the parking lot of the church next door to our home was nearly full for the celebration of Easter services.  Perhaps, we are making progress.

 

I suppose chasing false memes and opinions has replaced debunking the myriad lies of the [person who shall no longer be named].  Such is life.  So, we have another example this week that really struck me.  The meme in question display Dr. Suess’s Cat in the Hat character along with the words, “A Racist, Seuss is not but one fact is true.  Banning books is something that only Nazis do.”  To which another contributor added, “This is what communist countries do...cancel culture at it's best!”  As I said earlier, this one struck a nerve.  I added my opinion.  “Once again, this meme is completely false. Please do your research before you pass along false information.  First, the USG has taken no action.  Second, the copyright holder and publisher withdrew six (6) of his 60+ books for content they judged as racially insensitive.  This is neither Nazi nor communist.  It is the copyright holder doing the responsible and proper thing to protect the work of Theodor Seuss Geisel.”

The phrase that kept coming to me as I stewed about the meme was, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  The quote comes from Edmund Burke in a letter to Thomas Mercer and amplified by Burke in his published political pamphlet Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents, the subject of which was the nepotism of King George III and the influence of the Court on the British House of Commons.

This particular meme represents much more than false information.  It adds fuel to the fire that exploded with the candidacy and administration of the [person who shall no longer be named].  He is not president anymore.  However, the forces he stoked and brought him to power remain intertwined in our society.  While that element is not evil, only misguided, those forces will continue to divide this once grand republic.  We have a very long way to recover from the corrosion wrought by the [person who shall no longer be named].  We shall overcome.

 

            Comments and contributions from Update no.1002:

Comment to the Blog:

“We have done our part ridding our country of the restrictions.  Let’s hope the CDC does its part.  If not, the people will eventually pressure the politicians to override them, as they already have done in places.  I continue to suffer personally and from the deaths of friends in recovery due to the restrictions.  Dr. Birx and others have begun the blame game.

“Republican candidates will have to resolve a contradiction.  In order to win in primaries, they’ll have to convince the base that they still support King Baby because the GOP base still believes him.  However, in the general election, they’ll face an electorate that doesn’t buy into the election nonsense.  That ought to be interesting.

“There’s progress in assuming human nature is human nature worldwide and looking at reasons our homicide rate far exceeds other similar nations.  It’s because (a) firearms are freely available here and (b) firearms are by far the easiest weapon to use for homicide.  We need to regulate firearm ownership at least as much as we do cars.  The distinction between one class of firearm and another resembles the difference between passenger cars, medium-duty trucks, and big rigs, except that semi-automatic weapons can be modified much more easily than medium-duty trucks.

“No doubt Biden has a better presentation than King Baby.  Would that his actual actions were stronger.

“We live in the Information Age.  While we benefit mightily from much of that, there’s also a massive increase in outright bullshit.  I don’t have an answer to that problem.

“I never supported the filibuster.  It merely obstructs majority rule, to the degree we had majority rule in the first place.”

My response to the Blog:

With respect, my friend, the threat is the virus, not the consequent pandemic guidelines.  The restrictions are a necessary artifact to protect people during an infectious pandemic.  I do not see Dr. Birx’s recent interview comments as the blame game; I think she is trying to fill in the public record.  She was asked pointed questions as a first-hand observer/participant.  Regrettably, her observations would have had far more impact if she had resigned at any one of many outrageous actions by the [person who shall no longer be named]; the most obvious moment from my perspective was the inject disinfectant statement by the [person who shall no longer be named] at a White House presser [954; 23.3.2020].  Imagine if she had resigned and gone public with the idiocy and lunacy she witnessed.  No, I do not see Drs. Birx or Fauci in the same light that you apparently do.  As we have discussed previously, please do not interpret my observations as ignoring the seriousness of the restrictions on mental and physical health.  But the issue remains the virus, a far greater threat, not the necessary restrictions.  It is my opinion that if Biden had been president in January 2020, we would have a monumentally different and better situation today.  President Biden is taking far more aggressive, direct, and positive actions to beat the viral pandemic than his predecessor ever did.  My counsel: let us stay focused on the root cause.

Oh my, yes, you got that spot on correct in spades.  We see exactly that phenomenon on graphic display with just some of the elected representatives for Arizona—Gosar, Biggs, Schweikert, and Lesko.  Two of that lot were direct accomplices to the insurrection.  Regrettably, those rogues are not alone as we witness the Republican dominated legislature working feverishly to re-impose Jim Crow voter suppression laws in Arizona.  They sense their grasp on power waning, and they are desperate to do anything to hold onto the power they have.  We are deep into a period of mortal test for our representative democracy.  The BICP (Bully In Chief Party) members may well prove Vladimir Putin’s hypothesis—autocracy (dictatorship) is a more efficient form of governance and the only answer.

Hey, we can agree.  I’m all in favor of more appropriate and positive regulation as long as proper safeguards are part of the reform.  In the mix here is a broad and inherent distrust of government.  Our history is replete with myriad examples of government agents and prosecutors abusing their authority under the law.  As long as those events continue to occur, I cannot imagine We, the People, developing sufficient trust in those very same government agents in handling the law responsibly.  Further, as I noted in my opinion, the tool(s) is a symptom, not the root cause.  Lastly, I fully understand and appreciate the urge to do something, even treating the symptoms rather than the root cause(s).  But that reasoning is exactly, precisely, and solely what brought us to five decades hence and the monumental abuses in the name of the so-called war on drugs.  Enacting more regulatory laws utilizing that erroneous reasoning will NOT solve the problem, just as we bear witness the enormous destruction of the war on drugs.  [Of note here: the war on drugs induced the lawlessness in Central American nations, which in turn forces people to flee and seek asylum in the United States, and then we treat the asylum seekers like criminals.]  We do NOT have a good track record handling draconian laws ostensibly intended to improve our lives.  Nope, I’m not convinced this issue will be different.  I agree with you in principle but disagree with you in fact.

Just a peripheral FYI: look what is happening as Republican legislatures strive mightily to re-impose Jim Crow election laws.  Why should be trust government?

For me . . . peace and stability.  President Biden is doing far better than that very low threshold.  I want calm to return from the chaos we endured during the four prior years.  We shall continue to watch and scrutinize the current administration’s actions.

Yes indeedie!  Again . . . in spades.  We bear direct witness to the consequences of unfettered communications, freedom of speech, and the gullibility of our citizenry.  We are mired in an evolving process of learning to filter out the flood of misinformation and outright disinformation.  I am guardedly optimistic we shall overcome, but I am regrettably afraid we have considerably more pain and missteps to endure until we reach a more enlightened day.  The example I offered in last week’s Update [1002] is a prime example.  We must persevere and confront the disinformation.

We have never been a majority rule nation, not for 245 years of our history so far.  The fear of the Founders was the oppression of the majority.  While the pressure mounts to abandon our founding principles, I shall remain a voice of caution.  Yes, I want contributary laws to improve our republic, but I am not willing to trust the simple majority.  Our system of governance has failed us before.  Making it easier for more failures is not an attractive state.

 . . . Round two:

“You're correct about the mode of virus transmission, but the volume of exposure is what makes hotspots so important.  I'd rather people didn't crowd into a concert or whatever, but the constant exposure in a prison or mental institution presents a much higher risk of transmission sufficient to cause serious harm.

“How does the regulation of firearms similar to automobiles constitute the rest of what you said?

“You are correct that military peace does not equate to inner peace.  No government can provide inner peace.”

 . . . my response to round two:

We are agreed.  Unfortunately, there is a significant portion of our citizenry who have swallowed the elixir peddled by the cowardly [person who shall no longer be named] and refuse to abide the CDC guidelines, get vaccinated, or otherwise respect other human beings.  I will argue those individuals so inclined are a direct threat to public safety.  I also agree that required congregations as you cite are also serious potential hotspots.  Normally, I am an outspoken advocate for freedom of choice, but that freedom only applies to private or non-injurious actions or activities.  Not doing their part for public safety is a violation of that non-injurious constraint and thus negates the individual’s freedom of choice.  The only way to avoid the CDC guidelines is stay home (in private).  Lastly, I am all in favor of prioritizing the vaccinations for the required congregants, e.g., prisons, nursing homes, mental institutions and such.  I would have gladly waited for them to be vaccinated first.

Apparently, you missed my central point in the firearms regulation discussion.  I do not recall any politician or prosecutor seeking to remove cars or ban certain types of cars.  We have regulations for catalytic converters, mufflers, brake lights, fenders & mud flaps, et al, but no one is trying to remove Buicks from the population.  Today, we have politicians screaming for banning assault rifles.  Truth be told, assault rifles have been illegal since 1934.  None of the mass murder events involved assault rifles.  The closest was the Las Vegas event [1.10.2017] when the perpetrator modified the rifles to operate like an automatic weapon; none of the others involved such modifications.  Further, I stated I was all in favor of appropriate and reasonable regulations as long as comparably appropriate safeguards against prosecutorial abuse are incorporated at the same time.  I do believe we are agreed in principle; I am only adding a few additional constraints to protect our freedom of choice and fundamental right to privacy.

Of course, you are quite correct.  However, I feel considerably more inner peace than I did just three months ago.  I want more peace and stability.  I imagine it will come with time with the new administration.

 . . . Round three:

“I tire of hearing about King Baby. There was bound to be resistance, and much of the resistance to the restrictions is not political.  Mine, for example.  The vaccines are another matter, but not entirely.  The pharmaceutical corporations and the medical industry they are part of have earned bad reputations.

“I’m aware, as you seem not to be, that all of the mass shootings involve AR-15s or similar weapons.  Public safety overrides people’s freedom to own products with no function other than mass destruction.  People aren’t allowed to own high explosives, either, except under strict control in very limited circumstances.  In any case, mass shootings are a small share of firearm deaths.

“Speaking as a recovering person, if you get your peace from government, you are in danger of losing your peace at any time.”

 . . . my response to round three:

Oh my, I reached that threshold long before President Biden was inaugurated or even the 2020 election.  His incitement of the 6^th January insurrection and cowardly retreat to the White House bunker while his minions did the dirty work sealed his fate at persona non grata in my book.

Again, you are, of course, quite correct from my perspective.  The resistance to the CDC pandemic guidelines goes far beyond the [person who shall no longer be named], and yet, he amplified the resistance during his tenure that has now calcified.  He has amplified so much more, e.g., racism, xenophobia, homophobia, distrust of government, condemnation of the Press, et al ad infinitum ad nauseum.  He cannot be absolved of his culpability.

The conduct of pharmaceutical corporations (et al) is a whole other topic.  I am in the middle in that the profit-motive is a powerful incentive as we see in Pfizer’s self-funding vaccine developments and yet entrusting public health and safety to a for-profit corporation is an anathema.

I suggest you check your history of the AR-15.  Yes, the term has been expanded to include the non-automatic civilian version.  Some automatic versions look identical to the fully automatic capable versions also known as the M-16.  A lay person is not likely to identify which is which.  My point is automatic weapons have been prohibited from civilian ownership for not quite 90 years.  Let us be precise in our use of terms and words.  Further, to say that semi-automatic rifles have no function other than mass destruction is patently false.

I do not find my peace from government.  But, government can avoid creating chaos, confusion, and amplifying the voices & actions of the lesser elements within our society that do disturb my peace.

 

Another contribution:

“I know we’ve discussed this before but I can’t adhere to your “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” mentality.  Yes, is the human pulling the trigger? 100%.  But you can’t argue the gun makes it much (MUCH) easier for the humans to execute their mission.

“Yes, you can point to mental illness as a root cause.  With guns readily accessible this is the outcome you get with that mental illness.  To me, that outcome is too costly.  But hey, cost of freedom, right?

“Look at the below global homicide numbers.  Does mental illness not exist in those other countries?  Of course it does.  But their gun deaths are much (MUCH) lower than ours.

[Graph: Gun-related deaths (homicide & suicide) rates 
in high-income countries (per capita)]

“Nothing will change if we outlaw assault rifles?  Cool, let’s test that hypothesis cuz the current actions we have (or don’t have) are not doing shit.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive.  Americans are far too set in their ways.  We’re talking change would take generations to happen.  Generations for men to not think their dick is shrinking if their gun was taken away.”

My reply:

Assault rifles (automatic weapons) have been illegal since 1934.  None of the mass murder events in this country involved assault rifles.  The closest would be the Las Vegas event [1.10.2017] that utilized a modified rifle (bump stock) to achieve automatic fire; I continue to argue that a bump stock modified rifle was already illegal by the National Firearms Act of 1934.  We are discussing banning a class of firearm because it looks like a military weapon for ALL citizens in the lame hope that the minute fraction of 1% of our populations (many, if not most, of them with demonstrable, clinical, mental illness) cannot use the tool properly. [emphasis mine]

Testing a hypothesis is not quite so easy.  For the sake of this discussion, let us assume we do just that.  How do you propose to remove look-alike weapons from the population?  What happens when a citizen refuses to surrender his look-alike AR-15 rifles?  How do we track down all those look alike rifles owned by peaceful, law-abiding citizens?  How will we verify that subject weapons have been removed?  How do we stop zealous prosecutors from applying this hypothetical prohibition law from being more widely applied to other weapons?  What are we doing to treat the real root cause(s)—untreated mental illness?

Prohibition is never the answer in a free society.  To me, this question is no different from drugs, abortion, gambling, prostitution, et al.  We sacrifice a slice of freedom to impose any prohibition; this particular version is no different.  We have a very poor history with prohibitions.

 

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

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)