PROVIDING POLITICAL COVER AS USUAL: The mainstream media is avoiding calling disgraced Democrat contributor Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX a megadonor.
Archive for 2022
November 20, 2022
OPEN THREAD: It’s that time.
THEY GROW UP SO FAST: SpaceX to launch last new cargo Dragon spacecraft.
In addition to the three cargo Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX has four Crew Dragon spacecraft, and Walker revealed at the briefing SpaceX plans to build a fifth and likely final Crew Dragon. “This is the last new cargo Dragon spacecraft we plan to build,” she said. “We recently decided to build one more crewed spacecraft as well.”
Previously, SpaceX executives said four Crew Dragon spacecraft would be enough to meet its future needs. At an October 2021 NASA briefing, Walker said the four Crew Dragon vehicles the company planned then “seem sufficient to meet our manifest, which is thriving right now.”
At the Nov. 18 briefing, she attributed the decision for a fifth Crew Dragon to further growth of that manifest. That included NASA’s decision to add eight ISS missions to SpaceX’s existing commercial crew contract as well as an “exciting commercial human spaceflight manifest.” The new Crew Dragon, she said later in the call, should be ready for a first flight “in the 2024 timeframe.”
While each Crew Dragon or cargo Dragon mission requires a new trunk section, which is jettisoned prior to reentry, the capsule itself is designed for multiple flights. “About 15 flights is what we’re targeting right now,” she said.
And by the time these need to be replaced, Starship should be flying.
I FEEL THE NEED…THE NEED FOR SPEED: Caroline Ellison, one of the central figures behind FTX’s collapse, previously tweeted that regularly using amphetamines made the ‘non-medicated’ life seem ‘dumb.’
UPDATE:
This is Sam Bankman-Fried on Meet the Press a few months ago… #SBF_FTX
Usually, people don’t shake so hard the chair moves … 🚨 🚨 🚨 pic.twitter.com/tWADyi53Hr
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) November 15, 2022
MAY GOD BLESS THE SKEPTICS: Eugenicists also believed that science is real. Yep. They were just wrong. And full of the certainty that springs from self-regard. “It is a grave error to refer to eugenics, as many do, as a “pseudoscience.” Eugenics was hard science run amok, untempered by skepticism and profoundly intolerant of dissenting viewpoints. . . . It is equally erroneous to assume that eugenicists were ideological troglodytes—Ku Klux Klansmen in tuxedos,so to speak. Support for eugenics spanned the ideological spectrum, but the movement was at its heart a progressive endeavor. They were profoundly optimistic that eugenics could produce a stronger, happier, healthier human species—with the caveat that some unfortunates would be swept aside in the process.”
Progressivism is always about sweeping aside the “unfortunates” who stand in the way of the planners’ grand dreams. Which grand dreams always turn out to be disastrous, and not just for the “unfortunates.” Or rather, everyone is unfortunate when progressives are in charge.
LET’S GO BRANDON: The coming housing crisis.
JAS OBRECHT: The “Golden Era” of Guitar Player Magazine — Behind the Scenes at a Groundbreaking Music Magazine.
In April 1978 I sent my resume to Guitar Player magazine. At the time, I was living in a run-down neighborhood in Detroit and had been an editor at Gale Research Company for about a year. Every day, new magazines arrived at Gale, and during breaks I read every issue of Rolling Stone, Billboard, Cashbox, and my two favorites, Guitar Player and Living Blues. The front section of Guitar Player featured a column, Pro’s Reply, bylined by one of the magazine’s editors, Dan Forte. The column featured Dan’s photo in the heading, and every month he interviewed a famous or historically significant player. From 2,300 miles away, I thought he had the best gig in the world.
I desperately wanted out of Detroit. A deadly street gang, the Errol Flynns, were on the rise. From my front porch I could point up and down my street to where several murders had recently occurred. So I dutifully mailed my resume off to all of the magazines I’d been reading, along with copies of articles I’d written for Gale’s Contemporary Authors series on Jim Morrison, e.e. cummings, Mao Zedong, Christopher Lee, and others. With its small editorial staff of just Don Menn and three assistant editors, Guitar Player seemed like the longest shot of all.
A few days later, much to my surprise, I received a telephone call at work from GP’s office coordinator, Clara Erickson, asking if I’d be available to speak with Don Menn at 5:30 that afternoon. Dan Forte, she told me, had just parted ways with the magazine. “The drive home from downtown Detroit is really stressful,” I told Clara, “and I like to unwind by watching My Three Sons when I get home. Could he call a half-hour later?”
When he came back from lunch, Don asked Clara, “Did you get ahold of that Obrecht guy?” Clara responded, “You’re not gonna believe this, Don. He asked if you could call a half-hour later so he could watch My Three Sons.” Don, bless his heart, reportedly quipped, “Oh, my God. He has a sense of humor – let’s hire him!” They arranged for me to fly out for a meeting at their offices in Cupertino, California, a few days later.
If you were a fan of the magazine (I’m pretty sure I had every issue from about 1983 to 1991 or so), read the whole thing.
YES, OF COURSE YOU KNOW HOW HE DID IT: 72nd ranked boys’ track runner in Washington State, suddenly becomes the top ranked runner. The country s getting tired of this nonsense.
21ST CENTURY RELATIONSHIPS: Singles can snuggle this giant emotional support bear — and it doesn’t snore. “The Loving Bear Puffy is the shape and size of a male human body — but has the head of a teddy bear. Puffy is ‘a very personal product invented by an ordinary woman who is afraid of being alone,’ the company said. The 5-foot, 7-inch oversize plush bear — weighing just 7 pounds — is $160 and ‘replaces the need for the physical presence of a person in various moments and situations of everyday life, especially during long lonely nights.'”
I see this as designed for the barren, lonely Democratic-voting demographic pictured in the Obama Campaign’s “Life of Julia” comic.
MARK JUDGE: Culture, Country and Honor Really Do Matter. This New Film Shows Us Why.
The Banshees of Inisherin, the great new film from writer/director Martin McDonagh, is superficially about a broken friendship. The plot involves two old friends, one of whom decides he doesn’t want to talk to the other anymore. Their collapsed friendship has been described as a metaphor for Ireland during that country’s civil war in 1923, the year the film is set.
This is true up to a point, but the critics have missed what I think is the deeper meaning of this fine movie. The Banshees of Inisherin is a film about the dishonor of those who sit out the battles, both literal and cultural, that define their times.
The story: Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson), a man in his mid 60s, has stopped talking to his younger friend Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell), with whom he had been friends for twenty years. Colm describes Pádraic as a “nice guy” who is nevertheless “dull.” Colm wants to spend whatever time he has left on Inisherin, the small island off the coast of western Ireland, trying to compose a song on his fiddle. He’s trying to do something that will outlast him. The rest is blarney.
Read the whole thing.
BREAKING: Project Veritas Reinstated to Twitter. “Project Veritas was suspended in 2021 after they released a video showing Facebook Vice President Guy Rosen admitting that the social media platform ‘freezes’ comment sections on posts where they suspect, but have not necessarily have confirmed, that ‘hate speech’ is taking place.”
BAD NEWS FOR DEALERS: General Motors Opens Regional Centers, Expects to Save $2,000 Per Car.
HOW CAN WE MISS YOU IF YOU WON’T GO AWAY?
CBS: Friday: We’re “pausing” our Twitter activity “out of an abundance of caution.”
CBS Today: We’re back! CBS ‘Left’ Twitter to Virtue Signal; Now They’ve Truly Beclowned Themselves by Returning. “CBS woke up this morning with egg on their face. They realized that they would be cutting off their nose to spite their face with that action. So voila, they’re back!”
HOLIDAY DEAL: TurboTax Premier 2022 Tax Software. #CommissionEarned
I REMEMBER WHEN “FUN” AND “PICKUP TRUCK” DIDN’T REALLY GO TOGETHER: 2023 Ford Ranger Raptor: Smaller than the F-150 but No Less Fun.
STAY WARM: Men’s Winter Military Jacket. #CommissionEarned
SPACE: NASA Moon mission ‘exceeding’ expectations. It’s certainly exceeded mine.
NYT (WITH SENATE SAFELY IN DEM HANDS): HEY EVERYONE, SOME RANDO SAYS ALITO IS PROBABLY THE DOBBS LEAKER! “(CNN)–A former evangelical activist claimed…” So, no ulterior motive there.
FASTER, PLEASE: Novel AI blood test detects liver cancer.
IF YOU COUNT YOUR STEPS WHEN YOU’RE CHASING AFTER TODDLERS YOU’LL PROBABLY FIND YOU’RE DOING OKAY: Mothers less likely to meet recommended exercise levels.
PARTY OF YOUTH UPDATE: Alert: Joe Biden Becomes First Octogenarian President in American History.
