StrandedonEarth

"Chance of winning the battle: 95%" - loses "Chance of winning the battle: 95%" - loses "Chance of winning the battle: 95%" - loses *ragequit*

Oh hey, as long as there's a Factorio thread, I made this years ago:

Prolific producer Roger Corman died on May 9, at age 98. Roger Corman - Biography - IMDb Interestingly, he outlived his obituary writer by a decade...

Four Superheavies stuffed in a Superhighbay? Starting to look like a gun magazine in there.

Clear skies here, but also light pollution. At best, after ten minutes outside as hidden from the plentiful ambient light as I could get, I could see a haze that could easily be mistaken for high, thin clouds, except it didn’t block the stars. But my iPhone 12 camera saw this ;

A robot doesn’t care what the mess is in the bathroom that needs to be cleaned up. It won’t gag or puke at the sight, or need a gas mask, etc. I think the janitor at my wife’s school would be happy to be replaced by a robot, considering the messes that get deliberately made in the boys room. And no, they’re not smoking in there… Although the bot itself might need decontaminating after…

PV can be co-located with crops, which benefits certain crops, and adds habitat for pollinators and animal. Win-win-win. Search “Agrivoltaics”

Isn't Centaur a balloon tank of hydrogen? No pressure, no strength; not an issue until the hydrogen boils off. Oh yeah, oops. Add on all the other systems to make it work. You want people on it? That thin skin will need MMOD protection, at least that could double as insulation. It also sounds like a one-way trip, and it has to get to lunar space first! I don't see a Centaur-based lander working very easily (of course it can work, by applying sufficient funding). SLS is what we got trying to re-use Shuttle hardware, remember?

Yeah, it's getting to the point where data/AI centers will need to secure their own power supply. Maybe that'll drive investment in a new generation of nuclear power plants! Yeah, I know, wishful thinking, too many hurdles. But that's part of why Microsoft is invested in fusion.

Well, probably not a cure-all, but localized storage (buffer batteries) and PV-covered parking lots (and/or wind where suitable) can go a long way towards slowing down the need for grid upgrades

Battery-as-a-service. You don't own the (swappable) battery, you lease/rent it. Depreciation is built into the battery owner's business model; besides, LFP battery cells are much more durable and much less prone to thermal runaway issues. Refueling a rentable ICE generator or fuel cell module (for recharging the permanent battery) would be no different than changing a propane-type cylinder or filling a jerry-can. Battery-swap systems are already operating in China. China's Nio Lets EV Drivers Swap Battery Quick and Hit the Road (caranddriver.com).

I still think the optimal concept would build off of battery-swap tech. Have a smaller built-in commuter-range battery coupled with a flexible, standardized swap bay that can hold a swappable module that can be a cargo tote, another battery, or some sort of generator or fuel cell, as needed.

There was an article, either in this thread or the Science News thread, about tickling, but I was unable to search it up. Basically, it’s known we can’t tickle ourselves (the soles of the feet may be an exception, imo), but it was also noted that tickling yourself also makes you resistant to someone else tickling you at the same time. This info has been very useful, since my wife enjoys tickling me, which drives me nuts and not in a good way. Now I can tolerate it once I can set up my defence, much to her disappointment and my relief

Another routine launch, first one I've had the opportunity to watch in a while. I just put it on while watching the Make-Me-Laffs force Game 7. The game ended as the booster was coming in to land.

What a plumbing nightmare. Dev version, I hope...

Ouch!

I suppose the most amazing part is that these last two twentieth launches were for customer payloads, not starlinks…

Or model rocket, possibly. My brother had one back in the 80’s…

Well, the scope and scale is certainly impressive, and I imagine it costs about as much too… Lego should put out cheap sooty Falcon 9 kits with all pieces except payload having been previously used …

A classic medevac chopper:

Legendary hockey play-byplay announcer Bob Cole has died at age 90 Bob Cole, the play-by-play voice of countless NHL games, dies at 90 | CBC News

Solar hot water is fairly easy, as long as you have something black and watertight. Wind generation requires less tech than solar PV, although concentrated solar thermal would be similar to wind, aside from steam handling. This assumes the sun is still shining, not blocked out by clouds. AFAIK, military industrial would be primary targets, with population centres being collateral damage. So most useful industry (not including useless consumer goods) would be wiped out.

From what I saw from pork chop plots, there are some times where the dV cost doubles or triples or more…

Okay, so a booster airframe has made 20 flights. Does it still have any of its original Merlins? What is the most flights for a Merlin engine?

Geez, it might have been back in the 80s or 90s (maybe later, but don’t think so) that I came across an article suggesting that the blocks that built the Pyramids were poured, based on inclusions like hair. But apparently the theory never gained traction at the time…