Nobody Cares! (Science & Tech Edition)

[danielravennest]

Elon is building a shiny rocket in his back yard.

This is a prototype of the future SpaceX heavy lift rocket's upper stage. It only has three engines, and will only fly a few miles up, as it is intended to test take-off and landings only. This is similar to the "grasshopper" vehicle they used to develop landing technology for the smaller Falcon 9. Amazingly, this was assembled outdoors, at their new launch site near Brownsville, TX, at the very southern tip of the state, on the coast.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Elon is building a shiny rocket in his back yard.

... Amazingly, this was assembled outdoors, at their new launch site near Brownsville, TX, at the very southern tip of the state, on the coast.

Not sure how amazing, Daniel -- upon closer inspection, it looks rather wrinkled and smooshed in places.

 

[danielravennest]

Not sure how amazing, Daniel -- upon closer inspection, it looks rather wrinkled and smooshed in places.

"She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts, kid." - Han Solo

In this case, that would be the engines and other active components. The structural shell only has to not fall apart. In aerospace, we call this an "iron bird". You need to test the engines, software, and other active components together, in order to work out the kinks. But you don't want to do that testing on your final flight hardware, which is much more expensive if you crash it. So you build the cheapest framework that holds all the parts together to test with. Once they know they can land this thing, that knowledge transfers to the real vehicle. Parts of that second vehicle are being built at their factories in Los Angeles.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I'm just surprised it has a flag on it rather than a picture of his dick.

He must be prepping for a presidential run.

 

[danielravennest]

I'm just surprised it has a flag on it rather than a picture of his dick.

He must be prepping for a presidential run.

Musk was born in South Africa, he's not eligible to run for president.

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

Musk was born in South Africa, he's not eligible to run for president.

Thanks heavens. Could you imagine the tweets we'd get from President Musk when someone criticized him?

 

[Essence Lumin]

Musk was born in South Africa, he's not eligible to run for president.

South Africa, Kenya, Hawaii, what's the difference?

 

[Free]

South Africa, Kenya, Hawaii, what's the difference?

 

[Free]

Musk was born in South Africa, he's not eligible to run for president.

I hear his fan club needs a new president. Same rules?

 

[Tigar]

Musk was born in South Africa, he's not eligible to run for president.

Ted Cruz was born in Canada, didn’t he try to run for Prez?

I’m not able to see the pic, it’s just a small square placeholder.

 

[Khamon]

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

Congress passed a naturalization statute in 1790 that stated "the children of citizens of the United States, that may be born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born citizens" then, in 1795 adopted an amendment to the statute that removed the term "natural born" so that it now states "shall be considered as citizens." The courts have consistently ruled that naturalized citizens, including children born beyond the sea, are not eligible to stand for the office of President according to the Constitutional standard, and that the standard cannot be adapted by statutory declaration but must be changed through a Constitutional amendment.

Hawaii is not "beyond the sea" because is it is a State of the Union. Commissioned military bases, embassies, and ships are also considered US soil. Possessions are questionable. If someone born in Puerto Rico, for example, filed to run, a legal argument would likely ensue. Cruz was born in Canada, his mother was a US citizen at the time, which makes him, by statute, a naturalized citizen, but not a natural born citizen by Constitutional standard. I personally welcome any US citizen to run that meets the age and residency requirement. But that's going to require an act of Congress and public ratification.

edit: misplaced quote indicator

 

[danielravennest]

Thanks heavens. Could you imagine the tweets we'd get from President Musk when someone criticized him?

Of course, he could run for president of Mars

 

[danielravennest]

Shiny rocket has now become a tourist attraction.

The launch site is on the coast on the southern tip of Texas, and there is a public beach nearby. The road in the photo leads to the beach. I imagine what will happen is the same as for Playalinda Beach in Florida, which is just north of the Kennedy Space Center. They close the beach and the road to it when a big rocket is taking off from Pad 39, which is very close. The rest of the time, the public can visit.

 

[Tigar]

There’s a rocket in that pic?

 

[Tigar]

Just kidding. Dayum, that looks just like the rockets on the covers of the old SF magazines, Amazing Stories and whatnot.

 

[Free]

Musk should stop trying to fool himself and just call it Rocket Penis.

 

[Govi]

Given its current state of continuous erection, it could be called Priapism.

 

[danielravennest]

Musk should stop trying to fool himself and just call it Rocket Penis.

Every rocket is a phallic symbol, but some more than others:

It's why we refer to the Moon Race between the US & USSR as a "dick-waving contest" (mine's bigger and has more thrust).

 

[Free]

Every rocket is a phallic symbol

But my statement was not really about the shape but the design of this so called Starship, which is just Musk whipping up his own brand of marketing-based dick waving.

Meanwhile... SpaceX is reportedly laying off about 10% of its workforce

 

[Free]

Woman’s medical condition prevents her from hearing men—and Twitter’s jealous

For one woman in China, the Daily Mail reports, it was her startling reality after she awoke one morning and found she couldn’t hear her boyfriend.

[...]

Only identified in reports as Ms. Chen, the woman from Xiamen, China, had experienced a bit of nausea and ringing in her ears the night before. The next morning, it was like The Quiet Place—but just for men. She rushed to a hospital to see ear, nose and throat specialist Dr. Lin Xiaoqing.

“She was able to hear me when I spoke to her, but when a young male patient walked in, she couldn’t hear him at all,” Xiaoqing told the Daily Mail.

The problem? Reverse-slope hearing loss, also known as “low-frequency hearing loss” for the type of sounds those affected can’t hear.