Michael Hiteshew

The Falcon Has Returned

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Yesterday, Elon Musk wrote the following on the SpaceX website regarding their upcoming the ORBCOMM-2 mission and their first attempt to return a Falcon-9 booster from space and land it vertically near the launch pad.

The Falcon 9 rocket we are about to launch has higher performance than the prior version due mostly to increased boost thrust, deep cryo oxidizer and a much larger upper stage engine bell. It also has a number of reliability enhancements, such as a redundant stage separation system and greater structural safety margins.
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This should, if all goes well, give us enough performance to deliver eleven satellites to orbit and bring the booster all the way back to Cape Canaveral to Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1).
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T-zero in 15 minutes, so have to sign off. Apologies for any typos in the above. — Elon

SpaceX has done it. They returned the booster stage and landed at Cape Canaveral. They launched 11 satellites as well. I’ve set the video to begin at 30m23s, just as the booster stage begins its return burn and descent.

Update: Just released helicopter footage:

We are entering a new era of space access.

Outdoor Adventures

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Jamal Green makes multi-day hikes across Utah and other interesting places, and then produces videos showing interesting moments along the way.

Mesa_Arch_Canyonlands
(Image source.)

His website Across Utah! is a good starting point for videos, maps, and recommendations for gear.

During several of his hikes, Jamal crosses a spectacular feature called the Water Pocket fold, the edge of a monoclinal fold that eroded away across the crest leaving the edges as upturned rocks pointing into the sky. If you’re interested in a professional geological look, visit Written In Stone and travel along with Dr. Jack Share in a regional overflight, Flight Plan: Part II Geology of the Circle Cliffs Uplift and the Waterpocket Fold at Capitol Reef National Park.

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It’s All About Control

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The Manhattan Contrarian writes on Consensus Science And Orthodoxy Enforcement

This is an old problem with the left, where everything – and I mean everything – is politicized and put into service to the Agenda of The Party. For those on the ground, they are almost unaware that there are serious alternatives to The Party Line. Every question or criticism is dismissed out of hand as propaganda from entrenched interests or misinformation or so obviously and laughably wrong only an idiot could believe it because everybody knows that’s not true! For those in the middle of The Party hierarchy, there are big payoffs to being a loyal Party Apparatchik. Marcia McNutt is advancing nicely along that road. She will be well rewarded for her willingness to crush all dissent while presenting her smiling and attractive to face to the public. For those at the top, the only purpose of anything is to advance the power and control of The Party with themselves at the helm. And everything can be sacrificed to that end. And will be.

About That Omnibus Spending Bill…

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I guess we’ll need to keep replacing R’s and D’s with Tea Partiers until there’s too few of The Beholden to do this any longer. It’s gonna be a long fight.

And after passing that bill yesterday, I received this email today:

PaulRyanEmail

It included a link to this video:

The email also links to Speaker Ryan’s website, where the email and video are posted, and where the comments appear uniformly negative. There exists the very same disconnect and denial of reality between what’s written at the top of this email, and the Omnibus Bill, as can be found in any speech by Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.

It is a new day in the people’s House. ~Paul Ryan