Take that Russia

MOSCOW, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Russia's first moon mission in 47 years failed when its Luna-25 space craft spun out of control and crashed into the moon after a problem preparing for pre-landing orbit, underscoring the post-Soviet decline of a once mighty space programme.

Russia's state space corporation, Roskosmos, said it had lost contact with the craft at 11:57 GMT on Saturday after a problem as the craft was shunted into pre-landing orbit. A soft landing had been planned for Monday.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/race-moon-resources-has-begun-says-russias-space-chief-after-failed-lunar-2023-08-21/

Oops this turned into a semi rant. But I am legitimately open to discussion here, and am curious to get your thoughts on a few points Bob. That is, IF you're willing to actually think about them beyond the level of repeating talking points.

I find it interesting how divergent the two overall "sides" are in this country, in terms of where they focus. None of the issues brought up in this video are really on the radar of most progressives, beyond being aware some on the right are talking about them. And I'm guessing a lot of the concerns progressives discuss rarely come up in your chosen media landscape. A lot of the issues in the video are largely off of my radar, and I have to wonder how you feel they should be addressed - like, actual proposed solutions rather than just complaining about / worrying about them.

We only dedicate one day to remember our fallen soldiers

How many should there be? Arguably we have more than one already: there's Memorial Day and Veterans Day, and it seems that Sept 11th is often used for the purpose as well.

I'd argue we should spend more time acknowledging and understanding the principals behind WHY our soldiers died in the various conflicts which caused them to fall in the first place. Let's make sure our citizenry appreciates what we collectively rejected in the Revolutionary war. Why it was important that we kept the country together rather than allowing the south to split off in the mid-1800s. Why we chose to honor our diplomatic agreements and support our allies in WW1. Why we fought against the countries and governments we did in WW2. What our goals were in Korea and Vietnam, and what lessons we learned from those conflicts and from the Cold War in general. Commemorating and remembering those we've lost absolutely matters, but if we're ONLY doing that while forgetting why they fought OR ignoring what we learned then we're doing them an equal or greater disservice. Remember that America was built on the idea of forming "a more perfect union" - not a perfect one, a MORE perfect one - a work in progress. We're striving towards an ideal, not assuming we're already there. Learning from our past successes, failures, and our struggles around both outcomes is vital. If our self-analysis is no deeper than hero worship we'll never make real progress towards that theoretical perfect union.

The only mask that's gonna save us is duct tape on their mouths

Yeah, sound medical advice and evidence-based science is terrifying. Better to shut up those whose words we dislike, because we're reactionary authoritarian babymen. I truly do not understand being more afraid of reasonable safety measures than of a virus which has been shown to cause serious harm in the short and long terms. The only reason this "masks = liberal / maskless = conservative" crap came about is because politics has devolved to the level of team sports in the US, and one party has chosen "the opposite of whatever our political opponents say" as their entire governing philosophy. (And yes, ONE party - research and understand the GOP's 2020 platform if you want to argue the point.) This video even seems to reach a reasonable conclusion at the end, while coming up just short of that final logical leap to "maybe I should question what the public faces of MY side have been claiming in this Us vs Them madness." Seriously - keep going friend, you're almost there! George Washington was 100% right in wanting to avoid political parties being a force in the US, and it makes me immensely sad that his fears came true.

Big oil runs the world / the only wars to get fought are with the countries who have natural resources they want

Solid point here, no sarcasm. The US military has long been a tool of our profit-driven form of "free market" imperialism. A really great way to combat this, specifically with an eye to ending Big Oil's goddamn death grip on our foreign policy goals, would be an aggressive implementation of renewable energy projects. Remember the space race? America can be an absolute beast at clever engineering solutions when we dedicate ourselves to it. Fuck the petrostates, we have the available land and resources to absolutely kick ass in the realms of solar and wind power, and be leaders in the the post-hydrocarbon reality. We can certainly agree on that, right Bob? Left / Right nonsense fully aside, I think any reasonable American can agree on at least two points: let's stop sending heaps of cash to buy oil off of the Saudis (etc), and Fuck Cancer.

But if a white man acts too white he's white trash / he's a racist he's a bigot he's a monster

What the fuck is this horseshit? What does "acting too white" even fucking look like? Watching NASCAR on a sailboat while listening to polka? Typically when I see racism from white people it's in the form of denying that brown-hued people deal with any additional difficulties in life due to their skin tone, or denying that there have been structural obstacles for them through history, or lamenting that their white children are being burdened with a broader lens on culture or with (gasp! shock!) an accurate accounting of actual US history, including the ugly bits that we shouldn't be proud of (but MUST learn from). I'm progressive / lefty as fuck and there is no aspect of "white culture" or "acting white" which upsets me in the slightest. UNLESS one counts "denying racism exists / has ever existed" as a fundamental value of being white. Which... why would anyone want to claim that nonsense? If you want to listen to classic country music in a rusty pickup truck while driving to an evangelical church, then discuss hockey over Buds after 18 holes with the rest of your tractor pull team, then absolutely go nuts my fellow caucusoid! Just recognize and understand that your life experiences may not be the same as those of others. Further, if we care about trying to avoid unnecessary, avoidable unfairness in life (recognizing that life will never truly be fair, for anyone), then it might be reasonable for some governmental / legal / structural recognition in furtherance of that notion. There is absolutely room for legitimate policy disagreement here without being accused of racism. It's denial of others' reality which tends to garner the label of racist (sexist etc) - steer clear of denying the lived experiences of other people, allow for the possibility they may have encountered difficulties you haven't / won't, and we've room for further discussion.

Edit / final point: I voted the video back up to 0 from the -1 where I found it. Because while I disagree with a lot of the positions taken by the performer, they may have reached them through no fault of their own and with no true malice. Misinformation / disinformation is a devious shit of a motherfucker, and the rot it causes can run deep. It is painful to abandon deeply-held beliefs, on a fundamental level. If nothing else, the video gives us room to discuss some specific viewpoints held by people who think of themselves as good, but which can lead to harm.

Tesla is a good buy today even at 52 week highs. There is a growth path forward in which new factories are coming on line
Giga
Shanghai
Berlin
Texas

+ Giga Nevada battery factory adding lines.

Limiting factor is battery. Battery day should lay out the path forward.


Tesla is profitable , last 4 quarters, and believe this will continue.

I am looking long term. Min 5 years to 10 years.
I am looking for production to double approx every year.

600k this year goal
1.2mil min goal next year
2.4mil + in 3 rd year.

I've posted the 2020 NC transportation outlook on the Sift. It is really worth a look.



Also any one interested should look at Kathy Wood of ARC investment. Just look for her on you tube.
This is ARC investment link
https://ark-invest.com/analyst-research/tesla-price-target/

Sandy Monroe ( you tube) tore down a 2012 and a 2020 model and was astonished at not only in improvements but absolutely astonished in the technology lead of the produce. His group does this and sell reports to all. Evey Asian and Europe atuo manufacture has bought his report. Not 1 American Auto maker has.

Ford, GM are far behind.

Every ICE maker ( ICE Internal Combustion Engine) will have to not only continue that investment and also invest in EV. Dont think they have enough Research investment dollars on hand to do both.



Musk is a visionary Just look at what he is doing besides cars.

Space X . Few step into the space race and succeed like Musk.

Boring company . Fed up with traffic jams he look for solutions. Looked at boring machines and found then to be 15 times slower than a snail. Got a team together and designed a boring machine 15 times faster.

Supplemental storage energy for peak energy demands.

Solar panels. Redesigned and lower cost of ownership.

Musk salary /bonus ties to achievement goals, not just a set amount.


This a BUY time.
This is like buying Apple when Steve Jobs came back to Apple.


Over valuation is what people see Tesla to be worth.
Market forces, Technological improvements and Government regulations will push EV market to forefront over the next decade. There is no stopping this.

*wings

Space race!! I wonder who will have the first human on Mars though.

Fantastic. I think i see little dust devils being whipped up which is interesting just because everything is so still before the engine stirs the dust. I love how much control there was searching for a flat area. Liveleak says they stopped to survey the area.

I was just commenting the other day how in a way it's great to see things like Russia speaking out for restraint with Iran, and now China doing something very impressive on the moon. I think with fingers crossed the forward thinking people of the earth have decided against "world wars" and mass destruction (no capitals, i'm not using the word in the style of Bush Jr).

Wouldn't it be great if the "competition" came from a purely technological space race with Russia, China and US/Europe involved? Just as long as we on this side can get past the whole psychopathic-capitalism problem.

It is my opinion that those mysterious money men who seem to have influence over scary media companies are metaphorically assembling people into a human pyramid, all shitting on those below us. The ones nearer the top and clambering their way up are happy enough not to have to be hit by that much shit whilst those at the bottom are drowning in it. The pyramid is so clogged up with shit that it's forming a sea of it and the people at the bottom are happy if they can manage to tread-shit for another week, the people at the top are now so high up they can't see it happening yet but eventually we're all going to drown in shit! Here's to a Merry Christmas, folks.

>> ^deathcow:

nice speech but Lockheed, Halliburton, Boeing, Merck, Pzier would never let their country invest in stupid shit like this


It is a great irony that many of those companies were born of the space race

Government's spend money to get into space for one reason only, the military advantage it provides. It means the capability to hit a target anywhere on the planet, and it's the entire reason that the cold war states ever started the space race. The race to the moon was just an extension of that. The important technology being the ability to get the heaviest object possible into orbit, again with major military implications as even just a hunk of rock in orbit is a serious weapon.

The lag of space exploration and advances has been the same. The military advantages are tapped out and there's no good reason to go much further, so funding is short.

Very REPUBLICAN thinking. Waste LIMITED resources on weapons (and death) to kick start the economy.
How about a new space race ? Or reversing global warming ? Or improving standards of life for the rest of the planet ?

While I agree that it is wonderful to have a unifying goal like the space program sometimes provides, this is one of the places where the free market might be able to take over and do it better. It certainly could not have done it back during the space race, but now there are lots of market driven reasons for investment in space, so it might work.

And we just don't have the political will during this economic climate to invest in the big ideas, like a Moon base or mission to Mars. Maybe in another decade or two, when the economy has recovered and people are bored with Virgin Galactic's low earth orbit.

There's the Chinese space program which might push America into another space race. And there is of course a good chance that commercial space flight will be developed when he grows up. Maybe he can pilot the next generation orbital Virgin Galactic craft.
>> ^harry:

He'll have to grow up fast if he wants to become an astronaut. ISS will be deorbited in 2020. And I don't really see anyone developing any kind of new manned space missions.

Why the fuck would you still be using txt msgs in an augmented reality? That's like using a hot air balloon in the space race.

I was thinking about the subject of national achievements the other day. One hundred years ago, people were for the most part not using internal combustion for transportation. In the fifty years hence, amazing advances took place. However, it seems at first glance to have tapered off since the late 60s.

My two cents: First off, we can thank the Cold War for the space race and our landing on the Moon. Second, Mars rovers anyone? That was a pretty fucking amazing feat! Third, IMO, most national (and global) achievements haven't been as outwardly observable as past achievements. For example: the internet. Personal computing. Nanotechnology. Miniaturization of every conceivable electronic device. They are all amazing achievements, but they aren't as sensational as a trip to the moon.

>> ^Raaagh:

Nah, I disagree.
its been estimiated that for every dollar the US government put in, they got a return of seven with all the space race technology spin offs. Whats the chances within 3m of you right now there are objects which have some off this technology imbued?

Ever stop to think how much more money could be made if it wasn't inefficiently researched by NASA?

Space research should not be the role of government.

I think there is something fatalistic to turn your back on space.

I'm not turning my back on space, I'm turning my back on government pursuing it. The reason it seems necessary for govt to pursue it is cost, what I'm saying is: let costs go down (or technology advance) and that problem will solve itself.

Thank god there is a plethora of commercial investors (Branson most notably) with the money and the foresight, and most importantly - WILL to move the stars closer.

Agreed.

>> ^gtjwkq:
I think it's too early in human development to actually go to space. We did go to the Moon and back and sent a robot to Mars with taxpayer money.
Society needs to become a lot more productive, with cost saving technologies that will allow voluntary funding for projects of this magnitude. The space age will fail if it is pursued by governments agencies.
When we find good economic reason to go to space, it will naturally become a worthwhile endeavor for private citizens and companies to profitably undertake.
Right now, NASA is, mostly, a waste of money. That statement will make more sense when the economy collapses.


Nah, I disagree.

its been estimiated that for every dollar the US government put in, they got a return of seven with all the space race technology spin offs. Whats the chances within 3m of you right now there are objects which have some off this technology imbued?

Plus there is never a time to not think of space, IMHO. It lifts the considerations of each individual into the realm of infinity where wars, resource scrabling and politics shrink into insignifigance. Space and more importantly, the sparking of the WORLD's collective imagination and hence cohesion.

I think there is something fatalistic to turn your back on space.


Thank god there is a plethora of commercial investors (Branson most notably) with the money and the foresight, and most importantly - WILL to move the stars closer.