I noticed I haven’t been posting too much here lately and it’s because I have been posting elsewhere. I added The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast to my blogroll. Check it out! It’s going to be really cool and I need your help to spread the word.
We also have a few new things over at Slacker Astronomy.
And did you check out my iPhone app, Bubbler? GIVE ME $0.99 NOW!!!!!
Spread a little too thin sometimes…
Finally, here is video of the 3 launches of my iPhone. The first one is the failed launch due to a motor failure. The 2nd is the one where I got all the data that I’ve posted. The 3rd one I got almost no data but the motor performed better as the flight seemed much more normal.
Sorry Elton! Don’t sue me, but I couldn’t think of a more appropriate song.
I joined the Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA). This allows me to get certified to buy and fly bigger and bigger rocket motors. If the weather cooperates I hope to do my Cert 1 flight this Saturday in North Branch, MN. I’ll fly one or both of my 29mm-motor-capable rockets, first on a “G” reload kit to make sure I know what I’m doing and then on an “H” reload, which I have to buy at the launch site. If everything works perfectly on my launch they sign my paperwork and I can buy “H” and “I” motors, which gets me up to 640 N-s of thrust. Currently I’ve only ever flown motors with about 80 N-s of thrust.
I don’t know if I will, but if I go all the way and get the Level 3 Certification I can buy motors with 14000 N-s of thrust!
People tend to fly bigger and bigger rockets on the bigger motors. This is obvious, in a sense, because these rockets can’t be flown on smaller motors. For me, though, once my rockets are big enough to fly interesting payloads, such as iPhones and digital video cameras, I’ll be more interested in speed and altitude than bigger rockets. I don’t have the budget or the engineering skill to make really big rockets. I do have the technical chops to do some cool stuff with payloads though.
This is fun!
And you can quote me on that.
He apparently thinks if he claims victory somehow it is his to lose. No, Norm, an automatic recount has been triggered and YOU ARE NOT THE WINNER YET. I personally hope we send you back home to reinvent yourself into a kinder, gentler piece of shit. Maybe you could become a Democrat again? The wind is blowing that way, you know.
First let me say that I think most people who didn’t vote for Obama are being gracious and hopeful that we will live in good times in the coming years.
It’s funny to me, though, that the general sentiment I’m sensing from the disappointed Right is that they need to hold on to their checkbook. They think that they will be paying for new spending in higher taxes.
First — the debt is $10 trillion. Our GDP is about $15 trillion. So our debt load is 2/3 of our GDP. That is getting out of hand. Our budget is about $3 trillion, so our income should be $3 trillion and thus our debt is more than 3 times our nominal income. We gotta get this house in order. We need to do it by growing the economy, running a surplus budget and paying down the debt. If, at my company, we had 3x our gross income in debt, I’d be shocked and worried.
We need to run a surplus budget. We have to do it. Some balance of less spending, higher taxes and growth of the overall economy is the solution. We can’t raise taxes so high that we curtain economic growth. We can’t cut spending so much that programs and services are starved to inefficiency. The liberal solution to growing the economy is investment in shifting the entire bell curve of the standard of living, thereby giving a return on that investment in the form of a more robust economy. The Right still seem to believe in trickle down economics.
Second — the Right doesn’t necessarily do better under Republican administrations! They think they do, because capital gains taxes do tend to be higher under Democrats, but one needs look no further than 8 years of George W. Bush to see that alone is not a good measure. Would you rather pay a little more on capital gains and have your economy not tank? I think you would.
I think the unwillingness of affluent Americans to pay taxes is one of the least patriotic things I can think of. They want to have the world’s most powerful army and they do have the world’s most powerful economy and they still can’t do the math the reveals how crucial progressive taxation is to our success in these areas. It’s vital, it’s working and rather than be grateful for the privileged lives that they lead, they whine about taxes. It’s sad, really.
So lighten up, Righties. You’re going to be fine.
I often say “bless you” to people, like when they bring me a cold frosty Summit Extra Pale Ale. I like the phrase, even though I’m an atheist. But I just want to take a moment to say THANK YOU JESUS! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
The United States of America did the right thing. We made history tonight but more importantly, we chose an excellent man for the job.
God Bless America.
lolife 