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June 18, 2021 Archives
Friday, June 18, 2021
CONTINUITY: SpaceX Starship Orbital Launch Tower Stacking Continues
The 6th Starcatcher tower section made its way to the launch site this morning.... with the @NASASpaceflight team on all the angles.
— Kerbal Space Academy (@KSpaceAcademy) June 18, 2021
Check out how the SPMT levels itself as it comes around the banked corner... keeping the tower section COM under control. Very cool tech. pic.twitter.com/JDCH60LSeO
The new Launch Tower Section has made it into the Launch Site! pic.twitter.com/6VNFfE198M
— Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) June 18, 2021
THE HAPPENING WORLD: NASA Announces “Mission Equity”
We’re launching Mission Equity, a comprehensive effort to assess how to expand access to our programs and examine potential barriers and challenges that exist for historically underrepresented and underserved communities. Find out how to give feedback: https://t.co/IJ2wk7qh0z pic.twitter.com/i6wD85Zc1e
— NASA (@NASA) June 16, 2021
From the press release, “NASA Launches Mission Equity, Seeks Public Input to Broaden Access”:
Underserved and underrepresented communities include: Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality.
Through the RFI process, NASA hopes to initiate vibrant, meaningful, and ongoing dialogues that will help the agency build and improve current agency policies, practices, and programs. The deadline for public comments to this RFI is Monday, July 12, but we encourage submission of comments as soon as possible to enable early analysis and follow-up discussions.
U.S. taxpayers, who are being coerced to pay for this, should contribute their “vibrant [and] meaningful” comments as prescribed in the Federal Register. “[E]nhancing equity, including advancing environmental justice” awaits your input!
CONTINUITY: The Unsensational Story of Nazi Flying Saucers
CONTEXT: An Island in a Lake on an Island in a Lake on an Island
Fun fact: Vulcan Point is the world’s largest island within a lake (Crater Lake) that is situated on an island (Taal Volcano Island) located in a lake (Lake Taal) within an island (Luzon) [read more: https://t.co/24M2j5K7hT] pic.twitter.com/JfnKEkb87j
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) June 18, 2021
CONTEXT: A Dialogue About UFOs with Eric Weinstein and Michael Shermer
Unscrewing the inscrutable and effing the ineffable in the Age of Stupid.
CONTINUITY: Roman D20
Roman rock-crystal icosahedron (20-sided dice) used in fortune-telling. Each face has a Latin letter on it and a corresponding Roman numeral. Such polyhedral dice were thrown to obtain a number, which was then matched with pre-prepared oracle answers in a divination handbook. pic.twitter.com/rKInqlFoO4
— Gareth Harney (@OptimoPrincipi) June 17, 2021
Fourmilab's Decide program can compute arbitrary expressions in dice notation.