Test flight 5

After telling SpaceX that approval of their next Starship test flight would probably not be granted until late November, the government (FAA) suddenly approved it last Saturday afternoon, three days ago.

SpaceX was ready, and the flight took place just 19 hours later on Sunday morning. To my complete surprise, I saw the tweet on X as we drove home from church (which explains why this post didn't appear yesterday 😐).

As planned, the spectacular accomplishment of the day was the amazing catch of the returning first stage booster in mid-air for the first time ever. In the words of one of the engineer/narrators, history was made. 

Here is the flight video. To see SpaceX's full video at sunrise with more information and more excitement, go here.

Hurricane news 4

(cont'd from last week's posts)

Just days after Hurricane Helene carved a path of wreckage into the eastern U.S. interior, Hurricane Milton swept across central Florida (photo).

The Gulf Coast took much of the property damage, but millions more in the region lost power.

It was expected and prepared for. Over 50,000 linemen from multiple states volunteered to come fix the massive problem of fallen power lines. The Florida governor says they were "pre-staged" so they could get to work as soon as Milton was gone.

Volunteer linemen also came to Georgia to restore power after Helene. Residents of one community gathered to say a grand "thank you" complete with their local high school band. You'll enjoy it, so go here to see them express their appreciation (posted on X last week).

Hurricane news 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

How important is internet access to us all for communication, news, banking, etc.--and it was lost for a while in hard-hit regions. Starlink is internet access operated by SpaceX, a "crucial lifeline in parts of southern Appalachia that were devastated by Hurricane Helene." It was donated and delivered freely to hundreds of survivors as you may have seen in yesterday's videos. 

Satellite-powered, it works even in remote and devastated communities if there's a good view of the sky. Instructions for making it work are pretty basic: "Plug it in and point to sky." 

Another difference maker is Samaritan's Purse, a Christian international relief organization of 1600 employees run by the family of evangelist Billy Graham. "At our sites across North Carolina, we are doing tree work, mudding out homes, removing debris, and tarping roofs. Heavy equipment is being used to clear private driveways and private roads. In some areas, we are also offering water and potable water to the community."

 

Hurricane news 2

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

If you aren't seeing local videos of hurricane relief on your own X account, I'd like to show you some of what I've seen on mine:

* volunteers from New York NYPD and FDNY bring supplies

* working through the night to create bridges from fallen trees and telephone poles

* citizens organizing recovery without FEMA or any government help, helicopter pilots rescuing victims while paying for their own gasoline

* team finds a woman living alone has no food, no water, no power, no transport

* completed 67 helicopter missions (as of Oct 6) bringing fuel, generators, Starlink, more

Ordinary, regular, everyday Americans mobilize their bike clubs, churches, friends, etc., to come to the mountains of western North Carolina and bring help.

 

(cont'd tomorrow, groups making a difference)

Hurricane news

We have relatives in western North Carolina, where it's been twelve days since Hurricane Helene brought destructive flooding. Unable to reach them by phone, we finally got an email reply eight days later. They had no electricity for five days and "internet is sketchy." A friend brought them a camp stove and some water.

My X (Twitter) account is full of residents in the region (who have more internet access) reporting on their roads and bridges destroyed, neighbors' homes damaged, local details. They show supplies that private individuals and churches brought in. They show private helicopter pilots looking for survivors. They often claim that they have not seen help from FEMA, and even that FEMA hindered rescuers and seized supplies.

CBS and other legacy media seem like the voice of the government. Their "fact-checker" reports simply that all those claims are false and FEMA is good: categorically the opposite of reports on the ground, those videos submitted by locals and private rescuers. 

How hard is it to learn what's going on in the US now? People on site report what they see, and media call it "damaging disinformation."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Israel hated

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Yesterday's young, black Gen Z writer says this: "I implore my generation to . .  . [b]e a rebel and start a family. Be a rebel and love America."

More evidence that America is not hated but actually loved by the rest of the world comes from this writer who spent three years walking around the world, meeting ordinary people. 

Here's a man who was taught to hate another country-- but eventually trained himself out of it.

 

from The Free Press

 

US not hated 1

Is America hated in the rest of the world? Maybe you've heard that somewhere. It depends on where you get your information, what news sources you read, whether you still listen to legacy media. But is it true? 

Not according to this main-stream media journalist who's been traveling the U.S. and Europe to promote his new book. He found that people tend to like Western/American values better than those of China, Russia, Iran by a significant margin.

Unfortunately, it's worse in the U.S. itself: "The loss of confidence among Americans in their own country’s vitality, strength and virtue is profoundly worrying." Yes, that's a bad trend (photo). Why is it happening?

This Gen Z writer says his generation is being taught to hate America at school. Crazy as that is, it's "been cultivated by the Left-wing indoctrination . . at every educational and cultural institution in America. . . groomed to be disgusted by tradition and ashamed of our identity as Americans."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Soul

Materialists deny life after death and the non-physical spirit of a human being, like they deny God's existence. But some may be becoming more open to believing in the human soul.

That's because evidence shows that consciousness may continue even after death.

A study was done on 567 men and women whose heart stopped in hospital and who were resuscitated by CPR.  Some survived.

"Survivors reported having unique lucid experiences, including a perception of separation from the body, observing events without pain or distress, and a meaningful evaluation of life, including of their actions, intentions, and thoughts toward others." They didn't seem to be hallucinating or dreaming.

As an ER doctor says, the conscious mind "continues even when the brain does not seem to be functioning. Which raises the question that consciousness may be a separate entity from the brain. It’s not magical. It’s just not discovered yet. But it doesn’t die."

Your mind is not the same as your physical brain, and medical science is finding evidence for that. As the Bible (image) teaches, your soul or spirit has a supernatural destiny.

 

from Mind Matters

Can ULA compete?

United Launch Alliance, formed by Boeing and Lockheed Martin back in 2006, is America's "most experienced" launch service. But after enjoying their cash-cow of NASA business for many years, they now struggle to keep up.

Their one reusable rocket, Vulcan, finally flew for the first time this year. For comparison, SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets have safely landed back on Earth since 2015. If you don't have to build a brand new rocket for every launch, it saves a lot of money.

ULA can't compete with young private space companies in cost. A vice president of engineering said that in a lecture and soon resigned--or was fired by his boss. Tory Bruno, the CEO, says they can so compete and will prove it. Some doubt it. A sale of the company is being negotiated.

Too risky

ULA launched two astronauts to the International Space Station on Boeing's low-earth-orbit Starliner spacecraft in June, but problems popped up on the way. After analyzing everything, NASA decided that the craft no longer met their standards for human safety. There was "some tension in the room" when that decision was made.

So Starliner came back to Earth empty, leaving Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams there. Instead of a short stay of nine days, they will remain in place until February of 2025.  

SpaceX already had a mission scheduled to carry four additional astronauts to the ISS on its Dragon spacecraft in September. It launched last Saturday, but with a reduced crew of only two. The empty seats will be taken by the stranded astronauts when this mission (Crew-9) comes home in February.

Looks like everybody at the ISS was glad to see the crew that arrived via Dragon on Sunday.

WFH research

At yesterday's cafe business, it's not possible to do the job unless you come to the site. But a few work-from-home (WFH) days is possible for a lot of people with 2-3 days at the office. That's how it seems to have settled out now, post-COVID (chart).

 Management usually prefers on-site presence, workers like to be home or remote (chart).