Payload of Falcon Heavy: 64 tons, flies now. Payload of Boeing's SLS: 70 tons, maybe flies in two years.
Uh, yeah. To say nothing of the vast cost difference between them. You can put a handful of Falcon Heavies up for the cost of one SLS.
STFU, Boeing. Go back to playing with your airplanes. Real rocket men are talking.
* * *
Speaking of steely-eyed missile men, Donald Trump did something no one has managed since the 1950s, which is to get North and South Korea talking about peace. It's a little-known fact that the Korean War never actually ended, but was simply a very long cease-fire.
So then here we are, and third from the top is old jug-ears himself trying to take credit for it. "I am honored to have had such an important role in ending the hostilities...," he tweeted. Well, guess what, douchebag? "You didn't build that!"
* * *
Palestine has always been the sticking point in the "middle east peace process" which has gone on longer than I've been alive. Quoth the Saudi crown prince:
In the last several decades the Palestinian leadership has missed one opportunity after the other and rejected all the peace proposals it was given. It is about time the Palestinians take the proposals and agree to come to the negotiations table or shut up and stop complaining.It's why I never took their political movement as anything other than a nuisance to be eliminated. They don't want peace; they want Israel to voluntarily go away. Well, they can't have that, and it's about time they sucked it up and made peace.
Otherwise, the world ought to let Israel stomp them into oblivion. Put up or shut up.
* * *
I have to admit that I'm not brave enough to read this book. But like The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich I think it's necessary, so I will be getting my hands on a copy sooner or later.
The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, when it gets to the parts where the Nazis start killing the Jews and other undesirables, is gut-wrenching stuff. I can't imagine The Last Closet being any less so, for all that the scope of the horrors is smaller.
* * *
You bet your ass. Look up "Maunder Minimum". The globe has cooled more in the last two years than it warmed in the prior thirty. It's nearly May (another two hours) and we're still looking at near-freezing temperatures at night. It's supposed to be warmer over the next few days but it's been a colder than normal spring so far.
Well, we can only do so much, right?
* * *
Did a bit of overtime today--two hours--by request of management; going for an eye appointment in the morning, finally, so I can get some new frigging glasses. Whee!
