Author: Richard Nestoff (Page 7 of 57)

Going back to the Moon.

November 4, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

With the normal stupid stuff going on, it’s easy to lose track of the impressive work being done. SpaceX routinely launches satellites into orbit and occasionally demonstrates an impressive new capability, but the big picture isn’t addressed very often.

The Artemis III project is planning to get people back to the moon in two years. NASA is leading the project along with the space agencies of Europe, Italy, Germany, Japan, Canada, Israel and Dubai.

Humans haven’t walked on the Moon in over fifty years, and this time, we won’t be landing in an expedient contraption. SpaceX is building the lunar lander. The photo above shows the SpaceX HLS with other objects to show the scale. Notice the tiny Apollo Lunar Module on the right.

Sparky and the yellow jackets

November 3, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

The last time we went into woods at the South Park trail, was the second time that Sparky was noticed by yellow jackets. Both times, a yellow jacket landed on his back, Sparky got frantic, I noticed his distress and slapped the yellow jacket off.

I don’t think that he was stung. Both times, the yellow jacket was trying to figure out if there was a dog underneath all of the seal fur.

Sparky no longer wants to go in the woods, and he’s gotten worse. Now, he’s reluctant to go for a walk up the hill. I’m trying cognitive therapy on him. Exposing him to the area, without going into the woods. Or entering the woods somewhere else.

Sparky and Mr. Moose don’t agree.

November 3, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Since I have been chronicling Sparky’s journey, this seemed like a data point that couldn’t be excluded.

Sparky pooped on Mr. Moose. Decorum compels me to mask the evidence. It was a walk on a dark night, so maybe I’m making too much of this, but that’s my main job, so I speculate.

It’s not uncommon to have a falling-out with someone who was once a cherished friend. I had a dear friend who had a vastly different political perspective. We had a disagreeable exchange on social media, and that was it. Sparky hasn’t expressed an interest in politics, but he would naturally have an affinity for Biden biting babies.

Mr. Moose has always been in the Bull Moose Party, supporting the formerly Republican, Theodore Roosevelt. TR has been dead for a hundred years and Biden isn’t running, but Sparky and Mr. Moose don’t keep up on current events.

Whatever the reason, Mr. Moose is out of the rotation until he gets washed.

Sparky picks a Halloween costume.

October 31, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Sparky is trying out some Halloween costume.

His baby seal costume isn’t very convincing, but is easy.

He really wants to be “Sparkle, the saucy princess”.

Sparky doesn’t want to go with the obvious. He thinks that Snoopy is kind of a tool.

Whatever Sparky decides to go with, Halloween might get him a car ride. That’s about it.

Trump is having fun.

October 31, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Vote for whomever you’d like, but admit that this is funny shit.

It doesn’t matter if Biden meant that Trump was garbage, or Trump’s ideas, campaign staff or supporters. The words of a feeble dotard don’t carry much weight.

I’m impressed that Trump’s staff spotted Biden’s line in the transcript and made it a talking point or meme, long enough to acquire a clean garbage truck and prep it for a campaign event. Trump and his people are having fun and are quick to respond.

It brings to mind a video shot by a diverse group of Trump supporters at the Madison Square Garden event. In the days prior to the event, the Harris campaign was drawing a parallel to the 1939 Nazi rally at the same venue. Playing off of the Harris message, individuals in the group proudly claimed to being the Black Nazi, the Jewish Nazi, the White Nazi and the Asian Nazi.

I get that they were riffing off of the absurd Nazi statements, but it’s not good to see people comfortably call themselves Nazis, even if it was facetious. That is a danger of making false or exaggerated claims about a person or group. If everyone thinks a person is awful, then the person may decide there is no reason not to be awful. The reputation penalty has already been paid.

The rest of the Trump episode on Rogan’s show.

October 30, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Sparky and I stayed up to watch the entire Joe Rogan episode with Trump. It’s possible that Sparky only stayed up to eat popcorn.

Interesting political survey if you are kind of bored.

October 30, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Survey to identify your ideology.

Vote for whomever you’d like, it’s none of my business. So close to the presidential election, it gets stupid. This year is stupider than usual. Trump gave a big speech at Madison Square Garden, just like the Nazis. Harris gave a big speech at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C., just like the KKK. Like I said, stupid.

The I Side With survey is only about policy questions. All of the policy questions, it’s very long, but you don’t have to answer all of them. It seems more nuanced because it asks if how much you like a policy and how much you care about that policy.

At the end, the survey provides the candidates who are most compatible with the survey-takers answers, along with political party and ideology. I’m just “Right-Wing”, which is kind of disappointing. I like to think I’m more sophisticated than that.

Joe Rogan’s Trump episode

October 25, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Joe Rogan’s episode with Trump was just posted on Youtube. It’s midnight, so I’m not staying up to watch it, but thought I’d check in. I was curious how Rogan presents himself.

Here’s Rogan from last week’s episode.

Here’s Rogan for the Trump episode.

Joe cleaned up. Looks like he waxed his head. Shaved his head, his face, and is wearing his nice shirt.

Rogan is already a big deal, he doesn’t need this episode with Trump, but guests on his show have been suggesting it for several months. Rogan’s guests are people he thinks are interesting or friends of his, but that’s not it this time. My sense is that Rogan is trying to help. Not help Trump, but help the rest of us. Everyone else that writes about Trump or Harris, are either trying to help or hurt the campaign. Rogan isn’t a partisan guy.

Trump and Rogan are interesting because they have a lot in common. They have both been successful in several different fields. Both were involved in combat sports and both had reality TV shows.

The beginning is boring, as they get comfortable.

Talking about his first days as president, Trump says, “I picked a few people that I shouldn’t have picked”.

Rogan: “Neocons?”

Trump: “Yeah, neocons, or bad people”

I like how Rogan is using political lingo, and Trump isn’t.

A few minutes later, Trump says, “I always got more publicity than other people. And it wasn’t like I was trying. I don’t now exactly why, maybe you can tell me.”

Rogan: “Oh yeah, I can definitely tell you. You said a lot of wild shit.”

Trump: “Maybe, maybe.”

They are loosening up, so it’s starting to get good. I may stay up for a while.

Sparky is snoring.

Newsweek: They need a new playbook.

October 24, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Newsweek: Political realignment

This article in Newsweek is evidence that the elite class are finally starting to figure out why they are wrong all the time. The authors did make a fundamental mistake. Trump caused this political realignment. John McCain, Mitt Romney and other establishment Republicans were comfortable managing the decline of America. My younger brother called them puppet-dickheads.

This last week, during an interview with Republican Vice-Presidential candidate JD Vance, ABC’s Martha Raddatz tried to dispel concerns about Venezuelan gangs infiltrating Aurora, Colorado by stating that only “a handful of apartment complexes” in the city were affected. Listen more closely, and that benign-sounding dismissal is actually more sinister than it seems.

Germans used to be smart.

October 23, 2024 / Richard Nestoff / 0 Comments

Euronews: Fire station burns down.

Germans are known for being smart and industrious, and not questioning their leaders. This leads them to getting too swept up in ill-advised causes.

A fire alarm system wasn’t installed in the building because experts did not consider it necessary.

A new fire station in Germany that was destroyed in a fire, causing millions of euros in damage, did not have a fire alarm system.

Germany has building codes. Someone made the decision to exempt this new fire station from customary procedures. Nobody objected.

Buried in the news report:

The fire broke out on an emergency vehicle belonging to the fire department, which contained lithium-ion batteries and an external power connection.

Lithium batteries burn very hot and are difficult to put out. When an electric car burns, fire fighters don’t extinguish the burning battery, but keep the fire contained. Why did the fire department need an electric vehicle? Because Germans are suppressing the smart part of their brains, and embracing the EV cult.

Here is respected physicist, Sabine Hossenfelder, explaining “Why I’m embarrassed to be German”.