Miscellaneous Discussion Thread II

Quote: billryan

As a private company, SpaceX doesn't disclose its financials, but Starlink is estimated to have $ 15 billion in revenue and is expected to grow for at least the next decade. It's rocket payloads generate cash.
Musk has repeatedly claimed SpaceX operates on positive cash flow, mainly from Starlink.
link to original post

Spacex is also the only current method of delivering people to the Space Station. The NASA program is a disaster, the Russian launch complex blew up a few weeks ago. The next NASA administrator is also a friend of Elon Musk.

The U.S. needs SPacex now and the government will continue to pay them a lot of money.

Initial estimated valuation only 800 billion. And supposedly Musk owns less than half of the equity, even though he owns more than half of the voting shares. So maybe only an extra paltry $350,000,000,000 for Musk.

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will no longer use one's FICO score when considering mortgage loans. Its long overdue, imo, but the current administration's plan to make ten million formerly ineligible people eligible for loans in an already tight housing market doesn't seem well thought out.

10% of Americans could be filing for bankruptcy next year. I bet the courts get defunded first.

Chase and Amazon are teaming up to offer a Visa card that comes with a free $250 Amazon credit. The credit is issued upon your acceptance, with no minimum purchase required. The interest rate is high if you tend to keep a balance. The only catch is that the card becomes your default Amazon payment method, and you get a 5% credit on all Amazon purchases.

Merchants will be reassessing their acceptance of credit cards shortly. The ones for the high flyers who rack up Rewards will likely be denied first. Everybody else will be seeing add-ons to their purchase price of 3% or more for using a credit card.

New York State just put in law that cash must be accepted; there's only 3 other states that have done that so far. The kiosks have replaced cash registers, and it is getting harder to get a burger with cash at the mall. Not to mention all cash has cocaine residue on it for drug sniffing dogs, and everybody has a case of the flu or COVID.

The Federal Reserve wants to end checks. So the system that processes checks may go belly up soon from lack of investment for processing infrastructure. There's been a 90% drop in the use of checks, but what is left are bigger checks.

Quote: billryan

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae will no longer use one's FICO score when considering mortgage loans. Its long overdue, imo, but the current administration's plan to make ten million formerly ineligible people eligible for loans in an already tight housing market doesn't seem well thought out.
link to original post

Generally speaking they did not use one score before. Any place I worked used a "blended" score. Fannie and Freddie do not approve loans. Lenders do. Fannie and Freddie just buy the paper. One score or three blended will not make a ton of difference. What we need more is teaching people that you have to pay your bills.

F&F buy most mortgages with a FICO score of 620, so that has been a default point. Securing a mortgage with a sub-620 FICO score was difficult.

Quote: billryan

Chase and Amazon are teaming up to offer a Visa card that comes with a free $250 Amazon credit. The credit is issued upon your acceptance, with no minimum purchase required. The interest rate is high if you tend to keep a balance. The only catch is that the card becomes your default Amazon payment method, and you get a 5% credit on all Amazon purchases.
link to original post

I will look into that one. The $250 doesn't excite me but 5% off Amazon purchases is huge. We probably spend $25k to $30k a year on Amazon.

I don't watch much television but I did just watch the first season of Landman. I enjoyed it. It is basically the show Yellowstone set in the Texas oil fields.

Quote: DRich

I don't watch much television but I did just watch the first season of Landman. I enjoyed it. It is basically the show Yellowstone set in the Texas oil fields.
link to original post

It has quite a cast as we get into the second season. A lot of people I wouldn't expect on tv.

Quote: DRich

Quote: billryan

Chase and Amazon are teaming up to offer a Visa card that comes with a free $250 Amazon credit. The credit is issued upon your acceptance, with no minimum purchase required. The interest rate is high if you tend to keep a balance. The only catch is that the card becomes your default Amazon payment method, and you get a 5% credit on all Amazon purchases.
link to original post

I will look into that one. The $250 doesn't excite me but 5% off Amazon purchases is huge. We probably spend $25k to $30k a year on Amazon.
link to original post

The Synchrony Amazon card gives 5% on Amazon purchases. This one comes with a $250 bonus.

I'm starting to see YouTube videos about a new bitcoin Visa card. People are getting debanked for making deposits from their bank into bitcoin exchanges. So this solution will just avoid banks but the value of your bitcoin accounts will vary wildly from week to week. The Visa card can use the bitcoin and convert it to USD when purchases are made.

Quote: DRich

I don't watch much television but I did just watch the first season of Landman. I enjoyed it. It is basically the show Yellowstone set in the Texas oil fields.
link to original post

I have been really close with my nephew. He's been working in the ND oil business since he was 18. He moved up quickly to a rig manager in his 20's. He has been coming to Vegas since he was 16 and came with all his HS buddies, also in the oil business, each year since he turned 21. He started a few side businesses related to the oil industry.

From what I understand, there isn't much to do there when you are a teen but have house parties and drink.

They all have stories of being jailed at an early age, multiple DUIs, fighting, etc.

He even got in a fight with a wanted killer. I read the news article.

My nephew (he is a big guy full of mussels) almost killed someone in a bar fight defending some chicks and then himself( fighting is a common occurrence there), and he was blacklisted for a few years as a rig manager. He was looking at some stiff charges, but due to the circumstances, he ended up vindicated.

During that time, he focused on his side businesses.

He now gets paid about $2500 a day to hire and oversee the cleanup and preparation of oil sites for resale or something like that.

He also buys and sells large-ticket heavy equipment to the oil companies.

Quote: AxelWolf

Quote: DRich

I don't watch much television but I did just watch the first season of Landman. I enjoyed it. It is basically the show Yellowstone set in the Texas oil fields.
link to original post

I have been really close with my nephew. He's been working in the ND oil business since he was 18. He moved up quickly to a rig manager in his 20's. He has been coming to Vegas since he was 16 and came with all his HS buddies, also in the oil business, each year since he turned 21. He started a few side businesses related to the oil industry.

From what I understand, there isn't much to do there when you are a teen but have house parties and drink.

They all have stories of being jailed at an early age, multiple DUIs, fighting, etc.

He even got in a fight with a wanted killer. I read the news article.

My nephew (he is a big guy full of mussels) almost killed someone in a bar fight defending some chicks and then himself( fighting is a common occurrence there), and he was blacklisted for a few years as a rig manager. He was looking at some stiff charges, but due to the circumstances, he ended up vindicated.

During that time, he focused on his side businesses.

He now gets paid about $2500 a day to hire and oversee the cleanup and preparation of oil sites for resale or something like that.

He also buys and sells large-ticket heavy equipment to the oil companies.
link to original post

Young guys in environments like that repeatedly getting into trouble is an ancient problem that doesn't seem to have a solution. A lot of those guys are going to develop alcoholism or worse, and that's tragic because they're some of the best and most ambitious people we have.

.
pretty shocking vid - no, I don't believe it's fake or staged

"A skydiver in Australia recently survived a terrifying mid-air incident where his reserve parachute snagged on a plane wing, but he used a hook knife to cut the lines, freeing himself to deploy his main chute and land safely with minor injuries, though the plane's tail was damaged. This harrowing event, caught on video, highlights the importance of carrying a hook knife, a tool not always required but vital for such life-threatening situations, as other similar incidents have ended tragically."




.

An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers, but a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.

Quote: billryan

An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers, but a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.
link to original post

Apples vs oranges!

Quote: Dieter

Quote: billryan

An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers, but a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.
link to original post

Apples vs oranges!
link to original post

Are you suggesting a pound of apples weighs more than one of oranges?

During the LA/Rodney King riots, I had a housemate who was from Spain. The first night of riots caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, and by the second night, it was estimated that the damage was nearing a billion dollars.
In Spain, at the time, a billion was a million million, while in the USA, a billion is a mere thousand million. He couldn't believe I didn't know what a billion was and insisted I was wrong.

Quote: billryan

Quote: Dieter

Quote: billryan

An ounce of gold weighs more than an ounce of feathers, but a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold.
link to original post

Apples vs oranges!
link to original post

Are you suggesting a pound of apples weighs more than one of oranges?
link to original post

Oh no. Apples and oranges should both be weighed in wool pounds, not one of the local apothecary systems.

I'm not sure how much a bushel weighs in at.

Quote:

To consume 2000 calories from watercress you would need to eat approximately 40 pounds

So would you weigh around 40lbs more by the end of the day, or just be dead?

Quote:

I'm not sure how much a bushel weighs in at.link to original post

A bushel is a unit of dry volume, meaning it's based on space and I guess the mass would depend on the density of the apples :)

Before getting into gambling mathematics, one of my niche interests outside of Braille, regional varieties of pizza, and calendars was the various systems of measurement found around the world (my universal unit converter linked here)

Btw a bushel's value is about 35-36 liters, depending on whether we are referring to the Imperial bushel or U.S. bushel

I just watched Saturday's main event, featuring John Cena's last match. I've never been a fan of Cena, but he deserved a better sendoff.
YouTube has a video of fans chanting "FU, Hunter" over their displeasure.
Being a 17-time World Champion means you lost the World Title 17 times. I'm not sure it makes you the most outstanding wrestler of all time or even of his era.

I didn't watch the match (at a holiday party), but he was retiring and his job was to do the job and put his next generation opponent over.

His 17 titles makes him a popular wrestler who could draw money.

.
some more commentary on the mysteries of the universe from the google AI bot:


"The universe's biggest mysteries include understanding dark matter and dark energy, which make up most of the cosmos but remain unseen; explaining the matter-antimatter imbalance, why matter dominates; the nature and formation of black holes, especially supermassive ones; the universe's ultimate fate; the possibility of extraterrestrial life (Fermi Paradox); and what happened before the Big Bang or during the universe's first moments, challenging current physics with observations like the surprising early galaxies seen by the James Webb Telescope.

Key Cosmic Mysteries

Dark Matter & Dark Energy: We can't see them, but they dictate cosmic structure and expansion. Dark energy is accelerating expansion, while dark matter provides extra gravity for galaxies to hold together.

Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry: The Big Bang should've created equal amounts of matter and antimatter, which would've annihilated. Why did matter "win" and form everything we see?.

Black Holes: How did supermassive black holes grow so quickly in the early universe? What's inside them?.

Origin & Fate: What occurred before the Big Bang? How will the universe end (Big Crunch, Freeze, Rip)?.

Inflation & Early Universe: What drove the rapid inflation after the Big Bang? The James Webb Telescope data shows surprisingly massive early galaxies, challenging models.

The "Why" of Existence: Why is there something rather than nothing?.

Life Beyond Earth (Fermi Paradox): If the universe is so vast, where are the aliens?.

Cosmic Anomalies: Cold spots in the CMB, strange cosmic rays, and unexplained flickers in stars hint at unknown physics.

Current Research & Tools:

JWST (James Webb Space Telescope): Revolutionizing understanding of the early universe with deep-field images.

Particle Accelerators (like CERN): Searching for tiny matter-antimatter differences.

Gravitational Wave Detectors: Studying black holes and neutron stars.

These mysteries drive cutting-edge astrophysics, potentially revealing new laws of physics beyond our current models.



A black hole is a region in space with gravity so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape, formed from the collapsed core of a massive star or through other extreme cosmic events, acting as cosmic vacuum cleaners (but you can orbit them) that influence galaxy formation, with key types being stellar-mass and supermassive black holes.


Dark matter and dark energy are invisible cosmic components, making up most of the universe, but they do opposite things: Dark matter clumps together, providing extra gravity to hold galaxies and structures intact, while dark energy is a repulsive force causing the universe's expansion to speed up. They're called "dark" because we can't see or touch them, only infer their existence through their gravitational (dark matter) or anti-gravitational (dark energy) effects on visible matter.


Dark Matter (about 27% of the Universe)
What it does: Acts like invisible glue, providing the extra gravitational pull needed to keep fast-spinning galaxies from flying apart.
Evidence: Observed through gravitational lensing (bending light) and unexpected galaxy rotation speeds.
Nature: A mysterious substance, not made of normal atoms, that interacts gravitationally but doesn't emit light.
Dark Energy (about 68% of the Universe)
What it does: A pervasive energy filling space that creates a repulsive pressure, pushing galaxies away from each other and accelerating the universe's expansion.
Evidence: Discovered in 1998 when astronomers found the universe's expansion wasn't slowing down, but speeding up.
Nature: The biggest mystery; possibly a property of space itself (cosmological constant) or a new force (quintessence).
Key Differences
Function: Dark matter pulls things together; dark energy pushes things apart.
Distribution: Dark matter forms halos around galaxies; dark energy is spread uniformly throughout space.
Evolution: Dark matter's influence was stronger in the early universe, while dark energy's dominance increases over time.


The cosmological constant, often linked to dark energy, is a mysterious energy inherent to empty space itself that pushes the universe apart, causing its expansion to speed up. Think of it as a fundamental "energy of the vacuum" that fills all space, creating a repulsive force counteracting gravity, making space expand faster and faster. Einstein first used it to keep the universe static, but it was revived to explain the observed accelerated expansion driven by this invisible force.
In simple terms:
It's energy in nothing: Even "empty" space has energy, a constant density that doesn't dilute as space expands.
It pushes outwards: This vacuum energy acts like a repulsive gravity, stretching space itself.
It drives acceleration: Because it's constant, as space grows, the total repulsive push increases, making the expansion accelerate.
It's dark energy: This concept is the best explanation for dark energy, the dominant force shaping the universe's destiny.


In space, quintessence is a theoretical, dynamic form of dark energy, hypothesized as a pervasive energy field that changes over time and space, driving the universe's accelerating expansion, unlike the static cosmological constant. It acts as a "fifth element," creating negative pressure that pushes galaxies apart, offering a more flexible explanation for why the universe's expansion is speeding up, potentially influencing its ultimate fate.
Key Characteristics:
Dynamic: Unlike the constant energy density of the cosmological constant, quintessence's density can vary, allowing it to strengthen or weaken.
Negative Pressure: It generates negative pressure, creating a repulsive gravitational effect that causes cosmic acceleration.
Scalar Field: It's often described as a scalar field, similar to the Higgs field, permeating all of space.
Time-Evolving: Its properties and influence can change throughout cosmic history, potentially even slowing or reversing expansion in some models.

How It Compares to the Cosmological Constant:
Cosmological Constant (Lambda): A fixed, unchanging energy density of empty space, representing the simplest explanation for dark energy.
Quintessence: A more complex, evolving energy field that can change its influence, providing a richer framework for understanding cosmic acceleration.
Significance:
Explains Acceleration: It provides a physical mechanism (an evolving field) for the observed accelerated expansion of the universe.
Impacts Fate: Its changing nature means the universe's end isn't predetermined; it could lead to a Big Rip, a Big Crunch, or a steady expansion.
Observational Tests: Scientists use data from supernovae, the cosmic microwave background, and baryon acoustic oscillations to test models and differentiate quintessence from other dark energy theories."






.

"Life Beyond Earth (Fermi Paradox): If the universe is so vast, where are the aliens?"

They haven't discovered us yet, universe is quite large you know. It's like North and South America, look how long it took before it was discovered by Europe. Same thing with other civilizations in the universe, once it happens, whenever it happens, all we'll see is aliens.

Quote: EvenBob

"Life Beyond Earth (Fermi Paradox): If the universe is so vast, where are the aliens?"

They haven't discovered us yet, universe is quite large you know. It's like North and South America, look how long it took before it was discovered by Europe. Same thing with other civilizations in the universe, once it happens, whenever it happens, all we'll see is aliens.
link to original post

I've never been to South America either. I know it is there, and I could easily get there if I wanted to, but there is just no reward for me in doing so worth the expense and effort of the trip. A South American might believe I don't exist.

Likewise for aliens, the universe is very large and it is full of interesting things, perhaps visiting us isn't worth the effort and consumption of resources for an alien species capable of interstellar communication and travel, given such a race might be aware of many other things they would rather do first.

Quote: EvenBob

"Life Beyond Earth (Fermi Paradox): If the universe is so vast, where are the aliens?"

I was sitting on a beach in Italy and scooped up a handful of sand and asked the wives "how many grains of sand do they think are in my hand?" They guessed something like 2000. I then asked "how many grains of sand do they think are on this beach?" They answered something along the line of millions. I then asked "how many grains of sand on all Italian beaches?" They didn't even try to answer. Lastly, I asked "how many grains of sand are on all of the beaches on Earth?" Of course, they couldn't answer. I then explained there are more planets and stars in space than there are grains of sand on Earth. They didn't believe me.

Quote: DRich

Quote: EvenBob

"Life Beyond Earth (Fermi Paradox): If the universe is so vast, where are the aliens?"

I was sitting on a beach in Italy and scooped up a handful of sand and asked the wives "how many grains of sand do they think are in my hand?" They guessed something like 2000. I then asked "how many grains of sand do they think are on this beach?" They answered something along the line of millions. I then asked "how many grains of sand on all Italian beaches?" They didn't even try to answer. Lastly, I asked "how many grains of sand are on all of the beaches on Earth?" Of course, they couldn't answer. I then explained there are more planets and stars in space than there are grains of sand on Earth. They didn't believe me.
link to original post

Humans seem to have no trouble accepting things once they see them. Some of our ancient ancestors likely encountered lodestones a million years ago, long before magnetism was imagined. I assume at a certain point it was just something they accepted even though it likely didn't fit anything else they had seen before. Well maybe they related it to static electricity. So maybe it was thought to be like that.

Quote: rxwine

Humans seem to have no trouble accepting things once they see them. Some of our ancient ancestors likely encountered lodestones a million years ago, long before magnetism was imagined. I assume at a certain point it was just something they accepted even though it likely didn't fit anything else they had seen before. Well maybe they related it to static electricity. So maybe it was thought to be like that.
link to original post

Being able to categorize it and distinguish it from other things is what you need. Uranus can be seen with the naked eye and the ancients surely saw it, but they couldn't identify it as a planet and distinguish it from other things in the sky so they got no information from those photons entering their eyes. That's why we say it wasn't discovered until the 18th century by Herschel. Likewise Neptune is theoretically bright enough to be seen with the naked eye, but no person ever has been able to point up to the sky and say "Look, there's Neptune!" and for the same reason.

After John Cena's last match, he followed tradition by leaving his boots and gear in the ring. Typical of the event's production value, no one was tasked to retrieve them. About a half hour later, one of the cleaning crew grabbed them and was offered $10,000 for them. He laughed it off, but as he was entering the tunnel, someone offered him $100,000. He didn't respond.

On this date in 1989, The Simpsons debuted. While I have not watched the show this century, it's in its 37th season and still going.
I can still remember its debut. A friend was telling me about it as we smoked a nice joint. The show started, and I was utterly blown away. I remember thinking it was strange, then realizing we were still watching the credits.

It was a spinoff from the Tracey Ullman Show from a couple years earlier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tracey_Ullman_Show

I spent the morning with a crew of five other volunteers assembling 27 kids' bikes. Walmart offered us $100 bikes for $72 assembled or $44 unassembled. It turned out that putting them together was easier than unpacking the parts. Incredibly, the most challenging part of assembly was threading the pedals.
My park has adopted twenty South Tucson families for Christmas and has quite a party planned for this Saturday. We've got rides with Santa on a 1950s fire truck, a petting zoo with donkeys, llamas, and a camel with a lottery for a couple of camel rides, and we will have a tentative flyover from the airbase.

It's never occurred to me that people can be barred from WalMart for life. But here's a cop or somebody with a bodycam giving out the trespass orders to a couple of teens.
I'm on a run of watching WalMart shoplifting videos tonight. One lady stole $140K from WalMarts in just about every state by stealing the cash she was handing over for purchases back from the cashier.. There's some backroom surveillance room footage in these videos which is interesting for those who never see the backroom.

Here's the teens getting the trespass notice like it was a casino or something.
Entitled Teens Caught Shoplifting at Walmart


She Scammed Walmart Out of $140,000 Before Getting Caught


Here's an odd newsclip about cops planting WalMart gift cards in the mail to catch a thieving postal worker.
Postal worker nabbed in mail theft sting | FOX 5 News


It's kind of rare that a mall credit card thief gets caught.
$6300+ Shopping Spree with Stolen Credit Card Ends in 26 Felony Charges

Quote: ChumpChange

It's never occurred to me that people can be barred from WalMart for life. But here's a cop or somebody with a bodycam giving out the trespass orders to a couple of teens.
I'm on a run of watching WalMart shoplifting videos tonight. One lady stole $140K from WalMarts in just about every state by stealing the cash she was handing over for purchases back from the cashier.. There's some backroom surveillance room footage in these videos which is interesting for those who never see the backroom.

Here's the teens getting the trespass notice like it was a casino or something.
Entitled Teens Caught Shoplifting at Walmart

link to original post

I have watched tons of Walmart shoplifting cop videos on YouTube and quite often the cops are amazed at the quality and sophistication of the Walmart camera system. They can zoom in on anybody in the store from any angle so close you can read the time on their watch. Every camera in the store is always recording and because they can use this as evidence now in court the cops can arrest somebody in the parking lot or even on the freeway if they get a license plate. It used to be you had to catch somebody in the act in the store but now they can go to your house and arrest you because of the video.

I wonder if WalMart will accept Door Dash orders from trespassed customers.

Google AI wrote:
Walmart and DoorDash ended their official partnership in 2022, so customers generally cannot place an order for Walmart items via the DoorDash app for delivery.
However, even if a direct partnership existed, private businesses like Walmart have the right to refuse service to anyone (provided it's not discriminatory on the basis of protected classes) and can trespass individuals from their property.
If a customer is trespassed, they are legally banned from entering the store premises.
For online orders (whether through a third-party app or Walmart's own platform), the situation is less clear-cut but delivery may still be possible. The ban primarily restricts physical entry. As long as the delivery driver is a separate, non-trespassed individual who can pick up the order, the store may process the request. The store's primary concern is physical presence and potential disruption or theft.
In general, a store can contact DoorDash (or Spark, Walmart's current in-house delivery service) and request a specific driver be blocked from accepting orders from their location, but they do not typically have a mechanism to know if a customer placing an online order has been trespassed unless that customer's account is also banned by the company's e-commerce system.

I'm seeing one of the self-checkout kiosks reserved for Spark drivers lately, nobody else can use it.
I just got a free Dash Pass for a year and I've yet to use it. Guess I've got to figure out what Spark is if I need something from WalMart from an app.

"Spark" is the local driver service Walmart uses to deliver stuff from their own app.
It's vaguely similar to a private-label copy of DoorDash.

It seems like just the kind of thing that could get Walmart in trouble. These are usually not top shelf individuals they are hiring at Walmart, and the less playing cops and robbers they do the better.

Here's an elitist stereotype to brighten up your day: low-level workers of the kind you would have at Walmart crave "authority," they consider it a reward or an acknowledgment of some kind of hidden superiority or righteousness they might believe they have, and if you give them the power to make things difficult for any of the customers who walk into your store some of them are going to look for reasons to do it to every customer. Eventually they will have employees devoid of proper training or good judgment tackling and backrooming people on suspicion of being trespassed customers.

Quote: AutomaticMonkey

It seems like just the kind of thing that could get Walmart in trouble. These are usually not top shelf individuals they are hiring at Walmart, and the less playing cops and robbers they do the better.

Here's an elitist stereotype to brighten up your day: low-level workers of the kind you would have at Walmart crave "authority," they consider it a reward or an acknowledgment of some kind of hidden superiority or righteousness they might believe they have, and if you give them the power to make things difficult for any of the customers who walk into your store some of them are going to look for reasons to do it to every customer. Eventually they will have employees devoid of proper training or good judgment tackling and backrooming people on suspicion of being trespassed customers.
link to original post

Very well-articulated I'm allocating some space in my memory for this, however it will be mildly altered
so as to pertain to Police Officers first and foremost followed by any government official.

Quote: Dieter

"Spark" is the local driver service Walmart uses to deliver stuff from their own app.
It's vaguely similar to a private-label copy of DoorDash.
link to original post

The average Walmart Supercenter delivers several hundred home deliveries a day and in suburbs around bigger cities it could be as much as a thousand a day. I get an average of three Walmart deliveries a week and I go into one of their stores maybe twice a year. The convenience of going on to my deck and bringing the groceries inside and putting them away is still unbelievable to me and it's been going on for 5 years. It cost $12 a month and I would gladly pay $100 a month for the service. Elon Musk says the only thing we have that has any value is time and Walmart saves me a ton of time.

I use Walmart Inhome delivery, which uses uniformed Walmart employees who aren't allowed to accept tips. A few weeks ago, I needed some things, and my delivery was by a " gig driver". About twenty minutes after it was expected, I got a text that the guy spent fifteen minutes looking for my apartment, and now that he was late, it wasn't worth delivering it. I texted back that I don't live in an apartment complex, but never heard back. A different driver delivered stuff later that day.

.
Titan, one of Saturn's 247 moons is about 400 million to one billion miles from Earth depending on its' orbit and Earth's orbit

it is widely believe by scientists that there is a possibility of some form of life on Titan

from Google's AI bot:

"NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft is slated to launch in July 2028, beginning a nearly seven-year journey to reach Saturn's moon, Titan, with an expected arrival in the mid-2030s, around 2034, to explore its unique organic-rich surface for signs of prebiotic chemistry and habitability.

Life doesn't definitively exist on Titan yet, but it's a prime candidate for astrobiology due to its rich organic chemistry, methane lakes, and a subsurface liquid water ocean, suggesting possibilities for "life as we know it" in the ocean or even "life as we don't know it" using liquid methane as a solvent on the surface, though recent studies debate if enough nutrients reach the ocean for abundant life. NASA's Dragonfly mission will soon investigate these unique environments for biosignatures.

Why Titan is Interesting for Life:

Methane Cycle: Has lakes, rivers, and rain of liquid methane and ethane, mimicking Earth's water cycle but with hydrocarbons.

Organic Molecules: Rich in complex organic compounds, essential building blocks for life.

Subsurface Water Ocean: A vast, deep ocean of liquid water exists beneath its icy crust, potentially harboring life similar to Earth's deep-sea vents.

Challenges & Theories:

Extreme Cold: Surface temperatures are extremely low (-180°C), making water-based life difficult.

Nutrient Flow: Some research suggests organic matter from the surface might not reach the subsurface ocean in sufficient quantities to support a thriving biosphere.

"Life As We Don't Know It": Some theories propose exotic life forms could use liquid methane as a solvent for metabolism.

Current Status:

No definitive proof of life has been found.

Bioenergetic models suggest if life exists, it's likely microscopic and in small amounts, potentially using fermentation in the subsurface ocean.

Future Exploration:

NASA's Dragonfly rotorcraft mission will explore Titan's diverse surface, providing crucial data on its habitability and potential for life."

.

The sunsets in Tucson are often spectacular, but this time of year, they are enhaced by something known as Venus's Girdle. Atmospheric conditions combine and form a gorgeous pink aura.
Unlike the equally impressive Purple Moment that occurs briefly before Dawn, the Venus effect last a good half hour each day.

I was watching super password other day and the password was sweaty. It was a celebrity edition and the clue given was perspirely
The person got it but was an illegal clue
Since it was for charity they let it pass
Anyone have a good clue for sweaty clues for that puzzle were sweaty/circles/September/Seoul/games
This show was from 1988 and host was bert convy Answer in spoiler

I was gonna say the El Cortez is sweaty but nobody but gamblers would get that.

Quote: avianrandy

I was watching super password other day and the password was sweaty. It was a celebrity edition and the clue given was perspirely
The person got it but was an illegal clue
Since it was for charity they let it pass
Anyone have a good clue for sweaty clues for that puzzle were sweaty/circles/September/Seoul/games
This show was from 1988 and host was bert convy Answer in spoiler

Show Spoiler

answer was Olympics

link to original post

Hidrosis or hyperhidrosis or diaphoresis

Jared Issacman, my former boss and the founder of Shift4, was sworn in today as the head of NASA. He is a guy that I have a lot of admiration towards. From dropping out of high school, starting a credit card business in his basement at age 16, and becoming a billionaire with his little credit card company. I also like that he took up a hobby of flying, became an demonstration team pilot performing shows like the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, and bought up hundreds of former military jets and started the largest civilian owned air force. His company was hired by the U.S. Air Force to imitate Soviet air force maneuvers so the U.S. could practice shooting down Russians.

By the way, he also rented a Spacex rocket and commanded the first all civilian crew to go to space while generating over $200 million in donations for St. Jude's. He had so much fun he rented the rocket again and became the first civilian to do a space walk.

He is very accomplished.

Quote: DRich

Jared Issacman, my former boss and the founder of Shift4, was sworn in today as the head of NASA. He is a guy that I have a lot of admiration towards. From dropping out of high school, starting a credit card business in his basement at age 16, and becoming a billionaire with his little credit card company. I also like that he took up a hobby of flying, became an demonstration team pilot performing shows like the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels, and bought up hundreds of former military jets and started the largest civilian owned air force. His company was hired by the U.S. Air Force to imitate Soviet air force maneuvers so the U.S. could practice shooting down Russians.

By the way, he also rented a Spacex rocket and commanded the first all civilian crew to go to space while generating over $200 million in donations for St. Jude's. He had so much fun he rented the rocket again and became the first civilian to do a space walk.

He is very accomplished.


link to original post

Elon is very happy. It's nice to have one of your closest friends being the head of NASA. Trump gave this to Elon so he would get back on the Trump team. The art of the deal.