Kinda cool about your forum buddy re the emergency text messaging which was tested last week.
I was amused by the faux outrage of so many lefties carping about Trump somehow violating their devices with an unwanted text message.
Many of them don’t have a clue how profoundly angry so many Americans were for eight years under Il Douchey but they still -- mostly -- remained civil. I think this shit with Kavanaugh has stripped much of that thin “civilized” veneer from a lot of folks…I’m certainly one of ’em.
I’m amused this morning by media and political pundits decrying the Republican “gloating” over this win. Yeah, cuz Obama never gloated -Nancy Pelosi never carried a 5 foot gavel, etc. There must be something in the water to push so many selective memories.
SpaceX is supposed to launch from Vandenberg tonight. This is my father’s birthday. He sometimes went to Vandenberg with some of the birds he was responsible for. I think he would have liked this. I miss him.
He was a civilian Air Force employee, QA at Lockheed. He had to sign off on the Agena payload delivery systems before the government bought them. It was an interesting work environment. They respected him but of course there were adversarial aspects, he often cost them big money. One time early on the execs tried to brush him off when there was an issue, not returning his calls or memos. He went to a storage area and downchecked several tens of millions of dollars in product. When he got back to his office there were a string of ever more frantic messages from those busy execs. I think he might have waited until his boss called before explaining. That was the last time that ever happened He was willing to bend rules when he knew it did not compromise safety or reliability to give them a break but if you tried to deceive or buffalo him he was capable of giving them Hell. He ended up highly respected by both Lockheed and the Air Force officers he answered to.
The job was stressful and I was glad when he retired.
That was one of the things I disliked about being in charge of accepting or rejecting lots of printed circuit boards -- the arguments, entreaties, and threats when product clearly did not meet specifications designed to ensure reliability on military hardware. Of course when I tried to institute a program of certified vendors, purchasing went ballistic. It would mean they could no longer buy from the local sweat shop (the one with the 33% failure rate).
Thanks for the story, Mac. There are far too few people like your dad in positions of authority.
He went to a storage area and downchecked several tens of millions of dollars in product.
Good!
That was the last time that ever happened
Even better.
I remember some pretty intense production “issues” when I was at Alesis. (Gearing up to manufacture stuff containing new technologies has the occasional challenge.) 👿
Lockheed had big problems with union employees, they could be about as negligent as they wanted and could not be fired. Some ruined so many delicate and hard to replace components the Air Force had to specify they were not to be assigned jobs on the project. The company would just say “what can we do?” and expect the government to allow wavers on the contract specs but my father did not go for that. I think the only way Lockheed could clean house was to lay everyone off after a project was completed and try not to hire back the losers. It was hard.
Had the launch on my PC, then went out in the backyard to watch (with one eye on the screen). We didn’t see anything until first stage separation, then it was glorious!
A blessed Sabbath, Gerbil Nation!
I have only one thing to say…
Associate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Now let’s hope and pray that he stays true to the COTUS.
I’ll add one thing: Hilary Clinton is still NOT POTUS.
Good morning, Paddy, and happy Sunday, GN!
Sunday greetin’s, GN!
Hiya, Paddy and Sven!
Mac --
Kinda cool about your forum buddy re the emergency text messaging which was tested last week.
I was amused by the faux outrage of so many lefties carping about Trump somehow violating their devices with an unwanted text message.
Many of them don’t have a clue how profoundly angry so many Americans were for eight years under Il Douchey but they still -- mostly -- remained civil. I think this shit with Kavanaugh has stripped much of that thin “civilized” veneer from a lot of folks…I’m certainly one of ’em.
I’m amused this morning by media and political pundits decrying the Republican “gloating” over this win. Yeah, cuz Obama never gloated -Nancy Pelosi never carried a 5 foot gavel, etc. There must be something in the water to push so many selective memories.
Pretty funny…from last nights WWE/UFC debacle:
LOL! That’s great!
So did Banksy do a Howard Roark?
I’d argue it was more of a Picasso -- “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”
SpaceX is supposed to launch from Vandenberg tonight. This is my father’s birthday. He sometimes went to Vandenberg with some of the birds he was responsible for. I think he would have liked this. I miss him.
He was a civilian Air Force employee, QA at Lockheed. He had to sign off on the Agena payload delivery systems before the government bought them. It was an interesting work environment. They respected him but of course there were adversarial aspects, he often cost them big money. One time early on the execs tried to brush him off when there was an issue, not returning his calls or memos. He went to a storage area and downchecked several tens of millions of dollars in product. When he got back to his office there were a string of ever more frantic messages from those busy execs. I think he might have waited until his boss called before explaining. That was the last time that ever happened He was willing to bend rules when he knew it did not compromise safety or reliability to give them a break but if you tried to deceive or buffalo him he was capable of giving them Hell. He ended up highly respected by both Lockheed and the Air Force officers he answered to.
The job was stressful and I was glad when he retired.
That was one of the things I disliked about being in charge of accepting or rejecting lots of printed circuit boards -- the arguments, entreaties, and threats when product clearly did not meet specifications designed to ensure reliability on military hardware. Of course when I tried to institute a program of certified vendors, purchasing went ballistic. It would mean they could no longer buy from the local sweat shop (the one with the 33% failure rate).
Thanks for the story, Mac. There are far too few people like your dad in positions of authority.
Hiya, Mac!
Good!
Even better.
I remember some pretty intense production “issues” when I was at Alesis. (Gearing up to manufacture stuff containing new technologies has the occasional challenge.) 👿
Planning to watch the SpaceX launch online:
https://www.spacex.com/webcast
Lockheed had big problems with union employees, they could be about as negligent as they wanted and could not be fired. Some ruined so many delicate and hard to replace components the Air Force had to specify they were not to be assigned jobs on the project. The company would just say “what can we do?” and expect the government to allow wavers on the contract specs but my father did not go for that. I think the only way Lockheed could clean house was to lay everyone off after a project was completed and try not to hire back the losers. It was hard.
Got the feed playing on my PC now. Hope it goes well.
Just one of the many wonderful things unions bring to life.
Also have the SpaceX feed playing and wish for a successful launch and recovery.
ADDENDUM: That music’s really dreadful.
Congratters to the SpaceX team!
Yes!
Had the launch on my PC, then went out in the backyard to watch (with one eye on the screen). We didn’t see anything until first stage separation, then it was glorious!
The second stage and payload are in the upper left. The first stage is the bright circle towards the lower right.
Here’s the first stage rotating to change course:
Not great, but what do you expect from a cell phone?