Old Man

It's just option a. There isn't even enough information in the paper for us to check the math. How long is the arm? What is it made of? How rigid is it? What is the oscillation frequency? How are they correcting for horizontal torque since the device's "thrust" axis is offset from the long axis of the arm? Instead we are supposed to take their numbers for granted.

What does heated air have to do with anything? And it's not at all clear that they measured thrust, when what signal they did get is so noisy and doesn't match what would ordinarily be expected, and when so little effort was made to rule out thermal effects. All they had to do was put the thing on a balance and turn it on and measure the CG shift. There's nothing wrong with further testing, but only if that testing is going to be way less sloppy than it has been so far. Otherwise it's just going to waste more time and money and not answer anything. Measuring a force in ten-thousandths of a gram is not going to be easier remotely, in hard vacuum, with limited telemetry, after a violent rocket launch. The logical next step is a finely made apparatus in an abandoned salt mine in Nevada, not the hard radiation and vacuum of orbit.

That story sure is going viral in the right wing bubble. No mention in any unbiased sources, however.

Schiaparelli Lander Doomed by Negative Altitude

Sure, why not. It's not as though we have anything else to do. /s

I hate to be the wet blanket but these people, and all of NASA, should be ashamed for allowing this paper to be published. The data literally doesn't show any thrust signal, and then they say that the thrust signal is being obscured by thermal expansion. IOW their experiment is so sloppy it proves nothing. They even admit to rerunning the experiment until they manage to get a signal by attaching some plastic components to the side of the frustum, and don't even try to explain why that would matter. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof, and this isn't even ordinary proof, or proof of anything, other than that the experimenters have preconceived notions about how their experiment should turn out. And this paper follows the preceding experiment where the measured thrust direction was exactly opposite to the thrust from the original experiment. More on the sloppiness here.

Inadvertently smashed a convenience store with one of their spontaneous quasi-LARP kung fu superhero fights.

On the contrary, such analogies are the best way to explain to Trump voters why some people equate their votes with racism, by taking the charged aspects of the situation out of the analysis. I see many Trump voters loudly trying to convince themselves that they didn't just support racism by shouting "I'm not racist!" at the top of their lungs. Well, as with many things, there are degrees of racism, and while they may not be tying nooses they're looking the other way at best. I'd have a lot more respect for them if they'd man up and own their vote, the way I knowingly voted for (and thereby supported) homophobia, surveillance states, and hawkish foreign policy in the past. Not that any of those issues, frankly, carry the weight that racism does, given our country's history. There is no clearer sign that the GOP has no moral compass than white nationalists in the White House.

Does voting for a racist make you a racist? The best analogy I've come across so far is the Showtime one. Suppose you're looking to subscribe to HBO because you really want Game of Thrones. But the only HBO package comes with Showtime. You may not care about Showtime, you may actively hate Showtime, but you've just got to have Game of Thrones, so you sign up. Are you now a Showtime subscriber? Would you still have signed up if it meant the little girl next door had to have Showtime playing on a TV in her bedroom 24/7? I'm willing to give some Trump voters the benefit of the doubt, but rest assured there are many raised eyebrows among those of us with discrimination or internments in our family histories.

Perspective Macro-Man Pump Action N-Gorge The Enhancer The Fluffer ...okay I'd better stop here.

LEARN AND/OR DIE AFTER APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTATION OF ANY LEARNING THAT MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE OCCURRED

"Awesome Mix Vol. 1"?

LEARN AND/OR DIE

LEARN OR DIE *mikedrop*

Do we get to choose the someone else? Because I have a list.

The SPLC is referring to their own data, not the FBI's.

On the contrary, the SDLC has specifically said that the rate of hate incidents today is significantly greater than after 9/11, which was the last time they looked into it.

We wouldn't be the first to allege that.

They must be from Dutchland.

"Where is Holland anyway?" "The Netherlands. North of Belgium--" "Isn't Holland in Denmark?" "...No. " "So Holland is in the Netherlands?"

What a relief!

I always wanted a pair of peril sensitive sunglasses.

Southern Poverty Law Center: Hate crime spike since election worse than post-9/11 Direct SPLC link: 701 Hate Incidents Since Election (as of 11/16)

Well, he is banning lobbyists from taking cabinet positions. So the lobbyists in his cabinet have to temporarily retire their lobbyist credentials before they start work. Baby steps.