I object to stupidity

I am no fan of Elon Musk.  But, moon landing conspiracy theorists taking his comments about starship out of context and saying he just proved the moon landing is fake are really extraordinary. And ridiculously stupid.

The actual context is that musk sees that to get to the moon with starship, the craft will have to refuel in space.  This was always part of the plan for starship (though of course the goal was and is to get to mars). 

 

While it is the most powerful spacecraft man has ever made, it is also very heavy and very large. This is intentional to carry large payloads to a high orbit.

In order to achieve orbit, it uses its 33 rockets and burns all of the fuel it can carry. To get out of earths orbit would take more fuel, and therefore a refueling is required. How much refueling (and how many times in orbit it would need to dock up) would depend on the mission.  His estimate to get to the moon would be 4 refueling stops, as I understand it; that would allow that spacecraft to land on the moon and have enough fuel to return to earth. 

There is a significant amount of science and math that goes into the calculations, much as there was for Apollo. 

Apollo was purpose built to launch, get out of earths atmosphere, then have a burn that sent it toward the moon, a burn to get "lunar insertion," and a burn to get home.  There was some fuel expenditure to do adjustments, but that was mostly planned.  It carried enough fuel for this purpose - and remember that the capsule did not land on the moon, only the lander did, and carried enough fuel for the weight of the craft in order to descend and launch again.

The math here was on paper, and done to the point of precision, using momentum and gravity pulls to their advantage.  And remember that on Apollo 13, the fuel situation was such that a simple return to earth once they encountered the problem was not possible.  They had to continue to the moon and around it, in order to return to earth. That's how precise the calculations were. 

Anyway, the moon landing hoax idiots are taking what musk said out of context.  Essentially "If he says it would take refueling, then he is also saying that the Apollo moon landings could not have happened."

That's really drawing with a broad brush and not understanding the math and science. And not caring about it because they simply have to be right.

That's not what he said, at all.   Though to be fair, he hasn't really disputed it either (he does like to stir the pot). But why let facts, the hard work of men (and women!) who got us to the moon, or science get in the way of a good story?!

A Utah factory received tax breaks to create high-paying jobs. Soon it will furlough most of them.

Here's a story about the possible downside to "bringing manufacturing back to the US."

This company got tax breaks and hired people to good paying jobs. 

But the reasons for these job cuts aren't entirely clear.  If I'm reading between the lines correctly, it would seem the company got the tax breaks and decided to enjoy higher profits once they fulfilled their obligation on the length of time people had to be employed. 

In any case, the business environment where companies are encouraged to "self-regulate" while also allowing for obscene profits and rising prices is a recipe for disaster. 

And with limited competition due to import tariffs, guess who gets screwed?

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2025/09/09/an-insulation-maker-is-furloughing/

You can win a dream Disney vacation

Disney is running the Worlds of Infinite Magic Sweepstakes, available through Disney+

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Disney+ subscribers can enter the sweepstakes from the Disney+ Perks dashboard.

For more information about the sweepstakes, including how to enter if you're not a Disney+ subscriber, check out the terms and conditions.

Disney to Pay $10 Million to Settle FTC Allegations

This is an unexpected turn of events.  In short, Disney was accused of allowing personal data to be collected from children who viewed kid-directed videos on YouTube without notifying parents or obtaining their consent as required by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule. 

The rules don't allow for any collection of data unless the parent opts in, though I have to say the rule is a little confusing in how its implemented.  

But its good that there are at least some sort of general protections for kids. The world is scary enough without soliciting directly to them.

https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/09/disney-pay-10-million-settle-ftc-allegations-company-enabled-unlawful-collection-childrens-personal

UFO hearings?

On September 9th, the US Congress convened hearings on UFOs. Because, you know, what could possibly be more impactful to everyday Americans? 

"The American people deserve maximum transparency from the federal government on sightings, acquisitions and examinations of UAPs and whether they pose a potential threat to Americans' safety."

Right. Our safety. Never mind about public health. Guns. The rise of extremism. Or the orange menace himself. No! We gotta worry about things that don't matter. 

They also said:

"It is time to give Americans the answers they deserve, which is why I am honored to lead this bipartisan task force that seeks truth and transparency."

Fooking hilarious.  Transparency in this day and age is part magicians deception (hey look over here, while I do something over there!) and part whatever those in power say something is. 

Oh. But what's this? It's not all about UFOs? There's stuff buried in the agenda that are other conspiracies that they want to manipulate:

"We will also investigate UAPs/USOs, the Epstein client list, COVID-19 origins, and the 9/11 files."

We are all so screwed. 

So fucking stupid

So the idiot in charge posted this to his social media. 

Because nothing screams that I'm a competent leader like posting stupid movie quotes when it comes to real world events AS HE SEES THEM, not as they appear in reality. 

Setting aside the nonsense that is the illegal and unconstitutional invasion of Chicago for no reason, I think there's another point here. 

He has now idea what apocalypse now is about….and I'm sure he doesn't get to the "heart of darkness" story and that this might be a terrible analogy in every respect. 

Is he saying that he is in Martin Sheen's role, the hallucinatory journey? With "drugs" replaced by "dementia"

Or is he in Marlin Brando's role, the man who has gone mad?

In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who has reportedly gone completely mad. In the company of a Navy patrol boat filled with street-smart kids, a surfing-obsessed Air Cavalry officer (Robert Duvall), and a crazed freelance photographer (Dennis Hopper), Willard travels further and further into the heart of darkness.

A little context

The notion of getting that sack of skin one trillion dollars as some kind of fair compensation to run Tesla is one of the most laughably absurd things I've ever heard. 

Among other things, they want to "keep him from leaving" to which I say that they should instead have a vote to make him leave. 

He's a tool and manages to ruin so much around him. 

But anyway, a trillion dollars. Thats a 1 with 12 zeros behind it. 

A quick bit of math says that you could randomly pick 50 million people from the phone book (that's roughly 15% of the population by the way) and issue them a check for $20,000. Which would be life changing for most of them. And have spent the same amount. 

Instead of giving it to one jackhole that seems like a better use of the money. 

But what do I know?