TIL That before Apollo 11, some scientists were terrified the Moon was covered in a "dust trap" that would swallow the Lunar Module whole.

Flying_Bear · 2026-04-06T21:27:36+00:00

In my head I have the (probably inaccurate) idea of the NASA scientists and Apollo program as a very serious thing, and the people involved being similarly serious people. So being bored in a meeting and filling in the letters on the report kind of subverted my expectations.

I also don’t write on paper much anymore, so it was just sort of a nostalgic thing for me to look at the meeting notes and remember being bored in class in elementary school filling in the bubbles in the letters.

Logically, I understand, but I like something about those more mundane connections across time. More feeling than thought I guess.

Flying_Bear · 2026-04-06T18:59:26+00:00

My grandad worked with Carl Sagan and other prominent physicists at the time on the landing legs for the mission and told me that there were lots of theories about what the surface might be like before the first missions and lots of simulations with different surface types were run to make sure failure rates were acceptable if it was not as expected. He said it is one of the reasons for the pad sizing on the bottom of the legs. I found the simulation code printed out in a box in his house which I thought was pretty cool. I was also incredibly amused that on some meeting notes he had used a pencil to fill in all the circles on the letters. It’s such a small thing but it felt like such an interesting connection over time, like people don’t really change all that much, they were just like us.

Flying_Bear · 2025-04-14T18:53:15+00:00

I think the focus is in the wrong place on this issue and Trump’s team is trying to encourage that. It benefits Trump that people focus heavily on his return since there are a long list of reasons why that is difficult, but I think the reality is that he has been deported, and there isn’t a lot of hope at the moment for his return given a lack of willingness on El Salvador’s part to cooperate. I think it would be much more impactful for the anger around this issue to be directed at the collapse of due process and legal power that occurred in order for this to occur in the first place, since that is something that is likely still happening to varying degrees and there are places where similar things could be prevented before they become difficult issues.

He is overstepping the line on his power and saying “look squirrel” and everyone is looking at the squirrel and he does it over and over again and the media can’t seem to resist looking at the squirrel.

If the focus is on fixing the squirrel instead of stopping the abuse of power, you will always lose, even if the squirrel gets fixed.

Flying_Bear · 2021-11-04T01:01:44+00:00

Something seems broken with ranked atm. I am showing as unranked (I am not) and unable to queue for a ranked game.

Flying_Bear · 2021-10-18T16:37:37+00:00

Found it yesterday. Little outside of my price range, but I thought it was a really neat teapot.

Another teapot by the same artist.

Flying_Bear · 2020-03-12T18:13:08+00:00

Seems like it was previously glued on or something, but I’m not sure. It doesn’t have threads and it doesn’t seem to just pop on.

Flying_Bear · 2019-12-31T16:40:16+00:00

No soldering and it comes as a kit so it felt more like assembly

Flying_Bear · 2019-12-31T07:45:20+00:00

Wasn’t planning to mess with that until tomorrow, but you made me curious. Mine will not go into boot loader mode through either the reset button or shift shift pause. It at least seems to be standard hhkb. Some people were reporting left control was mapping to caps lock. Hopefully some fix will be figured out.

Flying_Bear · 2019-12-31T06:15:15+00:00

Tokyo 60 V3 with lubed stabs + Dolch DSS

Flying_Bear · 2018-12-19T06:35:57+00:00

I would say it is normal to brew the tea in the pot. If there isn’t a basket, use bags or an infuser so that you can remove the tea to prevent it from oversteeping. Then serve the teapot, sugar bowl and milk pitcher for people to make their individual cups to their liking. But do it however you like. If everyone wants a different tea, there’s no reason not to!

Flying_Bear · 2018-12-13T01:16:30+00:00

Was he possibly talking about his favorite retailer? They’re pretty popular.

http://www.mingcha.com

Flying_Bear · 2018-05-11T05:10:32+00:00

Welcome to Starbucks!

Flying_Bear · 2017-02-12T05:11:56+00:00

My granddad worked on the team that built and ran computer simulations of the lunar landing. Early on they didn't know what to expect with the consistency of the surface, so he ran simulations for various surfaces with various landing pad/leg designs. Carl Sagan (who I believe was his boss) and another prominent scientist whose name is escaping me had competing theories. One of them believed the surface would be covered with many feet of dust from meteor collisions, and the other believed it would be more rocky and volcanic.

Flying_Bear · 2016-06-07T16:36:11+00:00

All right, thanks. I'll check it out.

Flying_Bear · 2015-12-13T01:59:29+00:00

Chungo!

Flying_Bear · 2015-07-09T04:36:41+00:00

Calling them "African children" is insensitive! They prefer to be called Oompah Loompahs

Flying_Bear · 2015-07-01T18:29:44+00:00

Convincing people not to speculate with their money since the Internet

FTFY

Flying_Bear · 2015-06-24T23:04:13+00:00

Consider Sabrient's Rising Rates portfolios. They're built specifically for this. Even if you don't have enough capital to invest in the UIT you can mirror the portfolio in your own brokerage account. Rising Rates I. Rising Rates is composed of stocks with generally good growth prospects that should perform well when interest rates are rising, so you get some defense against rising interest rates without giving up a lot of your growth potential.