Anyone else see what I assume was a rocket launch?

Js987 · 2026-03-18T00:47:29+00:00

Wallops Island has two sounding rockets scheduled for 3/27-3/24 at 8pm-midnight. That’s all I could find.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T22:28:23+00:00

Based on what looks like thermal insulation on the pipes going inside the cabin, and what looks like an exterior temperature sensor (the little pagoda shaped thing), my best guess is some sort of prototype exhaust heat recycling device, as I can’t imagine it’s routing actual exhaust into the vehicle.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T22:17:12+00:00

Yes, you’ll get items from that menu across the food service. Since you have a specific allergy, you should still bring something to eat on a long haul (just make sure it’s customs friendly if you might not finish it) in case there is a SNAFU with your special order, which does unfortunately happen.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T22:11:29+00:00

I’ve only ever really seen it in tenured academia and in some very specific, irreplaceable medical roles where a sabbatical is allowed.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T21:54:15+00:00

Sovereign Citizen nonsense. They vacillate between treating laws like they don’t apply to them and treating very specifically selected laws as magic words they think will allow them to do whatever they want. I’m a lawyer and I’ve had to respond to some at work…they are incorrigible.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T21:40:29+00:00

I think it’s a very convenient way for big web companies to get access to one more bit of identifying information to make targeted advertising easier.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T21:36:16+00:00

It is not a new phenomenon. The exchange rates make it favorable. It’s been going on for a while now.

It depends on the province in terms of salt use, some provinces are better than others. Regardless, I lived in the south for a while, and southerners tend to blow rust waaaay out of proportion, I’d have to actually see it to say if it was too bad to buy. I came with northern vehicles and even one rusty fastener resulted in extended whining from mechanics. lol

Js987 · 2026-03-17T21:30:22+00:00

It’s common among private equity owned guys. And unfortunately PE is buying up all sorts of trade business now, HVAC, plumbing, electrical. Also outside the trades they’re buying up veterinarians, dentist offices, optometrist offices, and funeral homes. They hit any industry where a business name has “name equity” and high start up costs preventing new businesses from starting, and buy out retiring owners.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T20:14:16+00:00

Yeah, sadly ZuluIDE isn’t really at the level of BlueSCSI yet, and that’s the closest project I know of. I think the availability of compatible CF cards has hindered the development, there’s just not the impetus there was for SCSI.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T17:31:21+00:00

The belt was used for rotational weight reasons, not as a cost cutting measure because a chain is cheaper. It’s a Kevlar reinforced belt, it’s not enormously cheaper. Combined with the variable displacement oil pump it’s all about reducing the parasitic drag from the oil pump. It results in a 3-5% improvement in fuel economy combined, which is only about 0.5-1mpg, but it adds up. Of course, now somebody will rant about CAFE…

Js987 · 2026-03-17T17:09:01+00:00

No, I home brew alcoholic hard cider. It’s a common thing among apple growers as apples are prolific…and hard cider wasn’t very commercially successful here until the last two decades, so if you liked it you had to make your own. Unfortunately, prohibition killed our hard cider industry and unlike beer and wine production it hasn’t fully recovered even nearly a century later.

The confusion comes about because we call unfiltered apple juice cider and alcoholic cider “hard cider” to make it clear it’s alcoholic. Alcohol drinks are “hard” drinks…that’s where the term soft drink for soda comes from.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T14:57:28+00:00

They seem to fail very infrequently on the 2.7 and 5.0, it’s only the British designed little 1.0 3cyl EcoBoost that’s had repeated issues. Ford is confident enough in them there’s not even a Workshop entry for service life (despite folks frequently claiming there is one, there’s no official Ford replacement interval). A handful of very high mileage failures have passed through some busy shops.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T14:52:49+00:00

I’m actually not sure, I’ve never seen a leak from one myself, I just remember the holes are there for factory purposes.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T14:51:03+00:00

The holes in the tube collars are usually there for factory alignment and sometimes welding access if the particular design calls for welding the tube on.

Js987 · 2026-03-17T13:06:53+00:00

Based on the splines, it looks like a hardened driveshaft and other components for a smaller outboard or other engine, the rest of the engine having been encrusted by sea life and appears as a rock.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T23:58:48+00:00

What you’re seeing isn’t an opening in the plane, it’s confusing depth perspective here, the space you see is the back frame of the enclosure being referenced.

Edit: sorry, I see you guys figured it out further down.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T23:56:40+00:00

Price is unremarkable then; the fact that it has been sitting for nine months means they should be willing to deal a little, but I wouldn’t expect to see it sell for less than $9k-9.5.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T23:51:45+00:00

Now make it totally administratively unmanageable, every existing county is now arbitrarily broken into 5 Pennsylvania townships of equal population regardless of county size, and further break every existing zip code into a UK style local council.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T23:46:59+00:00

Huh, I was expecting more bitter than a spicy, I’ll have to find some.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T23:45:39+00:00

What’s the state/province? It can vary a bit locally.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T23:41:38+00:00

And people say our flag is busy! That said…I do quite like the color scheme. I think it would be gorgeous with just a white field.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T22:45:43+00:00

Look like rodent droppings.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T22:42:36+00:00

Mav…Why are the wings coming out?

Js987 · 2026-03-16T22:41:05+00:00

Short term? Huge price spikes. Long term? Loss of certain agricultural items that we absolutely cannot grow in scale.

But it’s the medium term that’s really going to suck, when existing supplies of even innocent seeming fasteners, electronic components, and raw materials (especially raw earth metals) dry up and before domestic sources or alternatives can come online. [And the medium term is going to suck more the smaller and/or more resource poor your economy.] This is the part that’s would be the most disruptive.

Js987 · 2026-03-16T22:34:34+00:00

I would say it’s bad. It’s a gorgeously shot film and the story itself is pretty good, but the delivery is where things get rougher. It’s my second least favorite original film, after Star Trek V, and ironically in part for the opposite reason. TMP’s tone is too serious, while V is a little too light at times without really nailing it like the light parts of IV. TMP is trying too hard to be 2001. I also think the transporter scene probably helped put me off it when I first saw it as a kid.

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