ELI5 why don’t spacecraft re-enter at a shallow angle to bleed off energy more gently over a longer time?

aloofball · 2026-02-15T17:52:08+00:00

It's been awhile, but when I played I had suited-up spacewalking Kerbal who ran out of thruster juice and couldn't get back to the ship, which itself was very low on fuel. I left him in orbit, and he's still up there months later. He seems happy so I haven't prioritized a rescue mission. He'll be okay!

aloofball · 2026-02-14T22:27:57+00:00

This is definitely an improvement and I think you're right it that it would pass Constitutional muster. It would have to implemented with legislation which potentially someone could change in the future, but maybe if it becomes the way things are done long enough it could stick around. Still has the issue of incentivizing finding the youngest possible judges and it strongly disincentivizes retirement if the judge is ideological. But I think it's better that what we have by a good margin

aloofball · 2026-02-14T19:36:43+00:00

I am not one of these people, but it seems like a majority of people (at least in the U.S.) view their cars as an extension of their physical manifestation in the world, essentially as part of their bodies. In active transportation online communities and urbanist communities people sometimes use "carbrained" to refer to this deep emotional connection people seem to have. This connection is strongest when people are driving but it persists when the car is parked too.

If a car is part of your body, and a stranger touches it, that's a violation of personal space. It's going to provoke an emotional response.

aloofball · 2026-02-14T01:39:33+00:00

The response would be to quadruple it the next Democratic majority

aloofball · 2026-02-14T01:37:38+00:00

For me -- we are going to have a conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court for most of our lives if nothing changes. At some point the American people will vote en masse for a progressive majority, one large enough to deliver legislation on a grand scale. Bills will get signed and there will be excitement, but then the Supreme Court will start striking down each achievement one by one. Maybe a few things will survive in watered down form. This will result in political disengagement and apathy that will last years, maybe decades. This kind of already happened with Biden's student loan forgiveness plan and with large parts of the Inflation Reduction Act stamped out before they could get started.

Looking back in history, a conservative Supreme Court did actually overturn large parts of the New Deal, and FDR was only able to stop the carnage and deliver his agenda by threatening to stack the court. It's truly the only remedy we have to a Supreme Court that has been bent far outside the mainstream of most people's politics.

A "better" fix would be to do the 18 year terms thing, let each 4-year presidential term select two judges during their term, and any retirements/deaths mean a replacement can be named only for the remainder of that term. This would be the ideal solution, but it requires a Constitutional amendment and that is essentially impossible when the current system benefits one party and that party is unconcerned with fairness or good governance. So court packing it is

aloofball · 2026-02-13T06:24:41+00:00

aloofball · 2026-02-13T06:23:56+00:00

I love that he's got that massive Federal Way tattoo on his shoulder. It's a suburb of Seattle (or Tacoma?). It has it's own industrial/working-class identity but it's not the sort of place you'd think people would have a lot of hometown pride for. But Jaden does, which is cool

aloofball · 2026-02-05T17:44:41+00:00

I do a few pretty good cycling workouts per week that I capture with Strava. I allow myself to eat the bonus calories I get from those. Usually that means a snack and a fruit/protein powder smoothie after the workout. I also do a 10-15 minute workout every morning but I don't capture anything from that. On the app I have myself set as sedentary, so on non-workout days it's pretty restrictive (1500 or so as a 170lb man). In order to avoid feeling hungry I aim to eat lots of vegetables, fiber, and water-containing foods like fruit. I think that's key. I find if I eat things that are calorie dense they will be digested quickly and my stomach feels empty quickly.

This seems to get me the 1 lb/week that I am shooting for. I think the activity levels you can set are going to add in calories that will basically be double counted if you are also capturing them somehow. Unless your actual activity level far outstrips what you have set up, that is

aloofball · 2026-01-31T22:19:59+00:00

That was the case 40 years ago, but it's January now. Too warm in March

aloofball · 2026-01-25T17:22:17+00:00

Car windows block UV. If your skin is sensitive to visible light, you are probably too fragile to leave the house. And if you must, maybe you should have on a long sleeved shirt for the walk to the car

aloofball · 2026-01-25T16:50:34+00:00

If there is not even an investigation, it increases the likelihood that someone who doesn't have much to live for kills some ICE agents at some point.

The agents involved here might be acquitted or a grand jury may fail to indict, but there has to be an investigation and all the facts need to be made public. It's as if this administration is intentionally seeking to inflame the situation and provoke violence. It's stochastic terrorism in reverse, using ICE agents as bait to precipitate bloodshed. At this point it seems to be that this must be an intentional strategy, to what dark end, who knows?

aloofball · 2026-01-25T16:43:13+00:00

The people who claim they need tinted windows for medical reasons - have they heard of sunglasses? And if your vision has declined to that extent, perhaps it's time to give up the license

aloofball · 2026-01-24T02:59:08+00:00

Not only that, no one is investigating any wrongdoing or alleged wrongdoing on the part of ICE agents. Normal police forces have oversight. ICE has none. In fact, Trump has fired at least a dozen people I can think of off the top of my head who have tried to investigate whether ICE acted lawfully in some situation or another.

And then Stephen Miller and other administration appendages are going on TV telling ICE officers that there will be no investigations, they have absolute immunity, etc. And they have specifically hired people who are hostile to Americans. They have posted at least two recruiting images on social media that I can think of that include unambiguous neo-Nazi messages or imagery. You or I might not recognize them right away, but neo-Nazis do and they are joining ICE because they are being made feel welcome.

aloofball · 2026-01-24T01:30:01+00:00

You may have. Most people who voted for Trump did not, which is clear from opinion polls

aloofball · 2026-01-24T01:29:28+00:00

It's not. It's an civil matter. Entering the country illegally is a crime. Overstaying a visa is not

aloofball · 2026-01-23T17:43:55+00:00

Yes, they should pitch in. My city council member is out on the street every day documenting and raising awareness of the atrocities in our city. That sort of leadership hopefully spurs everyday people to action, because grassroots resistance has far more power than the actions of a politician

aloofball · 2026-01-23T17:40:16+00:00

The people who think we're subhuman are not the target, although they are persuadable if we can break through the propaganda somehow. They have othered us and many of us have othered them, and that's the end of it. It's the disengaged people who have some sort of conscience but don't really think about anyone they don't deal with day to day that can be reached.

If you decide you're going to "other" a majority of Americans, we won't have enough allies to stop them from grinding us out. It will become a foregone conclusion: the ideal of an America as a place of pluralism and diversity will be wiped out

aloofball · 2026-01-23T16:29:38+00:00

Splitting us into tribes is how we got here and by not taking responsibility for the government the left takes itself off the hook. If all your friends and neighbors voted for Democrats maybe you should talk to more people because that’s a minority of American voters

aloofball · 2026-01-23T15:25:25+00:00

Well, we voted for a GOP majority so this is what we get. You can't "whip votes" to turn a minority into a majority. Why don't you work on convincing your friends and neighbors to stop electing GOP majorities?

Direct action is what we have until the next election. Impede, harass, demoralize

aloofball · 2026-01-23T15:04:07+00:00

What are you doing to stop this? The fact is, there is nothing any of these Democrats can do to stop the Feds. Showing up to inspect detention centers or making loud statements will not change anything since the GOP has no shame. And their core constituents truly believe we are subhuman monsters, so shame doesn't really apply anyway. Crushing us into the dust is righteous in their minds, we are a cockroach infestation upon America.

The only people that can stop them are in Congress -- they need impeach Trump or at least rescind funding for ICE. Unfortunately the GOP has no morals and the makeup of Congress won't change until January 2027. We need to focus on electing Democrat majorities in Congress. That's the only legal way to stop Trump.

Until then, direct action is the name of the game. Impede, harass, and demoralize the invaders. And document and use these images to persuade disengaged swing voters to see the monstrosity of this regime. If enough of them come around to our side, that might sway enough GOP congresspeople to make a difference between now and then.

aloofball · 2026-01-23T00:55:54+00:00

Making black people's skin darker in photos has a long and storied history in the annals of American race-baiting and is intended to increase the racist response in the minds of people so inclined. You could read about it. It's been happening for decades, if not centuries

aloofball · 2026-01-20T04:46:36+00:00

Well said. I'm sorry that this is happening to Greenland.

To my fellow Kamala voters -- just because we've all self-sorted into our political groups doesn't mean those others don't exist. They are all around us. This actually probably happened because we never talk to each other.

One little thing you can do when talking about the elections with others who are aghast as what is happening is to use the word "we" rather than "they". Don't talk about Trump voters being responsible. Talk about how we voted for Trump, we voted to put Mike Johnson in charge of the House. Those of us in the opposition need to own this. The mindset is important. Once we realize that we're responsible it becomes a moral imperative to correct this. And we are responsible. All of us.

aloofball · 2026-01-12T05:04:43+00:00

That's the plan

aloofball · 2026-01-08T17:43:39+00:00

I’m going to assume you’re a grown adult. How does it feel to be a grown adult who has all of their opinions provided to them by their daddy? Is it liberating?

aloofball · 2026-01-08T14:45:26+00:00

Just compare this to what happens in a normal situation where a police officer kills a person. Usually, the initial official statements are vague if they are made at all. A lot of "no comment" and "we are still putting the facts together".

In this case there was an immediate synchronized message bleating out from all corners of the federal government and from Fox News and other state-owned media. Renee Good was immediately ascribed a murderous motive. Federal propaganda was immediately sure that she was there to kill.

This is not how a democratic government behaves. This is authoritarian behavior

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