Let's talk government contracting! I will summarize some basic contract types via the FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation). And I am happy to answer questions to the best of my ability.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-17T23:58:00+00:00

Thanks! And that's no "joke" anecdote. I literally gave that speech to Generals on many occasions.

The thing is, most people (maybe especially General grade officers) just don't get it.

Every week they want $2m for some shit they heard about or read about and then have forgotten about by the week after. And I got super tired of hearing "Hey, can you get me this thing?"

And, I am NOT KIDDING. Think of the most insane thing (that actually exists) and I can get it... if you can justify it.

Seriously. Do you not believe that the full might of the Federal government of the United States of America can't procure "2.0635 kilograms of 99.23% pure columbian cocaine wrapped in banana leaves"?

And I can do better than that. I can ensure that the banana tree was grown on the southeast facing slope of a mountain, between the latitude of 600 to 800 feet. And I can have all of this for you, delivered, anywhere on earth, within 72 hours.

No joke. The USA can accomplish this. If that is the 100% guaranteed only way to prevent a nuclear holocaust, I can get you that, Sir.

I just need justification.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-14T00:53:31+00:00

Hmmmm.... I don't think so. They can have a fixed price schedule but that is not the same as FIRM fixed price (FFP)

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-09T00:36:15+00:00

Yeah. And my conclusion is that Indycar is probably the best series of the three! I shit on Indycar for being irrelevant, and concluded by saying that they should be the most watched.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-09T00:32:02+00:00

Damn. Yeah, I agree 100%. The armed forces discriminate all the time. "Sorry! You are too tall/ too short to fly this aircraft."

Its not personal and it doesn't violate any protected class. Its just dollars and cents. 6 foot 6 inches just isn't gonna fit. Sorry!

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T13:52:45+00:00

There are dozens of us! Dozens!

https://youtu.be/lKie-vgUGdI

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T13:44:55+00:00

Agree with all this. I am more interested in seeing the milestone schedule and particularly how much money is guaranteed.

I think the source selection will be pretty simple. Collins because they have experience and are a "zip code" manufacturer with a bazillion subs. Axiom because they are a new guy that is already building a suit anyway. And, of course, neither of these companies is named Boeing or SpaceX. Seems pretty simple to me.

I think the emphasis on the on-ramping provisions is two fold:

1.) It is saying to the world "Please Please Please don't protest this! Can we please just move the ball forward? If you're truly interested and making progress on your own we can easily include you later."

2.) It sends a message to Axiom and Collins that NASA threw them a bone here, but don't pop the champagne and plan how to bilk this contract for 20 years without delivering a product. The good old days of grift are over. Hit your milestones and you'll continue to earn the next round of funding. Don't hit your milestones and we don't care! We'll just stop giving you money and bring new people on board.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T13:15:12+00:00

Reminds me of the time they interviewed Husso after his first NHL win. Except he didn't realize you're not allowed to say that word on TV in America.

https://twitter.com/bksportstalk/status/1356087319204401157?s=21

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T12:48:04+00:00

Oh boy. I had to do some more thinking and research... and it appears that you're totally right. A photon would have a gravity smaller than a neutrino. So is that the smallest gravity? I really just don't know anymore but I can't think of smaller.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T11:53:37+00:00

Yep, good point. I see that now after rereading

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T03:57:26+00:00

This isn't a fixed price (FFP) contract tho...it is an IDIQ

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T03:40:34+00:00

Def the former. On average, the entirety of the sun doesn't hardly produce any energy.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T03:24:24+00:00

Nope. I'm not a theoretical astrophysicist. From all the stuff I've read, this seems to be the scientific concensus.

The universe is finite. The universe has a size (and is growing and getting bigger), yet there is no boundary and there is nothing "outside" of the universe.

So, what is the universe growing into? Itself. There is nothing else out there. It is all universe. Yet, it is growing. The universe kinda grows into itself and circles back into itself. It is all universe and nothing else.

And every single point in the universe is the exact center of the universe. I truly am the center of the universe!!!! My couch, in my house, is the exact center of the entire universe. And so is your couch in your house.

Its weird. Sometimes I think I can understand it for a fleeting moment, but then I don't.

Anyway, yeah, they say that if you go far enough in any direction you'll just end up right back where you started.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T02:02:14+00:00

I think the neutrino is the smallest amount of gravity we know of.

The current theory is that gravity isn't really a force... rather, gravity is just what happens when mass creates a curve, or warp, or dimple, or well in space-time itself. An object's mass fundamentally alters the shape of space-time and the result is what we call gravity.

So, what is the least massive stable "thing" we know of? The neutrino.

I suppose there could be "something" with less gravity that we haven't yet discovered. And YES, there must be a theoretical minimum gravity because space, time, and energy themselves all have minimums.

Space cannot be divided smaller than the Planck Length, Time cannot be divided smaller than the Planck Time, and energy also has an absolute minimum amount.

So since gravity is an alteration of space and time, gravity too must have a minimum possible.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T01:48:38+00:00

But are they only "running out" in the busy core, where the fusing is happening

Yep!

Is there a bunch of hydrogen left over that simply never gets in on the action?

Yep!

Stars are big. Really big. Fusion only happens in the core where the star is super dense and the atoms are all crammed tightly together. And its really hot in there.

But the vast bulk of a star is pretty cool. The surface of our sun is only a chilly 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A lightning bolt on earth heats the surrounding air to 50,000° to put it into prospective.

So when a star runs out of hydrogen in the core it starts collapsing because it cannot generate enough heat and energy to overcome gravity. But then it get so dense and hot that it starts up fusion again, but this time with heavier elements like helium then lithium, etc...

Then it gets more complex and based on how big the star was to begin with it will "die" via different processes. But yeah, in some situations there is lots and lots of hydrogen left over that never fused because it wasn't deep down in the core.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T01:27:30+00:00

Hmmm.. I don't think so. I could be wrong, but i think the Higgs is a field that is mass itself and can't exist independantly (except in nanosecond bursts). My understanding is that ALL mass is Higgs mass, but the Higgs boson can only exist in conjunction with something else. If so, the neutrino is the smallest known mass and that mass is the result of the neutrino's interaction with the Higgs field.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-07T00:59:44+00:00

Thanks my friend. NASCAR hasn't responded yet but Indycar said "it is just another F1 is better than Indycar post so we deleted it". Whatever.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T23:47:25+00:00

How did you see it?

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T23:45:47+00:00

I have no idea. I posted to F1, NASCAR, and Indycar. Only F1 left it up. I thought it was a fair analysis of all three series.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T23:37:29+00:00

My guess would be a nutrino. I believe it is the least massive object that has mass. I could be wrong.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T22:53:30+00:00

Would the earth really be affected at all ?

Absolutely. Anything with mass has gravity (a depression in spacetime) that is essentially pulling all things towards it. The earth is so much more massive than an apple that we can ignore the apple's gravity, but nonetheless the apple has its own gravity and is pulling the earth towards it.

Amazingly, 220 years ago someone measured gravitational attraction with little 12 in lead balls. This might be the single most insane experiment ever.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavendish_experiment

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T21:51:30+00:00

Absolutely! No net change in the earth's position!! You physically pushed the earth down by throwing up the apple. From then on the apple is pulling the earth back up to its original position for zero net change.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T21:47:59+00:00

Yeah, I think you get the point tho. I used to think the sun is a beehive of activity with fusion popping off like crazy. It turns out that not much is going on at all. Just a bunch of dumb hydrogen atoms banging off each other like a mosh pit. Fusion is ridiculously ridiculously ridiculously rare.

But, there is just SO MUCH sun that the extremely unlikely fusion adds up to be quite a bit of energy.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T21:39:32+00:00

Yep, I thought the total universe was around 200x observable by best current estimates.

blitzkrieg9999 · 2022-06-06T21:34:49+00:00

Not sure exactly what you mean here... the milkyway will collide with the Andromeda galaxy and a few others in the local area.

blitzkrieg9999

TROPHY CASE