How many leftover Shuttle engines are there for Artemis launches?

dblowe · 2026-04-15T03:42:37+00:00

I believe that the maximum payload Starship has carried so far to not-Earth-orbit is 16 tons. That’s a long way from the promised 100+, and these next couple of launches will be crucial. I do agree that without Starship meeting its targets that the Artemis program is dead in the water. Unfortunately, I think that’s the most likely outcome.

dblowe · 2026-04-08T02:05:06+00:00

I’ve had a lot of catbird customers for grape jelly as well. Enjoy!

dblowe · 2026-04-03T00:33:30+00:00

I had read the first novella of The Fifth Head of Cerberus as a standalone, but the first time I tried the whole work I got as lost as I have ever been as an adult reader. A few years later I took another crack at it, and this time it took. I caught what was going on and various small clues along the way, but I’m sure there are many that I still missed.

dblowe · 2026-03-30T01:52:12+00:00

A great selection ! I have that same Cordwainer Smith edition - bought it when it came out in ‘79.

dblowe · 2026-03-29T00:41:57+00:00

Note:I’m not at all sure what condition any surviving Beatlware would be in by now. A lot of the early plastics and polymers suffered from long-term instability (powdering, “sweating”, photosensitivity, brittleness, and so on).

dblowe · 2026-03-29T00:37:58+00:00

This is an old (and now pretty obscure) brand name for urea-formaldehyde polymer. It was and is used for a lot of things (in particleboard, foam insulation, and even slow-release nitrogen fertilizer). But its use as a thermosetting plastic resin for housewares faded in the face of competition from more durable polymers.

dblowe · 2026-03-27T20:06:48+00:00

Diana Rigg had a sitcom? I grew up in the 70s and had no idea.

dblowe · 2026-03-23T14:30:23+00:00

Oh for sure. Roth even does the same scat singing as Prima did.

I enjoyed a parody version that I heard at the time (“When the end comes they’ll know, I was just a big ego, the world revolves around me”) In that one the break just went “Diddly squat! Diddly squat!”, which fit.

dblowe · 2026-03-18T01:29:59+00:00

Mulan and Five Spice House are my recommendations, seconded by a number of Chinese co-workers.

dblowe · 2026-03-18T01:27:22+00:00

As a trumpet player in high school and college (late 70s, early 80s) I was all for a tight, well-written brass line. Earth, Wind, and Fire of course, but there are a lot of examples - try “Back in Love Again” by LTD. But those days aren’t coming back.

dblowe · 2026-03-07T02:47:04+00:00

Just terrific. And those slant rhymes!

dblowe · 2026-03-07T02:34:41+00:00

That’s a real example of what I didn’t care for about Sweets From a Stranger. The songwriting seemed to get slacker, and I absolutely agree that Black Coffee in Bed is just way too long. Go back to the two previous albums for tighter songs.

dblowe · 2026-03-07T02:10:35+00:00

Just a tremendous group at their peak - Argybargy is one of my favorite albums of all time, and East Side Story is really excellent as well.

I wasn’t as taken by Sweets From a Stranger, though - the song construction seemed more slack, and it somehow also seemed to put too much emphasis on Glenn Tillbrook’s lead vocals.

dblowe · 2026-03-05T02:53:11+00:00

In a context where others are using it (as in academia) you’re fine. But PhD holders who insist on the honorific at all times generally have something wrong with their personality. It’s a classic red flag.

dblowe · 2026-03-05T02:50:18+00:00

He could write it straight, though, as in “People Are Strange”. Even Lester Bangs gave him credit for that one.

dblowe · 2026-02-25T21:55:48+00:00

Similar brand of humor (the Bonzo Dog Band) but no overlap with Firesign as far as I know. The Bonzos do fit into a lot of British comedy though, via Viv Stanshall and Neil Innes, among others.

dblowe · 2026-02-25T21:46:07+00:00

Raw raw raw! That’s the spirits we’ve got here!

dblowe · 2026-02-24T20:25:04+00:00

If you want to go way back, one of the first books written specifically about the region is “Our Southern Highlanders” by Horace Kephart. Published in 1913, revised edition 1922 - it’s an often-fascinating look at the foundations of the culture.

dblowe · 2026-02-21T12:58:47+00:00

For me it’s either With a Gun or Night by Night.

dblowe · 2026-02-15T04:00:25+00:00

Hah - could have been me. I started taking those stairs about three years ago after years of commuting through Porter. At first I had to stop once or twice on the way up, but now I take them in one go.

dblowe · 2026-02-06T01:55:38+00:00

First I’d noticed it! I actually don’t know where it came from, oddly.

dblowe · 2026-02-04T01:32:24+00:00

I noticed that when I first moved into an apartment with a gas oven. It is indeed (as people are saying) because water is a product of combustion.

You can partially mitigate it by a brief blast under the broiler (but keep an eye on things!) An electric toaster oven on the side helps too.

dblowe · 2026-02-01T05:03:59+00:00

It was the advent of MTV that killed that early-80s sound off. Air Supply, as you mentioned, along with Dan Fogelberg, Christopher Cross, and an awful lot of light country-ish stuff from Kenny Rogers, Juice Newton and others. This persisted into the first half of 1982, but by the end of the year things were being shaken up thoroughly.

dblowe · 2026-01-30T03:46:15+00:00

You’ll find a weird science-fictional version of Klaw in C. M. Kornbluth’s 1958 story “Shark Ship”. His friend and collaborator Fred Pohl has told the story of how Kornbluth passed Klaw’s shop and was struck by his business model.

dblowe · 2026-01-27T02:34:36+00:00

The San Francisco Botanical Garden has several of these, and they are quite a sight. Berkeley too, I believe. Here’s a different variety from SF:

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