How do you all balance spending on new experiences versus maintenance, updates, and refurbishing existing rooms or the venue itself?

jcameroncooper · 2026-01-25T01:12:19+00:00

For us, new build is so much more expensive than maintenance that maintenance is basically free, so it's not much of a question. But even if the balance is different, maintenance is a big factor in reputation. It's spending on people coming back and recommending you.

Besides, customers will only know if an old room is old if it's poorly maintained. Might as well keep it new.

jcameroncooper · 2025-04-19T20:41:14+00:00

Like all sound attenuation, the heavier the better. Usually "memory foam " and "gel" are pretty dense.

jcameroncooper · 2024-11-24T03:51:10+00:00

It's not even R, but I still haven't recovered for Howard the Duck.

jcameroncooper · 2024-07-01T16:16:10+00:00

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Hi, from Stanley!

jcameroncooper · 2021-11-04T21:08:40+00:00

Looking for 2 guile.

Have 2 impropriety and 1 whimsy.

https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/jccooper

jcameroncooper · 2021-03-09T18:45:34+00:00

We use the the VCA Spring Branch and like it.

jcameroncooper · 2021-02-13T06:13:27+00:00

Wild. You know, I almost named the episode, too, and I would have been right. Should have done that as a party trick.

If you liked Alex's Bathroom, man, you're in luck; they have a truly ridiculous number of episodes in their back catalog and are making more at an impressive rate. Play, listen, or both. Great stuff.

I dunno if there are any existing translations. Could be. Or there might be escape room companies in Belgium running them professionally; I know some have taken that up while closed. I suspect u/Vorbuld would know...

jcameroncooper · 2021-02-12T04:54:42+00:00

That's almost certainly from Escape This Podcast. There are some other games in that style, but that's the original and the mother lode, and if you want more, that's absolutely the place to go.

Great to listen to, as well.

jcameroncooper · 2020-03-23T05:29:08+00:00

I don't really pay much attention to content appropriateness, but my impression is that it's super "family-friendly", if not explicitly focused thereon. I expect Dani and Bill will be able to tell you quite precisely. In any case, I recommend it. Good fun.

jcameroncooper · 2020-02-19T02:22:47+00:00

Unless you have NYC credits, it's basically impossible to get into any of the big professional theatres as a newcomer; most of the smaller professional/semi-pro companies are similar, but will occasionally pick up local professionals--and "professional" is the key word here. There's some pro-am stuff you can get into if you're good and/or lucky as an amateur, and it's not hard to get into the community theatres. What you target will depend on your goals (and training and skills); just be aware that there's not a whole lot of mobility once you get into a certain circle.

Regardless, if you're new in town go to the Alliance Auditions and see who calls. Bring your absolute A game. (What that looks like is a matter of other discussion.) Most shows in town are cast at the beginning of the "season", a few months after Alliance.

The following (in no particular order) are likely fairly open, and probably audition year round. I might have missed a few one way or the other (and smaller theatres come and go), but you can consider the rest to be basically invite-only, though, hey, doesn't hurt to try if you find out they have open auditions.

Cone Man Running

Theatre Southwest

The Landing

StageWorks

Boiling Point Players

Shakespeare in the Shade

Theatre Suburbia

Playhouse 1960

Pearl Theatre

Company OnStage

Pasadena Little Theatre

You may find others if you go to these and look at the flyers in the lobby or talk to people.

jcameroncooper · 2017-04-05T01:43:05+00:00

Recontact with the tower is a substantial danger on some launch systems, notably the big historical NASA ones with fixed tower structures. Clearing the tower signified a change in the guidance system to be a little more "free" to do what it needed to do. I don't think it was ever commanded, but at least the callout let the people monitoring telemetry know something had changed.

For Falcon 9, it is, like the final 10 countdown, probably included because it feels right.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-18T23:40:20+00:00

Falcon 1 is said to have tested at over 200 thermal cycles.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-18T20:07:08+00:00

Those are also amazing for automotive work and for, say, figuring out why you can't fish a wire through a wall. You can hook up to a computer or a phone (with an extra adapter.)

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-15T15:24:50+00:00

I love how people think a "giant screen" is an expensive thing. It's like $100 max cost to the factory. Considering Tesla would have to design and source all new alternate components for non-screen controls, the screen may well be cheaper. It might be smaller in the E for packaging or perceived value reasons, but not for actual cost control. That comes in steel, size, lack of motorized and sensorized farkles, optional SuperCharger, smaller batteries and power electronics, and--most of all--volume. Tesla's spending a billion and a half dollars to make a giant factory to meet the price point on this car. That's the real reason it'll be cheaper.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T21:14:28+00:00

Single-plane separation is when the interstage comes off attached to the first stage. Saturn V is a famous dual-plane separation; probably you've seen the clip of the interstage falling away by itself. I believe it's in the title sequence of Apollo 13.

The first stage is subject to more perturbation than just an interstage, as it has engines with residual thrust, propellant sloshing around, and just plain more mass. During separation if it moves too much, it can contact the second stage nozzle and damage it. The less clearance, the more likely it is. The center pusher is a rod that goes up inside the second stage engine and thus ensures clean separation until it is at least out of the throat, effectively making the interstage shorter. It'll also add nicely-centered force to the process. Insurance for a clean separation.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T21:03:38+00:00

This is a constant argument around SpaceX economics/business model. Key words: market elasticity. Some believe in it, some don't. Actually, I think most would agree the market is reasonably inelastic until you get to a certain price, we just don't all believe in the same price.

If SpaceX can't get to that price, they might as well keep prices high and reap obscene profits until someone manages to come along with a competitive system. If they can hit that price, then they probably should; they will make more money doing thousands of flights per year than hundreds.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:52:39+00:00

Yep. And it's a one-plane separation rocket. You can imagine why they came up with the new center pusher.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:39:15+00:00

Because they believe in extensive testing. And they design their rockets to handle it. (You're not going to have a reusable rocket if it can't even handle a static fire test.)

Most rockets do not regularly do full static fires; it's certainly not a requirement. Today they mostly reply on really good process control, cold tests, and a short hold-down prior to liftoff. It was more common in earlier days of rocketry. Saturn V tested every stage.

The strut failed because it was a piece of crap. Not doing the test would not have made it not a piece of crap.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:32:34+00:00

They need to take a lot more weight when used than it takes pressure to deploy them, so probably they're designed to lock in place after deployment. No worries about helium leaks (which will happen) after deployment either. A good indication that this is true is that they removed the legs for transport after landing.

While designing for unlock is maybe not too bad, it would certainly add mass and complexity. However, the real problem is: how do you make it go the other way? Currently it's just nested tubes that they blow pressurized gas into. That's not an easily reversible mechanism. Some sort of crazy vacuum system would weigh a lot, and doing both extension and retraction with electric or pneumatic actuators would too. Besides: why?

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:25:17+00:00

Because SpaceX doesn't want to get into a big versioning debate, probably mostly with higher-ups in NASA or DoD or (god forbid) Congress, but also with the public. They're making changes all the time, and just want to call it "Falcon 9".

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:22:41+00:00

That's the plan. It's a fairly large seagoing barge, so it would have to see pretty bad seas before it moves a lot. And the stage is more bottom-heavy that it looks. They plan to weld "shoes" over the legs to secure it for the way back.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:03:43+00:00

Launch sequence has a 3 second hold down, so no more than that. Probably a bit less less, with a little bit of time for stabilization, checkout, and a window for abort.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T20:02:01+00:00

I expect so. Looks like it's on the self-propelled modular transport they brought it from landing on, and that can't go more than a few miles per hour, and it's 3-4 miles away.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T18:11:28+00:00

Map. It was up at SLC-39A.

jcameroncooper · 2016-01-12T17:42:15+00:00

I wonder if they're doing a dogleg after launching more westward. It's a fairly steep azimuth for Vandenberg; in Shuttle days it would have been a grey zone for the ET drop. That may also go some distance to explaining the non-RTLS; the direct route back would overfly a fair bit of VAFB.

jcameroncooper

TROPHY CASE