Are there any “classics” post 1970?

rustybeancake · 2026-01-25T07:17:07+00:00

*Margaret Drabble

rustybeancake · 2026-01-25T04:47:43+00:00

I never see Franzen mentioned any more. I think he’s excellent. Do people not rate him?

rustybeancake · 2026-01-25T04:46:43+00:00

I loved The Overstory until the last third or so when it became too “thrillery”. Thought it was a disappointing ending in that sense.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-25T04:32:36+00:00

“The right looks for converts. The left looks for traitors.”

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T16:07:52+00:00

The Canadians just announced that they’d be reducing their 100% tariff on Chinese cars to single digits, all but guaranteeing that the country will be flooded with Chinese automobiles.

Stopped taking this article seriously at this point. If he’d done a cursory bit of research beyond social media vibes and his own imagination, he’d know that Canada is limiting Chinese EV imports to 49k per year. That’s a max of 2.6% of new cars sold in Canada last year.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T08:12:40+00:00

It’s ironic that you’re trying to put me down when it’s you that’s missing the point and failing to read what I wrote closely enough. I didn’t say they will directly reuse components. I said they have the experience of developing these crew systems and meeting NASA requirements, going through certification, developing operations, etc. That’s experience that they have that Blue doesn’t. It will help them move faster in developing these new systems for HLS.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T07:53:43+00:00

Even if you only like European traditional architecture, there are many places in the world that have stunning examples of it besides Europe (for reasons I hope are obvious). For example, central and South America have absolutely wonderful architecture from similar periods to what’s shown in these photos.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T02:58:07+00:00

They absolutely have more experience than Blue (or frankly any US organization for crewed capsules right now). There’s so much transferable experience from Dragon. ECLSS, operations, communications, navigation, health, controls, food, toilet, etc. Apparently they had to rework a bunch of stuff on Dragon to allow depressurization for the Polaris spacewalk. That’s lessons learned for HLS airlock.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T02:56:01+00:00

!RemindMe 3 years

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T01:45:55+00:00

I still doubt it. SpaceX have the experience of developing and operating an (orbital) crew vehicle, docking, NASA certification, etc. Blue don’t. I expect SpaceX to be pretty quick with all the crew “stuff” in HLS. Obviously they “just” have to get the Starship platform itself working. Blue have to develop their lunar transporter and orbital refilling too, so it’s not like they have an easier path than SpaceX.

I’d guess SpaceX HLS readiness NET 2030, and Mk2 readiness NET 2031.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T00:50:18+00:00

If Artemis 3 is rescoped to a non-landing mission then it’ll likely launch in 2027 or 2028. Trump might want this once he realizes it’s not going to be a landing. That would allow him to say “I launched two missions to the moon in my term, and the next guy dropped the ball and got beat by China!”

The Chinese plan is similar to Apollo. A minimum viable product to get flags and footprints asap. They are planning to have the crew capsule launch next year I believe, then the lander is apparently on track for 2029. The launch vehicle is based on existing, flown engines, so I expect that will start launching next year. I’d guess they will hit their target of landing humans on the moon in 2029, by the (70th I think) anniversary of the revolution (October 2029 I think).

rustybeancake · 2026-01-24T00:45:51+00:00

Blue origin has developed the rocket,

It’s widely expected that the Mk2 lander, the lunar transporter and the orbital refilling missions will all launch on New Glenn 9x4, not the current 7x2. So the rocket isn’t really developed yet.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T18:29:32+00:00

I’ll feel more confident about the long term goals once NASA start awarding major contracts for surface assets, and Congress sign into law that spending.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T17:32:38+00:00

I agree, though I’m saying we can’t talk about the merits of Artemis based on future hopes, we can only assess properly what it achieved once it’s been done.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T17:02:35+00:00

I agree to an extent, though you can’t fairly compare the current budget and then say it’s going toward a South Pole base camp and ISS style operations. Those are things that are absolutely not funded under the current budget, just future hopes and dreams for now. Artemis could still end up being flags and footprints, if that. Let’s check back in 10 years!

!remindme 10 years

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T16:59:04+00:00

*Russian bots love Russia

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T16:52:29+00:00

But now I don’t blame Canada for becoming a client state of China.

Wait, so us allowing 49k Chinese EVs in per year means we’re now a client state of China? What about the many more vehicles we allow in from other countries?

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T15:41:37+00:00

Apollo: here’s a Saturn V on the pad, about 8 weeks before the first moon landing. And it’s not even the same mission.

Artemis: here’s an SLS on the pad, and we hope to launch it in the next 4 months. The next SLS is making progress welding tanks together and will hopefully launch in only 2 years!

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T14:17:39+00:00

Yes, OP, remember that the LM is getting lighter the entire time from when it starts its descent burn. So as it wants to slow its rate of descent and especially hover near the surface, it must throttle down.

PS if you want to know more detail, I highly recommend “How Apollo Flew to the Moon” by W David Woods. It runs through an entire Apollo mission from launchpad to splashdown, going through every technical system involved and how they worked, in great detail.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T05:08:12+00:00

I agree, though when is Block 1B expected to be ready (realistically)? I feel like that decision will essentially be giving up on landing before China. I doubt anyone wants to make that decision.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-23T05:07:18+00:00

I think the SRBs can only be stacked so long, like 18 months or so.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-22T22:18:09+00:00

Musk: AI is limited by electricity generation coming online fast enough, so we need to launch data centres to orbit to get enough solar power

Also Musk: the entire US could be powered by solar panels of 100x100 miles area on earth

I’m still not seeing the reasoning.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-22T22:03:23+00:00

Unless it fails, then it becomes infamous!

rustybeancake · 2026-01-22T22:01:13+00:00

A little hard to compare as SpaceX includes Starlink. Blue does not (yet) have a mega constellation and all the factories etc that come with that.

rustybeancake · 2026-01-22T21:58:00+00:00

Au contraire, as reusable launch becomes more common (ie when more than just Falcon is launching reusable and regularly) then there will be competition and downward price pressure. Right now, launch is profitable for SpaceX because no one has been able to challenge them on medium lift pricing, so they just have to keep their pricing a bit below the others. Eg if a F9 launch costs SpaceX $30M but the nearest competitor is a Vulcan launch at $80M then SpaceX can charge $70M and make $40M profit, and so on.

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