That’s easy to say, but the reality is a bit muddier. I mean I’ve been using duck duck go for maybe six months now and you know what, I have a really hard time finding what I’m looking for. That said, Google is only a little bit better. I really don’t feel like any search engine I’ve used recently works really well.

And finally, nothing works as well at 2016 google search, that was probably peak web search.

This studio sounds super awesome.

If I’m being totally honest, I’m so glad it’s patented. I hope they defend the patent aggressively so nobody else can do this. Even if Microsoft has this capability, defending the patent will limit the scope of its usage.

Bonus points if they defend it aggressively, yet barely utilize it themselves. I’m afraid that may just be wishful thinking.

Man, communication is hard.

You can say something and someone else interprets it, and they make all the noises to suggest that they understand what you said, but it’s very difficult to be certain that you’re both thinking the same thing. All too often the same words mean something very different to people.

People also use words more loosely in some contexts and more strictly in others. Like the expressions you mentioned could all basically be synonyms in most contexts, but if you were talking to a sexual partner or a sex therapist, you’d probably want to be more exact with the words you use.

But here’s the issue, how do you know how exact someone is being when they’re talking to you? If you’re guessing at their level of precision, then you’re only guessing at their actual meaning. Problematic.

That’s actually a really awesome metaphor! I was quite impressed with that.

And I think you nailed down the issue pretty well, if there’s already some legal agreement, this has to be judged with that in mind. If there’s no prior legal agreement, then we’re going to have to use some common sense. And common sense says that you did willingly give this to someone with the intent for them to use it, so yeah, they’re using it…

Of course, if the butthead also doesn’t have a copyright or license applied on the asset, they might similarly be pissing in the wind.

This seems quite likely to be the situation.

This is really freaking cool!

I mean like I said, that does suck. But we do have other options in the interim, namely Soyuz and Cygnus. If Boeing had decided to actually try to fulfill the commercial launch providers program there would also be starliner…

There are also a lot more options just around the corner, there’s the dreamchaser which looks totally badass, also JAXA is working on a vehicle and I read that the ESA is maybe working on 3 different vehicles?

Remember, by decommissioning dragon, all they’re really doing is removing the cheapest option from the market, and that’s the only reason anyone cares. The other options that have been available are still available.

Ok, that sounds about right.

And with all that in mind, I do think government funding is a significant part of their total income, but I would be very surprised if it made up for more than say 20%. I’m trying to keep in mind that less than 5% of their launches are actually for NASA. And honestly, being a telecom/ISP has been a lucrative racket from day one with the bell telephone company. (So I’m willing to bet that starlink is their cash cow)

So what I’m seeing here is an interesting situation. The main thing that seems to be an issue is that they’re ramping down the falcon 9 before people were really ready for that. That leaves all the people who were expecting that launch service to continue (Including NASA), stuck at the moment, possibly without a viable alternative. Luckily, while they may not be taking new contracts now, the article says they are still fulfilling the ones they have, so that’s good.

So yes, leaving people without a launch provider sucks for sure. But the fact that they’re shutting down falcon also demonstrates that SpaceX is expecting to be able to offer starship launches very soon. Remember, if they can’t put anything into space, they don’t really have a business at all. So this really does suggest that at least they think starship can totally replace falcon and that it’s almost ready.

The majority of all funding for SpaceX comes from the government.

Well that’s kind of the definition of “funding”. What other funding would there be? If you mean revenue or income, I think that would be possible, but that claim could use a citation.

I think this is the right take.

SpaceX may believe they’ve discovered a business model without NASA, but when the bubble pops they’ll be singing a different tune.

This is also a good reason to not nationalize spaceX as so many in this thread are calling for. I don’t want to be financially responsible for the AI mess they’re investing in now. Let them eat those losses.

the amazing reusable shuttle has been retired

In all fairness, the shuttle was more “refurbishable” than reusable. It needed to be almost completely rebuilt after every flight. Over its service life it proved to be both the most expensive and most dangerous way to get to space. It killed over 4 times more astronauts than any other spacecraft.

The shuttle was awesome, it was truly a great achievement! It made building the ISS possible. But… I’m glad it’s retired, we’re better off with more traditional rockets for many reasons.

That is some seriously dumb trolling.

fantastical technology

Ah, the “fantastical technology” of the 1950s.

It’s only prohibitively expensive the way that we’re currently doing it in the US, there are better ways.

especially in comparison to something that is cheap and ubiquitous

In some countries nuclear is cheap and ubiquitous. The key is simple standardization.

In France for instance, nuclear accounts for about 70% of their power. They operate 57 nuclear reactors, all of which are one of 4 reactor designs. By having standardized designs these reactors are cheaper to maintain, parts and equipment are more available. The engineers that run the facilities are more familiar with every aspect of the plant, operating procedures are better understood. It’s easier to find qualified engineers and technicians. Accidents are uncommon (I believe they’ve never had any kind of major accident).

The price French households pay for power is comparable to what we pay in the US and they generate significantly less CO2 per capita. They also have less reliance on oil states.

We could have that too if we were motivated to make it happen.

Nuclear power is a very important technology for space vehicles, probes and bases. There’s proven potential for greatly improved propulsion systems as well.

You can’t just hear the word space and declare it “nuttery”, that’s just ignoring whole industries and areas of active research and engineering.

Perhaps.

And to be clear, I have no doubt that it could heat the copper, I just wonder if it can prevent the hot liquid copper being extruded from instantly melting the copper below it that was previously laid down.

I did some soldering with gold recently and was shocked at how well it conducted heat from one side of the part to the other. I’d get one wire attached to a contact and then when I brought a wire to the second contact, the first would melt and that wire detached.

It was frustrating.

One thing this might make possible is giving abandoned games a new life on Android. Way back in the day I bought some games designed for earlier versions of Android, games that were never updated and now can’t run at all, Plants vs Zombies, Puzzle Quest 2, probably people know of other genes that went missing. But those games exist on Windows and still run fine there, i’m sure they work on the steam deck, they’re not demanding.

3D printing EMP parts

It turns out, you can’t make copper coils out of TPU…

As I think about it now, given the thermal conductivity of copper, I’d bet it would be damn near impossible to 3d print with it.