The FORD Lounge

[ArdWrknTrk]

I have my personal opinions about this incident and others.
(Let me preface by saying my younger brother is shift commander in a smaller city with high crime and also a lot of mental health issues due to the regional  veterans hospital)

I have not, and probably will not speak to him about this.

The charge should depend on whether a civil rights case is levied.
Death in the commission of another felony is murder one regardless (in my state)

Now -opinion-

The cop should have let off once it was obvious the suspect was unconscious.
The other two officers holding him down are complicit.
Selling cigarettes or trying to pass a fake $20 are no reason to die.
Neither one of these guys appeared to be physically resisting and neither were an immediate threat given lack of weapons and presence of backup.

I well remember Compton afire after the release of the Rodney King video.
But I don't remember riots destroying property in other cities.

You have subjugated an entire race.
Of course people are indignant and tempers flare.
Add a few provocateurs and this is the result.

I don't have answers, but I will say the fact that this is not an isolated incident, and there is incontrovertible proof... Is precisely why you have riots.

[Sac79]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I still get goosebumps....


27,000 mps
I love it!

It was KPH wasn't it? My screen was too small, so the text was grainy, but I thought they mentioned Mach 1 when it went over 1200...

[Dorsai]

Sac79 wrote

ArdWrknTrk wrote

I still get goosebumps....


27,000 mps
I love it!

It was KPH wasn't it? My screen was too small, so the text was grainy, but I thought they mentioned Mach 1 when it went over 1200...

Correct...it was km/hr.  27,000 m/sec is about one and a half times the escape velocity of the solar system, so they would be well on their way to Alpha Centauri at that rate.  So they'd be making history, just not the one they were hoping for.

[Sac79]

 Still, pretty cool. My wife was surprised that it was the first time I had seen a launch live. But growing up on the dark continent, space flight/travel is way down the list of priorities or news and talking points etc. And I only just saw this one by chance, as she was watching when I came inside for a late lunch!  Glad I did.

[Dorsai]

For your next trick you really need to get down to Florida for a launch - there's nothing else like it on Earth.

I'm sure the Falcon 9 is impressive enough when it goes up, but I'm waiting for the first Starship launches - when Elon finally gets those things going, it will be incredible.

[ArdWrknTrk]

You'll have to go to Boca Chica for Starship.


I originally wrote KPH, but as I continued to watch the Space-X feed they kept saying meters per second.

I may be wrong, but it was drilled into me enough that I went back and changed my post.

[Dorsai]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

You'll have to go to Boca Chica for Starship.

The early testing is being done there, but operationally it will definitely fly from Kennedy.  I've heard it's probable that they will also fly from Boca Chica, but I don't know if that is definite yet.  The weather there is probably better, but I'm also sure NASA would prefer to fly the missions it buys from KSC.

I will say it's great to be living in a time in which we can wonder about all the possibilities of where to fly huge rockets from...

[Sac79]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

You'll have to go to Boca Chica for Starship.


I originally wrote KPH, but as I continued to watch the Space-X feed they kept saying meters per second.

I may be wrong, but it was drilled into me enough that I went back and changed my post.

I heard that too, but I assumed the announcer did not quite grasp the metric system. I was watching a couple of different feeds as some had delays(trying to get to the one my wife was watching) and heard different units of measure...

Seeing a launch in person would be a worthwhile experience I think and should be added to my bucket list!

[Dorsai]

Sac79 wrote

I heard that too, but I assumed the announcer did not quite grasp the metric system.

Hopefully Elon converts to the proper system of measurement before it's too late!

[ArdWrknTrk]

And missed Mars entirely!  

[Sac79]

 That's a good one. I find it quite funny how it's only the US and GB that use miles. The rest of the commonwealth(and rest of the world) including Canada(basically USA, sorry Cory) use metric, while the colony that got away first is the only one staying united with the motherland... I would have thought the US would have championed for the metric system from the get-go! I guess now the US can't change, since Britain actually uses the metric system for everything other than distance and speed... Oh and weight, what's the stone all about?

[ArdWrknTrk]

Used to be Liberia, Paupua/New Guinea and U.S.
Liberia was basically a puppet state for ship registry (check their flag)

The United States Congress adopted the Metric system as our standard way back in the late 1800's

Even now distance and mass are xxx factor of a meter or kilo.
Check the NIST website.

[Dorsai]

Sac79 wrote

I would have thought the US would have championed for the metric system from the get-go!

Besides the fact the U.S. predates the introduction of the metric system by a few years...the biggest problem is that it was developed by the French.

The actual biggest problem is that as an evolved system of measurement, imperial measures are more practical for day to day use.  That's why regardless of what Congress or anyone else says is official, we're going to keep using standard measures.  

Now, for science and engineering metric is of course inherently superior, which is why it has almost completely conquered those fields.  

[Sac79]

Dorsai wrote

Sac79 wrote

I would have thought the US would have championed for the metric system from the get-go!

Besides the fact the U.S. predates the introduction of the metric system by a few years...the biggest problem is that it was developed by the French.

 Good point! That's obviously why Britain refuses to adopt it as well!

[Rembrant]

Sac79 wrote

That's a good one. I find it quite funny how it's only the US and GB that use miles. The rest of the commonwealth(and rest of the world) including Canada(basically USA, sorry Cory) use metric, while the colony that got away first is the only one staying united with the motherland... I would have thought the US would have championed for the metric system from the get-go! I guess now the US can't change, since Britain actually uses the metric system for everything other than distance and speed... Oh and weight, what's the stone all about?

Ya, the Brits use the metric system for measuring everything except the distance on the roads...lol. That is an odd one.

Dorsai wrote

The actual biggest problem is that as an evolved system of measurement, imperial measures are more practical for day to day use.  That's why regardless of what Congress or anyone else says is official, we're going to keep using standard measures.  

Now, for science and engineering metric is of course inherently superior, which is why it has almost completely conquered those fields.

Having grown up with the Metric system I do find it super easy to work with since everything is in multiples of 10. I still have to take time to convert ounces and things like that. Distance and weight I am fine with converting.

I do very much prefer Celsius over Fahrenheit...water freezes at 0 and boils at 100 is just too simple for me;).

[85lebaront2]

One of the reasons I was given, working at a major defense contractor, was the difference in the way the English system fasteners and Metric system fasteners specify class of fit and arrive at it. In the English system the basic fit is a specific size, let's use 5/16-18 as an example. The basic fit has a certain amount of "slop" in it. If you want a tighter fit, then the male portion is increased in size to make it a "tighter" fit.

Metric, nearest equivilant being M8X1.25, the tightest fit is the standard and the male portion is reduced in size for a looser fit. This gave DOD nightmares as the male portion of a given set would be weaker the looser the fit, rather than stronger as the fit was tightened up.

While we are on this, I have the second year of Ford's Metric pickup. I also had a few late 70s - early 80s GM products. Every peripheral on the engines everything is metric, except the attachment to the engine. The engine itself is English (thankfully not Whitworth or British Standard). Detroit also chose some damn strange hex sizes. A European car would have M6, M8, M10, M12 and larger fasteners with head sizes of 10, 13, 17 and 19 mm, Japanese would have M6, M8, M10, M12 etc and hex sizes 10, 12, 14, 17 and 19 mm. US, M6 = 10mm head, M8 = 13mm head, M10 = 15mm head, M12 18mm head. For a number of years 15 and 18 mm wrenches and sockets were very hard to find as no one but US automakers used them.

[ArdWrknTrk]

I still have 18mm deep swivel impact sockets solely for the chassis of my pickup.

Anyone who's had a '60's-'80s Japanese bike KNOWS about JIS screwdrivers.
Or they know an awful lot of stripped carb racks and case cover screws.

[ArdWrknTrk]

So, no one had anything to say about Dragon's autonomous docking or that we have new crew aboard ISS?

[ArdWrknTrk]

I really wish the U.S. had "got with the program" when there was a big push for metrifacation back in the '70's.

45 years later I'm losing my edge at converting in my head (except for small dimensions like fasteners)

[Dorsai]

ArdWrknTrk wrote

So, no one had anything to say about Dragon's autonomous docking or that we have new crew aboard ISS?

Yay, team?

The autonomous docking was nice, and very smoothly done.  But it's been done before...the big deal was the launch, and having it done by a commercial provider.  Watching the sixty-somethingth crew rotation in the last 20 years is not nearly that interesting.