Here's that Musk signal Federov sent out:
Federov tweeted at 6:06 AM — my time, in the Central Zone. I had to open a separate page for Musk to find out the precise time when he responded that he had made Starlink active in Ukraine. You can see, below, that it was 4:33 PM. I've chosen to display it along with the first response Twitter shows after that, something by one Emily Schooley that went up a few minutes later:
I'm keeping her in this post because I mean to celebrate Musk, and I think his superhero status is heightened by his encounter with a comic-book-style antagonist:
But let me add one more thing and knock this story down to earth. From the WaPo article:
Even before Fedorov tweeted at Musk for help, SpaceX was working on a way to get Starlink to Ukraine. President and COO Gwynne Shotwell said... that the company had been working for several weeks to get regulatory approval to allow the satellites to communicate in Ukraine. "But then they tweeted," she said, according to SpaceNews. "There’s our permission."
It's not as though Fedorov cried out from his war zone, and Elon Musk suddenly paid attention and then delivered results the same day. The company had been working on this for weeks and the problem was getting regulatory approval. Somebody got the idea that a tweet from Federov could work as the needed approval, and, after that, Federov produced the red-tape-cutting tweet. That's how it looks to me.
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76 comments:
Insty made the comment several months back that Musk was becoming a military power in his own right. I think he was talking about Musk using his satellites as anti satellite weapons by flying them into other satellites, given the sheer number of these things Musk has up there and their maneuverability.
Emily schooley. Actor. Rebel. Karen.
All shortages occur with at least the approval of government (writ large), and usually by official policy.
Holy shit that duckfacing ditz's profile is so cliche it might be fake.
Small, unaccomplished people - Emily Schooley seems to be one - just can't let a good deed go unpunished.
Elon Musk companies don’t advertise.
Schooley’s tweet is misinformation.
Shares that she’s a mom at the end, like an afterthought.
Finance, commodity, and tech oligarchs slipped into controlling the world some time ago. Politicians lack the skills and resources to compete, so they must hitch their careers to one of them. This came to the fore with Trump's election in 2016, and interference spread widely across the oligarch class by the 2020 election. Bill Gates and George Soros had been mucking about behind the scenes for years, but they were joined by Mark Zuckerberg, et al. Musk and Trump seem to march to their own beats, so they are treated as dangerous rogues by the others.
We are in a global war for dominance among the oligarchs (e.g., US, EU, Oil nations, Chinese, Russian, Ukrainian), and a parallel war between some oligarchs and the masses. The oligarchs now have outsized powers for both creation and destruction, so I'd not be surprised if there are worse genocides than those of the 20th century sometime in the next several decades. Or in the next few years.
Black Lives Matter, Defund the Police, Ukraine, etc. are proxy battles to avoid direct action, as happened with third-world nation conflicts during the post-WW2 cold war.
Emily Schooley - consider the source. A self-described alchemist.
Do you think Schooley is a comic character like Titania McGrath?
I described her as "comic-book-style," but if she's a satire, I must applaud her!
I'll read more of what she's doing over there.
The name is kinda of too good to be unintentional. "Schooley" — have you ever seen that name before?
She has a Patreon account, so I think that requires an honest presentation. I don't know.
Here's her quite substantial IMDB page. She's a real actor/director/activist.
I don't get why Schooley is angry at Musk about this. Is it just rooted in jealousy of his wealth?
Viva Elona
"Emily has... appeared in hundreds of screen, stage, and web productions. Some of her other all-time favourite on-screen roles include: the Lady in Red in Park Enforcer, Michelle in the much-lauded webseries Clutch, Cherry Bomb in the transmedia series Spy Slutz, helping rescued animals as herself on Save our Shelter, and that time she played Dana Scully in an X-files spoof. Her favourite stage roles include Dahlia Joss in Zed.TO (which won the Performance Innovation Award at Toronto Fringe 2012), the "sensual and exciting" Lilith in Erotic Tales From the Old Testament, Frieda Ball in the world premiere of Maureen Jennings' Death in a Black Suit, and Mia in Heatwave (aka Labels). She has also trained and performed extensively in improv with Second City and the now-dissolved Impatient Theatre Company.... Outside of her creative work, Emily is an activist and animal enthusiast. She strongly supports gender equality and women escaping abusive situations, is an avid watchdog against police misconduct, and frequently speaks out for LGBTQ rights and equal representation in media. She also fosters rescue cats with Team Cat Rescue, an organization that focuses on saving animals from high-kill shelters."
They shall beat their crappy old cell towers into starlink antennas and their outdated rockets into satellites. Nation will not drop bombs on other nations except for dank meme bombs
’I think he was talking about Musk using his satellites as anti satellite weapons by flying them into other satellites, given the sheer number of these things Musk has up there and their maneuverability.’
Starlink satellites have ion thrusters for station keeping, but they’re hardly maneuverable with respect to an anti-satellite application, nor do they have the requisite delta-v.
Not enough Elon Musks and too many Emily Schooleys.
Is Musk being blackmailed by Ukraine like Biden? Maybe by helping prolong Biden's war of aggression against peace loving Mother Russia, Elon will get more space contracts and solar tax breaks from Slo Joe.
Asking for a friend.
Not enough Elon Musks and too many Emily Schooleys.
Cat Lady... They buried the ledge.
So when I clicked over Emily Schooley is not the first reply for me. It's Brianna Wu, but equally dumb: "CRITICAL THINKING CHALLENGE! Before you praise this, read this review about how Starlink doesn’t work.
Then ask yourself how you would get a satellite installation appointment and a modem in a war." She then links to a Verge article from May 2021 that says the reviewer couldn't get an ideal install because of all the buildings and tree coverage in his area, but Starlink still streamed 4k perfectly. He had some trouble with lagging when he scrolled TikTok. Gee, I think lagging TikTok might break the Ukrainian army... idiot.
We have family in a rural area and they had Hughesnet for many years. Service was very slow. Comparable to dial up. Recently signed up for Starlink. They're very happy.
Emily Schooley
@EmilySchooley
·
Mar 16
Every woman who has been harmed at the hands of a man should be allowed one free murder, as a little treat.
Cat mom, Lem. She's a cat mom.
Ann:
Watch some of the movies made by this Emily and let us know how they are. Shitty movies that she makes are why I can’t sell my “Frankenstein, Part II.” I’m a victim of this Canadian, lesbian cat woman.
Lem said...
Shares that she’s a mom at the end, like an afterthought.
Look closer ... there's a cat emoji before 'mom'.
*chef kiss* perfect
It's best to be completely ignorant of Ukraine's recent history to get the sickest burns and hottest takes.
As I said the other day when Russia was f****** with Elon Musk: Never underestimate global level genius.
He plays 8 steps ahead of you in every category.
What's an 'Emily Schooley'?
How’s this for a lesbian pick-up line? Women are straight like spaghetti until they get wet.
Lipstick lesbian tried it on my best friend, but she turned her down!
Teh Russian propaganda machine reminds me of the Democrat party propaganda machine.
Anyway, it looks like Biden is not going to start WWIII over his cute little proxy army of Nazis, and for this I salute him, so other than the huge and needless cost in lives, I suppose that once is war is over, we can all agree that Putin's Russia is not a risk to roll over Poland, Germany, France, and England, then skip across the Atlantic like a Jesus Lizard and take NYC, and take a deep breath.
Elon Musk compared Justin "Fidel's love child" Trudeau to Hitler. Musk should of compare "Fidel's Love Child" to Benito Mussolini. Love Child demonstrated his skill at suppressing any dissent to his tyrannical dictates.
As for Emily Schooley, we also have the tweets of you supporting Love Child in his tyrannical efforts to make Canada into Cuba North. Just sayin'.
It's amazing to me that you believe their lies on this, Cheese, after all of the other lies they have told you.
Why wasn't Trump allowed to present any evidence at his Ukraine centered impeachment that wasn't pre-approved by Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi? The impeachment was a cover up of the sewer that is Ukraine. It's not worth fighting for, these people aren't worth fighting for. If you think that anything I say is "Russian propaganda," I will be more than happy to provide US media sources for it. Coverage completely changed a month ago. Before that, our media was anti-Nazi.
"Women are straight like spaghetti until they get wet."
Same thing the other way around for lesbians.
re: Emily Schooley - can you distinguish what she does from the concept of performance art?
There is an uncanny valley that exists when someone does something that you sense is satirical and/or self-deprecatory and you then realize after a couple of beats that this person is straight up serious about the kind of megalomania they project. This is what put me off on Obama - his crack about reversing the ocean's rise was a terrific laugh line, and then I realized he was ser-i-ous. My soul said - this guy is dangerous...
I get the same sense from Emily, but at such a truncated level of possibilities that I think of the old Doonesbury character who wandered off into a lost life with a random drifter as a piece of performance art, trashing her past relationships along the way.
That's the difference between art and lived experience.
Ann Althouse said...
Do you think Schooley is a comic character like Titania McGrath?
I described her as "comic-book-style," but if she's a satire, I must applaud her!
Is Howard satire?
Howard said...
Is Musk being blackmailed by Ukraine like Biden? Maybe by helping prolong Biden's war of aggression against peace loving Mother Russia, Elon will get more space contracts and solar tax breaks from Slo Joe.
Asking for a friend.
Most of them are not satire. They are really that shitty.
They don't care at all about Ukraine or the people there or any of the dozen other countries around the world being bombed right now.
They only care about attacking their political opponents with lies they have made up.
What are the "Nazi tweets" she refers to?
Mezzrow--I remember early on when Obama made the remark "Have you seen the price of arugula lately" (or words to that effect) when he was talkibng about rising prices (obviously the fault of The Republicans). I thought it was brilliant self-deprecating humor, playing on his image as an effete liberal.
I was so wrong.
I always thought that the stories about Nazis in the US were agitprop, dutifully vomited up by Howard, mainly from having been accused of being one for supporting Trump, but it turns out that the Ukrainian Nazis had been recruiting in the US for some time, per the Washington Post, and there is even other evidence that they were involved in Charlottesville.
https://twitter.com/elenaevdokimov7/status/1505004914652893188
We could have all joined together in condemning this Nazi menace, but Democrats and their media allies found it more politically useful to use them to smear legitimate opposition. Now we are a polarized nation.
Libs of Tik-Tok has shown us it's impossible to satirize the left.
Speaking of, I was wondering when someone would complain about Ukrainians not social distancing in their bomb shelters. Well,...
If Biden wanted to end this war, he would stop giving Putin free money.
Biden is at 60% disapproval. 50% of the country strongly disapproves of Joe Biden and his regime. They all know at some level why Biden started this war and why he is keeping it going.
Putin and Biden are both running illegitimate regimes. This is the slow part where the little people voice their discontent nicely.
The fast part is coming for both of them.
I read through her credits. They also sound like some kind of parody of left wing thinking and causes, but apparently they're real things. Some of her features have been seen and reviewed by as many as six people. In Canada, productions are subsidized by govt. entities. One hand washes the other. She did appear as an extra in one of the Batman movies so that's one solid success in her resume.....@tim in vermont: I put people who shell maternity hospitals as closer to the Nazi ideal than people who accept bribes.
Ann, she’s a complete fake nobody. First of all, the quoted material from the bio she wrote and posted. It’s not editorial content of the site. If you check IMDbPro, she is non-union and has no representation. The credits are horseshit. One of the so-called tv shows is a 2 min episode. The town is full to capacity with folks like her on the periphery of the business pretending to actually have a career.
- Krumhorn
“The name is kinda of too good to be unintentional. "Schooley" — have you ever seen that name before?”
I know a few Schooleys, they all came from Canada to work in the US. Smart Canadians do that so they actually get paid a realistic salary.
For you No Fly Zone fans, the Russians just used a hypersonic missile today that could take out a US carrier in the Black Sea, for example, to blow up Ukrainian ammunition. If they can't hit the stealth fighters, they will be forced to hit the supporting air strips.
Only a "pussy" would point out that it could also be nuclear tipped and we would have no way of knowing. But let's keep pretending that this is a video game (Chechens vs Nazis!) and cheer on the escalation, and the dragging out, of this war as a way to "grind down Russia" at the minor cost of only tens of thousands of lives. A neutral Ukraine is far too high a price to pay for peace. And no, Russia is not a threat to roll across Europe, the way Hitler was.
"Schooley" — have you ever seen that name before?
Well, there's gangsta rapper Schoolly D who wrote the important and deeply moving classic, Mr. Big Dick.
Some lyrics:
Hey Schoolly, tell me about your dick, talk about your dick
Come on tell me about it. I want to hear about your dick
Um, lookin at my dick it's about that long
For me to really answer it I'm a need another song
Say some brothers who don't realize
That Mr. Big Dick is always on the rise
To look at mine you need four eyes
Why? Because of the size
Me and Mr. Big Dick go everywhere together
In the cold the hot any weather
On the ave I always will hold it
When it get big sometimes I will fold it
All you girls with the big booties
It is my duty to fuck you cutie
Don't be shy and don't be slick
Cause that's the big question
Mr. Big Dick... who do you think you are
Mr. Big Dick... who do you think you are
Mr. Big Dick... who do you think you are
Mr. Big Dick... who do you think you are
I used to be a Musk-hater, but the last couple of years have shown me the error of my ways. He’s a visionary in the Edison/Ford mold, and then some.
This [uncanny valley between satire and seriousness - and BTW GREAT way to put it] is what put me off on Obama - his crack about reversing the ocean's rise was a terrific laugh line, and then I realized he was ser-i-ous. My soul said - this guy is dangerous...
Hear hear! And yes, I think Howard is doing satire. Sometimes.
I'm a broken record on this, and of course I'm dating myself by using that metaphor, but I recommend yet another Heinlein book for commentary on what's going on here and now: Friday. Get past all his omnipresent "free love" stuff and what remains is a world in which multinational corporations rule, national governments are proxies for the corporations, there's no such thing as journalism any longer, legislatures are uniformly Soviet in their utter irrelevance, people's feelings are elevated to law (in the Republic of California, for instance, everyone is awarded a bachelor's degree upon turning 18 because people with bachelor's degrees make more money than people without them - but now that everyone has one, it's people with master's degrees who are making more money than others, so the Assembly is taking up the question of whether to award everyone a master's at age 21 to level the playing field - sound familiar?)...
The big difference between "then" and now is that in his "then," it's possible, with money and courage, to escape to a colony world.
I am curious, tim in vermont, about why you believe Putin is not a threat to anything but Ukraine. If you're trying to say "Putin isn't going to take France or Germany," I agree. But is that what you're saying? Or are you saying "Putin's territorial ambitions stop at the borders of the Warsaw Pact"? Or something in between?
I'm not trying to be snarky. I emphatically don't want escalation, I am scared of our getting involved directly in a no-fly zone, but I'm by no means sanguine about Putin's ultimate intentions and am having a hell of a time figuring out what the Chamberlain/Churchill line is here - plus I'm riddled with doubt that the present American diplomat corps is up to this terrible challenge.
Schooley E
tim, a USN CV task force in the Black Sea would be a big kamikaze whether the Russians have hypersonics or not. And it would become obvious pretty quickly if a missile was armed with a nuke-- at which time all bets are off.
I agree and have said all along that Putin's army and regime are not up to the standards set by earlier asshole dictators. But Putin has created a nice mess for himself and has made Uke neutrality less likely, IMO.
Achilles is flipping flopping around like a mackerel on a boat deck while Tim in Florida continues with Kremlin talking points.
32 trimesters since the Biden/Maidan/Slavic Spring. 32 trimesters in a "No Press Zone", when Ukrainians where disenfranchised, denied essential services, and attacked by Kiev-aligned military and paramilitary axis. Then came Wuhan, a global pandemic, Mengele mandates, planned parent/hood, and a compelling interest in outsourced, illicit operation of biohazardous labs.
they will be forced to hit the supporting air strips
"Forced to." If you think we're the only ones with moral agency, and everyone else is simply an NPC responding to our input, you don't get to criticize other people for thinking the war is a video game.
Honestly, Elon seems like a good guy.
Yes, he promotes his products as a good CEO would, but it never seems to me that he makes it about him, but rather about his companies.
And the Emily chick is obnoxious. 'She' should be cancelled for not revealing 'her' pronouns.
And I love that she puts her birth date in her bio but not the year. Vanity, thy name is Emily...
If Biden wanted to end this war, he would stop giving Putin free money.
Biden is at 60% disapproval. 50% of the country strongly disapproves of Joe Biden and his regime. They all know at some level why Biden started this war and why he is keeping it going.
Putin and Biden are both running illegitimate regimes. This is the slow part where the little people voice their discontent nicely.
The fast part is coming for both of them.
Maybe Biden is the Andy Kaufman of politicians, super committed to a role that he is playing, and that role - senile, corrupt, anti-American - turns out to be just what the world needed to bring Putin down! It all makes sense now...
" But is that what you're saying? "
I am saying that Putin hasn't even called for regime change in Ukraine. He has called for Nato to keep its word re promises made to to Gorbachov, that the plebiscite in Crimea be accepted, that those areas of Ukraine that have refused to accept the govt we imposed in Ukraine in 2014 be spun off as independent republics, ending the dangerous and murderous civil war there, and that the government in Ukraine declare itself neutral and that Ukraine foreswear membership in Nato. These were his terms in his December to avoid a "full scale intervention," and Bided refused to pick up the phone. The only conclusion I can draw is that Biden, knowing all of this, wanted this war. Unless you guys can point out which part of this was worth thousands of dead Ukrainians.
Obviously some of this is unacceptable, Poland is not going to leave Nato, but it is the basis of negotiations. If this is just Russian propaganda, I would like to know which part of it is untrue.
As for 'agency,' even Joe Biden admits that an NFZ is going to mean open, hot war with Russia.
but I'm by no means sanguine about Putin's ultimate intentions and am having a hell of a time figuring out what the Chamberlain/Churchill line is here
I'm most worried that Western weakness and internal disruption will lead to China attacking Taiwan.
Many problems with "free market" solutions are ... the not-free gov't regulations stopping business folk from selling services customers want to buy.
Housing and medical care come to mind, with the pre-paid (in taxes) & too-regulated education market also up there.
All good things have costs. It should always be a question of whether the good improvement is worth the cost.
Those who say "no cost" are lying - there's no free lunch.
Tho, when one gets the gov't or somebody else to pay, it might seem "free" to one eating (...at the pig trough).
So basically Tim claims Poland's NATO status is negotiable and Biden failed to accept the terms from a bully justify Putin invading a sovereign nation by targeting civilians.
No one is cheerleading this war except Tim and his Uncle Vlad.
"Biden failed to accept the terms from a bully "
"War war war is better than jaw jaw jaw" - Howard.
But I guess since Democrats have made talking to Putin politically radioactive in their propaganda offensive against Trump, the deaths of all of these Ukrainians was unfortunately inevitable. I notice that the only response to my post is name calling, when I was hoping for some feedback that maybe I have gotten the history of Ukraine since wrong.
Was it ending the civil war in Ukraine that we ignited with that violent 2014 coup that was too much for you, Howard? I blame Biden for not picking up the phone and talking to Putin, but Biden's masters probably wouldn't let him. Wasn't impeachment about the idea that the President has no say in Ukrainian policy?
"Get the hell out of my way!"
Keep digging Comrade Tym
"They only care about attacking their political opponents with lies they have made up."
The hate poisons everything. None of the arguments (even the reasonable ones) come off as anything more than shouting at clouds. The lies just highlight the pathetic nature of the what is really going on. It's hate for hate's sake.
Fiercely smart, driven, and charmingly quirky, Emily excels in bringing life to flawed, complex characters who embrace their inherent duality.
The emotionally vulnerable badass. The self-destructive hero. The serious and sarcastic bitch who keeps saying hilarious things. Think Gillian Anderson – with a touch of Lucy Lawless and late ’90s Angelina Jolie – meets Meryl Streep’s chameleonic approach to performance.
Some of Emily’s past favourite roles have included: the haunted theoretical physicist who conquers her fears. The sex worker getting naked to pay her grandma’s medical bills. The genuis tech support wizard with a heavy drinking problem. The unassuming final girl who’s actually the killer. The broken-hearted anti-hero who secretly saves others while exacting her revenge. The demure daughter tired of watching her mother’s decline. And so many other amazing women.
Often, Emily plays the sister, wife, or best friend that’s always there – whether it’s to give hugs and advice or help bury a dead body. Sometimes both.
So… who will she become next? Stay tuned!
Think "pretentious pseud."
I'd like to believe this is all a send-up of a certain kind of actress, but I suspect that she really thinks she is a "genuis."
On reflection, she and Elon have the self-promotion in common, but he certainly has more to promote.
I think the "Nazi tweet" compared Trudeau to Hitler. An earlier one had the raging Hitler from Downfall complaining that he lost his shirt selling Tesla short. Memes like that were quite popular a few years back, now they are verboten ... if you don't have woke cred.
tim in vermont said...
" But is that what you're saying? "
I am saying that Putin hasn't even called for regime change in Ukraine.
Bullshit. that's where he started. he's just given up on that
He has called for Nato to keep its word re promises made to to Gorbachov,
That "request" lost all legitimacy when Putin violated Russia's promises to Ukraine re territorial integrity
that the plebiscite in Crimea be accepted
Because we all know that elections carried out under Russia control are always fair and honest
And that Russia hasn't carried out any ethnic cleansing to drive out those people who don't want it to rule
And now we're back to "So NATO has to keep it's 'promise' to Gorbachev", but Russia gets to ignore all its promises
that those areas of Ukraine that have refused to accept the govt we imposed in Ukraine in 2014 be spun off as independent republics, ending the dangerous and murderous civil war there
Gee, all those people just spontaneously "rejected the gov't of Ukraine that wasn't in thrall to Putin"?
See, this kind of bullshit is why we say your'e being Putin's butt boy
The way to "end the murderous civil war" is to drive out all Russia troops, and to tell everyone living there they have three choices:
1: Move to Russia and enjoy Vlad's "government"
2: Accept that you're going to be part of a country that will never again be dominated from Moscow
3: Die
and that the government in Ukraine declare itself neutral and that Ukraine foreswear membership in Nato
1: That the people of Ukraine lose any right to control their foreign policy
2: That Ukraine lose any ability to get allies, so that the next time Russia attacks it can finish its conquest
These were his terms in his December to avoid a "full scale intervention," and Bided refused to pick up the phone. The only conclusion I can draw is that Biden, knowing all of this, wanted this war. Unless you guys can point out which part of this was worth thousands of dead Ukrainians.
Every single part of it was worth a war to stop. I pointed out above why.
As for 'agency,' even Joe Biden admits that an NFZ is going to mean open, hot war with Russia.
So what? So we don't do a NFZ. We just continue to provide Ukraine all the weapons it needs to kill Russians, and keep on killing Russians until they're all out of all of Ukraine, "Ukraine" being defined as the country as its borders were in 1994
Including air defense weapons so that they can shoot down any Russian planes that violate their airspace
Here's that Musk signal Federov sent out
So he's Batman now?
He'd like that.
Achilles said...
If Biden wanted to end this war, he would stop giving Putin free money.
Correct.
Biden is at 60% disapproval. 50% of the country strongly disapproves of Joe Biden and his regime. They all know at some level why Biden started this war and why he is keeping it going.
Bullshit
Putin started this war, and Putin is the one who keeps it going.
As Tom T pointed out above, you people need to stop assuming that only Americans have agency, and that everyone else is just an NPC
Putin and Biden are both running illegitimate regimes. This is the slow part where the little people voice their discontent nicely.
No, in America the slow part comes in November. So, are you working to see the Democrats crushed at every level?
Or is whining about how mean Biden's being to Putin the extent of your interaction?
The fast part is coming for both of them.
That would be nice
tim in vermont said...
Insty made the comment several months back that Musk was becoming a military power in his own right. I think he was talking about Musk using his satellites as anti satellite weapons by flying them into other satellites, given the sheer number of these things Musk has up there and their maneuverability.
Ever hear of Thor? The weapons system, not the Norse God.
Short version: Titanium rods packaged in low earth orbit with a motor to bring them down, and a guidance package / communications package so you can send them at the right target.
Depending on the size and composition of the rods, you can use them to go after buildings, tanks, surface ships, bunkers, ammo dumps, fuel dumps, and nuclear missile launch sites.
Anywhere in the world, no matter how far behind the lines of combat
If I were Musk's evil advisor (I'm not cut out to be the good advisor), I'd be encouraging him to put some of those up with every launch
Esp deep penetrators, the kind that could take out Putin's bunker in the Urals
"Ever here of Thor?" I have. Kinetic energy alone, enough to obliterate targets without explosives etc.?
Space is being weaponized, no doubt. As for satellite-killing satellites, it'll be a bad day for everyone if a single satellite becomes thousands of little pieces of satellite debris.
I'm not a technological determinist by a long shot, but we're seeing how technology explodes or makes irrelevant previous categories and modes of thought--especially military technology.
I wondered about 'technicals' a while back--the ubiquitous light trucks modified to carry some firepower quickly from low-intensity infantry fight to low-intensity fight. Forget the tanks and howitzers, cause the Russians death by a thousand logistic pinpricks. (Could be good for rounding up cold hungry Russians too, but I'm an optimist.)
And it's not as if the lore and science of IEDs has been lost to the ken of mortal man.
Not that the Ukes need my advice--they're doing with Starlink and other tech on a much higher level exactly what smart and motivated people can do if allowed.
I wonder if Elon Musk is the current day John Hancock.
The first shipment was in Poland 48hrs after the tweet. I we had a real president they would have been there overnight.
I'll bet she wowed them as "Snide Woman" in Sidney (2018).
Johnny Burma
Brianna Wu (video game designer & tech outrage peddler) is maybe more notable and jumped in with a list she's apparently been compiling of everything Musk has failed to deliver as he's innovated in spaceflight, EVs, internet access, and more.
https://twitter.com/BriannaWu/status/1498407177316405255
What is fascinating is how these folks utterly lack self-awareness of the role reaching & failure might play in going from broke (as Musk basically was in 2008) to having ownership of productive companies whose value add makes you the most rich person on Earth, on paper. Or perhaps more likely are just utterly dishonest about it when convenient to virtue signal or tear down those with success they'll never even attempt the sort of contributions to society to achieve.
While others argue about other things, I want to point out the WaPo article makes Mush look even better than a quick-response superhero. If he or his company saw the need and was working towards filling it, that's a BIG deal. That kind of thinking is what leads to real success.
What's that saying about logistics and tactics, professionals and amateurs?
Ever hear of Thor? The weapons system, not the Norse God.
Short version: Titanium rods packaged in low earth orbit with a motor to bring them down, and a guidance package / communications package so you can send them at the right target.
Depending on the size and composition of the rods, you can use them to go after buildings, tanks, surface ships, bunkers, ammo dumps, fuel dumps, and nuclear missile launch sites.
Anywhere in the world, no matter how far behind the lines of combat
If I were Musk's evil advisor (I'm not cut out to be the good advisor), I'd be encouraging him to put some of those up with every launch
The so-called “Rods from God” that you're writing about are almost exclusively hype. Maybe they have a military “future” in the longer run (when launch capacities into near-earth orbit will be greater and costs lower, while the asteroid belt might serve as an effective construction site for such “rods” together with launch point for targeting earth), but not now. Let's consider how and why that is.
For one thing, the size of tunsten (not titanium) “rods” which are usually envisioned and written about in typical laudatory articles concerning this topic (of these tungsten rods being dropped from orbit onto targets on earth) are conventionally imagined to be
For instance, a single “rod from God” — typically described in media accounts as a cylinder made of dense tungsten metal (the element symbolized as ‘W’ possesses a standard density of 19.25 g/cm^3) — formed into dimensions of 6.1 meters (20 ft) long x 15 cm (0.15 m, or 1 ft) in diameter — such a cylindrical tunsten rod masses 8.3 metric tons. It's considerable mass, of course, is the reason why such “Rods” strike as hard as they do (such as it is) when one impacts an earthly target at its Mach 10 terminal velocity.
But could Musk conceivably (say) “put some of those [Rods] up with every launch” of SpaceX's Falcon 9?
Elon Musk tweeted only a few days ago that the March 19 Starlink launch was the heaviest payload SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket had ever put into orbit — at 16.25 metric tons. Well, even such a record-breaking payload for Falcon 9's as that wouldn't be able to hoist even two such “Rods” into low earth orbit (almost, but not quite). And if it tried, so much for SpaceX's regular satellite business that it would like to carry up on these launches!
(Even SpaceX's huge Falcon Heavy rocket — one of the largest rockets presently in existence — could only carry a handful of such Rods into orbit. Note that there have been only 3 Falcon Heavy launches thus far total.)
Beyond that, once in orbit, if you do drop such a Rod on some tempting target, contrary to media myth the results are far from “nuclear” in explosive yield. 8.3 tons arriving at a target on earth at a the rods' Mach 10 terminal velocity yields a bang which is only in the “MOAB” (Mother Of All Bombs) large conventional-explosive bombs range.
So, no.
I find it interesting that the young Twitter harpy complaining about Musk responding to a direct request for services from a company he controls is complaining about the capitalist nature of the boost in recognition he and his company will receive from his generosity, but doesn't seem to have scrubbed her name from her criticism nor the link to her Patreon account from her profile to participate in the selflessness she apparently demands from others. I always find it amusing when people who are angry at their financial status because they suck at capitalizing on their faux socialist persona get angry that successful capitalists have the means to accomplish what they think socialism does but really isn't capable of doing until it steals the wealth to do so from capitalists.
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