Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

In my day, never was longer.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

No one could have predicted…

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

This fight is for everything.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Sci/Tech Open Thread: “Make Another Suit”

Sci/Tech Open Thread: “Make Another Suit”

by | 102 Comments

This post is in: , , , ,

At the same time, in another sterling example of the GOP ‘Billions for bullshit, but not one cent for science’ offensive…


 
Serious explanation, from someone who’s not a moron:


(In one of my favorite anime, TWIN SPICA, the aspiring lead is told she’ll never be an astronaut because she’s too small for the standard spacesuits. Eventually, she gets a suit that fits! )

Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    debbie

    With NASA’s reputation for very, very meticulous planning, how could this not have been remedied ahead of time?

  3. 3.

    Aleta

    Two related things seen today:

    NASA History Office @NASAhistory
    Sally Ride: “The engineers at NASA, in their infinite wisdom, decided that women astronauts would want makeup – so they designed a makeup kit… You can just imagine the discussions amongst the predominantly male engineers about what should go in a makeup kit.

    (NYT) By Marisa Porges
    …
    We will not be celebrating an all-female spacewalk this week, after all.

    The news brought back a vivid memory from when I served aboard an aircraft carrier about a decade ago, flying jets for the Navy. It was the time when a maintenance chief casually asked me to sign a seemingly innocuous paper, which, upon closer inspection, was in fact a form saying that I understood that the ejection seat on my jet was not designed for someone of my height and weight. I wasn’t close to the size of an average man, so there was an increased risk of major injury if I used the safety equipment for its stated emergency purpose. By signing, I agreed to waive the Navy’s liability were something to happen to me if it malfunctioned.

    After two years of flying jets for the military, it was as if someone suddenly noticed that my 5-foot-2-inch female frame wasn’t what the men who built the plane, designed the safety gear and tested the emergency procedures had in mind.

    Ironically, the biggest systemic barriers to my pursuing a naval career — including the Navy’s policy regarding women flying in combat — had been lifted years before. But the physical legacies of an era when men made decisions with other men in mind persisted.

    It’s an important reminder that while we often focus on major systemic issues facing working women — problems like gender-based wage gaps, family leave policies, career pipelines for women in underrepresented fields — the “little things” really do matter.
    …
    In my current role, leading an all-girls school, I know that these seemingly small things make a big difference in how our next generation imagines their futures. My students are well aware of the institutional barriers they are likely to face, particularly if they follow a passion for computer science or engineering, want to become an entrepreneur or pursue any of the various professions in which women are still greatly underrepresented.

    They know that they will be held to a different standard, their style of leadership may be questioned, and gender norms will make it that much harder to juggle family and work. They understand what obstacles to expect and are ready for what’s to come.

    But we less frequently and effectively prepare them for the little stuff.

    These [‘little’ things] are unfortunate realities that shouldn’t be ignored. Not simply because if we don’t shine a spotlight on the issues, things will never change, but also because our girls need to understand and be prepared for the world that awaits them.

    This week’s news from NASA reminds us why it’s so critical to talk honestly about the lasting legacies of a gender-biased era — the “little” things that will affect the daily lives and careers of women for decades to come. When we don’t, it turns out that even the world’s best rocket scientists can forget that spacesuits were originally designed and built for men. Our girls — tomorrow’s astronauts — deserve better than that.

  4. 4.

    David Evans

    Excellent explanation from Mary Robinette Kowal, who is one of my favorite SF writers.

    It makes no sense for Pence to make merely going to the Moon an urgent priority. We already did that. The next step ought to be a significant advance, and not hurried.

  5. 5.

    VeniceRiley

    Will I watch Hidden Figures a 13th time and hate every white man in America? yeah, I will.

  6. 6.

    Mike in NC

    Pence says the U.S. will return astronauts to the moon in the next five years.

    Apparently there’s no limit to the ways that Pence will debase himself to kiss Trump’s fat ass. It will never happen, of course.

  10. 10.

    Shantanu Saha

    If Pence wants us to go back to the moon by any means necessary, we should send him and Trump. One way. With those 40 year old suits. It’ll fit into the NASA budget after they cut it for the Wall.

  13. 13.

    RSA

    “On the International Space Station, there are just four spacesuits available out of a total of just 11 spacesuits that NASA has in total for the ISS,” said spacesuit expert Pablo de Leon, a professor of space studies at the University of North Dakota. “This is due to the fact that the spacesuits that are now used are the same ones that were used during the space shuttle program.” … The suits are much more than airtight coveralls with helmets and gloves. They’ve been described as miniature spaceships, capable of enabling astronauts to move around comfortably while protecting them from temperature extremes and the airless vacuum of space. They weigh more than 150 kilograms apiece (about 331 pounds), de Leon said, and their cost is as astronomical as the environment in which they’re worn. “If you could put a price tag on each suit, it is $22 million,” he said.

    I don’t know enough to judge the tradeoffs, but I really would like to see women in high-profile situations like this could have been.

  14. 14.

    Brachiator

    Nasa cancels all-female spacewalk, citing lack of suit in woman’s size

    This is some stupid bullshit. Fix it already.

    Sally Ride: “The engineers at NASA, in their infinite wisdom, decided that women astronauts would want makeup – so they designed a makeup kit..

    Seriously? OK, I can imagine that in the future some space vacationing women (or men) may want to apply makeup. I can also imagine the special zero-g instructions required! Worse than a zero-g space toilet. Push the wrong button and your ass goes for a spin.

  15. 15.

    daveNYC

    @debbie: In this instance, no. There was a space walk last week that involved one of the female astronauts that was scheduled for this weeks walk. During that walk, she determined that the large suit didn’t work for her and she would need to use the medium (she had trained on Earth with both the large and medium suit top, but the swimming pool isn’t zero-g and bodieschange in orbit) which threw a wrench into things since the original plan was to go with a large and medium suit for the all female walk. Given the choice between mucking up the schedule by trying to get the backup medium suit ready in a week vs. swapping astronauts I think NASA made the right call.

  16. 16.

    Brachiator

    In other space news.

    India joined an exclusive club with its latest anti-satellite missile test

    India shot down a satellite with an anti-satellite missile and joins a group of world powers with such capability.

    Trump imagines that the mighty USA will be the only nation with a space force. If we don’t slow this shit down, there will be all manner of idiotic militarization of space.

  17. 17.

    The Pale Scot

    It’s disappointing that nobody has put up video of Bobbie W. Draper on the TV show The Expanse putting on her powered armored spacesuit. At least there’s vid of her kicking ass. “I am not a fragile flower”

    She not on the wee side though.

  18. 18.

    hells littlest angel

    @Aleta: “The engineers at NASA, in their infinite wisdom, decided that women astronauts would want makeup …”

    That’s just pathetic, like something out of a Robert Heinlein story.

  20. 20.

    debbie

    @Jay:

    I know the resolution isn’t great, but there don’t appear to be any numbers or other markings on the helicopter. I hope they can find them.

  21. 21.

    Ruff the dog

    Compounded by perpetual budget cuts. Less money (or fewer people) hamper an agency’s ability to fully work through these issues. When they have to cut, they cut what they don’t see or don’t see as important or see as less important.

  22. 22.

    debbie

    @daveNYC:

    Given the current circumstance, sure, but NASA’s love of redundancy would practically mandate multiple medium suits.

  23. 23.

    trollhattan

    Huh, had not heard about this.

    In a major policy shift for the world’s biggest social media network, Facebook banned white nationalism and white separatism on its platform Tuesday. Facebook will also begin directing users who try to post content associated with those ideologies to a nonprofit that helps people leave hate groups, Motherboard has learned.

    The new policy, which will be officially implemented next week, highlights the malleable nature of Facebook’s policies, which govern the speech of more than 2 billion users worldwide. And Facebook still has to effectively enforce the policies if it is really going to diminish hate speech on its platform. The policy will apply to both Facebook and Instagram.

  26. 26.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Jay: That third picture looks familiar…oh yeah, there was a pic in Balloon Juice’s OTR TODAY that had a photo of the same area from the opposite direction(taken by your humble correspondent).

  27. 27.

    lamh36

    Mahn…if I didn’t hate going to concerts and stuff by myself…I’d have seen so many artists! Who here likes going to concerts by themselves?

    I think I’m too anti-social for that.

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    Dr Hill is still available for interviews and the like and willing to talk about her experience.

    So whether or not he “needs” to address it…if/when he does Joe Biden needs to tread as lightly as he can…IJS

    @writersrepublic
    Anita Hill: Joe Biden ‘Hasn’t Apologized to Me’ for Handling of Thomas Hearings
    https://twitter.com/writersrepublic/status/1110683103364702209

    (yes i know this is from Nov of last year, still)

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    @lamh36:
    Only once in awhile; I much prefer to share the experience (which can blow up when your concertmate HATES the show).

  32. 32.

    Pogonip

    @VeniceRiley: Please tell me what my defenseless, handicapped son has done to you to make you hate him. Likewise what Ohio Mom’s son has done to you.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: Forget for the moment what Joe did all those years ago, I’m mad as hell about his more recent comment — something about him being sorry that she was disappointed with the process, or something like that.

    I have googled for the exact words, with no success.

  35. 35.

    Aleta

    (NYT) After years of effort, scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service had a moment of celebration as they wrapped up a comprehensive analysis of the threat that three widely used pesticides present to hundreds of endangered species, like the kit fox and the seaside sparrow.
    …
    Their analysis found that two of the pesticides, malathion and chlorpyrifos, were so toxic that they “jeopardize the continued existence” of more than 1,200 endangered birds, fish and other animals and plants, a conclusion that could lead to tighter restrictions on use of the chemicals.

    But just before the team planned to make its findings public in November 2017, something unexpected happened: Top political appointees of the Interior Department, which oversees the Fish and Wildlife Service, blocked the release and set in motion a new process intended to apply a much narrower standard to determine the risks from the pesticides.

    Leading that intervention was David Bernhardt, then the deputy secretary of the interior and a former lobbyist and oil-industry lawyer. In October 2017, he abruptly summoned staff members to the first of a rapid series of meetings in which the Fish and Wildlife Service was directed to take the new approach, one that pesticide makers and users had lobbied intensively to promote.

    Mr. Bernhardt is now President Trump’s nominee to become interior secretary. The Senate is scheduled to hold a hearing on his confirmation Thursday.

    This sequence of events is detailed in more than 84,000 pages of Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency documents obtained via Freedom of Information requests by The New York Times and, separately, by the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that sued the federal government to force it to complete the pesticide studies.

    The documents provide a case study of how the Trump administration has been using its power to second-guess or push aside conclusions reached by career professionals, particularly in the area of public health and the environment.

    The decision to block the release of the report represented a victory for the pesticide industry, which has industry allies and former executives sprinkled through the administration. Among those with the most at stake were Dow AgroSciences, a manufacturer of chlorpyrifos, which is used on dozens of fruits and vegetables, and FMC Corporation, a manufacturer of malathion, which is used against mosquitoes as well as chewing and sucking insects that attack a range of crops including tomatoes, strawberries and walnuts.

    Dow, which was recently renamed Corteva, donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration committee. E.P.A. and Interior Department records show that top pesticide industry executives had regular access to senior agency officials, pressing them to reconsider the way the federal government evaluates the threat pesticides cause to endangered species.

  36. 36.

    daveNYC

    @debbie: Yes. There are two medium suits on the station. One is relatively good to go and just needs minor prep work. The other is the backup and requires mucho prep work. So basically they found out last week that they would need to schedule heaps of time to prep the second medium suit. Time that had already been scheduled for other important experiments and maintenance and whatnot. So they did the smart thing and swapped astronauts. Now that they know the suit requirements they’ll be able to take that into account and will be able to schedule enough time to prep both mediums the next time they want to send those two astronauts outside.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @lamh36: I’ve seen that, but that’s not the awful thing I was referring to. It was far worse than that. I love Joe, but “poor helpless Joe, the victim”, pisses me off. Joe who is blaming Anita Hill for not being satisfied with the hearings? Fuck him.

  39. 39.

    SFAW

    @hells littlest angel:

    The goal is probably to put a giant gold Trump logo up there.

    Can I suggest a substitute goal?

    “Donnie — you know that Obama took a spacewalk, right? But HE used a tether, the wimp.”

    Hilarity would ensue, especially after India spots a rather large mass on their radar, decide it’s a military satellite, and launches one of their new toys in his direction.

  40. 40.

    Pogonip

    @VeniceRiley: No, you made your point loud and clear. You said “every white man in America.” That includes my son and Ohio Mom’s. What did they do to you?

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    @debbie:

    Given the current circumstance, sure, but NASA’s love of redundancy would practically mandate multiple medium suits.

    I assume part of the problem is that there’s very limited space on ISS, so they can’t keep around multiple backups of everything.

  42. 42.

    lamh36

    Fuq this shit…

    time to SUBPEONA his azz

    mkraju
    Follow Follow @mkraju
    More
    Nadler said Barr noted it “was a very substantial report.” Nadler added: “So substantial that I don’t see how you can summarize it in four pages.”

    “Obviously they’re not going to meet the April 2nd deadline the committee set. I’m very upset and concerned by that,” Nadler told me

    5:50 PM – 27 Mar 2019

    https://twitter.com/mkraju/status/1111037919609929728

  43. 43.

    Jay

    @debbie:

    They probably “washed” the registration numbers off the photo, for release. The pilot and his passenger may not be the owners of the helicopter. It could be a rental, a Club aircraft, borrowed or stolen.

  45. 45.

    Mike in NC

    OK, if NASA is going to design a new spacesuit, it should include an extra long red polyester necktie, and some Scotch tape to hold it together.

  46. 46.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Aleta: I believe when the 1st female senator was elected–as result of female anger over Anita Hill hearing–there were no restrooms for female senators.

  47. 47.

    VeniceRiley

    @Pogonip: I will not entertain any more of this sort of personal attack targeted directly at me. GFYS if you cannot figure out the cohort I have some haterade for if you cannot figure it out from watching Hidden Figures.

  49. 49.

    Fair Economist

    Another example of how the media works against women – HuffPo has an article about Kamala’s antitruancy programs decrying their “human costs” – but that actual article reveals there were a grand total of six arrests under her ins San Francisco, while truancy dropped 32%.

    They give *one* example of a probably unjust arrest – but it was made by the notoriously corrupt Orange County office, which wasn’t under Harris’ control.

    Also, just to make a point – here we have another example of opinion manipulation – selective reporting of irrelevant facts. The journalist found *one* case of misapplication in a state of almost 40 million, performed by cops not answering to Harris, and then slap on a title implying a massive human cost due to *her* policies.

  50. 50.

    Jay

    @trollhattan:

    As many have noted, it’s a start, but it doesn’t go far enough.

    Some Nazi sites are down, Steve King’s is still up.

    Wonkette covers it off.

    I’ll check in later on Yellow Vests Canada Exposed and Anti-Racist Canada later to see what the impact is so far.

  52. 52.

    Pogonip

    @VeniceRiley: A simple question is a personal attack?

    It seems to me the personal attack was against my son and Ohio Mom’s. And I will defend her son as if he were mine.

  54. 54.

    VeniceRiley

    @Pogonip: I never mentioned either one of you or your spawn(s). GFYS I also think it rather awful to drag someone else into your beef by name.

  55. 55.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @daveNYC: Isn’t Trump head of NASA a former OK Rep with ZERO science work experience? Suggested (like Pruitt) by OK Sen Inhofe?

  56. 56.

    Another Scott

    @debbie: NASA is chronically underfunded. I wouldn’t be surprised if the suits were the first things to be cut when they were trying to get enough funding to keep the space station up there.

    Thanks for Kowal’s tweets, AL. It’s always good to hear from real experts in situations like these.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  57. 57.

    Mike in NC

    Anybody else remember those photos of Mike Dence at NASA touching some piece of equipment prominently labeled “Do Not Touch”?

  58. 58.

    Pogonip

    @hells littlest angel: I certainly hope so. An off day I can forgive. A direct attack on my child, no. But everyone is entitled to the benefit of the doubt, so we’ll move on.

    A friendly hint to Venice Riley: out here in the real world, outside the Balloon Juice echo chamber—words mean things.

    Cole, may I suggest you take a look at your site and compare it to any random entry from, say, 5 years ago. Have you noticed some of your most thoughtful commenters, such as Elmo and Too Many Jens, have vanished?

    Will check back in a couple of years.

  59. 59.

    lamh36

    @Fair Economist: Trump sells for the MSM…even the “liberal” ones. I sincerely believe that for their bottom line…they need Chump, so they write more articles against his opponents, and does an occasional “hard hitting” story on Chump to try to claim non-partisanship

  60. 60.

    moops

    We talked about the Pence thing over at Ars Technica. As typical, the crowd there is fervently pro manned spaceflight so anyone commenting on the potential cynical interpretation of Pence’s announcement were downvoted heavily.

  63. 63.

    eemom

    @Pogonip:

    A direct attack on my child

    You are seriously fucked in the head if you took that comment as an attack on your child.

    I have a son too, if that helps.

  65. 65.

    Jay

    @lamh36:

    NoMoreMisterNice Blog has an article up.

    It’s speculation but the Meuller Report is probably between 700 and 1000 pages.

  66. 66.

    Kathleen

    @lamh36: I’ve gone to movies, plays and a concert by myself (Earth, Wind & Fire). I’ve become the proverbial stick in the mud and prefer to stay home because I hate crowds and traffic. But if I really want to go and no one else is available I’ll go as long as the event is close by.

  70. 70.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Ladyraxterinok: @Gin & Tonic: When I was in my midteens (back before the Psycholithic bka Stoned Age) we took some visiting family from Baltimore down to DC & went around the Capitol on a fairly deserted day. As we were preparing to leave, my mother had an urgent need to use the facilities. We scouted around but could find none suited to her. Finally an older cousin & I went through one of the (rather extensive) men’s rooms, established it was vacant, sent Mom in & guarded the door till she came out. What we’d have done if some official had showed up & demanded to use the facilities, I don’t know…

    (Thanks for jogging my memory on that – another piece of fambly history I need to record for future generations.)

  71. 71.

    sukabi

    @Jay: Judge Napolitano(?) on fox says it’s at least 700 pages, says he’s got a source…says pretty damning stuff.

  73. 73.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36:

    Who here likes going to concerts by themselves?

    Me. I figure that life is too short to miss out on great stuff.

  74. 74.

    eemom

    the Mueller Report is probably between 700 and 1000 pages.

    And to think attorney general barr was able to distill it down to a few sound bites in less than 48 hours. Dude must be a fuckin speed-reading genius.

  75. 75.

    Tenar Arha

    @Brachiator:

    This is some stupid bullshit. Fix it already.

    It’s funny, I was recently reminded that only 50 years ago the space program was almost totally white & male. For real, you too can literally see this in the movies right now.

    Shameless plug: I went to see that fantastic Apollo 11 documentary. They made some truly wonderful choices on how to narrate and score it. It was gorgeous, the footage they found made it feel like it was like new. But holy cow you could tell it 100% wasn’t new footage. All you had to do was look at the NASA personnel, and they looked like they all came out of a factory. Male, glasses, pocket protectors, haircuts, & clothes, & all white Americans. It was quite literally a relief to see the one white woman’s or one black woman’s or one black man’s or one asian man’s faces. And it was only 50 years ago. For NASA post-Apollo that’s not long in an agency that hasn’t had shovels of money thrown at them in decades.

    So yes, it’s ridiculous that an agency like NASA that lost two spacecraft to cascading but avoidable failures in ~25 years would also have some major blind spots about women astronauts’ equipment. But you have to understand, much as it’s frustrating and ridiculous that NASA has ignored half the human race this way, that blindness to women really is baked into their worldview from their foundations. I’m guessing until we have women seeded at all levels of that agency for a couple decades, we’ll probably be reading these stories.

    OTOH the thing that really frosts my cookies is that this blindness in the design and engineering of everyday things actually gets women killed or maimed, costs money & wastes time & causes frustration almost every day.

    OTTOMH did you see this gem in the Guardian just recently? Like fricking heck: The deadly truth about a world built for men – from stab vests to car crashes

  76. 76.

    J R in WV

    @VeniceRiley:

    Venice, if I can use your first name, I saw “Hidden Figures” and thought it was a wonderful movie. I feel a personal connection to those “computers” who did the hard work at NASA as I too am from WV, and have felt people disregard my skills, abilities and intelligence on that account. And that’s nothing compared to the absurd way those women were treated in the beginning of the movie.

    Did you note that the white manager was tearing down the racist Jim Crow signs personally at the end of the movie? Maybe you should ease off just a bit. Most everyone here is against racism, fascism, and hate.

    I’ve been there, and have verbally assaulted people here who pissed me off, sometimes with justice on my side, and sometimes because I was frustrated, angry, and hurt by current events, 40 years after we thought the Jim Crow bullshit was over. But it isn’t, and I understand.

    But you aren’t in the back yard yelling at the trees, you’re in the front room with company.

  77. 77.

    mad citizen

    I’ve been trying to tamp down the non-release of the Mueller report from my consciousness, but this afternoon couldn’t help but think that the Dems simply need to go nuclear on this–stop EVERYTHING until the full report, unredacted, is posted on the WWW. At this point, what in the world could be in there that would be sensitive to our national security? A rogue nation phucked with our elections in 2016, let’s all read the details.

    Regarding the Trump-Pence activities since, of course it’s a continuing shit show. Space? We’re now talking about space? The most non-science idiots in our nation, the ones who can’t accept global warming is happening NOW?

  80. 80.

    Redshift

    @moops:

    We talked about the Pence thing over at Ars Technica. As typical, the crowd there is fervently pro manned spaceflight so anyone commenting on the potential cynical interpretation of Pence’s announcement were downvoted heavily.

    Fervently pro manned spaceflight, but unable to read the administration’s budget proposal, eh?

    Pence making a speech about how we’re going back to the Moon five years before NASA plans to plus a budget that doesn’t include money to do it means about as much as Pence’s steely gaze across the DMZ at North Korea (without even getting into the gratuitous swipe at NASA for not being able to do it in no time with no money.)

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    It’s from November 2017, at Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year event:

    [Glamour Editor-in-Chief Cindi] Leive then interjected to note that Hill “has said herself that she expected a fair process and did not feel that she had one.” She asked if Biden had a message he would give Hill now, given his more recent work on these issues.

    “I am so sorry if she believed that. I am so sorry that she had to go through what she went through. Think of the courage it took for her to come forward,” Biden replied.

    “I feel really badly that she didn’t feel like the process worked, but I tell you what, I said something at the time that proved to be right. I said this is going to be the start of a fundamental change of what constitutes harassment in the workplace and people are going to begin to change.”

  83. 83.

    Gvg

    @VeniceRiley: you were very offensive to me, just because I have many beloved white male relatives, such as my father, who taught me to try not to be racist. Generalizations such as that, are always wrong and offensive. You are, in fact, attacking all white males, by your own words.

  84. 84.

    Catherine D.

    I’m really disappointed in the NASA suit crap. They have (had or lost to budget cuts?) the same body scanner I use in my work. We learned from them how to deal with shiny or black surfaces, which is to spray with dry shampoo. (Any olds remember PSSST?)

    Long story short, there is no such thing as a size, particularly with women’s bodies, and NASA has known that forever. I hope that it’s just umpteen years of budget lunacy that caused the problem.

  85. 85.

    J R in WV

    OK, now we hear that the Mueller Report may approach a thousand pages of very technical legal and criminal data, testimony, wiretaps, recordings, emails, letters, interviews and legal conclusions. I read really fast, and have done so with technical data, environmental regulations and law, EPA standards and requirements, not to mention software documentation etc.

    A thousand fricking pages is way more than I can swallow in a weekend, even if I worked 9 whole hours on Saturday (cry me a river!)! So the idea that AG Barr actually read the Mueller Report is absurd! He did not,, he couldn’t have!!

    Perhaps there was a shorter “executive” summary he read, and extracted — what was it, 95 words, something like that, in short phrases — to make his point, that his hiring boss wasn’t guilty of any crime. Bullshit.

    No one has read the whole Report who isn’t compelled to silence by law or is totally beholden to Trump. So we should all chill out until we compel the RWNJs in charge to transmit the whole report to the relevant committees in both houses of the Congress. Especially the news media and their “pundits” which I have a whole new definition of, involving suction.

  87. 87.

    A Ghost To Most

    Does anyone have experience with buying Stub Hub tickets? I bought tix for Jason Isbell (allegedly with David Crosby) at Red Rocks.

    It says I’ve bought the tix, says they will be xfered by the day before the concert, but not yet. Is this normal?

  88. 88.

    VeniceRiley

    @J R in WV: YOU just called me a homophobe less than 72 hours ago.
    Next I’m going to rewatch John Leguizamo’s Netflix special, followed by The Handmaids Tale.

  89. 89.

    A Ghost To Most

    @J R in WV: Anyone who thinks Barr’s “report” bears even a passing resemblance to reality is already in the bag.

    One last ratfuck of democracy for the road, Bill? I hope you were well payed. Boy, was I wrong to think he might have an ounce of love for our country.

  90. 90.

    Dan B

    @RSA: My uncke designed the spcesuits for the Mercury mission. They were the first that weren’t articulated tin cans. Our Thanksgiving dinners were interesting with two engineer uncles and one chemist father showed all sorts of cutting edge products like mylar and aluminized mylar, and an early kevlar. The electronics were also wild and the discussions about, “Can’t tell you about that……”

  92. 92.

    Dan B

    @Brachiator: Space Force! And when the satellites are blown to bits.. tiny bits travelling at thousands of miles an hour in a cloud that makes it dangerous to travel through it. What then? Space vacuum cleaner catching 20,000 mph debris? Space Swiffers?

    The sad jokes write themselves.

  93. 93.

    eemom

    @VeniceRiley:

    You can’t argue with people who have nothing better to do than take offense at a lighthearted comment that only an obsessive paranoiac would take personally.

    You might even envy the fact that strangers bashing white men on the internet is the worst thing they have to worry about.

  94. 94.

    VeniceRiley

    @eemom: BINGO! Exactly. It’s like reading a #notallmen knee jerk hashtag that was the response to #metto. I mean, honestly. Though I find the condescending lectures absolutely hilarious.

  96. 96.

    Dan B

    @Fair Economist: It’s not just against women. Media looks for stories. Facts are not stories, neither is data. Once the storyline is set these may be added but the number of times “the media” gets all of these wrong is massive.

    It would be great to know if women, or some other cohort, get misreported more frequently. Time to peruse Media Matters website.

  97. 97.

    Inspectrix

    The male NASA employees’ estimate of how many tampons Sally Ride might need for 7 days in space made me laugh. Estimated 100, then they thought to ask her if this was correct.

    href=”https://twitter.com/pronounced_ing/status/1110890097086513152?s=20″>

  98. 98.

    CarolPW

    @A Ghost To Most: This, in my recent experience (tickets for my sister at the Ryman tonight for the Ken Burns thing which also includes Isbell) is normal. I suspect it is to prevent scalping of the tickets

  99. 99.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Dear god, that bit about the deferred maintenance on the suites, is the lack of woman size suits, or do they think the suits they have are to dangerous?

  100. 100.

    JoeyJoeJoe

    @sgrAstar: I know that this thread is dead but the first woman elected to the senate was actually Hattie Caraway from Arkansas in 1932. And the first woman appointed was Rebecca Felton from Georgia in 1921

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