Things Smackie Thinks You Need to Know...

vansmack wrote:
Damn, I love rocket launches:

http://www.spacex.com/webcast

you and my 4-year old son.  i get woken up many a morning by 38 pounds of energy jumping on my chest, handing me my phone and loudly exclaiming "CAN WE WATCH A ROCKET LAUNCH?  CAN WE CAN WE CAN WE HUH?  ROCKET LAUNCH?  WHY AREN'T YOU AWAKE YET, DAD, ROCKET LAUNCH?!?!?"

but yeah, the fact that today's launch went off flawlessly is mind-blowing.  this was an amazing feat of engineering.

I need to get on a rocket outta here…

sweetcell wrote:
but yeah, the fact that today's launch went off flawlessly is mind-blowing.  this was an amazing feat of engineering.

I thought for sure it was going to explode on the launch pad.  Instead, we get live views of StarMan!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBr2kKAHN6M

anyone notice the "Don't Panic" on the dash display of starman's ride

The central rocket exploded when it missed the drone ship upon landing.

excontradiction wrote:
The central rocket exploded when it missed the drone ship upon landing.

Thanks.  I figured that was the case when we lost the signal but hadn't heard yet.  Still, payload in orbit and 2 out of three rockets returned safely for reuse is still a huge success.

Now lets see if the payload can get through the Van Allen Belt and on it's ways to Mars orbit.  I also suspect we lose the live feed for the duration of testing the USAF barrel roll in space….

Hatchamasatch wrote:
anyone notice the "Don't Panic" on the dash display of starman's ride

Notice as in made it my FB Cover Photo?

Quincy Jones - In conversation

Hysterical read.

vansmack wrote:
Quincy Jones - In conversation

Hysterical read.

Because of this, we're apparently getting Richard Pryor's diaries later this year!

Pryor's Widow confirms Sex with Marlon Brando

Sidehatch wrote:
‘Clueless’ Star Stacey Dash Files to Run for Congress in California

See, now we're closer to on the same page than even I imagined.  This was all rage at the CA Dem Convention this past weekend, and I nearly posted it here, but then stopped when I felt it was too CA specific. 

But you're right, if this thread is not the perfect space for the collision of Clueless and politics, then where else would be?!

SMACKIE APPROVED.   

And in case you wanted some analysis, she has absolutely no chance. 

This is a district that voted overwhelmingly for Clinton (both of them) and Obama (nearly 85%), and is nearly 2-1 latino/a over African-American.  The Democratic incumbent is Latina, and because of CA's top 2 primary (where the top 2 vote recipients in the primary, regardless of party move on to the general election), she beat an African-American Dem in the Nov General Election 53%-47%.  In the primary, the two Republicans garnered 5.5% and 3.6%.  A total of five Democrats received a higher vote percentage than the two Republicans.

This is basically a "hey world, don't forget I'm here" move after Fox News didn't renew her contract.

Anyone subscribe to The Athletic yet?  I'm pretty sure I'm going to, just wanted to see if anybody has any experience they could share.

Uber Self Driving car involved in death of a pedestrian

This has the power to derail everything, but it shouldn't.

A very interesting way to look at the United States….

http://americancommunities.org/

vansmack wrote:
A very interesting way to look at the United States….

http://americancommunities.org/

thanks for sharing.

S↑dëHã〒çh wrote:
‘Clueless’ Star Stacey Dash Files to Run for Congress in California

She dropped out of the race.

https://twitter.com/REALStaceyDash/status/979815053808545794

and John Oliver even name dropped that campaign last week

S↑dëHã〒çh wrote:
and John Oliver even name dropped that campaign last week

As Cher Horowitz would say, "…after that Stacey's candidacy went from technical to non-existent."

vansmack wrote:
Streaming has returned the music business to it's peak

this was an interesting takeaway from that
But perhaps the biggest story of all is the growth of artists without labels. With 27.2% year-on-year growth this was the fastest growing segment in 2017. This comprises the revenue artists generate by distributing directly via platforms such as Believe Digital’s Tunecore, CD Baby and Bandcamp. All these companies performed strongly in 2017, collectively generating $472 million of revenue in 2017, up from $371 million the year before.  While these numbers neither represent the death of labels nor the return of the long tail, they do reflect the fact that there is a global marketplace for artists, which fall just outside of record label’s remits.


Up until now, this section of the market has been left out of measures of the global recorded music market. With nearly half a billion dollars of revenue in 2017 and growing far faster than the traditional companies, this sector is simply too large to ignore anymore. Artists direct are quite simply now an integral component of the recorded music market and their influence will only increase. In fact, independent labels and artists direct together represent 30.3% of global recorded music revenues in 2017.