Science/Techno Babble Random, Random

[ti-amie]

So alleged nude pics of Drake went viral on Xitter. This follows the AI generated nudes of Taylor Swift from last week. Elmo is happy about this.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/7/24064 ... moderation

[ponchi101]

Most important: the app is the #1 download in the Apple store (according to Elon).
It is not going away. He will recoup his money. People can't get away from it.

[ti-amie]

Christopher Mims
@mimsical@mastodon.social
X's massive bot problem, in one chart, made by @o_simardcasanova

https://o.simardcasanova.net/data-illu



Erik Jonker
@ErikJonker@mastodon.social
@mimsical @o_simardcasanova it's amazing, also this chart

[ponchi101]

I looked up CHEQ. They seem legit.

[ti-amie]

briankrebs@infosec.exchange
BrianKrebs
@briankrebs@infosec.exchange
Had some technical (non-security) issues that prevented me from publishing this A LOT earlier

BlackCat Ransomware Group Implodes After Apparent $22M Ransom Payment by Change Healthcare

There are indications that U.S. healthcare giant Change Healthcare has made a $22 million extortion payment to the infamous BlackCat ransomware group (a.k.a. “ALPHV“) as the company struggles to bring services back online amid a cyberattack that has disrupted prescription drug services nationwide for weeks. However, the cybercriminal who claims to have given BlackCat access to Change’s network says the crime gang cheated them out of their share of the ransom, and that they still have the sensitive data Change reportedly paid the group to destroy. Meanwhile, the affiliate’s disclosure appears to have prompted BlackCat to cease operations entirely.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2024/03/bl

[Suliso]

The 3rd Starship test flight is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 14th (FAA license pending). Here is a nice graph detailing what will happen in an ideal case.

[Suliso]

Maybe better like this: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GITr0e9boAA ... =4096x4096

This way you can zoom in and actually read the description.

[ponchi101]

I mean, great. It sounds well planned.
Why the juvenile language? "Mechazilla". "The world's largest PETZ dispenser", 'Excitement guaranteed".
I am really curious. Who is he targeting?

[Suliso]

I mean, great. It sounds well planned.
Why the juvenile language? "Mechazilla". "The world's largest PETZ dispenser", 'Excitement guaranteed".
I am really curious. Who is he targeting?

I believe this is all Musk's talk, not at all from the guy who made the graph. I agree the names are silly, but the rocket itself is not silly at all.

[Suliso]

So I watched the whole launch and here is my preliminary assessment:

- Nominal launch with all engines working properly
- Ground infrastructure survived intact (to be confirmed)
- they nailed the hot staging (that's where it failed last time)
- the booster performed a nominal boost back burn with full control
- the landing burn of the booster did not work and it crashed hard in the ocean instead of a soft splashdown
- the ship reached the intended speed and altitude
- they tested cargo door opening and in space fuel transfer seemingly successfully
- there must have been some issue because in space engine burn was not attempted
- seems like they lost the ship at ca 65 km altitude over the Indian ocean. From visual evidence only it seemed like they were unable to keep the proper orientation of the ship (it was still rolling when it shouldn't have been).

Overall a great progress compared to flight #2. Reentry of the ship was always going to be the hardest problem to solve. Nobody has ever attempted something similar. I expect the gap between this flight and the next to be not so long.


I'll try to find some summary video later...

[ponchi101]

Re-entry will be the tough one to crack. Let's remember that the Columbia was lost during re-entry, just because of that tiny ding in the wing.
An deviation from proper orientation and you are doomed. Or in deep trouble.

[Suliso]

Agree of course. I think they got far enough down to have acquired some valuable data. Fixing ship issues will be much harder than booster.

Still we should remember that ULA or Chinese would have burned up both stages and called the launch full success.

[Suliso]

Someone not familiar with orbital mechanics might wonder why is it so much harder to recover the 2nd stage than the first one. Both stages reach the near vacuum of space, but there is a huge difference in speed. The top speed of the first stage is about 4,000 km an hour there as an orbital speed the 2nd stage has to get to is ca 28,000 km/h (for this test ca 26,300 because they wanted to be sure that it reenters). Thus there is an equally huge difference in friction upon reentry into more dense atmosphere. The first stage could be basically a stainless steal tube. The second stage if you want it back has to be protected with special materials to survive the plasma being formed when you break from those speeds. Up until now other than Space Shuttle returning crafts have been limited to small capsules with ablative shielding which has to be replaced. That is if they're reusable at all.

[Suliso]

As usual on stuff like this Scott Manley is the best

[ti-amie]

Taylor Lorenz
@taylorlorenz@mastodon.social
Emails obtained via FOIA by The Intercept show Elon Musk's Twitter/X was selling user data for government surveillance at the exact same time it was fighting government surveillance in court https://theintercept.com/2024/03/25/el