Thanks for the information about Operation Bloodstone!

Thanks for the song!

TIL

To make this song even more spot on, Lehrer used eight bars from the well-known German national anthem “Das Lied der Deutschen” as a song intro :-)

For those interested in learning about Operation Paperclip:

Although he officially sanctioned the operation, President Harry Truman forbade the agency from recruiting any Nazi members or active Nazi supporters. Nevertheless, officials within the JIOA and Office of Strategic Services (OSS)—the forerunner to the CIA—bypassed this directive by eliminating or whitewashing incriminating evidence of possible war crimes from the scientists’ records, believing their intelligence to be crucial to the country’s postwar efforts.

Although defenders of the clandestine operation argue that the balance of power could have easily shifted to the Soviet Union during the Cold War if these Nazi scientists were not brought to the United States, opponents point to the ethical cost of ignoring their abhorrent war crimes without punishment or accountability.^[1]

I just posted a video of Annie Jacobsen talking about Nuclear War, she also wrote a book about Operation Paperclip.^[2]

In the days and weeks after Germany’s surrender, American troops combed the European countryside in search of hidden caches of weaponry to collect. They came across facets of the Nazi war machine that the top brass were shocked to see, writer Annie Jacobsen told NPR’s All Things Considered in 2014. Jacobson wrote about both the mission and the scientists in her book, Operation Paperclip: The Secret Intelligence Program That Brought Nazi Scientists To America.

“One example was they had no idea that Hitler had created this whole arsenal of nerve agents,” Jacobsen says. “They had no idea that Hitler was working on a bubonic plague weapon. That is really where Paperclip began, which was suddenly the Pentagon realizing, ‘Wait a minute, we need these weapons for ourselves.’"^[3]

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There are many competitions that are open to people outside the US, so I would check others out if you are interested in rockets!

Here is another: https://www.soundingrocket.org/sa-cup-home.html | https://www.soundingrocket.org/2024-sa-cup.html

Teams that competed last year from outside the United States:

1. Mexico
2. Philippines
3. Canada
4. Thailand
5. United Kingdom
6. Turkey
7. Algeria
8. Brazil
9. India
10. Argentina
11. Romania
12. Germany
13. Australia
14. Spain
15. New Zealand
16. Poland

2024 Team List (Last updated 6-11-24 acb): [https://www.soundingrocket.org/uploads/9/0/6/4/9064598/published_team_list_061124.xlsx_-_for_output.pdf]

Join in on your school clubs and research projects, or start some with friends!

There are many great competitions where previous programming experience would come in handy.

One competition that takes place in the U.S.:

NASA Student Launch

It actually IS rocket science! Student Launch is a 9-month long challenge that tasks student teams from across the U.S. to design, build, test, and launch a high-powered rocket carrying a scientific or engineering payload. It is a hands-on, research-based, engineering activity and culminates each year with a final launch in Huntsville, Alabama home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The activity offers multiple challenges reaching a broad audience colleges and universities as well as middle and high school aged students across the nation.^[1]

Culminating Event Dates: April 30 – May 4, 2025

Culminating event location: Huntsville, AL

Eligibility: Open to U.S. Students

Grade Levels: Grades 6-12, College and University

Was this the article that started it? Do you have the thread or would an archived link be required to see it?

Vegan versus meat-based cat food: Guardian-reported health outcomes in 1,369 cats, after controlling for feline demographic factors [Andrew Knight, Alexander Bauer, Hazel Brown | Published: September 13, 2023]^[1]

Abstract

Increasing concerns about environmental sustainability, farmed animal welfare and competition for traditional protein sources, are driving considerable development of alternative pet foods. These include raw meat diets, in vitro meat products, and diets based on novel protein sources including terrestrial plants, insects, yeast, fungi and potentially seaweed. To study health outcomes in cats fed vegan diets compared to those fed meat, we surveyed 1,418 cat guardians, asking about one cat living with them, for at least one year. Among 1,380 respondents involved in cat diet decision-making, health and nutrition was the factor considered most important. 1,369 respondents provided information relating to a single cat fed a meat-based (1,242–91%) or vegan (127–9%) diet for at least a year. We examined seven general indicators of illness. After controlling for age, sex, neutering status and primary location via regression models, the following risk reductions were associated with a vegan diet for average cats: increased veterinary visits– 7.3% reduction, medication use– 14.9% reduction, progression onto therapeutic diet– 54.7% reduction, reported veterinary assessment of being unwell– 3.6% reduction, reported veterinary assessment of more severe illness– 7.6% reduction, guardian opinion of more severe illness– 22.8% reduction. Additionally, the number of health disorders per unwell cat decreased by 15.5%. No reductions were statistically significant. We also examined the prevalence of 22 specific health disorders, using reported veterinary assessments. Forty two percent of cats fed meat, and 37% of those fed vegan diets suffered from at least one disorder. Of these 22 disorders, 15 were most common in cats fed meat, and seven in cats fed vegan diets. Only one difference was statistically significant. Considering these results overall, cats fed vegan diets tended to be healthier than cats fed meat-based diets. This trend was clear and consistent. These results largely concur with previous, similar studies.

No, but he does appear in my dreams!^[1]

Don’t even get me started on birds; they are not real, and don’t even start quoting bird law to prove that they are.^[1]

It was planned all along!

We have fallen for the propaganda, even when it was in front of our own eyes!

They must have started sowing the seeds, which would result in a new and expanding furry culture for decades!

I see it now!

OP was able to edit post and add it.

You forgot to attach an image?

Thanks for sharing with us!

Key decision factors for satellite operators when choosing between chemical and electric propulsion:

1. Fuel Efficiency
2. Lost Mission Revenue
3. Responsiveness
4. Thrust Requirements
5. Deorbiting
6. Upfront Cost
7. Propellant Availability & Storage
8. Fine Pointing Maneuvers

Summary

Electric propulsion is well suited for deep space and long-duration missions because it can generate power for a long time through solar arrays, from a very small amount of propellant.

But for missions where revenue, responsibility and responsiveness take high priority, chemical propulsion systems provide quick orbit insertion, responsible re-entry, and instantaneous thrust and is often the better choice.