ysabetwordsmith: (gold star)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Virgin Galactic has made its suborbital test flight.  \o/  My observations include ...

* Not quite 100% of rich people are useless assholes.  There's always a nonzero fraction who do awesome things with all that money.  The problem is, you have to shuck a lot of oysters to find those pearls.

* Particularly telling is that Mr. Branson hasn't changed his tune.  He's saying exactly the same things after the flight as before it, and repeating them because nobody believes him.  That's enough, quit pestering the man.  Integrity and honesty may be rare, but they do exist. 

* I'm amused by the style of the vehicle.  Look at all the extra portholes!  That's a hallmark of commercial flights, before they go to shutters and something like transparent aluminum for the roof.  Spacers call them "peekaboo planes."  Just keep in mind that, like on an oceangoing vessel, every aperture in the hull is a weakness and a potential failure point.  But I swear, almost every spacefaring culture thinks of these things.

* This is not a joke or a publicity stunt or a way to fleece sheep.  It's an important step in becoming a spacefaring species.  Not just because it marks an economic threshold, but because looking down on the planet from space tends to change  people.  Mr. Branson got it.  Welcome to the family, bro, and thanks for busting your ass on that step so more people could reach it.

(no subject)

Date: 2021-07-12 09:11 am (UTC)
oursin: Photograph of a statue of Hygeia, goddess of health (Hygeia)
From: [personal profile] oursin
Branson sued the National Health Service because they failed to renew Virgin Care's contract for supplying services for child health in Surrey: it is not a good look for proclaiming decency, whatever his subsequent attempts at spin.

(no subject)

Date: 2021-07-12 11:12 am (UTC)
siliconshaman: black cat against the moon (Default)
From: [personal profile] siliconshaman

Branson isn't wholly responsible for what the Virgin group of companies does, there's layers of managers and so on. That said, he could've stopped that sooner yes. Also, yes, he's human, so not totally decent all the time.

Still better than Bezos, who's business model seems to be based on being an evil bastard.

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