Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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Sir Richard Branson beating out Jeff Bezos for first billionaire in space and he's 70 years of age. Started out after other failed ventures, selling discounted records, the beginnings of Virgin Records, later Virgin Airlines, Virgin Trains, Virgin Galactic... His mother died from COVID at 96 years of age.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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Very nice, the Limeys have bragging rights now over the slower Yanks. Branson has always been a promoter of his ventures, it's what he does best. Heard him interviewed once and he admitted he never knows if a new venture will make money, he waits for his accountants to tell him if he made or lost money.

NASA should have been out front on a lot of space projects, we were still the first on the Moon.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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highdesert wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 1:50 pm Very nice, the Limeys have bragging rights now over the slower Yanks. Branson has always been a promoter of his ventures, it's what he does best. Heard him interviewed once and he admitted he never knows if a new venture will make money, he waits for his accountants to tell him if he made or lost money.

NASA should have been out front on a lot of space projects, we were still the first on the Moon.
Fifty years ago. LoL.
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Image

"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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We have to understand that Branson, and next week Bezos, ride on the backs of taxpayers, the very same taxpayers who paid for all that moon-related research fifty years ago. Capitalism always uses other people's money then claims credit. Sorry to burst bubbles, but this is not at all different from what has been going on for recorded history and likely before that. "Those with the atlatls will exploit the labor of those without." And now we sing the praises of the Colt single action revolver.

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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CDFingers wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 2:35 pm We have to understand that Branson, and next week Bezos, ride on the backs of taxpayers, the very same taxpayers who paid for all that moon-related research fifty years ago. Capitalism always uses other people's money then claims credit. Sorry to burst bubbles, but this is not at all different from what has been going on for recorded history and likely before that. "Those with the atlatls will exploit the labor of those without." And now we sing the praises of the Colt single action revolver.

CDFingers

Yes, there is a lot of money that we the taxpayers are forced by politicians to spend on projects that eventually become commercial enterprises. Look no farther than the Human Genome Project funded by Congress, then private companies tried to patent human genes to make money. A clear reason that our law has to keep up with science and technology.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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The US did do this years ago. The whole Virgin Galactic program is a 21st century reboot of the X-15 as directed by Burt Rutan.

As ever, despite the lies of a truckload of Ayn Rand apologists, private industry rarely does take these risks. They're beholden to shareholders. instead they follow in the footsteps of cutting-edge government programs fifty years prior, with cost-cutting innovations applied to the technology in retrospect to bring costs down to what the board will tolerate at the behest of a deranged and publicity-hungry CEO.

I mean, it's still awesome. But the notion that we're going to colonize other planets in our lifetime is absurd if not suicidal.

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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Yeah, it's cool and all. But we must see how their success is built on the backs of workers and through lobbying for favorable conditions and getting them. Still, it's a great achievement. These companies are really just investing in their future businesses, and we're celebrating and giving them tax breaks to do it while we watch them stab workers in the back.

The paradox that is America.

on edit, a stolen meme: "One small step for the 1%. Nothing for Mankind."

CDFingers
Crazy cat peekin' through a lace bandana
like a one-eyed Cheshire, like a diamond-eyed Jack

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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CDFingers wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:41 am Yeah, it's cool and all. But we must see how their success is built on the backs of workers and through lobbying for favorable conditions and getting them. Still, it's a great achievement. These companies are really just investing in their future businesses, and we're celebrating and giving them tax breaks to do it while we watch them stab workers in the back.

The paradox that is America.

on edit, a stolen meme: "One small step for the 1%. Nothing for Mankind."

CDFingers
Abby Zimet laid it on hime.
Clueless Douchebag Thanks Vassals From the Bottom of Where His Heart Should Be For Peeing In Enough Bottles To Pay For His 10-Minute Joyride Into Space

Well that was something. Celebrating his "best day ever," the richest and most solipsistic man on the planet exultantly returned from his 10-minute-10 second, $5.5 billion, incalculably profligate space caper on a dildo-shaped rocket ship and had what one sage termed "the fucking nerve" to thank all the little people - ie: "every Amazon employee" - who unwittingly and unwillingly funded his "masturbatory space venture" by slaving away in his evil Amazon empire with no voice, union, living wage or time to piss. When Jeff Bezos first announced the fulfillment of his childhood dream, he declared, "To see the earth from space, it changes you. It changes your relationship with this planet, with humanity." And actually, it did, because you'd think at this point humanity couldn't despise him any more, but it turns out it can. The overweening hubris and narcissism that fueled Bezos' joyride, which was shorter than a bathroom break at Amazon but emitted more carbon monoxide than a car driving for centuries, epitomizes an obscene billionaires' space race that exposes our "stratospheric inequality" - the titans of wealth spending gazillions to escape a burning, flooded, pandemic-ravaged Earth, the rest of us bogged down in it. And here came Bezos, Gil Scott-Heron's Whitey on the Moon incarnate, beaming in his stupid cowboy hat and ersatz astronaut suit, saying the quiet parts out loud, waxing grateful to his serfs though it remains unclear if he's grateful enough to let them form a union or make enough to put food on the table. "I want to thank every Amazon employee, and every Amazon customer," he said, "because you guys paid for all this." Long fed-up world to oblivious Spaceship Man: Damn straight.

He got blasted on all sides: Dr. Evil, supervillainesque, the ultimate in cachet and folly, the pinnacle of waste, I want to thank all the faceless grunts that made my unchecked greed possible, pay them don't thank them, nice penis rocket now let your workers unionize, going to space is the first time he's given back to the planet, flying to space is cool but have you ever tried paying your taxes, Blue Origin dildos now available on Amazon, Jeff Bezos has decided he will not end world hunger today, one small step for man - one giant step for money. Of the four wannabe astronauts - Bezos, his bro, the 18-year-old son of a rich guy, 82-year-old Wally Funk - only Funk escaped the wrath. People named all the good - for the hungry, homeless, sick, planet - the unholy chunk of change could do. They lamented his little outing got more media coverage in one day than the climate crisis got last year from some media. They scoffed they were on the F train longer than Bezos was in space. They slammed his status as a tax scofflaw "who used profit made from ordinary people and tax he didn’t feel morally obligated to pay to fund his penis-shaped spaceship"; they said he should thank the taxpayers who funded food stamps his slave-labor workers survived on; Adam Schiff spitballed if he paid his fair share of taxes "we could lift all kids, if not into space, at least out of poverty." They reminded kids if they get good grades, go to college, get a job, work hard, "one day your boss might go to space." About 190,000 of them signed a petition - alas too late - demanding Bezos not be allowed to return to Earth, or at least "he go back to space as quickly as possible to be alone with his 'thoughts' and no one can hear him speak." His workers concurred: They "didn't get anything out of" a flight to space "on us basically since we do the work. One wise soul spoke for millions. "He should just go to Jupiter," she said, "and live his best life there."

this is somehow a real quote

Jeff Bezos: "I want to thank every Amazon employee, and every Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all this ... thank you from the bottom of my heart very much."pic.twitter.com/5JREV6Uha7

— Matthew Champion (@matthewchampion) July 20, 2021
https://www.commondreams.org/further/20 ... ing-enough
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Virgin Galactic and Branson to fly today

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CDFingers wrote: Tue Jul 20, 2021 10:41 am Yeah, it's cool and all. But we must see how their success is built on the backs of workers and through lobbying for favorable conditions and getting them. Still, it's a great achievement. These companies are really just investing in their future businesses, and we're celebrating and giving them tax breaks to do it while we watch them stab workers in the back.

The paradox that is America.

on edit, a stolen meme: "One small step for the 1%. Nothing for Mankind."

CDFingers

Yup, Branson has always been a PR type guy, his space ride was a slick PR event well stage managed. Bezos is no longer CEO of Amazon so has time to develop other Amazon related products and services like space travel. Yes they are both looking to the future where they can make even more money.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

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