A Blog

St, Martins evening, Dusseldorf - Fritz Möritz

German , 1922-1994

Offene Werkstätten gibt's überall in Deutschland, leider natürlich hauptsächlich in Großstädten. Neben den ganz grundlegenden Räumlichkeiten haben manche Werkstätten auch bestimmte Maschinen oder Spezialwerkzeuge, wie z.B. Vinylplotter oder Transferpressen. Hier ist eine Karte mit offenen Werkstätten (auch in der Schweiz und Österreich).

The tool bag is now orbiting our planet just ahead of the ISS with a visual magnitude of around 6, according to EarthSky. That means it is slightly less bright than the ice giant Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun. As a result, the bag  —  officially known as a crew lock bag  —  is slightly too dim to be visible to the unaided eye, but skywatchers should be able to pick it up with binoculars.  To see it for yourself, first find out when you can find spot the space station over the next few months (NASA even has a new app to help you). The bag should be floating two to four minutes ahead of the station. As it descends rapidly, the bag is likely to disintegrate when it reaches an altitude of around 70 miles (113 kilometers) over Earth. 

Doreen Ketchens

The man who greets you is an enthusiastic older German(?) man who's either way too into cosplay or just that committed to the bit, judging by the lab coat. He made cookies. The tray of cookies is proffered to you by a ten-foot-tall robotic caricature of a 50s businessman. You take a deep breath to calm yourself. You bite into one of the cookies. It's delicious.

You ask the boss about his business model. "Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that, I bounce from project to project a lot." He mentions that his end goal is becoming the undisputed ruler of the surrounding counties. "Really? Not the whole world?" you ask. "I like to set realistic goals," he replies.

As he gives you the tour of his "evil lair," ingrained instincts are screaming at you to report this guy to some kind of authority figure. You remember the salary. You decide that you can always bust him after getting your first paycheck.

The boss asks when you can start. Caught off guard, you say "tomorrow?". Your boss(?) says he'll see you then.

On the way out, you bump into your stepbrother's girlfriend. Your boss introduces her as his daughter. You both silently agree to sidestep the subject for now and act like this is your first time meeting.

You show up to your first day of work. Your boss is putting the finishing touches on a giant machine that was definitely not there yesterday. You are nonplussed. You ask him what it's for and he launches into a convoluted explanation involving his parents always forcing him to put his shirts on backwards so the tag was in front. You think he should probably talk to a therapist.

Your brothers' exotic pet breaks down the wall. You stare at him. He stares at you. Incredulously, you say his name. "Oh, good, you two already know each other!" your boss says. You mention that you used to live with him. "What? Perry the Platypus, you never mentioned having a roommate."

Da stehn die Werkmeister – Mann für Mann. Der Direktor spricht und sieht sie an: »Was heißt hier Gewerkschaft! Was heißt hier Beschwerden! Es muß viel mehr gearbeitet werden! Produktionssteigerung! Daß die Räder sich drehn!« Eine einzige kleine Frage: Für wen?

Ihr sagt: die Maschinen müssen laufen. Wer soll sich eure Waren denn kaufen? Eure Angestellten? Denen habt ihr bis jetzt das Gehalt, wo ihr konntet, heruntergesetzt. Und die Waren sind im Süden und Norden deshalb auch nicht billiger geworden. Und immer noch sollen die Räder sich drehn … Für wen?

Für wen die Plakate und die Reklamen? Für wen die Autos und Bilderrahmen? Für wen die Krawatten? die gläsernen Schalen? Eure Arbeiter können das nicht bezahlen. Etwa die der andern? Für solche Fälle habt ihr doch eure Trusts und Kartelle! Ihr sagt: die Wirtschaft müsse bestehn. Eine schöne Wirtschaft! Für wen? Für wen?

Das laufende Band, das sich weiterschiebt, liefert Waren für Kunden, die es nicht gibt. Ihr habt durch Entlassung und Lohnabzug sacht eure eigne Kundschaft kaputt gemacht. Denn Deutschland besteht – Millionäre sind selten – aus Arbeitern und aus Angestellten! Und eure Bilanz zeigt mit einem Male einen Saldo mortale.

Während Millionen stempeln gehn. Die wissen, für wen.

We’ve just taken a major step toward cleaning up space junk.

On Monday, October 2, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US issued its first fine for space debris, ordering the US TV provider Dish to pay $150,000 for failing to move one of its satellites into a safe orbit. 

“It is definitely a very big symbolic moment for debris mitigation,” says Michelle Hanlon, a space lawyer at the University of Mississippi. “It’s a great step in the right direction.”

But it might be more than just a symbolic gesture by the FCC. Not only does it set a precedent for tackling bad actors who leave dangerous junk orbiting Earth, but it could send shock waves through the industry as other satellite operators become wary of having their reputation tarnished. While the $150,000 FCC fine was modest, Dish’s share price fell by nearly 4% immediately following its announcement, pushing the company’s $3 billion valuation down about $100 million.

The FCC’s action could also help breathe new life into the still-small market for commercial removal of space debris, essentially setting a price—$150,000—for companies such as Astroscale in Japan and ClearSpace in Switzerland to aim for in providing services that use smaller spacecraft to sidle up to dead satellites or rockets and pull them back into the atmosphere...

Another hope is that the FCC’s fine will encourage other countries to follow suit with their own enforcement actions on space junk. “It sends a message out of America taking leadership in this area,” says Newman. “This is starting the ball rolling.”

Today there are more than 8,000 active satellites, nearly 2,000 dead satellites, and hundreds of empty rockets orbiting Earth. Managing these objects and preventing collisions is a huge task, and one that is becoming increasingly difficult as the number of satellites grows rapidly. The worsening situation is largely due to mega-constellations of hundreds or thousands of satellites from companies like SpaceX and Amazon, designed to beam the internet to any corner of the globe...

Hanlon says there are further measures that could be taken to discourage companies from failing to dispose of satellites properly. “Honestly, I would love to see that if you don’t meet your license requirements, you’re banned from launching for a number of years,” she says. “If you’re driving under the influence you can have your license revoked. These are the kinds of measures we need to see.”

Chris Johnson, a space law advisor at the Secure World Foundation in the US, says the loss of reputation for Dish about the satellite situation might be worse than any fine it could have received. “They promised to remove it and they didn’t,” he says. “It’s like the first operator of a car to get a speeding ticket.”

The fall in the company’s share price appears to be indicative of that reputational damage. The fine may not have been as severe as it could have been, but the FCC’s actions can be seen as a warning to other companies to tackle space junk. “This is going to be on their record and their reputation,” says Johnson. “It’s not trivial.”

-via MIT Technology Review, October 5, 2023

Wir sitzen alle im gleichen Zug und reisen quer durch die Zeit. Wir sehen hinaus. Wir sahen genug. Wir fahren alle im gleichen Zug. Und keiner weiß, wie weit.

Ein Nachbar schläft, ein andrer klagt, ein dritter redet viel. Stationen werden angesagt. Der Zug, der durch die Jahre jagt, kommt niemals an sein Ziel.

Wir packen aus, wir packen ein. Wir finden keinen Sinn. Wo werden wir wohl morgen sein? Der Schaffner schaut zur Tür herein und lächelt vor sich hin.

Auch er weiß nicht, wohin er will. Er schweigt und geht hinaus. Da heult die Zugsirene schrill! Der Zug fährt langsam und hält still. Die Toten steigen aus.

Ein Kind steigt aus, die Mutter schreit. Die Toten stehen stumm am Bahnsteig der Vergangenheit. Der Zug fährt weiter, er jagt durch die Zeit, und keiner weiß, warum.

Die erste Klasse ist fast leer. Ein feister Herr sitzt stolz im roten Plüsch und atmet schwer. Er ist allein und spürt das sehr. Die Mehrheit sitzt auf Holz.

Wir reisen alle im gleichen Zug zur Gegenwart in spe. Wir sehen hinaus. Wir sahen genug. Wir sitzen alle im gleichen Zug und viele im falschen Coupé.

New piece! Am calling her “Skör” (fragile in Swedish).

Assembled from strips of lace, a doily, and some fiddly needle lace and crochet for the teeth. Starched with diluted wood glue.