BoyWonder

Retired JSC MCC Systems Architect, Tesla Driver, Pilot/Plane owner, Python Programmer, Georgia Tech Aerospace Engineering degree, Photog, Mac user.

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@alex_avoigt Saw my fist Waymo Sunday. It was on the Zoox platform I think. 🤔 odd that it was being driven by a person. So does that mean it’s just in testing here in Houston?

[Jordan Guidry @Jordanguidry6]

Starship Flight 14
2026-09-28

I will keep this moment with me for the rest of my life. Absolutely stunning. 😍

For WAI Media @FelixSchlang

[John Kraus @johnkrausphotos]

Solar and lunar 747 transits yesterday

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@YourAnonCentral Correct, but only if he actually does it which he won’t of course.

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@Erdayastronaut Have you seen Cory Doctorow talk about enshitification?

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@TheTweetOfGod “Hey, let’s violate the first commandment and see what happens.”

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@MayesGreg @Dad_2_The_Bone Been there done that. :-)

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@DJSnM @jonostrower Nope. That gave me nightmares.

[Pitchfork Economics @PitchforkEcon]

Corporate consolidation raises prices, lowers wages, reduces choices, and slows innovation.

Neoliberalism can't handle this because they have no theory of power. To them, this is all just the market sorting it out.

[Covie @covie_93]

What trump feeds sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier vs what he feeds his rich friends at Mar-a-Lago.

[NASA @NASA]

Hello, Moon. It’s great to be back.

Here’s a taste of what the Artemis II astronauts photographed during their flight around the Moon. Check out more photos from the mission: https://t.co/rzM1P0QbOl

[Reid Wiseman @astro_reid]

There are no words.

[Adam Butler @GestaltU]

Fun fact: The 1998 paper that introduced Google and PageRank to the world ends with this acknowledgment:

"Supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement IRI-9411306. Funding also provided by DARPA and NASA."

Sergey Brin was on an NSF Graduate Fellowship. Larry Page was a PhD student on the grant.

Google—now worth $2 trillion—exists because American taxpayers funded "the Stanford Integrated Digital Library Project."

Not a startup garage myth. A government grant.

Every time someone says public research funding "picks winners and losers" or "crowds out private innovation," remember: the most dominant technology company of the 21st century was incubated entirely with public money, inside a public university, by researchers on federal fellowships and grants.

The private sector didn't see it coming. VCs passed. The government funded it anyway—not because it would become Google, but because fundamental research into information retrieval seemed worth understanding.

That's the point. You can't predict which grants will change the world. You fund the science and let researchers explore.

The internet (DARPA). GPS (DoD). Touchscreens (CIA/NSF). mRNA vaccines (NIH). Google (NSF/DARPA/NASA).

Public investment in basic research isn't wasteful spending. It's the seed corn of the entire modern economy.

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@elonmusk Elon, where is the evidence of widespread fraud??

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@krassenstein Why doesn’t the media push back on this liar?

[Forward Independence @forwardpartymn]

Minnesotans are tired of being forced to choose between two broken extremes.

Forward Independence exists for people who believe our country works best when leaders put facts over fear, solutions over slogans, and the public interest over special interests.

It’s time for accountability, fiscal responsibility, and leadership that actually brings people together.

We’re building something different and you’re invited to be part of it.

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@SawyerMerritt Was needed last year!

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@herbertong So why is the stock down?

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

Here’s a short video I made that shows off the equipment, raw shots, and final product of my latest sun/rocket photo.

Shots like these are a lot of work to chase down, but so worth it!

[BoyWonder @robinfriedrich]

@paulweveritt Shucks that’s high praise. But you are as expert at this sort of thing as it gets and it shows. Great job all around!