Sam Jackson

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@BoCamaro One of my favorite places in Mt. Pleasant!! Love some Paige's, but have never had brunch there!

[SpaceX @SpaceX]

Falcon lands for the 600th time!

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

Christina Koch was a firefighter at the South Pole at -111°F before she ever applied to be an astronaut. That was maybe the fourth most interesting line on her resume. She grew up in North Carolina, got three degrees from NC State, and her first real job was building deep-space instruments at NASA.

Then she left for Antarctica. Spent three and a half years bouncing between the Arctic and Antarctic as a research scientist, including a full winter at the South Pole base. That means going months without sunlight or fresh food, with a crew of about 50 people and no way out until flights resume. While she was down there, she also joined the glacier search-and-rescue team.

After coming back, she went to Johns Hopkins and built instruments for two NASA missions (one of them is still orbiting Jupiter right now). She figured out how to start a tiny vacuum pump that NASA designed for a future Mars rover. Johns Hopkins nominated it for their Invention of the Year in 2009. Then she went back to the field. More time in Antarctica and a stretch up in Greenland. A government research station in northern Alaska, near the top of the world. Then she ran another one in American Samoa, near the equator.

In 2013, NASA selected her from 6,300 applicants. Eight people got in. Her first space mission was supposed to be a normal rotation on the International Space Station, but NASA extended it. She ended up staying 328 straight days and orbiting Earth 5,248 times, covering about 139 million miles (roughly 291 round trips to the Moon). Up there, she ran over 210 experiments, including tests of cancer drugs in zero gravity and 3D printers that can build structures close to human tissue. Six spacewalks, 42 hours floating outside the station. She learned Russian for the training. She flies supersonic jets.

Right now, Koch is on Artemis II, heading for a flyby behind the far side of the Moon. The crew launched on April 1 and is on track to travel about 252,000 miles from Earth, which would break the all-time human distance record of 248,655 miles set by Apollo 13 in 1970. That record has stood for 56 years, and it was set during a disaster that nearly killed the crew. Fred Haise, one of the Apollo 13 astronauts, is 92 now. He told Koch: "I heard you're going to break our record."

Nobody had left Earth's neighborhood since December 1972. Koch and her three crewmates are the first in 53 years, and they are coming home at about 25,000 mph. That is faster than any crewed spacecraft has ever come back through the atmosphere.

[Anish Moonka @anishmoonka]

If you're under 53 years old, you have never once been alive while a human was farther than 250 miles from Earth. Tonight, four astronauts are heading 252,000 miles out. That's a thousand times farther than any person has gone in your lifetime.

The 250-mile ceiling is where the International Space Station floats. Every astronaut since December 1972 has been stuck in that zone. Spacewalks, science experiments, cool photos from orbit, sure. But nobody left the neighborhood.

The last crew to go farther was Apollo 17. December 1972. Nixon was president. The internet didn't exist. Cell phones were 11 years away. The youngest member of that crew is now 90 years old.

The farthest any human has ever been from Earth is 248,655 miles. The Apollo 13 crew set that number in 1970, and they didn't mean to. Their oxygen tank blew up, and the emergency route home took them farther out than anyone before or since. Tonight's crew will break that record on purpose.

And the crew itself. Victor Glover becomes the first Black astronaut to leave Earth's neighborhood. Christina Koch becomes the first woman. Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian fighter pilot, becomes the first non-American to do so. When they come home, they'll slam into the atmosphere at 25,000 mph, faster than any human has ever traveled.

The Moon's south pole has ice. Water ice, sitting in craters so deep that sunlight hasn't hit them in billions of years. A 2024 NASA study found way more of it than anyone expected. You can split water into hydrogen and oxygen, which gives you rocket fuel, breathable air, and drinking water, all made on the Moon instead of hauled up from Earth. George Sowers at Colorado School of Mines calculated that Moon-made fuel could shave $12 billion off a single trip to Mars. The Moon is a gas station on the road to Mars.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced last week a $20 billion plan to build a permanent base at the South Pole over the next seven years, with landings every six months. China is developing its own lunar lander and spacesuit, aiming for a crewed landing by 2030. The Artemis program has burned through $93 billion so far, and the first actual surface landing is penciled in for 2028. There's a real question of who gets there first this time around.

Harrison Schmitt walked on the Moon in December 1972 as part of Apollo 17. He's 90. Asked about it this week, he sounded pretty relaxed. "Mars is attainable," he said. "We're humans. That's what we've always done."

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@FreddieKraft Steve Phelps…

[Reid Wiseman @astro_reid]

Nothing but gratitude for the men and women of this great nation. It is time to fly.

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@BoCamaro Awesome testimony! Never lose hope or feel out of place. There are lifelong Christians who still hear from those demons trying to convince them they aren’t worthy. All we have to do is accept Christ, it is never about us being worthy. None of us are worthy.

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@USPSHelp This is the second medication package for my Dad that has been lost in your system in the last month. I am sure it will eventually show up, but when people need meds, it creates a lot of problems when 3-5 day shipping turns into 2-4 weeks!

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@BoCamaro If you are a human being, you belong in any church you walk into. Jesus welcomes all. For many people, change takes time. Attend regularly, be consistent, and read your Bible daily. That first step through the doors today was the hardest one you'll take. It only gets better!

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@WorkforLife3 Are these actual tax bills or taxable assessments?

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@robbystarbuck @freddieoconnell I think the $500K is their property appraisal value, not the actual tax paid? This doesn't seem correct for the tax rates in Nashville. If it is correct, then the appraised value of the property is over $44.5 mil ($2.8 per $100 in appraised value, tax paid on 40% of appraisal)

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@NASCARONFOX Why does the ticker banner on the left hand side of the screen only update at the start/finish line? Couldn't it be updating in real time with what is happening on the track?

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@Ask_Spectrum why is my upload speed so slow and/or throttled. This is an ongoing issue!

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@BoCamaro @RobAstroBrew Thanks! Threw me for a minute!

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@BoCamaro @RobAstroBrew What’s the liquid coming out of the truck?

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@RichardAllenMSR In hindsight, a terrible pit call. Hate it for Denny, but it’s racing and Larson ran a solid race.

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

My Son could earn credit for his AP Government class by carving a presidential pumpkin. His assigned president was George W. Bush! I think it turned out pretty well!! @TheBushCenter

[Meriwether Farms @MeriwetherFarms]

Dear @POTUS Trump,

We love you and support you— but your suggestion to buy beef from Argentina to stabilize beef prices would be an absolute betrayal to the American cattle rancher.

We understand there are larger economic and geopolitical dynamics at play, including countering CCP influence in countries in our hemisphere. But the practice of solving problems “over there” before solving problems here on our soil is what contributed to the downfall of our country: Americans always come last.

We understand beef prices are high, and we admire your concern for all Americans, but this is not the fault of the American producer. This is the fault of politicians who have allowed BRICS-aligned entities to dominate the meat industry, that participate in price fixing and who also continually lie to their consumers.

Washington for decades has facilitated the squeezing of our own ranchers while allowing these entities to flood the market with cheaper, lower-quality imports -- and the American people don't even know these products are foreign because they are allowed to be marked as “Product of the USA”.

On top of all this—there is only chaos coming from the Department of Agriculture. There is no true guidance, mixed messaging, and a copious amount of photo ops. There is no one to trust over there that truly understands the issues and isn’t bought out by or aligned with Big Industries.

The American cattle rancher is one of the last symbols of independence we have in the nation—but the continued manipulation and betrayal by the very people who claim to support them, needs to end immediately.

While only representing 1% of the population, the work is tireless, daily, in poor conditions, with low margins, without thanks— all in order to keep this country fed. We would be a failed nation if we continue to betray the very people who put food on the table for us.

There are so many voices on the outside that support you and want to see you succeed. Maybe it’s time to start listening to them. Your team knows how to get in touch with us.

Sincerely,
Meriwether Farms

[Sam Jackson @utwildfish]

@A_S12 @FOXSports @NASCAR @SBJ Says a TV Network that got outdone by the newbie airing its very first race this past weekend.....