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West Japan Railways (West JR), one of six companies that make up Japan Railways Group, has unveiled a giant βhumanoid robotβ to work on heavy machinery on its linesβ¦
Interesting that in English the official name is West Japan Railways Company, while in Japanese itβs JR Nishi-Nihon Guruupu (JRθ₯Ώζ₯ζ¬γ°γ«γΌγ), which means Japan Railways West Japan Group. Itβs one of six βcompaniesβ that comprise what used to be βNational Railroadβ (Kokutetsu), owned by the government.
JR West is renowned to be badly run and somewhat corrupt. I wonder about this βrobotβ project. With the increase in βhuman accidentsβ (ie people hit by a train), I think itβd be better to hire more workers than to reduce staff and have the top level desk jockeys pocket theβ¦
But China has also offered to share at least some of its new moon samples with American researchers, and NASA is allowing the U.S. scientists to submit proposals.
This is a welcome change of heart. International politics need not prevent international space exploration.
On the other handβ¦
China is not planning a mere short-term, flags-and-footprints presence on the Moon. Their ambition is more like Nasa’s Artemis than it is Apollo. China plans to launch two separate missions to the south pole of the Moon around 2026 and 2028 β including testing using lunar soil to 3D print bricks β as precursors to a lunar base.
What jobs have I *not* had would be a better question.
Rightβ¦
Lawn mower (right after I got my βworking papersβ at age 14, along with my social security number β this is now assigned at birth in the US)
Pizza dough maker (seriously, thatβs all I did at first)
Pizza maker and deli worker (same restaurant)
Tarred the school parking lot and roof (no idea what this job would be called)
McDonaldβs (who hasnβt? Both opening and closing, including cleaning the deep oil fryer. Ugh.)
Gymnasium weight room staff
Gymnasium pool cleaner
Volleyball court setup and take down
Softball umpire (all four work-study jobs at college with a max number of hours per week)
Bookstore clerk (Barnes & Nobles)
Dishwasher (summer time only)
Short order cook (same restaurant as the dishwasher job)
Stock boy (stationery store for all of two days)
Temp worker (stuffing envelopes for three days, yawn)
Blockbuster clerk (out of business video rental storeβanybody remember VHS tapes?)
Bookstore clerk (used bookstore in Ann Arbor, mostly stocking and organizing overflow in the basement, although I did help set up a comic book and gaming store annex)
First year composition teacher (this was a paid TA job for one semester in grad school)
Computer software store clerk (mall seasonal jobβI got in trouble once for suggesting that a customer try another software store for a game series we didnβt carry rather than lie by saying weβd let him know when we got it; I hadnβt realized lying was company policyβ¦)
Computer salesperson (my first βfull timeβ jobβI lasted two monthsβdefinitely not slick enough to work for sales commish)
Kinkoβs (computer design department)
Weekly newspaper (computer layout)
A small H&R firm (computer designβ¦you can probably sense a trendβ¦)
Assistant language teacher (the jump to Japan)
Language instructor (late night after school cram school for junior high kids)
Assistant Professor (both part time and full time contractual)
Professor (itβs amazing now to see how I wound up teaching TESOLβ¦)
This may not include some odds and ends here and there when I was in JHS and SHS. I worked a lot of summer jobs and Christmas/ New Yearβs break jobs. I worked most weekends while I was a full time students, and most Friday evenings, too. I donβt recall the pay for all of them, but I remember the pizza dough job paid $3.15 an hour, and four years later McDonaldβs paid a whopping $3.75 an hour.
You know, Iβd be very interested to find out what jobs my colleagues have had. In college when I borrowed money to study abroad in Germany, my classmates wandered around Europe for the summer while I returned and had exactly $0 to my name and worked double-shifts. I wonder how many literature or history professors spent summer days getting burned on their arms with 400F cooking oil or getting yelled at by bankers because their document wasnβt printed fast enoughβ¦
Starliner, the Boeing spacecraft whose launch was delayed by a helium leak, has now developed four additional helium leaks after docking successfully with the ISS.
They had to delay the docking due to a little problem with thrustersβ¦
Five of the 28 thrusters were not operating but, after troubleshooting, Boeing recovered four of Starlinerβs malfunctioning jets and NASA allowed the spacecraft to dock.
βNormal meansβ for whom, exactly? I canβt imagine the average worker in Tokyo will be able to afford this thing. Even if they had a physical space to store in.
And, you know, I think Iβve seen a βflying vehicleβ like this somewhere alreadyβ¦ π
A contractor for Nasa urged the space agency to conduct more safety checks before the highly-anticipated first launch of its Starliner rocket β which is set to take off as soon as next week β βbefore something catastrophic happensβ.
It was supposed to launch last week, but someone spotted a valve problem β *minutes* before the countdown procedure was about to start.
Theyβd better check for door plugs while theyβre at it.
Boeing does not give a ratβs ass about whoever uses their products. Theyβre only interest in paying dividends to stockholders. And of course paying the CEOβs ridiculously high salary.
NASA is trusting the future of space travel to people like Musk and companies like Boeing. Using taxpayer money to reward greed and incompetence.
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