Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Remastered copy of David Lynch's HOTEL ROOM (1993). All three episodes stitched together in one file. Only ever released in VHS and Laserdisc (Japan only).

Download here

Three-part mini-series set during three different eras spanning from 1936 to 1993 in a single room of an odd hotel where employees never age. Every story has a slight twist to it, but the stories are mostly dialogue-heavy psychological and relationship dramas.




UFO party in the holler! No charge!!


Saucers Over Appalachia Festival - Exploring UFO History in Bristol, VA

A Taste of Appalachian Resilience

Few dishes capture the essence of perseverance and ingenuity like Bulldog Gravy. Born from the rugged landscapes of Appalachia during the throes of the Great Depression, this humble recipe served as a lifeline for countless mining families.

With its simple ingredients and stick-to-your-ribs heartiness, Bulldog Gravy is more than a meal—it’s a story of survival, community, and the indomitable spirit of the Appalachian people. Paired with fluffy biscuits, it remains a testament to the creativity that emerges in the face of scarcity.

The Setting: Appalachia in the Post-Industrial Revolution

The Appalachian region experienced rapid changes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as coal and timber industries transformed the area.

Company towns emerged around coal mines, where families worked tirelessly to extract the black gold that powered America’s industrial revolution.

These small communities were isolated, with workers often paid in company scrip instead of cash, restricting their ability to buy food or supplies from anywhere but the company store.

When the Great Depression struck in the 1930s, Appalachia—already vulnerable due to its reliance on mining—plunged into dire poverty. The collapse of coal prices led to widespread unemployment, and families often faced severe food shortages. Stretching every crumb became a necessity.

The 1930s Depression and its Impact on Appalachian Miners

For miners, the Great Depression meant not just economic hardship but physical hunger. Entire families depended on a single income that disappeared overnight. Gardens and wild foraging supplemented meager provisions, but meals were simple and sparse.

The resourcefulness of Appalachian cooks led to the creation of dishes that could make something out of almost nothing. Flour, water, grease, and a pinch of seasoning became staples, transformed into life-sustaining dishes like Bulldog Gravy.

Bulldog Gravy: A Response to Hunger

Bulldog Gravy was born out of necessity. Made from rendered grease (usually from bacon or sausage, if available), flour, and water or milk, it was designed to stretch limited resources.

The name “Bulldog Gravy” likely reflects its bite—a robust, savory sauce that could transform plain biscuits or cornbread into a filling meal. For miners and their families, this dish symbolized resilience, providing warmth and sustenance during cold Appalachian mornings.

The gravy’s simplicity and flavor cemented its place in Appalachian kitchens, even as times improved. Today, Bulldog Gravy carries a legacy of survival, a dish that connects modern cooks to the ingenuity of those who came before.

The Legacy of Bulldog Gravy

Though the hardships of the 1930s have passed, Bulldog Gravy remains a cherished comfort food. It is a reminder of how Appalachian families faced adversity with creativity and determination. Served alongside biscuits—a Southern staple—it represents the heart of Appalachian cuisine: humble, hearty, and rich in history.

Recipe for Classic Biscuits & Gravy

America returning to the Timber & Lumber Industry...


Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production

Addressing The Threat To National Security from Imports of Timber, Lumber

As one example that I seen with my own eyes, the intentional destruction of rural Oregon's timber economy made a lot of sleazy lawyers rich off the angst of Ivy League nepo babies who pretended they were "environmentalists" while the small timber towns turned into meth and opiod slums later resulting in ghost towns.


Sturgeon-class submarine USS Seahorse (SSN-669) escorted through the Panama Canal by a PBR Mark 2 riverine patrol boat from Special Boat Unit 26 (SBU-26) in 1989. The sailors in tan shorts are rescue swimmers.




For those who celebrate...Summary of the total expenses that the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Pacific Fleet (CINCPACFLT) billed Paramount Pictures for the assistance provided by various DOD Components participating in the production of THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER.


$325,215 in 1990 is worth $790,446 today.

DTIC ADA246377: An Examination of the Cost Reimbursement Policies and Procedures Followed by DoD When Providing Services to Private Organizations
by Defense Technical Information Center
Publication date: 1991-06-01


Did you hear the news?! Blue Ghost landed on the moon!!

Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost Mission 1, which launched from Launch Complex 39A on Jan 15, has becomes the First Commercial Company to successfully land on the Moon!


Touchdown! Carrying NASA Science, Firefly’s Blue Ghost Lands on Moon

Through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services or CLPS initiative, NASA is purchasing lunar delivery services from American companies to carry science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon. The CLPS initiative aims to conduct science on the Moon for the benefit of all, improving our understanding of the lunar environment and surface characteristics, in advance of future crewed missions to the Moon as part of the agency’s broader Artemis campaign.

Under this innovative model, NASA is one of many customers, along with commercial companies, universities and international partners, all sending payloads to the Moon. With CLPS, NASA is embracing a higher level of risk tolerance by leveraging commercial solutions to send rapid, low-cost deliveries to the Moon, fostering a growing lunar economy and enabling a long-term presence on the lunar surface.

Source is from CLPS: Firefly Blue Ghost Mission One [Press Kit, 9 page PDF].

Firefly Aerospace is on a mission to make space attainable for everyone, including the next generation workforce. As part of this mission, Firefly’s DREAM (Dedicated Research Education Accelerator Mission) program was established in 2019 to encourage students to dream big and develop an interest in STEM by donating excess payload capacity on our Alpha rocket. DREAM eliminates the cost of entry for launch, allowing educational institutions to focus on developing and operating a small satellite program and training the next generation of aerospace engineers.

Firefly Aerospace Website

Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 Lunar Touchdown, cued at 1:26:10
https://www.youtube.com/live/ChEuA1AUJAY...bu9&t=5169


Firefly Aerospace business appears to be booming for a young company that went bankrupt and was liquidated in March 2017...

In December 2014, Tom Markusic's former employer Virgin Galactic alleged he had illegally provided Virgin intellectual property to the Alpha development team. Virgin also alleged that Markusic had "destroyed storage devices, disposed of computers, and reformatted hard drives to cover the tracks of his misappropriation of Virgin Galactic information". In August 2016, an independent arbitrator confirmed that Markusic had destroyed evidence. Thereafter, a major European investor backed down, leaving Firefly without sufficient money to proceed. The company furloughed its entire staff in October 2016. According to Markusic, the investor's drawback was not related to the litigation but to Brexit. Within the same month, Virgin Orbit filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against Firefly and two of its officers. By December 1, 2016, Firefly Space Systems had permanently ceased engineering work.

In March 2017, it was announced that "virtually all" of the assets of Firefly would be sold at auction, organized by EOS Launcher, Inc., who had previously bought a US$1 million promissory note issued by Firefly to Space Florida and induced a foreclosure.

Why am I not surprised there is a UKRAINE connection here...

On May 17, 2018, Firefly Aerospace opened a Research and development (R&D) center in the city of Dnipro, Ukraine. The Firefly R&D center was announced to become, over time, a place of work for more than 150 employees, and is equipped with the largest 3D-printer in Ukraine, intended for industrial manufacturing of high-quality metal parts.

In November 2018, it was announced that NASA selected Firefly Aerospace as one of nine companies able to bid for Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), where the company would propose a robotic lunar lander called Firefly Genesis.

In December 2019, a group of primary shareholders of Firefly Space Systems filed a lawsuit alleging fraud and intentional bankruptcy of the company by Tom Markusic. According to the defendants, including Polyakov, the lawsuit was provocative and the plaintiffs' claims unfounded, three years after the updated Firefly Aerospace was a significant success. The lawsuit is pending.

In February 2021, NASA awarded approximately US$93.3 million to Firefly Aerospace to develop exploration technologies for Artemis Commercial Moon Delivery in 2023.

In late November 2021, Maxim Polyakov received a letter from the US Committee on Foreign Investment (CFIUS) asking Polyakov and his investment firm Noosphere Venture Partners to sell a stake in Firefly (nearly 50%) for national security reasons. Polyakov denied the threat to US national security, but agreed to comply. Noosphere Ventures has announced that it will hire an investment banking firm to sell. Even before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the future of the Firefly R&D center in Ukraine was uncertain; after the invasion started, the Dnipro factory was bombed and many of the Ukrainian engineers either joined the army or fled the country.

The government did not give reasons beyond Polyakov was Ukrainian and Ukraine and Russia had once worked together on rockets. Despite Polyakov's anger, he agreed, and on February 24, 2022, it was announced that Polyakov and his company Noosphere would sell their stake in Firefly to AE Industrial Partners. [coincidentally, the same day Russia invaded]

On September 14, 2023, Firefly successfully launched the Alpha rocket on its first mission for the United States Department of Defense, placing a spacecraft for Millenium Space into orbit and demonstrating rapid response launch for the United States Armed Forces.

In 2024, it was announced that Firefly would compete with the likes of Rocket Lab and SpaceX for small satellite launch contracts with the United States Department of Defense.

Corruption, fraud, whatever, never mind all that, it's a matter of national security. They got us back to the moon.


Firefly Aerospace News


Also, Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander, named Athena is set to land at Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau near the Moon’s South Pole on March 6th. Carrying  three NASA payloads to the lunar South Pole region - the Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1 (PRIME-1) suite and the Lunar Retroreflector Array (LRA). The lander will also carry two commercial technology demonstrations funded through NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Tipping Point initiative. Furthermore, IM-2 will share its ride to space with NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer, a SmallSat which will deploy during transit and orbit the Moon.


Commercial Lunar Payload Services IM-2 (Intuitive Machines-2) Lunar Mission [Press Kit, 9 page PDF]