Xyla Foxlin is at it again...

[mh9162013]

You are of course entitled to that opinion. I disagree.

You are making a ton of assumptions there.

Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But his point is well taken. I mean, just look at the thumbnails for her videos.

I know, I know, gotta "play the the game" when it comes to algorithms, so I'm not blaming her or am I saying I'd do things differently if I were in her shoes. I'm just saying that I wouldn't blame someone for interpreting her channel's message as "I'm sexy, I'm cute, I build rockships to boot!"

 

[Model_rockets]

I never said anything about how she dresses and you're making some awfully big assumptions about what I think based on no evidence.

I didn't say anything about her looks. My point was actually the opposite: I don't need her talking about her looks in order to appreciate either her looks (which, frankly, shouldn't be that important in the context of doing cool rocket stuff) or her technical competence.

I have female friends who have won racing championships. They talk about racing, not how hot they are. One of them has more engineering degrees than I do. I think about how awesome they are to hang out with because of their great personalities. And how awesome it is to go racing with them because of their competence. Not how hot they are.

It doesn't matter she can say what ever she wants and yeah most it is probably ironic because people just see her for her looks.

 

[Model_rockets]

Flip it around. If there was a really hot guy doing rocketry videos and he was frequently making references on camera to being a hot guy, would he be taken seriously, or would he be generally regarded as a giant douche?

My entirely subjective feeling about it is that Xyla's videos cross the line in marketing that angle of what she is to the point that it actually takes her down a notch.

Evidence that I'm not the only one who sees it that way is provided by the whole premise of the "Spite" build. Someone who hadn't paid a lot of attention assumed that that was all she was really selling, and excluded her from something she properly should have been included in because of it. That pissed her off enough to build an awesome rocket and prove they were full of it. But maybe if she hadn't been doing so much of the whole, "Look at me, I'm a hot chick doing rocket stuff" act, and just did rocket stuff like everyone else while also being a hot chick, that never would have happened.

Maybe she is trying to show her community of young women and girls that regardless of looks you can do stem and can be hot and don't have to be masc to be in stem. The message isn't for you. The point is her saying I can be myself while doing rockets. And you going after her for being proud of that and helping to inspire is a pretty crap thing to do. Just say cool rocket and move on.

 

[neil_w]

Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. But his point is well taken. I mean, just look at the thumbnails for her videos.

I know, I know, gotta "play the the game" when it comes to algorithms, so I'm not blaming her or am I saying I'd do things differently if I were in her shoes. I'm just saying that I wouldn't blame someone for interpreting her channel's message as "I'm sexy, I'm cute, I build rockships to boot!"

Fine, except the incident where she was mistaken as "PR girl" had nothing to do with her videos or thumbnails.

 

[Model_rockets]

What I am saying is that this video is about inspiring people mainly young females. So you aren't going to get it but that doesn't give you the right to trash it.

 

[Model_rockets]

And again the whole hot girl stuff is one light hearted and two made to show that you don't have to fit the stereotypes of females in stem or females in general and you can just do what you want.

 

[Hobie1dog]

 

[jrains]

The prep work can take quite a while, and it's bloody damn hot out there this time of year. Do all the work you can before dawn, then push the button early in the morning.

Thanks. Having launched a couple of times in the desert outside Tucson in August I can appreciate this.

Viewing Xyla's videos leads to jealousy over how well equipped her workshop is. Of course, I feel the same way watching Jon Coker’s vids.

 

[jqavins]

Flip it around. If there was a really hot guy doing rocketry videos and he was frequently making references on camera to being a hot guy, would he be taken seriously, or would he be generally regarded as a giant douche?

Yes, do flip it around. But first, cite me an example of her making reference on camera to being hot. I see her just being herself. I see her knowing that she's hot, and knowing it is part of being herself, but I've never seen her making reference to it or exploiting it. So go ahead and flip it around. If a hot guy doing rockets, knowing that he's a hot guy, and knowing it being part of just being himself, would we be having this conversation? I think not.

Maybe she is trying to show her community of young women and girls that regardless of looks you can do stem and can be hot and don't have to be masc to be in stem. The message isn't for you. The point is her saying I can be myself while doing rockets. And you going after her for being proud of that and helping to inspire is a pretty crap thing to do. Just say cool rocket and move on.

YES! That is explicitly the purpose of her non-profit, and I assume one of the goals of her channel. You see her doing a "happy dance" and looking cute doing it, but you don't see her doing a sexy dance. You don't see her touching a finger to her backside and going "Tsssss" or thrusting her chest at the camera. You see her setting an example by being feminine and tech nerdy at the same time. FEM STEM!

I'm going to drop out of this tangent before it turns ugly (which it might very well not do, but I'm bowing out before it has the chance).

 

[bad_idea]

I can confirm the "hot girl energy" bit really is internet (specifically social media) slang. I know this because I follow Joe Barnard and a number of young New Space people on twitter, and in my infrequent catch-up deep dives into the accounts I follow, I've seen that is indeed part of their vernacular and indeed not actually a gendered expression.

 

[Michael L]

I watched Xyla's video (noticed Chris's Rocketry on one of the boxes) and other than the motor / liner problem I thought it was a well produced video that told a good story. Even the motor / liner problem was part of the story, She could've left that out but she didn't. It's real life.

One of the things that I've seen change in my long career in the oil and gas industry is the way women are treated. When I got my first management gig (I like to refer to it as the day my life ended. Managing people sucks. I'd rather write a PLC program or develop a control strategy) way back in the 80's, the woman that ran our office (extremely well) was paid dirt. The guys down on the loading rack, that literally weighed an empty truck in and full truck out, pushed print, gave a copy of the ticket to the driver, and put one in the file for a living, oh, they also went out and read / recorded tank gauges too, made almost $5/hr more than her. A job opening for the rack came up and she wanted the job. My boss, a crusty ole Marine from the Korean "conflict" era (one of the best bosses I ever had) said no, that's no job for a woman. I was shocked. That's not how I was raised. He also declined to give her a raise. I argued with him (nobody ever did that lol) and lost. He retired a year later and I was able to get her pay increased when his replacement, a Vietnam era Marine (the best boss I ever had) moved to his position. She could've done any job in that facility with no problem. Replacing her would have been hard. Fast forward to my 4, almost 5 years in the 4 Corners area. We bought Williams assets up there. Williams is an old company. They were ditching pipe in the ground with mules when the company first started. They didn't hold on to their old ways. We have a good mix of people (ethnic and gender) up there. They are all good at their job and many of them have cross trained into other jobs over the years.

TLDR - when the only woman (I think) posting on this topic says something about some of the comments, maybe take a look inward and absorb what she says.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

You know what’s hot?

This thread — that’s what!

It’s hot like a spicy jalepeño hot tamale! Hot! Hot! HOT!!!

 

[Bravo52]

Well…I’d rather sit down and have a beer with her and talk rocket stuff more than some of the folks I’ve met at launches…just say’n…

 

[Rex R]

And she has also made a bass guitar

 

[dhbarr]

And she finishes projects, so she's got most of us beat.

 

[mtnmanak]

I do not know Xyla personally, but I have watched a number of her videos. I think they are exactly what is needed on the internet these days - inspirational, full of ingenuity, upbeat, accomplishment, fun, a whole lot of good engineering... what exactly could we ask for that is better for young people to watch, learn and be inspired from? I pointed my daughters to Xyla's videos and they love them. I am super happy they are into that channel - there are literally thousands of worse things they could be watching on the internet. And good for her for being able to make money off her channel and content. That is what entrepreneurship and hard work look like in the 21st Century. It is literally the definition of the way capitalism is supposed to work. She found a market demand and provides quality supply.

I would like to get my daughters to meet Xyla, I am sure they would love it. As a parent, I would be very proud to have a daughter like Xyla.

 

[Model_rockets]

I watched Xyla's video (noticed Chris's Rocketry on one of the boxes) and other than the motor / liner problem I thought it was a well produced video that told a good story. Even the motor / liner problem was part of the story, She could've left that out but she didn't. It's real life.

One of the things that I've seen change in my long career in the oil and gas industry is the way women are treated. When I got my first management gig (I like to refer to it as the day my life ended. Managing people sucks. I'd rather write a PLC program or develop a control strategy) way back in the 80's, the woman that ran our office (extremely well) was paid dirt. The guys down on the loading rack, that literally weighed an empty truck in and full truck out, pushed print, gave a copy of the ticket to the driver, and put one in the file for a living, oh, they also went out and read / recorded tank gauges too, made almost $5/hr more than her. A job opening for the rack came up and she wanted the job. My boss, a crusty ole Marine from the Korean "conflict" era (one of the best bosses I ever had) said no, that's no job for a woman. I was shocked. That's not how I was raised. He also declined to give her a raise. I argued with him (nobody ever did that lol) and lost. He retired a year later and I was able to get her pay increased when his replacement, a Vietnam era Marine (the best boss I ever had) moved to his position. She could've done any job in that facility with no problem. Replacing her would have been hard. Fast forward to my 4, almost 5 years in the 4 Corners area. We bought Williams assets up there. Williams is an old company. They were ditching pipe in the ground with mules when the company first started. They didn't hold on to their old ways. We have a good mix of people (ethnic and gender) up there. They are all good at their job and many of them have cross trained into other jobs over the years.

TLDR - when the only woman (I think) posting on this topic says something about some of the comments, maybe take a look inward and absorb what she says.

At the end are you talking about my comments or someone else's?

 

[Michael L]

"At the end are you talking about my comments or someone else's?"

Yours

 

[Greg Furtman]

The first Xyla video I saw was the one where she built a cedar strip canoe with the help of her Uncle. I've built several strip canoes over the years and I learned some new things, new techniques from her. I also learned of Total Boat epoxy from her. I looked it up online and found out that is a division of Jamestown Distributors, a company I'd been buying hardware & tools from for years.

So when I ran out of WEST epoxy I thought I'd give Total Boat a try. Very good epoxy and it doesn't form an amine blush like WEST epoxy so the second coat requires a lot less prep.

Yes, Xyla is cute, good looking. But she is also smart, knows tools, knows how to use tools, knows how to make things, knows how to problem solve very well, and she has a great sense of humor and she is not afraid to show her goofy nerdy side. And she has done much for girls and young women who may be interested in a STEM based career.

 

[Greg Furtman]

Xyla has posted a remix (I think) of her Christmas Tree Launch. It's pretty good.

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Hmm... was she actually a Miss America? And someone mentioned her fin alignment jig back aways. I paged through the video and didn't see anything all that special. I gotta admit, "Spruce-X" is my kinda humor. And then this FAR thing? Why doesn't L3 matter at whatever FAR is? Should I just get my coat and see myself out?

 

[neil_w]

Hmm... was she actually a Miss America?

No. She was Miss Greater Cleveland "in the Miss America program".

And someone mentioned her fin alignment jig back aways. I paged through the video and didn't see anything all that special. I gotta admit, "Spruce-X" is my kinda humor. And then this FAR thing? Why doesn't L3 matter at whatever FAR is? Should I just get my coat and see myself out?

https://friendsofamateurrocketry.org/

 

[Blast it Tom!]

No. She was Miss Greater Cleveland "in the Miss America program".


https://friendsofamateurrocketry.org/

Wow, thanks! So FAR exists outside of the Tripoli/NAR framework and L1, L2, L3 stuff? Interesting.

 

[techrat]

She was Miss Greater Cleveland

Not sure what's so "great" about Cleveland but considering some are touchy here, maybe I should have kept that joke to myself. Ah, screw it, I have no filter!

 

[Blast it Tom!]

Bill Watterson was from near Cleveland, Chagrin Falls to be exact. I often wondered if this one came out of that inter-city rivalry:

 

[techrat]

Car radios are wonderfully receptive and selective. Even though I live in NJ, I can pull in AM Canadian stations depending upon conditions and the time of the day (mostly after sunset). Zuma Radio at 740 am is out of Toronto I believe and I recently became aware of the Toronto/Montreal rivalry due to some comments from the morning radio personalities. I never thought about that before and I find it hilarious.

 

[UPscaler]

Yes, the logo on the box was very well centered in the frame. I notice that on a lot of Youtube videos. For example on Rocket Vlogs, Braden shows the West System epoxy cans all the time, and with Xyla it's always the boat epoxy (even the mixing cup) -- which makes me wonder if they get that stuff free from the manufacturers as long as it's prominent in the videos. I'm always suspicious watching these things because I'm aware that every second of every day someone is trying to hit me with advertising.

West Systems is only sending me free stuff in my dreams lol. Any time I get something for free, I say it outright in my videos.

I'm not sure if she has a hookup for Total Boat or not, but if she does, good for her.

I definitely cringed at hammering/ratcheting the liner in, but the amount of bitterness and jealousy in this thread is pretty chaotic.

Overall, she built a pretty well-refined MD rocket and flew it on an M successfully, which is more than most people here, myself included, can say.

Braden

 

[OverTheTop]

There is no rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney. Everyone knows Melbourne is better by most considerations.

 

[NateB]

Not sure what's so "great" about Cleveland but considering some are touchy here, maybe I should have kept that joke to myself. Ah, screw it, I have no filter!

Rays MTB is a must ride destination for mountain bikers and worth the trip to Cleveland for me. Other than that, at least the lake is cleaner than it used to be.

 

[jqavins]

Not sure what's so "great" about Cleveland but considering some are touchy here, maybe I should have kept that joke to myself. Ah, screw it, I have no filter!

Hey, why you gotta be so mean? What's "The mistake on the lake" ever done to you?