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Maybe, but it won't happen in the foreseeable future. We'll be mining it from the ocean before we'll be mining Afghanistan.

You can look up all the episodes here. The first time they looked at this myth was in 2004. The second time was in 2006.

My favorite part was how people were (rightly) criticizing him for being such a media whore, when the conservative savior of 2008 Sarah Palin has a freakin' TV show .

ah nevermind, seems delivering life vests by rocket has existed for awhile

If I'd have to make a wager, I'd say the risk of hitting a person in the head with the projectile is much less than the risk of that person having to swim 150m through rough seas to get to a raft dropped off the side of a boat.

Not sure you want to make that wager... In the Flying Lifeguard episode of Prototype This, the build team built an automated mortar version of this device. I don't think it's shown in the linked clip, but in the full episode, while testing, they actually hit a camera man downrange!

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/prototype-this-flying-lifeguard.html

"Dunno about the environment..."

Really? Remember that big oil spill? You know, the one where scientists are still being blocked analyzing the environmental effects?

http://news.discovery.com/earth/bp-oil-spill-silence-science.html

Something like this?

Taliban Training Monkey Terrorists

Another irrational loon heard from.

Testing of Gulf shrimp by various universities has detected no oil:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/no-oil-detected-in-gulf-shrimp----yet.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081605471.html

http://news.discovery.com/human/f-bomb-swear-curse-words-biden.html

Also apparently Japanese does not have many/any swear words? It does have offensive words/phrases like any other language of course.

I am not a scientist, have not read the 3 volumes, can not speak for the validity of the material, I have no affiliation with any one involved with the book, and agree the original "review" may not be completely sincere...

But having others being critical of it without having read the book is in my mind just wrong. That's whats wrong with the world now a days..people make knee jerk responses without having the whole story.

For those questioning the religious aspects...His blog comment indicates "I don’t know about God using me in the last days? But I can see his handiwork in the universe through the math and physics; and would like to share that vision with others. However, the Super Principia Mathematica is not a religious treatise. There is nothing religious in the Super Principia, except for the Prologue.". I suspect anything beyond that and he is trying to leverage off of Hawking's recent publication.

The book site has excerpts available. The material seems to have some relevant references from history for foundation as well as bleeding edge science as well. Programs I've seen on the Science Channel seems to have similar topics that he covers. So there may be some merit there.

He worked on the Moller Flying Car and at JPL. I would hope that gets him a little credit.

I have yet to meet a single "garage tinkerer" who made an invention, went through the patent process, and made any money at all

You obviously never watched PitchMen on The Discovery Channel. Example after example after example of exactly what you claim to never happen. Not saying your other arguments are invalid, but the patent system still works for "garage tinkerers" and many others.

It's going to be up and down for the next few years.

And, if you wish to pipe up on the site owner's behalf: http://corporate.discovery.com/contact/viewer-relations/

Well, at least it's not TLC. Between the "Jon and Kate" mess and their recent announcement of "Sarah Palin's Alaska", TLC makes Discovery look like PBS.

So, you will have a fleeting connection as the cab whips by, dropping of a fare outside your $2000 a month NYC hovel...

But is it the Cash Cab? Free month's rent!!*

* Famous New Yorker Tom Wolfe endorses the use of multiple exclamation marks.

If NASA didn't then Slashdot did. Another clue might be that same link in the summary along with the word 'predicted' if you bothered to read that far. I know the summary was a whopping 2 sentences and all, but really =P

Ayup. Either that horse is making its way past Jupiter or jumped into an alternate equine dimension and became the ruler of that hooved place, but it is gone.

That said, there's other wells. I try to imagine that operators and owners of said wells have a renewed interest in at least not having a $20 billion disaster bill and maybe a shred of conscience and understand of what their actions can reap. I keep waiting for some news on the fucking dipshits at MMS who were literally fucking those who they were suppose to keep an eye on. No, attending their coke, meth, and sex parties is not the way to do it. I think these people should get jail time.

Given the sheer volume of matter that needs to be cleaned, I don't think there will be any effective solution. I mean, effective and doesn't completely sterilize the water or sand the oil is in. I doubt either the water or sand would be habitable afterwards. Sand gets hauled away to hazardous-waste and rapid degradation of oil in water will suck all the oxygen out. Likewise, I don't have high hopes for the survival of marshes that soaked up tidefuls of oil.

So... yeah, pretty grim outlook but it's the same deal for anything covered in oil. Ideally, the American public will learn that, no, businesses will not regulate themselves and that you actually need to put people who aren't ideologically opposed to regulation into positions to *gasp* regulate. That might be a bit much to ask though.

Anyway, we fucked up on the regulating of oil companies part and the environment will be pretty fucked over for decades (ie, if it ever recovers). We could at least not fuck up the cleanup effort and make sure those workers don't suffer health effects from cleaning up BP's mess. Whoops, too late.... Oh, and fucking up the cleaning effort by trying to bury it with sand.

Indeed! But not enough for the whole ship! http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/mythbusters-house-popcorn/

OK you've lost me, how does my carbon footprint in North America effect whether billions of Nepalese, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Chinese and Hindustanis cook their food over a sooty kerosene fire, or ride around on smoky 2-cycle mopeds?

Gee, it's right next door.

This kind of crap is enough to make me want to give up on modern science.

Soot may be to blame.

Google "Glacier Melt Soot". You might be surprised by how many hits you get.

For example:

http://news.discovery.com/earth/black-soot-himalayas-glaciers.html

This might give you a better perspective
a ratio of 40:1 between plastic and plankton sounds kind of high to me. but if you really want a picture- click on this.

Most people are aware that high explosives generate powerful and destructive shockwaves, and can fling shrapnel for startling distances at frightening velocities. However, they'll still watch Mythbusters, because actually seeing high explosives demonstrated is cool.

Anyone who doesn't find a real-world demonstration of social engineering fascinating and instructive is either waaaay too jaded, or is trying waaaay too hard to pose as being jaded because of a mistaken association between cynicism and cool.

Besides, a reminder of the ongoing effectiveness of social engineering is always good, especially in light of all the interesting vectors now available.

Large Dangerous Rocket Ships

Science Channel (USA) July 5th, 9 PM eastern time.

The (legendary) Rocket Manual For Amateurs is online as a PDF.

What the heck, grab a PDF of the LONG out of print Golden Book of Chemistry while you're at it.

Hey, kids! Set up your OWN chemistry lab bench and do real chemical experiments.

Like safely generating Chlorine gas.

Science Is FUN!

It's true. After all, humans will be extinct in 100 years.

Yes, but transferring from medium to medium is a bit of a pain. It's a lot easier if you can just write it once and never worry about it again. These new SD cards will do that. They'll last for 100 years, which is all the time they'll need since the human race will be extinct in 100 years.

Or just lots of iron! What could possibly go wrong?

.... but he does not want to spend more of his own money doing it, it is time to be suspicious.

I'm not always a big fan of Bill Gates, however given his current investment, how much of his own money would it take to satisfy you?

I have only a most basic grasp of cosmology but it's an interest of mine and I recall watching something on documentary heaven to the effect that black holes may well be a universe of their own

One of my most favorite books on the subject is called The Five Ages of the Universe by Adams and Laughlin. If you like reading books about the subject but don't care about or can't comprehend the math, I seriously recommend it. That said (and I think it's in the book I linked), there's an evolutionary theory about universes that contends each time a black hole is created, it splits off a unique instance of spacetime creating a "new" universe with its own laws of physics. Universes created in this manner that contain laws of physics favorable to the creation of black holes will go on to evolve new "child universes" of their own; a sort of cosmic equivalent of Darwin's natural selection.

One more thing, should you find yourself occasionally staring at the TV and wanting to feel educated and entertained, then you should, uh, "acquire" a copy of Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. It's a very well written and well narrated version of how Hawking explains the workings of the universe, but unfortunately isn't available on DVD yet. However, the trusty folks on the web that don't make any money from TV and movie distribution should have a copy you can pick up today ;)

The extremely fun thing about physics from a layman's point of view is that there are so many theories about how the same things work, and getting them presented to you in a manner you can understand without knowing the math behind it is a wonderful thing. From there, you can theorize and come to your own conclusions about which you like best, because if Planck has anything to say about it, we'll never truly know which of them is right.

It's kind of like going to a trade show, only instead of the place being full of vendors, it's full of missionaries from every major religion on the planet, and you get to objectively pick the one you like the best. I'm sure most Slashdotters would be drinking the free coffee at the Atheists' booth or ignoring everyone and speculating what the giant bundle of Cat5 on the wall goes to, but regardless of whether your God is supernatural or nonexistant, to glimpse into the very fabric and inner workings of the cosmos is the only true way to see into that mind.

Still, even if that's not the way you see it, I do feel that it's also the only way to even begin to fathom what we all really are.

Silver Surfer won't keep him from it... in fact from /.'s earlier posting Guatemalan Sink Hole. The Silver Surfer is already helping to destroy the earth.

Come on now folks, I know I'm not the only one that thought that when I saw the pic.

And UPS

Politically incorrectness is not what is stopping RTGs from being launched, but lack of supply of plutonium 238. It's difficult to protest launches with radioactive elements because they all have been successful. And if one were to crash, the RTGs are sealed so there would not be any leakage. Unfortunately environmentalists want to protest anything radioactive, even though such criticisms may no longer be valid.

I have mod points to burn, so I'm playing AC here.

Swearing is supposed to be GOOD, really.

"There may be another reason why we swear so much. Studies by psychologist Timothy Jay, of the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, have found that swearing can provide both emotional release and relief from pain. "

http://news.discovery.com/human/f-bomb-swear-curse-words-biden.html

I know for a fact that being able to swear has prevented many murders. I mean, what else CAN you do, when some dickheaded sumbitch is desperately BEGGING you to choke his dumb ass to death, and your state has capital punishment? You need some kind of emotional release from the situation!

One problem may not be the education - it may well be a good idea to have some math in your pocket when cutting down trees.

But the problem is that what many college educations are about is not useful information - it can even be wrong. And let colleges have some local flavor to the education - college in Oregon may have a suited course in forestry. It's more to it than is obvious at first sight since it's not only about cutting down trees, it's also about planting new trees, planning logging roads and a lot of issues that has to be taken care of.

Same goes for farming, fishing and a number of other businesses. Many of those businesses needs a basic knowledge in accounting and economy.

Going back to the forest industry - use of chain saws is today limited to hard to reach areas, and felling trees on a steep slope or other hard to reach area requires a lot of planning and feel for what's right. Wind direction and strength plays an important role, it's also extra dangerous in those areas since you need to get out of the way quickly. What is in general use is instead logging machines that grabs the tree, cuts it off at the root, and then fells it in a suitable direction, cuts it into suitable lengths while automatically stripping it of all branches and then move on to the next tree. See this video: Who needs 10000 men for tree logging when u can have this beast

And operating that machine is some skill, but it will take a lot of skill to also know how to perform maintenance and repairs on it. And for that you need education. Physical strength - yes, but not all the time as in classic logging. And an elementary student needs education in safety procedures as well - all this could be provided in a customized college education. Also - be aware that many modern machines have a lot of computer stuff in them. Even a farming tractor is computerized these days and the instrument panel is containing a lot more information than you have in your family car these days.

If someone drops out and doesn't go to college he/she will end up flipping burgers or feeding dish washer machines for the rest of his/her life. There are other types low-skill work too that they may end up with - and that's usually jobs that are a lot less interesting than the jobs you see at Dirty Jobs.

Basic education in economy, technology and other science of nature should be a requirement these days. Being able to calculate figures roughly to determine how much material is needed to build a bridge or how much space an oddly shaped oil tank has are both useful skills since a few moments of calculation may save you from destroying equipment worth a million dollar at worst or from having to bring back that extra oil drum 20 miles into the wilderness that you took with you just in case.

http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/mythbusters/db/human-body/beat-lie-detection-test.html

Well it is an episode of Dirty Jobs just waiting to be filmed.

I don't want to imagine the 'maintenance' involved when this thing needs servicing.

Dunno about sheep, but wind-farms DO kill bats. The blades attract them, and the pressure difference as they fly by can pop their lungs. And Texas is a big state for bat colonies, so it's been a real problem in some areas.

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/08/25/wind-turbine-bats.html

On the other hand, the speed of melting has been unprecedented, and it was predicted before it occurred, because increasing greenhouse gasses were predicted to increase temperatures. The melting is also continuing at an accelerating rate, for example, in the Antarctic and Greenland. You may be referring to the Arctic sea ice extent increasing, but the volume is decreasing because the ice is getting thinner. Besides, some years the Arctic sea ice extent will increase due to natural variations. The long-term trend is that the area of Arctic ice is also decreasing.

Oh, but you can polish a turd.

In the recent discussion about the other Lunokhod, someone mentioned the Discovery documentary Tank on the moon. I've seen it since; if you want to know more about these very impressive vehicles, this is a good starting point.

The Aliens took it on their way here. They needed the fuel resource. See Steven Hawkins story about not talking to the aliens when the get here.

BTW, the earth is leaking Methane as its been discovered that it wasn't cows causing increased methane here.

This is not a link to gp's study, but it struck me when I read it.
Regarding the 'intelligence' of 9 month old chimps vs average human 9 month old. There were orphaned chimps who were raised and given love by human 'mothers' There was a control group of chimp orphans given standard care. The 'loved' chimps outperformed humans of the same age (9 months) in an IQ test.
What that means other than babies need love, IDK.
Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/02/02/chimp-baby-smart.html

That's really funny. I like Hunter Cressel's sense of humor; check out his web comic Vexxar, and also check out his parody of Mythbusters.

http://www.vexxarr.com/

http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/you-spoof-discovery-mythbusters-death-of-the-mythterns.html

You could ask M5 to mod your car.

The roof mod is extra, though.

They started taking bids from museums a year or two ago, and closed the bidding last month. Currently marked down to the bargain-basement price of $28 million each, including shipping, no quantity discounts.

The article dated "March 26, 2010":
http://news.discovery.com/space/hubble-3d-map-universe-dark-matter.html
has a source dated 25-Mar-2010::
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic1005.html
with this quote which explains everything:

A new study led by European scientists presents the most comprehensive analysis of data from the most ambitious survey ever undertaken by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. These researchers have, for the first time ever, used Hubble data to probe the effects of the natural gravitational "weak lenses" in space and characterise the expansion of the Universe.

The data was old, the analysis and imaging is new.

The 'Links' at the bottom include the new paper, and the old study. The old press release dated "7-errNoSuchMonth-2007":
"News Release heic0701 - First 3D map of the Universe's Dark Matter scaffolding"
http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0701.html

Is the one described your original article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6235751.stm

That's very interesting. Have you ever seen 'Tank on the Moon?' http://science.discovery.com/tv/tank/tank.html Those were some real engineers.

Doesn't the Tumbleweed prototype in this photo look suspiciously like a certain Number 6-devouring border guard? What are these scientists really planning?