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That series was a real classic. It amazing that a science show from the 80s is still so remembered today. Carl Sagan died over twelve years ago. So let the song, be tribute to him.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller

Following the link from the May 10 Slashdot, gets you a dumb miniportal site and nothing on HERF guns. Which is a pity because I wanted to know how exactly an amateur could make one, giving time a bit of money and a small budget. I far as know, most Radar and Microwave devices still use custom thermonic valve type system, with components like cavity magnetrons and Klystrons. Sure modern transistors do go up to high frequencies, but not at very high power. So I want to know what an amateur could do without access to this kind of rare glassware. Did our HERF builder just use a load of high frequency transistors in parallel, or did he do something cleverer to get the power from his Car stalling gun?

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DIY Electronics Feed @ Feed Distiller

Following the link from the May 10 Slashdot, gets you a dumb miniportal site and nothing on HERF guns. Which is a pity because I wanted to know how exactly an amateur could make one, giving time a bit of money and a small budget. I far as know, most Radar and Microwave devices still use custom thermonic valve type system, with components like cavity magnetrons and Klystrons. Sure modern transistors do go up to high frequencies, but not at very high power. So I want to know what an amateur could do without access to this kind of rare glassware. Did our HERF builder just use a load of high frequency transistors in parallel, or did he do something cleverer to get the power from his Car stalling gun?

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DIY Electronics Feed @ Feed Distiller

This isn't exactly geek news, but good luck to them.

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Motor Bike Feed @ Feed Distiller

This isn't exactly geek news, but good luck to them.

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Motor Bike Feed @ Feed Distiller

You might have been joking, but the US have indeed made a microwave cannon, that cause incredible amounts of pain to the exposed flesh of anyone in its path.

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Non Lethal Weapons Feed @ Feed Distiller

You might have been joking, but the US have indeed made a microwave cannon, that cause incredible amounts of pain to the exposed flesh of anyone in its path.

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Non Lethal Weapons Feed @ Feed Distiller

Its quite a bit of extra money lost from the test capsule if the Falcon 9 blows up or fails. So it show a lot of confidence in there rocket to had the capsule to the test launch. They've only got a year or so, before SpaceX is supposed to be supplying the ISS. They can't afford many failures. I wish then the best of luck.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

Its quite a bit of extra money lost from the test capsule if the Falcon 9 blows up or fails. So it show a lot of confidence in there rocket to had the capsule to the test launch. They've only got a year or so, before SpaceX is supposed to be supplying the ISS. They can't afford many failures. I wish then the best of luck.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

Now your have kill Thargoid invasion craft, until your hyperdrive get fixed. That game eat months of my childhood.

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3D Shooter Games @ Feed Distiller

Now your have kill Thargoid invasion craft, until your hyperdrive get fixed. That game eat months of my childhood.

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3D Shooter Games @ Feed Distiller

Another nation in on the ISS, from the wikipedia list of future supply flights, they'll be one Japanese cargo flight per year for the next 5 years. This is the same as the number of European Arane/ATV flights. Not that many really, is it even worth designing a craft for that few flights. Russia will be doing 17 Soyaz flights and Dragon/Falcon 9, 12 flights. I hope the ISS mission will get extended 5 years at least, so that we get moneys worth out of all these supply craft.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

Another nation in on the ISS, from the wikipedia list of future supply flights, they'll be one Japanese cargo flight per year for the next 5 years. This is the same as the number of European Arane/ATV flights. Not that many really, is it even worth designing a craft for that few flights. Russia will be doing 17 Soyaz flights and Dragon/Falcon 9, 12 flights. I hope the ISS mission will get extended 5 years at least, so that we get moneys worth out of all these supply craft.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

Which Eta Carina while you can, it a late stage unstable supergiant and bound to go supernova (maybe hyper-nova) in the next hundred thousand years or so. Lucky its axis isn't pointing at earth, as that might get nasty in the hyper-nova case, where much of the energy gets beams from the poles.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller

Which Eta Carina while you can, it a late stage unstable supergiant and bound to go supernova (maybe hyper-nova) in the next hundred thousand years or so. Lucky its axis isn't pointing at earth, as that might get nasty in the hyper-nova case, where much of the energy gets beams from the poles.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller

Ubuntu has been ported to ARM, i'd rather use that. For the average non geek, a netbook aimed pretty GUI is probably needed if Linux netbooks are ever to take off. And thats despite the price of the Windows CE license.

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NetBooks Feed @ Feed Distiller

Ubuntu has been ported to ARM, i'd rather use that. For the average non geek, a netbook aimed pretty GUI is probably needed if Linux netbooks are ever to take off. And thats despite the price of the Windows CE license.

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NetBooks Feed @ Feed Distiller

Not sure if NASA's current planned "Something closer in design to the Apollo command module", the Orion module, would be good at servicing the shuttle. The space shuttle has a very effective robot arm, and air lock and changing areas to get space suited. Orion has a minimal docking capability, and doesn't look like its been designed for space walks. I doubt it will be long before space enthusiasts start looking back to the golden days of the shuttle. And clamour for a new winged reusable space craft.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller

Not sure if NASA's current planned "Something closer in design to the Apollo command module", the Orion module, would be good at servicing the shuttle. The space shuttle has a very effective robot arm, and air lock and changing areas to get space suited. Orion has a minimal docking capability, and doesn't look like its been designed for space walks. I doubt it will be long before space enthusiasts start looking back to the golden days of the shuttle. And clamour for a new winged reusable space craft.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller

No one even starting planning a next generation space station, except for a few space Hotel Plans. I think we can be pretty sure, that the ISS will get its extension to 2020. It would be too embarrassing to scrap in 5 years, and all the world space programs would be cut back if it was decommissioned.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

No one even starting planning a next generation space station, except for a few space Hotel Plans. I think we can be pretty sure, that the ISS will get its extension to 2020. It would be too embarrassing to scrap in 5 years, and all the world space programs would be cut back if it was decommissioned.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

128 Bit encoding running at up to 8 GHz, not that any current or near term CPU has a bus half as fast a that. That a lot of bandwidth. Are current graphic card bottlenecked at all by the PCI bus?

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Graphics Cards Feed @ Feed Distiller

128 Bit encoding running at up to 8 GHz, not that any current or near term CPU has a bus half as fast a that. That a lot of bandwidth. Are current graphic card bottlenecked at all by the PCI bus?

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Graphics Cards Feed @ Feed Distiller

Much as the CGI in the trailer looks good. I just can't imaging any plot that isn't downright stupid being able to pit Elves against space marines. I bet this will be very silly indeed.

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Science Fiction Movie Feed @ Feed Distiller

Much as the CGI in the trailer looks good. I just can't imaging any plot that isn't downright stupid being able to pit Elves against space marines. I bet this will be very silly indeed.

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Science Fiction Movie Feed @ Feed Distiller

When a company famous for making buggy software, suddenly goes into hardware from nowhere, how can expect anything other than a high failure rate. I'll bet microsoft accounts made hardware designing in the cheapest, least reliable components to.

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XBox Games Feed @ Feed Distiller

When a company famous for making buggy software, suddenly goes into hardware from nowhere, how can expect anything other than a high failure rate. I'll bet microsoft accounts made hardware designing in the cheapest, least reliable components to.

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XBox Games Feed @ Feed Distiller

Maybe, but I wan't to see how there going get this gadget small enough to fit on a air craft carrier, and create more than a dribble of Aviation fuel at a time. You've got your electrolysis unit, a carbon dioxide seperator, a unit to react the hydrogen with the carbon dioxide, out come some real missy sludge type oil, which mean you need a big fractional distillation plant on the output, followed by a condenser, then you have to add all the additives that go into making a good aviation fuel. You've be lucky if you could fit all that on an oil rig, never mind a carrier. Plus there all the process control systems, and the operators for it.

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Chemistry Feed @ Feed Distiller

Maybe, but I wan't to see how there going get this gadget small enough to fit on a air craft carrier, and create more than a dribble of Aviation fuel at a time. You've got your electrolysis unit, a carbon dioxide seperator, a unit to react the hydrogen with the carbon dioxide, out come some real missy sludge type oil, which mean you need a big fractional distillation plant on the output, followed by a condenser, then you have to add all the additives that go into making a good aviation fuel. You've be lucky if you could fit all that on an oil rig, never mind a carrier. Plus there all the process control systems, and the operators for it.

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Chemistry Feed @ Feed Distiller

I doubt it will be easy to get the solar sail within 0.1 AU of the Sun, that is very close, and will need a lot of energy to begin will. Apart from the relativistic course correction need to nagivate (which isn't that numerically difficult), the sail will have to deal with variation in the amount of Sun light and Solar wind, coming towards the Sail, which may vary at random, and be much more difficult to nagivate with. Good luck to Solar Sailors.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

I doubt it will be easy to get the solar sail within 0.1 AU of the Sun, that is very close, and will need a lot of energy to begin will. Apart from the relativistic course correction need to nagivate (which isn't that numerically difficult), the sail will have to deal with variation in the amount of Sun light and Solar wind, coming towards the Sail, which may vary at random, and be much more difficult to nagivate with. Good luck to Solar Sailors.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller

I'm so sorry to live in a country once so proud of freedom, that now places such little value on basic human freedoms like privacy.

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Privacy vs Surveillance Feed @ Feed Distiller - Add your blog if its on topic

I'm so sorry to live in a country once so proud of freedom, that now places such little value on basic human freedoms like privacy.

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Privacy vs Surveillance Feed @ Feed Distiller - Add your blog if its on topic

Voyages to mostly empty null spots in the solar system, seem boring to me both from the point of view of space science and from the POV of human achievement. It would be worth it, if they were going to place permanent way stations, there. Even then, way stations are only worth it, if there somewhere to go on to.

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Mars is fascinating, is there life there. What can we know about the history of the Solar System from there. Will it be easy to colonise. I think Mars and the Moon are both worth manned missions and permanent basis.

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Its so damn expensive getting stuff up into space, and so useful having stuff up there. That is ought to be worth, have manufacturing and mining bases out there. These ought to be as robotic as possible. People on earth ought to be able to by shares in and operate asteroid mining ROV (remote operated vehicles) as fun investments. There is a lot of expensive metals up there, to make it worth while. Other manu factoring options, a chip foundry, solar cell plant, smelting for aluminium, iron and titanium (plenty Al, and Ti on the moon), oxygen from the moon-rock, hydrogen from the solar wind, carbon, methane from the asteroids. Space bases manufacturing for space based operations.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller - Add your Feed if you have on topic

Voyages to mostly empty null spots in the solar system, seem boring to me both from the point of view of space science and from the POV of human achievement. It would be worth it, if they were going to place permanent way stations, there. Even then, way stations are only worth it, if there somewhere to go on to.

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Mars is fascinating, is there life there. What can we know about the history of the Solar System from there. Will it be easy to colonise. I think Mars and the Moon are both worth manned missions and permanent basis.

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Its so damn expensive getting stuff up into space, and so useful having stuff up there. That is ought to be worth, have manufacturing and mining bases out there. These ought to be as robotic as possible. People on earth ought to be able to by shares in and operate asteroid mining ROV (remote operated vehicles) as fun investments. There is a lot of expensive metals up there, to make it worth while. Other manu factoring options, a chip foundry, solar cell plant, smelting for aluminium, iron and titanium (plenty Al, and Ti on the moon), oxygen from the moon-rock, hydrogen from the solar wind, carbon, methane from the asteroids. Space bases manufacturing for space based operations.

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Space Craft Feed @ Feed Distiller - Add your Feed if you have on topic

Its not an omen, it just that Venus has developed Jupiter envy.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiiler

Its not an omen, it just that Venus has developed Jupiter envy.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiiler

What sort of culture would a beast that's busts out humans (and predictors) stomachs have. Possibly a huge catalog of which species make could homes for there young, and how best to subdue them. Epic tales of queens valiantly defined there nests against nature disasters maybe.

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Sci-Fi Movie Feed @ Feed Distiller

What sort of culture would a beast that's busts out humans (and predictors) stomachs have. Possibly a huge catalog of which species make could homes for there young, and how best to subdue them. Epic tales of queens valiantly defined there nests against nature disasters maybe.

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Sci-Fi Movie Feed @ Feed Distiller

Yeah the lead will absorb radiation, but when it absorbs those fast neutrons from the fusion reaction, it will split like uranium does in fission. Except some very nasty radioactive daughter products. With the lead, this is not be clean energy, it will rather dirty indeed.

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Nuclear Power Feed @ Feed Distiller

Yeah the lead will absorb radiation, but when it absorbs those fast neutrons from the fusion reaction, it will split like uranium does in fission. Except some very nasty radioactive daughter products. With the lead, this is not be clean energy, it will rather dirty indeed.

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Nuclear Power Feed @ Feed Distiller

Similar to reiserfs in terms of tolerance. Oh great, thats safe, just don't marry it. :-), Look up reiserfs on slashdot, if you don't get that. Seriously though thanks for all the hard work from Linus developers.

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Linux Feed @ Feed Distiller

Similar to reiserfs in terms of tolerance. Oh great, thats safe, just don't marry it. :-), Look up reiserfs on slashdot, if you don't get that. Seriously though thanks for all the hard work from Linus developers.

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Linux Feed @ Feed Distiller

If survival is best metric of Intelligence and there measuring it on a computer game. The winning AI bot will be the one that stays far away from Gordon Freeman.

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AI Feed @ Feed Distiller

If survival is best metric of Intelligence and there measuring it on a computer game. The winning AI bot will be the one that stays far away from Gordon Freeman.

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AI Feed @ Feed Distiller

Haven't to where funny glasses just to watch the programs doesn't sound comfortable to me. And I wouldn't be surprised if people don't get eye ache out of watching it.

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British TV Feed @ Feed Distiller

Haven't to where funny glasses just to watch the programs doesn't sound comfortable to me. And I wouldn't be surprised if people don't get eye ache out of watching it.

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British TV Feed @ Feed Distiller

Maybe Jumpgate Evolution will be the MMO Elite that will eat my time, like Elite first did when I was young. Looking forward to it, I think.

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MUD Games @ Feed Distiller

Maybe Jumpgate Evolution will be the MMO Elite that will eat my time, like Elite first did when I was young. Looking forward to it, I think.

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MUD Games @ Feed Distiller

Why should aliens probe every part of the galaxy, with probes that leave evidence in solar systems for millions of years. More likely, a nanosize probe, would be sent and send back results. More over is there any particular reason to colonize a whole galaxy, the distances been the stars are to big for any practical trade, so it economics is against it.

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Astronomy Feed @ Feed Distiller