It pains me to read where China is doing this and that, while everyone in USA talks about how great we once were. Although there are articles discussing woes of some of the Chinese high speed rail systems but systems here in USA are being torpedoed for one reason or another (i.e. Calif highspeed rail project).
This talk of high speed rail is too expensive, doesn't go everywhere, etc. Dammit you gotta start someplace and somewhere. If you don't maintain and update country's commerce then it will choke into a third world country.
Avengers?
Fantastic Four (maybe Five?)
Justice League of America?
Or should he be a loner like Spiderman, Flash, or Green Latern?
What about a Captain America type? Who would be his sidekick?
Or a dynamic duo where he teams up with The Woz?
What kinds of superheroines would be most appropriate in this comic?
Wasn't there a similar post about cargo lost? I bookmarked this page on "Gallery of Transport Loss -- Photos & Lessons of Disaster" at http://www.cargolaw.com/gallery.html and oh man are there zillions of photos of all kinds of transport accidents. Some cargo damaged at ports but the amount lost at sea is staggering! Though be careful as this site is interesting and can become a huge timepit surfing through all the pics.
All kinds of disasters including "Meals Ready to Explode" (ya know all them MREs with water activated heaters, what about containers filled with MREs with their heaters and water gets inside), http://www.cargolaw.com/2001nightmare_mre2.html
Here's an interesting mention from the cargolaw webpage:
"We are frequently asked the question: Do Containers Float? Why yes, they do -- at least for a while depending upon the container age, whether there are holes and the volume of air within the stow.
There are many documented cases of partially submerged containers -- floating just at the surface which have been hazards to navigation. In Year 2000 the entire crew of the F/V Solway Harvester fishing trawler perished when their vessel struck a partially submerged container in the North Sea -- laden with mayonnaise. You probably have never considered mayonnaise to be dangerous. "
Regarding "where the data is" discussion, it is contractors that collect and store data for govt security clearances. I wonder if they might outsource these databanks like they do for everything else. And if these will eventually end up in China or India. I haven't seen any reliable articles that would say otherwise or not. Or if this is a concern or not (but I sure hell like to know about this kind of outsourcing).
I know women wear smaller bikini's these days but masses of women in lingerie must have been nice to live with while the sexual revolution was in full bloom and women had not yet become equal.
An article discussed superpowers between the men and women. Men had strong powers (physical strength, directed energy, i.e. Cyclops) while the women had "soft powers" i.e. force fields and invisibility (Fantastic Four "Invisible Girl" now cast as "Invisible Woman") or indirect disruption not entirely predictable (Scarlet Witch). The latter of probably how most men view women. Whoever they may be or what powers, the superheroines were all hot babes in tight outfits and still follow same formula but with fashion updates (which I think most of the time dilutes original character but then many of these characters are older than most slashdotters and those that follow Marvel characters).
Speaking of fashion, I always wondered how some of these women are portrayed in the stories as compared to how they actually would be considered in reality. For instance the Scarlet Witch (the 1960s version) a busty well shaped gal with big hair, heavy makeup in a outfit like a playboy bunny with go-go boots and long gloves. In the comics all the guys didn't pay much attention to her but then comics with Comics Code Approval seal and to stay that way*. There is the Invisible Girl but if you can't see her then not much to look at. There was one story when Sue Storm and Reed Richards were out looking for a home in the suburbs. A group of kids said, "hey look it's the Invisible Girl! Everybody knows what the Invisible Girl looks like. Hey, can you show us how you turn invisible?"
*Exception during that time was a couple issues of Spiderman which Peter Parker's roommate had a drug addiction problem. Stan Lee wanted to stick with the story to illustrate how such addictions are damaging, he had to forgo the Comics Code stamp.
Oops, sorry no X-men reference. Except they did "battle" Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch a few times those two were employed by Magneto.
For me, whenever I read "Star Wars" in articles, I always think, "ongoing re-tread/re-write/re-cast of the 1970s movie." It seems Star Trek has same trend. Cmon' these guys got lotsa bux or is it the issue of $50 million for special effects, $5K for writers?
Consider if same was done for Gunsmoke and Bonanza, there's only seven plots to a western.
Before I'm dead of old age, I'd like to see some new material (and a new manned spacecraft flown from USA but that's for another thread). I guess I'll have to get off my butt and do it myself.
Over the past decades there have been lots of papers about fuel, transfer of fuel, fuel needed, etc. I'd like to see a large scale demo of fuel transfer. Not some little demo on ISS but something of "man size" magnitude. It looks like this is a good project, I always wanted to try it myself but I just never had enough money.
First objective is launch both at (or close to) same time, and get them to dock. Second, demonstrate transfer of fuel. They do it here on earth but doing it on large scale in space? Pros and cons of cryogenic fuels vs. hypergolic (i.e. hydrazine) fuels.
Then third objective is send that spacecraft beyond LEO, not GEO but a huge distance to show means of actuallly going somewhere. Yes, it will take fuel to get the fuel to orbit but will this increase BEO capability beyond Voyager/Cassini size spacecraft? Will it enable faster Mars transit time? Will it violate the laws of physics (i.e. Rocket Equation)? What will probably shoot this thing down is the money, which is all what we scream about these days.
They are looking for $200M to demo (why cryogenic only? maybe start with this and work on others later). If this shows promise then maybe we'll finally get somewhere.
I say forget trying a HLV, that is a political non-starter. Medium launchers and fuel transfer is needed if want humans beyond earth orbit. Forget trying to build a 130t launcher, the money will never be allocated and if it does it may be yanked next year or soon after. Look how much bitching over SLS, by the time they agree we will all be dead of old age!
This method was one of the modes for Apollo but it was a significant challenge to be sure both rockets will launch (if one can't make it, then the second one is useless). If delay in one, you don't want to be hanging out in LEO for an unknown amount of time, probably can but that will lead to other issues to deal with. They agreed with John Houbolt and went LOR.
It was said Macs are like Catholicism and PCs are like Protestantism, from one of these/. threads of the Mac vs. PC. One of comments is you're guarenteed salvation but have to follow the faith, the other is finding salvation is up to your own devices (choices).
>part that the crew rode up to the Mars transit vehicle
I wonder how serious they were on this vehicle, that "Apollo on steriods" never impressed me that much except it would be the last manned (HSF) spacecraft this country would produce. oh wait, Elon may come up with something...
No but as soon as you have to replace key equipment to prevent death, then the Mars simulation is disqualified. Specific test that needs to be done is a full duration test (i.e. testing an emergency 24-hr generator has to be tested 24 hours, not 10 minutes).
To really simulate a Mars mission, have this module run full duration without any resupply or deliveries of failed equipment i.e. Elektron oxygen generator. Ugh, if module has life threatening failures of equipment then either let them figure it out or die, or provide backup equipment and then disqualify the simulated mission. However, we have seen what is needed for a long duration mission. I never could understand how they regard the Orion as being a Mars vehicle when it has no room for exercise equipment. ISS crews workout a lot and equipment is much more than a bungee cord that was used on Gemini.
An article from TV Guide in the 1950s titled "Seven Ways to Plot a Western" (I have a hardcopy someplace from an English writing class back in 1970s), instructor gave copies of this article to students. Original author described all the scripts he wrote for TV and movie westerns basically had only seven plots, he tried to create an eighth but failed. Plots were (let me see if I can recall all of them):
1. Marshall Dillon story, sheriff facing outlaws, High Noon for example
2. Union Pacific story, involving railroads
3. King Ranch story, these involve ranches of immense size, of tycoons battling the laws of nature, the land
4. Indians story (author did write in 1950s this theme is changing from Indians being bad to simply defending their native territory being taken)
5. [forgot name of story] involving cow country heros and villians
6. Jesse James story, how upbringing made the person what they are. Author wrote you can never go wrong with a villian story and can always count on this plot being a good money maker at the box office.
7. [ I can't remember!]
Speaking of plots, what about space movies? It seems all involve laser beam battles or alien space monsters (exception 2001, Apollo 13, and very few others). So far we've been getting constant retreads from the 20th century, i.e. Star Wars and Star Trek.
Or maybe it's simply Hollywood has priced themselves out of the market (it costs money to hire all those lawyers going out sueing people) and as many have posted, "$50 million on special effects, $5,000 on writers." So they only stick with crime/law, medical, or reality shows (for the latter, they can save that $5000!).
> Down here in the South we definitely have been growing in manufacturing.
Could it be many of these "manufacturing" businesses are military related and/or govt spending? It seems the south benefits from federal spending, i.e. more federal money goes into some of these states than what those states pay out (in taxes). In California it is the opposite. Although I don't have numbers or database links to show.
This reference to MAFIAA reminded me of another gang lord Al Capone who said something like (I think, haven't verified), "Reason I don't have to pay taxes on my profits is because those profits are from illegal activities which are non-taxable!"
If there is one thing that is amazing is there are (were) celebrations of a Russian (or precisely Soviet) space accomplishment at a NASA facility. This was last year at NASA Ames Research Center, this year budget issues prevented this year's Yuri's Night but they had Yuri's Education Day (http://ynba.org/2011/).
Last year's event had all kinds of people you typically don't see at a NASA facility. Plus the music was really loud with all the flashing lights, etc. in same building that housed research aircraft (XV15, ER-2, QSRA which are all now long gone). And sometimes the smoke you smell coming from certain groups that is not cigarette or stage smoke. I asked some 20-somethings of what they think of it all, generally they see Gagarin's flight not as a competition between two countries but his flight was the evolutionary step of all mankind.
So here we are 50 years since Yuri's flight, and the big announcement is what museums will contain the Space Shuttles! It seems we all succumbed to being flatlanders. Only looking straight ahead (for profits) or looking down (for oil) instead of looking up, out, and beyond.
Sergei was offered the Nobel prize for Sputnik and Gagarin's flight. Nobel committee only knew of him as "Chief Designer" but USSR says these accomplishments are of "all people." They don't give the Nobel prize posthumously. What is amazing is he managed to stay alive from the gulags! An excellent book, "Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon" by James Harford, http://www.amazon.com/Korolev-Masterminded-Soviet-Drive-America/dp/0471327212/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Book has many interviews with several of Sergei's colleagues. One of them mentioned when Kennedy said America is going to race USSR to the moon. Russians could either compete in the race or not. They did neither (kind of like what America is doing now).
What if Korolev had died in the gulags? What if there were other "greats" who perished under Stalin's rule, and which certain things that could have been did not happen?
Why NASA? Because aeronautics research is NASA's job.
--
If the lessons of history teach us any one thing, it is that no one learns the lessons that history teaches.
We can learn from Ames' history. NACA is NASA’s predessor:
(from a NASA photo file):
Dr. Ames was a founding member of NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. Ames took on NACA’s most challenging assignments but mostly represented physics. He chaired the Foreign Service Committee of the newly-founded National Research Council, oversaw the NACA’s patent cross-licensing plan that allowed manufacturers to share technologies.
Ames expected the NACA to encourage engineering education. He pressed universities to train more aerodynamicists, then structured NACA to give young engineers on-the-job training. Ames gave the NACA a focused vision that was research-based and decided that aerodynamics was the most important field of endeavor. He championed the work of theorists like Max Munk. The world class wind tunnels at Langley Aeronautical laboratory reflected his vision as well as the faith Congress put in him. Ames became chairman of the NACA main committee in 1927.
Two years later he accepted the Collier Trophy on behalf of the NACA. He kept the NACA alive when Herbert Hoover tried to eliminate it and transfer its duties to industry.
Ames accepted a nomination by Air Minister Hermann Goring to the Deutsche Akademie der Luftfartforschung. Ames then considered it an honor, many Americans did, and was surprised to learn about the massive Nazi investment in aeronautical infrastructure, then six times larger than the NACA. Ames urged the funding for a second laboratory and expansion of the NACA facilities to prepare for war.
A stroke in May 1936 paralyzed the right side of his body. He immediately resigned as chairman of the NACA executive committee and in October 1937 he resigned from the NACA main committee. On June 8, 1944 the NACA officially dedicated its new laboratory in Sunnyvale California to Joseph S. Ames.
Ames died in 1943, having never stepped foot in the new laboratory that bears his name; the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (known today as the Ames Research Center). In a letter to William Durand who led the dedication ceremony, Henry H. “Hap” Arnold called “Dr. Ames the great architect of aeronautical science.... It is most appropriate that it should now be named the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, for in this laboratory, as in the hearts of airmen and aeronautical scientists, the memory of Joseph S. Ames will be enshrined as long as men shall fly.”
> mass suicides of students will likely result from the lack of being tethered to their Shitter and Fakebook accounts.
Don't laugh, it's happened before, well not suicides but numerous panic children running through the school grounds trying to get a cellphone connection when entire south Santa Clara county cellphone/internet system went down from the infamous April 2009 cable cut. One of the amateur radio guys provided assistance (local govt emergency managers had hams stationed at schools, parks, other major public areas) said all these kids running out the buildings through the yards holding their cellphones high trying to "get some bars" and many were crying.
Exactly. This is why to never go down that road of HLV, even if funded this year does not mean it will be funded in later years. A lot can happen in just a few years, there may be another war in a few years.
>Call me when we have something that can out lift the Saturn V.
It has been said any proposal to develop a Saturn V class vehicle (heavy lift of 100 tons or more) is a non-starter. Reasons are development costs would so expensive Congress will never approve such a program. And if they did, there would be no money left for spacecraft development. Dennis Wingo has presented this argument many times on nasawatch.com and I agree. For many decades ***nothing*** has come about except proposals and artwork.
Even for Saturn V, they stopped production (back when we had lotsa $$$ to spend) because it was unsustainable. When Ares V was proposed, it hit with a thud because it was a big expensive one-shot use for simply flying to the moon while we still debate as why.
But.... this Falcon looks really interesting (it's big but not too big) and I like the schedule because I will not be dead of old age when it finally flies.
>Sucks for anyone who's scheduled launch parties or travel plans to view it in person.
you simply have to deal with it. continue to sleep in whatever motel (or car) or better yet RV, eat whatever, mitigate time off from work (somewhat unpredictable). From talking with people that witnessed STS launches, the SRB flame is really bright, it's quiet when it leaves the pad then the sound comes roaring. Dammit, I'm going though the trip won't be cheap. I heard the mosquitos are merciless.
Viewing Soyuz launches are not as big and loud as Shuttles but it looks like a real festive environment with hundreds of people all around the launch pad (with the rocket venting boil off O2), digitaries wanting pics with the cosmonauts, various rituals with Russian generals and priests prior to boarding spacecraft. It seems to have it's own kind of excitement. Unlike Shuttle, I heard it is rare Soyuz have launch delays, i.e. there is no "weather" in Baikonur.
> If a music CD was $3, not $20, would you own your own copy?
Yes, if I can simply stop by a store for purchase on the way home from work. I have something tangible, I don't have deal with internet connectivity, input user account and password, etc. Just open the case, pop the CD in and enjoy the music. And there are some nice box sets with photos and reading material (it's real, you can hold it in your hands). However, there isn't much out there that is new that I'm interested in, I have plenty of CDs as it is. I guess I can't get too excited with new artists (on another subject there hasn't been a "New Sound" for some years, i.e. rap and hip hop been around for at least 25 years).
Regarding actual items, the old LP vinyls had distinction of large pictures that can be scanned for posters. i.e. Connie Francis and Julie London.
Thanks to tibit I found this webpage, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has a website at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ which has a number of papers on health statements of radiation, some include characteristics of nuclear radiation (rest mass, charge, typical energy range, path length, etc.)
Slashdot Mirror
I forgot to mention in my earlier post is don't have to deal with search and inspection when getting on the train unlike airplanes.
It pains me to read where China is doing this and that, while everyone in USA talks about how great we once were. Although there are articles discussing woes of some of the Chinese high speed rail systems but systems here in USA are being torpedoed for one reason or another (i.e. Calif highspeed rail project).
This talk of high speed rail is too expensive, doesn't go everywhere, etc. Dammit you gotta start someplace and somewhere. If you don't maintain and update country's commerce then it will choke into a third world country.
Avengers?
Fantastic Four (maybe Five?)
Justice League of America?
Or should he be a loner like Spiderman, Flash, or Green Latern?
What about a Captain America type? Who would be his sidekick?
Or a dynamic duo where he teams up with The Woz?
What kinds of superheroines would be most appropriate in this comic?
Wasn't there a similar post about cargo lost? I bookmarked this page on "Gallery of Transport Loss -- Photos & Lessons of Disaster" at http://www.cargolaw.com/gallery.html and oh man are there zillions of photos of all kinds of transport accidents. Some cargo damaged at ports but the amount lost at sea is staggering! Though be careful as this site is interesting and can become a huge timepit surfing through all the pics.
All kinds of disasters including "Meals Ready to Explode" (ya know all them MREs with water activated heaters, what about containers filled with MREs with their heaters and water gets inside), http://www.cargolaw.com/2001nightmare_mre2.html
Here's an interesting mention from the cargolaw webpage:
"We are frequently asked the question: Do Containers Float? Why yes, they do -- at least for a while depending upon the container age, whether there are holes and the volume of air within the stow. There are many documented cases of partially submerged containers -- floating just at the surface which have been hazards to navigation. In Year 2000 the entire crew of the F/V Solway Harvester fishing trawler perished when their vessel struck a partially submerged container in the North Sea -- laden with mayonnaise. You probably have never considered mayonnaise to be dangerous. "
Regarding "where the data is" discussion, it is contractors that collect and store data for govt security clearances. I wonder if they might outsource these databanks like they do for everything else. And if these will eventually end up in China or India. I haven't seen any reliable articles that would say otherwise or not. Or if this is a concern or not (but I sure hell like to know about this kind of outsourcing).
I know women wear smaller bikini's these days but masses of women in lingerie must have been nice to live with while the sexual revolution was in full bloom and women had not yet become equal.
An article discussed superpowers between the men and women. Men had strong powers (physical strength, directed energy, i.e. Cyclops) while the women had "soft powers" i.e. force fields and invisibility (Fantastic Four "Invisible Girl" now cast as "Invisible Woman") or indirect disruption not entirely predictable (Scarlet Witch). The latter of probably how most men view women. Whoever they may be or what powers, the superheroines were all hot babes in tight outfits and still follow same formula but with fashion updates (which I think most of the time dilutes original character but then many of these characters are older than most slashdotters and those that follow Marvel characters).
Speaking of fashion, I always wondered how some of these women are portrayed in the stories as compared to how they actually would be considered in reality. For instance the Scarlet Witch (the 1960s version) a busty well shaped gal with big hair, heavy makeup in a outfit like a playboy bunny with go-go boots and long gloves. In the comics all the guys didn't pay much attention to her but then comics with Comics Code Approval seal and to stay that way*. There is the Invisible Girl but if you can't see her then not much to look at. There was one story when Sue Storm and Reed Richards were out looking for a home in the suburbs. A group of kids said, "hey look it's the Invisible Girl! Everybody knows what the Invisible Girl looks like. Hey, can you show us how you turn invisible?"
*Exception during that time was a couple issues of Spiderman which Peter Parker's roommate had a drug addiction problem. Stan Lee wanted to stick with the story to illustrate how such addictions are damaging, he had to forgo the Comics Code stamp.
Oops, sorry no X-men reference. Except they did "battle" Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch a few times those two were employed by Magneto.
For me, whenever I read "Star Wars" in articles, I always think, "ongoing re-tread/re-write/re-cast of the 1970s movie." It seems Star Trek has same trend. Cmon' these guys got lotsa bux or is it the issue of $50 million for special effects, $5K for writers?
Consider if same was done for Gunsmoke and Bonanza, there's only seven plots to a western.
Before I'm dead of old age, I'd like to see some new material (and a new manned spacecraft flown from USA but that's for another thread). I guess I'll have to get off my butt and do it myself.
Over the past decades there have been lots of papers about fuel, transfer of fuel, fuel needed, etc. I'd like to see a large scale demo of fuel transfer. Not some little demo on ISS but something of "man size" magnitude. It looks like this is a good project, I always wanted to try it myself but I just never had enough money.
First objective is launch both at (or close to) same time, and get them to dock. Second, demonstrate transfer of fuel. They do it here on earth but doing it on large scale in space? Pros and cons of cryogenic fuels vs. hypergolic (i.e. hydrazine) fuels.
Then third objective is send that spacecraft beyond LEO, not GEO but a huge distance to show means of actuallly going somewhere. Yes, it will take fuel to get the fuel to orbit but will this increase BEO capability beyond Voyager/Cassini size spacecraft? Will it enable faster Mars transit time? Will it violate the laws of physics (i.e. Rocket Equation)? What will probably shoot this thing down is the money, which is all what we scream about these days.
They are looking for $200M to demo (why cryogenic only? maybe start with this and work on others later). If this shows promise then maybe we'll finally get somewhere.
I say forget trying a HLV, that is a political non-starter. Medium launchers and fuel transfer is needed if want humans beyond earth orbit. Forget trying to build a 130t launcher, the money will never be allocated and if it does it may be yanked next year or soon after. Look how much bitching over SLS, by the time they agree we will all be dead of old age!
This method was one of the modes for Apollo but it was a significant challenge to be sure both rockets will launch (if one can't make it, then the second one is useless). If delay in one, you don't want to be hanging out in LEO for an unknown amount of time, probably can but that will lead to other issues to deal with. They agreed with John Houbolt and went LOR.
It was said Macs are like Catholicism and PCs are like Protestantism, from one of these /. threads of the Mac vs. PC. One of comments is you're guarenteed salvation but have to follow the faith, the other is finding salvation is up to your own devices (choices).
I wonder how serious they were on this vehicle, that "Apollo on steriods" never impressed me that much except it would be the last manned (HSF) spacecraft this country would produce. oh wait, Elon may come up with something...
No but as soon as you have to replace key equipment to prevent death, then the Mars simulation is disqualified. Specific test that needs to be done is a full duration test (i.e. testing an emergency 24-hr generator has to be tested 24 hours, not 10 minutes).
To really simulate a Mars mission, have this module run full duration without any resupply or deliveries of failed equipment i.e. Elektron oxygen generator. Ugh, if module has life threatening failures of equipment then either let them figure it out or die, or provide backup equipment and then disqualify the simulated mission. However, we have seen what is needed for a long duration mission. I never could understand how they regard the Orion as being a Mars vehicle when it has no room for exercise equipment. ISS crews workout a lot and equipment is much more than a bungee cord that was used on Gemini.
An article from TV Guide in the 1950s titled "Seven Ways to Plot a Western" (I have a hardcopy someplace from an English writing class back in 1970s), instructor gave copies of this article to students. Original author described all the scripts he wrote for TV and movie westerns basically had only seven plots, he tried to create an eighth but failed. Plots were (let me see if I can recall all of them):
1. Marshall Dillon story, sheriff facing outlaws, High Noon for example
2. Union Pacific story, involving railroads
3. King Ranch story, these involve ranches of immense size, of tycoons battling the laws of nature, the land
4. Indians story (author did write in 1950s this theme is changing from Indians being bad to simply defending their native territory being taken)
5. [forgot name of story] involving cow country heros and villians
6. Jesse James story, how upbringing made the person what they are. Author wrote you can never go wrong with a villian story and can always count on this plot being a good money maker at the box office.
7. [ I can't remember!]
Speaking of plots, what about space movies? It seems all involve laser beam battles or alien space monsters (exception 2001, Apollo 13, and very few others). So far we've been getting constant retreads from the 20th century, i.e. Star Wars and Star Trek.
Or maybe it's simply Hollywood has priced themselves out of the market (it costs money to hire all those lawyers going out sueing people) and as many have posted, "$50 million on special effects, $5,000 on writers." So they only stick with crime/law, medical, or reality shows (for the latter, they can save that $5000!).
> Down here in the South we definitely have been growing in manufacturing.
Could it be many of these "manufacturing" businesses are military related and/or govt spending? It seems the south benefits from federal spending, i.e. more federal money goes into some of these states than what those states pay out (in taxes). In California it is the opposite. Although I don't have numbers or database links to show.
This reference to MAFIAA reminded me of another gang lord Al Capone who said something like (I think, haven't verified), "Reason I don't have to pay taxes on my profits is because those profits are from illegal activities which are non-taxable!"
If there is one thing that is amazing is there are (were) celebrations of a Russian (or precisely Soviet) space accomplishment at a NASA facility. This was last year at NASA Ames Research Center, this year budget issues prevented this year's Yuri's Night but they had Yuri's Education Day (http://ynba.org/2011/).
Last year's event had all kinds of people you typically don't see at a NASA facility. Plus the music was really loud with all the flashing lights, etc. in same building that housed research aircraft (XV15, ER-2, QSRA which are all now long gone). And sometimes the smoke you smell coming from certain groups that is not cigarette or stage smoke. I asked some 20-somethings of what they think of it all, generally they see Gagarin's flight not as a competition between two countries but his flight was the evolutionary step of all mankind.
So here we are 50 years since Yuri's flight, and the big announcement is what museums will contain the Space Shuttles! It seems we all succumbed to being flatlanders. Only looking straight ahead (for profits) or looking down (for oil) instead of looking up, out, and beyond.
Sergei was offered the Nobel prize for Sputnik and Gagarin's flight. Nobel committee only knew of him as "Chief Designer" but USSR says these accomplishments are of "all people." They don't give the Nobel prize posthumously. What is amazing is he managed to stay alive from the gulags! An excellent book, "Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon" by James Harford, http://www.amazon.com/Korolev-Masterminded-Soviet-Drive-America/dp/0471327212/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top
Book has many interviews with several of Sergei's colleagues. One of them mentioned when Kennedy said America is going to race USSR to the moon. Russians could either compete in the race or not. They did neither (kind of like what America is doing now).
What if Korolev had died in the gulags? What if there were other "greats" who perished under Stalin's rule, and which certain things that could have been did not happen?
Why NASA? Because aeronautics research is NASA's job.
--
If the lessons of history teach us any one thing, it is that no one learns the lessons that history teaches.
We can learn from Ames' history. NACA is NASA’s predessor:
(from a NASA photo file):
Dr. Ames was a founding member of NACA (National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics), appointed by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. Ames took on NACA’s most challenging assignments but mostly represented physics. He chaired the Foreign Service Committee of the newly-founded National Research Council, oversaw the NACA’s patent cross-licensing plan that allowed manufacturers to share technologies.
Ames expected the NACA to encourage engineering education. He pressed universities to train more aerodynamicists, then structured NACA to give young engineers on-the-job training. Ames gave the NACA a focused vision that was research-based and decided that aerodynamics was the most important field of endeavor. He championed the work of theorists like Max Munk. The world class wind tunnels at Langley Aeronautical laboratory reflected his vision as well as the faith Congress put in him. Ames became chairman of the NACA main committee in 1927.
Two years later he accepted the Collier Trophy on behalf of the NACA. He kept the NACA alive when Herbert Hoover tried to eliminate it and transfer its duties to industry.
Ames accepted a nomination by Air Minister Hermann Goring to the Deutsche Akademie der Luftfartforschung. Ames then considered it an honor, many Americans did, and was surprised to learn about the massive Nazi investment in aeronautical infrastructure, then six times larger than the NACA. Ames urged the funding for a second laboratory and expansion of the NACA facilities to prepare for war.
A stroke in May 1936 paralyzed the right side of his body. He immediately resigned as chairman of the NACA executive committee and in October 1937 he resigned from the NACA main committee. On June 8, 1944 the NACA officially dedicated its new laboratory in Sunnyvale California to Joseph S. Ames.
Ames died in 1943, having never stepped foot in the new laboratory that bears his name; the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory (known today as the Ames Research Center). In a letter to William Durand who led the dedication ceremony, Henry H. “Hap” Arnold called “Dr. Ames the great architect of aeronautical science.... It is most appropriate that it should now be named the Ames Aeronautical Laboratory, for in this laboratory, as in the hearts of airmen and aeronautical scientists, the memory of Joseph S. Ames will be enshrined as long as men shall fly.”
> mass suicides of students will likely result from the lack of being tethered to their Shitter and Fakebook accounts.
Don't laugh, it's happened before, well not suicides but numerous panic children running through the school grounds trying to get a cellphone connection when entire south Santa Clara county cellphone/internet system went down from the infamous April 2009 cable cut. One of the amateur radio guys provided assistance (local govt emergency managers had hams stationed at schools, parks, other major public areas) said all these kids running out the buildings through the yards holding their cellphones high trying to "get some bars" and many were crying.
Exactly. This is why to never go down that road of HLV, even if funded this year does not mean it will be funded in later years. A lot can happen in just a few years, there may be another war in a few years.
It has been said any proposal to develop a Saturn V class vehicle (heavy lift of 100 tons or more) is a non-starter. Reasons are development costs would so expensive Congress will never approve such a program. And if they did, there would be no money left for spacecraft development. Dennis Wingo has presented this argument many times on nasawatch.com and I agree. For many decades ***nothing*** has come about except proposals and artwork.
Even for Saturn V, they stopped production (back when we had lotsa $$$ to spend) because it was unsustainable. When Ares V was proposed, it hit with a thud because it was a big expensive one-shot use for simply flying to the moon while we still debate as why.
But.... this Falcon looks really interesting (it's big but not too big) and I like the schedule because I will not be dead of old age when it finally flies.
...by those who know what RF is. And not do something stupid like allocate broadband systems next to GPS spectrum.
you simply have to deal with it. continue to sleep in whatever motel (or car) or better yet RV, eat whatever, mitigate time off from work (somewhat unpredictable). From talking with people that witnessed STS launches, the SRB flame is really bright, it's quiet when it leaves the pad then the sound comes roaring. Dammit, I'm going though the trip won't be cheap. I heard the mosquitos are merciless.
Viewing Soyuz launches are not as big and loud as Shuttles but it looks like a real festive environment with hundreds of people all around the launch pad (with the rocket venting boil off O2), digitaries wanting pics with the cosmonauts, various rituals with Russian generals and priests prior to boarding spacecraft. It seems to have it's own kind of excitement. Unlike Shuttle, I heard it is rare Soyuz have launch delays, i.e. there is no "weather" in Baikonur.
> If a music CD was $3, not $20, would you own your own copy?
Yes, if I can simply stop by a store for purchase on the way home from work. I have something tangible, I don't have deal with internet connectivity, input user account and password, etc. Just open the case, pop the CD in and enjoy the music. And there are some nice box sets with photos and reading material (it's real, you can hold it in your hands). However, there isn't much out there that is new that I'm interested in, I have plenty of CDs as it is. I guess I can't get too excited with new artists (on another subject there hasn't been a "New Sound" for some years, i.e. rap and hip hop been around for at least 25 years).
Regarding actual items, the old LP vinyls had distinction of large pictures that can be scanned for posters. i.e. Connie Francis and Julie London.
Neutron Beam Design, Development, and Performance for N
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TERRY JOHNSON KING The Neutron Beam Murder 1965 HB DJ
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Thanks to tibit I found this webpage, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has a website at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/ which has a number of papers on health statements of radiation, some include characteristics of nuclear radiation (rest mass, charge, typical energy range, path length, etc.)