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User: holmstar

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  1. Re:Really? on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 1

    well, assuming that SS2 has similar performance characteristics to SS1, the it should be able to achieve an altitude of about 70 miles, or 112.65 kilometers. Most nations have agreed that the edge of space is 100km, so technically it does make it into space. If it is a craft that can safely take its passengers beyond the edge of space and back, why shouldn't it be considered a spaceship? Not a particularly useful one maybe, but certainly a spaceship.

  2. Re:Theme song? on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 1

    How much are the tickets? I'm willing to fly coach. I bet there are already a bunch of dates blacked out.

    $200,000 And there is a $20,000 deposit.

  3. Re:Am I the only one? on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 1

    ME TOO! I've thought that since the first time I saw they guy. Because of that, It always seemed fitting to me that he decided to expand into space tourism.

  4. Re:It's ugly but it's the future of space explorat on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 1

    That's certainly true, but they probably wouldn't have gotten to that point as quickly as they did without NASA developing and handing them the technologies, or at least subsidizing the development of those technologies.

    I think the point the parent was trying to make is that governments have been leading development in space since the beginning. While it is still quite meager compared to what is happening on the government side, endeavors such as SS2, developed to make money and without government support, suggest that commercial companies leading the development of space may be just over the horizon.

    ...Or maybe SS2 is just a dead end, but I prefer to be an optimist.

  5. Re:It's ugly but it's the future of space explorat on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 1

    The US actually designed a shoulder launched atomic bomb. It wasn't really that powerful, (well actually it was incredibly impressive compared to conventional shoulder fired weapons) but it released quite a lot of radiation. It was intended to be used as an area denial weapon. Fire it into the path of an approaching army/tank battalion, and they would be forced to stop and go around the area that was hit by the shoulder fired bomb.

  6. Re:Oh my on Virgin Galactic Unveils SpaceShipTwo · · Score: 1

    Man, who took a crap in your Wheaties? You seem to have nothing better to do than say something negative about every optimistic post in here.

  7. Re:Underground methane leaking? on Martian Methane May Be Created By Lifeforms · · Score: 2, Interesting

    But the leading theory is that mars' core is relatively cool now. I don't know if that means that it is too cool for the aforementioned chemical process, but it should be considered.

  8. Re:Life on Mars on Martian Methane May Be Created By Lifeforms · · Score: 3, Informative

    Titan, which is quite a bit smaller than Mars, has an atmosphere 1.5 times as dense as Earths.

  9. Re:"Using a four-cylinder jet pack" on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    Nah, the telegraph invented the four cylinder jet pack. The experimenter just used four run of the mill jet turbine engines.

  10. Re:Ooooh... Intercontinental on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    Then you would say that Africa, Asia, and Europe are one continent as well?

  11. Re:Ooooh... Intercontinental on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    By that definition, Europe, Asia, and Africa would be one continent as well. Europe and Asia share a long land border and Asia is only separated from Africa by the Suez canal.

  12. Re:Ooooh... Intercontinental on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    Technically, they only need to conquer Panama.

  13. Re:As a typical American on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    I know you're joking, but even the people from Leno's "Jay-walking" bit would unlikely to mix up an average Canadian with an average Mexican.

  14. Re:Isn't the English Channel Larger? on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    Err... I meant intercontinental. Transcontinental would be travel over the width of the same continent as you started.

  15. Re:Isn't the English Channel Larger? on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    Yes, but last I checked, North America and Europe were different continents, so it was both trans-Atlantic and transcontinental.

    Regardless... The point is that the term transcontinental is *usually* used in reference to distances much greater than the width of the strait. Thus using it in the title, while technically accurate, is misleading.

  16. Re:Why the rockets? on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    It is also a totally different experience than flying with a jet powered wing strapped to your back.

  17. Re:Did he cross the English Channel to speak with. on Jetman Attempts Intercontinental Flight · · Score: 1

    It is a four engine wing, not four cylinder.

  18. Re:Brain Power on A Skeptical Reaction To IBM's Cat Brain Simulation Claims · · Score: 1

    So less than my microwave? That's pretty good in my opinion.

  19. Re:Kevlar on Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Developed · · Score: 1

    Except that kevlar isn't hard, rather it is flexible and has very high tensile strength. You could use it as the fibers in a composite, ala fiberglass, but it wouldn't be useful as structural component on it's own.

  20. Re:missing the point on Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Developed · · Score: 1

    So where are we supposed to produce all of those crops that grow well in tornado alley? People have to live there if we intend to grow crops. And we don't really have a choice there.

  21. Re:Go big or lose your wall on Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Developed · · Score: 2, Informative

    The point isn't to prevent destruction (have to repair or replace) the wall. It is to save the lives of the people on the inside of the building. This "wallpaper" idea seems to do well at that specific task when used on brick/masonry walls.

  22. Re:Energy T Y P E matters -- HOT water on The Jet Fighter Laser Cannon · · Score: 1

    yes, but what if that energy is focused on a 1 sq cm area? then you would be heating 1ml of tissue by about 170 degrees C. If you managed to do that in, say 1/10 of a second then you would have explosive vaporization of that tissue, the shock-wave of which causing damage to the surrounding tissues. Maybe not quite as bad as a bullet wound, but still a severe injury.

  23. Re:meat versus silicon and metal on IBM Takes a (Feline) Step Toward Thinking Machines · · Score: 2, Informative

    Five or 6 legged cattle are are not that uncommon... I've personally seen a five legged calf. The extra legs are always non-functional, and are generally surgically removed shortly after birth.

  24. Re:Bribery on Mark Cuban's Plan To Kill Google · · Score: 1

    Actually the get a "Coke" thing is limited to certain regions. In the northern mid-west, people don't ask for a coke (unless they want a coke), they ask for a soda, or a pop, or a soft drink. The first time I heard someone refer to a soda as a "coke" I thought they were nuts.

  25. Re:Efficiency not from drafting on "Road Trains" Ready To Roll · · Score: 1

    Drafting requires extreme proximity between vehicles...we're talking like 6ft/2m or so for vehicles of typical size. At even moderate highway speeds (60mph/100kph) that leaves about a twentieth of a second between vehicles, which is probably too much for even a computer to manage effectively, given the limits of the mechanical systems involved. And at lower speeds, the advantage of drafting is negligible.

    They are proposing doing exactly what you describe. Cars driving at high speeds only a few feet apart. It can certainly be done in cars that are built to that purpose. True, retrofitting existing cars would be tricky, because they generally aren't built for that kind of fine control, but building cars to that spec is just an engineering problem.