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User: Vectormatic

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  1. Re:Have $100 million? on Countries Considering Circumlunar Flight From ISS · · Score: 1

    current Soyuz TMA capsules can sustain operations (life support etc..) for 30 person days, granted with three people on board that might be cutting it a bit close for lunar operations, but still more then the total mission time for apollo 11 (which actually did a lunar landing)

    Also, these things can be modified, it is only logical that recent Soyuz developments mostly focussed on oribital/ISS operations. If they want to do a moon-shot, they can adapt the current TMA design for longer duration missions (perhaps simply by removing 1 crew member, or filling up some of the orbit-module space with resources)

  2. Re:Wow! on Countries Considering Circumlunar Flight From ISS · · Score: 1

    if the circumlunar craft they are considering is capable of returning to the ISS (instead of just doing an apollo style direct re-entry), then having a fuel-bunker on the ISS would allow this craft to make multiple trips without ever returning to earth, in essence, making it a real space-ship.

    returning to the ISS also requires extra fuel, so my proposal would be a small/light spacecraft, optimized for in-vacuum travel (engines optimized for vacuum conditions etc..), no re-entry heat shield, large expandable fuel tanks etc.. which is launched up to the ISS. Then a second launch can supply fuel (just use a big bulk non man-rated launcher), which carries it all up in expendable fuel tanks (so no extra storage module is needed on the ISS), and then have the crew just fuel up the craft and take off for a lunar trip.

    If designed well, this construct could also make the shuttle obsolete for in-orbit repairs/operations, just add an airlock, manipulator arm and some cargo space and you could do a hubble repair with this, instead of having to launch an entire craft from the bottom of the gravity well

  3. Re:Wow! on Countries Considering Circumlunar Flight From ISS · · Score: 1

    no, we need to convince you americans that osama is hiding in a cave on mars, there will be space marines on site within the decade.

    rods from god are easily doable as it is, DoD would just develop and launch a few satelites, no real gain for space exploration

  4. Re:So will they stop suing Google? on IBM and Oracle To Collaborate On OpenJDK · · Score: 1

    given that android executable files arent called *.jar and arent java bytecode, i dont see how that matters, APK files dont run on any JVM, JAR files dont run on the dalvik VM and google doesnt claim that it does.

    As for your multi-os example, i fully agree that is a strength of java as a platform (which i use myself as well, even though windows has been all but banished from my personal IT structure), but when writing anything for a mobile device you need an emulator anyway, even if you use j2me instead of android. From my point of view android is a completely different platform, which in the current toolset from google, happens to use the java syntax (and many of its class libs) for development, making it much easier for java developers to use their skills to do mobile work (lets face it, j2me never got anywhere near the following as iOS objective C development, or android have)

  5. Re:If it makes Ubuntu feel any better.... on Ubuntu Won't Moan To EU About Microsoft · · Score: 1

    i setup a bottom-end dell $350 desktop for my aunt a few months back, and i was quite surprised at the lack of bloat/crap. It came with some virusscanner (i guess norton, not sure), but it actually had a 15 month subscription, so that seems pretty usefull right there, and mss office 2010 starter (or whatever the free version is called), not much of other bloatware to be found

    together with how quiet the thing was, and you get 4 gb of ram thrown in, i was quite impressed with that machine (would never buy a pre-built desktop for myself though, but thats another story)

  6. Re:Bleeeechhhh on Against Apple, Ballmer Floats Microsoft Merger With Adobe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    from that angle some secret sponsorship from intel is probably likely, just think of the cpu load of a version of flash developed by MS

  7. Re:Creepy. on Robot Controlled By Rat Brain · · Score: 1

    well, the table their cage is on is only 50 cm high, so it shouldnt really pose any problem, but from what i've seen, our rats just dont like jumping at all, even horizontal spans are mostly left alone.

    They do like climbing and just generally running around though, but even a 20cm drop will have them stop in their tracks..

  8. Re:A couple of points missed by the article... on Game Prices — a Historical Perspective · · Score: 1

    me too, three years ago on holiday in the czech republic :)

  9. Re:Yeah on Game Prices — a Historical Perspective · · Score: 1

    (except big sellers like Mario Kart and Modern Warfare).

    Mario kart has nothing to do with sales, nintendo just NEVER drop prices or anything, i'll bet you that if you can find an original GBA game from nintendo in shops, it'll still cost at least 90% of what it did at introduction

  10. Re:More missing. on Game Prices — a Historical Perspective · · Score: 1

    Actually, where OP is from (Netherlands), it's the norm to correct salaries for inflation. If your salary is never corrected for inflation, your employer is reaping the benefits and leaving you out cold. I know US employment rules are very different, but not correcting for inflation means you're earning less money every month. Maybe you should make it part of your contract negotiations to have periodical indexation of your salary. You would only be asking for what's fair.

    dutch guy here.. I never got any inflation correction, it just happens that this year my annual raise was higher then the inflation (still at the start of my cariere, so now i still have some growth there), but many of my coworkers got a 0% raise this year (and previous years). The same thing at my previous jobs, i did get raises (due to personal growth/promotion), but never inflation correction

  11. Re:Creepy. on Robot Controlled By Rat Brain · · Score: 1

    you think you are creeped out? we have five pet rats in the house, and most of the time their cage is open too! (they cant get out anyway, table is to high)

  12. Re:Broken News... on Astronaut Sues Dido For Album Cover · · Score: 2, Informative

    Who the fuck is Eminem?

    Cantankerous old coot since 1957.

    A modern day "vanilla ice" or "Marky mark", if you will..

  13. Re:Broken News... on Astronaut Sues Dido For Album Cover · · Score: 1

    You forgot metalhead... (my personal excuse, although i do know dido..)

  14. Re:Nice, but ... on Inventor Creates Flotation Device Bazooka · · Score: 1

    i realize the electronics are pretty small for a laser guidance kit, but the hardware to actually alter its course i think would be pretty serious, especially if you want to change course/compensate for a large gust within 150 meters.

    and i think the 40mm form factor would be awesome, you could make standard sized munitions and every soldiers could carry one rescue-round when in theaters where water is a-plenty

  15. Re:Nuclear Power! on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 1

    How big do you think a smart car is? as for gearboxes, electric motors dont need them, they provide mountains of torque right from 0 RPM up to ridiculous speeds (the tesla roadster has a 2 speed gearbox, up to 70 mph is in first), and for 90% of their range efficiency is very high. The obvious way to put electric motors in a tank would be one on every thread-wheel (with the added benefit it could still move on semi-solid/solid ground with its thread run off)

  16. Re:Nice, but ... on Inventor Creates Flotation Device Bazooka · · Score: 1

    Maybe Laser guided with a ballistic flight path and a bit of "no_hit_person" code in the guidance module so it lands near, but not on the designated target.

    this thing (probably) is purely balistic, so once it is fired, there is no way to compensate for sudden wind-gusts or anything, putting actual guidance electronics on it and some method of course correction probably makes this way to advanced/complex

    if they can package this into the standard 40mm grenade launcher cartridge, you could just take one of those revolver things and pump out six of those life-rafts in quick succesion, or better yet:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HK_GMG

  17. Re:Might not be the West... on Stuxnet Worms On · · Score: 1

    god no, that sort of thinking got my current project into the state it is today (and sadly, no-one thought to warn me before i was in to deep)

    If whoever did this has enough info to know exactly what kind of equipment the iranis have, they probably know which valves are used and how to actuate them properly, they also probably know what kind of reactor design it is, and how to sabotage it.

    Else, they wouldnt just need the valves for their mockup test, but a complete running reactor, and the only succesfull system test would be a full-scale meltdown..

  18. Re:This has to happen. on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 1

    just to make one point clear, i dont think afghanistan should be nuked, i think all of us western folk should get out of there and stop forcing our way of life on them.

    Protecting yourself from an enemy threat is okay enough, but this (and iraq) has gone WAY beyond that. The way to get along with afghani's is to give them fridges filled with coke and TVs, that sort of stuff got us out of our religious dark age, and it will do the same for them, just dont expect it within a few years

  19. Re:Nuclear Power! on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 1

    well i know railguns are in the experimental phase already, but considering they need to be overhauld after several firings, i think it will be a while untill they have it reliable enough for use as the main gun on a tank

  20. Re:Can't RTFA at work. Question: on Chrome OS Arrives On the iPad — No, Seriously! · · Score: 1
  21. Re:Nuclear Power! on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 1

    Well, i thought if you can build a nuke generator the size of a smart-car, that should be able to fit into the engine bay of a modern tank, along with a few heavy duty electric motors. Now, it is quite probable that that thing will pump out more power then the traditional tank-engine, which means you can haul more weight, in this case armor, to make your tank even more invulnerable than it is (which you want, with a nuke gen inside)

    Okay, the technology might be a decade away, and the railgun thing obviously wont happen for a while (and was somewhat sci-fi inspired, i will admit), but keeping an eye on that possibility might be a good thing to do

  22. Re:Small actions en-masse make a difference on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 1

    replacing the headlights with LEDs apparently can save several percent (which in long-term use can be detectable, not a single tank obviously)

  23. Re:This has to happen. on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 2, Insightful

    inform the Taleban that any attempt to capture one will result in that immediate area being denied to them for the next 3 centuries

    You think telling guys who believe their invisible friend commands them to kill the infidels who believe in the wrong invisible guy, that if they attack you, invisible "radiation" will strike them all down, and their children, and their childrens children too, will work?

    you might as well just nuke afghanistan right now, same end-result and a whole lots less work/fuss, and you might actually get rid of the taliban (which conventional war obviously isnt working for)

  24. Re:Nuclear Power! on US Military Orders Less Dependence On Fossil Fuel · · Score: 1

    i dont think a ring of claymores will be sufficient to protect such a target, once the enemy gets wind of a prize like that, they might decide to risk a large scale assault.

    As for size, if you can build a reactor the size of a smart car (saw that posted in this thread), fitting it into a main battle tank should be possible, and if power output is sufficient, you could add gobs more armour too (in a tank, adding 50 tons of extra weight means bigger engines/more fuel, if you already have that power anyway out of your little reactor, why not use it?)

    Hell, you could build a tank twice the size of an abrams with a dual heavy bore gun turret, weighing 200 tons or so, with semi-unlimited range. Now build a working rail-gun, and munition storage will also be much more efficient (a small metal bolt instead of a large anti-tank round with propellant)

  25. Re:Might not be the West... on Stuxnet Worms On · · Score: 1

    you dont need that for testing, you can simply monitor the outputs of the PLC to peripherals.

    It would require some pretty depe knowledge of how the system is set up however, to plan a failure mode with the desired effect, you cant simply gamble on "close every valve in the system" if you want an effective attack.

    So yeah, given the complexity of the targetted system, i think some college buddies in a basement in tel-aviv isnt very likely, this reaks of government involvement