It doesn't matter how close they are, because we wouldn't be able to reach any of them with current technology. The nearest star is years away traveling at light speed. Traveling at current speeds would make that a several hundred year trip most likely. There is no way we can support a crew of astronauts for several hundred years of intrasolar travel.
Where would the fuel for heat come from? There is no way you can launch a couple hundred years worth of fuel up with the rocket, and solar power won't work too well once you get that far out. Food could be grown on board, but even this would be hard with current technology.
Plus, we have no clue what kind of junk is floating around out there.
Extrasolar travel just is NOT going to happen for several hundred years though. The technology is not around.
I really do hope we come up with an alternative to rockets soon. Rockets are expensive and messy. That said, we shouldn't stop launching rockets into space b ecause they release a small (relative) amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. I do think that we should do something useful when we get up there though.
Going to the moon and bringing back rocks is not good. We shouldn't go to the mooon again unless we plan to stay a while or use it as a stepping stone. It just isn't worth it, and mars won't be worth more than 1-2 trips either.
IMO, they should send a few more probes to mars to see how viable a colony would be there, and then we should set up at least a semi-permanent colony, not just do some lousy touch and go so we can say we were first...
Well, IMO, the apollo program was an inefficient waste of resources, the only benefits being bragging rights and prooving that the moon was infact not made of cheese.
Even the current space program has limited value.
I think NASA should (and are, from what I can tell) concentrate on the long term and come up with solutions for making space travel cheaper and commercially viable instead of wasting a large portion of their budget on launching hugely expensive rockets like the saturn rockets were.
NASA should get a bigger budget, but they shouldn't spend it on manned trips to mars and stuff. Except maybe the first couple of trips for bragging rights. I just think its smarter to think of cheap methods of space travel first, then we can go to mars whenever we want.
After all, the only thing we're likey to learn from going to mars is that there aren't little green men there..
Its not as though that much of the rocket fuel would get burned in the atmosphere. Probably 3-4 as much as the moon landings TOTAL.
Once you're into space, you orbit around the earth and use the gravity to slingshot you in the right direction, no need for much rockets there, except direction correcting and stuff.
Now, as to the value of a mars trip and return like this? I'd say minimal.
When they come up with plans for [semi]permanent colonies on the moon or mars, then I'll be interested..
All your points are correct aside from the stuff about the Mir.
Mir outlived everyone's expectations for it. Just because it fell into disrepair in the last few years (a long time after it's expected lifespan) says nothing to the quality of the project.
A trip to the moon is rather short, takes maybe a week to get there and back. Don't need much food and water for a week, but imagine how much you'd need for a 440+ day trip. Not to mention radiation sheilding and god knows what else..
Well, they'll eventually run out of money, because they won't be able to compete with the legal operations.
Granted, they could move to smuggling weapons, but they don't have sources for them, and frankly, there just isnt the same amount of money in it. the only countries with a large demand for weapons are the poorer countries, and there isn't enough money there to support the large cartels.
I dunno about counterfeit pharmaceuticals, the prescription drug market in the US at least is strongly controlled, and aside from the drugs that are under patent, they don't cost all that much..
Warez groups and Mp3 ripping groups have been doing this for a while. You can vouch for the song and remain anonymous at the same time. Just create a fictional name, tag all your song with that name, and put a text file with the checksums of all the files in the directories with the files.
Granted, this particular form is more common with FTP, but I see how people could program the P2P clients to add a tag to mp3 files (ID3 maybe..) and create a file with all the checksums. The tags added to the files could be as simple as username or people could choose a custom tag. The people downloading files could look at the tag to see where it's coming from. If they get junk from one particular tag, they could put a filter in to block all the files with that tag. The tags could be part of the user's profile, and are checked for uniqueness when the user sets the account up.
Actually Minus Tirith and Minas Ithil(Morgul) are two cities, not towers, and they aren't really prevalant until RotK right before the final battle.
I have always interpreted the 'Two Towers' in te name as referring to the union between Barad-Dur and Orthanc, as this is where most of the action is. Saruman gets confronted about his treachery and Orthanc is overtaken by the Ents. Anyway, Orthanc and Barad-Dur are the only two major towers listed by name in the books. A couple other towers are mentioned in passing, but some were destroyed or are no longer occupied..
4: THERE IS ABSULUTELY NOTHING DRIVERS CAN DO TO ADD FUNCTIONALITY THAT DOESN'T ALREADY EXIST IN THE HARDWARE ITSELF!!!>>
True on this one.
Although some companies (nVidia mainly) like to use the same chips for their high end graphics cards and their gaming cards, they just disable some features in the software for the gaming cards..
'He was never a member of the CIA or even close to being one. He was connected to several organizations and businesses with close ties to the CIA. I'm not even going to try to defend Bush Sr. though, he was IMO, one of the worst US presidents ever.' was referring to George Sr., not hoover.
And Russian President Vladimir Putin is a former KGB operative - so what? Weren't US Presidents J Edgar Hoover and George Bush Sr CIA chiefs? >>
J. Edgar Hoover was never a US president, he was the head of the FBI from 1924-1976(?).
He was never a member of the CIA or even close to being one. He was connected to several organizations and businesses with close ties to the CIA. I'm not even going to try to defend Bush Sr. though, he was IMO, one of the worst US presidents ever.
He doesn't have to give real world examples, only has to show that it is possible for the patriot act etc. to be used to violate the freedoms of US citizens. If you don't see how the patriot acct basically does away with the 4th amendment right against unlawful search and seizure, then you are really blind. Plus, there are several US citizens being held without trial, without even CHARGES right now. That, IMO, is the most dangerous precendent of all. How would you like a world where the government could just lock up people indefinately without charging them with a crime? And when they run out of time in the justice system they just declare you an enemy combatant and lock you up in military prisons where you have no legal representation and no contact to your family or anyone?
Might as well start sending the citizens they don't like of to the gulags right now..
Funny thing is, the Earth fights back. The USA has more (and bigger) natural disasters (tornados, earthquakes, floods, etc.) than any other country in the world. Makes you think about the Gaia theory...>>
I don't really see this.. I just see certain disasters overplayed in the media. We have a couple big hurricanes every now and then, and a few hundred people die, and tornadoes where maybe 5-10 people die in each. Compare this to monsoons and floods in southeast asia, where tens of thousands of people die. Granted, you could say this is because we have better weather prediction or they have more people, but, IMO, this is the best way to measure the magnitude of a disaster.
As for having the most disasters, it seems to me most of the 'disasters' in this country are completely overhyped compared to disasters in other countries (the big earthquakes in Japan recently). Go figure..
There are refrigerators out now that are incredibly efficient compared to years past. There is one that requires only the energy of a 75 watt incandescent bulb (less than a computer if you keep it running 24/7). The problem is that the energy efficient stuff isn't totally worth it, as the money saved on energy costs is still less than the difference in cost between the efficient and non-efficient appliances in many cases. I agree that computers are less energy draining than monitors/TVs/heaters/ovens/etc. though..
What a laugh: power outtages in California last summer because of computers power consumption.>>
Not quite, the power problems in california were caused by the government trying to do a half-assed job of regulating the energy market. The massive amount of computers in the SF area obviously had an effect of draining the available power even quicker, but it wasn't the cause.
Actually, the US IS reducing energy usage, but is doing it in a more free market way. People in the US aren't too keen on regulating business.
If only it was that way about what normal people can do..:/
I do agree with you that we should be doing more, although I don't agree with focusing on CO2 emissions, much more harmful things (in the short-term, no one knows about the long term) floating around in the atmosphere.
Also, about solar power, it's much to expensive to be used for anything but the lowest power applications, and most people don't count the energy it takes to make them and the lifespan of them. Then theres the whole lack of dependability factor, which could be overcome in many ways, but it would be kinda annoying if the power went off everytime it got cloudy.;) Don't even mention hydro, it is one of the most destructive forms of energy IMO. Clean does not equal enviromentally friendly..
IMO, we'll never solve this problem until we develop working fusion reactors, which would still cause plenty of heat pollution. I guess any energy source will leave us with some form of heat pollution though..
That game looks 2x better on PC than on Xbox. PCs have ALREADY eclipsed the power of the current consoles, at least at the high end part of the market..
Also, there are plenty of games coming that look better than anything I've seen on consoles(Doom III, SWG, and Unreal 2 being three of them).
The silly 13+ rule is because of the children online protection (not sure of the exact name of the bill) act that was passed a couple years back. It makes it illegal for websites to take information from children under 13 without their parents permission.
If you look around, nearly all websites now say you have to be 13 to register...:/
Re:Id like to see him try to stor the elements....
on
Periodic Table Table
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· Score: 1
Actually radon shouldn't be a problem at all, because the amount o uranium he would be storing wouldn't be nearly enough to even reach the level of everyday exposure many people get from radon leeching out of concrete..
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It doesn't matter how close they are, because we wouldn't be able to reach any of them with current technology. The nearest star is years away traveling at light speed. Traveling at current speeds would make that a several hundred year trip most likely. There is no way we can support a crew of astronauts for several hundred years of intrasolar travel.
Where would the fuel for heat come from? There is no way you can launch a couple hundred years worth of fuel up with the rocket, and solar power won't work too well once you get that far out. Food could be grown on board, but even this would be hard with current technology.
Plus, we have no clue what kind of junk is floating around out there.
I agree completely..
:/
I'm saying what they SHOULD do, not what they most likely WILL do.
I don't think NASA could survive being spun off like the post office yet though..
Extrasolar travel just is NOT going to happen for several hundred years though. The technology is not around.
I really do hope we come up with an alternative to rockets soon. Rockets are expensive and messy. That said, we shouldn't stop launching rockets into space b ecause they release a small (relative) amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. I do think that we should do something useful when we get up there though.
Going to the moon and bringing back rocks is not good. We shouldn't go to the mooon again unless we plan to stay a while or use it as a stepping stone. It just isn't worth it, and mars won't be worth more than 1-2 trips either.
IMO, they should send a few more probes to mars to see how viable a colony would be there, and then we should set up at least a semi-permanent colony, not just do some lousy touch and go so we can say we were first...
Well, IMO, the apollo program was an inefficient waste of resources, the only benefits being bragging rights and prooving that the moon was infact not made of cheese.
Even the current space program has limited value.
I think NASA should (and are, from what I can tell) concentrate on the long term and come up with solutions for making space travel cheaper and commercially viable instead of wasting a large portion of their budget on launching hugely expensive rockets like the saturn rockets were.
NASA should get a bigger budget, but they shouldn't spend it on manned trips to mars and stuff. Except maybe the first couple of trips for bragging rights. I just think its smarter to think of cheap methods of space travel first, then we can go to mars whenever we want.
After all, the only thing we're likey to learn from going to mars is that there aren't little green men there..
Well, there could always be mining, but we'd need to know what there was to mine, and have a way to get it back cheaply before that would work.
;)
Plus there is always tourism..
Its not as though that much of the rocket fuel would get burned in the atmosphere. Probably 3-4 as much as the moon landings TOTAL.
Once you're into space, you orbit around the earth and use the gravity to slingshot you in the right direction, no need for much rockets there, except direction correcting and stuff.
Now, as to the value of a mars trip and return like this? I'd say minimal.
When they come up with plans for [semi]permanent colonies on the moon or mars, then I'll be interested..
All your points are correct aside from the stuff about the Mir.
Mir outlived everyone's expectations for it. Just because it fell into disrepair in the last few years (a long time after it's expected lifespan) says nothing to the quality of the project.
Its not even close to the same thing..
A trip to the moon is rather short, takes maybe a week to get there and back. Don't need much food and water for a week, but imagine how much you'd need for a 440+ day trip. Not to mention radiation sheilding and god knows what else..
Not nearly as easy as it the moon landing..
I think that only applies to cable co. owned equipment, so I'm not sure if it applies here..
You could also argue that it is referring only to cable TELEVISION service, but im not sure of how that would work in court...
Well, they'll eventually run out of money, because they won't be able to compete with the legal operations.
Granted, they could move to smuggling weapons, but they don't have sources for them, and frankly, there just isnt the same amount of money in it. the only countries with a large demand for weapons are the poorer countries, and there isn't enough money there to support the large cartels.
I dunno about counterfeit pharmaceuticals, the prescription drug market in the US at least is strongly controlled, and aside from the drugs that are under patent, they don't cost all that much..
As opposed to the longevity and maturity of quake?
I find your view quite shortsighted.
There are plenty of good games on all the consoles and the PC, just a matter of taste...
Warez groups and Mp3 ripping groups have been doing this for a while. You can vouch for the song and remain anonymous at the same time. Just create a fictional name, tag all your song with that name, and put a text file with the checksums of all the files in the directories with the files.
Granted, this particular form is more common with FTP, but I see how people could program the P2P clients to add a tag to mp3 files (ID3 maybe..) and create a file with all the checksums. The tags added to the files could be as simple as username or people could choose a custom tag. The people downloading files could look at the tag to see where it's coming from. If they get junk from one particular tag, they could put a filter in to block all the files with that tag. The tags could be part of the user's profile, and are checked for uniqueness when the user sets the account up.
Actually Minus Tirith and Minas Ithil(Morgul) are two cities, not towers, and they aren't really prevalant until RotK right before the final battle.
I have always interpreted the 'Two Towers' in te name as referring to the union between Barad-Dur and Orthanc, as this is where most of the action is. Saruman gets confronted about his treachery and Orthanc is overtaken by the Ents. Anyway, Orthanc and Barad-Dur are the only two major towers listed by name in the books. A couple other towers are mentioned in passing, but some were destroyed or are no longer occupied..
4: THERE IS ABSULUTELY NOTHING DRIVERS CAN DO TO ADD FUNCTIONALITY THAT DOESN'T ALREADY EXIST IN THE HARDWARE ITSELF!!!>>
True on this one.
Although some companies (nVidia mainly) like to use the same chips for their high end graphics cards and their gaming cards, they just disable some features in the software for the gaming cards..
Sorry, I messed that up...
'He was never a member of the CIA or even close to being one. He was connected to several organizations and businesses with close ties to the CIA. I'm not even going to try to defend Bush Sr. though, he was IMO, one of the worst US presidents ever.' was referring to George Sr., not hoover.
Sorry for the confusion...
And Russian President Vladimir Putin is a former KGB operative - so what? Weren't US Presidents J Edgar Hoover and George Bush Sr CIA chiefs? >>
J. Edgar Hoover was never a US president, he was the head of the FBI from 1924-1976(?).
He was never a member of the CIA or even close to being one. He was connected to several organizations and businesses with close ties to the CIA. I'm not even going to try to defend Bush Sr. though, he was IMO, one of the worst US presidents ever.
He doesn't have to give real world examples, only has to show that it is possible for the patriot act etc. to be used to violate the freedoms of US citizens. If you don't see how the patriot acct basically does away with the 4th amendment right against unlawful search and seizure, then you are really blind. Plus, there are several US citizens being held without trial, without even CHARGES right now. That, IMO, is the most dangerous precendent of all. How would you like a world where the government could just lock up people indefinately without charging them with a crime? And when they run out of time in the justice system they just declare you an enemy combatant and lock you up in military prisons where you have no legal representation and no contact to your family or anyone?
Might as well start sending the citizens they don't like of to the gulags right now..
Funny thing is, the Earth fights back. The USA has more (and bigger) natural disasters (tornados, earthquakes, floods, etc.) than any other country in the world. Makes you think about the Gaia theory...>>
I don't really see this.. I just see certain disasters overplayed in the media. We have a couple big hurricanes every now and then, and a few hundred people die, and tornadoes where maybe 5-10 people die in each. Compare this to monsoons and floods in southeast asia, where tens of thousands of people die. Granted, you could say this is because we have better weather prediction or they have more people, but, IMO, this is the best way to measure the magnitude of a disaster.
As for having the most disasters, it seems to me most of the 'disasters' in this country are completely overhyped compared to disasters in other countries (the big earthquakes in Japan recently). Go figure..
:/
There are refrigerators out now that are incredibly efficient compared to years past. There is one that requires only the energy of a 75 watt incandescent bulb (less than a computer if you keep it running 24/7). The problem is that the energy efficient stuff isn't totally worth it, as the money saved on energy costs is still less than the difference in cost between the efficient and non-efficient appliances in many cases. I agree that computers are less energy draining than monitors/TVs/heaters/ovens/etc. though..
What a laugh: power outtages in California last summer because of computers power consumption.>>
Not quite, the power problems in california were caused by the government trying to do a half-assed job of regulating the energy market. The massive amount of computers in the SF area obviously had an effect of draining the available power even quicker, but it wasn't the cause.
Actually, the US IS reducing energy usage, but is doing it in a more free market way. People in the US aren't too keen on regulating business.
:/
;) Don't even mention hydro, it is one of the most destructive forms of energy IMO. Clean does not equal enviromentally friendly..
If only it was that way about what normal people can do..
I do agree with you that we should be doing more, although I don't agree with focusing on CO2 emissions, much more harmful things (in the short-term, no one knows about the long term) floating around in the atmosphere.
Also, about solar power, it's much to expensive to be used for anything but the lowest power applications, and most people don't count the energy it takes to make them and the lifespan of them. Then theres the whole lack of dependability factor, which could be overcome in many ways, but it would be kinda annoying if the power went off everytime it got cloudy.
IMO, we'll never solve this problem until we develop working fusion reactors, which would still cause plenty of heat pollution. I guess any energy source will leave us with some form of heat pollution though..
Have you seen Morrowind?
That game looks 2x better on PC than on Xbox. PCs have ALREADY eclipsed the power of the current consoles, at least at the high end part of the market..
Also, there are plenty of games coming that look better than anything I've seen on consoles(Doom III, SWG, and Unreal 2 being three of them).
No, it's much more simple than all that..
:/
The silly 13+ rule is because of the children online protection (not sure of the exact name of the bill) act that was passed a couple years back. It makes it illegal for websites to take information from children under 13 without their parents permission.
If you look around, nearly all websites now say you have to be 13 to register...
Actually radon shouldn't be a problem at all, because the amount o uranium he would be storing wouldn't be nearly enough to even reach the level of everyday exposure many people get from radon leeching out of concrete..
So I doubt it would hurt anyone at all..
That must be why my satellite service goes out during lightning storms!!
Eureka!