it sounds like a no brainer to me but the people who hold the purse strings are rarely predictable when it comes to spending money.
There's way more than money at stake here. Maybe Hubble is worth the risk to the astronaut's lives, but you can't just ignore that issue.
This is going to sound cold - but its realistic.
The astronauts lives really aren't worth considering. They are volunteers and know the score - and there are hundreds if not thousands more where they came from. OTOH, the Orbiters are multi-billion dollar irreplaceable national assets. Assets without which we cannot complete ISS after another loss. And even though the ISS is about the most expensive way to do the engineering and biological research needed as a percursor to a Mars mission - it's all we have for the forseeable future.
You can buy a lot of crappy gas generators at the Lowes across the street for $1M. I think I would have sent two guys there and two guys to the gas station to keep the essentials online.
Does Lowes also sell the controls needed to synchronize the generators? (I.E. speed controls and phasing relays and monitoring equipment?) AC generators are emphatically not like DC batteries, you can't simply string them up willy-nilly.
Yes, it means expen$ve. Unless I'm a company with deep pockets - I'm very unlikely to have the cash (and time and energy) to follow that path. From the vendors side, if you show up and threaten a subpoena - you'll be shown the door. (And marked as an asshole who gets (at most) the bare minimum of customer service at best.)
Equally, if your lawyer (either vendor or customer) is worth his salt, he'll advise you to not to either threaten or file, unless your losses are considerable.
It may not always apply, but between that, and assisting them in tracking the fraud (unless it was internal, of course)
Even if it wasn't external - its a rare (to the point of virtual nonexistence) company who has any interest at all in opening their records to the scrutiny of outsiders. If I was the vendor - I'd thank the customer, make it right with him, and then chase the trail myself to the extent that I could. (Which probably won't be very far.) But I wouldn't open my books.
These are physical items. It's not like software. You buy them from a store. The store has to have them on hand or order them. Either way, since the store you're buying them from did not make them, shipment will be required. So just keep following each shipment back until you find the company that manufactured the parts or the company that "cannot find their records".
You missed a major step there - the store, and each step higher in the chain must open their records to you for this to work. Any guess on how likely this is?
At any rate - the ability to throw rocks from the moon has nothing to do with tactical operations in Earth orbit.
True. I wonder, though... which is greater, the amount of diffraction a high-energy laser fired 300,000 km through vaccuum, or the amount of diffraction of the same high-energy laser fired 500 km through atmosphere?
Unfortunately the total power at the target is but a tiny fraction of the whole equation. It will be orders of magnitude more difficult to target the laser, orders of magnitude more difficult for the sensors to generate the targeting information (unless they themselves are in Earth orbit - introducing additional problems), maintenance will be orders of magnitude more expensive, etc... etc... You have to examine the whole system to determine which is 'best'. (Once you decide what the criteria for 'best' is and whether they are obtainable under your budget celing and near term technology...)
Merit badges are typically awarded for the completion of a task (hiking, camping, good works, &c), not for passively NOT doing something.
If you can't be bothered to read TFA, at least read the summary;
Scouts will now be able to learn a merit badge for anti-piracy related activities, including create public service announcements urging others not to steal movies or music. (Emphasis added for the clue impaired.)
This reminds me of the children in 1984 who were trained to turn anyone who may have comitted a thought-crime.
Back when I was in the Boy Scouts (mumble years ago) we were taught that reporting and preventing crime was a good thing.
I realize the Boy Scouts like to try to teach morals and the like, but it doesn't sit well that the *AA's would be able to create a new merit badge and start indoctrinating them.
Ah yes - teaching people that breaking the law is wrong is immoral and 'indoctrination'.
Don't get me wrong here - I don't think modern IP/Copyright/whatever law is correct, but it is the law. Media pirates and thieves are on the wrong side of it - period.
This could have some awesome applications, especially on space missions. Imagine the next generation of mars probes and the resolution of the pictures taken if a camera near the size of current ones could have thousands of times the resolution.
This is unlikely for several reasons 1) resolution is far more limited by optical aperture than by the CCD array, 2) the system reads its images over a longish span of time - not good when your target is passing rapidly beneath you, and 3) the system requires considerable postprocessing - this either means you have to slow down the rate at which you take pictures, or eat scarce communications bandwidth.
And of course, you also need to think about spy satellites. But perhaps the coolest application would be on space telescopes...
I'm only saying it from here at my desk because its too rainy and cold to get up on the roof and shout it from there. R.A.H. got essentially nothing right about his catapult system and payloads - or grossly misreprented it in order to make the plot work. There isn't a third choice.
At any rate - the ability to throw rocks from the moon has nothing to do with tactical operations in Earth orbit.
Being on top of a mountain is pretty much useless if everything of interest is at the bottom.
Then why are most castles and fortifications placed on the highest ground available?
Who cares why castles and fortifications are placed on high ground? The two situations (castles and space installations) are not in any way analogous.
With regards to the Earth, the Moon is "higher ground".
No, with regards to operations in Earth's orbit, the Moon is a distant and difficult to reach mountaintop miles distant from the battlefield and seperated from it by a burning desert and a wide and storm tossed ocean. Sure, its 'higher' - but that's not the only measure of military effectiveness and usefulness, not by a long shot.
With vulnerable satelites, the next level would be a moon base. There's not much an Earth-based attack can do against a moon base. We're at the bottom of the gravity well.
A moon base is about as useful for a terrestrial conflict, or for terrestrial commercial purposes as a bicyle is to a fish. Being on top of a mountain is pretty much useless if everything of interest is at the bottom.
While obviously allowing relationships to suffer so you can surf eBay is a problem, where is the line between relying on the internet for news and information and addiction?
There isn't a fine line - there's a 10 foot high wall, clearly marked with Day-Glo orange stripes and strobe lights.
Anyone who thinks that there was not ample evidence of a strong possibility of Iraqi WMD is, quite frankly, delusional or utterly ignorant of the facts - there is no third possibility. (And, contrary to popular belief, a 'strong possibility' is about as good as it gets in the intel and inspection worlds.)
Cite some of those facts please. It would be compelling if they were from a source without a vested interest in supporting the invasion, since they are facts and not opinions there ought to be enough neutral sources reporting them out there.
Try, for example, the reports of the UN inspection team. (Here's a clue for you since you seem to live in a world without them; not one nation doubted the likely existence of Iraqi WMD in the ramp up to war. If you think all nations got their facts from 'sources with a vested interest in supporting the invasion' (whoever these imaginary people are), then you are disconnected from reality.)
Not many Presidents can boast of being asleep at the wheel while another nuclear power was born.
Actually - outside of the British nuke and possible the French one, every President who was in office when such a nation was born has been 'asleep at the wheel'. Every one of them has come as a near complete surprise. (The South African bomb was a particularly nasty surprise.) Then there is the ongoing Brazilian/Argentinian nuclear development standoff - which is heating up again, and of which most Slashdotters seem ignorant of the existence of.
If you meant 'Bush did nothing about this bomb when he could have', then you live in a fantasy world. (Clue - China has been a roadblock to handling NK once and for all since the start of the Korean War.)
Anyone that still thinks the middle east wasn't about oil is delusional. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction yet we knew N Korean was capible of making them.
Anyone who thinks that there was not ample evidence of a strong possibility of Iraqi WMD is, quite frankly, delusional or utterly ignorant of the facts - there is no third possibility. (And, contrary to popular belief, a 'strong possibility' is about as good as it gets in the intel and inspection worlds.)
This just became Bush's biggest disaster and that's saying a lot. Hey at least gays can't marry so we got the important stuff done! Nice to see we have priorities in the US.
Anyone who thinks the President can't do more than one thing at a time is beyond delusional - he lives in a paranoid little fantasy world of his own.
I am more afraid of the countries/groups who have nuclear capabilities but aren't telling anyone - should they exist.
It's commonly thought that they don't exist - because the list of countries with a) significant nuclear research and technical expertise, b) money and/or slave labor and, c) don't already have the bomb (or have had it and given it up) is essentially empty.
That being said - there is a short list of countries that don't currently have the bomb, but are believed to be capable of fielding one on short notice should they so desire - and right at the top of *that* list, is Japan. (Right behind it is Germany and few other European nations.)
...That's not to say complete damm fools don't exist - they do. But they are no more 'typical' than the average Slashdot user.
Really? Because I see 5 or 6 every single week.
I see - you make your point by telling only half the story. Because you don't tell us what percentage of total machines you see each week those 5 or 6 constitute.
People that just click on whatever button to get it out of their way are everywhere.
Sure, they are 'everywhere', but 'everywhere' != 'typical'. Even by the the unscientific method of watching Usenet,webforum, and email traffic - I don't see a significant number of users dropping offline for any period of time. Such departures would be symptomatic of users who need their computers cleaned because the infestation has brought to a grinding halt. Nor do I hear anecdotal evidence of such severe infestations except on Slashdot. Etc... etc...
If such infestation was as common as Slashdot legend would have us believe - then there would be secondary evidence in other places. That evidence is notable by its utter absence.
Their virus/trojan/spyware-laden machines are my bread and butter.
Which statement is incompatible with your account of how many you see each week.
I agree with what you're saying, but it could be argued that he was mimicking the behavior of the typical computer user...
Sure - if the 'typical computer user' in the wild bore any relation to the 'typical computer strawman' of Slashdot myth and legend. (That's not to say complete damm fools don't exist - they do. But they are no more 'typical' than the average Slashdot user.)
Slashdot Mirror
This is going to sound cold - but its realistic.
The astronauts lives really aren't worth considering. They are volunteers and know the score - and there are hundreds if not thousands more where they came from. OTOH, the Orbiters are multi-billion dollar irreplaceable national assets. Assets without which we cannot complete ISS after another loss. And even though the ISS is about the most expensive way to do the engineering and biological research needed as a percursor to a Mars mission - it's all we have for the forseeable future.
And just what powers the air conditioners?
Does Lowes also sell the controls needed to synchronize the generators? (I.E. speed controls and phasing relays and monitoring equipment?) AC generators are emphatically not like DC batteries, you can't simply string them up willy-nilly.
Ah - that was not clear in your original post, which implied an individual ('you').
Yes, it means expen$ve. Unless I'm a company with deep pockets - I'm very unlikely to have the cash (and time and energy) to follow that path. From the vendors side, if you show up and threaten a subpoena - you'll be shown the door. (And marked as an asshole who gets (at most) the bare minimum of customer service at best.)
Equally, if your lawyer (either vendor or customer) is worth his salt, he'll advise you to not to either threaten or file, unless your losses are considerable.
Even if it wasn't external - its a rare (to the point of virtual nonexistence) company who has any interest at all in opening their records to the scrutiny of outsiders. If I was the vendor - I'd thank the customer, make it right with him, and then chase the trail myself to the extent that I could. (Which probably won't be very far.) But I wouldn't open my books.
Yes, I did RTFA. Doesn't change the fact that it's dumb.
Why in heck cast something out of silver that you are going to paint?
Unfortunately the total power at the target is but a tiny fraction of the whole equation. It will be orders of magnitude more difficult to target the laser, orders of magnitude more difficult for the sensors to generate the targeting information (unless they themselves are in Earth orbit - introducing additional problems), maintenance will be orders of magnitude more expensive, etc... etc... You have to examine the whole system to determine which is 'best'. (Once you decide what the criteria for 'best' is and whether they are obtainable under your budget celing and near term technology...)
Thats certainly true - but it has absolutely nothing to do with my statement. (And 'working against' is not the same as 'breaking'.)
If the law isn't moral by definition - then you have niether laws nor morals, only anarchy.
If you can't be bothered to read TFA, at least read the summary;
Back when I was in the Boy Scouts (mumble years ago) we were taught that reporting and preventing crime was a good thing.
Ah yes - teaching people that breaking the law is wrong is immoral and 'indoctrination'.
Don't get me wrong here - I don't think modern IP/Copyright/whatever law is correct, but it is the law. Media pirates and thieves are on the wrong side of it - period.
This is unlikely for several reasons 1) resolution is far more limited by optical aperture than by the CCD array, 2) the system reads its images over a longish span of time - not good when your target is passing rapidly beneath you, and 3) the system requires considerable postprocessing - this either means you have to slow down the rate at which you take pictures, or eat scarce communications bandwidth.
The same objections apply to both applications.
I'm only saying it from here at my desk because its too rainy and cold to get up on the roof and shout it from there. R.A.H. got essentially nothing right about his catapult system and payloads - or grossly misreprented it in order to make the plot work. There isn't a third choice.
At any rate - the ability to throw rocks from the moon has nothing to do with tactical operations in Earth orbit.
And if a frog had wings it wouldn't bump it's ass.
I actually bothered to read and think about the problem and situation posited.
Once you've already chosen the wrong hardware - no amount of software will fix the problem.
Who cares why castles and fortifications are placed on high ground? The two situations (castles and space installations) are not in any way analogous.
No, with regards to operations in Earth's orbit, the Moon is a distant and difficult to reach mountaintop miles distant from the battlefield and seperated from it by a burning desert and a wide and storm tossed ocean. Sure, its 'higher' - but that's not the only measure of military effectiveness and usefulness, not by a long shot.
A moon base is about as useful for a terrestrial conflict, or for terrestrial commercial purposes as a bicyle is to a fish. Being on top of a mountain is pretty much useless if everything of interest is at the bottom.
There isn't a fine line - there's a 10 foot high wall, clearly marked with Day-Glo orange stripes and strobe lights.
Try, for example, the reports of the UN inspection team. (Here's a clue for you since you seem to live in a world without them; not one nation doubted the likely existence of Iraqi WMD in the ramp up to war. If you think all nations got their facts from 'sources with a vested interest in supporting the invasion' (whoever these imaginary people are), then you are disconnected from reality.)
Actually - outside of the British nuke and possible the French one, every President who was in office when such a nation was born has been 'asleep at the wheel'. Every one of them has come as a near complete surprise. (The South African bomb was a particularly nasty surprise.) Then there is the ongoing Brazilian/Argentinian nuclear development standoff - which is heating up again, and of which most Slashdotters seem ignorant of the existence of.
If you meant 'Bush did nothing about this bomb when he could have', then you live in a fantasy world. (Clue - China has been a roadblock to handling NK once and for all since the start of the Korean War.)
Anyone who thinks that there was not ample evidence of a strong possibility of Iraqi WMD is, quite frankly, delusional or utterly ignorant of the facts - there is no third possibility. (And, contrary to popular belief, a 'strong possibility' is about as good as it gets in the intel and inspection worlds.)
Anyone who thinks the President can't do more than one thing at a time is beyond delusional - he lives in a paranoid little fantasy world of his own.
It's commonly thought that they don't exist - because the list of countries with a) significant nuclear research and technical expertise, b) money and/or slave labor and, c) don't already have the bomb (or have had it and given it up) is essentially empty.
That being said - there is a short list of countries that don't currently have the bomb, but are believed to be capable of fielding one on short notice should they so desire - and right at the top of *that* list, is Japan. (Right behind it is Germany and few other European nations.)
I see - you make your point by telling only half the story. Because you don't tell us what percentage of total machines you see each week those 5 or 6 constitute.
Sure, they are 'everywhere', but 'everywhere' != 'typical'. Even by the the unscientific method of watching Usenet,webforum, and email traffic - I don't see a significant number of users dropping offline for any period of time. Such departures would be symptomatic of users who need their computers cleaned because the infestation has brought to a grinding halt. Nor do I hear anecdotal evidence of such severe infestations except on Slashdot. Etc... etc...
If such infestation was as common as Slashdot legend would have us believe - then there would be secondary evidence in other places. That evidence is notable by its utter absence.
Which statement is incompatible with your account of how many you see each week.
Sure - if the 'typical computer user' in the wild bore any relation to the 'typical computer strawman' of Slashdot myth and legend. (That's not to say complete damm fools don't exist - they do. But they are no more 'typical' than the average Slashdot user.)