Mm....true...and I can see having web capability too (in the hardware biz, which is where I'm at, often it's nice to look something up for customers - tho I'm the only one in the store with the experience to get something useful out of google:)
But there's media player, activex, directx, and a whole slew of other parts of Windows that definitely *do not* belong on a POS terminal or even within the transactions backend/frontend... for security reasons if not just for cruftiness; plus, and this may just be IMHO, a mouse driven interface definitely does not belong on a POS terminal, it just slows one down. Elsewhere in the system, yes...but not on a sale term...
I do agree about the vender end. I just don't think that those applications should be written for windows:) It's like buying a Winnebago to commute to your desk job with... Linux/unix/*bsd can be streamlined and customized easier and in the process made much more secure.
That said, at work we're migrating from openserver (old Pace systems) to WinXP; they'd considered linux, which is what most of the store systems run on, but for whatever reason we ended up with windows (nobody up the chain I've talked to seems to know why, either... but the decision was made last March:) Considering all the systems are internet-connected, I hope it doesn't bite us in the ***.
Well, it's not NASA or space science in general - accidents screwups, I can understand.
What's pissing me off is the foolish attitude of the Bush Administration as regards science in general - and O'Keefe is right in with them. Safety concerns, my butt. Going to ISS is more dangerous, but ISS is the Admin's boondo^H^H^H^H^H^H baby. He's not even listening to the atronauts' opinions, which is bad enough (and foolish); hearing him tell the NAS that he'll "consider" their decision but that it won't change his mind is infuriating. Meanwhile the public disagrees with him and Bush - and it's taxpayer money they are spending here....
Mostly I'm pretty cool about things, but this kind of political election year pandering - and Bush's "M-M" initiative is no more than him trying to look like Kennedy - really infuriates me. Safety...CAIB or not, does O'Keefe seriously believe that working on ISS and putting together the infrastructure for a Moon/Mars program will be safer? He's a fool. IMO NASA should stick to doing what it does best - science, research, and science maintenance - and the gov should relax regs and encourage private co's to do space stations and manned exploration. Goldin seemed to understand what NASA's mission is - O'Keefe understands how to count beans and put them in their little numbered holes.
Grrr...:)
Anyway, yeah, Star Dragon is on my "must-read" list, it looks good. Real Soon Now. Life is full... I'm also helping edit another couple books by a couple friends, and writing (slowly and painfully) one of my own, sort of a time travel mystery (Painful, aye:) entitled The Mobius Rip.
Also hoping to make the Nebraska Star Party this year - missed it last year, this year=? - work is eating me alive... and enjoying my new home out here in the Black Hills - love it here, can't wait to get over to WY and do some field geology - I'm very much an amateur but love it anyway.
Anyway, cheers, gotta head off for work soon. I'll try to remember to shoot off an email later...
Yes, he (Goldin) was. Small missions.... he was riding a wild horse, but he did it extraordinarily well. Not his fault that he was up against a bipolar gov.
Man, Mike (pardonne), I so fucking mad right now....
Argh!:(
Goldin at least had some understanding of what NASA was about. It didn't save him from the Bush election year axe, tho.
How the hell are we supposed to have a coherent space policy when every administration alters the goals depending on the party in power? and my significant other wonders why I throw beer cans at things when I read these shit?:)
Dammmit, at least Goldin could cut budgets and at the same time not emasculate the basic science missions that NASA should be doing.
I guess I'm mostly angry about the death of the cutting research that NASA *SHOULD* be doing. That's what the real mandate was intended for.
Pardon my bias, but if our gov wasn't so corporate oriented.... well, hell, I don't have to preach to you about that, now, do I?
I should quit this now before I completely lose it. I need time to chill, I guess. Oh, Bog, I am angry. I haven't been this angry wrt to NASA in a while, despite...
Cheers, Mike. Like your page, haven't read your books yet. Will.
SB from Spearfish, SD, - wonderful geology here:) I'll try to email
Because it's taxpayer money that pays for it, and it's politics that controls that money.
That's why it's political.
I agree with you in that the service mission is paid for. Yes, it is. The hardware is there, the training has been done....but it's being cancelled for political reasons.
Come on, man, that's what is pissing a lot of people off. This has been on slashdot before, even. Did you not read the comments?
Just don't give the initiative to NASA to build shuttle repair vehicles. *shudder* please.
At least Goldin supported some decent ideas. O'Keefe is nothing more than another ignorant Bush admin schill.
Oh fuck, what's the point. ciroknight, at least direct it at those who deserve it....
SB
Mad does not even begin to describe my feelings right now.
In a desperate effort to save the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA is considering a rescue mission using a robot instead of astronauts.
In a desperate effort to save his ass from public flames, NASA's new administrator is backpedaling in the face of enormous opposition from the community he's just been put in charge of.
Fuck. Him.
and fuck that back when it was first mentioned that K. was going to kill Hubble, that there were a lot of people (including me) who were talking about tele-operated missions to save Hubble (but hey, that would be a budget saver, wouldn't it, Sean, and you're just backpedaling eh? -> you are a fucking political shill who is grasping at straws in the face of huge opposition) but now... oh....wait...it's an election year....
O'Keefe is a worthless POS. Fuck him and all he stands for.
/personal
Hey, Sean. Fuck you. I'm not a professional part of the community, so I can really speak out, you can't take my job away from me. You are a two-bit POS administrator who knows jack-fucking-shit about how important this all is. You're a simpleton political appointee who has no idea how important all this is, or how many people's lives you are screwing up. You goddamn heartless bastard.
Kiss my vampire-hours lily-white ass.
Shadowbearer, an extremely pissed off 25+ yr amateur astronomer. Oh, and Sean, Fuck You, but there are really no words to describe how disgusted the community from Pro-2-Am is with your bullshit.
Yeah, I know I should rant this elsewhere. I will. I have a weekend project now.
SB
PS Mad doesn't even describe my feelings right now.
Fuck O'Keefe. Political Ass. (oh, wait, Elephant...but real elephants have more brains than either the political elephants or donkeys. Apology. )
Election year my ass. This will be the year that the political system proves to the public just how fucked up it is. Already well on it's way. Anyone want to bet on voter turnouts next November? I'll bet it dumps 45%.
You are painting with just a broad a brush as the idiots who are pushing this.sex shit are.
This is not productive. What would be productive is sharing with those who agree with you, and working to change it. Every culture has it's dissidents, man, including America. Dog knows we need it right now...our government is going batshit crazy...but support for the people who don't agree with it would be nice, generalization about how all americans think that way isn't.
A lot of Americans are pissed off at the idiocy here. Why do you paint us as all being a lot of greedy, grasping nutcases? From a personal standpoint, Fuck You. I've spent nearly twenty years fighting against the idiocy in our government. You know what? It's a losing fight - which I know goddamned well that a lot of Europeans are familiar with - so why are you so busy flaming rather than helping out?
I don't know whether we can stop these out-of-control powergrabs. I don't know if there any real solutions short of violent revolution. But it'd be nice if the Rest of The World would realize that we're not all a lot of greedy morons. You know, we just might need your support if it comes to stopping this shit. We certainly don't need more hatred.
Goddamn. I am seeing way too much of this on slashdot recently. Some of it is justified. Some of it isn't. We're losing the fight here, hey, and we could use all the support we can get! If we lose this fight, the world is probably going to be pretty fucked up. So quit flaming us and help out, godammit. Any way you can.
I'm sorry for the rant, but I also get the impression that a lot of the world doesn't understand the agony in the US these days. For some reason, it reminds me of the international reactions to the craziness that was going on in Germany in the 30s. Don't know why.
Then it's not really crossing the line, is it? It's entertainment. People are entertained by seeing what he'll do. If he's truly offensive, then he's not being entertaining, and people don't watch
How very true.
Another example: The hugely popular George Carlin.
Who are *you* going to vote for this year? W? Kerry? Or Lib? Where exactly do you think it's going to change anything?
If more people got off their asses and voted
Voted for whom?
Jesus. When I hear shit like this I want to scream.
The country is going to hell because the people have voted in shysters, idiots and white-collar crim^H^H^H^H businesspeople who are raping it in the ass.
My point was that neither craft will do much of anything to revolutionize the industry. The poor performance of their craft and differing design concepts would be very poorly matched.
But my point was that this experimenting done by private companies is a *good* thing.
Unfortunately, most private launch entities have gone under due to political, legal, and social entanglements that prevented them from ever reaching space
Well, I said that:) my point was that the best way to profit for aerospace corporations would be cooperation rather than competition...
Basically, the public is standing in the way of the visionaries without even realizing it.
Yeah. *rant start + sorry*
"public" Yeah, I also said that too. The public likes the eye candy - that and other things are raising the interest in funding again.
Getting our lazy asses off this planet will probably never happen if we rely on public funding. The "public" is mostly interested in lining their own pockets and buying the latest designer jeans. (14 years of varied retail experience here, plus just "polling":)
But to be really honest, fuck the "public". I want to see private corporations get our asses off this planet. It's the only way that it's going to happen IMO. Oh, and not to repeat myself, but "FUCK THE PUBLIC"
I think we need a bigger hammer. Around 0.4km diameter falling on a populated area, like Wash:DC.:) - I have two relatives who live there, btw, who agree with that:) - (but then again, hell, if it just produces a tsunami in someplace like "medieval" islands in the Pacific, then it's not the fault of the "voters" is it?)/sarcasm Goddam people are stupid. Oh, shit, I shouldn't get started on that...
(sorry, I'm in a particularly bitchy mood tonite - nothing to do with life for me, just reading the news set me off - Middle East again)
Thanks for the link, I'll read it tomorrow when I'm not as pissed off as I am now.:)
Our country is in such a sorry state...beam me up, now....tired...just spend the whole day fixing people's plumbing and trying to predict what they'll buy this year and slap that into our POS POS system...motto is that any job that brings you into contact with the uninitiated can make you insane....confusion....political correctness...it's no wonder psychology is one of the fastest growing field...and if I pursue that train of thought any further, I won't need a tinfoil hat, it'll be automagically installed:)
Damnation, you and I are fundamentally in agreement. Arguing over details, we be. Such be the human condition (or maybe it's just my pedantic (/psychotic) tendencies:)
Reminds me of an old usenet sig: I'm not angry, I'm Pissed Off.
Shadowbearer mods this/. article redundant. News for Nerds? Come on, now!
What part of Voting means exactly doodle-squat nowadays is beyond the comprehension of the ~30% of voters who keep tilting at that windmill? This is new?
What, you say, some corporation introduced a electronic voting system that is insecure? Well, Breaking News: All of the voting systems are fundamentally insecure. You can't secure any system that relies on human interaction at some point. There's always someone smart enough to break it.
This country is going to hell like a ferret sliding on a 60 deg ice slope. Naval contemplation at it's finest. Sure, give the power to determine policy to the masses. Bells&Whistles meant to placate the lobbyists will be the most gentle immediate side-effect. That's a war we can't win, folks. No matter what side we're on.
Oh shit, there goes my karma. Whoop de fucking doo.
/rant fer cryin' out loud
If I sound angry, well.... maybe I'm fucking near postal. Deal with it. Be afraid. Be very afraid....because I'm not alone by any means.
The real feat of the X-Prize won't be in developing new technologies. The real feat of the X-Prize will be in sparking private sector interest in space.
That was my point.
Rutan is developing the launch/reentry vehicle, Armadillo is developing rocket motor/controls.
So if they, with some other groups, could combine their forces, they could achieve the real goal (which is a helluva lot more profitable in the long run than just winning the Xprize, no?)
I'm well aware of the lift capacities of the launch vehicles; and of the isp of different fuels. But that's not really the problem, is it? The main problem is that we're tied to one monolithic launch entity (NASA) and have been for far too long. You actually made my point for me in a subtle sense with the comment about relative launch platform ISP.
Come on, now. Government interest in any serious space program (at least here in the US) is dying. What's wrong with private companies banding together to make it a reality? The potential profit margin is enormous. Think of Hubble - if one could solicit contributions from the budgets of all the astronomers with an interest in still doing science from Hubble, and if there was a viable private concern with launch capability for a craft that could fix it, (nevermind all the stupid regulations, yeah, I know) than wouldn't that private CO stand to profit by it?
The longer that space advocates keep pretending that it's a government institution that should be doing it (because they are the only ones who can? Come on now) the longer it'll be until we see serious access to space.
Fuck the Xprize. The real prize will go to the first coalition of companies who develop a sustainable ground to orbit launcher and monopolize it (redundant). It ain't the 80s anymore - not wrt to space - but economically and regulation wise, it's more like "1984". Stupid, stupid stupid.
Dammit, sorry if I misunderstood your post, but this is not exactly a new argument. My post is just another rant by someone who's been following this for more than a quarter century and is pissed off at the bullshit. Ever wonder why it's only recently that private companies have got into the "space race" despite just about every major aerospace contractor since the 50s building equipment for it?
So if a law has potential to be misused, it should be struck down?
Nope, that's not what I said at all.
If a law has potential for abuse, it should have the potential to be struck down by the courts - without endless reviews (for crying out loud, we have obviously idiotic laws on the books that are more than a century old in a lot of jurisdictions). It rarely happens - but that was exactly what the checks and balances system was created for.
Show me where in the drug legislation instituted by the Reagan administration that local authorities could tie up property confiscated by people who were not convicted (and in some cases not even indicted) of a crime, in the courts for years, and force them to expend huge amounts of time and money to get their property back, and I'll start listening to you.
Show me where under the Patriot act that one can violate the Constitution by holding people without access to counsel, speedy trial, or bail, and I'll start listening to you.
It's happened. Do some fucking research. I'm not just posting this shit, I've participated as a jury member in some drug confiscation counter-lawsuit cases. You wouldn't belive the misconceptions that can cause innocent people to have to file civil lawsuits to get their property back. Goddamn, are you living in a news blackout?
Jesus, are you so seriously isolated that you haven't been following the news (here on slashdot, even) where it is being misused? Come on, already. Do you really believe that laws aren't more and more widely misused in this country by people who can see the loopholes in them?
Sorry, I just can't take you seriously. I'm nearly forty years old. I've seen it. There are a helluva lot of people my age and older who see our freedoms getting hijacked by bullshit just like this. Are you seriously saying they are all wrong?
Do your own fucking research. Learn something about the reality behind all the hype that you've been taught. It's obvious to me that there is no way that anything I could post in the way of references or experience that would convince you.
Holy fucking moley. I'm sorry for the rant style, but you really have to start looking into the ways that "law" can/is used and abused, if you want to understand the reality that trumps the paper the law is written on.
Seriously, man, I'm sorry for the rant; but if you're going to quote law, you at least should be cognizant of the reality in which it is applied.
Educate yourself. It's not up to me to do it. I am not getting paid for it, and my time is just as valuable as yours is, kiddo.
Rutan is probably going to win the Xprize - but more importantly, he's probably going to be the founder of the first serious orbital delivery system. He's certainly the leading contender if one considers startup companies - and he has the experience and funding to back it up.
That said, I also consider it likely that Carmack's team will contribute some good research into rocket motor design (and particularly WRT to the software that controls it). It'd be neat as hell to see the two of them combine their experience down the line...
It'd be neat to see the two of them (and a couple other Xprize contenders) join forces.
Geez already, it's not likely that one corporation will really be able to achieve a viable orbital delivery system. But a coalition of them just might.
As long as they keep it out of the greedy grasping hands of the Fed, I'd be happy even if they achieved a monopoly on orbital delivery....besides, it'd especially pissoff/inspire the government/public if a private coalition of companies could achieve something that hasn't really been done before...and Heinlein could tone down his posthumous rotational mode.
You guys at NCAR rock. Keep up the good work! Dangit, sooner or later someone will show NASA how it's done *grumble* @ overadministrated government programs.
Turn on those webcams! Stream video of everyone's life into the public domain! Record EVERYTHING YOU SEE and do! The information glut we could generate would overwhelm any monitoring system that could come out, I'm thinking.:)
and also give the government another excuse to spend more money to hire more dweebs (TSA) to monitor our activities, because after all, you know, we *could* be having illegal oral sex in the kitchen....
Not trolling, just pointing out that the effect of what you advocate could have a different result than what's intended. I do think that it's a very usable and even viable form of civil protest, especially if you can *guarantee* they have to monitor humdrum:)
Slashdot Mirror
Mm....true...and I can see having web capability too (in the hardware biz, which is where I'm at, often it's nice to look something up for customers - tho I'm the only one in the store with the experience to get something useful out of google
But there's media player, activex, directx, and a whole slew of other parts of Windows that definitely *do not* belong on a POS terminal or even within the transactions backend/frontend... for security reasons if not just for cruftiness; plus, and this may just be IMHO, a mouse driven interface definitely does not belong on a POS terminal, it just slows one down. Elsewhere in the system, yes...but not on a sale term...
I do agree about the vender end. I just don't think that those applications should be written for windows
That said, at work we're migrating from openserver (old Pace systems) to WinXP; they'd considered linux, which is what most of the store systems run on, but for whatever reason we ended up with windows (nobody up the chain I've talked to seems to know why, either... but the decision was made last March
SB
I'll say the same thing about POS machines. Why all that extra cruft for something that's just a complicated cash register?
:)
On the upside one can browse slashdot from our new registers (and ordering terminals, and inventory terms, and...)
SB
Well, it's not NASA or space science in general - accidents screwups, I can understand.
:)
... I'm also helping edit another couple books by a couple friends, and writing (slowly and painfully) one of my own, sort of a time travel mystery (Painful, aye :) entitled The Mobius Rip.
What's pissing me off is the foolish attitude of the Bush Administration as regards science in general - and O'Keefe is right in with them. Safety concerns, my butt. Going to ISS is more dangerous, but ISS is the Admin's boondo^H^H^H^H^H^H baby. He's not even listening to the atronauts' opinions, which is bad enough (and foolish); hearing him tell the NAS that he'll "consider" their decision but that it won't change his mind is infuriating. Meanwhile the public disagrees with him and Bush - and it's taxpayer money they are spending here....
Mostly I'm pretty cool about things, but this kind of political election year pandering - and Bush's "M-M" initiative is no more than him trying to look like Kennedy - really infuriates me. Safety...CAIB or not, does O'Keefe seriously believe that working on ISS and putting together the infrastructure for a Moon/Mars program will be safer? He's a fool. IMO NASA should stick to doing what it does best - science, research, and science maintenance - and the gov should relax regs and encourage private co's to do space stations and manned exploration. Goldin seemed to understand what NASA's mission is - O'Keefe understands how to count beans and put them in their little numbered holes.
Grrr...
Anyway, yeah, Star Dragon is on my "must-read" list, it looks good. Real Soon Now. Life is full
Also hoping to make the Nebraska Star Party this year - missed it last year, this year=? - work is eating me alive... and enjoying my new home out here in the Black Hills - love it here, can't wait to get over to WY and do some field geology - I'm very much an amateur but love it anyway.
Anyway, cheers, gotta head off for work soon. I'll try to remember to shoot off an email later...
Cheers!
SB
I think you can figure that out on your own.
SB
Yes, he (Goldin) was. Small missions.... he was riding a wild horse, but he did it extraordinarily well. Not his fault that he was up against a bipolar gov.
:(
:)
:) I'll try to email
Man, Mike (pardonne), I so fucking mad right now....
Argh!
Goldin at least had some understanding of what NASA was about. It didn't save him from the Bush election year axe, tho.
How the hell are we supposed to have a coherent space policy when every administration alters the goals depending on the party in power? and my significant other wonders why I throw beer cans at things when I read these shit?
Dammmit, at least Goldin could cut budgets and at the same time not emasculate the basic science missions that NASA should be doing.
I guess I'm mostly angry about the death of the cutting research that NASA *SHOULD* be doing. That's what the real mandate was intended for.
Pardon my bias, but if our gov wasn't so corporate oriented.... well, hell, I don't have to preach to you about that, now, do I?
I should quit this now before I completely lose it. I need time to chill, I guess. Oh, Bog, I am angry. I haven't been this angry wrt to NASA in a while, despite...
Cheers, Mike. Like your page, haven't read your books yet. Will.
SB from Spearfish, SD, - wonderful geology here
Because it's taxpayer money that pays for it, and it's politics that controls that money.
That's why it's political.
I agree with you in that the service mission is paid for. Yes, it is. The hardware is there, the training has been done....but it's being cancelled for political reasons.
Come on, man, that's what is pissing a lot of people off. This has been on slashdot before, even. Did you not read the comments?
Just don't give the initiative to NASA to build shuttle repair vehicles. *shudder* please.
At least Goldin supported some decent ideas. O'Keefe is nothing more than another ignorant Bush admin schill.
Oh fuck, what's the point. ciroknight, at least direct it at those who deserve it....
SB
Mad does not even begin to describe my feelings right now.
In a desperate effort to save his ass from public flames, NASA's new administrator is backpedaling in the face of enormous opposition from the community he's just been put in charge of.
Fuck. Him.
and fuck that back when it was first mentioned that K. was going to kill Hubble, that there were a lot of people (including me) who were talking about tele-operated missions to save Hubble (but hey, that would be a budget saver, wouldn't it, Sean, and you're just backpedaling eh? -> you are a fucking political shill who is grasping at straws in the face of huge opposition) but now... oh....wait...it's an election year....
O'Keefe is a worthless POS. Fuck him and all he stands for.
/personal
Hey, Sean. Fuck you. I'm not a professional part of the community, so I can really speak out, you can't take my job away from me. You are a two-bit POS administrator who knows jack-fucking-shit about how important this all is. You're a simpleton political appointee who has no idea how important all this is, or how many people's lives you are screwing up. You goddamn heartless bastard.
Kiss my vampire-hours lily-white ass.
Shadowbearer, an extremely pissed off 25+ yr amateur astronomer. Oh, and Sean, Fuck You, but there are really no words to describe how disgusted the community from Pro-2-Am is with your bullshit.
Yeah, I know I should rant this elsewhere. I will. I have a weekend project now.
SB
PS Mad doesn't even describe my feelings right now.
Funding.
Fuck O'Keefe. Political Ass. (oh, wait, Elephant...but real elephants have more brains than either the political elephants or donkeys. Apology.
)
Election year my ass. This will be the year that the political system proves to the public just how fucked up it is. Already well on it's way. Anyone want to bet on voter turnouts next November? I'll bet it dumps 45%.
SB
If someone wants to create a TLD like .kids,
Yeah, it's funny how unbalanced it is, ain't it?
Anyone want to argue about where our government is leaning nowadays? Or who is really profiting by it?
The_Monster: kudos.
SB
Oh, well put! :)
SB
Wasn't the "cleaver" part, was it? *grin*
SB
Fuck Ashcroft and all he stands for.
You are painting with just a broad a brush as the idiots who are pushing this .sex shit are.
This is not productive. What would be productive is sharing with those who agree with you, and working to change it. Every culture has it's dissidents, man, including America. Dog knows we need it right now...our government is going batshit crazy...but support for the people who don't agree with it would be nice, generalization about how all americans think that way isn't.
A lot of Americans are pissed off at the idiocy here. Why do you paint us as all being a lot of greedy, grasping nutcases? From a personal standpoint, Fuck You. I've spent nearly twenty years fighting against the idiocy in our government. You know what? It's a losing fight - which I know goddamned well that a lot of Europeans are familiar with - so why are you so busy flaming rather than helping out?
I don't know whether we can stop these out-of-control powergrabs. I don't know if there any real solutions short of violent revolution. But it'd be nice if the Rest of The World would realize that we're not all a lot of greedy morons. You know, we just might need your support if it comes to stopping this shit. We certainly don't need more hatred.
Goddamn. I am seeing way too much of this on slashdot recently. Some of it is justified. Some of it isn't. We're losing the fight here, hey, and we could use all the support we can get! If we lose this fight, the world is probably going to be pretty fucked up. So quit flaming us and help out, godammit. Any way you can.
I'm sorry for the rant, but I also get the impression that a lot of the world doesn't understand the agony in the US these days. For some reason, it reminds me of the international reactions to the craziness that was going on in Germany in the 30s. Don't know why.
Sheeezus.
SB
Seems like a lot of government organizations in the US have forgotten their history... nothing new, there.
What are the *real* issues in this years election campaign again? I forget....
sigh.
SB
Then it's not really crossing the line, is it? It's entertainment. People are entertained by seeing what he'll do. If he's truly offensive, then he's not being entertaining, and people don't watch
How very true.
Another example: The hugely popular George Carlin.
SB
Bullshit.
I've been voting for twenty years.
Who are *you* going to vote for this year? W? Kerry? Or Lib? Where exactly do you think it's going to change anything?
If more people got off their asses and voted
Voted for whom?
Jesus. When I hear shit like this I want to scream.
The country is going to hell because the people have voted in shysters, idiots and white-collar crim^H^H^H^H businesspeople who are raping it in the ass.
Grow up, kiddo. The world ain't that simple.
SB
My point was that neither craft will do much of anything to revolutionize the industry. The poor performance of their craft and differing design concepts would be very poorly matched.
:) my point was that the best way to profit for aerospace corporations would be cooperation rather than competition...
:)
:) - I have two relatives who live there, btw, who agree with that :) - (but then again, hell, if it just produces a tsunami in someplace like "medieval" islands in the Pacific, then it's not the fault of the "voters" is it?) /sarcasm Goddam people are stupid. Oh, shit, I shouldn't get started on that...
:)
:)
:)
But my point was that this experimenting done by private companies is a *good* thing.
Unfortunately, most private launch entities have gone under due to political, legal, and social entanglements that prevented them from ever reaching space
Well, I said that
Basically, the public is standing in the way of the visionaries without even realizing it.
Yeah. *rant start + sorry*
"public" Yeah, I also said that too. The public likes the eye candy - that and other things are raising the interest in funding again.
Getting our lazy asses off this planet will probably never happen if we rely on public funding. The "public" is mostly interested in lining their own pockets and buying the latest designer jeans. (14 years of varied retail experience here, plus just "polling"
But to be really honest, fuck the "public". I want to see private corporations get our asses off this planet. It's the only way that it's going to happen IMO. Oh, and not to repeat myself, but "FUCK THE PUBLIC"
I think we need a bigger hammer. Around 0.4km diameter falling on a populated area, like Wash:DC.
(sorry, I'm in a particularly bitchy mood tonite - nothing to do with life for me, just reading the news set me off - Middle East again)
Thanks for the link, I'll read it tomorrow when I'm not as pissed off as I am now.
Our country is in such a sorry state...beam me up, now....tired...just spend the whole day fixing people's plumbing and trying to predict what they'll buy this year and slap that into our POS POS system...motto is that any job that brings you into contact with the uninitiated can make you insane....confusion....political correctness...it's no wonder psychology is one of the fastest growing field...and if I pursue that train of thought any further, I won't need a tinfoil hat, it'll be automagically installed
Damnation, you and I are fundamentally in agreement. Arguing over details, we be. Such be the human condition (or maybe it's just my pedantic (/psychotic) tendencies
Reminds me of an old usenet sig: I'm not angry, I'm Pissed Off.
Samuel Clemens was right.
Cheers
SB
What part of Voting means exactly doodle-squat nowadays is beyond the comprehension of the ~30% of voters who keep tilting at that windmill? This is new?
What, you say, some corporation introduced a electronic voting system that is insecure? Well, Breaking News: All of the voting systems are fundamentally insecure. You can't secure any system that relies on human interaction at some point. There's always someone smart enough to break it.
This country is going to hell like a ferret sliding on a 60 deg ice slope. Naval contemplation at it's finest. Sure, give the power to determine policy to the masses. Bells&Whistles meant to placate the lobbyists will be the most gentle immediate side-effect. That's a war we can't win, folks. No matter what side we're on.
Oh shit, there goes my karma. Whoop de fucking doo.
If I sound angry, well.... maybe I'm fucking near postal. Deal with it. Be afraid. Be very afraid....because I'm not alone by any means.
SB
The real feat of the X-Prize won't be in developing new technologies. The real feat of the X-Prize will be in sparking private sector interest in space.
/sarcasm
That was my point.
Rutan is developing the launch/reentry vehicle, Armadillo is developing rocket motor/controls.
So if they, with some other groups, could combine their forces, they could achieve the real goal (which is a helluva lot more profitable in the long run than just winning the Xprize, no?)
I'm well aware of the lift capacities of the launch vehicles; and of the isp of different fuels. But that's not really the problem, is it? The main problem is that we're tied to one monolithic launch entity (NASA) and have been for far too long. You actually made my point for me in a subtle sense with the comment about relative launch platform ISP.
Come on, now. Government interest in any serious space program (at least here in the US) is dying. What's wrong with private companies banding together to make it a reality? The potential profit margin is enormous. Think of Hubble - if one could solicit contributions from the budgets of all the astronomers with an interest in still doing science from Hubble, and if there was a viable private concern with launch capability for a craft that could fix it, (nevermind all the stupid regulations, yeah, I know) than wouldn't that private CO stand to profit by it?
The longer that space advocates keep pretending that it's a government institution that should be doing it (because they are the only ones who can? Come on now) the longer it'll be until we see serious access to space.
Fuck the Xprize. The real prize will go to the first coalition of companies who develop a sustainable ground to orbit launcher and monopolize it (redundant). It ain't the 80s anymore - not wrt to space - but economically and regulation wise, it's more like "1984". Stupid, stupid stupid.
Dammit, sorry if I misunderstood your post, but this is not exactly a new argument. My post is just another rant by someone who's been following this for more than a quarter century and is pissed off at the bullshit. Ever wonder why it's only recently that private companies have got into the "space race" despite just about every major aerospace contractor since the 50s building equipment for it?
Well, hell, it's just science fiction.
Cheers
SB
So if a law has potential to be misused, it should be struck down?
Nope, that's not what I said at all.
If a law has potential for abuse, it should have the potential to be struck down by the courts - without endless reviews (for crying out loud, we have obviously idiotic laws on the books that are more than a century old in a lot of jurisdictions). It rarely happens - but that was exactly what the checks and balances system was created for.
Show me where in the drug legislation instituted by the Reagan administration that local authorities could tie up property confiscated by people who were not convicted (and in some cases not even indicted) of a crime, in the courts for years, and force them to expend huge amounts of time and money to get their property back, and I'll start listening to you.
Show me where under the Patriot act that one can violate the Constitution by holding people without access to counsel, speedy trial, or bail, and I'll start listening to you.
It's happened. Do some fucking research. I'm not just posting this shit, I've participated as a jury member in some drug confiscation counter-lawsuit cases. You wouldn't belive the misconceptions that can cause innocent people to have to file civil lawsuits to get their property back. Goddamn, are you living in a news blackout?
Jesus, are you so seriously isolated that you haven't been following the news (here on slashdot, even) where it is being misused? Come on, already. Do you really believe that laws aren't more and more widely misused in this country by people who can see the loopholes in them?
Sorry, I just can't take you seriously. I'm nearly forty years old. I've seen it. There are a helluva lot of people my age and older who see our freedoms getting hijacked by bullshit just like this. Are you seriously saying they are all wrong?
Do your own fucking research. Learn something about the reality behind all the hype that you've been taught. It's obvious to me that there is no way that anything I could post in the way of references or experience that would convince you.
Holy fucking moley. I'm sorry for the rant style, but you really have to start looking into the ways that "law" can/is used and abused, if you want to understand the reality that trumps the paper the law is written on.
Seriously, man, I'm sorry for the rant; but if you're going to quote law, you at least should be cognizant of the reality in which it is applied.
Educate yourself. It's not up to me to do it. I am not getting paid for it, and my time is just as valuable as yours is, kiddo.
SB
Rutan is probably going to win the Xprize - but more importantly, he's probably going to be the founder of the first serious orbital delivery system. He's certainly the leading contender if one considers startup companies - and he has the experience and funding to back it up.
That said, I also consider it likely that Carmack's team will contribute some good research into rocket motor design (and particularly WRT to the software that controls it). It'd be neat as hell to see the two of them combine their experience down the line...
Man, sometimes I wish I were 30 years younger...
SB
Maybe a $100 billion prize for the first company to land people on Mars and bring them back ought to be next
Given how NASA contracts inflate in price, it'd probably be cheaper, too.
I'd bet you'd see people there inside a decade.
I'll bet you a buck it doesn't happen - but not because of any desire to get it done, but because of government selfishness.
Sigh.
SB
It'd be neat to see the two of them (and a couple other Xprize contenders) join forces.
:) I can dream, can't I?
Geez already, it's not likely that one corporation will really be able to achieve a viable orbital delivery system. But a coalition of them just might.
As long as they keep it out of the greedy grasping hands of the Fed, I'd be happy even if they achieved a monopoly on orbital delivery....besides, it'd especially pissoff/inspire the government/public if a private coalition of companies could achieve something that hasn't really been done before...and Heinlein could tone down his posthumous rotational mode.
Sigh.
SB
You guys at NCAR rock. Keep up the good work! Dangit, sooner or later someone will show NASA how it's done *grumble* @ overadministrated government programs.
SB
Heh.
:)
:)
Turn on those webcams! Stream video of everyone's life into the public domain! Record EVERYTHING YOU SEE and do! The information glut we could generate would overwhelm any monitoring system that could come out, I'm thinking.
and also give the government another excuse to spend more money to hire more dweebs (TSA) to monitor our activities, because after all, you know, we *could* be having illegal oral sex in the kitchen....
Not trolling, just pointing out that the effect of what you advocate could have a different result than what's intended. I do think that it's a very usable and even viable form of civil protest, especially if you can *guarantee* they have to monitor humdrum
SB