Well, in addition to the above concerns about Coal. There are things that simply are poorly explained regarding "Nuclear Waste". Nuclear Waste is a political term to describe nuclear material that is forbidden from reprocessing due to an anti-proliferation minded President Carter's Presidential Directive, which was based on reaction to a recently nuclear India. Quote from Wikipedia Nuclear Reprocessing Article.
"In March 1977, fear of nuclear weapons proliferation (especially after India demonstrated nuclear weapons capabilities using reprocessing technology) led President Jimmy Carter to issue a Presidential directive to indefinitely suspend the commercial reprocessing and recycling of plutonium in the U.S. Other nations did not copy the policy and continued to reprocess spent nuclear fuel."
Now seeing that other nations do reprocess, and our reason was politically based, not scientifically based, AND SEEING HOW OUR HALTING OF ALL COMMERCIAL FUEL REPROCESSING HAS NOT STOPPED OTHER NATIONS FROM DOING SO FOR WEAPONS PURPOSES, we should realize what is labeled as wasted could be "reduced - reused - and recycled". Reprocessing our spent fuel will also have an effect on the type of long term waste storage method needed. A significant majority of the high dose rate fields come from relatively short half lived materials compared to the millions of years many debaters claim Yucca Mtn needs to last. Sr-90 has a half life of ~28.8 years and Cs-137 has a halflife of 30.23 years. Given 7 to 10 halflives at which point isotopes are generally accepted as being 'gone' That means we only need ~ 300 years of storage for the high dose rate field.
There are other aspects of this that could be answered with other solutions if the rules were relaxed to scientific based reality, instead of failed political reasoning. Some uses for these 'waste materials' (read radioactive elements with no political use) can be used in medical radiotherapy, as industrial radiation sources for thickness gauges, and since these materials generate heat as a decay byproduct, they have functioned as thermal sources for various applications.
An additional point to the above post by Peter is that while he pointed out that the RBMK reactor at Chernobyl used graphite for neutron moderation, BWR and PWR reactors here in the states use water to thermalize neutrons, and should a Loss of Fluid Accident occur, ultimately, the reaction would halt because the water would evaporate away and leave nothing to moderate the neutrons so they can split other atoms and keep the reaction going. This prevents things like the extreme core meltdown that Chernobyl experienced. Look of the Loss Of Fluid Test at the INL for additional information
One of the interesting Next Gen reactor Proposals is the Very High Temperature Reactor which not only would generate electrical power, but potentially co-generate Hydrogen gas, which would be a nice potential alternative chemical fuel source.
Well, I believe a good review of whatever state law presides jurisdictionally is needed. For Washington State, RCW 49.44.140 applies, which defends the employee's ownership of IP under certain conditions of being developed away from the workplace resources (generally, ie time, tools, materials etc.), and is not in the same field that the company is in. So, an aluminum smelter employee can generate software at home without loss of ownership, and a database coder should be able to develop non-database software for themselves. Though, I have known various people who generated and publish software open source software unrelated to their work that irked the legal department of their employer, but the legal department knew their argument was neutered as they had no way of claiming that IP after it was released freely as open source.
RCW 49.44.140
Requiring assignment of employee's rights to inventions -- Conditions.
(1) A provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign or offer to assign any of the employee's rights in an invention to the employer does not apply to an invention for which no equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information of the employer was used and which was developed entirely on the employee's own time, unless (a) the invention relates (i) directly to the business of the employer, or (ii) to the employer's actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, or (b) the invention results from any work performed by the employee for the employer. Any provision which purports to apply to such an invention is to that extent against the public policy of this state and is to that extent void and unenforceable.
(2) An employer shall not require a provision made void and unenforceable by subsection (1) of this section as a condition of employment or continuing employment.
(3) If an employment agreement entered into after September 1, 1979, contains a provision requiring the employee to assign any of the employee's rights in any invention to the employer, the employer must also, at the time the agreement is made, provide a written notification to the employee that the agreement does not apply to an invention for which no equipment, supplies, facility, or trade secret information of the employer was used and which was developed entirely on the employee's own time, unless (a) the invention relates (i) directly to the business of the employer, or (ii) to the employer's actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, or (b) the invention results from any work preformed [performed] by the employee for the employer.
Where the threshold is, is best answered by the legal authorities. Illegal libel does happen on a common basis, but is not always legally answered. Usually a publicized conviction and a good explanation to users of things is a good first step to getting a point across, but the liability of the host networking sight might also be in question for some level of aiding the publishing of the libel. The tangled web of criminal liability for the creation and publishing of illegal libel that is often viewed as petty in most scales of the real world makes this a potentially pointless legal quagmire that probably will never by neatly solved.
Hence, realities such as described below are always going to be with us.
Dick libels Jane by posting on a Social Networking Site (S.N.S.) that she has cooties.
Jane's parents call Dick's parents.
Dick's parents say that they will look into it, question Dick who lies, and take his words as true. Being ignorant of the reality of how "this whole S.N.S./internet thing works" Dick's parents pretty much ignore the issue.
Jane's parents are upset by the inaction and call the law enforcement.
The D.A.'s office says it is too busy prosecuting real criminals.
Jane's parents lawyer is happy to oblige at $150/hr fee to notify the said social networking site to cease and desist.
The S.N.S.'s team of $250/hr lawyers respond with a user agreement copy highlighted to show limitations of liability, and make no promises other than to defend the S.N.S from any further legal pursuits by Jane in this matter.
Jane's parents weigh the cost of pursuing the issue with the cost of a family vacation or a car down payment, and decide not to pursue the matter.
Jane tells her boyfriend John about Dick's posting.
Jane's boyfriend John alleges that he will use physical force to make Dick pay for his actions.
Dick posts that John has cooties now because he caught them from Jane.
The vicious cycle continues, Dick, Jane, et.all have increasing dislike for each other, they complete school and enter the real world with all the neurosis they nurtured, just like everyone else.
After we see all of this, and have seen it happen like this for several generations. Why do we expect there to be a new solution to this 'new problem' which is actually quite old, just because there is a computer involved?
Your late getting to the airport on a hot Atlanta day, sweaty and frazzled, you just took your heart medication and blood pressure drugs, and this machine flags you as being suspicious.
AARP is going to have something new to talk about soon if this is the way things are going.
Considering Sen. Ted Kennedy supposedly made it on a 'no fly list' , all I can quip is 'just think of the possibilities'.
Lets clips some of the quotes from Dr. Orzack and play Mad Libs style.
Original Quote
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy World of Warcraft player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in World of Warcraft and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and World of Warcraft was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn't get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
Now change 'World of Warcraft' with any socially acceptable activity, say, 'football'
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy football player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in football and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and football was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn't get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
So, with Monday night football, bowl games, and the super bowl, aside from body paint, and screaming at the television, a person is socially acceptable and not considered for commitment into a therapy regime.
Now, I seem to remember a demographic statistic a couple of years ago(correct me if I am wrong) of 18 to 36 year old males stops watching television and plays video games. This sort of thing gets the attention of the TV industry because they aren't watching any more, the activity becomes scrutinized for it's habit forming potential, and labeled a psychological hazard to the partakers of the activity? Nahhh, too much conspiracy, it would never happen like that.
I suggest trying the above Mad Libs word replacement game with other options to see if they work
ie. Replace 'young man' with 'young lady', and 'World of Warcraft' and 'playing' with 'reading Shakespearian poetry' it might take some grammar tweaking, but the results could prove interesting.
I have a feeling that using the above technique will determine that a few more of us are 'addicted' in our own special way. Is that truly bad? I doubt it matters much unless your addiction itself is destructive, ie drugs and alcohol or human sacrifice, otherwise, have fun and ignore societies labels.
bad data, bad labels,..... now where was I in completeing that trade skill quest for my mage?
My apologies for the incorrect assertion that LANL was at fault for the element error. I had made the error due to the management of both labs by the University of California, and Victor Ninov was a LBNL scientist. Thank you for correcting me.
I had not heard that the mustang was a case of credit card fraud, I do remember the sudden tightening of purchase controls, threatened crucifixions, and a couple convictions on similar cases of purchase card use at the same time. That was an example I was using to portray a larger cost and purchasing issue that the Office of Inspector General had testified to House Energy Commerce committee, http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/02262 003hearing794/Friedman1298.htm
Maybe No Mustang, but there were still significant issues in the accounting.
Claiming that other laboratories do less volume of secret work; when such a metric itself is secret because the DOE would be extremely foolish to report how much secret work went where, is not a sufficient way to back up your argument to belittle my assertions of LANL's unfortunate handling of sensitive materials. How many accidents are acceptable in the handling of such sensitive material. Your argument may suggest that larger laboratories are to be avoided to improve security levels.
Like I said, if they are in trouble for traceable screwups, let them learn and clean up their act so they can be contributing members to the DOE's scientific complex.
No, I am not a politician. I am an ex-lab/now private industry engineer who believes too much is political in funding decisions, too little is gained from weapons lab snobbery, and too many people ignore the need for significant improvements in the DOE.
I worked in the complex, saw the loss of funding, the slanders and conniving perpetuated by the ugly stepsisters. I am not in fear of the DOE Muckety-Mucks. If I do my job right why should I hide from our DOE customer?
Yes, many people had lots to gain by being allowed a chance to do their jobs with funding that really should have been sent to them in the first place.
If DOE cannot accept truth, candor, and real science, then they don't deserve to keep real scientists. If they fire a real scientist or engineer for calling a spade a spade, then they deserve the lab full of monkeys they created!
I am now laughing at the Fact that LANL is being managed by Rechtel (Bechtel) and Washington Group, the two prime contractors who have no honest clue how to run a lab, can never seem to make budget or schedule, and have superhuman abilities to tank workplace moral.
DOE does not deserve you if you are an honest person. My recommendation to you is to move on to private industry or another lab before Bechtel sets you up for a train wreck and blames you for it.
Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore, and Sandia have been riding their ego's for decades now to the budgetary feeding trough of DOE. Their lack of accountability has lead them to the problems they have now.
The other laboratories in the DOE complex have for years fought against the "Ugly Step Sisters" (as they are called complex wide) to get funding for real work within the scope of research assigned to them in their DOE mandates. Whenever research was to be done in a particular area that is the focus of a particular lab, (ie INL-Civilian Nuclear power and safety, NREL-electric/hybrid vehicles, etc etc), the step sisters would approach the customer of the smaller labs using their holier than thou smooze and steal the funding at a DOE headquarters level, and not deliver a comparable product in the end. LANL, LLNL, and Sandia are capable of this because of congressional backing; California has a huge and powerful amount of congressional representation. And, when the prior Clinton Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson became Governor of New Mexico, it only empowered these labs to hog funding and mission further having both the Californian interests from the University of California, and Campuses in California, as well as New Mexico in some cases, as well as the previous secretary of energy.
The slapdown of the "scientific legends" is a breath of fresh air for real science funding at smaller labs doing real science with real accountability because the smaller labs are too small to screw up without loosing funding catastrophically.
I am not sorry for the "ugly step sisters". If one of them is getting a whooping, and it is traceable to significant screwups (lets see, LANL had faked elements 116, 117, and 118 on the periodic table, mustangs purchased on company credit cards, significant breaches of computer and cyber security that went unfixed for years. etc . etc. ). Then let them learn and clean up their act so they can be a contributing and honest member of our DOE's scientific complex.
The Department of Energy's Scientific Budget should be for accountable science, not a government welfare program that funds bad scientists and the managers who employ them.
They aren't sheep, they are pod people that Apple has been "snatching". And here we stand on the side of the information superhighway screaming "you're next!"
wait, I shouldnt have said that, I am one. Mmwuhh hahahahahaa!
"The e-Dispute system, which has already been successfully piloted at the European Court of Arbitration and the Emilia-Romagna Chamber of Commerce in Italy, is now being trialed at a number of hospitals in the UK where it is being used to assist with claim resolution."
"...It is also very secure."
Wow, what any hostile country would love, a back door into an opponents legislation process.
Lets just say that situations like China and Hong Kong or China and Taiwan might be a good examples of where this system could leave lots of people vulnerable. This could simply be another powerful tool in the hands of corrupt and improvising groups. Evildoers may not use it to force public policy changes in a 'rogue state' to align with the rest of the states, but legal arbitration of government companies trying to purchase disputed oil and gas resources for strategic gain might be where such a tool would be corrupted.
Such things out of the daily international eye are more plausible. Some country with internal province/state dispute hacks it to favor some preferred groups and marginalize undesireables.
Obviously when business entities are involved a person can choose to avoid doing business with a organization, but most people cant avoid dealing with their own governments.
A Slashdot Classified Add "Wizard has several nodrop items, mount, spells, damage bonus gear, etc. Too much to type, see online EQII. Leaving game for WOW so twinks can't ruin my day, but so you can be a twink and annoy others."
While Sony may be allowing formal $ for Plat exchanging now, It has always been going on. Cool, some noob bought a wurmslayer for $50, and a mount for $100. Unless you are a shopping freak, and have to buy everything, you still have to play the game for fun, whether you twink or not twink. The quests, the mobs, they all will still offer the same entertainment value, but if you refuse to play the game the way it was designed. Dont flame the other gamers when whacking kobolds is boring, but you dont have the skill to 'really adventure' because you were a loot whore of one kind or another.
Like the parent post says, some people get uberloot from raids. Some people have so much fun raiding they join a raiding guild with strict appointments and attendance policies. Some people have a blast meeting once a week for a LDoN. Some guilds set up treasure hunts, naked gnome races, buffing lower level toons in newbie zones. $ to Plats will only ruin your game experience if you focus on it and let it ruin your game for you.
Some peeps go for getting screen shots of exotic mobs, ie the South Karana Ancient Cyclops.
The most fun I have had with EQ I (my choice) is when I can hook up in my guild and go help someone play for an important piece of a quest. Skill, logic, background research, mystery, and teamwork. These will still be in game, even if some twink increases the EQ money supply with his own plats.
1) How did you arrive at your interpretation of Zaphod Beeblebrox's appearance? I have specific interest in the presenation of the second head.
2) With the six books in the series on Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and Zaphod Beeblebrox, how did you choose to keep some material and not show other material? Did you do this with the the thought of a sequel in mind?
3) In the Introduction: Guide to the guide: Some unhelpful hints from the author, will the movie update the contact info on "How to leave the planet" with current contact info to NASA, The Whitehouse, The Kremlin, and the Pope, with the addition of Virgin Galactic at www.virgingalactic.com ?
Well, the most shielding avaliable would be approximately 7600 linear miles of ~90% iron if you are diametrically opposite the side of the earth impacted. Radiation affects things in ways best described statistically. ie a dose of 450 Rad kills 50% of the exposed population of humans within 30 days. Now, not all forms of life are as susceptible to radiation exposure. Genetic repair mechanisms and combination mechanisms vary from species to species.
absorbed gamma is likely to be re-emitted as some lower energy level photon. Which in turn may radiate into space or simply be absorbed by the planet. Molecular di-association may be a factor for the impacted atmosphere killing 99% of the life on one side of the planet, while say 30% of the other side of the planet may pull through this event with propogating mutations that kill, or may in some extremely rare case benefit that species. Generally all the absorbed radiation would increase temperatures. The answer is not simple
I agree. When you consider that an airliner has the responsibility for the lives of the passengers, that a laser is classified as a "fire arm" by the BATF, that even simple acts of stacking firewood on a railroad track to have the train cut it netted a senior citizen friend of mine a sabotage conviction at the age of 12 in the late 1930's, and the implications of a laser pointer is that a gun is pointed at you. I believe this jerk should be put behind bars at least for a little bit. Should it be labled 'terrorism'? Well, if his act was designed to incite terror, sure, but that still does not get him out of attempted sabotage charges, and assault with a 'firearm" on a crew operating national transportation infrastructure sensitive equipment. If they crashed the plane, it would put the entire airport out of operation as the FAA would be forced to shut the place down with wreckage on the field. Aside from the innocent people probably injured or killed, and the fiscal harm to the buisiness and its employee's job prospects.
If I was the pilot, I would want a few minute alone in the room with the guy to help him mend his foolish ways, thats for sure....
I think some level of laser light filtration should be considered cockpit windows maybe, or for pilot eye-wear. Obviously not all spectrums can be blocked at once, but maybe, the frequencies most likely to be used should be selected. With temporary filters that slide in place for near ground operations like take off and landing.
Society is an animal that survives on trust. Trust of itself not to kill itself. If it cannot trust itself, it will guard itself too vigorously, strangling itself, or it will kill itself because it cannot be trusted to not attack itself.
I think I will wait till sony has the bugs and all the nerfing worked out for the 'game balance'. But even then I will likely stay with EQ1 as they are supposed to compete against each other as separate business units of SONY.
-Zazerzing Wizard 50 seasons, Bertoxxolus
I was in a robotics club in college and we discussed robotic missions as precursor missions to manned missions. One of the main concepts that we had was a system of robotics rather than one robot, or even team of robots. The concept was multi-function-multi-design self replicating capable robots that used few base component designs in their makeup, with a few custom bits as their application required.
Now, if that sort of thing was possible/feasible/(and most of all)fundable, the next set of questions might be, what do you expect, wish, plan to accomplish with our little robot colony? How would it affect a manned mission? How reliable would it be? I believe such a concept would be more easily tested on the moon, as it is an easier target to hit, closer to earth to reduce communication problems like signal strength and lag, and we could monitor it year round since the moon orbits the earth, where Mars orbits the sun, and for a while that big fusion furnace gets in the way of the com signals.
Now, how to design a robot capable of self replicating. . . .
KISS principle is a good method for design of the basic components, but, KISS and performance sometimes conflict in ways that are almost debilitating.
THere are other issues too, as the robots will need the basic materials to build themselves. They will consume some form of energy, and some form of ore. Success for the robots then hinges on their environment like life for so many biological things we know, Can the robots survive on fortnight days and fortnight nights? Will there be enough useful material in the available ore that can serve to reproduce?
We ran into all sorts of practical problems with this thought exercise. Maybe we were overthinking it, maybe we were fairly close.
Anyway, we all graduated and scattered to the 4 corners of the earth for work, before the economy bathysphered, and that is all some form of hazy college day history now. I would love to come up with a solution for this problem, and it would be reasonably testable on earth as we could find environments with similar resource availability of ore and sunlight. Not exact mind you, but the design should be good enough that the difference might not matter as much.
Quite the homework problem.
I did find that the surveyor series of robots was used to do some pre manned moon missions. But they did not do much prep work, as they did more exploration/data collection to make sure the moon was safe to land on.
It seems that we need a new sort of X-prize for this kind of thing too. I wonder how long it would take for private people to do it, as opposed to the program actually getting its funding.
I agree with div 2n. Voter ignorance is no reason for disenfranchisement.
I find it interesting that many people still hold to the idea that the Stalinist method of telling the populous to accept what they are given because those in power know what it best for them. And, strangely enough, we even find that here on slashdot. People who ignore the fact that the Kimer Rouge killed the intellectuals, and anybody who they suspected to be one (ie, wearing glasses), because the Kimer Rouge was in power and did not want to tolerate dissenting opinions. I am not saying people cannot have that sort of opinion here, but it seems to me that opinion is somewhat like suicide for an intellectual.
Telling people they are too ignorant to vote and taking their vote away is a crime. Ignorance can be corrected with wisdom. Disenfranchisement historically is corrected by war.
I grow concerned when I see members of any party who violate the principles of our representative government. These villains, who interfere with voter registration, steal signs, block phone banks, intimidate voters, and what other crimes they think of, these criminals are no better than the third world corrupt political thugs we read about in the international news.
Many immigrants who I have met from socialist and communist states often do not complain as much about a 'poor economy' but instead a government who did not let them choose their own destinies and who to vote for.
If you feel that people are ignorant, then make it a moral imperative to tell the truth, and get the facts out.
Taking the franchise away from the ignorant is like treating your populous like serfs in a feudal state, slave to the decisions of a government that owns them.
Political debate is a useful tool only when the debaters acknowledge the right of the other debaters to have the opinion they have, and to be willing to think about the situation with data that supports or does not support their political hypothesis. You dont have that kind of feed back when you take away the franchise of the ignorant. Many people here hate it when a Pointy Haired Boss refuses to look at the data and take corrective action, and detest the PHB when the boss tells them to shut up. Think about that analogy.
Who decides who is 'too ignorant to vote'? The winners of the war you start with disenfranchising actions based upon that opinion. The end result is a war where the living tell the dead that they are too ignorant to vote, and those in power tell the slaves they are too ignorant to vote.
You cannot have my vote, and I will fight to defend the votes of others, regardless of their opinions. Just like many of them have served in our military and fought to defend me and my franchise, you and yours. This is what makes the United States of America an admired country, not some know-it-all lawyer in office who has all the answers.
I hope they develop any sort of manned space craft honestly. It does not have to be 're-usable' in my opinion. The operations and maintenance costs of a one size fits all re-useable space craft are some of the major problems, and potential contributors to the safety problems the shuttle fleet had.
I think a mix of craft, with different mission designs, some re-usable and maybe some not, some cargo and people haulers, and some pure passenger craft should be our new approach. It would allow for greater mission variety. IE. if you need a people hauler with camping capability, you get an RV, if you need a cargo capable system, you get a pickup truck or moving van, if you need just a small team car pool system you buy a honda civic.
In some ways I feel that President Nixon's mandate that a reusable spacecraft be used has hurt all spaceflight for the last two decades.
If there are cost effective and performance effective single use space craft, should they really not be an option?
The truth is, prop driven aircraft have always outperformed any jet driven aircraft at low altitudes due to the nature of the exhaust thrust. Prop aircraft can out accelerate and turn harder than jet aircraft because of the thrust footprint size of the props and the air mass speed from the props being more efficient at the low and slow speeds needed for agile flight under 10,000 ft. If you do not believe me, go look up the Navy's Blue Angels. The F-18 fighter jets drag race the C-130 support aircraft called 'Fat Albert' as part of the airshow stunts. Fat Albert wins the race everytime. Sure Fat Albert is not a Mach 2 plane, but the application of airial water drops does not require 350 kts speeds. This is why the tanker fleet is all prop driven that I know of.
If you still have trouble believeing that prop thrust footprint is significant, then these little bits of info should help. Some of the Vietnam air combat losses were jet aircraft shot down by old prop driven fighters at altitudes under 10,000 ft. And even more significant is the fact that helicopters use rotary wings (large diameter propellors) instead of a 20 ton turbo-fan jet engine to supply the lift.
Also, Jet turbines spool up slowly, that is why Navy pilots land on aircraft carriers with the engines close to full throttle, and the plane 'dirtied up', so if they miss the cable, they can have full thrust and more quickly retract the airbrakes for a lift off than waiting for the turbine to increase in rpm to increase thrust. While they roll of the end of the carrier deck.
I completely agree that hikers with maps and a compass would be better. Some may say that is insensitive and harsh, but you cannot protect everyone from their own foolishness. Each year people go to Yellowstone National Park, and think that 'Park' means 'petting zoo'. People ignore the signs at the mudpots and geysers about not leaving the path, and we get 1-5 people boiled to death each year from their trail blazing ambitions. The wilderness is wild, the animals bite, and damn near every tree looks just like the other. I have been separated from my hunting party, and the usual methods of yelling, and discharging of rifles did not work to make enough noise that people would hear you, but we payed attention to the map and we all safely met up at a predecided destination. There is inherent risk in outdoors activities, and if the risks were removed, I am certain people would find more
Humans in space are there for other purposes than robots in space. Robots do not learn, discover, improvise, give opinions, or make judgements on the level needed to support the kind of missions that yield the most benefit.
Many people also forget that there is significant benefit of learning, discovery, and improvisation made in the Journey, not just at the destination. We all can benefit from the advances that that will have to be made to support human exploration, while only a few industries using high end automation might benefit from the advances made to send a robot. For example Bio-Astronautics has direct relevance to Medical Science. The concept of Bio-spheric living and energy balance for human life offers mutual benefit to the world by sharing more efficient and ecologically friendly methods of living. Yes humans have special needs and fragility, but learning how to deal with those limitations and needs in the conditions of such a journey is valuable.
I strongly believe that human space missions benefit us far more than robot missions.
A guy fell 18 floors from a hotel in Cape Town, South Africa and survived. (CNN has an article on it at http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/04/22/south.a frica.plunge.reut/index.html). But I agree, falling from uncomfortable heights does have its drawbacks.
But, at 3 meters a floor; roughly, that makes 54 meters for 18 floors. The rocket pack wearing daredevil flew up to 46 meters, about 15 floors.
Digging around on the web led me to this sight (http://www.fabulousrocketeers.com/Photo_See_Ya.ht m) where the page says that the US parachute associates has a minimum altitude for opening a parachute at 2,000 ft (609 m) for experienced skydivers. The sight says you can pack a chute to open within 200 ft (60 m) but, keep in mind you are probably falling at 115 mph (185 kph) in order to get it to open so fast. A chute probably wont open right if you are not falling fast enough. The site also said that chutes are often packed in such a way to slow the opening, to reduce the jolt, as a fast opening is a hard opening.
Hangliders use a rocket assisted emergency parachute, and light aircraft can deploy a similar device that will land a whole plane (see http://brsparachutes.com/). A model for a rocketpack system may be a fairly easy solution, but, as seen before, properly deploying at low altitude remains a risk. In all events, these things try to prevent death and reduce injury, they probably are not a injury free event.
I would blame lack of sales on lack of descent disposable income or lack of descent content. Piracy is not worth the effort to me for the few things that I buy.
Does all of this anti piracy control stuff remind anyone of Ma-Bell and the monopoly, or is it just me?
What makes you think that this is Just Now Happening? What makes you think that these are the first weapons in space? What makes space so sacred that it is to be kept as a universal demilitarized zone? What makes you think that satellite based weapons moveing at orbital speeds and altitudes will significanlty change the existing military balance? What makes you think that there is a military balance?
For crying out loud, geeks everywhere watch Star Wars, Star Trek, and all sorts of other War in Space related sci-fi subjects. So this might be real, how is it a hard concept for you to get?
Like all DOD advancements that are publically released, if it is of any significant strategic value, the project is probably complete or so close to completion, that the news is really kind of a tool of intimidation. Intimidation has its uses. Some people complain about the cold war, but I for one am glad it stayed cold, reletively speaking.
How is Space considered 'unmilitarized' these days anyways? With ICBM's that leave the atmosphere, Military satelites that spy on your enemies, GPS satelites that give positioning data to military navigators and weapons guidance systems, Military communications satelites that give secure communications links between battelfields and command centers, and ICBM launch detection satellites to give early warning to SAC, the only think left out is a space based weapon. It was probably left till now, or a few years ago, if it is there now, because of cost/effectiveness/application issues.
Slashdot Mirror
"In March 1977, fear of nuclear weapons proliferation (especially after India demonstrated nuclear weapons capabilities using reprocessing technology) led President Jimmy Carter to issue a Presidential directive to indefinitely suspend the commercial reprocessing and recycling of plutonium in the U.S. Other nations did not copy the policy and continued to reprocess spent nuclear fuel."
Now seeing that other nations do reprocess, and our reason was politically based, not scientifically based, AND SEEING HOW OUR HALTING OF ALL COMMERCIAL FUEL REPROCESSING HAS NOT STOPPED OTHER NATIONS FROM DOING SO FOR WEAPONS PURPOSES, we should realize what is labeled as wasted could be "reduced - reused - and recycled". Reprocessing our spent fuel will also have an effect on the type of long term waste storage method needed. A significant majority of the high dose rate fields come from relatively short half lived materials compared to the millions of years many debaters claim Yucca Mtn needs to last. Sr-90 has a half life of ~28.8 years and Cs-137 has a halflife of 30.23 years. Given 7 to 10 halflives at which point isotopes are generally accepted as being 'gone' That means we only need ~ 300 years of storage for the high dose rate field.
There are other aspects of this that could be answered with other solutions if the rules were relaxed to scientific based reality, instead of failed political reasoning. Some uses for these 'waste materials' (read radioactive elements with no political use) can be used in medical radiotherapy, as industrial radiation sources for thickness gauges, and since these materials generate heat as a decay byproduct, they have functioned as thermal sources for various applications.
An additional point to the above post by Peter is that while he pointed out that the RBMK reactor at Chernobyl used graphite for neutron moderation, BWR and PWR reactors here in the states use water to thermalize neutrons, and should a Loss of Fluid Accident occur, ultimately, the reaction would halt because the water would evaporate away and leave nothing to moderate the neutrons so they can split other atoms and keep the reaction going. This prevents things like the extreme core meltdown that Chernobyl experienced. Look of the Loss Of Fluid Test at the INL for additional information
One of the interesting Next Gen reactor Proposals is the Very High Temperature Reactor which not only would generate electrical power, but potentially co-generate Hydrogen gas, which would be a nice potential alternative chemical fuel source.
The web page for the code Quoted below is http://apps.leg.wa.gov/RCW/default.aspx?cite=49.44.140
RCW 49.44.140 Requiring assignment of employee's rights to inventions -- Conditions.
(1) A provision in an employment agreement which provides that an employee shall assign or offer to assign any of the employee's rights in an invention to the employer does not apply to an invention for which no equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information of the employer was used and which was developed entirely on the employee's own time, unless (a) the invention relates (i) directly to the business of the employer, or (ii) to the employer's actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, or (b) the invention results from any work performed by the employee for the employer. Any provision which purports to apply to such an invention is to that extent against the public policy of this state and is to that extent void and unenforceable.
(2) An employer shall not require a provision made void and unenforceable by subsection (1) of this section as a condition of employment or continuing employment.
(3) If an employment agreement entered into after September 1, 1979, contains a provision requiring the employee to assign any of the employee's rights in any invention to the employer, the employer must also, at the time the agreement is made, provide a written notification to the employee that the agreement does not apply to an invention for which no equipment, supplies, facility, or trade secret information of the employer was used and which was developed entirely on the employee's own time, unless (a) the invention relates (i) directly to the business of the employer, or (ii) to the employer's actual or demonstrably anticipated research or development, or (b) the invention results from any work preformed [performed] by the employee for the employer.
[1979 ex.s. c 177 2.]
Hence, realities such as described below are always going to be with us.
Dick libels Jane by posting on a Social Networking Site (S.N.S.) that she has cooties.
Jane's parents call Dick's parents.
Dick's parents say that they will look into it, question Dick who lies, and take his words as true. Being ignorant of the reality of how "this whole S.N.S./internet thing works" Dick's parents pretty much ignore the issue.
Jane's parents are upset by the inaction and call the law enforcement.
The D.A.'s office says it is too busy prosecuting real criminals.
Jane's parents lawyer is happy to oblige at $150/hr fee to notify the said social networking site to cease and desist.
The S.N.S.'s team of $250/hr lawyers respond with a user agreement copy highlighted to show limitations of liability, and make no promises other than to defend the S.N.S from any further legal pursuits by Jane in this matter.
Jane's parents weigh the cost of pursuing the issue with the cost of a family vacation or a car down payment, and decide not to pursue the matter.
Jane tells her boyfriend John about Dick's posting.
Jane's boyfriend John alleges that he will use physical force to make Dick pay for his actions.
Dick posts that John has cooties now because he caught them from Jane.
The vicious cycle continues, Dick, Jane, et.all have increasing dislike for each other, they complete school and enter the real world with all the neurosis they nurtured, just like everyone else.
After we see all of this, and have seen it happen like this for several generations. Why do we expect there to be a new solution to this 'new problem' which is actually quite old, just because there is a computer involved?
AARP is going to have something new to talk about soon if this is the way things are going.
Considering Sen. Ted Kennedy supposedly made it on a 'no fly list' , all I can quip is 'just think of the possibilities'.
Lets clips some of the quotes from Dr. Orzack and play Mad Libs style.
Original Quote
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy World of Warcraft player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in World of Warcraft and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and World of Warcraft was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn't get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
Now change 'World of Warcraft' with any socially acceptable activity, say, 'football'
Dr. Orzack: I was talking with a patient, a young man, the other day. He was a heavy football player, and I asked him what happens when he plays the game: was he simply playing a virtual character or did he feel like he was actually in the game? He told me when he plays, he is in the game completely. He had become immersed in football and had trouble removing himself from that virtual world. I also asked what he expected to find each time he turned on the game, and his answer was a sense of belonging. This individual came from a family that was unfortunately breaking up, and football was his way to escape that. This 18-year-old individual was miserable. He didn't get along with any of his family members and kept withdrawing into the game.
So, with Monday night football, bowl games, and the super bowl, aside from body paint, and screaming at the television, a person is socially acceptable and not considered for commitment into a therapy regime.
Now, I seem to remember a demographic statistic a couple of years ago(correct me if I am wrong) of 18 to 36 year old males stops watching television and plays video games. This sort of thing gets the attention of the TV industry because they aren't watching any more, the activity becomes scrutinized for it's habit forming potential, and labeled a psychological hazard to the partakers of the activity? Nahhh, too much conspiracy, it would never happen like that.
I suggest trying the above Mad Libs word replacement game with other options to see if they work
ie. Replace 'young man' with 'young lady', and 'World of Warcraft' and 'playing' with 'reading Shakespearian poetry' it might take some grammar tweaking, but the results could prove interesting.
I have a feeling that using the above technique will determine that a few more of us are 'addicted' in our own special way. Is that truly bad? I doubt it matters much unless your addiction itself is destructive, ie drugs and alcohol or human sacrifice, otherwise, have fun and ignore societies labels.
bad data, bad labels, ..... now where was I in completeing that trade skill quest for my mage?
I had not heard that the mustang was a case of credit card fraud, I do remember the sudden tightening of purchase controls, threatened crucifixions, and a couple convictions on similar cases of purchase card use at the same time. That was an example I was using to portray a larger cost and purchasing issue that the Office of Inspector General had testified to House Energy Commerce committee, http://energycommerce.house.gov/108/Hearings/02262 003hearing794/Friedman1298.htm
Maybe No Mustang, but there were still significant issues in the accounting.
Claiming that other laboratories do less volume of secret work; when such a metric itself is secret because the DOE would be extremely foolish to report how much secret work went where, is not a sufficient way to back up your argument to belittle my assertions of LANL's unfortunate handling of sensitive materials. How many accidents are acceptable in the handling of such sensitive material. Your argument may suggest that larger laboratories are to be avoided to improve security levels.
Like I said, if they are in trouble for traceable screwups, let them learn and clean up their act so they can be contributing members to the DOE's scientific complex.
No, I am not a politician. I am an ex-lab/now private industry engineer who believes too much is political in funding decisions, too little is gained from weapons lab snobbery, and too many people ignore the need for significant improvements in the DOE.
Yes, many people had lots to gain by being allowed a chance to do their jobs with funding that really should have been sent to them in the first place.
If DOE cannot accept truth, candor, and real science, then they don't deserve to keep real scientists. If they fire a real scientist or engineer for calling a spade a spade, then they deserve the lab full of monkeys they created!
I am now laughing at the Fact that LANL is being managed by Rechtel (Bechtel) and Washington Group, the two prime contractors who have no honest clue how to run a lab, can never seem to make budget or schedule, and have superhuman abilities to tank workplace moral.
DOE does not deserve you if you are an honest person. My recommendation to you is to move on to private industry or another lab before Bechtel sets you up for a train wreck and blames you for it.
The other laboratories in the DOE complex have for years fought against the "Ugly Step Sisters" (as they are called complex wide) to get funding for real work within the scope of research assigned to them in their DOE mandates. Whenever research was to be done in a particular area that is the focus of a particular lab, (ie INL-Civilian Nuclear power and safety, NREL-electric/hybrid vehicles, etc etc), the step sisters would approach the customer of the smaller labs using their holier than thou smooze and steal the funding at a DOE headquarters level, and not deliver a comparable product in the end. LANL, LLNL, and Sandia are capable of this because of congressional backing; California has a huge and powerful amount of congressional representation. And, when the prior Clinton Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson became Governor of New Mexico, it only empowered these labs to hog funding and mission further having both the Californian interests from the University of California, and Campuses in California, as well as New Mexico in some cases, as well as the previous secretary of energy.
The slapdown of the "scientific legends" is a breath of fresh air for real science funding at smaller labs doing real science with real accountability because the smaller labs are too small to screw up without loosing funding catastrophically.
I am not sorry for the "ugly step sisters". If one of them is getting a whooping, and it is traceable to significant screwups (lets see, LANL had faked elements 116, 117, and 118 on the periodic table, mustangs purchased on company credit cards, significant breaches of computer and cyber security that went unfixed for years. etc . etc. ). Then let them learn and clean up their act so they can be a contributing and honest member of our DOE's scientific complex.
The Department of Energy's Scientific Budget should be for accountable science, not a government welfare program that funds bad scientists and the managers who employ them.
wait, I shouldnt have said that, I am one. Mmwuhh hahahahahaa!
"...It is also very secure."
Wow, what any hostile country would love, a back door into an opponents legislation process.
Lets just say that situations like China and Hong Kong or China and Taiwan might be a good examples of where this system could leave lots of people vulnerable. This could simply be another powerful tool in the hands of corrupt and improvising groups. Evildoers may not use it to force public policy changes in a 'rogue state' to align with the rest of the states, but legal arbitration of government companies trying to purchase disputed oil and gas resources for strategic gain might be where such a tool would be corrupted.
Such things out of the daily international eye are more plausible. Some country with internal province/state dispute hacks it to favor some preferred groups and marginalize undesireables.
Obviously when business entities are involved a person can choose to avoid doing business with a organization, but most people cant avoid dealing with their own governments.
While Sony may be allowing formal $ for Plat exchanging now, It has always been going on. Cool, some noob bought a wurmslayer for $50, and a mount for $100. Unless you are a shopping freak, and have to buy everything, you still have to play the game for fun, whether you twink or not twink. The quests, the mobs, they all will still offer the same entertainment value, but if you refuse to play the game the way it was designed. Dont flame the other gamers when whacking kobolds is boring, but you dont have the skill to 'really adventure' because you were a loot whore of one kind or another.
Like the parent post says, some people get uberloot from raids. Some people have so much fun raiding they join a raiding guild with strict appointments and attendance policies. Some people have a blast meeting once a week for a LDoN. Some guilds set up treasure hunts, naked gnome races, buffing lower level toons in newbie zones. $ to Plats will only ruin your game experience if you focus on it and let it ruin your game for you.
Some peeps go for getting screen shots of exotic mobs, ie the South Karana Ancient Cyclops.
The most fun I have had with EQ I (my choice) is when I can hook up in my guild and go help someone play for an important piece of a quest. Skill, logic, background research, mystery, and teamwork. These will still be in game, even if some twink increases the EQ money supply with his own plats.
2) With the six books in the series on Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect, and Zaphod Beeblebrox, how did you choose to keep some material and not show other material? Did you do this with the the thought of a sequel in mind?
3) In the Introduction: Guide to the guide: Some unhelpful hints from the author, will the movie update the contact info on "How to leave the planet" with current contact info to NASA, The Whitehouse, The Kremlin, and the Pope, with the addition of Virgin Galactic at www.virgingalactic.com ?
4)So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish
absorbed gamma is likely to be re-emitted as some lower energy level photon. Which in turn may radiate into space or simply be absorbed by the planet. Molecular di-association may be a factor for the impacted atmosphere killing 99% of the life on one side of the planet, while say 30% of the other side of the planet may pull through this event with propogating mutations that kill, or may in some extremely rare case benefit that species. Generally all the absorbed radiation would increase temperatures. The answer is not simple
If I was the pilot, I would want a few minute alone in the room with the guy to help him mend his foolish ways, thats for sure. ...
I think some level of laser light filtration should be considered cockpit windows maybe, or for pilot eye-wear. Obviously not all spectrums can be blocked at once, but maybe, the frequencies most likely to be used should be selected. With temporary filters that slide in place for near ground operations like take off and landing.
Society is an animal that survives on trust. Trust of itself not to kill itself. If it cannot trust itself, it will guard itself too vigorously, strangling itself, or it will kill itself because it cannot be trusted to not attack itself.
I think I will wait till sony has the bugs and all the nerfing worked out for the 'game balance'. But even then I will likely stay with EQ1 as they are supposed to compete against each other as separate business units of SONY. -Zazerzing Wizard 50 seasons, Bertoxxolus
Now, if that sort of thing was possible/feasible/(and most of all)fundable, the next set of questions might be, what do you expect, wish, plan to accomplish with our little robot colony? How would it affect a manned mission? How reliable would it be? I believe such a concept would be more easily tested on the moon, as it is an easier target to hit, closer to earth to reduce communication problems like signal strength and lag, and we could monitor it year round since the moon orbits the earth, where Mars orbits the sun, and for a while that big fusion furnace gets in the way of the com signals.
Now, how to design a robot capable of self replicating. . . .
KISS principle is a good method for design of the basic components, but, KISS and performance sometimes conflict in ways that are almost debilitating.
THere are other issues too, as the robots will need the basic materials to build themselves. They will consume some form of energy, and some form of ore. Success for the robots then hinges on their environment like life for so many biological things we know, Can the robots survive on fortnight days and fortnight nights? Will there be enough useful material in the available ore that can serve to reproduce?
We ran into all sorts of practical problems with this thought exercise. Maybe we were overthinking it, maybe we were fairly close.
Anyway, we all graduated and scattered to the 4 corners of the earth for work, before the economy bathysphered, and that is all some form of hazy college day history now. I would love to come up with a solution for this problem, and it would be reasonably testable on earth as we could find environments with similar resource availability of ore and sunlight. Not exact mind you, but the design should be good enough that the difference might not matter as much.
Quite the homework problem.
I did find that the surveyor series of robots was used to do some pre manned moon missions. But they did not do much prep work, as they did more exploration/data collection to make sure the moon was safe to land on.
It seems that we need a new sort of X-prize for this kind of thing too. I wonder how long it would take for private people to do it, as opposed to the program actually getting its funding.
I find it interesting that many people still hold to the idea that the Stalinist method of telling the populous to accept what they are given because those in power know what it best for them. And, strangely enough, we even find that here on slashdot. People who ignore the fact that the Kimer Rouge killed the intellectuals, and anybody who they suspected to be one (ie, wearing glasses), because the Kimer Rouge was in power and did not want to tolerate dissenting opinions. I am not saying people cannot have that sort of opinion here, but it seems to me that opinion is somewhat like suicide for an intellectual.
Telling people they are too ignorant to vote and taking their vote away is a crime. Ignorance can be corrected with wisdom. Disenfranchisement historically is corrected by war.
I grow concerned when I see members of any party who violate the principles of our representative government. These villains, who interfere with voter registration, steal signs, block phone banks, intimidate voters, and what other crimes they think of, these criminals are no better than the third world corrupt political thugs we read about in the international news.
Many immigrants who I have met from socialist and communist states often do not complain as much about a 'poor economy' but instead a government who did not let them choose their own destinies and who to vote for.
If you feel that people are ignorant, then make it a moral imperative to tell the truth, and get the facts out.
Taking the franchise away from the ignorant is like treating your populous like serfs in a feudal state, slave to the decisions of a government that owns them.
Political debate is a useful tool only when the debaters acknowledge the right of the other debaters to have the opinion they have, and to be willing to think about the situation with data that supports or does not support their political hypothesis. You dont have that kind of feed back when you take away the franchise of the ignorant. Many people here hate it when a Pointy Haired Boss refuses to look at the data and take corrective action, and detest the PHB when the boss tells them to shut up. Think about that analogy.
Who decides who is 'too ignorant to vote'? The winners of the war you start with disenfranchising actions based upon that opinion. The end result is a war where the living tell the dead that they are too ignorant to vote, and those in power tell the slaves they are too ignorant to vote.
You cannot have my vote, and I will fight to defend the votes of others, regardless of their opinions. Just like many of them have served in our military and fought to defend me and my franchise, you and yours. This is what makes the United States of America an admired country, not some know-it-all lawyer in office who has all the answers.
I think a mix of craft, with different mission designs, some re-usable and maybe some not, some cargo and people haulers, and some pure passenger craft should be our new approach. It would allow for greater mission variety. IE. if you need a people hauler with camping capability, you get an RV, if you need a cargo capable system, you get a pickup truck or moving van, if you need just a small team car pool system you buy a honda civic.
In some ways I feel that President Nixon's mandate that a reusable spacecraft be used has hurt all spaceflight for the last two decades.
If there are cost effective and performance effective single use space craft, should they really not be an option?
If you still have trouble believeing that prop thrust footprint is significant, then these little bits of info should help. Some of the Vietnam air combat losses were jet aircraft shot down by old prop driven fighters at altitudes under 10,000 ft. And even more significant is the fact that helicopters use rotary wings (large diameter propellors) instead of a 20 ton turbo-fan jet engine to supply the lift.
Also, Jet turbines spool up slowly, that is why Navy pilots land on aircraft carriers with the engines close to full throttle, and the plane 'dirtied up', so if they miss the cable, they can have full thrust and more quickly retract the airbrakes for a lift off than waiting for the turbine to increase in rpm to increase thrust. While they roll of the end of the carrier deck.
I completely agree that hikers with maps and a compass would be better. Some may say that is insensitive and harsh, but you cannot protect everyone from their own foolishness. Each year people go to Yellowstone National Park, and think that 'Park' means 'petting zoo'. People ignore the signs at the mudpots and geysers about not leaving the path, and we get 1-5 people boiled to death each year from their trail blazing ambitions. The wilderness is wild, the animals bite, and damn near every tree looks just like the other. I have been separated from my hunting party, and the usual methods of yelling, and discharging of rifles did not work to make enough noise that people would hear you, but we payed attention to the map and we all safely met up at a predecided destination. There is inherent risk in outdoors activities, and if the risks were removed, I am certain people would find more
Many people also forget that there is significant benefit of learning, discovery, and improvisation made in the Journey, not just at the destination. We all can benefit from the advances that that will have to be made to support human exploration, while only a few industries using high end automation might benefit from the advances made to send a robot. For example Bio-Astronautics has direct relevance to Medical Science. The concept of Bio-spheric living and energy balance for human life offers mutual benefit to the world by sharing more efficient and ecologically friendly methods of living. Yes humans have special needs and fragility, but learning how to deal with those limitations and needs in the conditions of such a journey is valuable.
I strongly believe that human space missions benefit us far more than robot missions.
But, at 3 meters a floor; roughly, that makes 54 meters for 18 floors. The rocket pack wearing daredevil flew up to 46 meters, about 15 floors.
Digging around on the web led me to this sight (http://www.fabulousrocketeers.com/Photo_See_Ya.ht m) where the page says that the US parachute associates has a minimum altitude for opening a parachute at 2,000 ft (609 m) for experienced skydivers. The sight says you can pack a chute to open within 200 ft (60 m) but, keep in mind you are probably falling at 115 mph (185 kph) in order to get it to open so fast. A chute probably wont open right if you are not falling fast enough. The site also said that chutes are often packed in such a way to slow the opening, to reduce the jolt, as a fast opening is a hard opening.
Hangliders use a rocket assisted emergency parachute, and light aircraft can deploy a similar device that will land a whole plane (see http://brsparachutes.com/). A model for a rocketpack system may be a fairly easy solution, but, as seen before, properly deploying at low altitude remains a risk. In all events, these things try to prevent death and reduce injury, they probably are not a injury free event.
Does all of this anti piracy control stuff remind anyone of Ma-Bell and the monopoly, or is it just me?
For crying out loud, geeks everywhere watch Star Wars, Star Trek, and all sorts of other War in Space related sci-fi subjects. So this might be real, how is it a hard concept for you to get?
Like all DOD advancements that are publically released, if it is of any significant strategic value, the project is probably complete or so close to completion, that the news is really kind of a tool of intimidation. Intimidation has its uses. Some people complain about the cold war, but I for one am glad it stayed cold, reletively speaking.
How is Space considered 'unmilitarized' these days anyways? With ICBM's that leave the atmosphere, Military satelites that spy on your enemies, GPS satelites that give positioning data to military navigators and weapons guidance systems, Military communications satelites that give secure communications links between battelfields and command centers, and ICBM launch detection satellites to give early warning to SAC, the only think left out is a space based weapon. It was probably left till now, or a few years ago, if it is there now, because of cost/effectiveness/application issues.