But even sillier, it that the Lockheed Martin Athena2 rocket used that pad to launch the Space Imaging IKONOS satellite. It looked like a little pop-bottle rocket sitting on that huge pad.
Nothing will replace the basics. Take the time to be sure your kids have a solid, core background to build upon. Studying is a skill. I am looking at using Machinima for storytelling. Using UnrealEd to work on spatial skills and treasure hunting. We play with Lego Mindstorms. Subscribe to Make and build things! Measure comprehension and retention with Moodle. Both of my kids have hand-me-down laptops from work that I installed Knoppix on. They don't know who Microsoft is, but they recognize Tux. You'd be surprised how quickly they can pick up things. Kids today really don't have a clue about analog anything! They think the Internet and digital everything has always been here. BTW- I love both books from O'Reilly: Mind Hacks and now Mind Performance Hacks- great tips and tricks to show your kids. Be a great role model and push yourself to learn things you thought you already knew- there have been a lot of strides debunking stuff since we were in school. I am really getting a kick out of learning science all over again!
I, for one, welcome our fellow super secret nerd overlords. Don't forget, the NSA gave us SELinux and their intellectual property is second to none. Once many of their technologies and software are declassified, you will see some fantastic innovations released into the free world. Read Body of Secrets and let your imagination run rampant as to the computing and information processing capabilities if focused on sheer capitalism.
I wonder if any of the researchers know about the NSA (I'm currently reading Body of Secrets). They deal with billions of signals and try to sift out the wheat from the chaff. To me, signals are signals and the gains to be had from an NSA-style mapping of the brain merit further discussion. A listening post in the brain? It might not be too far off.
I have been working on a version of this idea for a long time. It truly is fascinating. Imagine being able to reverse engineer the future based on the largest data cube in the world- the physics and chemistry of the molecules in the world around us. Think of a massive 3D version of the Periodic Table of Elements but applied to molecules and particles. Self-organizing on an immense scale. Imagine if we could see relationships amongst things where today relationships do not exist. I, for one, welcome our Universal Data Cube Overlords.
Uh, how many of you drive cars with a cell phone turned on? With the location based services the phone companies have, it is easy to triangulate your position, speed, and heading. Overlay a map and they know where you are.
Another reason to turn off that phone and drive.
I think I should build a new car, and call it the TEMPEST. Either stop emitting all of your electronic signatures, or live your life like an open book.
OK, here is my contribution to humanity:) First, we need to think big. I mean, really big.
A ground-based laser is expensive, but if you can remove the ridiculous power requirements, it is the best solution for our problem- more on my solution in a moment.
Contrary to popular belief, we do NOT have to completely vaporize the debris. We only have to impart a slight thrust via partial vaporization to a part of the debris. This will create a cloud of gas, cause it spin, and change its orbit. Since most of the debris we are talking about is in LEO, it will eventually burn up in the upper atmosphere. Getting rid of debris in GEO is a much tougher problem.
Now, the laser. We have the technology to build a massive, solar-pumped, dye (or solid) laser. Very little electricity would be required! By creating two of these, one pumps the other, we can pulse them for dramatically increased power, but I would like to see what we can do with it in a continuous wave mode, since it has never been done. I won't go into details on the design, but we are talking about a Megawatt class laser. If we can get a hold of the adaptive optics and other Star Wars era (!) rapid repositioning and precision pointing (R2P2), this could work.
Caveat! This laser would have to be built in a dry environment (read cloudless)
and will only work in direct sunlight.
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But even sillier, it that the Lockheed Martin Athena2 rocket used that pad to launch the Space Imaging IKONOS satellite. It looked like a little pop-bottle rocket sitting on that huge pad.
Nothing will replace the basics. Take the time to be sure your kids have a solid, core background to build upon. Studying is a skill. I am looking at using Machinima for storytelling. Using UnrealEd to work on spatial skills and treasure hunting. We play with Lego Mindstorms. Subscribe to Make and build things! Measure comprehension and retention with Moodle. Both of my kids have hand-me-down laptops from work that I installed Knoppix on. They don't know who Microsoft is, but they recognize Tux. You'd be surprised how quickly they can pick up things. Kids today really don't have a clue about analog anything! They think the Internet and digital everything has always been here. BTW- I love both books from O'Reilly: Mind Hacks and now Mind Performance Hacks- great tips and tricks to show your kids. Be a great role model and push yourself to learn things you thought you already knew- there have been a lot of strides debunking stuff since we were in school. I am really getting a kick out of learning science all over again!
I, for one, welcome our fellow super secret nerd overlords. Don't forget, the NSA gave us SELinux and their intellectual property is second to none. Once many of their technologies and software are declassified, you will see some fantastic innovations released into the free world. Read Body of Secrets and let your imagination run rampant as to the computing and information processing capabilities if focused on sheer capitalism.
I think it is too cool to be able to program black boxes, either a receiver like the IC-PCR1000 or a pure software based T/R radio like FlexRadio
I wonder if any of the researchers know about the NSA (I'm currently reading Body of Secrets). They deal with billions of signals and try to sift out the wheat from the chaff. To me, signals are signals and the gains to be had from an NSA-style mapping of the brain merit further discussion. A listening post in the brain? It might not be too far off.
I have been working on a version of this idea for a long time. It truly is fascinating. Imagine being able to reverse engineer the future based on the largest data cube in the world- the physics and chemistry of the molecules in the world around us. Think of a massive 3D version of the Periodic Table of Elements but applied to molecules and particles. Self-organizing on an immense scale. Imagine if we could see relationships amongst things where today relationships do not exist. I, for one, welcome our Universal Data Cube Overlords.
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Remember Voyager? Ya, ya, I know. Still this episode stands out: The Omega Directive
Uh, how many of you drive cars with a cell phone turned on? With the location based services the phone companies have, it is easy to triangulate your position, speed, and heading. Overlay a map and they know where you are. Another reason to turn off that phone and drive. I think I should build a new car, and call it the TEMPEST. Either stop emitting all of your electronic signatures, or live your life like an open book.
OK, here is my contribution to humanity :) First, we need to think big. I mean, really big.
A ground-based laser is expensive, but if you can remove the ridiculous power requirements, it is the best solution for our problem- more on my solution in a moment.
Contrary to popular belief, we do NOT have to completely vaporize the debris. We only have to impart a slight thrust via partial vaporization to a part of the debris. This will create a cloud of gas, cause it spin, and change its orbit. Since most of the debris we are talking about is in LEO, it will eventually burn up in the upper atmosphere. Getting rid of debris in GEO is a much tougher problem.
Now, the laser. We have the technology to build a massive, solar-pumped, dye (or solid) laser. Very little electricity would be required! By creating two of these, one pumps the other, we can pulse them for dramatically increased power, but I would like to see what we can do with it in a continuous wave mode, since it has never been done. I won't go into details on the design, but we are talking about a Megawatt class laser. If we can get a hold of the adaptive optics and other Star Wars era (!) rapid repositioning and precision pointing (R2P2), this could work.
Caveat! This laser would have to be built in a dry environment (read cloudless) and will only work in direct sunlight.
Late!
_A_Mad_Scientist