Americans need to be aware of the problems that their energy dependence on middle east oil causes. Granted Ethanol may not be the answer but if its even close, and if we can move to a marginal 25% of energy consumption to this source, this can be a significant strategic step in energy independence as well as reducing the image of imperialism which America carries in the Middle East. Khosla maybe professing pipe dreams, being a VC, but it's time we understood the bigger picture. For starters, watching Syriana maybe a healthy exercise for everyone interested in their progeny having a good life.
To use statistics again, you are an outlier. I'm sure if you notice the correlation between buyers of IPod and whether they already own one (your case), it'll be pretty low. While not completely authoritative, iPod sales can be a good indicator of music downloads.
Nice repartee. I admire that you work everyday in trying to improve the life of people in the developing world.
But my point of contention with you was your pov with respect to the situation in case nukes were used. Should we really be worrying about the economy at that point of time. should we really be worried that we wont be getting faster computers bcos the fabs in taiwan are levelled. im a liberal but a realist too.
i understand ur point with respect to the hypocrisy that exists in media nowadays but being intelligent ourselves, we should be able make up our own mind when it comes to calamitis like this. my generatin hasnt faced anything like the second world war. but what you explained in ur original post is that equivalent for our generation. my point is to prevent that from happening we need to look at the situation sensitively from a cultural and not just a economic standpoint.
No. I think YOU are missing the point. You should start looking beyond the american economy being hurt when there's a nuke bomb placed in japan or taiwan. Give a fuck about people's lives for gods sake.
Its ok if millions of people die as long as you can pay $2 per gallon. Stop sermonizing here if you cant relate to a global view.
I am definitely happy that my country is catching up. I thought I made my point pretty clear when I said, this isn't an example of India Shining. IT touches a minisucle of India's population and the Indian elections are proof that the majority of the population who vote haven't been touched by the economic properity which we seem to associate with India nowadays.
Go read up on post-election analysis as to why one of the stalwarts of India's IT boom, Chandrababu Naidu got kicked out by his electorate. Lot more issues which effect Indians than IT and the earlier we realise that and start addressing them the better. At the same time,I do agree that the money coming in because of IT helps in alleviating those basic problems.
But we still have a long way to go before we can say India's Truly Shining.
To answer your last point, I love my country. Its just that having the second largest population in the world causes a lot of bs to filter thru.
I'm tired of all the India Shining crap. Being an Indian myself, its embarassing to see my fellow countrymen gloating over this as an example of India Shining. STFU. And posting on slashdot aint a status symbol. Now that I've posted its a pity I cant mod down these idiots.
I guess as the others pointed out, you were referring to Columbia and STS-107.
Actually I am pretty sure this mission has been in the books for quite sometime. Especially since Earth and Mars are supposed to be in the closest configuration with respect to their orbits. A trip to Mars right now will take approximately 7-8 months and the two rovers(Spirit and Opportunity) should get to Mars by January.
Also, its not just NASA which has used the current orbit position as an advantage; the European Space Agency(ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency(NASDA i think) have also launched their respective payloads to Mars.
About Venus, I doubt if NASA will come out with a program. A whole load of factors , not the least scientific goes into allocating budget to programs. And especially right now, I would think it would be really hard for NASA to convince the govt., to fund a program to Venus. The question of selling it to the public ranks high up there among the criteria and seems tough to me.
Good job Ed
on
Space Blog
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
The blogs are extremely informative..Its nice to see Lu mentioning in intricate detail about orbits,the ride to the station in the Soyuz, the mating of Progress with the ISS (about the lag in response of the Progress to impulses provided by Yuri and Ed's joystick and compensation & patience results thereof).
Nice to see him talking about trivial things like what they have for dinner and how. While not getting into the larger debate of the ISS being this huge waste of money, I must admit this is pretty interesting stuff, and I'm sure it will help in ensuring sustained interest of the common man in the space program.
I'm sure Ed will get into more interesting sermons like experiments aboard the ISS, EVA's, LOS/AOS and TDRS satellites and probably with the shuttle mission coming up in December or January,and since I think the Columbia commission's recommendations call on all future Shuttle missions making it to the ISS, there will be some interesting observations on that,if and when it happens.
I am Indian and I dont think the Indian government's really serious about this mission. Its primarily PR. The Indian Prime Minister is visiting China right now and I think its juss the usual diplomatic games being played.
India does have a good space programme.The Indian Space Research Organization (http://www.isro.org) definitely has performed beautifully considering that their budget is a fraction of NASA or the ESA.
But the government I'm sure knows its going to be a pointless mission, with the only positive thing coming out of it being "supposed" inflation of India's reputation in international eyes. But I also think the Indian govt. knows exactly what many slashdotters are saying right now, "Welcome to the 60s India" and therefore has doubts of funding such a mission.
P.S: India first tested its nuclear bomb in 1974, not in 1998 as the Wired article http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/view.html ?pg=4 suggests.
Consider the possibility of carrying 555 millionaires to the poor and downtrodden regions of the world and they come back convinced a-la Bono that not much is being done for their upliftment.
Slashdot Mirror
Americans need to be aware of the problems that their energy dependence on middle east oil causes. Granted Ethanol may not be the answer but if its even close, and if we can move to a marginal 25% of energy consumption to this source, this can be a significant strategic step in energy independence as well as reducing the image of imperialism which America carries in the Middle East. Khosla maybe professing pipe dreams, being a VC, but it's time we understood the bigger picture. For starters, watching Syriana maybe a healthy exercise for everyone interested in their progeny having a good life.
To use statistics again, you are an outlier. I'm sure if you notice the correlation between buyers of IPod and whether they already own one (your case), it'll be pretty low. While not completely authoritative, iPod sales can be a good indicator of music downloads.
Nice repartee. I admire that you work everyday in trying to improve the life of people in the developing world.
But my point of contention with you was your pov with respect to the situation in case nukes were used. Should we really be worrying about the economy at that point of time. should we really be worried that we wont be getting faster computers bcos the fabs in taiwan are levelled. im a liberal but a realist too.
i understand ur point with respect to the hypocrisy that exists in media nowadays but being intelligent ourselves, we should be able make up our own mind when it comes to calamitis like this. my generatin hasnt faced anything like the second world war. but what you explained in ur original post is that equivalent for our generation. my point is to prevent that from happening we need to look at the situation sensitively from a cultural and not just a economic standpoint.
No. I think YOU are missing the point. You should start looking beyond the american economy being hurt when there's a nuke bomb placed in japan or taiwan. Give a fuck about people's lives for gods sake.
Its ok if millions of people die as long as you can pay $2 per gallon. Stop sermonizing here if you cant relate to a global view.
I am definitely happy that my country is catching up. I thought I made my point pretty clear when I said, this isn't an example of India Shining. IT touches a minisucle of India's population and the Indian elections are proof that the majority of the population who vote haven't been touched by the economic properity which we seem to associate with India nowadays.
Go read up on post-election analysis as to why one of the stalwarts of India's IT boom, Chandrababu Naidu got kicked out by his electorate. Lot more issues which effect Indians than IT and the earlier we realise that and start addressing them the better. At the same time,I do agree that the money coming in because of IT helps in alleviating those basic problems.
But we still have a long way to go before we can say India's Truly Shining.
To answer your last point, I love my country. Its just that having the second largest population in the world causes a lot of bs to filter thru.
I'm tired of all the India Shining crap. Being an Indian myself, its embarassing to see my fellow countrymen gloating over this as an example of India Shining. STFU. And posting on slashdot aint a status symbol. Now that I've posted its a pity I cant mod down these idiots.
I guess as the others pointed out, you were referring to Columbia and STS-107.
Actually I am pretty sure this mission has been in the books for quite sometime. Especially since Earth and Mars are supposed to be in the closest configuration with respect to their orbits. A trip to Mars right now will take approximately 7-8 months and the two rovers(Spirit and Opportunity) should get to Mars by January.
Also, its not just NASA which has used the current orbit position as an advantage; the European Space Agency(ESA) and the Japanese Space Agency(NASDA i think) have also launched their respective payloads to Mars.
About Venus, I doubt if NASA will come out with a program. A whole load of factors , not the least scientific goes into allocating budget to programs. And especially right now, I would think it would be really hard for NASA to convince the govt., to fund a program to Venus. The question of selling it to the public ranks high up there among the criteria and seems tough to me.
The blogs are extremely informative..Its nice to see Lu mentioning in intricate detail about orbits,the ride to the station in the Soyuz, the mating of Progress with the ISS (about the lag in response of the Progress to impulses provided by Yuri and Ed's joystick and compensation & patience results thereof).
Nice to see him talking about trivial things like what they have for dinner and how. While not getting into the larger debate of the ISS being this huge waste of money, I must admit this is pretty interesting stuff, and I'm sure it will help in ensuring sustained interest of the common man in the space program.
I'm sure Ed will get into more interesting sermons like experiments aboard the ISS, EVA's, LOS/AOS and TDRS satellites and probably with the shuttle mission coming up in December or January,and since I think the Columbia commission's recommendations call on all future Shuttle missions making it to the ISS, there will be some interesting observations on that,if and when it happens.
Nice work Ed! Keep up the good work!I am Indian and I dont think the Indian government's really serious about this mission. Its primarily PR. The Indian Prime Minister is visiting China right now and I think its juss the usual diplomatic games being played. India does have a good space programme.The Indian Space Research Organization (http://www.isro.org) definitely has performed beautifully considering that their budget is a fraction of NASA or the ESA. But the government I'm sure knows its going to be a pointless mission, with the only positive thing coming out of it being "supposed" inflation of India's reputation in international eyes. But I also think the Indian govt. knows exactly what many slashdotters are saying right now, "Welcome to the 60s India" and therefore has doubts of funding such a mission. P.S: India first tested its nuclear bomb in 1974, not in 1998 as the Wired article http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.05/view.html ?pg=4 suggests.
mah choices r: Fish called Wanda Killing Fields a simple plan
Consider the possibility of carrying 555 millionaires to the poor and downtrodden regions of the world and they come back convinced a-la Bono that not much is being done for their upliftment.