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User: Mondoz

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Comments · 243

  1. Re: charges on Sequence of Events During Columbia Mission · · Score: 1
    Everyone involved knows what risks are involved.

    If the general public thinks spaceflight is routine and without risk, they are more niave than I thought.

  2. Re: charges on Sequence of Events During Columbia Mission · · Score: 1
    NASA acknowledged that if they'd known by the seventh day, they could have organized a rescue mission.

    Which could have resulted in the same situation as the first one... If they had known about the extent of the tile damage, and thought it bad enough to risk a balls-to-the-wall processing of the next available shuttle (Atlantis), it would have been a horribly bad idea to blindly launch another shuttle without knowing what had happened to the previous one or taking steps to prevent it.

    These decisions weren't just made on a 'we don't feel like finding out what happened' basis, the managers were provided earlier studies on foam strikes. These studies, which were all computer models, turned out to be wrong, as they had never been done before in reality. The managers didn't know the studies were wrong...

    If the studies had been done in real life before this, they might have known the possible extent of the damage... But even then, a rescue mission was unprecidented, and extremely risky...

  3. Re:HDTV on Sony's Linux DVR Can Record Two Weeks of TV · · Score: 1

    How feasable is a DIY job to make a HDTV unit?

  4. You can use this... on Disclosure of Major Software Exploits by Students? · · Score: 1

    Leverage this to make Microsoft release a Linux client for the Xbox!

  5. Re:OverStock's crappy search feature lost them a s on The Career Programmer · · Score: 1
    I was so disgusted with Overstock's search feature that I decided to screw the savings and just 1-click order it on Amazon. Way to go, Overstock!

    I did the same thing, but ended up at Buy.com, and was disgusted by their shipping prices...
    Bought it anyway, though. Scheduled to arrive: October 2007, but I saved 3 bucks!

  6. Pricing on The Career Programmer · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's more expensive at bn.com. Amazon has it for 10 bucks less.

  7. Re:Java woes on Programming Wireless Devices With Java 2 · · Score: 1

    There's lots of dedicated 'one piece' devices that Java can interact with, the problem is finding add-on devices that Java can talk to.

  8. Java woes on Programming Wireless Devices With Java 2 · · Score: 2, Interesting
    It's great that there's more support for the actual wireless aspect, but there's not enough Java support for the other devices that interact with the wireless.

    For example, I'm working on a project that involves a barcode scanner attached to a PDA, communicating wirelessly to a database. Java might let me do all the wireless/database stuff, but so many addon devices don't support Java.
    Anyone know of a PCMCIA or CF barcode reader that does suport Java?

    (crickets chirp)

  9. Re:Inches or Centimeters? on Orbital Space Plane Problems · · Score: 1

    NASA didn't just decide they wanted to invent UV sunglasses... They needed a way to protect the astronaut's eyes while in space. They invented a UV coating for their helmets... Then someone tried it on sunglasses, and you've got a new technology for a huge world-wide industry based off a NASA invention.
    Same thing goes with countless other technologies. NASA had to invent them to solve the problems of keeping people alive in space.

  10. Re:Inches or Centimeters? on Orbital Space Plane Problems · · Score: 5, Insightful
    what else do you expect from a money pit uh i mean a research institute.

    I'm assuming you don't realize how many technologies you use on a regular basis that were developed by NASA.

    I'm also assuming that you don't realize that due to NASA's charter, all the new technologies they develop are given away to companies for commercial development.

    Calling NASA a 'money pit' is true in a sense - they can't actually make money - they're not allowed. If congress had written NASA's charter to allow for commercial development of technologies they invent, they'd have made a fortune on medical equipment alone... And on UV-filtering sunglasses, communication devices, fireproofing materials, life support equipment, remote-sensing weather prediction systems, composite materials development... etc... etc...

  11. I don't know what is going to happen to his map... on Grad Student's Work Reveals National Infrastructure · · Score: 1

    But I want his monitor!!

  12. How long until... on Protecting Cities from Hijacked Planes · · Score: 2, Insightful
    How long until all passengers are sedated upon boarding, packed into sleeping chambers, and treated as cargo?

    Comatose passengers aren't likely to hijack a plane... Especially if they're isolated from the flight crew.

    The way they did it in the 5th Element is the way to go...

  13. Re:Duh...no joke on Web Firms Choose Profit Over Privacy · · Score: 1
    Businesses always choose profit over what they think they can get away with - legally or illegally...

    Regulations on this will almost always be circumvented as the company sees fit, as long as they think they can get away with it...

  14. Re:Space travel needs this on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Study's been done. We know what we need to know.

    Someone should tell them that, then. They're still learning more about these effects right now with the crews on the ISS.
    Did you know that kidney stones form faster up there than on the ground? Know why? Neither do the people currently running the Renal Stone experiments up there right now. I'll have to tell them that you already know all the answers, and they're wasting their time.

    I want to support space exploration, and right now NASA's only objective is to make certain that the only way to space is through them.

    NASA has no control over who goes into space. Their charter dictates who NASA is allowed to send up on their vehicles.

    The FAA dictates who is to go into space, not NASA. NASA gets their permission before launches.

    If you wanted to go build your own rocket right now, you'd need the FAA's permission, not NASA's.

    NASA has plenty of money. If the Shuttle and Space Station were mothballed, we could have a Mars mission in 10 years for 1/10 the budget.

    Too bad NASA doesn't make that kind of decision. Go read NASA's charter. Congress dictates what types of missions they do.

    they are destroying any competitor that looks like they could seriously threaten their manned and heavy-launch capabilities.

    What kind of fantasy land are you living in?

  15. Re:Fsck NASA's approval on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Anyway, that's beside the point here; it's a fact that NASA is top-heavy, inefficient and basically just a money sink which doesn't do what it's supposed to do: open up space for the masses.

    That's not NASA's mission. They are a research organization.

    Anyone who thinks they are a just a money sink is either uninformed or blind. The number of world-changing technologies developed by NASA is staggering. Do a search sometime on 'NASA Spinoff' technologies. You'll be amazed at how many common everyday technologies were developed by NASA.

    Personally I think it's a big shame on them that a private individual like Burt Rutan will (very likely) have a (commercial) re-usable shuttle service up in the air, sooner and for less cost than anything NASA has ever dreamed up. The NASA bigwigs should be begging to be bitchslapped for failure to do something similar.

    Do you know anything of the multiple prototypes developed as a replacement for the Shuttle? Do you know anything of their history, or the fact that Congress terminated their funding?

    Mr. Rutan will very likely be using a number of technologies developed by NASA to build his system, and put it towards a use that NASA is not allowed to do. The NASA bigwigs should be commended for doing as well as they are with the limited resources Congress gives them.

  16. Re:Space travel needs this on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 1
    The astronauts on the space station are a PR stunt. I am the world's biggest proponent of space exploration. I wish NASA would actually start to do it again.

    How would you propose we study the effects of long-term zero/micro gravity on humans?
    Where would you suggest we explore? Other planets? Like Mars? I think we should. We should be on the Moon, we should be on Mars, and beyond... (And before we do that, we have to know how to combat the effects of the trip... Thus the station...)
    But Congress holds the purse strings... NASA can't print money... They can't make profits to pay for their resources... They can only do so much...
    You want them to do more, write to your congressman in support of NASA...

  17. Re:Does anyone else on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 3, Informative
    I find it more disturbing that NASA has crippled the station. A three person crew who does nothing but maintenance. Little to no research. With my tax payer money. Yippe

    Upon completion, the station was to support a 7 man crew. However, Bush decided that the station didn't really need the escape vehicle and sleeping quarters required to support 7 people, so he cut the funding for those two modules.

    The station's new 'complete' status will only support 3 people... about the number required for absolute minimal science and maintenance.

    Blame Bush. He took away the funding.

  18. Re:Tito got a grudging approval... on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 5, Insightful
    NASA knows that the Russians need money for their space program and will probably tolerate this guy as well.

    NASA also knows they need the Russian launch vehicles to take up the slack of the grounded Shuttles...
    And Russia is milking that for all it's worth...

  19. Re:Space travel needs this on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Many/most of the systems onboard these craft are fully automated, and if shit hits the fan, there's pretty much zilcho anyone can do.

    That's not true at all. A very large percentage of the crew's time is spent on IFM tasks. (In Flight Maint.)

    Getting any other types of tasks on the timeline is very difficult, especially now that there's only two crewmembers up there.

  20. Re:Fsck NASA's approval on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 5, Informative
    Or make more of it. Consider that one of the experiments on Columbia was to see if popcorn pops differently in space.

    Learn about what you're talking about before you speak.

    Congress determines what NASA will do. NASA has a charter created by the government that dictates what NASA can and can't do.

    Profiting falls neatly into the can't column.

    In fact, NASA is obligated by its charter to give away all the technology it develops. UV sunglasses, pacemakers, velcro, and hundreds of other major scientific breaktrhoughs are a result of NASA research. But NASA is prohibited from making money off of them. If Congress would let them, NASA would take over the world.

  21. Re:Does anyone else on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 2, Insightful
    People blame Russia for starting this, but remember America did with their teacher and Challenger.

    The Teacher in Space program was an educational program. She didn't buy a ticket to go on a ride in a rocket...

    The Russians are only trying to make money.

  22. Re:NASA's approval? on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 3, Informative

    So far, all Shuttle passengers have been NASA Astronauts and Russian Cosmonauts, with joint NASA/Russian training.
    NASA hasn't tried to put someone up that Russia has had problems with yet...
    I'm sure that if NASA found a way to charge people for rides, Russia would throw a fit until they got a cut of the money.

  23. Re:In other news.. on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 1
    Las Vegas odds makers are giving 2-to-1 that NASA will find a way to much it up...

    It's not in NASA's charter to make money on something like this. Congress won't let them...

  24. Re:NASA's approval? on Tourist-Class Soyuz Spacecraft Seats Open · · Score: 3, Informative
    Forgive me if I ask something stupid, but why would this need NASA's approval?

    They're selling seats to go to the International Space Station. NASA owns much of it. It's an enclosed space, so the tourist would be using resources provided partially by NASA...

    The tourist could also do quite a bit of damage very easily... Without proper training by NASA, lots of bad stuff could easily happen...

  25. What's the big deal? on Force Field. No, Really · · Score: 0
    ...to act as a barrier between air and vacuum...

    I've already got one of these. It's called a 'closet door'...