When it comes to space, America has forgotton its roots - the entrepreneurs. Let them do the hard work of making viable cheap re-usable, via competitive environments like X-prize etc. Just let NASA handle non-manned program for now, until they can buy the best of the new reusables. Scrap the Shuttle tommorow. Save yourselves a few Billion dollars..
Story also on BBC NEWS-
China will cough up 259 mega-dollars towards the costs. The
Pentagon are not too happy about it, but it does give the EU a
way to do important things like landing planes, without worrying
that someone else could throw the switch.
Did you know that the "Holy Grail" was a huge hit in the Soviet Union at the time - something like No 3 at the box office? The Soviet censors liked the films send-up of religion (& imperialism - remember the socialist peasants!), and passed it as being suitable viewing, maybe missing the strong thread of anarchism that pervades all of Pythons work. You could argue that it was cultural erosion like this that helped bring down the Wall..
The film itself was shot for peanuts in a damp part of scotland in just a few weeks. The actors really were damp and cold when performing it, giving the film an authentic grimness missing from glossy Hollywood takes on medieval Britain. All the music was cheap "mood-music" taken off some LP. Gilliam is a great director who doesnt make nearly enough films, in my view.
The USA spends $xxxx Billion liberating Kuwait and Iraq, which coincidentally have a lot of oil. Iraq is to be divided into three distinct regions - regular, premium, unleaded.
"Cor blimey, would you look at that great big hurricane out there! GLK Florida, is there anyone out there? Stone the bleedin' crows, Im off for a fag and a pint.."
Great stuff, I can just see Tony
hancock doing the Radio ham
sketch.. If you have never heard it, tune into BBC7 on a tues and you may
catch the original radio broadcast..:-)
The solution? Eat garlic
according to this article on BBC news. Its a suprisingly
effective antibiotic, without all the drawbacks of normal
antibiotics.. Me? I swear by it. Also a strong curry followed by
a few beers usually kills all those germs. You can read about
another cause of antibiotic-resistant
superbugs here..This article
is also interesting - I think it will be proven true, a few years after everyone has stopped laughing. And all this time you thought it was
alternative hippy bullshit..:-) Oh and Douglas Adams rules..
Nothing radical, but good to see another biomass plant online. Here its worth it because the nut is harvested for food anyway, but its role will probably be small in the global scale of things. Problem with biomass grown *just* for power is that the energy spent harvesting etc is a good proportion of what is gained by burning it. Solar/wind are still the best renewables long-term.
A man walks into a bar - he sits down and orders a drink. The barman gives him his drink, accompanied by a bowl of nuts. To his surprise, a voice comes from the nut bowl. "You look great tonight!" it said, "You really look fantastic... and that aftershave is just wonderful!"
The man is obviously a little confused, but tries to ignore it. Realising he has no cigarettes he wanders over to the cigarette machine. After inserting his money, another voice emits from the machine. "You're a TOTAL LOOSER... My God you STINK... Do you know, you're almost AS UGLY AS YOUR MOTHER!"
By now, the man is extremely perplexed. He turns to the barman for an explanation. "Ah yes sir," the barman responds, "The nuts are complimentary, but the cigarette machine is out of order."
When it comes to computers, the level of technical incompetence in some of the agencys/companies that are supposed to safeguard or process sensitive public information (banks, police, government..) is sometimes really scary..
I dont think you can accuse the main x-prize contender Burt Rutan (scaled composites-spaceship-one) of cherry-picking - if he achieves what he sets out to do, it would be an extraordinary acheivement on a small budget. The key to making capitalism work is to have good regulators with real teeth. While NASA have done some wonderful things, I think you must admit that they have not delivered an affordable re-usable space vehicle, and I dont believe they can.
Yes, thats right, although there is some loss of power, and it is dependant on the right geography.. Other technologies like giant batteries/capacitors, giant flywheels, super-conducting electro-magnets, etc, are also being evolved/pushed forward as possibilities. The nice thing about the hydrogen idea is that we may have to make hydrogen anyway for cars at some stage, so what better use of excess power from solar/wind than that?
NASA/ESA are just no longer the right guys to take manned space exploration forward. The Shuttle fiasco proves just how bad NASA is at delivering affordable spce travel. Generate incentives (X-Prize style) and let entreprenuers build the re-usable ships that could fly large numbers of people into space..
Whose time has come. Put solar windows in all office blocks,
and solar tiles (both electric & water heating) in the roofs
of all houses, and you go a long way toward solving the energy
problems. Even in cooler countries these schemes pay-back after a
few years - ie the extra it costs is paid back in electricty
savings. In hot contries, a house can (in effect) generate as
much electricity as it consumes - in Australia you have Zero
annual electricity bills for these guys - the tiles make as
much electricity as they take from the grid. (ok with gas
heating, but the hot water supply is provided by the sun too).
Check also This
link, This link
, This link
or This
link.. Want a large scale plant? What about the
deserts of the world ?
Combine with Wind power,
and other alternatives, and we may get 100% of our energy needs
without nuclear, coal, gas.. What do you do when you have excess
off-peak power? Turn it into hydrogen for your car!
Ok I wasnt being too serious, but I was suggesting the idea that if all wave phase/directions of all particles within the atom were lined in a particular plane, could an atom be truely "flat"?
Slashdot Mirror
When it comes to space, America has forgotton its roots - the entrepreneurs. Let them do the hard work of making viable cheap re-usable, via competitive environments like X-prize etc. Just let NASA handle non-manned program for now, until they can buy the best of the new reusables. Scrap the Shuttle tommorow. Save yourselves a few Billion dollars..
>Wait, is that $259 million or $272 million? I smell a lawsuit...
:-)
ok, 247 mebi-dollars if you like..
Story also on BBC NEWS- China will cough up 259 mega-dollars towards the costs. The Pentagon are not too happy about it, but it does give the EU a way to do important things like landing planes, without worrying that someone else could throw the switch.
PS. If you havent done so, make a point of seeing "Jabberwocky" shot by Terry gilliam He is working on a new apocolyptic film called "Good omens"..
>Gibibyte -- still getting used to that one ...
Cant see that one flying somehow.
Why not Killybyte, Meggybyte, Giggybyte,
(KyB MyB GyB)..
Did you know that the "Holy Grail" was a huge hit in the Soviet Union at the time - something like No 3 at the box office? The Soviet censors liked the films send-up of religion (& imperialism - remember the socialist peasants!), and passed it as being suitable viewing, maybe missing the strong thread of anarchism that pervades all of Pythons work. You could argue that it was cultural erosion like this that helped bring down the Wall..
The film itself was shot for peanuts in a damp part of scotland in just a few weeks. The actors really were damp and cold when performing it, giving the film an authentic grimness missing from glossy Hollywood takes on medieval Britain. All the music was cheap "mood-music" taken off some LP. Gilliam is a great director who doesnt make nearly enough films, in my view.
Ok, but at least its the first time the word "spam" has appeared on slashdot in the pressed-meat context.
Help! Help! I'm being repressed..
I, for one, welcome our 40 column retro Commodore 64 overlords..
Nope, 100% pure coincidence.
Other famous coincidences in the World:
The USA spends $xxxx Billion liberating Kuwait and Iraq, which coincidentally have a lot of oil. Iraq is to be divided into three distinct regions - regular, premium, unleaded.
fill in your own here..
..When I finally own/crush Linux, I want to talk to it..
For example..
"Cor blimey, would you look at that great big hurricane out there! GLK Florida, is there anyone out there? Stone the bleedin' crows, Im off for a fag and a pint.."
Great stuff, I can just see Tony hancock doing the Radio ham sketch.. If you have never heard it, tune into BBC7 on a tues and you may catch the original radio broadcast.. :-)
The solution? Eat garlic according to this article on BBC news. Its a suprisingly effective antibiotic, without all the drawbacks of normal antibiotics.. Me? I swear by it. Also a strong curry followed by a few beers usually kills all those germs. You can read about another cause of antibiotic-resistant superbugs here.. This article is also interesting - I think it will be proven true, a few years after everyone has stopped laughing. And all this time you thought it was alternative hippy bullshit.. :-) Oh and Douglas Adams rules..
Nothing radical, but good to see another biomass plant online. Here its worth it because the nut is harvested for food anyway, but its role will probably be small in the global scale of things. Problem with biomass grown *just* for power is that the energy spent harvesting etc is a good proportion of what is gained by burning it. Solar/wind are still the best renewables long-term.
A man walks into a bar - he sits down and orders a drink. The barman gives him his drink, accompanied by a bowl of nuts. To his surprise, a voice comes from the nut bowl. "You look great tonight!" it said, "You really look fantastic... and that aftershave is just wonderful!"
The man is obviously a little confused, but tries to ignore it. Realising he has no cigarettes he wanders over to the cigarette machine. After inserting his money, another voice emits from the machine. "You're a TOTAL LOOSER... My God you STINK... Do you know, you're almost AS UGLY AS YOUR MOTHER!"
By now, the man is extremely perplexed. He turns to the barman for an explanation. "Ah yes sir," the barman responds, "The nuts are complimentary, but the cigarette machine is out of order."
Difficult creases in your clothes? I prefer a bit of Extreme Ironing meself.. (http://www.extremeironing.com/)
When it comes to computers, the level of technical incompetence in some of the agencys/companies that are supposed to safeguard or process sensitive public information (banks, police, government..) is sometimes really scary..
I dont think you can accuse the main x-prize contender Burt Rutan (scaled composites-spaceship-one) of cherry-picking - if he achieves what he sets out to do, it would be an extraordinary acheivement on a small budget. The key to making capitalism work is to have good regulators with real teeth. While NASA have done some wonderful things, I think you must admit that they have not delivered an affordable re-usable space vehicle, and I dont believe they can.
Yes, thats right, although there is some loss of power, and it is dependant on the right geography.. Other technologies like giant batteries/capacitors, giant flywheels, super-conducting electro-magnets, etc, are also being evolved/pushed forward as possibilities. The nice thing about the hydrogen idea is that we may have to make hydrogen anyway for cars at some stage, so what better use of excess power from solar/wind than that?
NASA/ESA are just no longer the right guys to take manned space exploration forward. The Shuttle fiasco proves just how bad NASA is at delivering affordable spce travel. Generate incentives (X-Prize style) and let entreprenuers build the re-usable ships that could fly large numbers of people into space..
Whose time has come. Put solar windows in all office blocks, and solar tiles (both electric & water heating) in the roofs of all houses, and you go a long way toward solving the energy problems. Even in cooler countries these schemes pay-back after a few years - ie the extra it costs is paid back in electricty savings. In hot contries, a house can (in effect) generate as much electricity as it consumes - in Australia you have Zero annual electricity bills for these guys - the tiles make as much electricity as they take from the grid. (ok with gas heating, but the hot water supply is provided by the sun too). Check also This link, This link , This link or This link.. Want a large scale plant? What about the deserts of the world ?
Combine with Wind power, and other alternatives, and we may get 100% of our energy needs without nuclear, coal, gas.. What do you do when you have excess off-peak power? Turn it into hydrogen for your car!
Read more about it here..
int seed = 0;
int rand (void)
{
seed = 0x015a4e35L * seed + 1;
return ((seed >> 16) & 0x7fff);
}
Wouldnt it?
Ok I wasnt being too serious, but I was suggesting the idea that if all wave phase/directions of all particles within the atom were lined in a particular plane, could an atom be truely "flat"?
Well its a bugger trying to get the phase/spin direction of all the protons and electrons lined up, but apparently it is possible..