My point is: it doesn't take an organization of that size to put someone into space.
Whether Armadillo or someone else wins the X-Prize, the point of the prize is that you can put people in space relatively cheaply.
And yes, for the moment even that remains opinion.
(And yes, I was feeling a bit feisty when I wrote my last post.)
Give me private companies (Armadillo Aerospace, Burt Rutan's projects) any day. They're the ones who'll finally get us into space reliably.
DRMorpheus wrote:
once Armadillo Aerospace and Scaled Composites reach the size of Lockheed or Boeing they'll have exactly the same types of problems
Nice end run around the point to throw out incendiary irrelevant fluff. Mod parent down as troll.
Paraphrasing DRMorpheus:
The companies may be different, but if they were the same, they would have the same problems!
First, these small companies won't be the size of Boeing when they get us to space. Armadillo is going for the X Prize with, IIRC, a single Rocket Scientist.
Second, there is a grave difference in focus between a government contractor ("Justify your spending so you can keep getting more money!") and a small, private engineering firm ("How cheaply, efficiently and effectively can we do it?")
When George Bush Sr. asked NASA to come up with a plan to go to Mars, they said "Give us 30 years and $400 Billion." When Robert Zubrin's (founder of Mars Society) 12 man team put together what is now known as the Mars Direct plan, they came up with "10 years and $10 Billion". (Zubrin figures a private firm could do it for $6B.) NASA must have gone around and asked everyone how they thought their project could be justified by a Mars goal.
Most of the SATA hard drives are still just parallel ATA with a bridge chip to convert them to serial. I imagine that once manufacturers switch to native SATA hardware, the reduced costs will send SATA to CDs, DVDs, etc.
The "crippled file systems" comment wasn't about SIDs, it was about not being able to copy certain system files *while Windows is running*. Of course if you boot off a floppy (for dd, ghost, etc.), the operating system isn't using those files.
It seems like nobody makes a "natural" or "Ergonomic" keyboard with a standard layout anymore.
Microsoft's multimedia keyboards have rearranged/rotated the Delete/End/Home group.
Belkin moved the Delete/End/Home group down to squeeze in PrintScreen/ScrollLock/Pause and replaced those with new power function keys. I didn't think it would matter, but I am constantly hitting Pause when I try to PageUp!
I have an old Logitech with the pipe/backslash in the wrong place, but now the only "natural" type one they make is a wireless with the Delete/End/Home group rotated!
Please, someone tell me, where can I find a Natural keyboard with classic layout? Or should I just stock up on enough discontinued Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pros to last the rest of my life?
The dual optical is already old school. Now it's all about Logitech's "MX Optical Engine", which is in a number of their mice, including the MX500 I have at work (right-handed super-ergo), and the MX310 I just got for home (handedness-agnostic super-ergo). It's also in the MX700 cordless and the MX300.
I like the MX310 best. Feels great, and tracks beautifully on a desk that has completely confused other optical mice.
The pizzeria example assumes you're using your own local distribution network. But if you ring up someone who uses, say, UPS or FedEx, they already have easy access to a world wide distribution network.
The problem really isn't distribution. It's the other stuff.
Even if there was no problem, though, I don't think any business has a moral imperative to deal with everyone.
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My point is: it doesn't take an organization of that size to put someone into space. Whether Armadillo or someone else wins the X-Prize, the point of the prize is that you can put people in space relatively cheaply. And yes, for the moment even that remains opinion. (And yes, I was feeling a bit feisty when I wrote my last post.)
Nice end run around the point to throw out incendiary irrelevant fluff. Mod parent down as troll.
Paraphrasing DRMorpheus:
First, these small companies won't be the size of Boeing when they get us to space. Armadillo is going for the X Prize with, IIRC, a single Rocket Scientist.
Second, there is a grave difference in focus between a government contractor ("Justify your spending so you can keep getting more money!") and a small, private engineering firm ("How cheaply, efficiently and effectively can we do it?")
When George Bush Sr. asked NASA to come up with a plan to go to Mars, they said "Give us 30 years and $400 Billion." When Robert Zubrin's (founder of Mars Society) 12 man team put together what is now known as the Mars Direct plan, they came up with "10 years and $10 Billion". (Zubrin figures a private firm could do it for $6B.) NASA must have gone around and asked everyone how they thought their project could be justified by a Mars goal.
I think the Nevada desert looks more like Mars than Mars does. I think they're staging it all on Mars and coloring it to look like Nevada.
Most of the SATA hard drives are still just parallel ATA with a bridge chip to convert them to serial. I imagine that once manufacturers switch to native SATA hardware, the reduced costs will send SATA to CDs, DVDs, etc.
The "crippled file systems" comment wasn't about SIDs, it was about not being able to copy certain system files *while Windows is running*. Of course if you boot off a floppy (for dd, ghost, etc.), the operating system isn't using those files.
It seems like nobody makes a "natural" or "Ergonomic" keyboard with a standard layout anymore.
Microsoft's multimedia keyboards have rearranged/rotated the Delete/End/Home group.
Belkin moved the Delete/End/Home group down to squeeze in PrintScreen/ScrollLock/Pause and replaced those with new power function keys. I didn't think it would matter, but I am constantly hitting Pause when I try to PageUp!
I have an old Logitech with the pipe/backslash in the wrong place, but now the only "natural" type one they make is a wireless with the Delete/End/Home group rotated!
Please, someone tell me, where can I find a Natural keyboard with classic layout? Or should I just stock up on enough discontinued Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pros to last the rest of my life?
The dual optical is already old school. Now it's all about Logitech's "MX Optical Engine", which is in a number of their mice, including the MX500 I have at work (right-handed super-ergo), and the MX310 I just got for home (handedness-agnostic super-ergo). It's also in the MX700 cordless and the MX300.
I like the MX310 best. Feels great, and tracks beautifully on a desk that has completely confused other optical mice.
#!/usr/bin/perl
use Text::vCard;
use Net::LDAP;
# remainder left as an exercise for the poster.
They're just jealous.
The pizzeria example assumes you're using your own local distribution network. But if you ring up someone who uses, say, UPS or FedEx, they already have easy access to a world wide distribution network. The problem really isn't distribution. It's the other stuff. Even if there was no problem, though, I don't think any business has a moral imperative to deal with everyone.