It's distracting. If you want to play solitare (or cruise for porn or check your email or sell your shit on ebay), STAY HOME. Honestly, it's like the people who come to class to sleep. Why bother? If there's an attendance policy, be polite for a frigging hour and stop wanking around. If you aren't required to attend and are only going to dick around if you do, then don't bother making an appearence. You're obviously not paying attention, so make some for the people who want / need to hear what the prof is saying.
The reason people keep mentioning him is that NASA failed to develop a comparable technology with multi-billion dollar budget. Even as it is, it's useful for a number of things -
Let's compare:
training astronauts
The Vomit Comet
letting lay-people see space
Is this a role NASA should be fulfilling?
taking one-time measurements with high-altitude scientific instruments that are not worth launching a permanent satellite.
We have this technology already: rockets. No need to risk humans, and it's a hell of a lot less engineering.
If scaled composites had a decent budget, I am sure they would come up with at least a one-way unmanned orbit vehicle in a relatively short time - then they just need more fuel, no heat shielding.
We have several one-way, unmanned orbit vehicles: a plethora of rockets. Private companies have been using them for years to get things into orbit.
Scaled Composite's work is ground breaking mostly because it's a crew vehicle developed in the private sector; that's never been done before. But it's not a drop in replacement for the shuttle. Period. End of story.
I'm so tired of people pulling Burt Rutan out of their ass every time a conversation about the shuttle comes up. It was a great achievement, but it didn't acheive LEO, has NO cargo capicity, and if by "built in his garage" you mean "built by a team of engineers for millions of dollars", well, cool.
We got more done in the 60's with this kind of tech than we do now with our aging shuttle fleet. Also, since the boosters and fuel tanks are based on teh shuttles, we can utilize our current network of contractors to supply parts. I'm tired of spending billions just to get into space. Wouldn't you rather take the cheap way and then use the money to build a ship that goes elsewhere (re: Mars)?
Price of iBook vs. price of Mini+Display+battery to run both?
72 in^3 vs. 114 in^3?
I understand the "because I can" axiom, but this does seem a tad impractical. What does one use a wireless battery powered webserver for, anyways? WAR-porn?
Because nothing will say "secure" like putting Firefox on the device that was the target of the single largest celebrity hacking in the world, so well known that Jay Leno and David Letterman were taking pot shots at it.
Slashdot Mirror
Noob? Okay, Mister 762907...
It doesn't matter what the other person is holding if you can scare them into folding...
It's distracting. If you want to play solitare (or cruise for porn or check your email or sell your shit on ebay), STAY HOME. Honestly, it's like the people who come to class to sleep. Why bother? If there's an attendance policy, be polite for a frigging hour and stop wanking around. If you aren't required to attend and are only going to dick around if you do, then don't bother making an appearence. You're obviously not paying attention, so make some for the people who want / need to hear what the prof is saying.
/pissed off former student
The reason people keep mentioning him is that NASA failed to develop a comparable technology with multi-billion dollar budget. Even as it is, it's useful for a number of things - Let's compare: training astronauts The Vomit Comet letting lay-people see space Is this a role NASA should be fulfilling? taking one-time measurements with high-altitude scientific instruments that are not worth launching a permanent satellite. We have this technology already: rockets. No need to risk humans, and it's a hell of a lot less engineering. If scaled composites had a decent budget, I am sure they would come up with at least a one-way unmanned orbit vehicle in a relatively short time - then they just need more fuel, no heat shielding. We have several one-way, unmanned orbit vehicles: a plethora of rockets. Private companies have been using them for years to get things into orbit. Scaled Composite's work is ground breaking mostly because it's a crew vehicle developed in the private sector; that's never been done before. But it's not a drop in replacement for the shuttle. Period. End of story.
I'm so tired of people pulling Burt Rutan out of their ass every time a conversation about the shuttle comes up. It was a great achievement, but it didn't acheive LEO, has NO cargo capicity, and if by "built in his garage" you mean "built by a team of engineers for millions of dollars", well, cool. We got more done in the 60's with this kind of tech than we do now with our aging shuttle fleet. Also, since the boosters and fuel tanks are based on teh shuttles, we can utilize our current network of contractors to supply parts. I'm tired of spending billions just to get into space. Wouldn't you rather take the cheap way and then use the money to build a ship that goes elsewhere (re: Mars)?
Awesome! When do we get to sue to the nightly news?
Amen to that. Anybody know of any phones for T-Mobile / Cingular that you can force your own mp3 ringtones on?
And you didn't get pissed? I mean, nobody steps on a church in MY town.
I question all the wisdom of all the Apple fanboys.
That doesn't sound like one user to me...
So your wife hates it...sounds like empirical data to me. I guess apple should just close their doors...
My head just exploded...
Roz Ho is her name...yeah, someone really should ask her to blow her nose before she comes on stage...
No, he's right. AD&D has, and still, sucks.
Could you quote that particular part? My reading comprehension skills are pretty rusty...
Price of iBook vs. price of Mini+Display+battery to run both? 72 in^3 vs. 114 in^3? I understand the "because I can" axiom, but this does seem a tad impractical. What does one use a wireless battery powered webserver for, anyways? WAR-porn?
You mean an iBook?
All the fans of Rev Horton Heat would...
And when they dominate the software market, it will be called the Purple Reign... PUR-PLE RAIN, PUUURRR-PLE RAIN....
Oh really?
nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.... Oh yeah, I don't care about that shit...
Because nothing will say "secure" like putting Firefox on the device that was the target of the single largest celebrity hacking in the world, so well known that Jay Leno and David Letterman were taking pot shots at it.
Now that Slashback has returned, does this mean we're going to see a new Geeks in Space Episode any time soon?
Wah?! Does that mean Intel should sue Microsoft for Virtual PC?
Troll? That's cool. I could comment on how the moderation system has completely derailed since then too, but I wouldn't want to upset anybody :).
Go back and read his question. He was asking when was the term first used, not what it meant. Ass.