"Actually it's well accepted as by far the most likely candidate for what happened."
In the general public's mind perhaps, but not elsewhere. There is a LOT of fossil evidence showing that Chicxulub did NOT wipe out the dinos. There is also fossil evidence that dinos were already in decline BEFORE Chicxulub hit.
Before and after Chicxulub Earth was experiencing a lot of volcanic activity. So much in fact, that the compositiom of the atmosphere was changing. As I recall the oxygen content was reducing from 30% down to 24% (I'm sure these are not the exact numbers, but they are close). Less oxygen meant that animals had to work harder in take in the same amount of oxygen. The dinos may have have suffocated.
Of course, a large impact would not have helped them out...
Although the Hindenburg is often perceived as an advertisement against hydrogen, it was, in reality, more of an advertisement against using cellulose nitrate or cellulose acetate to add rigidity to the skin of a dirigible.
Too true. The Hindenburg was essentailly using rocket fuel as paint. As it traveled over the Altlantic it built up a static charge. Once the guide cables were dropped to the ground, an arc was created and the paint caught fire.
You're not a dick, just a little uninformed in this area.
The Chinese have an up and coming middle class. In thirty to forty years, they will have a rather large consumer population. Larger than the US. There is not enough existing fuel or materials to support their middle class. I don't mean there is not enough in China, I mean there is not enough on the planet. If China wants to avoid wars over resources, she will have to find new resources.
China has already stated that the intended goal of their space program is to acquire these resources. It will be expensive, but at least they are making the attempt. Very few other nations are seriously looking in this direction (Japan has a very cool experiment going to generate power AND hydrogen from orbiting solar-power).
So their announcement that they are ignoring a flashy manned lunar landing is no big deal or surprising. They are a more readily accesable research platform and a station is a hell of lot cheaper to get to and leave than a moon base.
They will. Don't forget Direct X. Yes, Direct X is focused at the moment on games (mainly), but that will change. And besides, Microsoft has a stake in controlling the video game industry.
The problems with using D&D rules in video games are as follows:
1 - the D20 system sucks.
2 - One person sitting at their computer playing a game is NOT role-playing. MMORPGs come closer than what the video game industry thinks of as RPGs, but it's still a far cry from the kind of experience I think of when I think of role-playing games.
[quote]
Bouyant cables, even in the best case, can't get you out of the atmosphere, so maybe 1000 km on the top side. The space cable has to reach geostationary orbit, some 35,785 km out. You lose:)
[/quote]
How would setting the "ground point" of the elevator higher affect the amount of material/stess levels of the cable? I wonder if the difference would dramatically affect the cost/time to build ratio.
I think Mars can wait for humans. And I think we humans have more important things to do in space before going to Mars.
Let's concentrate on building a functional, habitable L5 colony.
Let's build a functional and reliable solar power collection and transmission system. In orbit would be nice, but the Moon might be better. A developing industrial infrastructure on the Moon would also help orbital colonies and it sure would be nice to have a bunch of BIG telescopes on the moon.
And of course we need a space elevator.
We can explore Mars with robots for a while before we send humans. At this point Mars isn't a worthy goal.
Re:How will H usage affect this?
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Well, the Japanese are working on using a solar powered microwave laser in orbit to vaporize seawater and extract the hydrogen.
It's the same idea of beaming solar power from orbit to Earth, but instead of collecting the power, you use it to blast seawater.
If it works, it sure is clever.
Not quite right either. The amount of sunlight reaching the top of the Earth's atmosphere is still the same. The amount reaching the ground is over 10% less than during the 60's.
Is this accurate? Nothing in the article indicates that any experiments to measure this were carried out outside of the atmosphere. I'm not a climate scientist and I don't even play one on T.V., but shouldn't testong above the atmosphere be the next step?
At the very least, it would be something *useful* for the ISS to do.
pay to travel to space to look through the telescope with their own eyes?
The Hubble does not work like that. The light it gathers is collected on a CCD, it is not focused to an eyepiece.
I'm not even going to bother with the "quasar, burning brightly as it streaks around the sun" bit.
If you will reread my post you will note that I did not say that Max or Maya can do this. I was pointing out that Modo was designed to have a UI that can be made to resemble other 3D applications and was not "lifted" from Blender. Please reread my post.
O.K. I'll argue. Pre-2.3 Blender UI = SUCK. Modo announced a few months ago along with screenshots. "arguably influenced"? No way. When I used to create plug-ins for Lightwave (4.0 - 5.5 era LW), I used to bitch about the UI considerably. I was hardly the only one. Those fine programmers are now free to break away from the LW conventions.
The images you linked to show Modo sporting UI organization along the lines of 3ds max and Maya and Lightwave. Where is the Blender-like UI organization? It's not there. No one bothered to mock-up Blender's UI because it simply isn't worth it.
The Luxology crowd is NOT ripping off the OSS community. In fact, one could argue that Blender is ripping off the innovations of YEARS and YEARS of commercial 3D application development. Of course, I wouldn't go so far as to say that (since god knows the commercial 3D app companies rip each other off).
Get off the party whine. Oops, I meant Line.
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Do you have a link to this info? I would like to see the research.
That was a bonus: Chicxulub, Chicxulub, Chicxulub, Chicxulub, Chicxulub, Chicxulub, Chicxulub, Chicxulub!
"Wow, how old ARE you?" Old enough to be your Father.
Before and after Chicxulub Earth was experiencing a lot of volcanic activity. So much in fact, that the compositiom of the atmosphere was changing. As I recall the oxygen content was reducing from 30% down to 24% (I'm sure these are not the exact numbers, but they are close). Less oxygen meant that animals had to work harder in take in the same amount of oxygen. The dinos may have have suffocated.
Of course, a large impact would not have helped them out...
You're not a dick, just a little uninformed in this area. The Chinese have an up and coming middle class. In thirty to forty years, they will have a rather large consumer population. Larger than the US. There is not enough existing fuel or materials to support their middle class. I don't mean there is not enough in China, I mean there is not enough on the planet. If China wants to avoid wars over resources, she will have to find new resources. China has already stated that the intended goal of their space program is to acquire these resources. It will be expensive, but at least they are making the attempt. Very few other nations are seriously looking in this direction (Japan has a very cool experiment going to generate power AND hydrogen from orbiting solar-power). So their announcement that they are ignoring a flashy manned lunar landing is no big deal or surprising. They are a more readily accesable research platform and a station is a hell of lot cheaper to get to and leave than a moon base.
I would love to have video (failing being there myself of course) of launch-to-orbit and orbit-to-ground of some vehicle.
They will. Don't forget Direct X. Yes, Direct X is focused at the moment on games (mainly), but that will change. And besides, Microsoft has a stake in controlling the video game industry.
The problems with using D&D rules in video games are as follows: 1 - the D20 system sucks. 2 - One person sitting at their computer playing a game is NOT role-playing. MMORPGs come closer than what the video game industry thinks of as RPGs, but it's still a far cry from the kind of experience I think of when I think of role-playing games.
[quote] Bouyant cables, even in the best case, can't get you out of the atmosphere, so maybe 1000 km on the top side. The space cable has to reach geostationary orbit, some 35,785 km out. You lose :)
[/quote]
How would setting the "ground point" of the elevator higher affect the amount of material/stess levels of the cable? I wonder if the difference would dramatically affect the cost/time to build ratio.
In the great game, "X-Com: Enemy Unknown," Element 115 (Elerium) was what the aliens used as a power source. I wasted soooo much time with tha game.
Does this mean I can walk my dog from my computer?
I think Mars can wait for humans. And I think we humans have more important things to do in space before going to Mars. Let's concentrate on building a functional, habitable L5 colony. Let's build a functional and reliable solar power collection and transmission system. In orbit would be nice, but the Moon might be better. A developing industrial infrastructure on the Moon would also help orbital colonies and it sure would be nice to have a bunch of BIG telescopes on the moon. And of course we need a space elevator. We can explore Mars with robots for a while before we send humans. At this point Mars isn't a worthy goal.
Well, the Japanese are working on using a solar powered microwave laser in orbit to vaporize seawater and extract the hydrogen. It's the same idea of beaming solar power from orbit to Earth, but instead of collecting the power, you use it to blast seawater. If it works, it sure is clever.
It doesn't matter, you can't see it. If it's stopped, it is not going to your eye.
Microsoft recently purchased Creature House. C.H. created the best (imho) vector drawing tools, Expression, ever. This move now makes sense.
If you will reread my post you will note that I did not say that Max or Maya can do this. I was pointing out that Modo was designed to have a UI that can be made to resemble other 3D applications and was not "lifted" from Blender. Please reread my post.
O.K. I'll argue. Pre-2.3 Blender UI = SUCK. Modo announced a few months ago along with screenshots. "arguably influenced"? No way. When I used to create plug-ins for Lightwave (4.0 - 5.5 era LW), I used to bitch about the UI considerably. I was hardly the only one. Those fine programmers are now free to break away from the LW conventions. The images you linked to show Modo sporting UI organization along the lines of 3ds max and Maya and Lightwave. Where is the Blender-like UI organization? It's not there. No one bothered to mock-up Blender's UI because it simply isn't worth it. The Luxology crowd is NOT ripping off the OSS community. In fact, one could argue that Blender is ripping off the innovations of YEARS and YEARS of commercial 3D application development. Of course, I wouldn't go so far as to say that (since god knows the commercial 3D app companies rip each other off). Get off the party whine. Oops, I meant Line.