Whenever your PC gets infected with a virus or 10 bits of spyware a large foot swings out from under the desk and hits you in the groin. It'd even work on them guys pretending to be women!
Linux users are immune because they're using CUPS.
Sorry, I presumed that the Slashdotter I cited had his facts in order, and to clarify with respect to the nuclearspace.org people, "Saturn V form factor" meant "Saturn V shape and dimensions," not Saturn V technology. Modern metals and composites would accomplish dazzling things in conjunction with truly efficient power plants.
Baldrson, I agree that NASA is full of shit. Like all bureaucracies, it is a wasteful entity that places self-preservation above it's stated purpose. But there is no danger of NASA killing the human spirit; only irresolute citzens can accomplish that.
While NASA pisses money away having meetings, commissioning "studies," and colluding with de-facto state industries like Boeing, the private sector is taking its first baby steps into the heavens. We have, what, three different outfits in the U.S. now who have serious plans and financial backing, one of whom has already achieved manned suborbital flight at a cost per pound NASA has never come close to achieving. Basically what I'm saying is that private space is developing in tandem with the public sector, and though it is in it's infancy, it will prove superior and ultimately supplant the government space programs. Just my opinion.
Why don't we just re-use an updated version of the Saturn rocket and capsule design if we're going back to the moon? It won't have the sex appeal of a new sports space shuttle but it would work.
Well, as I recall, someone on a previous thread said that all of the Saturn V blueprints were destroyed as part of the deal that lead to the creation of the original Space Shuttle (doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?) But, as the guy above me suggests, an updated Saturn V-scale rocket is the form-factor for their notion of nuclear-powered lift vehicle and boy, is it a doozy.
Two obstacles stand in the way of this glorious technology:
One, the aerospace oligopoly, who stand to lose money from the retirement of costly, inefficient, and dangerous chemical rockets.
Two, an uninformed public who instinctively fears anything nuclear. Environmental groups will go ballistic when a nuclear launch vehicle is announced. Watch for an ugly, ugly fight when this happens. And it will happen. Nuclear space launch is indispensible.
Mars gravity is 38% of Earth's, not an insignificant difference. Explorers visiting the place for the first time will find walking around a bit disorienting, at first, but probably a lot of fun as well.
There were numerous massacres in Scotland, where one clan would invite another round for a feast, but forgot to mention the bit about not leaving afterwards.
I hope it will happen someday but there is much more work to be done.
And much more advertising money to spend. They could even do TV ads that feature jokes about Firefox's obscurity vis-a-vis IE. I'm serious; the humor might get people's attention.
Here's another idea. Show an ad with a computer screen covered in popup ads, with an offscreen voice fairly sputtering with rage as a mouse pointer impotently clicks on one after another in an effort to clear the screen...
*click* *click* *clickclickclick* (garbled profanity) This is a situation any average Joe who uses a computer can relate to.
Then, at the denouement of the ad, the Firefox "Browser, Reloaded" logo appears with obligatory heavenly chorus sound effect.
They "gave their lives for education, the advancement of science and the betterment of human kind." How much useful science does the shuttle program produce?
The astronauts who died in the latest shuttle accident did so for a massively inefficient government jobs program that uses antiquated, dangerous technology, and I would hope that someone who frequents slashdot would refrain from the sort of phony riteous indignation that politicians are so fond of. I call bullshit.
There's 300 million people in the US, and there were less than 2000 wiretaps.
That's the official number, which is provided by the government. Now how many warrantless wiretaps did they perform?
You're presuming that the government is on the level when they furnish us with these fanciful numbers. History shows that we have every reason to be skeptical of anything any government says. It is in their interest to decieve people.
The credulity with which citizes treat these official statements is baffling. It's like battered-woman syndrome: the victim keeps believing the promises of her abuser to "never do it again," even after successive relapses of abuse. In the end, her low self-esteem, accompanied by her naive belief that she can redeem her lover of his cruelty, leads to her downfall, whether it comes quickly or slowly.
But it's a more insidious relationship for those who live under the "soft" despotism of the American state, because most of it's victims don't even realize that they are being abused. They simply accept each new press release as true, even after they learn that the previous one they heard was false. Why such trust?
"You know a tree by its fruit." Or something like that. There, I'm done venting.
Levity aside, just remember how much trouble Corning (or whoever it was) had extruding their first fiber optics. The quality was crap, the production cost obscene. Everybody thought the technology was pie-in-the-sky unattainable. Then they got their manufacturing technique down and now we're awash in the stuff.
Wait a couple of decades and this carbon nanotube shit will be everywhere, notwithstanding the crudity of these initial experiments. Superconducting electric motors/turbines would be nice, for starters.
Slashdot Mirror
Linux users are immune because they're using CUPS.
When pressed for details, his assistant, Dr. Jean Grey, said he was "looking for hope."
Why? It worked for the Dreamcast.
I want stainless steel eyeballs with glowing red irises so that people will think I'm a cyborg and stop trying to befriend me.
The point is to woo away PC users from the PC platform to the Mac. Ergonomic, well-engineered Apple software is the bait.
Sorry, I presumed that the Slashdotter I cited had his facts in order, and to clarify with respect to the nuclearspace.org people, "Saturn V form factor" meant "Saturn V shape and dimensions," not Saturn V technology. Modern metals and composites would accomplish dazzling things in conjunction with truly efficient power plants.
Why? They bought the Thunderchief and the A-10. I wouldn't call those ridiculous F-22s beautiful, either.
While NASA pisses money away having meetings, commissioning "studies," and colluding with de-facto state industries like Boeing, the private sector is taking its first baby steps into the heavens. We have, what, three different outfits in the U.S. now who have serious plans and financial backing, one of whom has already achieved manned suborbital flight at a cost per pound NASA has never come close to achieving. Basically what I'm saying is that private space is developing in tandem with the public sector, and though it is in it's infancy, it will prove superior and ultimately supplant the government space programs. Just my opinion.
Well, as I recall, someone on a previous thread said that all of the Saturn V blueprints were destroyed as part of the deal that lead to the creation of the original Space Shuttle (doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?) But, as the guy above me suggests, an updated Saturn V-scale rocket is the form-factor for their notion of nuclear-powered lift vehicle and boy, is it a doozy.
Two obstacles stand in the way of this glorious technology:
One, the aerospace oligopoly, who stand to lose money from the retirement of costly, inefficient, and dangerous chemical rockets.
Two, an uninformed public who instinctively fears anything nuclear. Environmental groups will go ballistic when a nuclear launch vehicle is announced. Watch for an ugly, ugly fight when this happens. And it will happen. Nuclear space launch is indispensible.
Mars gravity is 38% of Earth's, not an insignificant difference. Explorers visiting the place for the first time will find walking around a bit disorienting, at first, but probably a lot of fun as well.
And some of those indies live on as Web-based businesses. Not many, but a few.
I like my Yugo. It adds a certain rural pastiche to my front yard.
McDonald's: just the thing for a spacesick tourist.
And I thought they picked it for the scenic vistas.
Hey, I think being the father of Quantum Mechanics entitles one to a little booty every now and again.
Can't wait to see Steve Ballmer get the People's Elbow.
Poor horse...
He might be okay for television. I mean, as long as he doesn't turn his back to the camera.
Let me guess what the final course was...haggis?
And much more advertising money to spend. They could even do TV ads that feature jokes about Firefox's obscurity vis-a-vis IE. I'm serious; the humor might get people's attention.
Here's another idea. Show an ad with a computer screen covered in popup ads, with an offscreen voice fairly sputtering with rage as a mouse pointer impotently clicks on one after another in an effort to clear the screen...
*click* *click* *clickclickclick* (garbled profanity) This is a situation any average Joe who uses a computer can relate to.
Then, at the denouement of the ad, the Firefox "Browser, Reloaded" logo appears with obligatory heavenly chorus sound effect.
Now, they just have to find the money for the ad.
The astronauts who died in the latest shuttle accident did so for a massively inefficient government jobs program that uses antiquated, dangerous technology, and I would hope that someone who frequents slashdot would refrain from the sort of phony riteous indignation that politicians are so fond of. I call bullshit.
One serious mishap and they'd have one hell of a Roman candle.
That's the official number, which is provided by the government. Now how many warrantless wiretaps did they perform?
You're presuming that the government is on the level when they furnish us with these fanciful numbers. History shows that we have every reason to be skeptical of anything any government says. It is in their interest to decieve people.
The credulity with which citizes treat these official statements is baffling. It's like battered-woman syndrome: the victim keeps believing the promises of her abuser to "never do it again," even after successive relapses of abuse. In the end, her low self-esteem, accompanied by her naive belief that she can redeem her lover of his cruelty, leads to her downfall, whether it comes quickly or slowly.
But it's a more insidious relationship for those who live under the "soft" despotism of the American state, because most of it's victims don't even realize that they are being abused. They simply accept each new press release as true, even after they learn that the previous one they heard was false. Why such trust?
"You know a tree by its fruit." Or something like that. There, I'm done venting.
Wait a couple of decades and this carbon nanotube shit will be everywhere, notwithstanding the crudity of these initial experiments. Superconducting electric motors/turbines would be nice, for starters.
Sorry, bad joke.
Yes, but think of the scarf you could knit... Maybe throw in a matching fullerene watch cap.