I've never heard much about this project until now. But, if it's successful, that would obviously be huge. I'm just surprised that MS hasn't dispatched an elite team of ninjas, lawyers, bribed government officials, angry NYC cabbies, etc. to squash this like a bug. I guess it hasn't been on their radar yet either.
The entire Soviet space program (and, arguably, the American one too) supposedly came out of a brief meeting about ICBM's in 1953 where Sergei Korolev pitched his bigger idea for a space program to Khrushchev.
The traditional model towards profitability was to sell more product, grow your operation, hire more workers and build more factories, wash-rinse-repeat.
Today it seems like the road to profitability is to not grow, increase short-term profits by downsizing, make existing workers do more work, wash-rinse-repeat.
That's great news if you're a CEO only concerned with the short-term profitability of your brief stint as CEO (before you bail out with your golden parachute). But it's pretty shitty news if you're a worker or a long-term investor in said company. And it's even worse news if you're out of work and looking for a job.
Just to carry that statement further. "I'm not saying that all those LA people are crazy freaks, but some of them are.. " or "I'm not saying that all of those people from the Pacific NW are freaking environmentalists but some of them are.."
What's silly about those statements? Are you saying there aren't any freaks in L.A.. or environmentalists in the northwest? Stereotypes aren't just made up whole-cloth, you know. There is usually at least a kernel of truth to them.
I'm sorry, I didn't get to the end of you post because I have ADHD. I also have mild spectrum autism, bipolar disorder, and a variety of hip new allergies. But, no worries, the good people at Pfizer have me on a variety of drugs to make me all better (and also conformist and quiet, the way Mommy and the school like).
As if the hillbillies out in some of those valleys weren't batshit enough already, now they're inviting in a bunch of tinfoil-hatter paranoid schizos to stay. Expect a significant jump in alien abduction and anal probing reports (above even the current extremely high levels).
And before everyone gets all offended, I'm not saying EVERYONE is WVa is a hillbilly. But don't even THINK about pretending that *none* of them are. There are some fucking crazy dudes out in those hills, just ask the locals. Oh, not so much the doesn't-wear-shoes-and-makes/drinks-moonshine variety these days--more the has-a-shitload-of-guns-is-trigger-happy-and-makes/uses-crystal-meth types. Equally as violent/well-armed as their isolationist predecessors, but now they're tweaked up on meth and hallucinating too. Mixing those guys with a bunch of tinfoil-hatters who think radio waves are making them sick just cannot lead to happy-happy-joy-joy results. Though it is nice to cordon them off.
And that annoying PC snob behind the counter, the one who one who smirks at you if you buy a console game, will suddenly be peddling this thing like it were the second coming of Jesus. In addition to listening to his I'm-a-25-year-old-with-a-McJob-who-knows-everything rants about how awesome keyboard/mouse controls are, now you're also going to have to listen to him tell you how the Gamestop tablet is the ONLY tablet worth owning.
In all fairness, I was thinking just the other day that what we really need is another FPS. It's such an underrepresented game genre in this generation.
Keep these as reminders of a time when we still sent men into space, when the U.S. was a superpower, and when we thought we would always keep moving forward.
Reminds me of T. Boone Pickens. He was all for wind power when he was asking the government for a right-of-way which would also have the convenient side-effect of allowing him to build a huge pipleline infrastructure for his large water holdings (making him a fortune). When he didn't get this right-of-way, suddenly he stopped being a big fan of wind power for some reason. Today you'll hear not a peep from him about it.
A no-name company with a skeevy CEO, a custom OS instead of Android or something more well-supported? Maybe at $100, or possibly even $200. But once you get into the $300 range, you've moved beyond the impulse buy and well into the realm where I want a name-brand reputable company backing it--and an OS that I know is and will be supported.
NASA is toast. No politician wants to say it out loud, but they've been setting this up for some time now. The space race is over and they've been scrapping various parts of NASA for the last few years now.
If the company that made the game is even still around, you could try contacting them for a license as AC suggested.
Don't bother. Either they'll tell you "No" outright, or they'll ask for some absolutely fucking ridiculous licensing fee (I once had a software company ask me for a $10000 licensing fee to put ONE COPY of a piece of old software on one of my machines, just insane).
Amazon Prime might be worth it if Amazon Video were available on my 360/PS3 (or even on a Roku box). But, AFAIK, it's only available through a browser or Tivo. Does anyone know if they have any plans to bring this to consoles, blu-ray players, etc. like Netflix Streaming?
Slashdot Mirror
And for only $30 billion, and with 50,000 kg LESS lift capacity than it had in 1969.
I've never heard much about this project until now. But, if it's successful, that would obviously be huge. I'm just surprised that MS hasn't dispatched an elite team of ninjas, lawyers, bribed government officials, angry NYC cabbies, etc. to squash this like a bug. I guess it hasn't been on their radar yet either.
The entire Soviet space program (and, arguably, the American one too) supposedly came out of a brief meeting about ICBM's in 1953 where Sergei Korolev pitched his bigger idea for a space program to Khrushchev.
The obvious temptation is to run, but that would be a mistake. NEVER show a turtle your fear.
The traditional model towards profitability was to sell more product, grow your operation, hire more workers and build more factories, wash-rinse-repeat.
Today it seems like the road to profitability is to not grow, increase short-term profits by downsizing, make existing workers do more work, wash-rinse-repeat.
That's great news if you're a CEO only concerned with the short-term profitability of your brief stint as CEO (before you bail out with your golden parachute). But it's pretty shitty news if you're a worker or a long-term investor in said company. And it's even worse news if you're out of work and looking for a job.
Oh Juan, how I miss him.
Just to carry that statement further. "I'm not saying that all those LA people are crazy freaks, but some of them are.. " or "I'm not saying that all of those people from the Pacific NW are freaking environmentalists but some of them are.."
What's silly about those statements? Are you saying there aren't any freaks in L.A.. or environmentalists in the northwest? Stereotypes aren't just made up whole-cloth, you know. There is usually at least a kernel of truth to them.
I have plenty of compassion for the mentally ill. I just don't want to hang out with them, much less live in a town full of them.
Have you ever had your ass probed by an alien?
By an alien? No.
Obviously an astronomer with mod points doesn't have a sense of humor. Hard to believe there's a humorless astronomer out there, but there you go.
I'm sorry, I didn't get to the end of you post because I have ADHD. I also have mild spectrum autism, bipolar disorder, and a variety of hip new allergies. But, no worries, the good people at Pfizer have me on a variety of drugs to make me all better (and also conformist and quiet, the way Mommy and the school like).
Good point. I forgot the other variety of crazy already there.
As if the hillbillies out in some of those valleys weren't batshit enough already, now they're inviting in a bunch of tinfoil-hatter paranoid schizos to stay. Expect a significant jump in alien abduction and anal probing reports (above even the current extremely high levels).
And before everyone gets all offended, I'm not saying EVERYONE is WVa is a hillbilly. But don't even THINK about pretending that *none* of them are. There are some fucking crazy dudes out in those hills, just ask the locals. Oh, not so much the doesn't-wear-shoes-and-makes/drinks-moonshine variety these days--more the has-a-shitload-of-guns-is-trigger-happy-and-makes/uses-crystal-meth types. Equally as violent/well-armed as their isolationist predecessors, but now they're tweaked up on meth and hallucinating too. Mixing those guys with a bunch of tinfoil-hatters who think radio waves are making them sick just cannot lead to happy-happy-joy-joy results. Though it is nice to cordon them off.
And that annoying PC snob behind the counter, the one who one who smirks at you if you buy a console game, will suddenly be peddling this thing like it were the second coming of Jesus. In addition to listening to his I'm-a-25-year-old-with-a-McJob-who-knows-everything rants about how awesome keyboard/mouse controls are, now you're also going to have to listen to him tell you how the Gamestop tablet is the ONLY tablet worth owning.
In all fairness, I was thinking just the other day that what we really need is another FPS. It's such an underrepresented game genre in this generation.
the important point is this guy wanted to make money off of it
A real free-market capitalist would BUY the land, not ask Uncle Sucker to give it to him as a hand-out under false pretenses.
Keep these as reminders of a time when we still sent men into space, when the U.S. was a superpower, and when we thought we would always keep moving forward.
Reminds me of T. Boone Pickens. He was all for wind power when he was asking the government for a right-of-way which would also have the convenient side-effect of allowing him to build a huge pipleline infrastructure for his large water holdings (making him a fortune). When he didn't get this right-of-way, suddenly he stopped being a big fan of wind power for some reason. Today you'll hear not a peep from him about it.
What, like HP?
When I said "reputable," perhaps I should have specified a good reputation.
A no-name company with a skeevy CEO, a custom OS instead of Android or something more well-supported? Maybe at $100, or possibly even $200. But once you get into the $300 range, you've moved beyond the impulse buy and well into the realm where I want a name-brand reputable company backing it--and an OS that I know is and will be supported.
But it's got electrolytes.
NASA is toast. No politician wants to say it out loud, but they've been setting this up for some time now. The space race is over and they've been scrapping various parts of NASA for the last few years now.
If the company that made the game is even still around, you could try contacting them for a license as AC suggested.
Don't bother. Either they'll tell you "No" outright, or they'll ask for some absolutely fucking ridiculous licensing fee (I once had a software company ask me for a $10000 licensing fee to put ONE COPY of a piece of old software on one of my machines, just insane).
Amazon Prime might be worth it if Amazon Video were available on my 360/PS3 (or even on a Roku box). But, AFAIK, it's only available through a browser or Tivo. Does anyone know if they have any plans to bring this to consoles, blu-ray players, etc. like Netflix Streaming?
In other news, 30 coal miners die each year in the U.S. alone and no one gives a rats ass.
Deaths per terawatt hour (from nextbigfuture.com):
Coal – world average: 161
Coal – China: 278
Coal – USA: 15
Oil: 36
Natural Gas: 4
Biofuel/Biomass: 12
Peat: 12
Solar: 0.44
Wind: 0.15
Hydro: 0.10
Nuclear: 0.04