NASA has limited funds these days, and there isn't much to gain for them in a mission which they can't even take full credit for or get much PR out of.
This is hardly anything new. NASA has always been very isolationist when it came to working with other space agencies. ISS was a very rare exception, and there has been tension even in that case (with NASA and the Russian butting heads over space tourism, for example). They've just never played well with others.
You can be paranoid about it. But the fact is that we all depend on companies every day and trust them with our personal info. There really isn't an alternative.
in a few years it should be possible to gather up a pile of grass clippings, mix it with a blend of cheap chemicals, paint it on your roof and begin producing electricity.
Just because it's "green" doesn't mean it's safe to let just any yahoo install an electric generator on his hut. Methinks it might be wise to let the village electrician do the installing.
Re:I am not sure the yeti will like that :)
on
Lake Vostok Reached
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· Score: 4, Funny
There was an episode of Northern Exposure where they tapped an ancient glacial lake and found that the water made women extremely horny. So there could be an upside here.
A more realistic scenario, if we pour a lot of money into propulsion research, might be to fly away at 10% c. That would lead to a trip take takes 220 years in earth-time, or 198 years in ship-time. Not exactly an easy trip to plan.
Not only that, but you would also have to factor in acceleration and deceleration times too. You're probably not going to jump to 10% of c instantly, or stop on a dime.
And if you do notice a difference on the bathroom scales caused by the Earth losing slight amounts of mass, then you shouldn't need your wife to tell you you need to diet.
Lol, it might actually be fun to do the math on this. I should probably give it to my kid as a learning project.
No kidding. This thing isn't about parties or political ideologies--it's about one thing and one thing only: MONEY. The media companies make lots of it, and they give a big chunk of it to any politician from either party who will support their draconian attempts to *keep* making lots of it.
Tea Party types like myself HATE HATE HATE SOPA, PIPA and ACTA.
Most on the left hate it too. In fact, pretty much *everyone* but the politicians and media powers hate it. I've yet to hear support for any of those bills (or the DMCA, ACTA, etc.) from anyone who *didn't* have some sort of direct financial interest in it, be it a media company that desperately wants to preserve its old model (the same way they fought to stop the tape copying, the VCR, DVD-ripping, etc.) or some politician who wants their campaign donations. You think anyone in their right mind outside of those two groups wants to hand over the power to shut down any part of the internet to Sony, Comcast, Viacom, etc.? No way.
It would have given me a nice excuse the next time my wife noticed I had gained weight. "It's not the junk food, honey. The earth is gaining mass and causing me to weigh more!!!"
Most people where happy about the "leveling of the playing field" aspects of recent improvements in communication, technology, and travel. I can remember people talking in the late-90's about how the internet was going to make the world a better place, now that all the smaller countries could participate on the same terms as the first-world big guys. But all I could feel at the time was sad (selfishly so, admittedly). Because, unlike most of the cheerleaders, it occured to me that a level playing field was great news for poor countries--but really BAD news for the rich countries. If you're making $1 a day, the chance to make 75 cents an hour is a godsend. If you're making $15+/hr. though, this means you're about to be out of work.
Who wants to come up with the next great innovation, when you know damn well that the second you do, some big player with more resources is just going to swoop in and steal it?
This is the kind of thing that copyright and patent laws were SUPPOSED to protect against. But, in reality, copyrights and patents are just something the big boys use as bludgeons against the little guys (and against each other). You think a little indie developer like Nimblebit has the money to hire even a single lawyer to go up against Zynga's *team* of high-priced lawyers? Good luck with that.
I always find the "zero tolerance" thing (which seems most prevalent in education) to be annoying. Contrary to the image most people have of every college student texting away on their phones all through class, I took a few classes not long ago and found that the vast majority of students were actually pretty attentive and polite in class. You would have one or two who you would see occasionally texting or playing on their laptops, but they were definitely the exception. Now, the reasonable, sane way to deal with this would be for the professor to pause briefly and say to the idiot texting "Hey dipshit, stop texting in my class, or you're going to be texting 'I failed this class' to your parents very soon." Takes about 3 seconds, everyone gets the message, idiot is suitably embarrassed.
But, of course, in typical "zero tolerance" fashion, rather than manning up and targeting the few abusers with a quick kick in the head, they throw out a blanket proclamation that punishes EVERYONE by threatening them for even having a cellphone or laptop in their bookbag or pocket. So now everyone has to suffer because the faculty and administration are a bunch of pussies who can't wipe their asses if there isn't a regulation somewhere authorizing them to do so.
It's shit like this that leads to teachers calling in the 5-0 to slap the cuffs on a 5-year-old.
Slashdot Mirror
a land war in Asia.
Those are conceivably the best kind, of course.
The aliens warned us that if we didn't back off they would come back with much bigger probes.
NASA has limited funds these days, and there isn't much to gain for them in a mission which they can't even take full credit for or get much PR out of.
This is hardly anything new. NASA has always been very isolationist when it came to working with other space agencies. ISS was a very rare exception, and there has been tension even in that case (with NASA and the Russian butting heads over space tourism, for example). They've just never played well with others.
You can be paranoid about it. But the fact is that we all depend on companies every day and trust them with our personal info. There really isn't an alternative.
in a few years it should be possible to gather up a pile of grass clippings, mix it with a blend of cheap chemicals, paint it on your roof and begin producing electricity.
Just because it's "green" doesn't mean it's safe to let just any yahoo install an electric generator on his hut. Methinks it might be wise to let the village electrician do the installing.
There was an episode of Northern Exposure where they tapped an ancient glacial lake and found that the water made women extremely horny. So there could be an upside here.
Oh man, they're going to be so pissed off when Cheers is cancelled next year.
A more realistic scenario, if we pour a lot of money into propulsion research, might be to fly away at 10% c. That would lead to a trip take takes 220 years in earth-time, or 198 years in ship-time. Not exactly an easy trip to plan.
Not only that, but you would also have to factor in acceleration and deceleration times too. You're probably not going to jump to 10% of c instantly, or stop on a dime.
Now all you have to do is figure out how to build a spacecraft that can sustain a human population for 500 years on nothing but starlight. Easy peasy.
"Only 22 light years away," or as it's better known "About 500,000 years away with the fastest spacecraft we've ever created."
The Fattest Loser
And the winner is...guy who went to the moon and lost 83% of his body weight!
And if you do notice a difference on the bathroom scales caused by the Earth losing slight amounts of mass, then you shouldn't need your wife to tell you you need to diet.
Lol, it might actually be fun to do the math on this. I should probably give it to my kid as a learning project.
He will return one day! And when he does, you'll have to answer for this sin!!!
No kidding. This thing isn't about parties or political ideologies--it's about one thing and one thing only: MONEY. The media companies make lots of it, and they give a big chunk of it to any politician from either party who will support their draconian attempts to *keep* making lots of it.
It's not about D and R, it's about $.
Tea Party types like myself HATE HATE HATE SOPA, PIPA and ACTA.
Most on the left hate it too. In fact, pretty much *everyone* but the politicians and media powers hate it. I've yet to hear support for any of those bills (or the DMCA, ACTA, etc.) from anyone who *didn't* have some sort of direct financial interest in it, be it a media company that desperately wants to preserve its old model (the same way they fought to stop the tape copying, the VCR, DVD-ripping, etc.) or some politician who wants their campaign donations. You think anyone in their right mind outside of those two groups wants to hand over the power to shut down any part of the internet to Sony, Comcast, Viacom, etc.? No way.
Just think of the money the studios could make off everyone at ComicCon.
If only gravity wasn't the weakest of the fundamental interactions. Damn you, physics!
It would have given me a nice excuse the next time my wife noticed I had gained weight. "It's not the junk food, honey. The earth is gaining mass and causing me to weigh more!!!"
And off my lawn!!!
Most people where happy about the "leveling of the playing field" aspects of recent improvements in communication, technology, and travel. I can remember people talking in the late-90's about how the internet was going to make the world a better place, now that all the smaller countries could participate on the same terms as the first-world big guys. But all I could feel at the time was sad (selfishly so, admittedly). Because, unlike most of the cheerleaders, it occured to me that a level playing field was great news for poor countries--but really BAD news for the rich countries. If you're making $1 a day, the chance to make 75 cents an hour is a godsend. If you're making $15+/hr. though, this means you're about to be out of work.
Kids: Tell us about the Revolutionary War!
Tree: The what?
Kids: You know, what were George Washington and Abraham Lincoln like in person? That sort of stuff!
Tree: Yeah, I pretty much just stand here in the woods. I can tell you about that time an eagle made a nest in one of my branches, though.
Kids: But what of the Civil War?
Tree: I don't think you're getting it...
When is the last time anyone heard that phrase in the U.S.?
Who wants to come up with the next great innovation, when you know damn well that the second you do, some big player with more resources is just going to swoop in and steal it?
This is the kind of thing that copyright and patent laws were SUPPOSED to protect against. But, in reality, copyrights and patents are just something the big boys use as bludgeons against the little guys (and against each other). You think a little indie developer like Nimblebit has the money to hire even a single lawyer to go up against Zynga's *team* of high-priced lawyers? Good luck with that.
I always find the "zero tolerance" thing (which seems most prevalent in education) to be annoying. Contrary to the image most people have of every college student texting away on their phones all through class, I took a few classes not long ago and found that the vast majority of students were actually pretty attentive and polite in class. You would have one or two who you would see occasionally texting or playing on their laptops, but they were definitely the exception. Now, the reasonable, sane way to deal with this would be for the professor to pause briefly and say to the idiot texting "Hey dipshit, stop texting in my class, or you're going to be texting 'I failed this class' to your parents very soon." Takes about 3 seconds, everyone gets the message, idiot is suitably embarrassed.
But, of course, in typical "zero tolerance" fashion, rather than manning up and targeting the few abusers with a quick kick in the head, they throw out a blanket proclamation that punishes EVERYONE by threatening them for even having a cellphone or laptop in their bookbag or pocket. So now everyone has to suffer because the faculty and administration are a bunch of pussies who can't wipe their asses if there isn't a regulation somewhere authorizing them to do so.
It's shit like this that leads to teachers calling in the 5-0 to slap the cuffs on a 5-year-old.
Damn you, Phillip Morris!!!