Putting it a Russian friendly orbit was a 'stupid' decision? You are aware, are you not, that the Russians provided the second largest number of modules, and also did the legwork of supplying it with their Progress craft before the ATV was developed. Furthermore, a good number of the Expeditions were launched on the Soyuz not the Shuttle, so with only the Shuttle to send people you wouldn't get as many rotations in the lifetime of the station.
Also, not wishing to be morbid, but after Colombia it became clear there was another advantage to having redundant methods of crew transport. Given the state of NASA manned space flight right now, this also serves as an argument for trying to bring the Chinese into the project.
The ISS as an international logistics project has been a resounding success. The European ATV, for example, can be launched and then dock with the ISS under the direction of 4 different control centres in different parts of the globe. The station itself is the most massive spacecraft ever assembled and has been constructed from components built by different agencies in different countries, and they work together pretty well. Most of the valid criticisms of the ISS are of the utility of having a LEO space station, not as the ability of the ISS to perform that function.
How ironic that, given your signature, you would advocate forcible medication of 'undesirables' because you don't like their moral behaviour. You want to stop the 'lower classes' from having children? Why not just call them 'degenerate races' and be done with it?
When the British Video Recordings Act 2009 is passed, it will be more restrictive than the original 1984 verson. I mean, why would any good centre-right, middle-class courting, focus-group driven pack of fear-mongers pass up a perfectly good opportunity for a moral panic? Won't somebody PLEASE think of the CHILDREN!?
Wales has basically conned people into providing him with a fantastic quantity of content under the banner of free editing and free use, then he has moved to monetize it and lock it down.
I think this is an interesting commentary on Objectivism (Wales' pet philosophy); the story of the decline of Wikipedia is essentially the story of Galt's Gulch after the end of Atlas Shrugged. When selfish people, convinced selfishness is a virtue, talk about freedom they are never talking about anybody else's. They will ultimately betray that in order to further their own interests.
Correct. A clique of editors has taken power, and now is solidifying their power. This move is a critical step though is establishing their complete control; I would liken it to Lenin abolishing free elections in the Soviets after the Russian Revolution. Its the step that removes any doubt in peoples minds about where things are heading.
Not really. The only proven effective method of stabilizing population is to give women the choice over whether to have children. Happily, this is also the Right Thing To Do. Sometimes the universe throws you a bone.
However, applying a little basic rocket science on top of that says that for optimal performance you run fuel rich, because aluminium particles are much lighter than aluminium oxide particles, and thus you want some of the fuel to be unburned and act purely as reaction mass. Part of the pollution problems with other rocket propellants (storable and solid) is that they don't burn some of their propellant. Its easy to run an environmentally optimal mix when you want to get to 1,300ft - its a little harder when you need to make it into orbit.
Side note re hydrazine; 100% combustion is not only impossible it is undesirable for rockets. Most are run a little fuel rich so that there are unburned and partially burned molecules in the exhaust which are lighter than the oxides you would get from complete combustion, and thus for the same energy give slightly higher exhaust velocity.
Hydrazine pollution is a big part of why the Russians are planning to dump Proton for Angara; on the face of it a foolish decision because Proton is cheap, reliable, and almost as capable as the basic Angara designs in terms of payload and orbit. The rationale is that a significant of the cost of a Proton launch is cleaning up the chemical residues it spurts across Kazahkstan.
In the universe of PR. In terms of carbon footprint, I guess all cryogens are bad because of the electricity required (but why not get that from a green source? Like a nuclear power station;-) )
However, kicking particles of aluminium into the air is pollution, so not green when you get past the simplistic view of carbon emissions. Aluminium has been linked to some fairly nasty human health conditions when ingested in excess.
You claim that accusing your neighbour of being a prostitute or a burglar isn't responsible, then how do crimes get solved?
Your problem lies in who gets to define the term 'responsible' - in a society with no anonymity but with widespread communications and media, it is the person who can afford the best PR firm and the best lawyers. They will, usually being people who have gained power through the love of power, define 'responsible' as 'that which perpetuates and expands my power'.
Public opinion is beyond the scope of the courts; because most of what the public understands about court rulings is seen through the prism of the media, which is usually owned by someone with an interest in the proceedings.
Its guerilla information warfare out there. Out in the open, the individual would be shouted down, humiliated and personally crushed by the state and the corporation. So he must hide and strike from the shadows. Call it cowardly, call it irresponsible, but I call it the only way it is not possible to fight for free expression.
What responsibility? The responsibility to only say things that are considered palatable by the fuckers on the other side of the truncheon? Holding people 'responsible' for their statements is a euphemism for punishing people for saying the 'wrong' thing; as in the antithesis of free speech.
Furthermore I will add that removing the privilege of Internet anonymity would not herald a return to some non-existed golden age of respect, it would technologically disarm the citizen, the whistleblower, and the blogger whilst leaving intact the weapons of the PR guru, the astroturfer and private detective. There is an arms race between those in power who wish to control discourse and those without power who want to carry out discourse outside the reach of power. Surrendering one side would not automatically make the other side step back.
I don't know about God-given, but everyone has a right to call people whatever names they feel like. Its a quaint little concept called 'Free Speech' and anonymity helps protect it by preventing reprisals against someone who says something unpopular or that makes the powerful look foolish.
Anonymity allows people to criticism those who can afford PR sharks without themselves being subject to public humiliation and character assassination. The first reaction to any attack against a public figure is counter-attack, and most people can't employ PR firms to manage this. Trolls are a nuisance. The rich and powerful being able to make any of their critics lives a living hell is tyranny.
Thus far, robots have tended to shuffle along in an awkward, spastic manner - and at low speed. Could this kind of development help them out? If the reason for the difficulties with bipedal motion in robots is that the actuators cannot respond quickly/accurately enough to maintain balance well, then it will be able to. I'd like to know how fast such a robot can move, as it can already tie me up and perform surgery on me if it catches me...
By impressive you mean 'terrifying', and by useful you mean 'terrifying'
Lets look at the capabilities demonstrated here:
1. Ability to move faster than a human
2. Ability to throw things accurately at a human
3. Ability to tie up a human
4. Ability to perform delicate procedures on a human
Yet our basic anti-robot technologies appear stagnant. Why is there so much more research on developing robots than there is on smashing those metal mothers into junk?
Whilst scientists, being human, sometimes form attachments to a particular theory, the failure to find predicted gravity waves can only possibly be good for physics. It is also an exciting time for physicists; failures of existing theories to explain observations provide the kind of mystery a scientist can make a name for himself or herself by solving.
If it does not repeat, then every possible sequence of digits occurs in the number of zeros between each 1. Its just a different way of hiding Goatse in maths.
Every possible pattern, interesting or not, occurs in the digits of Pi because they go on forever and do not repeat. Digits that could represent, say, a JPEG of goatse are in there, making Pi and all other irrational numbers obscene. Probably the reason Pythagoras drowned that dude over it.
Slashdot Mirror
Putting it a Russian friendly orbit was a 'stupid' decision? You are aware, are you not, that the Russians provided the second largest number of modules, and also did the legwork of supplying it with their Progress craft before the ATV was developed. Furthermore, a good number of the Expeditions were launched on the Soyuz not the Shuttle, so with only the Shuttle to send people you wouldn't get as many rotations in the lifetime of the station.
Also, not wishing to be morbid, but after Colombia it became clear there was another advantage to having redundant methods of crew transport. Given the state of NASA manned space flight right now, this also serves as an argument for trying to bring the Chinese into the project.
The ISS as an international logistics project has been a resounding success. The European ATV, for example, can be launched and then dock with the ISS under the direction of 4 different control centres in different parts of the globe. The station itself is the most massive spacecraft ever assembled and has been constructed from components built by different agencies in different countries, and they work together pretty well. Most of the valid criticisms of the ISS are of the utility of having a LEO space station, not as the ability of the ISS to perform that function.
How ironic that, given your signature, you would advocate forcible medication of 'undesirables' because you don't like their moral behaviour. You want to stop the 'lower classes' from having children? Why not just call them 'degenerate races' and be done with it?
When the British Video Recordings Act 2009 is passed, it will be more restrictive than the original 1984 verson. I mean, why would any good centre-right, middle-class courting, focus-group driven pack of fear-mongers pass up a perfectly good opportunity for a moral panic? Won't somebody PLEASE think of the CHILDREN!?
Perhaps when you are older you will understand what a metaphor is?
A pretty good scam, isn't it?
Wales has basically conned people into providing him with a fantastic quantity of content under the banner of free editing and free use, then he has moved to monetize it and lock it down.
I think this is an interesting commentary on Objectivism (Wales' pet philosophy); the story of the decline of Wikipedia is essentially the story of Galt's Gulch after the end of Atlas Shrugged. When selfish people, convinced selfishness is a virtue, talk about freedom they are never talking about anybody else's. They will ultimately betray that in order to further their own interests.
Correct. A clique of editors has taken power, and now is solidifying their power. This move is a critical step though is establishing their complete control; I would liken it to Lenin abolishing free elections in the Soviets after the Russian Revolution. Its the step that removes any doubt in peoples minds about where things are heading.
Not really. The only proven effective method of stabilizing population is to give women the choice over whether to have children. Happily, this is also the Right Thing To Do. Sometimes the universe throws you a bone.
As would much of the wildlife in the range
However, applying a little basic rocket science on top of that says that for optimal performance you run fuel rich, because aluminium particles are much lighter than aluminium oxide particles, and thus you want some of the fuel to be unburned and act purely as reaction mass. Part of the pollution problems with other rocket propellants (storable and solid) is that they don't burn some of their propellant. Its easy to run an environmentally optimal mix when you want to get to 1,300ft - its a little harder when you need to make it into orbit.
Side note re hydrazine; 100% combustion is not only impossible it is undesirable for rockets. Most are run a little fuel rich so that there are unburned and partially burned molecules in the exhaust which are lighter than the oxides you would get from complete combustion, and thus for the same energy give slightly higher exhaust velocity.
Hydrazine pollution is a big part of why the Russians are planning to dump Proton for Angara; on the face of it a foolish decision because Proton is cheap, reliable, and almost as capable as the basic Angara designs in terms of payload and orbit. The rationale is that a significant of the cost of a Proton launch is cleaning up the chemical residues it spurts across Kazahkstan.
In the universe of PR. In terms of carbon footprint, I guess all cryogens are bad because of the electricity required (but why not get that from a green source? Like a nuclear power station ;-) )
However, kicking particles of aluminium into the air is pollution, so not green when you get past the simplistic view of carbon emissions. Aluminium has been linked to some fairly nasty human health conditions when ingested in excess.
You claim that accusing your neighbour of being a prostitute or a burglar isn't responsible, then how do crimes get solved?
Your problem lies in who gets to define the term 'responsible' - in a society with no anonymity but with widespread communications and media, it is the person who can afford the best PR firm and the best lawyers. They will, usually being people who have gained power through the love of power, define 'responsible' as 'that which perpetuates and expands my power'.
Public opinion is beyond the scope of the courts; because most of what the public understands about court rulings is seen through the prism of the media, which is usually owned by someone with an interest in the proceedings.
Its guerilla information warfare out there. Out in the open, the individual would be shouted down, humiliated and personally crushed by the state and the corporation. So he must hide and strike from the shadows. Call it cowardly, call it irresponsible, but I call it the only way it is not possible to fight for free expression.
What responsibility? The responsibility to only say things that are considered palatable by the fuckers on the other side of the truncheon? Holding people 'responsible' for their statements is a euphemism for punishing people for saying the 'wrong' thing; as in the antithesis of free speech.
I concur.
Furthermore I will add that removing the privilege of Internet anonymity would not herald a return to some non-existed golden age of respect, it would technologically disarm the citizen, the whistleblower, and the blogger whilst leaving intact the weapons of the PR guru, the astroturfer and private detective. There is an arms race between those in power who wish to control discourse and those without power who want to carry out discourse outside the reach of power. Surrendering one side would not automatically make the other side step back.
I don't know about God-given, but everyone has a right to call people whatever names they feel like. Its a quaint little concept called 'Free Speech' and anonymity helps protect it by preventing reprisals against someone who says something unpopular or that makes the powerful look foolish.
Anonymity allows people to criticism those who can afford PR sharks without themselves being subject to public humiliation and character assassination. The first reaction to any attack against a public figure is counter-attack, and most people can't employ PR firms to manage this. Trolls are a nuisance. The rich and powerful being able to make any of their critics lives a living hell is tyranny.
I wonder if this treatment will be available through NHS dentists once it is perfected.
ROFLMFAO I crack myself up sometimes.
Thus far, robots have tended to shuffle along in an awkward, spastic manner - and at low speed. Could this kind of development help them out? If the reason for the difficulties with bipedal motion in robots is that the actuators cannot respond quickly/accurately enough to maintain balance well, then it will be able to. I'd like to know how fast such a robot can move, as it can already tie me up and perform surgery on me if it catches me...
By impressive you mean 'terrifying', and by useful you mean 'terrifying'
Lets look at the capabilities demonstrated here:
1. Ability to move faster than a human
2. Ability to throw things accurately at a human
3. Ability to tie up a human
4. Ability to perform delicate procedures on a human
Yet our basic anti-robot technologies appear stagnant. Why is there so much more research on developing robots than there is on smashing those metal mothers into junk?
They represent a failure of some existing theories.
Whilst scientists, being human, sometimes form attachments to a particular theory, the failure to find predicted gravity waves can only possibly be good for physics. It is also an exciting time for physicists; failures of existing theories to explain observations provide the kind of mystery a scientist can make a name for himself or herself by solving.
If it does not repeat, then every possible sequence of digits occurs in the number of zeros between each 1. Its just a different way of hiding Goatse in maths.
Every possible pattern, interesting or not, occurs in the digits of Pi because they go on forever and do not repeat. Digits that could represent, say, a JPEG of goatse are in there, making Pi and all other irrational numbers obscene. Probably the reason Pythagoras drowned that dude over it.
Nope, a recurring decimal is not irrational. You fail at maths, unless you think 0.0909090909... is irrational too.