When I got to college, I discovered that my high school history books were wrong (e.g. presenting the invasion of the Americas by the Europeans as some sort of vaguely defined noble undertaking rather than free market economic expansion), sometimes absurdly so. I then got some real history books, written by historians for adults, and found the historical truths that support neither the modern day "conservative" nor "liberal" viewpoints.
In Peru, in the 80s, there was a group of maoist nutjobs called the "Shining Path," who vowed, among other things, to surround the cities from the countryside. What they were and are is a rural terrorist organization.
I've traveled in rural Texas recently. What you have there are a lot of poor, uneducated, disenfranchised white people sporting racist tatoos buying knives and swords at stands by the side of the road. The gun trade is a bit more private but still quite active. The textbook changes just reflect a wider change in worldview in the rural south. What they are poised to do are to become the next generation of terrorist nutjobs fobbing bombs at wealthier people, mostly in cities. They're just waiting for the next corn-pone Hitler, which the networks that gave us the Becks and Palins of the world will be all too happy to provide.
Recognize? Sure. Buy into the general opinion of "Gee, that was really *important*. Not so much. My consensus hasn't been quite manufactured properly I suppose. Popular opinion is only that.
we finally got going. Well. Sort of. We're really still pretty primitive at it. We won't really "get going" until we no longer rely on rocket technology, which will probably require AI or a human breakthrough in the nature of gravity that allows us to turn it off or reverse it. Depending on your viewpoint, we won't "get going" until we get functioning FTL drives. I'm not sure how future folks, traveling at FTL are going to view rockets and simple intra-solar travel.
Profound is in the eye of the beholder. For my money, the transistor and integrated circuit development was a much bigger deal. Discovering DNA was massively important. E.O. Wilson's first formulation of sociobiology was huge. The only difference between these things and space flight was media coverage. Space flight was turned into a public circus for political gain by Kennedy. The other discoveries were given short shrift by newspaper and television news editors. Too cerebral. No heroes. No good visuals. As always, the important stuff is barely even acknowledged by mainstream media.
The next big discovery with huge implications will be useful artificial intelligence, but most editors and politicians are too dimwitted to have anything like that even remotely on their radar.
What it means is that at age 52, there's quite a bit of distance between high school academic information never to be used again, and the current daily grind of "What functions do we want to add to that class?" and "Why does *that* virtual machine freeze on booting when no other does?"
You forget, plain and simple. Capital of North Dakota? Bismark? Haven't a clue. That's why the good lord made Google. Lazy? I suppose so.
Like any bureaucracy, NASA existed only as long as it pleased its political leaders. The result is a space agency that's known for stunts.
Put a man in orbit. First! {Grab genitalia and grunt here).
Put a man on the moon. First! (Grunt repeatedly here).
Seriously, if NASA's main missions now were spaced based power, Zero G industries, low-grav hospitals, a satellite based internet, a space based mirror climate control system, or any of *thousands* of practical, profitable, useful projects, would we even be having this discussion?
Instead, NASA is all about Texas and Florida political pork, controlled by politicians and shaped to *their* ends. Market based solutions, as bad as they are, would still be better than techno-military welfare that we can't afford.
Recognizing overpopulation is not human hating. I would argue that suggesting that humans reproduce until disaster is inevitable is far more "human hating" than restricting reproduction.
Which is why concentrative mirrors in space, in the form of millions of small square aimable mirrors is a better solution. You get to adjust the planetary temperature in the bargain.
If you were subtle about it, spreading out your trades and not hitting the ones with the highest differentials, you could exploit this hack for a long time.
Most of the oil in the gulf will never be extracted.
Investors are unlikely to invest in any more deepwater drilling, at least in this block. Lawsuit potential. Expense. All make the profitability marginal at best. By the time we get desperate enough to try again, we probably will no longer have the means to do so.
Even though hydrogen is an inefficient carrier of energy, hydrogen isn't stupid if electricity is cheap enough. With enough hydropower (no new technology needed), we'd have enough power to make enough hydrogen to do pretty much whatever we wanted in terms of power. We would at least have a chance of getting the transportation sector (our achilles heel) off of oil.
Slashdot Mirror
When I got to college, I discovered that my high school history books were wrong (e.g. presenting the invasion of the Americas by the Europeans as some sort of vaguely defined noble undertaking rather than free market economic expansion), sometimes absurdly so. I then got some real history books, written by historians for adults, and found the historical truths that support neither the modern day "conservative" nor "liberal" viewpoints.
Bottom line? Everyone gets over it.
In Peru, in the 80s, there was a group of maoist nutjobs called the "Shining Path," who vowed, among other things, to surround the cities from the countryside. What they were and are is a rural terrorist organization.
I've traveled in rural Texas recently. What you have there are a lot of poor, uneducated, disenfranchised white people sporting racist tatoos buying knives and swords at stands by the side of the road. The gun trade is a bit more private but still quite active. The textbook changes just reflect a wider change in worldview in the rural south. What they are poised to do are to become the next generation of terrorist nutjobs fobbing bombs at wealthier people, mostly in cities. They're just waiting for the next corn-pone Hitler, which the networks that gave us the Becks and Palins of the world will be all too happy to provide.
Recognize? Sure. Buy into the general opinion of "Gee, that was really *important*. Not so much. My consensus hasn't been quite manufactured properly I suppose. Popular opinion is only that.
we finally got going.
Well. Sort of. We're really still pretty primitive at it. We won't really "get going" until we no longer rely on rocket technology, which will probably require AI or a human breakthrough in the nature of gravity that allows us to turn it off or reverse it. Depending on your viewpoint, we won't "get going" until we get functioning FTL drives. I'm not sure how future folks, traveling at FTL are going to view rockets and simple intra-solar travel.
Profound is in the eye of the beholder. For my money, the transistor and integrated circuit development was a much bigger deal. Discovering DNA was massively important. E.O. Wilson's first formulation of sociobiology was huge. The only difference between these things and space flight was media coverage. Space flight was turned into a public circus for political gain by Kennedy. The other discoveries were given short shrift by newspaper and television news editors. Too cerebral. No heroes. No good visuals. As always, the important stuff is barely even acknowledged by mainstream media.
The next big discovery with huge implications will be useful artificial intelligence, but most editors and politicians are too dimwitted to have anything like that even remotely on their radar.
What it means is that at age 52, there's quite a bit of distance between high school academic information never to be used again, and the current daily grind of "What functions do we want to add to that class?" and "Why does *that* virtual machine freeze on booting when no other does?"
You forget, plain and simple. Capital of North Dakota? Bismark? Haven't a clue. That's why the good lord made Google. Lazy? I suppose so.
Good point. My apologies to Mr. Gagarin.
I hereby declare myself "Fiddlesticks Bubba McGee!"
Like any bureaucracy, NASA existed only as long as it pleased its political leaders. The result is a space agency that's known for stunts.
Put a man in orbit. First! {Grab genitalia and grunt here).
Put a man on the moon. First! (Grunt repeatedly here).
Seriously, if NASA's main missions now were spaced based power, Zero G industries, low-grav hospitals, a satellite based internet, a space based mirror climate control system, or any of *thousands* of practical, profitable, useful projects, would we even be having this discussion?
Instead, NASA is all about Texas and Florida political pork, controlled by politicians and shaped to *their* ends. Market based solutions, as bad as they are, would still be better than techno-military welfare that we can't afford.
Powerdown nap?
Or I will taunt you a second time!
I believe the colloquial term is "a nice nap."
There was a small problem with reactor. There is no more North Korea. Film at 11. Now, the latest sports scores. Back to you Mike!
They *laughed* when I said my Christmas decorations would wow them this year!
Recognizing overpopulation is not human hating. I would argue that suggesting that humans reproduce until disaster is inevitable is far more "human hating" than restricting reproduction.
Which is why concentrative mirrors in space, in the form of millions of small square aimable mirrors is a better solution. You get to adjust the planetary temperature in the bargain.
Well, we're doomed then. For the majority of USA "citizens," if it doesn't exist on American Idol, it doesn't exist.
If you were subtle about it, spreading out your trades and not hitting the ones with the highest differentials, you could exploit this hack for a long time.
Frack the Vulcans.
*Much* easier to buy on those dips when you can induce the dips with software. Shares dropped to a penny? I'll take a million please!
Protoplasers. Party drugs. NEVER mix!
It gets harder and harder to tell "The Onion" from the news every year.
Their civilization went down the tubes?
Most of the oil in the gulf will never be extracted.
Investors are unlikely to invest in any more deepwater drilling, at least in this block. Lawsuit potential. Expense. All make the profitability marginal at best. By the time we get desperate enough to try again, we probably will no longer have the means to do so.
Even though hydrogen is an inefficient carrier of energy, hydrogen isn't stupid if electricity is cheap enough. With enough hydropower (no new technology needed), we'd have enough power to make enough hydrogen to do pretty much whatever we wanted in terms of power. We would at least have a chance of getting the transportation sector (our achilles heel) off of oil.