Using Disaster

Roger Wright

Absolutely, especially if we could name names!:-D Nobody wants to read a diary by someone who has not seen the shadow of Bubba on the prison shower wall in front of them!
Paul Watson, on BLOGS and privacy - 1/16/2003

Stan Shannon

Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: I think it would be far best if we could all just stop killing eachother and explore the heavens together. But that's just wishful thinking/dreaming I find it exhilarating also. But even I could find cheaper ways to be exhilerated. If there ultimately is no profitable use of space, we will never go. Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: Really? I disagree. There are several factors which makes it a lot harder to build a lunar station than an orbital station. First of all, the distance to the moon (approx 240,000 mi) compared to the distance to ISS (between 210 and 250 mi) is much bigger. The climate of the moon is also a tough cookie - you'd be in total darkness and utter coldness (-338F/-205C) for two weeks give or take a few days. We're not ready for a lunar station just yet - at least not economically. But it would still be a far more practical goal compared to a Mars mission. This would be especially true if there turns out to be significant ice deposits at the poles. That could be converted into fuel which would make a lunar outpost more eonomically practical than a low orbit station. The large amounts of Helium3 available on the moon could make nuclear fusion a more practical possiblity also. Other materials on the moon would provide building materials for trully significant L5 stations. Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: That would be excellent. But I doubt it'll happen this first half of the century, unless they find a cheap and reasonably safe way to fly into space. Otherwise, there won't be much profit in it. And giving space exploring companies tax breaks won't do it I think. The difference between 30 billion dollars and 20 billion dollars is 10 billion dollars, but all figures are extremely high! I think the government would not only have to give tax breaks, they'd have to subsidize. (Note, these figures are made up. I have no idea what it would cost to go to the moon and build something there). Obviously, companies would have to unite their resources. They would also have to be given inducements for their effort beyond just tax breaks. Private opwnership of space resources would have to be part of the bargain, so it would take international coorporation. Jörgen Sigvardsson wrote: To me, the thought of finding evidence of extraterrestial life is exhilarating. Colonizing the moon isn't that shabby either, but there's not much magic in it. Agr

Rohit Sinha

Paul Watson wrote: I don't hit women When it comes to hitting, I don't make a distinction between men and women. :) I don't hit anyone. Try not to, atleast, and so far I have been successful, ever since I grew up. To me, when a person hits another person, it means he/she has lost control. Glad to see you were able to keep yourself in control. But when/if I do lose control, I won't see if it's a man or a woman. I'll go for it. It takes all kinds, remember, so just smile, shurg, growl, do whatever it takes, and then move on. :)
Regards,

Rohit Sinha

Paul Watson

Rohit Sinha wrote: When it comes to hitting, I don't make a distinction between men and women. I get your point, it is logical. But I have been brought up not to ever hit a woman, it is just not cricket. I once threw a ball at my sisters head, but I was 12 and she was running around the garden yelling that I threw like a girl. :rolleyes:

Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa

Roger Wright wrote: Using a feather is kinky; using the whole chicken is perverted!

Rohit Sinha

Paul Watson wrote: But I have been brought up not to ever hit a woman, it is just not cricket. Me too. But what I meant was, I don't hit anybody, man or woman. :)
Regards,

Rohit Sinha

Character is like a tree, and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.
- Abraham Lincoln

The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going.
- Anonymous

ColinDavies

Michael A. Barnhart wrote: NASA has actually made more revenue for the US than it cost. I agree. But its difficult to really calculate what the output has been and easy to calculate what the input is. It's similar to tertiary (or any) education programs. You can easily see what they cost but the returns are impossible to see. Regardz Colin J Davies

Sonork ID 100.9197:Colin

I'm guessing the concept of a 2 hour movie showing two guys eating a meal and talking struck them as 'foreign' Rob Manderson wrote:

Megan Forbes

On a similar note - I heard on the news this morning that some website was shut down late last night for selling pieces of the shuttle over the internet X| Sick world.

A pack of geeks, pale and skinny, feeling a bit pumped and macho after a morning of strenuous mouse clicking and dragging, arriving en masse at the gym. They carefully reset the machines to the lowest settings, offer to spot for each other on the 5 lb dumbells, and rediscover the art of macrame while attempting to jump rope. -Roger Wright on my colleagues and I going to gym each day at lunch

Marc Clifton

Absolutely, especially if we could name names Why not? Get sued for defamation of character, or something like that? The posters would be anonymous. Marc Help! I'm an AI running around in someone's f*cked up universe simulator.
Sensitivity and ethnic diversity means celebrating difference, not hiding from it. - Christian Graus
Every line of code is a liability - Taka Muraoka
Microsoft deliberately adds arbitrary layers of complexity to make it difficult to deliver Windows features on non-Windows platforms--Microsoft's "Halloween files"

David Wulff

Rob Graham wrote: Stupidity Transmitted Disease? Children? :suss:

David Wulff http://www.davidwulff.co.uk

brianwelsch

Well, they're already talking about it on the radio this morning. "Should we give NASA 3-4 billion for a new shuttle? Where is the money coming from? Can we rationalize the value of the program? blah..blah..blah.." I don't mind the discussion over the program, its value, and possible flaws. That's all great. But why does it always take some catastrophe to bring up the debate? You would think at this point in our history, we would have learned a little about when its OK to take short-cuts and when quality is imperative. As far as "using disaster", the media are disgusting. Why are they picking up on this story? Is it the cool footage? The fact that debris is scattered about Texas? Why is this accident so alluring to the media? people die at work every single day, and I'd guess more than 7 of them per day. Sure they might not all have glorious jobs like these astronauts, but what does that matter? Why is this getting 24/7 coverage? I guess I'm just seeing too much of the Sept.11 type over-coverage being repeated for this. Interviewing relatives, even people who are finding debris. WTF?! Give me a break!! It's not that I don't feel for the families who've lost, but do they really need continuous national coverage? Do they need to believe the whole nation is sitting at home crying about it? Probably not, but it sures does wonders for the ratings. Anyway, who wants to hear about the 40 dead in Zimbabwe? :~ [sigh..] BW "Gandalf. Yes. That is what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. *I* am Gandalf the White." - Gandalf the White

Paul Watson

brianwelsch wrote: Anyway, who wants to hear about the 40 dead in Zimbabwe? Glad someone heard about that :| 30 died in a similar accident last week in SA. Look, I understand that a space shuttle exploding is more newsworthy than a goods train hitting a passenger train (what I don't like there is that if the same accident happened in the US then it would be all over the news.) But as you said it is disaster they focus on, not triumph. I did not see any footage of Columbia taking off until the disaster happened and they focused in on the left wing damage. Did not see much of the work they did up there either. Ah well. I just don't buy the paper when they hype stories like this.

Paul Watson
Bluegrass
Cape Town, South Africa

Roger Wright wrote: Using a feather is kinky; using the whole chicken is perverted!

brianwelsch

Paul Watson wrote: I did not see any footage of Columbia taking off until the disaster happened Exactly!! You only hear about triumph or good deeds, when shown as part of a tragedy. And when that happens chances are a movie will be made a few years later, to make sure we milk it for every penny its worth. Perhaps some limited edition action figures of these astronauts will be made in the meantime, or possibly some stickers for our car windows proclaiming our grief to passersby. Here is the PressKit of the mission, if you're interested. http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/STS-107_PK.pdf[^] (13MB) BW "Gandalf. Yes. That is what they used to call me. Gandalf the Grey. *I* am Gandalf the White." - Gandalf the White

KaRl

It's perhaps specific to european TV media, but I'm quiet sure each time the Shuttle or Ariane takes off I see a report on it. IMO it's always impressive and fascinating.

Angels banished from heaven have no choice but to become demons Cowboy Bebop

Roger Wright

Sadly true... but one can dream! Nobody wants to read a diary by someone who has not seen the shadow of Bubba on the prison shower wall in front of them!
Paul Watson, on BLOGS and privacy - 1/16/2003