Flaser Posts
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
WhiteLion wrote...
In both videos, Reich's points are accurate and not really particularly controversial, other than, as Fpod points on, fairness being something that is a debatable concept.One point on small businesses: most small businesses do not contribute significantly to job creation. Most of them start small and stay small. The few that do expand and larger corporations create many more jobs. Rather than worrying about taxes on small businesses so much, time and money would be better spend on incentives for expansion and hiring if job creation is the goal.
Fpod wrote...
#3. Immediately runs to the teachers, firefights and police as if they are the only people employed by the federal Government. It is infuriating the way people like him treat the government. People who want smaller government want to cut bureaucrats, reduce waste, reduce redundancy, reduce overhead, privatize some industries, reduce corporate welfare, etc. No more $16 muffins!
Everyone wants to reduce corruption and waste. The $16 muffins are stupid and we should eliminate such wasteful expenditures. But that kind of thing isn't going to put much of a dent in the deficit.
Privatizing stuff has other social costs.
On the topic of the actual protests....
The movement doesn't have a coherent goal or mission statement or set of ideals. But people are mad.
And income equality could be a big reason why. Whatever you think is fair, socioeconomic status is one of the best predictors for how successful people become. It predicts school performance much better than factors like teacher quality.
Being rich is a huge advantage. Being poor is a huge disadvantage. And it's not something you earn as a child. You are born into it.
We preach equal opportunity, but we don't know what it means. In many ways, many people have early life experiences that, through no control of their own, set them up for failure. Some of them manage to overcome this and succeed anyways, but most of them don't. Others are born into circumstances that give them every advantage and set them up for success. A few fail anyways, but most don't. These circumstances are heavily influenced by wealth.
Does equal opportunity mean that the regulators should just get out of the way and not impede anyone? Or does it mean that we recognize that inequality of opportunity is inherent in our society but also try to address it in some way to give the disadvantaged a better fighting chance? Or does it mean we force everyone to be literally equal?
The answer to this question is always in flux, and I think the Occupy Wall Street protests are largely people expressing their displeasure about the way our policy current addresses the question.
One of the potential consequences of extreme inequality of wealth is social unrest. And with the significant growth this inequality has seen and our bad economic times, we may be starting to see some of that.
I support the movement in terms of supporting their rights to express their frustration in a peaceful way and I hope they are able to transform from an amorphous expression of economic frustration into a political faction that works for change by coming together and exchanging and sharing beliefs.
I think the tea party starting in somewhat of a similar way. A bunch of people were mad at the government, but they didn't necessarily agree on why or what should be done. However, the movement became a successful political faction rather than just causing violence or engaging in destructive behaviors because people came together and exchanged ideas.
Up until your last comment, I was with you... but man, do you have any idea what the Tea Party really is? It's a goddamn astroturf by the Koch brothers. No wonder that the mainstream media was all but rimming them on prime time... compare that to the coverage Occupy Wall Street gets.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/oct/25/tea-party-koch-brothers
...this (and many other pieces) were in fact investigated by the exile, it took the rest of the media *months* (sometimes *years*) to catch up:
http://exiledonline.com/washington-post-links-freedomworks-tea-party-koch-family-only-5-months-after-ames-levine/
This time it took 5 months for someone else to run the story.
Back on topic, OWS is pretty homogeneous in what they want, it's only that the corporate masters of the press don't want these ideas to take on:
http://boingboing.net/2011/10/08/polling-the-occupation-what-occupywallstreet-really-wants.html
80% of those polled said that the rich should pay higher taxes and that it’s fair that approximately the top 10% of tax payers pay more than 70% of the taxes in the US and about 40% of employed people pay no income tax.
93% say that student loan debt should be forgiven
98% believe that health care should be free
98% believe that Insurance companies make too much money and some of their profits should be taken to pay for more healthcare for others
95% believe that drug prices should be controlled
88% agree with the statement that “The government should put some controls on CEO pay – like limited to 20x or 30x the lowest paid employee.”
93% believe that communications like cell phone and internet access be a right and not just reserved for the rich and we should have free internet and cell phone service as a national goal.
84% said they think that if a bank decides to implement a $5 debit card fee, the government should not allow it, while 16% said let them do what they want – customers can move.
93% say that student loan debt should be forgiven
98% believe that health care should be free
98% believe that Insurance companies make too much money and some of their profits should be taken to pay for more healthcare for others
95% believe that drug prices should be controlled
88% agree with the statement that “The government should put some controls on CEO pay – like limited to 20x or 30x the lowest paid employee.”
93% believe that communications like cell phone and internet access be a right and not just reserved for the rich and we should have free internet and cell phone service as a national goal.
84% said they think that if a bank decides to implement a $5 debit card fee, the government should not allow it, while 16% said let them do what they want – customers can move.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Alex~kun wrote...
So, lets just get to it; Today, when turning on my computer, as I turned it on, all I got was continuous short beeps. According to some research, either my power supply is bad, my motherboard, or a combination of things. Granted, I was cleaning it before hand, and might've done something, but that aside, some parts of the computer are old as hell, so I was planning to change these parts anyways. So, just asking, should I just try and fix what I got, and if not, anyone have a good idea what I could get to replace the power supply, motherboard, and probably the CPU for about 200-300 dollars? I'm not familiar with these, since I've usually just changed the video card, RAM, or hard drive.
I mostly use it for gaming, and some programming.
Current build:
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 6000+ (want to upgrade)
NVidia GeForce 9500 GT
Two Gigs RAM
ECS MCP61P-AM Motherboard (want to upgrade)
Delta 400 Watt Power Supply (want to upgrade?)
Could you tell us how many beeps it makes? Could be your videocard or RAM are not properly seated, so you could try removing and reinserting them in their sockets and see if that helps.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Anesthetize wrote...
Let's get away from the reoccurring topics of morality issue here, religion opinion there, in SD and talk about something that actually matters for once.To be frank, i'm very surprised this topic hasn't been discussed or even brought up much considering that Fakku's main demographic is Americans.
Actually both me and other posters have made threads about the income inequality and the super rich in the past, though it seems we couldn't grasp the community's attenion.
Thank you for taking up the cause, and that video is a superb demonstration. Here's another from the same source:
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Fiery_penguin_of_doom wrote...
Padm wrote...
Move to Canada, sure you wait for an hour or two but its all FREE. The trade off for this is that Canada has much higher taxes.It is not free. You are paying for the healthcare as you go.
It's free as in "free roads", "free education", etc. Yes. They're paying for them... through taxes. You have payroll taxes even in the USA, though since health-care is not included they're a lot lower.
Granted as a libertarian you view all non-negotiable payment as inherently evil.
However health-care is a basic human need, so as a social democrat, I find mandatory taxation acceptable. It's not like those who are taxed don't even have any say in the matter. Democracy is all about using your vote, to get taxation you agree with.
From each according to his ability, to each according to his need. That's the basis of solidarity and its a necessary binding force in functioning societies.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
I was never "in the dark". My mother is a doctor and was pretty open about the whole thing, so I guess I was "enlightened" at a very early age. Of course I still had questions, but porn put those to rest...
...thing is, my "education", probably meant that I've avoided a great number of dangerous situations and it's not like knowing made me more interested in sex then I otherwise would have been.
...thing is, my "education", probably meant that I've avoided a great number of dangerous situations and it's not like knowing made me more interested in sex then I otherwise would have been.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Another post, another great classic:
TFX - Intro (MIDI)
Barbarian (SID)
Betrayal at Krondor - Intro(MIDI)
This game already had a CD soundtrack, however most people bought the floppy version.
TFX - Intro (MIDI)
Barbarian (SID)
Betrayal at Krondor - Intro(MIDI)
This game already had a CD soundtrack, however most people bought the floppy version.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
PandaisEpic wrote...
is there any one who can translate this please im sure that other people have been looking for this E-hentaiIf you really want that piece translated then commission one of the bigger translators to do it for you. Yes, if you want something to work on something just because you want them to, you gotta pay for it!
The following translators have all accepted commissions before. Read any available FAQ on their site before contacting them!
http://ac124.wordpress.com/
http://brolen9104.wordpress.com/
http://biribiri.eu
http://chocolatescans.blogspot.com
http://desudesu0.com/
http://fatedcircle.wordpress.com/
http://fuwafuwaru.fakku.net/
http://kizlan.fakku.net/
http://kusanyagi.blogspot.com
http://oneofakindproductions.blogspot.com/
http://pineapplesrus.fakku.net/
http://rabbitrevelry.com/clubcowslip/
http://www.ryuutama.com/
http://www.sahadou.com
http://sirctranslations.blogspot.com/
http://www.tonigobe.net/
http://umadscans.ryuutama.com/
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Dfan305 wrote...
yo i ain't hating on tech.. i fucking love my fancy gizmos. all of you make good points and now i see it a bit different... however i still think a lot of people are getting overly used to the convinience of fancy shit and forget how to keep it real. job loss is inevitable i guess..The most infuriating thing (for me), is that it's no fault of their own. They've been raised with the belief that if you got a job and worked hard you'll be duly rewarded. (The American dream) Then Reagenism pulled the rug out under them. So instead they had to "study", "get a good degree" and so on... except even as they are doing exactly that, the very things they study become worthless.
No one is warning them. There's no social security net for these people as in America your worth is intrinsically tied to market demand for your skills. You'd like to get another degree? Tough luck pal...
...especially since student loans are already creating a willing serf class.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Domonkazu wrote...
to be fair if those robot tech become the norm, there will be lot new job too, like the technician for maintenance and programmer, well mostly IT field, but even so the old job will still have "some" role in supporting those programmer, ex: they can't program the robot too cook if they don't know the right procedure for each dish, same deal for all of other job.but as fellow programer I don't see that we will be able to develop human like AI like in those sci fi movies, maybe not in 50 years, it's already took so much considerable amount of effort just to make image recognizing program for car's plates numbers.
I'm sorry, but experience has shown that your presumption is incorrect. It takes innovation to come up with more job... and why can't robots fulfill those roles as well?
I (..and Marshal) were not talking about sentient or "true" AI. In fact for the first range of jobs (service) to be over taken all you'd need is machine vision. A far cry from sci-fi robots. In fact you already have expert systems doing trade on the stock market, the "robots" have already overtaken institutions of great importance to national security.
http://marshallbrain.com wrote...
Why won't all the new companies that are making these robots create millions of new jobs in 2015? Why won't these new jobs absorb all of the unemployed pilots and service-sector employees? Think about it:Will these millions of new robots create manufacturing jobs? Not in the United States. Robots will be assembling robots. Even if you assume that some people will be involved in assembling them, all of the assembly will take place in places like China, Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, etc. where manufacturing costs are far lower than they are in the U.S.
Will these millions of new robots create programming and engineering jobs? Not in the United States. U.S. corporations are in the process of moving the bulk of all programming and engineering jobs to places like India, Russia, China, etc. where the programmers and engineers cost a tenth as much as they do in the U.S.
Will the millions of new robots create jobs in sales? Not in the United States. Corporations ordering new robots will purchase their robots over the Web without any human intervention, in the same way that you can order a Segway from Amazon today.
Will these millions of new robots create repair and servicing jobs? Not in the United States. When a robot needs repair, another robot will bundle it onto a pallet. A robotic forklift will place the pallet on a truck. The truck will drive to a repair facility. The facility will repair the robot with highly automated systems that require no human intervention or supervision. Human beings will not be repairing robots -- robots will.
...the only part one could argue with is the last one, but given where tech is headed (recall the last time you "repaired" a computer? ...and it was not user related? ...and you didn't just do a reinstall... that an expert system could do?) it's not a far stretch.
With machine vision we could have all the things he lists... and in fact even without machine vision we will likely soon have robotic transportation systems using high precision (cm-precision) GPS.
http://marshallbrain.com wrote...
More likely, the economy will not be able to absorb all of these displaced workers. The economy has been creating millions and millions of low-paying, no-benefits, service-sector jobs for the last 40 years. These jobs are perfect for robotic replacement. There is no reason to expect that the economy will suddenly figure out a way to create high-paying, exciting, fulfilling jobs for these tens of millions of people displaced by robots. If the economy could do that, it would be doing it now.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Darzu wrote...
Basically: Logic is fixed.Do I win?
And if so, then logic defies "morality" and employs results.
Nope. Logic "enhances" morality, for morality can't ignore truth. Go to 9m25s or 10m22s. (FAKKU doesn't allow time-stamps with You-Tube videos).
Logic on its own can't provide morals. You need knowledge and empathy... however to have workable morals you need logic, otherwise your conclusions will have no connection to reality.
Takerial wrote...
BigLundi wrote...
Tegumi wrote...
One should follow one's own advice.Unless on is wrong on their advice.
Btw, if that's referenced at anyone in particular, it's more useful to quote what they're saying in order to actually be witty ;)
So you're saying that you're wrong about your advice.
Way to fail.
No true Bayesian conspirator will ever claim to be infallible. The statements of a a Bayesian conspirator hinge on knowledge, if the knowledge was partial or wrong then so was the statement.
...however a conspirator can, in good faith, claim to be "Less Wrong" then those who ignore logic.
Read more here:
http://lesswrong.com/
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Freepalestine wrote...
when i was like 13 or 14 id avoid anything "gay" (rofl xD)like the plague, but...that was then and this is (since a year ago) now...im not a porn addict but every few days or whatever (19 btw im 6'4 but im still uke! long hair and personality so just deal with it)problem is i used to wank it (yes wank it) to normal porn; until eventually it wouldnt go up without.....certain backdoor toys, and then even then it was like f*** off stay up; so i read this and its a trap i thot it was normal porn *year ago*
and me - 0.0 - but for some reason i kept reading and then boom; the only porn i was into was yaoi;
keep in mind im not all that much the sexual type;
Ask yourself? Do men interest you? What about androgynous men? Is it only drawn homo erotica that interests you? Most yaoi tends to draw men (actually teenaged boys) really sensually, with feminine characteristics.
I too have been in my "imaginary closet", concerning homo-erotica. Then I accepted that there are gay things I like. I'm still into girls. I'm not into manly men. Have the courage to accept what you like and don't like. Afterwards you'll have the confidence to stand up to any attack on your sexuality.
PS.: There's a little gay in all of us. Sexuality is a spectrum, not a boolean state of straight/gay.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
I think a big distinction need to be made:
Technology is not taking over our life, it's taking *away* our job. (Except for the quislings like me who work in computing/IT). As soon as machine vision is perfected another range of jobs will disappear, disenfranchising another mass of people (in service) who were already dislocated (when technology made them obsolete in manufacturing).
More can be read here:
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
While our gadgets may seem "all important" now, in the end it's not like people are incapable of using an old fashioned map. Sure it changes your day to day habits, but so far it hasn't *deprived* you of your skills or livelihood... however when you have to compete with a machine for a job, you'll almost always loose. That (and our unwillingness to realize what this will do to the job market) is what makes unchecked technological progress dangerous.
It's not the tech what evil... in fact it should liberate us, freeing us from the mindless toil of work! If not "post-scarcity", then at least a world of "affordability" should be around the corner... but only if we're willing to change our social and governmental institutions.
Technology is not taking over our life, it's taking *away* our job. (Except for the quislings like me who work in computing/IT). As soon as machine vision is perfected another range of jobs will disappear, disenfranchising another mass of people (in service) who were already dislocated (when technology made them obsolete in manufacturing).
More can be read here:
http://marshallbrain.com/robotic-nation.htm
There will be huge job losses by 2040 or 2050 as robots move into the workplace. For example:
*Nearly every construction job will go to a robot. That's about 6 million jobs lost.
*Nearly every manufacturing job will go to a robot. That's 16 million jobs lost.
*Nearly every transportation job will go to a robot. That's 3 million jobs lost.
*Many wholesale and retail jobs will go to robots. That's at least 15 million lost jobs.
*Nearly every hotel and restaurant job will go to a robot. That's 10 million jobs lost.
*Nearly every construction job will go to a robot. That's about 6 million jobs lost.
*Nearly every manufacturing job will go to a robot. That's 16 million jobs lost.
*Nearly every transportation job will go to a robot. That's 3 million jobs lost.
*Many wholesale and retail jobs will go to robots. That's at least 15 million lost jobs.
*Nearly every hotel and restaurant job will go to a robot. That's 10 million jobs lost.
While our gadgets may seem "all important" now, in the end it's not like people are incapable of using an old fashioned map. Sure it changes your day to day habits, but so far it hasn't *deprived* you of your skills or livelihood... however when you have to compete with a machine for a job, you'll almost always loose. That (and our unwillingness to realize what this will do to the job market) is what makes unchecked technological progress dangerous.
It's not the tech what evil... in fact it should liberate us, freeing us from the mindless toil of work! If not "post-scarcity", then at least a world of "affordability" should be around the corner... but only if we're willing to change our social and governmental institutions.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
zeroniv_legend wrote...
Not everything can be solved by logic alone....but without logic and the ability to draw conclusions is gone. Your hit/miss ratio will be rather abysmal and take on a Gaussian distribution. "Thankfully" modern life rarely required serious thought, so the sheeple are usually spared from the consequences of their condition.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Darzu wrote...
Speaking of the concept of universal healthcare, most countries that have tapped into the system have hospitals and healthcare that isn't that efficient in the first place. If I, or a family member were inflicted with a hazardous health condition that endagered life, I would prefer no other system than the United States' healthcare system.Have a broken arm in a universal healthcare system? "We'll fix you up! Only partially and not adequately though, and the wait may be 2-4 months. Have a nice day."
No to universal healthcare.
Prices are fine, we're talking about life here.
All for one and one for all doesn't work.
But "survival of the fittest" does and has always worked.
Could you stop with the unsubstantiated claims or I'm gonna have to call bullshit. Here are the facts:
-NOT having a universal health care system, puts the USA into the category labeled, "anomaly, as it's almost a given in the rest of the developed world.
-The last I recalled, the Japanese, Korean, Canadian, British health-care systems were doing fine. So called "news" to the contrary are BULLSHIT. No, Fox News doesn't count as they're notorious for spinning things out of context and outright presenting unsubstantiated data as hard fact.
PS.: Extreme libertarians like you scare the shit out of me. At least FPOD has a point and acknowledges the importance of compassion... you on the hand would grant me the "right" to die like a starved dog regardless the circumstances.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
KrnSurferDude wrote...
K-1 wrote...
I have a personal story to tell, to hopefully stimulate conversation, as well as to get it off my chest and maybe feel a little better about the whole situation.About three weeks ago, my mother had a heart attack. She had been having chest pains off and on all that day, and she asked my dad to take her to the emergency room because the pain started to go into her arm. At the hospital, they told her that she'd be having a massive heart attack all day long, or something along those lines.
I will clarify our situation: we are poor, living paycheck-to-paycheck. My father works odd hours; one week, he'll work for three days, and the next week, he'll work for four days, each day being a twelve-hour shift. This is important because missing one day of work means missing either a third or a quarter of his paycheck that week. We don't have health insurance, of course.
At the ER, my mother had a stint put in and was put into a room. She was there for less than twenty-four hours; fed up with the doctors that never visited her (also, there was supposedly a group of doctors looking over her, and she never saw the same doctor twice) and the shitty care she was receiving (they brought her food only twice the entire time she was there, dinner the night she was brought in and lunch the next day; when she told the nurse that brought her lunch that she had never been given breakfast, the nurse just said, "Oh, they didn't bring it?"), she ripped out her IV and walked out of the hospital. The doctors had prescribed her several medications, two of which completely disregarded the fact that she has abnormal blood pressure. One of the medications was Plavix, which costs $200 a month, something we cannot afford. Of course, we didn't get the prescriptions filled.
Due to my mother going to the hospital, my father missed two days of work that week - twenty-four hours worth of work.
About a week later, my mother had to be rushed to the hospital again. That time, they had to call an ambulance to pick her up, because she was in so much pain. Once again, it was a heart attack. However, instead of taking her to the closest hospital, they took her to a bigger, better hospital where she received much better care. She actually stayed until they released her that time. She again received several prescriptions, including Plavix which she got some samples of and has been taking. She is doing relatively well now, though she is very weak the majority of the time. The better hospital informed her that there are two types of stints, one which requires taking Plavix for only three months and the other which requires taking Plavix for the rest of one's life. The shitty hospital put in the latter; furthermore, she had the second heart attack because they did a shitty job putting it in. The good hospital was dumbfounded at why the shitty hospital had done the things it did.
Due to the second heart attack, my father had to miss three days of work - thirty-six hours worth of work.
We went to the ER because we didn't have insurance; we have very high hospital bills we will never be able to pay. My mother is alive right now because someone else foot the bill. If the government decided that every citizen has to pay for every medical treatment they receive, and if they cannot pay, they will not receive the treatment, my mother would be dead right now.
At the same time, if all the hospitals were on par with the first, shitty hospital she went to, she'd probably be dead, despite receiving care. But perhaps that is moot, since people with insurance go to that shitty hospital. All I know is that we had to rely on hospitals, doctors, and nurses to save her life, and if money had been their only concern, they would have left her to die in the street, because we have none to spare.
Hey K-1, thank you for your post. I'm truly sorry about your mother; I'm also very, f-ing pissed off that she had to go through hardship and endanger her life due to the incompentency of the first hospital treatment, and the lack of proper health care. The uninsured really are screwed when they are in health crisis; I'm in the same situation.
So far, I'm deciding whether to go back to S. Korea to receive free medical care at the cost of being unable to finish my American university degree, or stay and wait months for proper treatment at very high cost. I'm just so sick of hurting or being disabled. Even more, being HELPLESS due to the inability to get treatment WITHOUT worrying about high cost or being in debt.
I hope that your mother is doing better. It also pains me that your father is working his bones off, doing 12-hour shifts and your family barely meeting ends. I just cannot help but to realize that there is just so much suffering everywhere...
i'm having difficulty breathing, and have been for last 110 days.
Can you leave the country et all - and retain your VISA - or do you have specific limitations? Have you considered going to Canada and claiming to be someone's dependent and take advantage of their free health care?
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
Lelouch24 wrote...
gizgal wrote...
Lelouch24 wrote...
darzu wrote...
Sperm cellsI don't think sperm are cells, though I'm not completely sure
...*facepalm.jpg*
If you don't know the basic way reproduction works, how can you even argue about abortion. Ugu internet.
I know the basics of reproduction, I just forgot that the 23 X-chromosomes that join with the egg were inside a cell. It's been a while since I took biology, So correct me when necessary
Besides, I'm trying to discuss the governments response to abortion, not the biological aspects of it
You've just proven that your knowledge of genetics is a mess (...or were taught the "controversy" instead) and you have fundamental problems with biology. Even though gametes (eggs and sperm) are haploids, they're still very much alive as they have a metabolism of their own.
Humans have 23 *pairs* of chromosomes. During haploidisation (the process that creates gametes) the pairs break up and only half of your genome is passed on. When the pairs are once again joined up (when a sperm fertilizes an egg), the two chromosomes exchange some of their genes in the pair, so the final chromosomes contain genes both from the mother and the father.
You don't have 23 X chromosomes, you have a pair of sex chromosomes. Either XX or XY. Since the woman have 2 X chromosomes, they can only pass on the X. The Y chromosome always comes from the male.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
DanteCount wrote...
Unfortunately the world revolves around money which the gov. doesn't have. Thats why the space exploration has slowed down. Luckily, we are starting to make a shift to privately funded space exploration and space tourism. The trade off with the expense for manned missions is that you gain more knowledge from them. It doesn't take a person five hrs to recieve a signal on mars to pick up a rock and look at it. Anyways we humans are just wired to explore and eventually, it will become a necessity. One day, maybe 1000, maybe 100, or maybe 50 yrs down the road we humans will run out of resources and living space and will have to have a second planet/moon to live on.
I'm sorry, but nowadays science has long since passed the threshold of what the human senses are capable of. Granted there would be tons of things a geologist with a hammer and the freedom to explore could tell us about Mars, but when you add up the costs the robots are still leading. Sending better robots is still more sensible, as they could operate 24/7, have advanced instruments built in and can weather the hostile environment a lot easier than a human would.
Compare the extreme stuff we do in space, and such "mundane" things like exploring the depths of the ocean, the hottest desert or the coldest tundras are pedestrian by comparison... yet these are on the very edge of human endurance.
It's only after you've moved out as far as Jupiter that human presence would once again become an immense boon as the light-speed lag is just that great.
Fayte87 wrote...
Renovartio wrote...
The many troubles of the current age can be in some way related to the over population of the planet. So wouldn't research into finding a new hospitable world be very keen to humanities survival?Astronomers are hoping Gliese 581-G will fulfill that purpose
No it won't. Ditching the solar system is not an option and it won't be for a long, long while. Not until you have tech-levels, us rocketry affectionados call "magitech", from the Clark axiom that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Even if you had fusion torch ships an interstellar mission would still take stupendously long times and would cost just as much... now multiply that by a couple million-to-billion and you realize we'd need to requisition a sizable portion of the resources in the solar system to pull off the job.
Read the High Frontier Redux I posted earlier, Charlie Stross does a much better job of framing the scope of the problem and how, mind shatteringly, big and empty interstellar space is.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
jmason wrote...
Zero_Hour wrote...
SNIPSNIP
jmason, you're fundamentally wrong. We could start a manned mission to Mars this moment and if we pulled out all the stops, gave all the funding, the astronauts would be on their way within 2 years.
Technological limitations have nothing to do with why our manned presence in space is so limited.
Economy does.
There's simply only so much that human beings can do in space. We've done all the medical checks, we've proven that humans can be sustained in micro-gravity, but that's it. There's no longer any scientific or commercial impetus to have a human around. As I wrote earlier, the need for humans in most experiments nowadays is a gimmick, used to justify and exorbitantly expensive program. The astronaut pushes a button and his involvement ends there. Everything else is already automated. The only reason the Space Shuttle can't be landed on autopilot is that the main landing gear was intentionally disconnected from the flight computer.
With the advent of microcomputers, tele-operation and robotics there's no longer a need for a human to carry out all the scientific experiments we want. In fact human presence would be detrimental to these efforts.
Take the Pioneer and Voyager missions for example. Thanks to them, we've learned more about the outer planets in a single decade then we've done in the entire history of mankind up to that point.
...or take the commercial space industry. It's so entwined with everyday life that you take it for granted, but it has really changed telecommunication and navigation. Today, there's no ocean going vessel or passenger plane that doesn't have GPS guidance. Our automated weather satellites have radically transformed how meteorology is handled and what it's capable of.
We didn't need space stations stuffed with scientist to take these reading. Back in the '60 the kind of processing power, sensor capability and telemetry reliance a modern satellite routinely processes was beyond even the wildest dreams of sci-fi writers.
Computer technology, the Internet has blindsided us and it has taken space industry in a very different direction from what Heinlein and Arthur C. Clark envisioned.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
The Jesus wrote...
Obviously, any links to shit on Hongfire.com won't be accessible. Fuck hongfire, there are plenty of filesharing sites..
I hope you realize that the biggest draw of Hongfire was that it was the one place where you could actually find *working* links to anything anime, manga, visual novel and eroge related. The content itself is typically hosted elsewhere.
I.e. the take down of Hongfire's filehosting section won't hurt so much because they're gone as a host, but because they'll no longer act as an aggregator to your searches.
Flaser
OCD Hentai Collector
This thread is so chock full of ignorance!
What happened to manned Space Programs?
Computers. Why send a hairless ape, with a bulky, hard to maintain life support system to space and then another planet when you could send a robot that does the same job? You also have to make sure that the hairless monkey gets back sound and safe. The robot's fine just chilling out the rest of its life out there. You also get to keep your actual crew - made up of dozens of the best minds on the planet - in an air conditioned facility and at a fraction of the cost!
Oh no! The Shuttle's gone... and good riddance!
The Shuttle Program was a waste of money. It was too heavy, too complex and had some very idiotic trade-offs. The orbiter should've been on top of the rocket where it would've been more protected. It should've head air-breathing engines, so it could've made a powered landing and reduce oxidizer requirements on the first stage. It should've used a simpler, ablative heat shield. It should've ferried either freight or humans, carrying that damn big mission section everywhere greatly cost us in terms of load capacity. It should've been able to at least do a damn MEO orbit!
It was the damn elephant in the room. We need human spaceflight, because we need humans in space to.... uhh... let me get back to you! Meanwhile we will mandate human involvement on any mission that involves the Shuttle. This usually translated to an astronaut having to push a button. There! Human involvement!
...and when missions that *did* fit the Shuttle's profile crept up - life fixing Hubble's short sightedness - NASA was dragging its leg as they considered the mission too dangerous.
The gall of that, when they were operating a vehicle without any escape mechanism! When the Russians improve on your product by incorporating ejection seats (check out the specs of the Buran), you know something is wrong. (Granted these could only be used on the ascent phase of the mission, but it could've saved the life of the Challenger crew for instance).
It can't have been THAT bad! I mean how much did this thing cost?
MORE than HALF of NASA's budget. Meanwhile the real scientific findings, exploration of the solar system, GETTING SHIT DONE, was achieved through unmanned space flight.
OK, but this stuff never brought any good to mankind!
WRONG. The space programs lead to the rapid development of technologies that later on benefited all of mankind. Part of the reason that made the Shuttle program such a bummer was, that with all that money sunk into the vehicles a lot less was available for R&D.
Frankly we did *not* need a fleet of launch vehicles, our aerospace needs didn't warrant it. If fewer, disposable, cheaper vehicles had been used we could've had a part of the rapid development along that characterized the Gemini and Apollo programs.
Instead we couldn't incorporate even tech developed elsewhere, as NASA was busy supporting a 30 year old craft with absolutely outdated technology.
If I managed to jar you out of your Clark-Heinlein inspired visions of the furute - just "50 years out of date" and GROSSLY optimistic - read more here:
http://www.idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm
The Rocketpunk manifesto is a good start to get your aerospace wings and realize how the media has been selling your short by dazzling you with swooshing ships and denied you the intricate splendor of a technological tightrope that balancing a space mission involves:
http://www.rocketpunk-manifesto.com
...Charlie Stross also has a few choice words. Mark them for they ring with truth:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html
His most important axiom: Space in not a Libertarian's friend should be engraved on a plaque and included in any space colonization's programs motto. Keeping humans alive in space is really hard, and takes regulation so stringent only madmen (and dreamers) willingly submit themselves to it.
BONUS:
If you want to try your hand at rocketry, try out the Kerbal Space Program game:
http://kerbalspaceprogram.com
What happened to manned Space Programs?
Computers. Why send a hairless ape, with a bulky, hard to maintain life support system to space and then another planet when you could send a robot that does the same job? You also have to make sure that the hairless monkey gets back sound and safe. The robot's fine just chilling out the rest of its life out there. You also get to keep your actual crew - made up of dozens of the best minds on the planet - in an air conditioned facility and at a fraction of the cost!
Oh no! The Shuttle's gone... and good riddance!
The Shuttle Program was a waste of money. It was too heavy, too complex and had some very idiotic trade-offs. The orbiter should've been on top of the rocket where it would've been more protected. It should've head air-breathing engines, so it could've made a powered landing and reduce oxidizer requirements on the first stage. It should've used a simpler, ablative heat shield. It should've ferried either freight or humans, carrying that damn big mission section everywhere greatly cost us in terms of load capacity. It should've been able to at least do a damn MEO orbit!
It was the damn elephant in the room. We need human spaceflight, because we need humans in space to.... uhh... let me get back to you! Meanwhile we will mandate human involvement on any mission that involves the Shuttle. This usually translated to an astronaut having to push a button. There! Human involvement!
...and when missions that *did* fit the Shuttle's profile crept up - life fixing Hubble's short sightedness - NASA was dragging its leg as they considered the mission too dangerous.
The gall of that, when they were operating a vehicle without any escape mechanism! When the Russians improve on your product by incorporating ejection seats (check out the specs of the Buran), you know something is wrong. (Granted these could only be used on the ascent phase of the mission, but it could've saved the life of the Challenger crew for instance).
It can't have been THAT bad! I mean how much did this thing cost?
MORE than HALF of NASA's budget. Meanwhile the real scientific findings, exploration of the solar system, GETTING SHIT DONE, was achieved through unmanned space flight.
OK, but this stuff never brought any good to mankind!
WRONG. The space programs lead to the rapid development of technologies that later on benefited all of mankind. Part of the reason that made the Shuttle program such a bummer was, that with all that money sunk into the vehicles a lot less was available for R&D.
Frankly we did *not* need a fleet of launch vehicles, our aerospace needs didn't warrant it. If fewer, disposable, cheaper vehicles had been used we could've had a part of the rapid development along that characterized the Gemini and Apollo programs.
Instead we couldn't incorporate even tech developed elsewhere, as NASA was busy supporting a 30 year old craft with absolutely outdated technology.
If I managed to jar you out of your Clark-Heinlein inspired visions of the furute - just "50 years out of date" and GROSSLY optimistic - read more here:
http://www.idlewords.com/2005/08/a_rocket_to_nowhere.htm
The Rocketpunk manifesto is a good start to get your aerospace wings and realize how the media has been selling your short by dazzling you with swooshing ships and denied you the intricate splendor of a technological tightrope that balancing a space mission involves:
http://www.rocketpunk-manifesto.com
...Charlie Stross also has a few choice words. Mark them for they ring with truth:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2007/06/the_high_frontier_redux.html
His most important axiom: Space in not a Libertarian's friend should be engraved on a plaque and included in any space colonization's programs motto. Keeping humans alive in space is really hard, and takes regulation so stringent only madmen (and dreamers) willingly submit themselves to it.
BONUS:
If you want to try your hand at rocketry, try out the Kerbal Space Program game:
http://kerbalspaceprogram.com