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Post by iamspartacus on Jan 11, 2006 10:18:13 GMT -4
probably have the first china buffet restaurant,toyota moonrover suv dealership,if anyone will get there first it'll probably be them China will probably supply the competition that the US has been missing since Apollo and keep Congress focused on funding through multiple administrations. Money, in the shape of federal funds, is likely to go hurricane hit Louisiana and Lockheed-Martin just happens to have a factory just outside New Orleans that will supply components for the proposed heavy lift vehicle. The US will not give up its title of top space nation willingly though it is likely to tailor its response to what China actually does. Reason for modification: The quote was by Ivan and not sts60. Apologies for that.
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Post by iamspartacus on Mar 7, 2006 17:03:43 GMT -4
I hear what you are saying but what about full metrification for time, angular measure and global navigation?
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Post by iamspartacus on Mar 4, 2006 15:07:02 GMT -4
There’s been some politicians in the UK blathering on about whether we should convert all the road signs to kilometres for the 2012 Olympics. The UK agreed to go metric 40 years ago but still hasn’t gone all the way. The US is even further away. Do we need to go metric or is there a better alternative?
The metric system is good in that its unit length defines its unit volume and a unit volume of water defines mass. But what defines the unit length? A platinum rod in a fridge outside Paris! But why choose the metre to be that particular length in the first place? It’s not used by most global navigators; they use the nautical mile which is defined as one minute of arc around a great circle. It fits nicely with our current divisions of time and angular measure.
360 degrees in a circle is not exactly a metric kind of measure though. So (if we don’t adopt the radian) does full metrification mean having 100 degrees in a right angle or circle? Does full metrification mean having 100 metric seconds in a metric minute, 100 metric minutes in a metric hour and 10 metric hours in a day? How would global navigation look using a fully metricated system? Would anybody want it? Would it work? Is that why they (presumably the French) haven’t pushed for it? So, is the metric system flawed, never to achieve its full totality? (Why so many questions?)
Here’s my 2 penny’s worth (3.4 cents US approx). Keep 360 degrees in a circle and 60 seconds in a minute and scrap the kilometre in favour of the nautical mile. Divide that by 1,000 and call it the new meter/yard if you want. You never know, the US may well agree to changing to this new system.
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Post by iamspartacus on Mar 4, 2006 12:13:13 GMT -4
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Post by iamspartacus on Feb 24, 2006 4:26:47 GMT -4
Sir Les Patterson (a fictitious) Australian cultural attaché to the Court of St. James (ie. an Australian ambassador of sorts) one said, “Many people think that Australia doesn’t have much culture. Well let me tell you, we've got culture coming out of our arse!.”
Good on yer Les!
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Post by iamspartacus on Feb 22, 2006 12:26:29 GMT -4
I think what most people criticized about the opening battle in Revenge of the Sith, was the way that Grievous' ship tipped over on one end and everything within it slid to that end, as if the external gravity had more influence than the onboard artificial gravity. I think it was supposed to be the onboard artificial gravity that was swinging about. In Matthew Stover's "Revenge of the Sith" (the book of the film of the screenplay and original story by George Lucas) he writes, "Before Anakin could answer, the erratic gravity swung like a pendulum; while they both clung to the railing, the room seemed to roll around them."
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Post by iamspartacus on Feb 28, 2006 4:18:27 GMT -4
It came out in the UK press that what offended Muslims more than the content of the cartoons was the depiction of Muhammad himself. This is an absolute no-no in Islam.
The content was secondary. The irony of Islamic protesters threatening death and bombs to the infidel because cartoons depicted Muhammad as a terrorist was not lost on the Muslims that I saw interviewed.
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Post by iamspartacus on Feb 6, 2006 4:01:30 GMT -4
"The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth." Jean de la Bruyère
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Post by iamspartacus on Jan 28, 2006 5:54:13 GMT -4
I voted Moon Man but if the question was, "Who's more interesting" I would vote for Stargazer. He shows the classic profile of a HB, eg:
1. I used to believe in the Moon landings 2. Years of research have prove to me that they were faked 3. Nothing you say will make me believe otherwise 4. Refusal to comment on the counter evidence but continues post ever more bizarre claims and links to already debunked HB sites 5. Ends up getting personal and abusive.
The psychology is fascinating.
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Post by iamspartacus on Jan 21, 2006 5:50:12 GMT -4
I think marcusdarcus has been on HB course 101. You'd think they'd teach them to vary their opening gambit!
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Post by iamspartacus on Dec 30, 2005 13:53:12 GMT -4
Maybe somebody should get the Mythbusters to test stuff related to the Apollo Moon Landings (Fluttering flag, dust etc). That would be awesome. Yeah, Mythbusters rule but... Co-presenter Adam Savage also works in the cinema special-effects industry. He's worked on space films including, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace and Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Galaxy Quest, Terminator 3, A.I. and the Matrix sequels. The HBs wouldn't buy it because they think Apollo was shot on a sound stage by people like Adam Savage.
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