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#1 Re: Not So Free Chat » Music - What type of Music are you all into? » 2003-09-16 13:04:22

Mainly classical music. Apocalyptica is one of my favorite modern groups. Apocalyptica Home Page

#2 Re: Not So Free Chat » Good books you've just read » 2003-09-06 14:42:58

I, Claudius

Lots of backstabbing and political intrigue surrounding the life of the emperor Claudius. Excellent read...

#3 Re: Not So Free Chat » What would YOU do as President of the U.S.? » 2003-08-29 10:21:17

I dissagree with the progressive tax. Taking from the rich to give to the poor doesn't sound fair to me, after all they did earn it (possibly through exploiting the working class, but hey, that's still earning it  tongue ). Instead I would propose a flat tax rate far below the current rates. At a level high enough to cover justice, police and defense (who's budget I would cut in half, which is far more than they really need anyway).

In its place, I would recommend three steps: higher sales taxes, maximum pay ratios and cutting government programs/departments. I know that I don't give exact numbers, but hey I'm not running for president now and I don't have advisors and interns to research it for me.

Sales tax: I would propose federal sales taxes to replace the income tax (to a much lesser extent) on all items except food/medicine, clothing and shelter. The more you spend, the more you pay in taxes (this I think is a much fairer version of a progressive tax). On the basic needs categories, I would only place taxes on luxury items (i.e. houses with over a certain square footage per person, designer clothing, and food like caviar that cost over a certain price per unit weight). Along with these sales taxes, I would reinstate the taxation of church property and no longer allow them to recieve free utilities (orphanages then, as now, would fall into a entirely different tax category; shelter in my plan). People should not be forced to pay for services that they do not use. I would allow tax reductions for people who donated to charity from their property taxes, or if those are not paid, federal income tax.

Maximum Pay Ratio: I would also propose a maximum pay ratio for all companies operating in the U.S. For example a limit of 100:1 on pay for the highest paid employee to the lowest (including bonuses earned and stock). Thus if your lowest paid employee made $8/hr ($16640/year) the CEO would make at a maximum of $800/hr ($1.664 million/year). The average American CEO now makes 500 times the lowest pay.

Cutting Programs/Departments: There are quite a few that fall into this category, but I'll only mention a couple. No more congressional pension (they voted themselves $50,000/year for life). I would unite the military into two branches: Army and Navy. The Air Force would fall under the Army/Navy depending on which task they support (much like modern carrier groups act). This would drastically reduce the redundant personell and equipment in the current 3 force system (the Marines are a department of the Navy). Space would be, as it is now, a joint command. At the same time I would cut wasteful congressional pork programs like the Ballistic Missile Defense program that do nothing to support defense. The government would no longer be allowed to purchase systems that are unproven, or sponsor those that are untested. NASA would be cut from near Earth space, and replaced with a "Port Authority" type control system. Their primary mission would be exploration and supporting American Aerospace research (emphasis on supporting, not doing). NASA Launch Facilities would become the domain of the new Space Authority, who would in turn lease them out for private/government use. This is but a short list of the programs I would alter.

In addition to this, I would make a mandatory bi-weekly meeting before congress in which the president (me in this case) would have to stand before congress and justify/debate my actions; much like the British Parliment. The President is not supposed to be the most powerful office in the country, that is exactly what the founding fathers faught to prevent. To simplify my stance, I support a vastly reduced government based on the Constitution (we haven't had a Republic based on it for about 150 years) where non-essential services would be paid for by targeted taxes (i.e. taxing automobiles and gas to pay for roads and infrastructure). Also I believe in minimal required taxes to cover the three essential duties of this nation's government: defense, police and justice. We have ignored the rules set by the Constitution for too long; it is time we abolish this ogliarchy and return to a Republic.

Judson McCarty for President in 2020!

(Makes me feel young  big_smile )

#4 Re: Not So Free Chat » Orbiter - Free Space Simulator » 2003-08-28 08:14:08

I found this free space simulator online and thought some of you might be interested. It is an open source program, so you can edit it to your needs (even create spacecraft for those of you who are 3D modeling buffs) as long as you know some programming. So anyway, take a look at it. I think you'll be suprised at the quality of this free program.

Orbiter: The Free Space Sim

gallery30.jpg

#5 Re: Not So Free Chat » what's the best telescope » 2003-08-28 08:04:03

I've got an Orion SkyQuest XT 8" Dobsonian that is great. Like its been said on this thread, the only pain is the dificulty in tracking, but its low cost (about $450 new) made it well worth it. It is a great telescope for beginners (you have to know how to find the constellations) and for poor intermediates (me  sad  ). If anyone is interested, I am trying to sell it; I want to upgrade to a Maksutov and can't afford to keep both. The only real downside of a dobsonian is its size, but it think the lower price and excellent optics make up for that.

My 8" Dobsonian for Sale

#6 Re: Not So Free Chat » SETI@HOME->NEWMARS - Discussion - newmars seti@home team » 2003-08-25 15:38:02

There'd be an awful lot of noise to filter out. But would they want to? It'd be easier to use a less noisy EM band.

#8 Re: Not So Free Chat » Freeing up the money... - Less money = Better defence? » 2003-08-24 08:58:01

Actually Seth, the military is to blame for our lack of large boosters. If they had had their way in the 1950s, we would only have rockets that are ICBM variants (actually for the most part that is exactly what happened). The reason that ESA and Russia hold 2/3 of the space launch industry is that their governments were able to recognize the need for large boosters. In fact, IMHO, the very reason we are stuck in a go nowhere space program is this military intervention to refuse anything that cannot be used as a weapons platform (the russians did the same thing, but lucky for them their military wanted rather large warheads). Our boosters, which the military has graced us with, are far below par on the global market and are part of the reason for the collapse of America's space program.

There are a pair of op-ed arcticles at SpaceDaily.com talking about this very subject. The second one also examines the actions of Gen. Medaris that helped pervent the military from from totally keeping us out of the space race.

Part 1

Part 2

#9 Re: Martian Politics and Economy » All of you have it wrong » 2003-08-23 19:37:37

Perhaps the problem isn't in which style we choose. Humans are the problem with government. No matter what style you choose, some one is going to overstep their bounds eventually. Democracy leads to (uneducated) rule of the herd, republicanism leads to ogliarchy, monarchy invites autocracy, anarchy leads to a lack of civilization, ad infinitum. Any of these theories may be a theoretical utopia, but they do not take into account the human factor.

Most people don't want to have to think about ruling, and those that do obsess with ruling more or profiting from it. Fix the way humans think and then you can begin to decide on a government. Otherwise your populus will be very small. If you can think of a way to fix humanity, I'd love to hear it. But until then, debating which government will bring utopia for every individual is futile. Unless of course we are talking about a government of one in total isolation.

#10 Re: Not So Free Chat » Apropos of Nothing » 2003-08-22 11:51:49

Quote (or at least as close as I can remember it) from a WGN broadcast I happened to catch while flipping through the channels.

"After analyzing these latest tapes from Al-Queda, government sources belive that they still hate America..."

I almost wet my pants after hearing this. Is Al-Queda supposed to love us now because we keep droping 1000 lb "hugs" on them, and putting them up in wonderful "bead and breakfasts" in Cuba?

Like is said before, United States of Adolescents (no offense to the intelligent adolescents out there, but I couldn't think of another word for immaturity that begins with an A at the moment. If you have a better one, please PM it to me.  tongue ).

I'd think I'd better get out my trusty Rod of Ignorance (read baseball bat) and get to work in Chicago...

#11 Re: Not So Free Chat » Flicks - ...other than sci-fi » 2003-08-22 11:41:39

Sorry, I meant "bread and circuses" as the mindless drivel produced to entertain the herd and keep their minds off how pathetic their lives really are. For examples turn on your TV (what time doesn't matter) and flip to almost any channel (this process will not work if you only get PBS stations  big_smile ) and watch whatever is on. This is what I mean by "bread and circuses", by no means did I mean to imply that real art is part of that characterization.

I know that Amadeus is not entirely accurate, but that is not the point. It stands as an excellent example of what film (and acting) is supposed to be. Not Tomb Raider, Elima-Date, and the other (pardon my French) crap that the United States of Adolescents has fallen in love with.

#12 Re: Not So Free Chat » Freeing up the money... - Less money = Better defence? » 2003-08-22 11:31:04

Did anyone catch the episode of NOW on PBS about 2 weeks ago featuring "Chuck" Spiney? For those of you who didn't, he is a retired Pentagon staffer from the Office of Program Analysis and Evaluation (they judge who should get how much money for projects and whether it is worth it). Anyway, he posited a very interesting point: to provide a better defence, we must cut the defence budget. His analyses over that past 30 or years have consitantly pointed to this fact, using Pentagon studies and findings to support this case. By eliminating useless "congressional pork" programs, enforcing GAO auditing standards for the Pentagon (they currently, and illegally, claim exeption from this process), and requiring new systems to actually be tested before purchase and proven before deployment, we can save more American lives while at the same time saving tax payers money and providing a better defence.

Just how much could we save while still improving defense? Earl Ravenal, a Distinguished Research Professor of International Affairs at Georgetown University, estimates that only a budget of $125 billion would be more than sufficient to meet our defense needs. This is a drastic difference from the bloated budget of nearly $400 billion for a Defense Department that, even with all of this money, has a hard time effectively protecting the U.S. and its interests.

My recommendation is that if we wish to pursue an actual space program, which the U.S. has not had since the 70s, we draw the funding from the ever fattening military-industrial-congressional complex. At the same time we can spend money on other much needed programs (i.e. Education, which goes hand in hand with space exploration) without drawing from some other programs nessecary funding. Imagine what a space progam backed with an extra, lets say for example, $20 billion annually.

No longer would we need to justify the "what about the problems hear on earth" nonsense espoused by the general public. The money would not be from an increase in taxes, cutting the budget of health, education, etc., or drop us further into debt. We have more than enough funding (~$250 billion per year) to put humans on the Moon, Mars, and wherever else we choose to go in less than a decade (production wise, never mind travel time). At the same time we can have a Defense Department that works if only we can learn to tame the military-industrial-congressional beast.

NOW Interview With Spiney

Spiney's own site

Center for Defense Information

"Kill Defense Pork" - Cato Institute

#13 Re: Not So Free Chat » SETI@HOME->NEWMARS - Discussion - newmars seti@home team » 2003-08-22 10:43:59

Seth:
50-60 work units per week?! Wow... It takes me about 100 hrs to complete a unit. It used to only take about 24 when i first joined, but I think that they upped the work unit size.

I am running SETI@Home constantly in the background (instead of just the screensaver) on a 500mhz machine with 190 Mb RAM, and it takes me about a week to do one. What are you running it on?

#14 Re: Not So Free Chat » Flicks - ...other than sci-fi » 2003-08-22 10:39:23

Has anyone seen the director's cut of Amadeus (released last fall I think)? There were a couple of scenes added to the movie that made a couple of points a little more interesting, but the original movie was a picture of perfection in its own right. If you have never seen it, unless you are one of those shallow morons of the heard who are unable to enjoy real art, I highly reccomend that you see this film. More so if you are a Mozart fanatic (the entire soundtrack is his music, unaltered) or just classical music fan in general. Of all of the movies I have ever seen, this is by far the best.

It's too bad that Hollywood doesn't make films like this anymore. But alas, we are relegated to the shallow bread and circuses that they provide us.

The decadance in modern film, IMHO, is a very good indicator of the decadance of modern society.

#15 Re: Not So Free Chat » SETI@HOME->NEWMARS - Discussion - newmars seti@home team » 2003-08-14 06:42:38

I guess that I am the only one in the New Mars Team.  Where did everyone go?

#16 Re: Not So Free Chat » Who are you fellas, anyways? - Introduce yourselves to the world  :) » 2003-07-19 20:49:39

Judson
20 years old
Daytona Beach, FL (School)/Cheyenne, WY (Home)

I live off summer jobs and my AFROTC scholarship. Thank you taxpayers!
big_smile

I am a fourth year Aerospace Engineering (Astronautics) student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I graduate/commission in Dec. 2004 (and I can't wait!).

If anyone here is in Developmental Engineering in the military (especially AF), I'd like to hear from you about what the job is like.

#17 Re: Not So Free Chat » SETI@HOME->NEWMARS - Discussion - newmars seti@home team » 2003-07-18 06:32:08

I have added my work-unit distinctiveness to your own.   tongue

#20 Re: Science, Technology, and Astronomy » Retire The Shuttle, Designer Says - End spaceflight until we have good ship » 2003-07-10 20:33:07

Thanks to the polititians getting their dirty little fingers in the pie from the get-go (i.e. using solid rocket boosters instead of the safer, slighty more costly, but more reusable liquid boosters), the Shuttle should have been replaced before it left the drawing board.  While there have been many great deeds performed by the shuttle, I feel the it has been the bane of space flight. It's astronomical (Space Shuttle is a partial reason for that slang terminology) costs have hindered the progress of spaceflight for decades by drawing precious money away from other vehicles.  Also by "putting all our eggs in one basket" any time we have a problem, Challenger and Columbia, manned spaceflight is held up for unreasonable amounts of time, ever drawing out our eventual move into the cosmos.

But you can't blame it on the politicians (I think it was done on purpose, but who knows), so lets blame it on the engineers!  "They were to ambitious."  "They should have used proven technology."  etc, etc, etc...

It reminds me of Vietnam (coincidental that it happened in nearly the same time frame), politicians trying to do the military's job.  We all know how that ended.  Now we are beginning to see the results of their mucking in the space program. 

If we are to replace the shuttle (Oh, please God do!), then we must keep Washington politics (read greed) out of NASA's hair.  :angry:

#21 Re: Not So Free Chat » When will we get to Mars? - So when's it going to happen? » 2003-07-10 20:18:24

I wanted to add this to the previous post about Mars expectations, but apparently you can only put a poll in a new topic of its own.  Anyway, I wanted to see (in numbers) what the consensus was here.

#22 Re: Life support systems » Discover Magazine - July 2003 article » 2003-07-10 20:12:23

In this months issue of Discover magazine, there is an article on manned voyages to nearby star systems.  One of the primary sections is on long term life support and its recent developments.  Apparently, NASA is preparring a module (lab?) to test out a self contained atmosphere recycler.  I know tests have been done here on Earth using plants to regenerate oxygen for the crew.  I'm surprised that this has not been tried before on a the ISS or STS, but i suppose such and experiment would have been far too costly.

Anyway, check out the article.  It is nice to see people at NASA thinking big about near tearm activities, and bringing their ideas into the public spot-light (well sort of a spot-light anyway).

#23 Re: Life on Mars » Volcanic activity on Mars - and its age » 2003-07-10 20:04:50

The new findings show that its either very active or everything's shut down.

:laugh: Really? How much money to find out that Mars does/does not have active volcanoes?  "Scientists have discovered that orange juice may or may not cause cancer."  Sorry, I just had to poke fun at the wording...

But seriously, if Mars is inactive, what about using the lava tubes as habitats for Mars colonies?  I know it has been propsed for the Moon.  Bassically, one would just need to apply a sealing layer to the lava tube walls (much like a tunnel) and then develop the interior of this semi-natural capsule.  I would imagine that using the tubes would also provide shielding from radiation for the colonists and provide better insulation against the harsh climate (think earth-berm housing to the extreme).  If recent predictions are true about there being water only a few meters below the surface in some places, perhaps we can find a tube with a nice lake.

#24 Re: Exploration to Settlement Creation » Naming Martian Settlements 2 - Continued from previous thread » 2003-07-10 19:53:33

How about we name them after our great and foresighted political leaders that have helped us advance towards the colonization of space.  Wait...What is that you say?  The politicians have set us back decades?  Never mind then, I withdraw my proposal.

:angry:

#25 Re: Not So Free Chat » Weird things with Google - wel... it's free chat right ? » 2003-07-10 19:47:28

LOL!!

I love the links.

Laughing too hard... must finish post...   big_smile

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