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Well, Mundaka...at least you did society a huge favor by leading the cops to this guy...I hope he has enough outstanding charges to keep him in jail for a *long* time...hehe.  It's scenes like this that make me think that we should require an IQ test for anyone wishing to obtain a driver's license...I know it's mean not to let stupid people drive, but I really think we need to take them off the road before they kill the rest of us...

You're lucky to have a big car, etc...not to mention your 'scope coming out okay.  Too bad you couldn't see the blue spot on Jupiter...lol.

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Edit:  The proper spelling of the word you used is "schadenfreude"...it's one of my "pet" words I like to use every now and then...hehe.  I certainly feel that way for that guy that hit you and got his butt arrested...LOL...

I would say he has quite a bit at the moment...if he hops off the Bush train and sides with the rest of Europe, that man is going to have to make some changes in his foreign policy initiatives pretty quick.

Just because the United Sates is the world's superpower does not mean we can play empire-builder and do as we like in Iraq and elsewhere...for this to work (defeating the terrorists, or at least holding them at bay), the U.S. desperately needs to work with other nations in a cooperative manner, and soon.  I have a strong feeling that both the public and the governments of many European nations are getting rather tired of Bush's "my way or the highway" approach. 

Maybe the E.U. does need to come out and say that they will follow the U.S....just not Bush's policies.  If Kerry plays his cards right, he has the potential to make this a wedge issue against his opponent (along with the economy, jobs, etc)...but only if he's very careful about what he's doing.

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Assuming a nuclear rocket was assembled in space (as I can't imagine nuclear rockets blasting off of Earth a la Orion anytime soon), these type of rockets would essentially be single-stage rockets, as there would be no need for "disposable" stages like the Saturn V, etc.

For this reason, nuclear rockets would be far more economical to operate than traditional chemical rockets, and it would behoove NASA and other space agencies to develop nuclear propulson technology as quickly as possible.

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Yes, I agree! 

Enough of this doom-and-gloom stuff...life's way too short to get all twisted up in a knot about this kind of thing... ???

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I've heard of this threat before...this very thing has been gone over in a TV program called "Supervolcano", which I've have yet to see, but some of my friends have.  One of the people that I know that saw the show thinks there may have been an "Atlantis"-type civilization prior to the last super volcanic eruption, but who knows what could have existed that long in the past. 

The problem is, if this threat was ever percieved by the public as a real one; as something that could potentially take place in a few years, the global economy would be utterly devastated.  All the world's nations would pull their money and investments out of the U.S., trade would dwindle, and America would literally go bankrupt as millions of people quit their jobs and default on their home mortgages and debts, especially in areas near Yellowstone.  The U.S. government, with little or no money to spend, would be forced to implement martial law and and an artificial economy, which would probably cause further chaos in a land that has never experienced being in a true police state with the government having total control over the population and its daily activities.

For this reason, it would behoove the feds to keep mum about this "threat" whether it's real or not, for if it doesn't happen, goody, things proceed as before.  If it does happen with little or no public warning, hopefully the government would still have enough resources at its disposal to save as many people as possible.  (Guess this means we'd have to occupy South America, as the worst of the effects would be in the Northern Hemisphere...but I'm not too sure about how well Brazil, Argentina and Chile would accept millions of American refugees coming into their nations, even under the threat of devastating warfare...

Kinda scary to even think about....I'm going to bet my chips that this turns out to be a misunderstanding of the geological processes taking place under Yellowstone... ???

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After reading and posting in Cindy's thread about the no-winner robot race, I had an idea to start a new thread about an idea I've wondered about from time to time as a practical solution to getting people from point "A" to point "B" as quickly and as safely as possible.

In America, over 40,000 people die each year in car wrecks, with even larger numbers injured, and the lifetime risk of dying from an auto accident is something like 250 to 1...which is alarmingly high, in my opinion     Also, traveling around the United States, and Europe as well, has become an endurance fest, due to overcrowded highways, bad drivers, road construction that never seems to end, etc, etc.  I honestly do not see how America and other auto-dependent nations can depend on 20th century highway networks for the next 100 years, or for the next 20 for that matter.  There have been plenty of times that I've encountered terrible traffic jams far from any major city, due to extreme heavy traffic volume on the interstates.

My solution to this pressing problem is to construct a massive "auto-highway" network, in which cars would essentially drive themselves according to a pre-programmed itinerary.  With the proper computer controls and implementation, there's no reason why cars couldn't travel at much higher speeds than currently, at much higher traffic volumes.  People could just enter their destination, and let the computer drive for them, which would certainly take a lot of stress out of driving...lol, as well as greatly increasing the load capacity of the highway network.

But the thing is, any kind of auto-highway system would have to be nearly 100% perfect, or it'll never fly with the public.  I don't find this to be very logical, as a handful of deaths would be preferable to thousands, but that's how human nature works... ???

What I'm wondering, exactly how practical would it be to actually put a system in place?  It'd certainly take a while, probably on the order of 20 years or so, but I do imagine it could be done, given enough political willpower, etc.  What do you guys think...could something like this ever be put in place in North America or Europe, or would public opinion scuttle such an idea before it could ever be implemented on a large scale?

It doesn't hurt to dream anyhow...lol...

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Yeah, tell me about it... ???   Maybe they'll have better luck next year...lol.

Guess the field of robotics still has a long ways to go, huh?...

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Sounds like fun     I'd recommend ordering a kit, at least the first time.  I'm almost tempted to try this myself 

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Looks like you're luckier than most..hehe...

Like Cindy mentioned in her post, cutting back on food intake and exercising more doesn't always do the trick...as the human body has a remarkable tendency to get better "gas mileage" in relation to the intake of food and expenditure of calories.  Last summer, when I realized that I was getting well into the "overweight" catagory, I joined a gym and embarked on an ambitious excercise program, while "watching" what I ate.  Guess what happened?  My weight went *up* by 5 pounds.  And the harder I excercised, the hungrier I was, which meant I ate more, etc.  It was quite frustrating, to say the least.

But one thing I focused on was trying to cut out the "extras"...like snacking in between meals, desserts, and not eating out as much.  In America at least, restaurants have a tendency to give you a heap of food, and this makes you eat more...especially if it's good     These days when I do go out to eat, I just eat enough to fill me up, and take home the rest.  I follow the same practice at home...eating smaller portions, etc.  I've also begun watching my carbs, trying not to eat too many pre-prepared foods, etc.  After several months of exercising and what I call "food control", I do think my efforts are finally paying off...slowly but surely...lol.  But it's something that requires considerable effort and disclipline, and believe me, it's not easy to resist heading down to McDonald's from time to time...hehe...

I do think taking weight off in a long-term, gradual fashion is a healthier way to be as well as encouraging the development of critical long-term lifestyle changes that are needed to maintain a lower body weight more or less permanently...in other words, it's better to lose 10 pounds and keep it off as opposed to losing 15 pounds and gaining it back upon reaching the "end" of a diet or regimen.  This is also why fad diets have such high failure rates in spite of their initial successes...as people rarely stick with these kinds of diets forever, and when they do go off of them, they tend to rebound to former ways of eating, plus a bit more. 

This is probably why the U.S. gov't is currently telling people that it's the little things that count, like the fact if you consume just 100 calories a day less than usual, you'll lose 10 pounds in a year, that sort of thing.  But I think it's going to take more than a few public-service commercials to enduce the lifestyle changes that are needed to get this nation out of its obesity epidemic... ???

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Another thing that I just remembered hearing about lately, concerning the weather, is that the United States has recorded the lowest number of tornados in the recent Dec-Feb period on record...I can't help wonder if this is the "calm before the storm" and that we're about to go through a huge outbreak of tornados, a la April 1974 (anyone remember that one??) 

I guess things like tornado outbreaks come and go in cycles, just like everything else...

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I wouldn't be surprised to see a flurry of lawsuits over this...I really can't think of anyone who'll stand for this kind of thing...

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It's a bit subtle, but I can see what you're talking about, Cindy.  Could this be the result of the pattern of the Big Bang or whatever?  It would make sense to me if this was verified to be the case, although I'd love to hear some expert opinions on this...hehe. 

It really is astounding to see something like this, though...the Hubble is one remarkable instrument, huh? 

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