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Well, if a group of you turn up at a rally, and find that you are unable to get your message across, what are you going to do? Shrug your shoulders and quietly walk away?
No, you're going to find a way to get noticed. And sadly that usually means being noisy and disruptive. Which instantly gets up the noses of anyone with an opposing point of view.
A vicious circle ensues.
that's why they're called Illusionists - because it's a con, which used to be done with mirrors and now with more advanced technology.
But speaking of Blaine (the g*t-wizard as he is known here) - why has he turned his attention to endurance feats? Does he have some stupid idea that he can attain the level of bodily control that some Indian holy men have? Look at that 44 days in a box stunt. All the fuss and media over it, then - silence. My personal theory is that trying to do that sort of thing in public, for publicity, will always cause bodily harm. Doing it privately, for spiritual enlightenment, with faith, might not.
*sigh*
These fancy science things just do not capture the public imagination the way landers do. And without the public being interested, funding will just get worse.
Sorry, no, although it looks very good. (and daylight astronomy might be the way forward here, given all the light pollution around)
*But PRO-BUSH placard holders were allowed to stay IN the area Mr. Bursey was told to leave.
I guess President Bush doesn't believe in free speech/expression for all. Just those who kiss his a$$. Big surprise...NOT.
it'll be interesting to see how they corral 50k+ protestors when W. goes to 'jolly' olde england in 2 weeks... :;):
Meh.
We'll just set the hounds on him. After all, now hunting with dogs is about to be totally banned, they might as well have one last chase before they are all put down.
[contentious, provokative, deliberately over the top]
Maybe W just doesn't like being confronted with hecklers because he's not quite as quick with off the cuff retorts as some others are? So his minders take steps to protect him from such embarrassing situations?
"The nuclear-fueled probes should last to 2020."
*That's what one of the above-quoted articles says. Okay, V1 was launched in 1977. It's nuclear power will last until 2020, which means 43 years of functionality.
What kind of nuclear material is it powered with?
The lastest press release says
the Voyagers were destined to explore regions of space where solar panels would not be feasible, so each was equipped with three radioisotope thermoelectric generators to produce electrical power for the spacecraft systems and instruments. Still operating in remote, cold and dark conditions 26 years later, the Voyagers owe their longevity to these Department of Energy-provided generators, which produce electricity from the heat generated by the natural decay of plutonium dioxide.
The current solar activity is creating much bigger Aurora than usual, with the sheets of colour visible a lot further south than normal.
Can you see them from where you are?
We've had cloud the last few nights, but tonight I'm hopeful.
I can thoroughy recommend subscribing to the Stella Awards newsletters - it will keep your sceptical levels nice and high!
(You might want to join the This Is True Newsletters too....)
Well. as you can tell I don't stop by much any more, (mainly because the discussion is way over my head) but I had set up for email alerts for PM's, and I dropped in that same day to see what was happening.
The date and time of the PM was Oct. 21 2003, 19:06.
It's still in my inbox if an admin wants to go look.
Got this spam PM in my box here
MR. SALAME ABU.
EMAIL: salame20032001@yahoo.co.uk
DAKAR SENEGAL
ATTN: THE DIRECTOR/CEO STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL
I know you will be surprised to read from me, but please consider this
letter as request from a family in dare need for your
assistance. Firstly, I must introduce myself, I am Mr.AMADU ABU. from
Zimbabwe, the only son of Mr. SALAM ABU. I am
presently residing in DAKAR-SENEGAL as refugee. On behalf of my mother
who is a widow Mrs. RAHALETU ABU, I decided to solicit
for your assistance to transfer the sum of US8.5$(Eight .Five Million
Dollars) in your personal or company account.
Before my fathers death he was among the few black Zimbabwean rich
farmers and he was poisoned by the agents of the
ruling government of president Robert Mugabe for his alleged support
and sympathy for the Zimbabwe opposition party
controlled by the white minority. Before his death, he deposited this
money to a Security and Finance Company in DAKAR -
SENEGAL. This money was deposited in a box as gemstones to avoid much
demurrage from the Security Company. This
money was earmarked for purchase of new machinery and chemicals for the
farms and to establish new farms in Lesotho and
Swaziland. In his will he specifically drew my attention to this sum of
US$8.5million that he deposited in a safe box of a private
Security and Finance Company here in DAKAR-SENEGAL, In fact my father
said in his will and quote: My beloved son, I wish to
draw your attention to this money which I deposited in your name in a
box with a Security and Finance Company in DAKAR-
SENEGAL. In case of my absence on earth caused by death, you should
solicit for a reliable foreign partner to assist you to
transfer this money out of SENEGAL for investment purposes.
From the above, you will understand that the lives and future of my
family depends on this money, as such I will be very grateful
if you can assist us. We are now living in SENEGAL-DAKAR as asylum
seekers and financial laws of SENEGAL does not allow
asylum seekers certain right to such huge amount of money. In view of
this, I cannot invest this money in DAKAR-SENEGAL,
hence I am asking you to assist me to transfer this money out of
DAKAR-SENEGAL for investment purposes. For your efforts, I
am prepared to offer you 20% of the total fund, while 5% will be set
aside for local and International expenses and 75% will be
kept by my family and me. Final modalities on how the transfer will be
made will be conveyed to you once we establish trust and
confidence between ourselves. Looking forward to your reply and please
treat as very urgent.Best regards,
SALAME ABU.
Sheesh! It's a con, not that you lot need to be told that, and under no circumstances should you respond to it.
Dear Admin - get rid of this member.....
As there is so little known about Pluto, it hardly merits a forum.
Maybe after a mission actually gets there? If any of us are still alive then!
???
Nah, it's down to highly unlikely now
Nasa's risk list has the first big nasty as 2080 now.
I have nothing against technological advancement that will benefit the majority.
It's the constant 'innovation' of stuff designed to be obsolete in two days time in order to keep the 'consumer society' going that I disaprove of.
X-boxes, Gameboys, what do they add to our society? a bunch of kids with twitchy thumbs getting fat on junk food in their bedrooms. Not the best basis for 'the Right Stuff'
I can't even get the page to open!
Just don't confuse religion as the following of a particular way of expressing a belief, with Faith - the inner certainty of something other / higher than yourself.
Which Asimov is your favorite? I love the Foundation Series -- at least the ones Asimov wrote himself...
the foundation series was interesting, but I actually preferred the Robot series...
It's almost as hard to imagine a geological process producing tree-like objects 100 metres tall as it is to imagine 100 metre trees on Mars!
I'm thinking of the products of erosion, like 'the Old Man of Hoy' stack....
There's a lot of wind erosion on Mars, with those dust storms, I'll bet.
We have no idea of Mars' geological past.
And won't until we go and look at the layers.
it's going to take a very powerful reason to get anyone to be inspired to develop the technology to explore the Venusian surface properly.
Unless it's got something we really, really need, I can't see it happening at all.
Sad but true.
Admittedly the current survey is the one with the best technology and resolution, but...
I can't believe that we've missed 300 foot high trees in the past.
Yes Mars has seasons, the icecaps change, we know that, we can see it from Earth. But it also has vicious planetary duststorms which would do serious damage to vegetation on the surface.
I remain to be convinced. I think these anomolies are geological in nature at present.
Given all the hype about the possibility of fossilised life in meteorites, yes, there does seem to be a paranoia about contamination. Or is this just a redirection of the planetary guilty conscience about what we have done here? Anyway...
First of all (if he hasn't already done it) get that no-nuclear-in space treaty trashed, then we can make good use of the decommissioned warheads (and ensure they can't get reused as toys that go bang again too)
Difficult question to answer - I don't read much SciFi these days , Watch SciFi yes, read no.
Hmm, the names from the past, Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury...although I think Isaac's style might seem a little dated now.
I have fond memories of Stranger from a Strange Land (appropriately for this site) and Number of the Beast, so I guess I'll go with Robert Heinlein.
Well. if the first colonists there are anything like the colonists of 'new lands' here, we'll be seeing lots of familiar place names cropping up, maybe with New or Martian in front of them, maybe not.
Paris, France
Paris, Texas
Paris, Hellas Planitia.............?
There's lots of named features on Mars already. Perhaps name your village after the nearest one? Ah, but that would give us places called Kingston, Wilmington, Yorktown, Lexington, La Paz, Johannesburg and Houston again. Just going round in circles now!
The Planetary Society's Mars Microphone was on board the Mars Polar Lander.
Andre Bormanis' article on what probably went wrong is in the Planetary Report July/August 2000.
I expect there is something about it on this site too.
Yet, just to be a nuisance, it's when things are less than perfect that people can get motivated to DO something about it.
When life is wonderful and easy folks just start to relax and go with it. Innovation and development start to slide.
But have a target, and an obstacle in between you and it, and that's when things really start to happen.