Beawulf

Interesting stuff. Incidentally the speed required to start a scramjet engine is about mach 5, so a railgun style launching system is probably the most suitable for this task. However the scramjet has limited use as it requires atmosphere to function. The highest speed a scramjet has reached is just shy of mach 10, they believe it can reach mach 15. Still not enough to maintain a circular orbit (7.9km/s or mach 23.8) but could still be used to get the craft to a considerable height. Since it uses the atmosphere to obtain the oxygen, the weight of fuel carried is considerably lower, making it feasible to use in conjunction with another engine. speaking of fuel and SpaceshipOne (winner of the ansari x prize), did you know it runs on rubber and nitrous oxide? I found this quite interesting considering those two components are inert. I'd love to see some technical details on the engines, but I imagine that is a closely gaurded secret (being a business venture) Anyone got more information on that? edit: was just reading more about the scramjet to see what the maximum altitude it can function at is... (still looking) and read that the projected maximum speed is actually up to mach 25 which would be sufficient to get the job done. I also read that the engine functions better higher in the atmosphere than where it is denser. another edit: apparently Virgin Galactic is calling SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Enterprise and the next one the VSS Voyager WOOHOO! hehe :D

I'd say the radio is to provide sound for the microphones on the phones to pick up, and transmit. I assume a phone that isnt sending any noise isnt transmitting nearly as much.

hehe, classic. They should register www.buoi.com instead

ummm, that's Charles......not George.

Ahhh, just read a book about that. By Arthur C Clarke "Songs of a distant Earth". I voted "when the plotting conspiracy...." Although in reality I believe nuclear annihalation would only occur as the result of a series of mistakes and missinterpretations....which could easily happen. If you consider that meteors exploding in the earth's atmosphere can register as atomic explosions. link

It wouldnt be worthwhile mining anything to take back to earth except the rarest elements. They could construct a shipyard on the moon, with some gravity and proximity to mining operations they might be able to avoid the problems of construction in zero gravity. There definately wouldnt be any point in constructing something that is to be transported to earth's surface if it could be made here. But for objects that remain in space it would save alot of money in the long run. It takes 5% as much energy to put an object into low earth orbit from the moon's surface, than it takes to launch from Earth. That is ALOT less fuel.

I like the montage, it doesnt give too much away in my opinion.

If she can pull of the acting required it could be good. I'm sure they will toss her out if she's no good. Good luck to her

I voted yes. What 06casswp has described sounds good. I'd be in favour of a democratic welfare state like some european countries, where everyone gets free health care and free tertiary education.

I was shocked to hear on IRC recently that America doesnt provide its citizens with free health care, not even in emergencies. A member's father was in a serious car accident and required life saving surgery, he didnt have insurance so the hospital sued him for $30,000!!! So the options for the poor are to either not get treatment and die, or be in debt for a long time to come. Definately should raise the taxes in the US if it means healthcare for everyone. Fortunately we have free health care here in Australia, noone is turned away....or sued! Students also get an allowance from the government to study at university, currently I get $400 a fortnight which isnt a lot, but certainly more than enough to live on. In addition all my course costs are loaned to me interest free from the government, I wont have to start paying them back until I earn over about 35K per year. Having this sort of system doesnt limit access to tertiary education to only the rich, allowing people to develop beyond the limit of a class in society. A land of opportunity ;) I paid about 23% tax the year before last, there is also a 10% gst on everything we buy except food. I dont know about the tax on petrol or cigarettes, but fuel costs about $1.20 per litre today (which is the highest it has been in QLD, we get fuel subsidy so it is lower than other states usually). I am not paying tax at the moment as my income from the government is not taxable.

That's true, but it takes alot more energy to take something out of the earth's gravitational pull than it does from the moon. Which is why I think it is better in the long run to obtain most of the materials needed from the moon.

obviously I drink the most beer I even brew my own hehe ;)

I'd be interested in a service that lets me pay for downloading high quality videos of current shows at high speeds. If this service does exist for non ipod users, please give a link :D

No not really. It's boring. The first season I watched once, and have absolutely NO desire to watch it again. Too much Soap Opera nonsense (They should rename it "Days of Our Cylons" or "As the Galactica Turns"). The second season has improved with more emphasis on exploration, but it's still not up to the level of far superior shows like the X-Files Alien Mythology, Deep Space Nine's Bajor/Cardassian/Dominion Arc, or Babylon 5's Shadow War/Birth of the Alliance videonovel. (shrug) If you see the New Galactica DVDs for $15 used, go ahead and buy them. It's worth watching once, but otherwise largely forgettable. I disagree, I think battlestar galactica easily rivals any sci fi arc I've seen to date. I find the story is compelling and complex, with each episode leaving me wanting more. The first season, like any show, built up the characters and giving them the depth and background needed. This allows the second season to focus more on other areas of the story. It is definately a show that you have to watch from the start. There is alot going on to get in part way through. It is essential to know the background of the characters to understand their motivations. The style of the show is quite different to any other sci fi I have watched, both in story writing and the action. Utopian society is a distant dream for these people, in the face of an overwealming threat they struggle to work together, fighting elements from within seeded by the 'human' cylons or the agendas of weak minds. Things rarely go right, and are likely to change at the drop of a hat. The show is by no means predictable and will leave you wanting more. In my opinion, this is possibly the best sci fi series ever.

definately sounds good, but I was hoping it was going to involve little robots that go about repairing things ;)

feel free to attack ideas, but not people.

that's one classy t-shirt you go there s0v hehe. I got a USB flash memory drive, been desperately needing one for a while now. Only 256Mb but more than adequate. Also got another years subscription to a space magazine, a couple of metal torches for the yard, a springform cake tin and a bad ass kitchen knife.

"spews blasphemy and haughty words.." <--- I know a few people like that :) lol

I cant say I'm worried. Dates are very arbitrary.

I'm finding very little to make me proud of being an Australian these days... the 'war on terror', not signing Kyoto protocol, stolen generations etc. The recent events down at Cronulla have completely disgusted me. I cant help but blame the politicians and the constant stream of propaganda that is profiling muslims as an evil subhuman group not worthy of basic human rights. I see Australia as a nation based on immigration, we should be celebrating our diversity. Australian culture is nothing without the various traditional cultures of our citizens. There is no denying that Aboriginals were misstreated and even massacared in the past, the fact that someone else did it does not exempt me from responsiblity now. Saying sorry is the least we could do. In my opinion Australia has the responsibility to do whatever it takes, regardless of the cost to help Aboriginals.

HIPPIE BATHDAY!!!!!!!!!

I voted there is intelligent aliens and we will meet them someday if there is going to be life on other planets, given enough time intelligent species will develop. we may meet them as well assuming the human race survives long enough.

a nuke? talk about overkill

the borg would be best off putting a drone in a largely populated area with access to transport across the world...like an airport. But obviously security at airports would pose a problem, not to mention the fact that immediately after someone is assimilated they are pretty much useless to anyone... all the footage of assimilations I saw were rather slow processes. a single borg at an airport would probably be only able to infect a few people who would lay about for a bit, and if security is paying attention they could easily be rounded up before they could cause more trouble. It would be better if the nanoprobes could remain dormant for a period so the infected people would board their planes and spread out across the world...but then how likely is it that people would not notice a borg had injected them with something....even if they have never heard of the borg. so, it would probably be in the borgs interest to put the drone in a small town in the middle of europe, that way the drone could assimilate a decent amount of people with a low chance of interference, once they had been integrated into a collective they could spread out in different directions into neighbouring countries. If the borg followed my last suggestion it would probably take 2 weeks for the majority of the earth's population...and also has the highest chance of success. edit: no, maybe a month