Doom Shepherd

Breeder reactors would eliminate the vast majority of that waste. It's almost funny that the relative cheapness of Uranium kept them from being comercially viable, in the US. and a combination of that and politics caused the few that the US ever built to be shut down. If we'd been reprocessing that waste, we'd have a lot less of it left to worry about today. France produces nearly eighty percent of its energy with nuclear power. Guess why it doesn't have as serious a nuclear waste problem as the United States? Integral fast reactor. France has had one for 20-odd years.

I don't think that's quite so much about people being evil as it is about people being easily cowed by authority. About people wanting to give up responsibility for their actions to others. That said, I would LOVE to have that brain scan test done. Might explains a few things.

I'd expect a kind of Bolivian Army Ending.

I wanted to see how long it would take to conquer / expand over the entire galaxy. Most people just beeline for the center asap, from what I've heard. But I have some pretty odd (and sometimes tedious) ideas of what constitutes "fun."

I liked the concept, but because of the DRM, and because I am actually generally against pirating things that are available elsewhere, I never bought or pirated the game. I've heard there's a DRM-Free version on Steam, now, but now I can't be bothered,

I've pirated things (mostly RPG sourcebooks) that simply aren't available any other way. For instance, the old FASA Star Trek game modules went out of print decades ago, and cannot be found in stores for reasonable prices. Also, remember Spore? Spore had really intrusive DRM anti-piracy software, "intended" to keep the purchaser of the game from re-installing it more than a couple of times (buy a new computer? Have a HD crash? Screw you, the game company said). That would actually DAMAGE your computer if you tried to remove it. (Even if you got rid of the game entirely, it stayed in your registry like a virus) So many people were so pissed about the DRM that Spore became the most-pirated game in history.

That same rebuttal is better used against the evolution argument, since it was known that the world was not flat long before secular interests proclaimed it to be flat. Hrm. Not exactly. The Greeks realized that the earth was spherical around 600 BC. SOME Later Christian authors disagreed, mainly based on a distrust of anything "pagan" rather than any Biblically-based arguments. But for the most part, disagreement rather centered on whether or not the "antipodes" could be inhabited. For the most part, however, belief that the people of the Middle Ages believed that the Earth was flat actually originated fairly recently. It is now widely understood among historians that no serious educated person* has believed the world was flat since around 800 AD. The Myth of the Flat Earth can be blamed largely on Washinton Irving, who popularized it in his book about Columbus. *In Europe. The Chinese didn't actually get it until after the 1500's... and then pretended they ORIGINATED the idea.

According to the fact that I can SEE the crowbar being slid sideways into the door handles, and see that the effort being put into breaking the door far exceeds the effort of "trying" unlocked doors, that commenter is lying. Also, "small group?" No, if you're remotely clever you can pause the video and identify numerous people by their outfits and accessories as they enter and leave the building. Around 30 people is not a "small" group. It's a platoon.

Man, we got wayyyy off topic. My fault.

Then you don't know the definition of "huge." "Huge" is the amount of money we already spend trying to solve those problems. The apt simile describing the effect of redirecting space funds towards these problems would be "spitting in the ocean." Talk about assisting developing countries, where would those hurricane warning systems, and communications relays to help coordinate disaster response after earthquakes and tsunamis, be without advanced satellite tracking and sensor systems? How about this... algorithms developed for the Hubble Space Telescope improved image processing in mammography. Ask your female friends if more efficient and accurate breast exams matter to them. How about the fact that, in order to feed astronauts, we invented preservation processes that were then applied to keep food from spoiling, allowing it to be delivered fresh to millions of people who couldn't have had it otherwise? People like food, if I recall correctly. Heck, investing a little bit more in space could let us totally eliminate the threat of global warming. Make the switchover to 24-hour solar-generated power, you stop burning fossil fuels for electricity and transportation, there goes all that excess CO2. How's THAT for "sustainable?" (I believe the phrase is "boo-yah.") Cheap clean energy? Naah, THAT would never revolutionize the world economy. Oh, and how about massively abundant raw materials? Mine a 1-km asteroid, collect $3 trillion in metals. Repeat, oh, 1000 times, before we even exhaust the supply of the closest asteroids.

Just as a matter of semantics quibbling, just because I have a right "to" something, doesn't necessarily mean that you have to provide it to me. The fact that I have a right to property, doesn't mean you have to give me free property. It just means you can't deny me my property if I get some. The fact that I have a right to free speech doesn't mean that CNN has to give me free airtime.

Occutrash: bYsuLMyAxQ0

Modern ABM systems, Single-Stage-To-Orbit rocket technology, the "Clementine" Moon probe, adaptive optics for telescopes, interferometry technology, piezoelectrics, diamond crystal coating, high-temperature carbon fiber ceramics, nanosatellites, and.. oh yeah, the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. No technological nation has ever wasted money investing in space. Depends how you define "wasted". I can think of much more worthy causes for a few billion than developing diamond crystal coating. And you're going to ignore everything else I listed, cause... why, exactly?

That's soccer for ya. Can turn even First World "weah sho shivilished" people into poop-throwing howler monkeys.

Modern ABM systems, Single-Stage-To-Orbit rocket technology, the "Clementine" Moon probe, adaptive optics for telescopes, interferometry technology, piezoelectrics, diamond crystal coating, high-temperature carbon fiber ceramics, nanosatellites, and.. oh yeah, the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore. No technological nation has ever wasted money investing in space.

It's both cost-effective and safe. Or could be with a modicum of effort. What it isn't is "easy" and "immediately profitable." Or "funded." Oh, and of course it already exists in limited form. How do you think we power nearly all our satellites and the space station? In actuality, the military is already working on this, so they won;t have to depend on shipping oil through places like Pakistan to power bases in the field. But Japan is working much harder at the moment. http://pubrecord.org/politics/9116/race-space-solar-energy/

Then you have a leg up on most of your peers.

It's pretty much the best current viable option (Since fusion has been "50 years away" for about 60 years now). However, I take every opportunity to point out that anything run on solar power will be available (with proper maintenance and the occasional efficiency upgrade) for the next 5 billion years. And there's a whole fuckton of it out there.

You don't realize what an idiot you were in high school until you get to college. Likewise, you don't realize what an idiot you were in college until you get out in the real world, with a job and taxes and bills to pay. And it takes until sometime in your 30's to realize (if you're lucky) that not only were you an idiot, but you still are, and so is everybody else. If you never realize that you're an idiot, though, a wide number of career options are available in the fields of politics, leadership, management, administration, and the clergy.

Congratulations, Australia, on your victory over the evil forces of... um... ...Australia!

I'm a Librarian / Technician / Facilities Manager at a branch campus of a small college. According to the people I help, "Know EVERYTHING" is in my job description.

It's a shame they seem to have felt the need not to have a female aspect of God. I miss Sophia.

I see what you're trying to say, and maybe I was arguing over a point Anonymous is not actually trying to make. Everyone should be able to express their opinions and beliefs. NOT every opinion and belief is equal, however, and none of them should be immune to criticism. A lot of people are of the mistaken belief that they all should, and that facts and opinions are interchangeable. Just take, for example, people who argue about Nibiru. When you point out that such a planet is physically impossible, and why, some idiots say "that's just your opinion, man." NO it's NOT! The gravitational constant of the universe is not subject to a debate! F=M*A, no matter what Deity you believe in! And a lot of idiots take arguing with their stupid opinion as an attempt to "oppress" or "silence" them. Well it is, sort of. I want them to stop talking before they infect others with their idiocy. Stupid beliefs are just as contagious and virulent as intelligent ones. Sometimes moreso. Doom "Some opinions are antibody resistant. My shotgun is the cure for ideological MRSA." Shepherd

What an extraordinarily stupid goal. Especially how genuinely stupid and harmful some beliefs are. Sorry kids, but if you believe praying is as good a cure for cancer than surgery and chemo, you're a goddamn moron and should be forced to STFU and take your kid to the hospital. Harlan Ellison said it best: "You are NOT entitled to your opinion, you are entitled to an INFORMED opinion." Also, it's a bald-faced lie. Anonymous's primary attacks are retributive, and aiming at silencing ideas and people they don't like. Decide you don't want to be involved in any business dealings with Wikipisses or Julian Ass sandwich, and look how fast Anonymous jumps on your ass. tl;dr: A little bit right, but also full of shit.

First off... Any president who has both voted against supporting commercial spaceflight AND promised to shut down NASA - and actually makes any progress towards actually achieving this goal, needs only one thing from me. Something small, very hard, and travelling at roughly 2800 feet per second. Sorry guys, I can't compromise on this. Also, Isolationism started to die with the U-boat, and the intercontinental ballistic missile killed it forever. Only the heir to the throne to the kingdom of fools would embrace it in the 21st century. Furthermore, Ron Paul can't change SQUAT. Even if I wanted him to. Pres. doesn't make the laws. Congress does that. And you are NEVER going to see a Congress full of Ron Pauls to repeal the crap you don't like. This is a goddamn Republic. A Dictator, yeah, he could do that. But that was kind of the thing you're supposed to be trying to AVOID, here. Lastly, the remaining thing that turns me off about Ron Paul: his fandom. Seriously. Too many posts about Ron Paul. Can't escape them. It's like visiting a land populated entirely by 14-year-old "Twilight" fans... except that no one on "Team Ron" has yet said to me that he's "Sooooooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!!!!!!!!" YET. Me, I'm kinda glad that most of Paul's most ardent supporters are several years too young to vote.