Where debating everything under the sun is only the beginning

Quote from: ersi on 2021-03-30, 11:52:49

It was the show when they did weed on camera.

And to provide silly talking-points to flat-earthers, cynical greenies, an' a certain Scot whose name we won't mention! But, ersi, riddle me this: Was the "discovery" of America less a feat and fortuitous boon because Isabella finance it?

(You thought Trump was the naif who got the job -candidate, then presidency- by bluster and buffoonery?

Thanks for recommending Aristotle on politics to me!

Elon Musk is not discovering anything. The entire latter half of last century was the space age. Space has already been discovered and all the relevant technology has been invented.

I don't like anything written by Aristotle, but I like that book very much, so I'm sure it is not by Aristotle.

Do you have any idea of the cost savings that single advance will net?

And you're too young to be such a cynic, my friend...

Quote from: ersi on 2021-03-31, 23:02:21

I don't like anything written by Aristotle, but I like that book very much, so I'm sure it is not by Aristotle.

You used to sing a different tune! (Have you accepted the Frege/Pierce modern logic of quantification at last? Whence came syllogism?

Did you ever read C. Northcote Parkinson's book on political science via history? I know I recommended it to you... (Since the book was never translated -form plain English to academic gobbledygook- it might be hard to find: Let me know, huh?

Somehow the awesome Tesla engineers have not even come up with the idea that the electric car batteries could be removable: Arrive at the refill station, give away your empty batteries, put new charged batteries in the car and continue. It would be somewhat faster, I suppose. If not, then electric cars can only survive by forcing them by regulation.

Quote from: ersi on 2021-04-01, 10:26:16

Somehow the awesome Tesla engineers have not even come up with the idea that the electric car batteries could be removable: Arrive at the refill station, give away your empty batteries, put new charged batteries in the car and continue. It would be somewhat faster, I suppose. If not, then electric cars can only survive by forcing them by regulation.

I imagine it's very much a matter of cost of some sort. The concept is beyond obvious after all.

Neither sleek nor cheap, but environmentally conscious, it never achieved commercial success.

But there's exciting news: Russia and China are going to jointly build a lunar scientific research station! On the moon's surface, or perhaps in orbit... No time-line given.
Somewhat related: NASA tasks SpaceX to take Americans back to the moon.

The suggestion that humans will soon set up bustling, long-lasting colonies on Mars is something many of us take for granted. What this lofty vision fails to appreciate, however, are the monumental—if not intractable—challenges awaiting colonists who want to permanently live on Mars. Unless we radically adapt our brains and bodies to the harsh Martian environment, the Red Planet will forever remain off limits to humans.

Mars is the closest thing we have to Earth in the entire solar system, and that’s not saying much.



The Red Planet is a cold, dead place, with an atmosphere about 100 times thinner than Earth’s. The paltry amount of air that does exist on Mars is primarily composed of noxious carbon dioxide, which does little to protect the surface from the Sun’s harmful rays. Air pressure on Mars is very low; at 600 Pascals, it’s only about 0.6 percent that of Earth. You might as well be exposed to the vacuum of space, resulting in a severe form of the bends—including ruptured lungs, dangerously swollen skin and body tissue, and ultimately death. The thin atmosphere also means that heat cannot be retained at the surface. The average temperature on Mars is -81 degrees Fahrenheit (-63 degrees Celsius), with temperatures dropping as low as -195 degrees F (-126 degrees C). By contrast, the coldest temperature ever recorded on Earth was at Vostok Station in Antarctica, at -128 degrees F (-89 degrees C) on June 23, 1982. Once temperatures get below the -40 degrees F/C mark, people who aren’t properly dressed for the occasion can expect hypothermia to set in within about five to seven minutes.

And July is the month for the moneybags. While the 71 year old Virgin launched his latest scheme for multibillionaires to make money from multimillionaires, Amazon is about to deliver their chief operating package into orbit.