The SuperDraco may not be a "primary launch motor" but you wouldn't know it seeing a test firing. I didn't realize there was a 3D printing system out there that even came close being able to produce components that could take the kind of temperature/pressure you find in a rocket engine chamber. I'm sure there is some catch somewhere (heavier, longer individual production time, etc) but at least from what I can find it can't be much of a catch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Having a dedicated radio as well is of course a good idea but if its inconvenient to carry some headphones you're not going to carry around a dedicated radio and keep good batteries with it.

Its a kit, besides a small tent "shelter" isn't exactly something you can stuff into a duffel bag. And its a FEMA list, no one said it was perfect. Though I'd guess that the intent of most preparedness lists/kits is for immediate survival & getting out of the disaster area. Shelter would be provided afterwards by emergency services, in theory.

You do realize that for less than the cost of a burger and fries you could stop by a dollar store and pickup a half dozen headphones and distribute them throughout your life (home, work, car, etc) in case of emergency? No doubt that the chances of it actually being necessary aren't all that high but I can't think of any cheaper method of disaster preparation either. By the way a radio is #3 on the FEMA disaster preparedness kit right behind Food and Water.

http://www.ready.gov/kit

I think the article is either miswritten or FEMA/NAB misdirecting their blame. I highly doubt the manufacturers of the phones (LG, Samsung, etc) are the ones pushing for the disabling of the FM chip but requirements from the mobile service providers (Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, etc) who as the article noted are far more inclined to rake in profits if customers use data services instead of over the air reception and have a long history of locking down phone features for their own enrichment. FYI I tried to load the app National Association of Broadcasters is noting in this article (NextRadio) and I couldn't, apparently even though FM is enabled on my phone their app is only supported on a a select set of phones.

"The net effect on SLS’s development, both in terms of cost and possible delays"

Sounds like the taxpayers are the ones who are going to get to pay for this "miscommunication" (see attempted fraud). Ah, "cost plus" contracts, you never cease to amaze. I hope someone waves this, that A-3 test stand debacle and all of the other "miscommunications" in the faces of all of the people trying to get money diverted from the CCDev program, a contract based program, to SLS.

You seem to be assuming that standard burial practices are less intrusive, generally they're not. In the US embalming is pretty standard and for that first they slap the deceased onto a metal table and strip off their cloths. Then they wash the body, sew/glue the eyes and mouth shut and hook the body up to a machine that pumps the blood out and formaldehyde in. Then they take rather large needles and inject large amounts of formaldehyde into each organ. And thats if the body came in good shape, if the body was damaged (car wreck, industrial accident, murder, etc) they have to do a lot less pleasant things to prepare the body for viewing.

Cryonics is basically like any death ritual (cremation, burring, funerals, etc), Its about the (unlikely) hope of some life after death and giving some measure of closure to the living. Sure its extremely unlikely to go anywhere, chances are some bankruptcy, economic collapse or natural disaster is going to destroy the brains/bodies long before technology advances to a point where they can be revived but who cares? If push comes to shove at a minimum we'll have some fairly well preserved bodies/brains in a few decades/centuries for future scientists to study assuming the company goes bankrupt. If we have a major economic collapse these bodies/brains can join a significant portion of humanities other "accomplishments" (fashion, popular culture, modern movies, etc) in decay. And on the long shot maybe these people will give direct witness to the time period in which they lived if it happens to succeed.

Wow, that's close. Just looks like they have to tweak the navigation software to not over-correct the thrust vectoring so much and they've got it. A larger landing area would probably be immensely helpful as well, it looks like the rocket is having to fight pretty hard to land in such tight quarters.

Two attempts and both of them at least hit the barge, even if they can't actually soft land on the barge they're well on their way to proving that they can at least land within a few hundred feet of their target. And if they can do that they probably only need a larger landing area, say a large parking lot, for a successful landing. The tests in Texas have proven that the rockets can have a controlled decent, just a few more kinks to iron out.

I hope you're just being sarcastic, but in case you aren't

http://www.mercurynews.com/sci...
http://wattsupwiththat.com/201...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/...
http://news.nationalgeographic...

a five minute internet search for "California drought history" can point to the fact that California has had water issues for centuries (it can be said of any area as well), it had destroyed Native American Cities and entire empires long before European settlers arrived. A statement in the National Geographic article pretty well sums it up "Unfortunately, she notes, most of the state's infrastructure was designed and built during the 20th century, when the climate was unusually wet compared to previous centuries."

"worst ever drought"

It might be the worst drought since the area became a state (though there were others that were close if not worse) but it is far from the worst drought ever in the region. On at least 5 occasions over the past 1000 years there have been droughts that make this one seem mild in comparison.

So their complaint is that Title II is being abused...... so fix Title II. Don't complain when the FCC includes a new form of communication (Yes, it takes 20 years for government to comprehend most things) in a law intended to govern communications systems. I hate government regulation more than the average person but there are definitely areas where it is needed. A lack of regulation in the electronic communications field would be a nightmare, telephone poles filled with cables (or conversely a lack of choice) and useless airwaves due to interference. ISP's should do no more than move bits of data from the internet backbone to their customers, its obvious that they can't do this with super-cookies, spiking webpages with advertisements and extorting money out of content providers for "fast" lanes being just a few of their recent transgressions.

If CSI is truly encouraging the next generation of law enforcement it foretells a dark future for our already shaky justice system. Most of the "science" on that show is garbage and their wholesale violation of civil liberties make even today's overreaching law enforcement officials salivate. We already have enough people with limited/no scientific background misusing things like polygraphs, fingerprint, DNA, blood spatter and other methods which have no or far less usefulness than is currently being heaped upon them. Some good old investigate police work and scientifically grounded evidence would go a long way towards putting "to protect and serve" back in the profession.

Does that old frog "game" that they used to teach programming basics to elementary school students count me as a novice? I think I still remember that game.