Not to mention that with steam system maintenance comes pages and pages of quality assurance paperwork. Do the skimmers trust ships force to do that kind of work still, or would that be an IMA level job?

Is the steam going through it generated in the actual S/G's and so would that limit maintenance on the steam portion to nukes? I'd be pissed if I had a bunch of MIPs for coner equipment I had to maintain...though I guess that's what the electricians have to live with.

I listened to parts of it. It's about the level you'd expect from a small liberal arts college like Skidmore, about comparable to how we played in the USNA Midshipman Orchestra (which is to say, a big spectrum of ability since we took what we could get as musical ability there was definitely not a focus in terms of recruitment).

On the other hand, if you had a recording of students from, say, Curtis or Longy then you'd be hard pressed to tell that from the recording of an average professional orchestra. I'm pretty sure if musopen wanted to, given the nature of the project, institutions like those could be talked into helping for a reasonable donation.

Actually, that oil comment got me thinking. They have lots of oil, but can only extract it at a certain rate. Assuming this oil provides a significant portion of their GDP, why would they want to waste it domestically for energy production? Selling to foreign markets provides hard currency where using it domestically would only be like spinning a tire in mud?

As I recall, Canada did support D-Day at...Juno beach I believe. And they did beat off two invasions. One from the continental army in the war for independence, one from the US during the war of 1812. Hockey sticks may or may not have been involved, historians are not clear on that point.

The only difference between fuel grade and weapon grade uranium is the ratio of U-235 to U-238. All that really translates into is how much fissile uranium you have per gram of material (ie, you get more bang for your buck as the ratio favors 235). That is the only difference. Otherwise, it is still just neutrons smashing into atoms. There are many reactors today that use weapon grade uranium as fuel...hint, what reactors need to be physically small but last for a long time?

Insightful? Nope. Ignorant of the basic physics in nuclear reactors? Yep.

I know, I know, don't feed the trolls and all that.

I haven't heard anyone complaining about Iran being run by war-mongering mullah's lately...I have heard people complaining of Iran being run by war-mongering Ahmadinejad. Regardless of who his rhetoric is meant for, it is heard by the outside world and most of us as someone who speaks for Iran. If you could, please explain how violently putting down protesters is indicative of a democratic regime with checks and balances...because to me (and I am not Israeli nor do I have any connection to that country at all), it smacks of a power-hungry regime that will do anything to remain in power.

As for those observing the fuel cycle...what if Iran removes itself as a signatory of the non-proliferation treaty and removes the Russian and UN observers in a North Korean-esque move?

Those like Franken are hoping people are stupid enough to not look past the title to see what is actually in the bill and what it actually accomplishes.

You mean like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act?

Within the 2000 pages of the PPACA, we find such gems as the fact that businesses will have to file 1099s. Why is there tax legislation like that in a healthcare bill? We'll see in the coming months what got snuck into 2300 (!!) pages of the DFWSRCPA. Bonus points if you can find any congressman that thoroughly read either bill before voting yes on it.

Ancient history...there were two services that allowed quasi-battle.net like games: Kali and Kahn. I believe Kali was the original. IIRC, it was written by Jay Cotton, and you could get a registration number for $15. You would dial into one of their servers and it offered chat services and you could organize games. Kahn was something similar. It was similar to dialing into Prodigy or AOL (or Compuserve, etc...). I believe it was just an IPX-TCP/IP wrapper. Blizzard eventually released a WC2 version called War2 Battlenet Edition which brought it into a more "modern" age and allowed playing over the internet as we know it.

Looks like an alternative to SeaClear, thanks for the link!

IAAOS (I am an offshore sailor)...

When offshore, there are long (loooong) stretches where you can just sit down and focus on something else. Assuming this boat would have other amenities such as weatherfax, AIS, radar, GPS and auto-helm (which most blue-water cruising boats do have these days, btw), there could be days and days at a time where someone sailing single-handed would be able to do work for as long as desired with the occasional glance around the horizon for bad weather or ships.

And if you sail with a crew (ie, wife), they can take care of everything while you work.

Not that I disagree that safe sailing requires constant monitoring, but that becomes second nature pretty quick. After sufficient time on and around boats, you get a feel for when things change even if you aren't paying constant attention. When the wind changes or shifts, the boat feels and acts differently. If a storm closes in on you, the wave state may begin picking up and the barometric pressure will drop (something that can actually be felt). Any competent sailor keeps those little things like that in the back of his mind even if his attention is focused elsewhere.

"I dont need to memorize every equation known the man. If I'm doing work... I look up the equation. Why then are the grades in school dependant on my remembering the equations?"

Getting my degree in aero/astro, my instructors emphasized understanding the equations vice memorizing them. I think pretty much every upper division course allowed us a page or two for an equation sheet. The trick was that the test questions would require you to understand the principles of what the equation was saying, so it generally wasn't just plug and chug (and if it was, easy points).

There are some fundamentals that need to be memorized (F=d(mv)/dt, h=r X v, v=ir), but beyond that, rote memorization of something like the Transport Theorem, Laplace Transforms, or the derivation of the two-body equation is ridiculous, and would be indicative of a poorly run class.

Have you been through bootcamp? Fortunately I was one of the last few to go through REAL navy basic back at the turn of the century, before these new-fangled barracks popped up and this new battle stations building thingamajig came out.

I also had the good fortune of being a member of the last REAL plebe summer at the US Naval Academy before they put air conditioning in Bancroft Hall (WTF?!!!).

In basic we did a little PT, a bit more marching. It was enough to get through the physical tests...especially since the policy then was that every attempt counted (talking about push-ups and sit-ups). We also got beat down by the RDCs (think drill sergeants) quite a bit. That probably helped the most.

Plebe summer was 5 days a week of 90 minutes of PT at 5 in the morning which, as a skinny, out of shape 20-something, destroyed me every time. But damned if it didn't get me in shape. Add in another 6 days of whatever sport we chose in the afternoon for a few hours and chopping all around the hallway (knees up and moving at a rapid pace) and that really helped strength and endurance.

Really, emulating the video workouts on something like the P90X routine (which quite a few formerly fatty friends swear by) would be much, much more beneficial than doing DDR for an hour.

Motivation in the situation we're talking about (basic training) is effectively provided externally, believe it or not. Those that can't deal with it should be shown the door after given a few weeks to acclimate to how much life sucks during these times...not everyone is cut out for military service, and part of boot camp is identifying those people and weeding them out. There's nothing wrong with that.

"Fifth, do you honestly believe that any of these people believe that the rest of their careers as soldiers will literally be spent playing DDR and Wii Fit? Not even the dumbest recruit would be THAT stupid, so it's a non-argument."

Yes, absolutely there are. I know and have worked with people that stupid. They tend to work the hardest and have the best attitude, though. Regardless, it is actually a fair argument to make. Seriously, not joking.

"To sum it up - you can't just go the full monty and expect it to work. You need to build people up, and that journey starts with a first step. Like it or not, that's the way reality works."

The first step of the journey is breaking them down. The arrival by bus and immediate searching of all luggage by the MAs, spending the night getting in-processed, hair buzzed, everything issued, taking a short nap sitting cross-legged on the floor with your head on your sea-bag in front of you, getting up before dawn and marching all over the place...I could go on and on. Those are immediate interruptions of your prior routine. It shocks the body and the mind and makes you pliable for a short period as well as teaching you to work with, essentially, strangers as you all cope with this new, terrible, de-spiriting new turn all your lives have taken. It provides a common low point for everyone to look back on and say "well, as terrible as things seem right now, at least I'm not back in boot camp".

Personally, I think the change would be ridiculous. But as long as new sailors are produced that'll have the mental and physical strength to literally drag me out of a burning compartment or jump in rapidly rising water to help slap on a band-it kit or whatnot, and will be able to sit at their panels and do their jobs when being chased down by a torpedo or during a jam dive or some other doomsday scenario then that's all I really care about. I don't see learning to be brave by playing DDR.

So...if I was one of the guys running one of the aforementioned plants in the Navy, should I consider myself a contractor or a government employee?

Beer and slashdot don't mix. Their->There (x2)

Another contributing factor to losing out to the soviets was the issue of overflight rights. At the time, we had been sending spy planes to take pictures of soviet territory (despite their objections). Since satellites would be flying over foreign countries, the issue of satellite overflight rights had to be decided (especially so we could use them to spy on the sovs). The US had two options: get their first (with the glory of being first), and hope that their were no foreign objections. After an orbit or two, the issue would be settled much like the right of free passage in the ocean. The second option was to let the soviets get their first and not bring the issue up. The latter option provided the easiest route.

I'm not saying Vanguard rockets were sabotaged, but it may have slowed down the acquisition bureaucracy enough to give the USSR the edge.