So how do we get Elon Musk interested in fusion research?

Necron69

Maybe it's just me, but I don't recall SpaceX's Dragon capsule having to go through round after round of drop testing. I do recall one set, but that's it. Why a simple development test is really worthy of repeated news releases is beyond me.

Perhaps this is typical NASA contractor testing overkill. 'Well, it tested fine, but we'll do just one more round of testing that can't happen for six more months. Keep writing those checks, NASA.'

Necron69

My experience with identity theft was about a decade ago, but still motivates me to be more cautious.

Back in 2001 or so, we had ordered replacement checks, and had two boxes stolen out of the mail. The first clue was discovering one morning that our bank account was $500 overdrawn and we'd bounced like 20 checks that we had never written.

While we quickly closed the account, and filed a fraud affadavit with the bank, the nightmare was only beginning. For nearly a year, we received frequent collection notices for more forged checks. The checks were apparently sold to a ring, who had 6 different sets of fake IDs for myself and my wife made up. They wrote a lot checks for a couple of months, then tapered off as the bad checking account got flagged in more check verification systems.

I quickly built up a cover letter, along with copies of the fraud affidavit from the bank, plus the Postal Inspector and regular police reports. Usually, faxing this stack of documents to the collection agency was enough to get them to close the case and write it off.

In the short run, we were out a couple thousand dollars, but the bank refunded the money within a week or so. For about a year, we had fraud warnings on our credit, but frequently could not write a check anywhere, as our names were also in the check verification databases. That took some work to clear up.

On the bright side, at least one of the check thieves was arrested trying to use a stolen check. She served 18 months (3rd offense) and ended up paying us about $500 in court ordered restitution when she was released.

These days, I pay for credit monitoring, shred everything when I throw stuff out, and have a locking mailbox. Identity theft is not fun.

Necron69

Hey, maybe we could stop burning so much coal and switch to lower-CO2 emitting natural gas? Oh wait, we already did.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/ondeadline/post/2012/08/in-a-surprise-co2-emissions-hit-20-year-low/1#.UFx1MI2PVkY

Or maybe we could raise the gas mileage requirements on cars?

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2012/08/27/tough-government-gas-mileage-rules-good-for-drivers-auto-industry

Anyone who thinks we aren't doing _anything_ isn't paying attention. Personally, however, I won't think we are serious until we start building newer, safer, CO2-free nuclear power plants. If you don't support more nuclear power, you aren't serious about stopping Global Warming, and you haven't studied the problem enough. Yes, I'm looking at you, Greenpeace.

Necron69

That is a myth that the last typewriter factory in the world shut down. They are still very much in use (and demand) in the Third World.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/26/worlds-last-typewriter-factory-closes_n_853670.html

The very fact that this question is being asked just reeks of stupidity. You just DON'T go straight from stone age to 21st century, especially without electricity. Buy some manual typewriters. C'mon man....

Necron69

And thus, this well intentioned invention will lead to the future envisioned in Disney's "Wall-E".

Frankly, I've never seen a more depressing movie in my life. I hope they save these Weebots for only the kids that really need them. Anything else is a lazy, slippery slope.

Necron69

Oddly, I find that 20+ years later, I mostly still use my desktop exactly like I did with Ultrix 3.2 and mwm on my DECstation 3100. Lots and lots of terminal windows. Any desktop or window manager that allows me to do that will work. Anything that gets in the way of that usage gets booted (Unity, blech)

Necron69

Hmm. I looked on your linked Amtrak website for tickets for tomorrow from New York to Los Angeles, and I get $615, plus it takes 109 hours. I'll stick with the more 'free market' airline. Thanks.

Necron69

If there is a king of efficiency and lost cost in distribution and retail sales, it is Wal-Mart. You don't think they are just going to sit there and do nothing while Amazon moves in, do you?

Necron69

This is a technology problem, not a policy problem. The New Horizons probe is doing a flyby because that is currently the _only_ way to get a probe near far away Pluto. The probe is going extremely fast and in order to decelerate into orbit of such a small planet, you'd need to be taking along a lot more fuel than that probe has on board. Alternately, you could take a much slower and longer (decades if not hundreds of years) lower energy transfer orbit.

This isn't Star Trek. NASA has to deal with real physics. Start here: http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/mission/whereis_nh.php

Necron69

Exactly! DRONES ARE NOT ROBOTS. THEY HAVE PILOTS!!!

God, how stupid are so many people, especially reporters, that they don't seem to get that? Spoofing a GPS signal does not give you control over the pilot.

Necron69

I lost my entire hard copy music collection in a house fire back in 2008. I took the insurance money for all the CDs and kept it. Fortunately, my computer hard drive survived the fire, so I still had the ripped MP3s, but in the four years since, I've only bought a handful of new albums/songs. Nonetheless, I actually listen to a much wider variety of music, and more often now too - all via streaming.

Pandora is easy, free, and available just about anywhere I go. I really can't rationalize paying for what I can get for free.

Necron69

The rolling resistance/friction difference between a road slick tire and a knobby mountain bike tire is quite large too. Unless you are actually riding offroad, you don't need big knobby tires.

Necron69

I think you need to switch doctors. My Advair and Albuterol prescriptions have always come with refills that are good for one year. At most, I go see the doc for my asthma every six months. This is still annoying for a well controlled chronic condition I've had for 40 years, but hardly the end of the world.

OTC status for drugs could be good or bad. For me and my allergies, what used to be a $30/month Zyrtec or Claritin prescription copay is now down to $16 for a whole year's supply of a generic version at Costco. Big win for me.

What I'd really like to know is why the hell Advair and Albuterol are still under patent? I've been taking both for well over 15 years.

Necron69