No, if you'll read TFS more carefully, that's the description of the test in April. I doubt they have much info on the latest test to make public yet.

They would hope to set the course shortly after leaving Pluto.

They would hope to set course shortly before reaching Pluto. A gravity assist from Pluto will significantly increase the size of course change that could be made.

*cheers*

Very astute of you, Fuzzy^2 Fungus....

As opposed to gold, which has never seen the price move.

Generally, when the price of gold moves, it's as a result of a sudden influx in supply (can you say, Forty-Niners? the original ones, not the football team), or a sudden (or not so sudden) change in the money supply.

In other words, gold costs much more now than it did back in the day because we've printed much more money....

king kameahmeaha

Former resident of Hawaii here...

"King Kamehameha". You have too many a's....

Won't argue with actual ping rates through Iridium. Merely pointing out that the lightspeed limits on the ping rate is in the vicinity of 75 ms. The rest of that is hardware issues, not issues with the satellites being so very far away. Note that a straight up-down-up-down query-response using only one Iridium satellite should have a FOUR millisecond round trip at lightspeed.

I did. I assumed an upward leg to a satellite near the horizon, relay through five other satellites to the other side of the planet, then a downward leg. Then back.

Note that I was only discussing speed of light lag, not lag caused by archaic hardware and other problems that apply equally well to links NOT using satellites.

In other words, a satellite link should be ~75 ms worse than a wireless link that doesn't go through a satellite.

Assuming satellites using Iridium's orbits, of course. A geosynchronous satellite would have MUCH worse ping rates, if only because you have ~500 ms for a straight up-down-up-down query-response loop, even without having to relay to other satellites.

This is the reason why people have so much debt: the entire economy has become a "competitive market" where those participating in it - employees - barely survive, no matter how much it produces.

No, people have so much debt because they insist on buying things they can't afford. No, you really don't NEED a Tesla. Or even a new car. A five-year-old used car will do fine. Nor do you NEED the latest tech toy. Etc, etc, etc.

Now, admittedly, Fed policy with regard to the Housing Bubble (basically, pump money into the economy until the height of the bubble is the new normal) has driven housing prices to nearly unsustainable levels, at least till the inflation in housing prices spreads more generally through the economy over the next five years or so.

ping times are going to vary from bad (Iridium) to very bad (nearly half way the the moon for geostationary),

Two things:

Iridium orbit is ~780 km. Which means worst case ping times (due to the satellites) should be around 75 ms.

Geostationary orbit is 35786 km up. Lunar orbit is 384400 km up. Note that "less than one tenth" is NOT "nearly halfway".

You may not know this, but the President of the United States doesn't have an office in the NSA, and doesn't have direct access to their leadership or decision-making.

Actually, he DOES have direct access to their leadership and decision-making. He's the PRESIDENT!

All he needs to do is pick up his phone and call the NSA Director, tell him to get his ass over to the White House RIGHT NOW, and, lo, the NSA Director will be heading toward the White House.

Then he tells the NSA Director words to the effect of "Stop this shit, right the F**k now!", and lo, it will be stopped.

And if that doesn't work, there's the "Fire him, right now" option. Like when Truman fired MacArthur back in the day.

Remember, he's the President. Head of the Executive Branch. Which includes both CIA and NSA. They all work for HIM, not the other way around.

The fact that this is still going on does not show a lack of power on the part of Obama, it shows agreement with this on the part of Obama.

Germany wants its own trade deals in private.

While you can negotiate a trade deal privately, it's pretty much impossible to operate one privately. After all, at least one other country has to know the details, and most (if not all) of the economic effects are easily detectable....

My bad, I should have checked.

Yes, there are people who were born in the 19th century and were still alive in the 21st. As of a year ago, there were 21 women born in the 19th century still alive.

I have a daughter born in 1999.

A bit younger than my daughter, so your daughter has a higher chance than mine (and my kid's chances are non-zero) of living in three different centuries (20th, 21st, 22nd).

I'm thinking that noone has ever done that (unless you count some Biblical codgers)....

A few years later, and millions lives lost, England prevailed.

I am assuming you mean "millions of German, Russian, Chinese and Japanese lives lost here", since the UK lost fewer than half a million?

Corporate tax avoidance?

Would that be like when you take your Standard Deduction (or Itemized, as appropriate for you) on your Income Taxes?

Or deduct your VAT, if applicable?

Do try to remember that "tax avoidance" is synonymous with "didn't pay any more taxes than legally obligated to". What it does NOT mean is "broke the law by paying less taxes than the law requires"....