No more trivial than just getting everybody back to earth with the data and samples. There are lots of tech not developed yet for a manned Mars trip. Long term space habitats for one as the trip there will take a long time. Landing is another as there is not enough air to air brake or parachute an too much to use rockets easily. There are articles on the subject by NASA people out there. That's why there are so many weird landing methods for past Mars missions and once you increase the landing craft to something people can land in, and the issues increase. Even then, any such attempt will require multiple landings that will all have to land with precision enough that they can support each other. Musk might get it done. But still, the issue is that a one way trip is just a red herring to make people think that it is possible. It's a solution to a problem that doesn't exist to lure people into thinking it's some magical solution. Simply put, getting the people back off Mars and to Earth is less of a problem than looking at any type of extended stay.

Living in Seattle, I have lots of friends that work at Microsoft. Typically, I get the impression it's actually a really nice place to work. The only thing people really care about it their own group and they are free to use their iPhones, ect. The true danger is not speaking ill of another group, or even your own, but rather then endless reorgs that happen without any sort of reason that the employees can tell, and getting your group downsized or dissolved because of them.

Amazon however. That company is supposed to be hell with an average employment time of 18 months before you leave or are fired.

Last I heard, OPEC isn't lowering production because Saudi Arabia said they weren't because they wanted to thumb their nose at Iran. OPEC wants to but effectively can't without Saudi Arabia's agreement.

I've been hearing about it since college (which was farther back than I care to admit). If you want to try it just google "make powdered alcohol" and look up the recipe. It's going to tell you to go on Amazon, buy some tapioca maltodextrin and some Everclear, mix, and sift. Ta da! Powdered alcohol. Experiment to your heart's content.

You could get even lighter and easier transportability by taking Everclear or some other near 200 proof alcohol and adding flavoring to add to your water. Palcohol is just the same thing that is bound to a powder, most likely tapioca maltodextrin. Similar process is already used in some cooking recipes. You can already make it yourself. It's not some neat way to make alcohol any lighter or more compact.

I'd be really surprised if there isn't some sort of phone app that will tell you if a song you write is close to something that already exists. There are apps that will tell you what you are listening too from just a segment of it. Seems that like doing a web search for previously existing bands that are using a band name you might want to use, that checking your songs against some sort of database for being dangerously close is something else artists should do.

Do you really expect people do the smartest thing? Our sustainable point is determined by our access to energy. By time we get to that point, we'll probably already be in space and past the point of economic benefit of getting material from there.

Well, nobody is mining anything in space any time soon. Anything like this project done now is pretty much pure research that would only begin to tell us what we'd even need to mine something on the moon and manufacture it in space. Then after information is gathered, tests are done, they can figure out what it would actually take and put together cost analysis of such a project.

Well, as for large scale constructions in space, there are a couple of ways it could conceivably come about. One is that simply due to our interest in space and our growing population and economy, the amount of money set aside for space exploration would be enough. At some point, there would be a point at which we'd save money and effort by completing mining and manufacturing efforts in space and there will be a reason of pure economy for things we are already doing. This probably includes any attempt to explore and send people to the Moon or Mars. Another would be power. Eventually, we'll run out of fossil fuels, nuclear will be mined to the point it is harder to get. Hydro will be maxed out and we'll be reliant on solar for our energy needs. The amount of solar energy that hits the earth is trivial compared to what is out there in space. We could move to space for the energy, either to send back to earth or just to power manufacturing sites we put out there in space due to plentiful energy that if not cheaper, will at least be available compared to what is on Earth. Once that begins, there will be infrastructure as well as other demands for things like mining and manufacturing that will require some human presence, which will require more power and infrastructure. At a certain point, space will just be colonized as the population's children will just be able to stay there. Either way, I wouldn't expect serious mining and manufacturing of metals in space for a few centuries yet.

I think that the firemen had their chance at such a career when they were called out to use their water hoses on protestors during the civil rights movement, which they did a couple of times. Then, there were arsons set which turned out to be sniper attempts to shoot firemen that came to fight the fire. After that, firemen typically will loan their equipment out to police for such things, but refuse to get involved themselves. As pretty much the only uniformed service that people actually like rather than fear, they tend to want to keep it that way.

Please, I'm an Okie. I've gone West never to return. OK, is as confederate as Texas. They're pretty much the same except nothing is big is OK.

Sorry to do two different posts, but I'd rather not reply to an AC who is just trolling.

It really depends on who you ask and in what context you are talking about. Growing up in OK, we called ourself the "Midwest" which colloquially meant the great plains states. That a bunch of Eastern Yankees like Indiana would call themselves midwesterners really threw me for a long time. Still, depending who and how the nation of states is divided up, they are in many cases, and OK is part of the South. The US Census puts OK in the South. Others put it in the South West, Midwest, Great Plains, or some other grouping, usually using South.

Actually, it is in the old Confederacy. the South offered a deal to the indians to join their side and the last Confederate general to surrender was the Cherokee chief Stand Watie who was leading a Cherokee force.

I'm really having trouble telling if this a troll, or somebody making fun of trolls by presenting themselves as a particularly idiotic troll.

I think you have Star Trek and Roddenberry wrong. It always acknowledged human instincts, but argued the humanity could learn to overcome them, not that they could get rid of them.

Nothing to say they were good terrorists. Half of all terrorists are worse than average.