If I told my parents I was leaving google to go start my own undersea data collecting company, they'd look askance at one another and wonder what type of mid-life crisis i was having. But I guess once you start something like java, you get free rein to do whatever-the-hell crazy-assed thing you want, even if it means leaving a steady job behind, and nobody thinks it's that crazy.

Someone should manufacture industrial sized hard drives for this type of application. Like full height x2, so you could cram 30 platters in there.

Stairway to Heaven, over and over and over again.

or just don't use the maps/gps

dammit, meant "commonplace to think about government debt in a microeconomic way?"

Well in another poll of 1000, 800 CEO's said a fair tax is batshit crazy, and would intentionally burn down any offices they own in the US if it were instituted. The other 200 stabbed themselves in the eye at the mere thought of the idea.

FT opponents say that, if instituted, Satan would split the world asunder and slither out of the depths of hell, feeding on the souls of all good men and women, and dispute the claim of 3% unemployment in 2 years.

Why has it become so commonplace to think about government debt in a macroeconomic way? US citizens and companies hold 68% of the US debt.

Or to use the modern way of thinking about this issue: if you have $10, but you owe Billy $3 and owe yourself $7, how much money do you have?

Hard to find numbers on just the truss mass, but it's ~110,000 to 130,000 Kg, or about a quarter of the mass of the whole structure.

Ok the radiation thing is definitely an issue, true. The thrust could be done gently with VaSIMR thrusters over a long time, but would then leave it in the van Allen belt for way too long.

But I don't even care so much about the current electronics or modules. By the time it's retired, the modules will have been thoroughly lived in, like 30 year old underwear. Deorbit anything that won't be useful.

The most important component up there, long term, is the Truss. I doubt it will be turned into a lunar transfer vehicle, but the Truss could be used as the core of a orbital construction platform for missions to mars. Moving it to a proper orbit will be much easier than moving the whole station.

Put it into a lunar transfer orbit and use it as a "shuttle" to the moon. you'd just need to send a small capsule (like a dragon) to dock with it and hitch a ride.

I know, i know, ISS isn't in the right plane, and plane changes are expensive (fuel-wise), not to mention the energy needed to boost to a transfer orbit.

But it is a good reason why we shouldn't deorbit it. it's probably cheaper to send up the fuel to do this than it is to send up a dedicated lunar tranfer shuttle the size of the ISS

when it's slow, i find the extra internets really help with the twittering speed.

How will this giant hollow tube and it's foundation react to being cooled and heated by 100 degrees (+/- depending on the season) every 12 hours?