Kickstarter's highest projects are in the six figure region. Launches are in the eight figures minimum.

thank you.

AFAIK, no. If there is someone to talk to about that, point me that way! That'd be awesome and I'd happily list /. as a backer/sponsor. That said, if you are looking for an open source team, you are looking at FredNet. If you are looking for the Silicon Valley big money team, you are looking at Moon Express. If you are looking at the university student/professor teams, you are looking at Astrobotic, PennState, and Omega Envoy. If you are looking for the traditional aerospace guys, you are looking at Rocket City Space Pioneers. If you are looking for very STEM oriented, educator focused, you are looking at JURBAN. If you are looking for the scrappy Silicon Valley startup, that'd be us: Team Phoenicia. There are more. Go to the Google Lunar X Prize website (http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/teams) to check us all out. Take a look at what Mike Doornbos of evadot has to say through his rankings of the teams: http://evadot.com/glxpscorecard/

Yes, I could and probably ought to have. http://teamphoenicia.blogspot.com./ The donate button is on the right. :)

The Romanians considered the rockoon approach and discarded it. Instead they are building - yes, really! - a rocket powered seaplane to do an air launch of their rocket carrying their moonbot. They are nuts. And they are soooo fscking awesome. The problem with the rockoon is that even once you are outside the atmosphere, you are still subject to the rocket equation of getting to the moon with the delta V. Some things just don't scale down well.

The single biggest problem that any team is facing is getting cash and sufficient cash to pay for a launch. This has been a problem for Astrobotic (and why they have postponed to 2015). This has been an issue for Moon Express. This is an issue for Rocket City Space Pioneers. And, yes, it is an issue for Team Phoenicia (my own team). For FredNet, too. Getting material donations has not been difficult. Just the $. That's why Team Phoenicia has been selling engines and rockets. If you want to help and not just snark, go to your favourite team's website and hit the donate button. They all have them. If /. or any other entity would use the /. effect to that end, it'd be a wondrous and helpful thing.

I'm in line to get my FREE Pi. Picked up a coupon at the Blacksbug FudCON:
        http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Archive:FUDCon:Blacksburg_2012

Planning on turning mine into a MythTV frontend unit. :)

Good times..

Tweeks

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, or trolling or whatever, BUT...

The Big Bang Theory (a theory of how the universe in its present state came into being) is not the same as the theory of abiogenesis (the theory of life arising from non-living matter)

Neither the Big Bang theory nor abiogenesis have anything do with the theory of evolution, as evolution has nothing to do with how life or the universe got started. It simply details how life develops once it exists. That you confuse these three theories, and apparently think that they are all the same theory, indicates to me that you really don't understand any of them.

The story of Darwin recanting his theory on his deathbed is false, and was made up by someone who was not even in the room when he passed away. Even if that story were true, that would be no reason to discard the theory, as evidence for it comes from many different sources, and not just from Charles Darwin. He was a scientist, not a prophet.

You don't know that God created man, in his image or not. Assuming there is a God, we could be an unintended by-product of the initial creation of the universe. You simply don't know, and can't know. That it says so in the Bible isn't enough. The contents Bible can't be proven to be true by it simply stating that it's true in those same contents.

I have no problem with you believing whatever you want if it makes you happy. Don't expect me to buy into it as well, though. I certainly don't expect you to believe all the things that I believe, and that includes evolution. It's just a pity that you can't hold on to your faith AND accept that there may be things that the Bible doesn't cover, and that evolution may be one of them. You might lead a happier life that way.

Not from me, no. I tend to heavily invest in things that I like, if I sense that the company or producer behind it appreciates me as a customer and not as a wallet. I buy books from and donate to webcomics I like, I buy games after playing demos (if I like the game, naturally), and when I really get into something, I'll buy associated works like posters, toys, etc. just to fling more cash their way.

I view it as positive reinforcement towards a company that displays correct behavior. I've got enough money that I can afford to support the things that I like, in the hopes that the companies that make those things will be encouraged to make more things that I like.

If i'm getting screwed somehow, then i'm pretty fucking happy about it.

That's because you're not getting screwed. You're getting made sweet, passionate love to :P

Which is actually kind of the point. Treat your customers well, and the will (on average) treat you well back.

Our CEO was asked to go to DC to tell the legislators why SOPA/PIPA is such a bad idea:
          Sink the Pirates, Not the Internet
          http://www.rackspace.com/blog/?p=2741

Tweeks

Playing D&D isn't what makes you a cool dad (though it definitely helps). Interacting with your teenage son on a regular basis is what makes you a cool dad. Being involved in his life, and in his friend's lives, that's what makes you a cool dad. Congratulations, you cracked the code! :)

My uncle was in cancer remission for >20ys when the US-VA went in to fix a simple abdominal hernia. After they sewed him up, he was okay for a couple of weeks, but then got very sick. An infection was ravaging his body and the doctors could not localize the infection. After months of antibiotics, they found the rags and removed them and scooped out all the necrosing tissue. By this time, his immune system had sunken so low that the cancer was able to make a come back which ended up killing him (after months of chemo).

All this to say.. forgotten rags (and implements) are a pretty significant problem in many disciplines (not just fuel lines), and why many operating rooms now have a "time out" materials count in pre and post-op. Maybe launch pad protocols should adopt the same.

Tweeks

I hadn't heard anyone discuss the limited lifespan of optical and other eDoc mediums. They have very short/finite life spans (5-20 yrs) and have to be remastered or transferred off to another medium. Also.. would such a system be "safe" from technology attack like EMP, etc? Paper is cheap, and good for a couple hundred years.

Tweeks

When I first saw that sketch, I just thought it was typical (meaning: very funny) Python humor. But I've had several instances of "laughing so hard I almost passed out" in my life, which makes me wonder if a "killing joke" is actually possible.

One such incident involved an intentional outtake from the movie Serenity. If you've seen those, then you likely know which one I mean. I was left gasping for breath and my vision was graying out before I started to recover.

Actually... that made me curious enough to check Wikipedia while writing this. There are, apparently, a few known deaths attributed to heart failure brought on by excessive laughing. So much for laughter being the best medicine!