tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post3304140181597540836..comments2024-03-18T21:36:06.832-07:00Comments on CONTRARY BRIN: OBAMA NATION?David Brinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-56705603772091082952008-02-20T07:47:00.000-08:002008-02-20T07:47:00.000-08:00The Walson claims of videotaping orbital structure...The Walson claims of videotaping orbital structures is without a doubt a hoax. Let's examine it a bit. First, he claims some kind of proprietary mechanism involving a telescope and video camera is being used. However, there are only a few ways to improve your ability to see faint objects short of simply using a larger telescope and gathering more light. You can try to use adaptive optics to remove the effects of the atmosphere, but with his stated equipment, we can most likely rule that out, since, to my knowledge, that requires some way to sense the distortions so they can be removed. So adaptive optics aside, the only thing left is using image processing of some kind to enhance an image. Walson might have found a way to digitally enhance telescopic images that is heretofore unknown, so that's a possiblilty. But let's consider. All one really needs to do to overcome this limitation and verify Walson's observations is to use a bigger telescope and point it in the right place. However, it may be possible Walson is already using the biggest telescope available to anyone for general purchase. Perhaps his technique requires that power, plus his own enhancements. Ok. Even if we give him that, the part of his claims that really shoots down any hint of credibility is the claim that he can HEAR these "ships" by pointing his satellite dish at them. First of all, satellite dishes gather electromagnetic waves, not sound waves. So, if he was going to make this work, there would have to be a mechanism IN SPACE which was converting the ship's sound waves to EM radiation, beaming that signal outward, then Walson would pick them up and reverse the conversion here on Earth. Not very likely, to say the least. <BR/><BR/>Then there is the last reason - there is no sound in space to be picked up! These "ships" would be able to generate sound internally, of course, but that sound can never propogate outside the ship. So, exactly what is Walson's satellite dish supposed to be picking up? It's hooey, folks. Pure and simple. He should've stuck to the video claims and left the sound part out. At least the video part might be theoretically possible, however unlikely. The audio part is simply not possible, at least not the way he's claiming to have done it.davepetehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05087583798305010676noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3262286167783272572008-01-18T03:00:00.000-08:002008-01-18T03:00:00.000-08:00I strongly believe if Obama get elected it'll real...I strongly believe if Obama get elected it'll really help to end the cultural war. So I back for the position firmly...<BR/><A HREF="http://www.breakdown-cover.net/breakdownrecovery.htm" REL="nofollow">Breakdown Recovery</A>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-4319889762679707722008-01-16T15:16:00.000-08:002008-01-16T15:16:00.000-08:00One more thing: licensing of contributions. Peopl...One more thing: licensing of contributions. <BR/><BR/>People are more willing to edit if they know that the whole thing will end up being free (in the sense of liberty, rather than gratuity...).<BR/><BR/>You're probably hoping to publish it, so may I suggest a dual license:<BR/><BR/><B>Creative commons non-commercial share-alike</B> plus <B>exclusive commercial rights licensed to David Brin, in exchange for attribution</B>.<BR/><BR/>The attribution can just be an appendix with usernames of those who contributed. IANAL, but without it, there wouldn't be consideration on both sides of the license agreement.Joelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16755460714090772432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-49050187994700587952008-01-16T15:04:00.000-08:002008-01-16T15:04:00.000-08:00...How to limit/authorize changes......finding the......How to limit/authorize changes...<BR/>...finding the time to manage it all and gradually take a final shape...<BR/><BR/>If you're doing either of these things as an individual, it isn't a Wiki.<BR/><BR/>In large communities it may be worthwhile to have a tiered system, where text that has been checked by trusted editors is given special treatment, but most of the attempts at this I've heard of have failed.<BR/><BR/>If you want to control its overall shape, I'd recommend a news box at the top of each page, which only you and a few trusted delegates can edit. It might say "this needs a grammar check" or so on. This can usually be done with "include" statements and protected pages, though I'm more familiar with mediawiki than other systems.<BR/><BR/>By the by, mediawiki now has a <A HREF="http://bitnami.org/stack/mediawiki" REL="nofollow">binary installer</A>.Joelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16755460714090772432noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80132528461629488062008-01-13T23:48:00.000-08:002008-01-13T23:48:00.000-08:00Dang, but this time you were REALLY effective, Zor...Dang, but this time you were REALLY effective, Zorgon. dang.David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-15042405235572276742008-01-13T23:06:00.000-08:002008-01-13T23:06:00.000-08:00(Zorgon, logon blown)The very thought of Joe "One ...(Zorgon, logon blown)<BR/><BR/>The very thought of Joe "One last shot" Biden getting touted as Obama's VP filled me with such outrage and disgust that I finally collected all Biden's infamous "one last shot" quotes. As you can see, they go all the way back to 2003. It's 2008, folks. <BR/><BR/>Joe Biden, Imus, 8/17/06:<BR/><BR/><I>Because there's a civil war, and you got to -- if there's a civil war, Don, where you have the Mahdi army, as well as what they call the Badr Brigade, which is the Iranian-trained outfit that works for the -- that's the Shia outfit with the Dawa (inaudible) party. If those guys start shooting at the same time the insurgents are, all the king's horses and all the king's men aren't going to keep that country together again.<BR/>We've got <B>one last shot</B> here to separate these parties, and you have to do it politically. And if you don't do the kind of thing we did in Dayton when we settled the situation in Bosnia -- and I might add, no one died in the last (inaudible), no American has died, and now they're more of a united country -- if we don't do something like that, we will have traded a dictator for chaos on this guy's watch. </I><BR/><BR/>Joe Biden, 12/13/05 press conference:<BR/><BR/><I>The dividing line is whether or not, as in the case of Jack Murtha and me -- Jack Murtha, God love him, I think he believes that we have gone beyond the pale, that there is no reason to think the president is going to change course and the only rational position in the Hobson's choices we're left with is over time redeploy American forces because there's no winning strategy.</I><BR/><BR/>Joe Biden, Fox News, 11/21/2005:<BR/><BR/><I>WALLACE: As we've been saying, Democratic Congressman Jack Murtha this week called for bringing U.S. troops back home. Is that a good idea?<BR/><BR/>BIDEN: Not immediately, no. I can understand Jack's frustration. This is a guy who has concluded that so far we've handled this effort incompetently, but it seems to me that we have <B>one last shot</B> at getting this right.</I><BR/><BR/>Joe Biden, Charlie Rose show, June 21, 2005:<BR/><BR/><I>I personally think we should not set an exit date. I personally think we should take <B>one last shot</B> at trying to do this the right way. I think it still can be done, although more difficult.</I><BR/><BR/>Joe Biden, Face the Nation, 6/19/2005:<BR/><BR/><I>We need time. There's <B>one last shot</B> at getting this right in Iraq.</I><BR/><BR/>Joe Biden, Hardball, May 24, 2004:<BR/><BR/><I>We've made significant mistakes. Our <B>one last shot</B> to get this right, unite the world, convince the Iraqi people that this is not just a U.S. occupation, is June 30.</I><BR/><BR/>Biden 11/7/2003:<BR/><BR/><I>"I am convinced we have <B>one last shot</B> at bringing the world into Iraq," said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee. "We must do everything in our power to seize it.<BR/>"I'd like to see President Bush go to Europe, call a summit and ask - ask - for more help. We might have to give up some more authority to get it. But as I keep saying, we've got to stop treating Iraq like some kind of prize."</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-81314604563551365822008-01-13T22:47:00.000-08:002008-01-13T22:47:00.000-08:00(Zorgon again)Joe "One last shot" Biden doesn't so...(Zorgon again)<BR/><BR/>Joe "One last shot" Biden doesn't sound like a good choice as VP. In fact, he sounds like a dismal choice. The ignorant incompetent clown Joe Biden remains one of the main enablers for the ongoing Iraq debacle. Just like that criminally inept fool Tom Friedman, every time someone suggests that Iraq is a quagmire and we need to get the hell out, Biden chirps up and babbles, "We need to try one last shot." The thing is...this insufferable ingrate has been exhorting us to try "one last shot" in Iraq <B><I>for the last 5 years.</I></B> He's as bad as Tom Friedman's "the next 6 months are the critical period" -- every 6 months for the last 5 years. <BR/>www.crooksandliars.com/category/the-senate/joe-biden/ <BR/><BR/>Both Biden and Friedman are ignorant incompetent fools whose appalling ineptitude has enabled the destruction of Iraq, the collateral death of at least 600,000 Iraqs and the mutilation and maiming of several millions more (at least); the creation of at least 4.5 million impoverished Iraqi refugees -- many of them women, and now forced into lives of horrible prostitution because they can't survive any other way in countries like Syria which hate and despise them. <BR/>news.independent.co.uk/ world/middle_east/article2701324.ece<BR/><BR/>Not to mention 3,500 dead U.S. soldiers and somewhere north of 20,000 horribly mutilated U.S. servicemen, many suffering from severe brain damage due to explosive concussion from the new IEDs.<BR/>www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/ article/2007/04/06/AR2007040601821_pf.html<BR/><BR/>www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/ health/july-dec06/brain_09-14.html <BR/><BR/>www.truthout.org/docs_2006/102707Z.shtml <BR/><BR/>Joe "One last shot" Biden has a lot to answer for. Putting him in the cabinet or into the VP slot is an outrage and IMHO shows very questionable judgement on Obama's part. <BR/><BR/>If there were <I>real</I> justice in America, both Joe Biden and Tom Friedman, along with Fareed Zakaria and Judith Miller would be stripped to their skivvies, pelted with garbage by jeering crowds, tarred, feathered, and run out of Washington on a rail. If we practiced ostracism as the Hellenes did, this Foetid Foursome would be my first choice for expulsion. <BR/><BR/>On a lighter note:<BR/><BR/>You'll laugh, you'll cry, you won't believe your eyes... Yes, folks, this is what we're up against. If you want a pure stereotaxic cross-section of the anti-modernist far-right mindset, here it is:<BR/>http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:http%3A//www.fstdt.com/fundies/top100.aspx%3Farchive%3D1Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61559146876925863972008-01-13T21:50:00.000-08:002008-01-13T21:50:00.000-08:00Have you seen David Friedman's commentable online ...Have you seen David Friedman's <A HREF="http://patrifriedman.com/prose-others/fi/commented/Future_Imperfect.html" REL="nofollow">commentable online draft of <I>Future Imperfect</I></A>? This seems close to what you are looking for.Dog of Justicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02066524758114994073noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3022231964065524262008-01-13T19:26:00.000-08:002008-01-13T19:26:00.000-08:00The link for the Mars probe thing is 404.The link for the Mars probe thing is 404.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-33759067305727247172008-01-13T18:57:00.000-08:002008-01-13T18:57:00.000-08:00Concerned that the US government is wiretapping a ...Concerned that the US government is wiretapping a little too often? Fear not, it's the free-market economy to the rescue!<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/fbi-wiretap-cut.html" REL="nofollow"> FBI Wiretap Cut Off After Feds Fail To Pay Telecom Spying Bills<BR/>http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/fbi-wiretap-cut.html</A>sociotardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11697154298087412934noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-61309181923836798672008-01-13T14:57:00.000-08:002008-01-13T14:57:00.000-08:00Obama has already shown good judgement in the team...Obama has already shown good judgement in the team he already has, and that's been further demonstrated with the recent endorsements he's racking up. <BR/><BR/>He has a lot of good options for VP, chief among them:<BR/>Sen. James Webb, Virginia<BR/>Gov. Bill Richardson, New Mexico<BR/>Sen. Chris Dodd, CT.<BR/>Sen. Joe Biden, Delaware<BR/><BR/>But, of those Webb is the best option and good compatibility. Webb shores up the military experience as a Vietnam Marine vet, Secretary of Navy under Reagan, ex-Republican to win moderates, southern to appeal to southern votes, and puts Virginia in play which hasn't voted Democratic for president since 1964. Webb has also taken the lead in sensible opposition to the war and occupation of Iraq, as well as opposing the Kyl-Lieberman amendment on Iran.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-2966811897333710022008-01-13T14:22:00.000-08:002008-01-13T14:22:00.000-08:00(Zorgon again)Here's an article reinforcing Dr. Br...(Zorgon again)<BR/><BR/>Here's an article reinforcing Dr. Brin's view of the unhealthy influence of Leo Strauss among neocons:<BR/>http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article5010.htm<BR/><BR/>It's remarkable how little we hear from the press about Strauss's influence on the toads who infest the White House. Reporters seem to treat the neocons as though they materialized out of thin air, instead of from the long odious "will-to-power" antidemocratic tradition of Thrasymachus, Plato and Nietzsche. <BR/><BR/>If memory serves, didn't Isaac Asimov beat Cairns Smith to the punch with the clay template hypothesis for amino acids? I recall reading Asmiov speculate about that in one of his science articles, but can't remember which.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-17156030192521962112008-01-13T12:23:00.000-08:002008-01-13T12:23:00.000-08:00Zorgon, great antimatter ref! The fullerenes expl...Zorgon, great antimatter ref! The fullerenes explanation of pre-biotic life seems plausible. But so does Cairns Smith’s notion of templates in clay. Both?<BR/><BR/>Ah, but. While there’s plenty to object to about Hillary et al, let me reject the view that the DNC approach is to simply “give Republicans what they want.” May I remind that the ONE time the dems actually went with the DNC approach <I>they gained power!” </I> And the Republicans, in turn, went absolutley start frothing crazy in bilious hatred of Bill Clinton. The GOP got its chance - and thee dems LOST (Congressional) power - because Hillary sent them down the non-DNC road of seeking a vast new entitlement, instead of DNC style gradualism (insure the children first). <BR/><BR/>This robbed Bill of any chance to improve matters through legislation, so he simply governed well. Superbly well. And, may I add, all of his policies and approaches to governing, especially transparency and accountability, were diametrically opposite to everything the GOP now stands for. That’s opposite. He was not what “republicans want.”<BR/><BR/>True, the migration of the GOP into loony-ville has left the dems having to stand for ALL political virtues. Careing for the poor AND responsible fiscal policy. In effect, they ARE the reasonable body politic and debates over policy options must take place within the dem-party, then face rage from the House of Lords (the GOP).David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-58731260443632231732008-01-13T08:19:00.000-08:002008-01-13T08:19:00.000-08:00re: dogs sorting photos. haven't read the paper, ...re: dogs sorting photos. haven't read the paper, only the abstract. However I wonder if the claims are true. Is it possible that the photographs are distinguishale by the presence of a strong, defined color and shape of the dog? To be sure that it is a dog that is being distinguished, I would liked to have seen evidence that the dogs could distinguish between pictures of dogs, cats and other similar mammals to be sure that they can correctly interpret images onb a photograph and are not using some other cue. In other words, we need to ensure this is not another "Clever Hans" mistake.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-3633907723936439352008-01-12T22:09:00.000-08:002008-01-12T22:09:00.000-08:00(Zorgon the Malevolent again)There's certainly bee...(Zorgon the Malevolent again)<BR/><BR/>There's certainly been a big explosion of adulatory articles recently about Obama. For example:<BR/>www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2008/01/08/obama/<BR/><BR/>(You might have to suffer through an ad to get access, but it's worth it.)<BR/><BR/>One of the most potent paeans is "Obama can end the culture war":<BR/>www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama<BR/><BR/>I'd be delighted if either Obama or Edwards or Kucinish got elected. Kucinich has pretty much been washed out, alas. <BR/><BR/>Like everyone else, I have grave reservations about Hillary. She not only voted for the war but kept voting to fund it...and she's a triangulator, like her husband and the whole DNC crowd who think they can finesse the culture war by giving the Repubs most of what they want. No, we've reached the point where you can't compromise anymore. When it comes to torture and repealing habeas corpus, that's where you have to draw the line -- and Hillary didn't. She just didn't. <BR/><BR/>Is it just my imagination, or is Obama the only adult in the group? Chronologically younger than all the others, he somehow seems much more mature. Where other candidates react to criticism with infantile hissy fits, Obama responds with grace and aplomb when heckled. That bodes well. <BR/><BR/>On the the science/tech front, here's a fascinating experiment that combines transparency with interactivity -- homeowners were given a "gateway" system that allowed appliances to sense stress on the power grid and change their behavior (i.e., reduce water temperature in the water heater, etc.) to compensate. The results were reportedly a rousing success:<BR/>http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080110-electric-grid-meets-web-2-0-savings-results.html<BR/><BR/>Antimatter cloud in our galaxy mapped and it appears to be lopsided:<BR/>http://pda.physorg.com/lofi-news-antimatter-positrons-matter_119109289.html<BR/><BR/>http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=&xml=/earth/2008/01/09/scianti109.xml<BR/><BR/>No one is sure what causes it yet, but the evidence appears to lean away from dark matter and toward black holes.<BR/><BR/>"Astronomers describe violent universe" -- the new vocabulary includes terms like "slow strangulation," "stripping," and "harassment" (LOL):<BR/>http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D8U3VVOG1&show_article=1<BR/><BR/>Professor Grigoriy Andrievsky has proposed that C60 Fullerenes might have been the templates used by very basic amino acids to form the first strands of life (DNA) in earth’s pre-mordial soup, billions of years ago. If true, this would go a long way toward filling the missing link in the origins of life on earth:<BR/>http://smarteconomy.typepad.com/smart_economy/2008/01/what-came-befor.htmlAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-47328321021103532442008-01-12T14:24:00.000-08:002008-01-12T14:24:00.000-08:00My favorite international response to Obama was fr...My favorite international response to Obama was from <A HREF="http://www.thoughtleader.co.za/charlenesmith/2008/01/04/hope-returns-to-politics-obamas-victory-and-what-it-means-for-global-politics/" REL="nofollow">South Africa</A>:<BR/><BR/><I>Damn, I love Americans. Just when you’ve written them off as hopeless, as a nation in decline, they turn around and do something extraordinary, which tells you why the United States of America is still the greatest nation on earth.</I>Xactiphynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08254344563346437079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-62027997307534659822008-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:002008-01-12T12:04:00.000-08:00Here's a cool video from NASA: cameras on a solid ...Here's a <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8azRu2stO4" REL="nofollow">cool video</A> from NASA: cameras on a solid rocket booster recording both video and audio, from apogee to splashdown. The first SRB splashes down and then a few seconds later you see the second one hit the water just a few hundred meters away!<BR/><BR/>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8azRu2stO4Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-80261683508214204642008-01-12T08:50:00.000-08:002008-01-12T08:50:00.000-08:00Sorry I can't ever vote for Clinton. Her experien...Sorry I can't ever vote for Clinton. Her experience is base on being married to a politician. She has no real life work.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand Obama, has been a colledge teacher, work as a community organizer, and a civil rights lawyer. <BR/><BR/>I hope he will surround himself with excellent people.ChickJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00818503651897990731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-30204076037674875722008-01-12T08:35:00.000-08:002008-01-12T08:35:00.000-08:00Here's another story about electricity from waste ...<A HREF="http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/35579/113/" REL="nofollow">Here's another story about electricity from waste heat</A>. I'm not quite sure I understand the science here either even with <A HREF="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v451/n7175/abs/nature06381.html" REL="nofollow">this rough description in Nature</A>. I was never very good at the electrical parts in physics.<BR/><BR/>I think I have to call shenanigans on the "spacecraft" photos too, they're so blurry they don't reveal anything, including scale. And the other contents of that site are kinda flaky too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-36577798023935709152008-01-12T06:56:00.000-08:002008-01-12T06:56:00.000-08:00Its too early in the day to get into political mod...Its too early in the day to get into political mode, but....<BR/><BR/>In our current unhealthy body politic nobody actually is running on the traditional "Here I stand" basis. Americans do not want to hear about difficult issues, and the candidates sure do not want to go near them. The media (I no longer differentiate between the news and entertainment divisions) should be encouraging serious debate, but instead goes for fluff and horseraces.<BR/><BR/>Essentially it comes down to the candidates projecting the message that "Hey, the world is a complex place, trust me to handle it".<BR/><BR/>H. Clinton is smart, her record in Congress suggests she is a prudent person, one even we conservatives could get along with. But fundamentally she is not trusted, not by either end of the political spectrum.<BR/><BR/>This may be unfair. But the fact is that not everyone holds the previous Clinton administration in high esteem, and the feeling is that H.Clinton's election would be 4/8 more years of the same.<BR/><BR/>So it will be Obama on the Dem. side I suspect. And he may do well. If he is wise he will give great thought to his VP choice and to his inner circle of advisors. Oh but that G. Bush had started out doing so!.<BR/><BR/>Too soon to comment on the GOP side.<BR/><BR/>Tacitus2Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-12280098205060665702008-01-12T06:14:00.000-08:002008-01-12T06:14:00.000-08:00The Walson stuff is more than a little suspect. N...The Walson stuff is more than a little suspect. No info (even after a Google sarch) on what his technique is, what we are really seeing. The ISS and space shuttle examples are pretty poor, so what are we to make of the other random blobs and streaks. If his technique was any good, let's see something that is really recognizable as good quality - like shots of the moon which we could compare to known, high quality images.Alex Tolleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556422553154817988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-78106565635157370982008-01-12T06:13:00.000-08:002008-01-12T06:13:00.000-08:00On Obama:I've found myself leaning towards him for...On Obama:<BR/>I've found myself leaning towards him for the simple reason that he, if you pardon my language, is the one who's going to piss off people the least. <BR/>In spite of some Neanderthal pundits trying to hook on some negative Muslim connections (because they can't just come out and call him an "n-word" anymore, at least not in public) he seems to be able to be the best bridge builder of all the candidates. <BR/><BR/>On fem-bots:<BR/>I was recently struck by the concept of "Guitar Hero." It used to be one of the only ways that certain guys would ever meet women was to play in a band, now they can play in a band without leaving behind their video game console...sad news for their reproductive potential. <BR/>It was probably developed by that same group of alien conquerors.Matt DeBlasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17666227904684289223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-38805448926161134032008-01-12T03:11:00.000-08:002008-01-12T03:11:00.000-08:00I read through the entire page on the supposed "sp...I read through the entire page on the supposed "spaceships" orbiting earth, and I'm fairly certain it's BS, or at least most of it is. I believe that he's found a way to get great images from his telescope, and that he's seen lots of junk up in orbit, but the supposed size comparisons are ridiculous. The ISS orbits at an average of 340 km above the earth, often higher. There's nothing to stop LEO debris from falling far lower into the Earth's gravity well, especially if it's nonfunctional it could easy get below 160 km and still be up there for a reasonable amount of time. He can't say how far away the objects are so the size comparisons are moot. Plus, a few of his images of "unknown" LEO-objects look a lot like discarded booster sections to me, I don't know at what orbit the Saturn V and other large craft jetissoned their secondary or tertiary boosters but I'm willing to bet a few of those are still in orbit. It's possible that a lot of the satelites are part of an american weapons system ... but it wouldn't be the great revelation that the author of that article seems to think it would be if the debris was revealed to be even orbital lasers.<BR/><BR/>And to top it off the video with "Actual Sounds From These Space Machines" is ridiculous. Sure if they're in LEO there's enough of an atmosphere to cause drag, but not enough to transmit sound! The only way he could have actually recorded sound from them is with a laser such as the ones used by special forces to spy on conversations through glass, but I doubt that any such device would function at a target 160 km away! <BR/><BR/>But the biggest reason not to take much of that article seriously, beyond all the inaccuracies, small and large, in the article: the website it's posted on.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-7751210405722750362008-01-11T23:29:00.000-08:002008-01-11T23:29:00.000-08:00Regarding holodecks and the like, there's always t...Regarding holodecks and the like, there's always the possibility that things get better if men are otherwise occupied.<BR/><BR/>On the political front, I just can't trust Huckabee at all. He lets himself get pushed around by the wrong people way too easily, and the fact that he's selling (or was suckered by, neither option is good) the fairtax con isn't a good sign either.<BR/><BR/> - David Terrelldbthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12589174899207070773noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8587336.post-20758045010025336792008-01-11T21:49:00.000-08:002008-01-11T21:49:00.000-08:00adiffer... was that the sound of a volunteer?adiffer... was that the sound of a volunteer?David Brinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14465315130418506525noreply@blogger.com