Search found 498 matches

by CaptainBeowulf
Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:15 am
Forum: General
Topic: Can you smell any weed in space?
Replies: 0
Views: 2236

Can you smell any weed in space?

Well, not really, but apparently you can smell something - maybe ions. Interesting story, relevant to the space and science interests of this crowd, but seems to fit best in general... although it might disappoint because it's not about drugs: http://www.space.com/16688-what-does-space-smell-like.ht...
by CaptainBeowulf
Fri Jul 13, 2012 8:41 am
Forum: News
Topic: Mach Effect progress
Replies: 2707
Views: 1466726

Quite frankly I think that the occasional comparison of Mach Effect to other concepts is useful. A bit of comparison helps to show which theory is more solid - and so far, M-E has beaten others out... accepting that this all a bit "fringe"... but M-E much less so (based in established speculation ab...
by CaptainBeowulf
Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:02 am
Forum: News
Topic: A particle so evil it's very existence threatens mankind!
Replies: 31
Views: 34621

Around the same time, there is a claimed observation of dark matter, which got a bit overshadowed by the claimed observation of the Higgs:

http://gizmodo.com/5923832/scientists-o ... -time-ever
by CaptainBeowulf
Wed Jun 27, 2012 2:24 am
Forum: General
Topic: Second Worst President in US History.
Replies: 530
Views: 199616

Space is big, and laser beams and particle beams travel at light speed. At geosynchronous orbits and below, that means they can reach out and touch someone/something within a few seconds (or less, depending on when the target is). Add in the light speed delay for observation as well, and then maybe ...
by CaptainBeowulf
Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:19 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Second Worst President in US History.
Replies: 530
Views: 199616

Also, this seems as good a place as any to post this:

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/ ... ost-canada
by CaptainBeowulf
Tue Jun 26, 2012 9:18 pm
Forum: General
Topic: Second Worst President in US History.
Replies: 530
Views: 199616

Such battle stations *would* be possible given a budget of tens of trillions of dollars and a development timeline of a few decades. We can make lasers, we can launch stuff into space. With enough work, we probably can make computers and sensors that can track and target missiles in flight. He just ...
by CaptainBeowulf
Tue Jun 19, 2012 9:07 pm
Forum: News
Topic: Has Wiffleball Been Created Ever?
Replies: 276
Views: 75227

Incidentally, if Stalin hadn't murdered much of the Soviet officer corps in the late 1930s, including Marshall Tukhachevsky, who in his books on "Deep War" laid out the Soviet version of blitzkreig which was used successfully in 1944-45, the Russians may have beaten the Germans quite effectively in ...
by CaptainBeowulf
Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:58 am
Forum: General
Topic: People Need To Be Coerced
Replies: 7
Views: 2210

Note: I do also carry and use reusable bags, but there are situations, as with sloppy meat, where you want to put a certain item in a plastic bag.
by CaptainBeowulf
Thu Jun 07, 2012 2:57 am
Forum: General
Topic: People Need To Be Coerced
Replies: 7
Views: 2210

Oh, also, plastic bag bans may soon be coming to a city near you: http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1207173--plastic-bag-ban-reaction-from-toronto-grocery-shoppers-on-surprise-vote I've either recycled plastic bags or reused them for garbage since the 1990s. For some reason certain types carry on ...
by CaptainBeowulf
Thu Jun 07, 2012 1:45 am
Forum: General
Topic: People Need To Be Coerced
Replies: 7
Views: 2210

I don't advocate encouraging people to smoke, but I do remember over the last 10-15 years, as smoking was progressively banned in bars, bar patios, other venues where people used to smoke and drink, and finally in city parks... as that was happening, people would joke: "just wait, once they have smo...
by CaptainBeowulf
Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:15 am
Forum: General
Topic: Human Evolution Isn't What It Used to Be
Replies: 26
Views: 8711

Well, there's what Skipjack pointed out: It is amount of surface area of the brain that makes much of a difference. Also the way the different areas of the brain are connected. This is fairly well known, and not particularly controversial. It's possible that those larger 1500cc brains weren't as wel...
by CaptainBeowulf
Wed Jun 06, 2012 12:43 am
Forum: General
Topic: Human Evolution Isn't What It Used to Be
Replies: 26
Views: 8711

There was definitely some extermination of potential rivals - the following example is amusing after a fashion: Gregory of Tours recounts to us how Clovis, the first king of "France," (essentially the first Frankish king who successfully added most of Gaul to his domains), gave a speech towards the ...
by CaptainBeowulf
Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:55 am
Forum: General
Topic: Human Evolution Isn't What It Used to Be
Replies: 26
Views: 8711

The social welfare state may be an extreme example of it, but I think that most societies/civilizations - even ones in early transition from stone age to iron age - function to reduce selection pressure. Difficult to say with the ones that conduct organized mass murder - the mass murder is likely in...
by CaptainBeowulf
Wed May 16, 2012 2:34 am
Forum: General
Topic: Manufacturing Poverty
Replies: 89
Views: 16406

North America could easily get off imported oil, if you consider Canadian sources domestic. Combining "fracking" for oil in the continental U.S. with the Alberta oilsands, building the Keystone pipeline and some offshore drilling, and North America could supply all its own oil for a while (decades)....
by CaptainBeowulf
Wed May 16, 2012 2:05 am
Forum: News
Topic: Recovery.Gov Project Tracker
Replies: 1822
Views: 1335591

You explained why many large companies eventually fail. Take Kodak, which we've discussed in a few posts elsewhere on this forum. They seemed to have the film processing/camera market nailed down. Then, digital cameras came along. They didn't have the foresight to spend their large revenues on devel...