Now Playing in a Future Near You
Ascent Stage 1 and Science, or "A Book of Prophecies"
AS1 highlights failures, fallacies and folly - but isn't fantasy.
Further reading (and listening):
Detente
"Just before departure from the Moon on Apollo 14 mission, Alan B. Shepard drove a golf ball on the lunar surface. The golf club was a contingency sample extension handle with a No. 6 iron golf club head attached. The one- sixth gravity on the Moon compensated for the difficulty Shepard had making a good swing in his bulky space suit and back pack."
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/attm/la.a14.html
"Neil Tyson points out that there are three historic rationales for macroengineering projects. And some macroengineering projects have as reasons a combination of them. The first rationale is warfare. The Great Wall of China falls into this category. The second is as a monument to power. The Egyptian pyramids and St. Peter’s Cathedral fall squarely into this one. The third reason is to make a big pile of money."
http://ssi.org/?page_id=2
The Jam
"...no one doubts the technology exists to produce a flying car. The challenge is to make it safe to operate, and that means turning the driver into a passenger..."
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2626675
"Years ago, Sam Moskowitz quipped that anyone could have predicted the automobile — but it would take a science-fiction writer to predict the traffic jam."
http://www.sfwriter.com/lecture1.htm
Stormsong
"The number of super-powerful storms like Hurricane Katrina has nearly doubled and there will be even more in the future as the world's oceans continue to warm, scientists say. "
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30308
"It's long been a dream that we might someday be able to control our weather. Imagine being able to avoid drought and floods, moderate storms and generally try to avoid the worst of Mother Nature's wrath. When scientists dream, reality follows."
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/02-03/mp3/qq010303a.mp3
"Suppose an embryonic tornado is spotted somewhere in America's heartland. A couple of satellites with suitable orbits would be instructed to break off power transmission and switch their microwave transmitters from the usual operating frequency of 2.5 GHz - which allows microwaves to pass unimpeded through clouds and rain, delivering electrical power in any weather - to at least 30 GHz. At these frequencies, Eastlund says, clouds and rain absorb microwaves and heat up. As he envisions it, the satellites would wheel around to warm an area of the storm, suppressing the downdrafts that drive tornado formation. "
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.01/weather_pr.html
The Isolate
"When you have good reasons to believe that the patient may benefit from a procedure, you must use it even if the science of it will not be immediately clarified."
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13286/
Ripper
"Second Life is a place where people and companies pay millions for exclusive real estate, designer clothes and luxury vehicles. Nothing is real, though, except for the money. "
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20061103090214491
"Simply being in Second Life is not always a comfortable experience. The problem of lag can make it a frustrating test of patience, the number of security attacks which cause shutdown are increasing and, despite the much heralded arrival of the millionth member, it can often seem to almost echo with emptiness"
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1930135,00.html
The Ice Train
"L3 in the Sun–Earth system exists on the opposite side of the Sun, a little farther away from the Sun than the Earth is, where the combined pull of the Earth and Sun again causes the object to orbit with the same period as the Earth."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point#L3
"ANDREWS SPACE OF SEATTLE has awarded SpaceDev a contract to design a small spacecraft to travel through a gravity tunnel - part of the InterPlanetary Superhighway or IPS, a route that eats up less fuel than normal trajectories - to the moon, for the very first time ever."
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=24563
AS1 highlights failures, fallacies and folly - but isn't fantasy.
Further reading (and listening):
Detente
"Just before departure from the Moon on Apollo 14 mission, Alan B. Shepard drove a golf ball on the lunar surface. The golf club was a contingency sample extension handle with a No. 6 iron golf club head attached. The one- sixth gravity on the Moon compensated for the difficulty Shepard had making a good swing in his bulky space suit and back pack."
http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/attm/la.a14.html
"Neil Tyson points out that there are three historic rationales for macroengineering projects. And some macroengineering projects have as reasons a combination of them. The first rationale is warfare. The Great Wall of China falls into this category. The second is as a monument to power. The Egyptian pyramids and St. Peter’s Cathedral fall squarely into this one. The third reason is to make a big pile of money."
http://ssi.org/?page_id=2
The Jam
"...no one doubts the technology exists to produce a flying car. The challenge is to make it safe to operate, and that means turning the driver into a passenger..."
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=2626675
"Years ago, Sam Moskowitz quipped that anyone could have predicted the automobile — but it would take a science-fiction writer to predict the traffic jam."
http://www.sfwriter.com/lecture1.htm
Stormsong
"The number of super-powerful storms like Hurricane Katrina has nearly doubled and there will be even more in the future as the world's oceans continue to warm, scientists say. "
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30308
"It's long been a dream that we might someday be able to control our weather. Imagine being able to avoid drought and floods, moderate storms and generally try to avoid the worst of Mother Nature's wrath. When scientists dream, reality follows."
http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/02-03/mp3/qq010303a.mp3
"Suppose an embryonic tornado is spotted somewhere in America's heartland. A couple of satellites with suitable orbits would be instructed to break off power transmission and switch their microwave transmitters from the usual operating frequency of 2.5 GHz - which allows microwaves to pass unimpeded through clouds and rain, delivering electrical power in any weather - to at least 30 GHz. At these frequencies, Eastlund says, clouds and rain absorb microwaves and heat up. As he envisions it, the satellites would wheel around to warm an area of the storm, suppressing the downdrafts that drive tornado formation. "
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.01/weather_pr.html
The Isolate
"When you have good reasons to believe that the patient may benefit from a procedure, you must use it even if the science of it will not be immediately clarified."
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/13286/
Ripper
"Second Life is a place where people and companies pay millions for exclusive real estate, designer clothes and luxury vehicles. Nothing is real, though, except for the money. "
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20061103090214491
"Simply being in Second Life is not always a comfortable experience. The problem of lag can make it a frustrating test of patience, the number of security attacks which cause shutdown are increasing and, despite the much heralded arrival of the millionth member, it can often seem to almost echo with emptiness"
http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,,1930135,00.html
The Ice Train
"L3 in the Sun–Earth system exists on the opposite side of the Sun, a little farther away from the Sun than the Earth is, where the combined pull of the Earth and Sun again causes the object to orbit with the same period as the Earth."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point#L3
"ANDREWS SPACE OF SEATTLE has awarded SpaceDev a contract to design a small spacecraft to travel through a gravity tunnel - part of the InterPlanetary Superhighway or IPS, a route that eats up less fuel than normal trajectories - to the moon, for the very first time ever."
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=24563
