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Newt

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Everything posted by Newt

  1. I was also a luker here for quite a long time before I registered, and it is always nice to see others join. Welcome to the land of the posters!
  2. 'tis I, Newt, not Andrew123. Sephta?
  3. Greetings Evan. I remember my first trip to the Moon, very thrilling indeed. See you around, and happy 1.0 (and patches)!
  4. There might conceivably also be a way to absorb and store all of the energy from radar/ambient light that might hit a spacecraft as well, but it would likely be very difficult and costly to do for any length of time.
  5. It seems like we are arguing over semantics, which is not what this thread is about. Regardless of whether the thread is about inability to die or inability to age, it is pretty clearly not about word useage. In my personal understanding of the word, as a native US English speaker, I took the OP as being correct; you are immortal if you have a hypothetically limitless lifespan--you are invincible if you cannot be killed. Anyway. Having immortality would be rather a practical problem for infrastructure, obviously, and would need to be handled very delicatley due to the potential problems that it would cause, with overpopulation in particular. Most probably, that would be helped ny the fact that becoming immortal likely would not be cheap, and would certainly be difficult to argue as needed in most cases, you would be hard pressed to convince any medical insurance (or government service, I imagine) to cover the costs of what would seem to be an optional proceedure. It would also be highly controversial, facilities offering the service would face protests and potential difficulties getting public funding, as some would argue about the entire thing as being 'unnatural' and bad. As far as what would happen to a person, I think, after a few millenia, they would still be themself. Changed, yes, but themself. Even over the 80 or 90 years that many people live these days, most individuals in their twenties are not really the same as they are in their 80's, they are the same person, still because not only do they share a body, but because those changes passed slowly, an evolution from the 20 year old to the 80 year old. Now, over a millenium, this would be only really different as far as degree to which the change is made, but the principal is the same. On a personal note, my grandfather, when he was getting old (somewhat over 100 when he died some years ago), was an interesting person to talk to. He was physically active, as much as you could expect from a person his age, he would climb orange trees to get fruit, that sort of thing. Now, of his childhood, he could remember some things, he remembered his mothers name, for instance, but not the names of his siblings. I highly doubt he 'capped out' his memory, he just forgot, like you might forget the password to an email account after sevral years of not siging in. There was not some reason (it was not like the siblings were taken away when he was a baby) it was just that he could not remember, he had not seen them in so long. I rather doubt that there was a moment when he ceased to be the same person as he would have been, as a kid, to the person that I knew, it was progressive. By the end, he may have been a 'different person', but I see little reason that he should be spoken of as different entities in his youth and old age, as some people in this thread almost seem to be suggesting, is absurd. Of course he changed. We all change, all the time. But changing progressivley, as a result of thoughts, experiences, and understandings does not make one cease to be the same person. That would be like suggesting that I cannot move to a different country, because if I do, I will die, and someone else will live in my body as the experience will transform me into a new person. It makes no sense.
  6. That looks so much like some Ranger impactor images. Mercury, is an interesting place. Ranger VIII preparing for lithobrake-landing proceedure. 1965.
  7. Are you meaning, converting a person to some digital state and reproducing them after some time? That seems possible, but very science fiction at this time (not that cryosleep is not still, too). If you are meaning more literally how the Minecraft mod seems to do it, then, no. Not with just a hardrive. You would need some very fantastic tools to do it in the first place. I disagree that they would not survive, though. More likely you would push the button (or whatever), and they would be unaffected.
  8. This is certainly neat, I like all the details in the control panel (and in general). I have done some physical modeling, mostly scratch clay scifi models, and paper. More recently I have been getting into computer modeling, which is fun, but very different.
  9. Hahaha! Not Duodex, but I, Newt. White Owl?
  10. It is certainly an interesting thing to look at, but as Teamwork said, it is generally difficult on smaller missions. Especially when you are trying to launch from the ground (trying to take big tanks of algae, while logical for air production, is not so good for fuel costs). However, as we look further into the future, I agree heartily. CELSS would be vital, to a large and efficient base, wither on the Moon, Mars, Venus or orbit, or wherever else, not to mention large spacecraft on interstellar missions. Whether it should immediatley be a priority to develop, though, I am uncertain. CELSS will be vital, yes, but there are many other things that areguably are more important to do. If NASA (or whomever) is not given the support to do a large mission in which such a life support system is practical, then the need is not quite so present.
  11. Well, it is going fast enough to be treated as a meteor, so it will proably follow the general rules for depth. That might suggest about 3m depth, or a bit more. The ejecta will not go far, certainly, probably invisible until the next orbiter mission. For those who are interested, a rather interesting site about impact crater formation can be found here. That is the source of the image, and my rough estimate.
  12. Regarding the engine use limit, it appears to me (after further experimentation) that it may be triggerd by prolonged inactivity. But this is not positively confirmed or timed. I once got the 'Target Locked' statement, and let it proceed. Within a short period, I crashed into the Leader. That is probably what it reffers to, I imagine.
  13. As a matter of fact, I do have an XT8. It is nice for the sort of casual observation you seem to be going for. I have done a little photography with it, and it is not that great of course, without tracking et cetera, but it works. I have visually resolved some things of interest, easily all four large Jovian moons, as well as some bands, the Red Spot, crescent of Venus, Saturn (initially found by pointing at a bright but unidentified star. That was fun), lots of craters on the Moon (who would have guessed?) and the Orion Nebula, among other targets. I have not really looked at Mars, however, which strikes me as strange. I will have to remedy that. Regarding aiming, the viewfinder is pretty good as relates to finding what you are looking for, iff you know where it is to begin with, and especially if you can actually see the target visually (or with binoculars). It is possible, but slow to point it without, and seems to me easier to align the viewfinder than some larger telescope viewfinders (with the obvious drawback of the 0 magnification one here). Structurally, the base and telescope are sound. Granted, I have treated mine delicatley, but all the components are sturdy, and can hold up well after several years of bumping around. There is one exception, in my case at least, as one of the grips on the focus broke off fairly early on. This, however, poses no problem for overal useability and seems an anomoly. As far as transportability, it is not as easy to pack and move as many smaller telescopes; it is bulky and somewhat massive to carry by hand for long stretches, but as a Dobsonian, it is very easy to set up once you get to a flat place, essentially just set the two parts together and lock some springs to hold the telescope to the mount. If you have a car/truck to move it with, you should be good, without need for any help. Reading over some of your desired parameters, I would imagine that it would suite your needs pretty well, and I would gladly answer any specific questions you have about it.
  14. I never saw this before. But I just had a stint (named Newt) as the leader. I was killed when my fuel ran out at 2509 points, and someone hit me. The next leader had 1100 points, so I am happy.
  15. In another thread, it was noted that this would be the needed response for that problem.
  16. Whenever I refresh there is a whole new page. Anyway, I alas shall have to be leaving before I can see it. But have fun to all who can stay. Be careful not to start a planet wide winter with all the dust from rocket launches.
  17. If I understand correctly, it is the server being down, not your browser.
  18. I raise my now empty teacup as I sign off and go to bed. Thank you Squad. Thank you.
  19. It adds suspense, which is highly important in a situation such as this. Were the website up, it would seem too routine. You need the uncertain release time, and the down website to build the mood.
  20. It is always midnight--somewhere. No?
  21. I was thinking something along those lines too, replicating something from all those years ago. Flying to Jool with a tiny probe, in my case. Ah, .18, my Astronomy class had some good days planning flights to the Mun that year. So i would expect at least 12 hours till release. Maybe more. Well, What really does that make as far as difference. 1.0 is comming. 1.0 is comming very soon. In the greater picture, what is twelve hours to two? It is almost here either way.
  22. Better internet speed? For a huge limitation on content? Absolutley not. Push the button for universal free gasoline.
  23. Wait, you need graphics better than this?
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