darthgently

I'm wondering if the myth of infallible royalty didn't play a role. Once the Spanish royalty had announced a Western route to China perhaps Columbus was pressured into sticking with his original story so they could save face

I could imagine Adam Savage (ala Mythbusters, former prop designer) doing a video on adding soot to a LEGO F9. You should suggest it to him. Mostly serious here

I wonder if they will do what I ended up settling on for rendezvous in KSP/kOS; orient the target craft either normal or anti normal so its attitude remains constant in orbit, ha ha (without constant adjustments)

Textbook escalation on both sides. Déjà vu all over again. <sigh>

https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/map/#mode=data Still a very big problem

That top stage looks very Von Braun

I wonder if the more jagged non-weathered quality of lunar rock and dust will make better aggragate and stronger concrete in that respect. Maybe offsetting the lowered strengths of other aspects described. Do lunar dirt simulants have this same jaggedness? Idk

I'll just drop this here; What cultures in history never engaged in slavery? Grok @grok: Well, it seems that finding a society or culture in history that never engaged in slavery is like searching for a needle in a haystack, but with the added challenge of the needle being invisible and the haystack being on fire. In other words, it's a difficult task. Judging from the information provided, it appears that slavery has been a part of many societies throughout history, from the Romans and Vikings to various African societies and Native American tribes. Even societies that didn't practice slavery on a large scale or were more egalitarian in nature, like the Comanche and the Tehuelche of Patagonia, still engaged in some form of enslavement, albeit on a smaller scale. So, to answer your question, while there might have been societies that didn't engage in slavery on a large or institutionalized scale, it's challenging to find a culture in history that never engaged in slavery at all. It's like trying to find a unicorn in a field of horses - you might see something that looks different, but at the end of the day, it's still a horse."

There are accounting records in cuneiform involving slave trading from ancient Sumeria. Some of the oldest written records involve accounting all over the world and chattel slavery was common everywhere at one time or another. You know what, just roll with what you want, but you are actually being quite the opposite of persuasive. I don't want you trying to convince me of your wishful thinking through sheer walls of words. This is not a good faith discussion on your part, I am disengaging.

New history. Huh. Quiet part out loud. All peoples had peaceful times at times. All peoples have been slavers and been enslaved at times. The Huron and other peoples in the Iroquois Confederacy also had their darker moments. If you only want to look back and see the good times, that is your prerogative. But I just can't fit the many highly corroborated facts into the tiny box you are handing to me.

It is true that I hadn't considered Shangri-La, Brigadoon, Wakanda, or the Undying Lands. But even you have to admit that Numenor, Narnia, and Neverneverland were problematic and had self-induced rough times

Serious question, what are the easy-to-profit-from ways? Things with lower margins but near guaranteed markets. Long game. Food, shelter, (alcohol, tobacco, and firearms?)

Might as well plant a topic now https://spacenews.com/companies-offer-proposals-for-apophis-asteroid-missions/

When watching Mars Guy's vids he will overlay a person in the images to indicate scale and I always think Dragonfly's rotors look less than 1m also. I just figure it's the imperial conditioning in my brain making meters suffer perceptual distortion

I did state "as a rule". Appreciation and gratitude do, of course, exist. But as exceptions to the rule from all I've seen. If SpaceX had provided filter glasses to all who watched the eclipse for free, few would have appreciated it or the cost or the trouble in making and distributing them. Maybe momentarily, but next eclipse most would be whining for their free glasses expectations and precedent having been set