Bill Phil

Solar storms.

Sure they can. If it was done at all then that proves it. But it wasn't a good strategy.

And that's still possible. It's just not tied to the rep system. You can still do that...

OP also mentioned destroying natural features.

I wouldn't say it was more meaningful. I don't remember the variable points thing, but leaving a message was a redundant feature. It's a forum, you can already post and send messages. Definitely faceborg-esque. Although I do remember having trouble finding out which button was the rep button... so I think making it easier to find was a good change.

"Rep farming"? Are we really stooping that low? The rep button used to be inconspicuous. After an update to the forums (I think it was the migration to this platform) there was a "like" button instead. Rep became much easier to acquire. Even so, it's pretty meaningless. I guess rep could be construed as "internet points."

Mine is the logo of the 21st Space Wing. I decided that would be a cool thing to have as an avatar...

This is the only known biosphere. Can't really pollute something if it doesn't exist. If there's no life there now, it's perfectly fine to do whatever. Space is huge. And leaving things the way they are just isn't what humans really do. After all, we've changed our living environment. Once we've learned most of what we can about the celestial body in question, we can then mine it. And if we're talking about colonization then we're bringing life to (hopefully) lifeless rocks, which seems pretty ethical.

I don't know. Maybe. Depends on your judgement.

If those resources go to supporting life, then yeah. At least as long as there isn't life already there.

I can vouch for that. Kansas is very middle of nowhere. I drove through on the way to Wyoming. It's pretty empty.

So you haven't seen "Best of Both Worlds." They do something to reroute stuff through the deflector and... it doesn't help at all.

I don't think humans will be involved until rather late in the process. Getting more mass up there is easier once costs go down, which is the idea behind NG, afaik. Depots and tugs may help as well. Redundancy is the name of the game. Redundancy. Redundancy. Redundancy.

Well, they use their science and technology to solve their problems. There are many examples of some kind of use of science as a major story element, and their equipment has its limits. There's a whole episode dedicated to proving that a seemingly god-like being is just someone with sufficiently advanced technology. I'd argue that what constitutes sci-fi is more than just realism. Theme also plays a role. Star Trek's big theme is the benefits of science and technology and how these are some of our greatest tools to solve problems. In Star Wars, it's about the Force and balance, and technology is even painted as "the bad guy", symbolized by the technologically advanced Empire. Even Vader says that the Force is more powerful than their technology. Compare this to Star Trek, where they rely on their science, intelligence, and technology to accomplish their goals. The science and technology aren't real, but they are recognizable as science and technology, at least generally.

That's just what a meme is. It comes from a word that means "to mimic" or "to imitate." It's like how "theory" in common vernacular isn't a scientific theory at all. A "meme" in common vernacular is not a meme in the memetic sense, but also is at the same time... Since anything can be a meme any definition is technically correct. Dawkins coined the term. I think his idea and the ideas he agreed with regarding it take precedence. Ever since the creation of dictionaries the change in the definition of words has begun to slow down as well. We're talking about language with language. Neat. We won't accomplish much by diving into semantics, though.

There are internet memes, and then there are actual memes. One could argue that language is a meme... or a family of memes. Something to that effect. A meme is a concept or idea that passes from person to person. Analogous to a gene, but in terms of thoughts. As such, almost anything can be a meme.

Well, just about anything society does on a regular basis is a series of mind-boggling engineering tricks one after another. Only difference is that we have an atmosphere we can live in, so death isn't as likely. It's difficult engineering. But that's kind of the point. If money is behind it, then it'll probably happen. No bucks, no Buck Rogers. Having a back up is always good.

Apollo got away with less than 5000 kg, for the LM ascent stage. But I think the intent is to create a refueling infrastructure on the lunar surface. That, combined with a transportation system for LEO-LLO and vice versa, is probably the plan...

War of the Words Debate club has never been this intense!

For being new to the forums. Welcome.

They don't call it a cult classic for nothing, you know.

I remember seeing a mention of APO in the recent books...

Remember: in space, there isn't anything we can use for scale. Without a known size we can't really tell how big it is from a picture. Not unless we had something else for reference, like an astronaut or the Apollo LM. If that's Blue Moon then it's intended to land 4500 kg of payload onto the lunar surface. Similar in size to the Apollo LM, I would suspect. If it uses similar propellants. If it uses hydrolox it would be larger in physical size, but likely lighter overall.

Let's see: Should I pick one overpriced product, or another? Or maybe another overpriced option? This is no joke, smart phones are way overpriced. At least the flagship products are. You can get one new for 40 bucks. Sure, it's not as fancy as the new ones nearing 1000 dollars in price, but, like a car, it doesn't have to be all that expensive. It just needs to work. And for a hundred or so more, you can get a rather decent phone, rivalling the fancier ones. As for me, I'm stuck with with an iPhone. Not too expensive though. Although I might try out other brands in the future.

Give it a break, if you need it. You're under no obligation to keep playing this game. But it'll eat at your insides until you come back... Give yourself an unorthodox challenge, take yourself out of your comfort zone. Another solar system, a larger solar system, mods, and more are all available to you.