vger

The Kraken isn't an easter egg, but given how it's practically turned into a Kerbal meme, it seriously ought to be.

Yeah, you've got me wondering about farming efficiency now. Granted, this is probably going too far into speculative territory now, but I wonder how good our farming would be if we actually had to go completely natural. If the pesticides and the GMO concerns actually prove to be legit (and if something in either of those is actually responsible for the decline of the honey bee), would crops still be capable of higher efficiency? I doubt there's even any effective way to research that at this point.

Comet? They're constantly releasing energy which could make for a convenient 'mask.'

In spite of what some will tell you about soy being one of the greatest health foods ever, soy can wreak havoc with thyroid function. Like olive oil it's quite healthy in small portions, but to be eating it all the time? We would probably be looking at an epidemic if the whole world jumped on the soy bandwagon.

Nuke, I've been trying to get the hang of Eastern cooking for quite a while now, still failing miserably. I must say, it's amazing I haven't seen companies like Hamburger Helper or Knorr selling more pre-made mixes for such dishes. The main culprit seems to be cows, not meat in general. They fart.... a LOT. And Methane has a lot more potency to do damage than CO2. Though frankly, I'd be more interested in seeing if it might be possible to harvest the methane, at least at night when the cows are indoors (and no, I'm not suggesting we 'plug' them into anything).

All part of the same cycle really. If it's in the animals, it's in the dirt. If it's in the dirt, it's in the plants.

Gosh, I can't even imagine getting drunk on beer. It takes so unbelievably long compared to other alcohols, and it fills your belly a lot quicker. Alright, that's a little extreme. There are a LOT of VERY tasty vegan meals out there, so from a business perspective, there's no logical reason to not include them.

This also makes for a convenient farming cycle. Raise animals on poor soil and over time they'll fertilize it for you. Groups/labels typically get judged by their most outspoken members. You say "Muslim" and people think "Suicide Bomber." "Liberal: Welfare Queen" "Republican: Woman Hater." Etc, etc, etc. Doesn't matter if those examples are in the extreme minority, it's the extreme examples that always end up being the stereotype. In the case of vegetarian/vegan, the most outspoken of them don't even need to tell you that's what they are. You can figure it out really quickly just by the disgusted way they talk when you grab for a buffalo wing. They ask "You eat meat?" but it comes out sounding like, "You ignorant savage!"

Heh, I remember when everyone thought that NYC was safe from Hurricanes. I'd been expecting to happen ever since Floyd of '99. For just about everything I've seen of human behavior, we are almost exclusively a reactive species as a whole, and have little interest in preventative measures. Only AFTER a disaster has already happened, do we pay attention for more than five minutes. It also doesn't help that most problems that threaten us today, are "frog on a hot plate" situations.

Unless something isn't being shown in the OP, I'm not sure it's even bothering with coordinates right now.

One of the other issues I've always had with this, also fits in with an issue that I have with medicine, particularly when it comes to nutrition. There are lot of people out there who have had an imbalance of some sort, whether it be nutritional, thyroid, hormones, etc, who have had to get supplementation in order to feel better. The trouble is, there are many times where an individual gets their levels to be within the accepted normal range, yet they still FEEL awful. Sometimes these people have to jump from doc to doc until they find one who doesn't ONLY look at the lab work, but also considers how the patient feels. Further experimentation with dosages then reveals that the person feels fine, when they are OUTSIDE the accepted healthy range of the test results. Clearly, we're not all wired quite the same. We look different, come in all shapes in sizes, have different skin colors, sexual preferences, taste preferences (and remember, a lot of the reason taste exists is so in the absence of civilization, we more or less could instinctively eat what our bodies needed), etc. With such diversity, it seems silly to assume that what is optimal for one person is going to be the same for another, and yet we do that very thing all the time. We all probably have different needs. Take Celiac Disease for example. The genes that increase the likelihood of getting it is most commonly found in people who are of European descent. It is much less commonly found in people who are from further East. I rather doubt it's a mere coincidence that it happens to be the same region where wheat originated. And here's that assumption I referred to earlier, that plants are less deserving of life.

They're calling it "blind luck" that one of them hasn't landed in a major city yet. It'll happen, sooner or later. Also, the fact that most of these are in such remote areas means nobody is even around to see them. Out of sight, out of mind. Sadly.

Are you just talking about particle effects, or did the asteroid actually 'break apart?' If it's the latter, my next ship is totally going up to fire a crapload of SRB's at an asteroid. Edit: Poo, just saw the correction of the 'babies' thing.

Maybe we have to blame the ice age for the switch to an omnivorous diet. There probably simply wasn't enough plant life to sustain humans living in the colder climates.

My opinion on the whole Vegan vs. Meat fiasco reminds me a lot of the abortion debate. It all depends on where you want to draw your line, but none of it can be defined as some kind of universal law. The argument that animals have more of a right to life than plants is purely based on perception. Just as some animal rights activists worry more about baby seals being clubbed than alligators being turned into handbags (mammals are cute and cuddly and therefore get more sympathy than reptiles), there seems to be an assumption that because animals are easier to relate to (they do a lot of the same things we do), they are 'more alive' than plants. Some studies even suggest that plants can feel pain, albeit in a different way from a central nervous system. They can even communicate with each other using chemical signals. If we were honest with ourselves about it, we'd all have to figure out a diet based on dirt and rocks. On the nutritional side of it, I have found no practical way of living a healthy diet strictly on fruits and vegetables. At the very least, you'll have to take nutritional supplements to compensate. Some people are just 'tough' enough that they can go for long periods of malnutrition without experiencing any problems (heck, some POW's survived for decades on bread and water), but it WILL take its toll on the body. Some people have become very ill trying to live on a strictly plant-based diet. And good luck to anyone trying it who has a nightshade allergy, since nightshades are among the most important vegetables.

With Jeb, everything's a rollercoaster. I'm amazed he doesn't throw his arms up in the air when the chute fails to open.

http://kerbal-alliance.forum.com.bz/

I don't have enough time to reply to anything tonight, but in the event that WWIII breaks loose before tomorrow afternoon and this all gets locked, let me just say, this is some great feedback. Well-thought-out and inspiring responses. I'm thoroughly enjoying reading them.

Uhhh... a game about exploration isn't pointless?

I read that work is in progress that will allow 'Watson' to connect to any mobile device. I think it's already happening

Before you even think of replying to this, heed this warning. THIS IS NOT ABOUT DEBATING WHETHER OR NOT A GOD EXISTS. If the thread turns ugly, you know what will happen to it, and appropriately so. After the holiday weekend and watching a lot of online banter between Atheists and Christians, I started really thinking hard about what classifies as proof in such extreme circumstances. Pondering things for a time, I was hit with some interesting realizations. Even though popular culture would say otherwise, proof of 'ghosts' would not prove there is an afterlife. Proof of an afterlife would not prove there is a god. Even proof of a devil wouldn't prove there is a god. So I wondered what would happen if the actual real god (keep in mind, I'm not referring to any particular god from a certain faith, simply a sentient entity that willed the universe into being) showed up and said, "Here I am." How would it prove to a skeptic that it was indeed a god? I've played out a number of different scenarios in my head, but none of them led to concrete evidence. For instance, it could say, "Well to show you I'm God, I'll blow up the moon. It points to the moon, the moon explodes. Ignoring the panic about an impending rain of meteors and tidal waves, a skeptic could say, "Well that's not proof. You could have rigged the moon with a massive explosive beforehand." I'm not even sure if that alternative explanation defies Occam's Razor or not (because an actual god brings about a lot of questions), but the point is such a 'miracle' would not be sufficient proof. Furthermore, other forms of evidence such as clairvoyance, mind reading, prophecy, etc. would also still not prove that the being actually created the Universe. It could still just be some alien visitor who knows the history of our civilization, and is 'playing god' for some other motive. I'm pretty sure Jesus was even accused of such a thing (reading the prophecies and then setting out to try and recreate them), and that was in a VERY superstitious era, where people were not as quick to doubt what was told them. One could conceivably "scooby doo" any bizarre phenomenon that they witnessed. Atheism and people of Faith butt heads on this all the time, and many say that it isn't possible to prove, or disprove the existence of a god. And now I'm wondering if it would even possible if a god itself were present to partake in the debate. So, thoughts? What would it take for a god to prove itself to you?

I thought somebody mentioned procedural fairings? What's with the yellow egg though? It looks like the textures are going haywire.

Alright, umm... the official main page being a forum was sort of disheartening. I was expecting a title page. Where's the "About" section and the trailers?

There's a couple of apps out there already, that allow people to run evolution simulations on their own computers. Heavily simplified of course, but there's probably far more advanced ones running on supercomputers that I'm not aware of.

Things have changed a great deal since then. Notice how full-motion capture is now more or less a necessary feature in gaming consoles? When Nintendo did things like the Power Pad back in the 80's, it was gimmicky and supported only a tiny handful of games, and had nowhere near as much functionality. Current technology also allows us to achieve things that VR could never have done in the 90's, without the clunky headgear, and even without external tracking devices. And, just in case you never saw this before... Now picture that, but give the device the ability to map the layout of the house, and then superimpose virtual objects in it. Your home, your backyard, or anywhere else, immediately becomes your playing field. The computing power may not quite be there yet to track all of the motion and update it fast enough, but it will be there soon enough.