Simon Ross

While I agree with your views on 'battery' farms, the argument that 1Kg of grain fed cow equates to 10Kg of high protein grain is actually a bit of a false argument. One of the reasons meat is still very popular all over the world is simply that it is a VERY good energy source, much more so then any grain gram for gram, in fact the only vegetable to even come to meat in terms of calorific value is the humble potato. Basically you would have to eat a heck of a lot more grain then meat to achieve the same calorific value as part of your diet as well as taking supplements to fill in the gaps of a non meat diet

I favour the Larry Niven solution... Convert the nuclear waste into a glassy solid Place it in a pile in the middle of a desert Place a fence around the pile with a warning 'Cross this fence and you will die' Problem solved

We became omnivorous for a very good, very simple reason, it maximizes our chances of survival. As someone has already mentioned, there does seem to be a pretty strong correlation between brain development and the eating of meat, though this may simply be natural evolutionary pressure exerted on any hunting animal to improve it's kill ratio during hunting. In the end, to eat another animal is simply an ethical choice which having an advanced society allows us to have, for myself, I could never live without bacon sarnies :-)

The large delta wing was simply to meet the USAF requirement for a large cross range capability during rentry

Just finished the book, a very good read :-) If you have never read it, another book in a similar vein http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shipwreck-Gollancz-SF-Charles-Logan/dp/0575019832

In honesty, you don't have to look much further then your nearest bit of vegetation for a pretty alien life form. Takes in CO2 and releases Oxygen as a by product. It kinda debunks one of the main requirements straight away, you pretty much cannot have free oxygen in a standard atmosphere without a life form already producing it

Stop worrying, the Earth will be fine We on the other hand may be a wee bit [sIGNAL LOST] !

In the case of Mars, I think the benefits of low G probably outweigh the problems. We certainly know that zero G can cause very serious health problems for long duration crew, however I suspect these problems pretty much disappear at a reasonable fraction of Earth's gravity which Mars certainly has. On the plus side, much less wear & tear on your heart, joints, ligaments,

16,888,224 points over 500.2 years with a 4 body system :-)

16,888,224 points over 500.2 years with a 4 body system :-)

Bugger 38,475,000 points with an 8 body system, only lasted 226 years though :-(

In truth, the treaty has never really stopped any country doing anything up till now. Probably made a whole lot of sense in the mid/late 60's when the expectation was that space exploration would continue at space race type development levels. As we all know, the reality is slightly different

Loved the video, and actually made one of the real points that debunk the fake moon landing conspiracy. How in heck would you actually do it ? Even here in 2014, I'm not sure we could produce a totally believable fake moon landing, even with all our computers, CGI etc... That we could do it in 1969, simply no way !

I think you misunderstand me. He was a brave man regardless of his nationality, politics, he was simply a very brave man facing an unknown danger. I'm English, so trust me, I have no US/USSR issue going on here

With respect to a couple of the posters here Unless you are driving advances in technology. Unless you have a clear goal and a vision of how to reach it Unless you are committed to taking a certain acceptable level of risk NOTHING HAPPENS !!! Again, sorry, but actually bugger all has happened to improve our capacity to LEO and beyond. 40 years ago we had the capability to orbit 100+ tons of payload, today we couldn't even put a single man into orbit ! It's a total failure of vision. a total failure of policy and a total failure of courage ! We had so much, now we have so little Sorry to rattle a few cages, but please wake up and smell the coffee folks

Sorry, but waiting for technological advances is like waiting for a train that will never arrive. 40 years ago, we could land a man on the Moon, today the US cannot even get a man into LEO. No NERVA, no Shuttle, no Vision Technological advances don't just come out of thin air, men make them happen

A brave man regardless of nationality

Actually the Vietnam war damned us to be stuck in Leo for almost half a century, not Apollo. There were a LOT of follow on programmes that would have evolved Apollo into a hugely capable system. Instead the US decided to spend the money on bombing hundreds of thousands of people back into the stone age. As to the wrong word, please call it what you would like, competitiveness, survival, it all amounts to the same thing, we need it, it is an integral part of our make up. Without it, none of us would even be discussing the subject ! Seriously, look at the Saturn V / Apollo configuration, now look at the proposed SLS. We had this capability nearly 50 years ago ! War is always wasteful, but a driving force behind our achievements never is

Again, you totally miss the point The US landed 3 men on the Moon in 1969. Did they do this for science ? Did they do this out of curiosity ? No, they did this in a direct response to the perceived lead of the USSR in the space race. In 8 years the US channelled it's aggressiveness into the most remarkable achievement mankind has ever produced. Would this have happened without the conflict generated by the cold war ? In a word, no. Mankind needs aggressiveness, without it we would be docile, always taking only the safest option, we would never take the needed risks. Compare the US manned space programme today with the manned space programme of the 60's. Our return date to the Moon, well never at the moment. No threat, no drive

Seriously ? To be honest I think you are confusing aggressiveness with violence. Aggressiveness in human beings is a desire to protect themselves, their family group or an extended family (ie a nation) Far from being looked down on, warriors of all eras have been held in the highest esteem. What greater sacrifice can an individual make then to give up their life for another ? Sorry, but if you think aggression isn't a key component of human nature, you really need to study history a lot more closely Simon

Nope Sorry, but we migrate / colonise due to various pressures be they economic / military / resources etc... Without aggression, you don't expand, frankly you die ! Simon

Though it does bring to mind Arthur C Clarke's 3rd law Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic

I think like many others, I don't really rely on MJ for anything, I simply use it to do the boring stuff for me

Without it, we wouldn't go anywhere

Aggression Without it, we wouldn't go anywhere