Is the race to complete a working spaceship propulsion system on?

There has oddly been quite a lot in the media of late about new and interesting spaceship engine/propulsion designs – now the only reason this is odd is because I wasn't aware given the so called 'global war on terror' and general climate of doom and gloom that we (are lead to believe we) all live in that space exploration was top of anyone's agenda. Or is it?

Earlier this week we saw a Californian physicist Dr. Young Bae had actually gone as far as to build a demonstration "photonic laser thruster" (1) that, and I quote "produces enough thrust to micro-manoeuvre a satellite". Scaled up such an engine could apparently speed a spacecraft to Mars in less than a week. That's pretty impressive stuff (the phrase “massive leap in technology” would not be out of place...) for something that has moved beyond theory and into working prototype wouldn't you say? Not something that should say, be glossed over in the international media and only make it into the techiest of tech blogs on the internet?

Today we get more news on yet another U.S firm having created an innovative propulsion system, this one nuclear fuelled (2), again using the Earth to Mars model as a point of reference - this time speculating a rather less impressive two years to six month travel time. These are not the only media references to an ambiguous “manned mission to Mars” to float around in the last 6 months. Far from it.

So, what is up with all this?


Why is someone in the U.S funding such programs in the face of what I'd describe as more 'apparent dangers' and more pressing needs - when we are constantly being told that economic factors hold man's thrust into space, in particular back to Moon – despite proven lunar mineral assets (3) back? You can't tell me either of the prototypes mentioned here (or the countless others that no doubt exist, even if just on paper around the USA today) or even the experiments to justify them in the first place were cheap. Why would such be developed unless, somewhere, behind some door there is an actual formulated, if embryonic, plan to actually go to Mars for whatever reason in the very near future.

Governments don't tend to fund making things unless they intend to use them in the short term; fact of life.

These theory's ask more questions than they answer; but they are food for thought. If we are going to Mars. Why... and perhaps more importantly. Why now? (Que conspiracy theorists).


(1) http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/09/13/2328233

(2) http://www.tfot.info/news/1006/mini-mag-orion-will-reach-for-the-stars.html

(3) http://www.asi.org/adb/06/09/03/02/095/lunar-desert.html, http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030829.html, http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12305-hubble-space-telescope-maps-minerals-on-the-moon.html

Rapper The Game claims he is the police, the hip hop police.

US rapper The Game has appeared in court after being charged with impersonating a police officer.

Police said the star told a cab driver he was an undercover officer in 2006, ordering him to run several red lights.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7006214.stm


Digital Nobody says;

Which is all great in principle until you realise that the dude has two quite large tattoo's on his face, one of which which reads "LA" gang style, and that he in fact claims to have told the cab driver he was with "the hip hop police" not as the BBC article would initially have you believe, the police department. A case of retarded cab driver gets over excited - followed by retarded media follows suit I feel.


On a more inspirational note the next time I am in a cab in a hurry I am gonna claim that I am with the 'hip hop police' (department of 'criminal rhymes?'); if it gets 'em to go faster I say why not. I suggest you all do the same.

'God' apparently responds to lawsuit.

A legislator who filed a lawsuit against God has gotten something he might not have expected: a response. One of two court filings from "God" came Wednesday under otherworldly circumstances, according to John Friend, clerk of the Douglas County District Court in Omaha.

"This one miraculously appeared on the counter. It just all of a sudden was here — poof!" Friend said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070921/ap_on_fe_st/odd_suing_god


Digital Nobody says;

I think someone is having a laugh with some retards. But then again I could be wrong. But honestly, what kind of diety responds to civil law actions with anything other than a sound smiting?

Best quote evah.

[upparoom] So this chick I know is suing her Birth Control maker
[upparoom] She started taking it and gained a bunch of weight.
[upparoom] She went from a size 5 to a size 22 and lost most of her hair.
[upparoom] I'm thinking...
[upparoom] thats some pretty damn effective birth control..

Source: http://qdb.us/85329

1 In 33 Teens Admit Trying Meth. Photo or it didn't happen.

A new survey shows that one in 33 U.S. teens has tried meth, nearly a quarter say it would be easy to get meth, and some see benefits to meth use.

The survey included about 2,600 students aged 12-17 at 43 public, private, and parochial junior and senior high schools nationwide. The margin of error is on average +/- 2 percentage points.

During class last spring, the students completed the confidential surveys about methamphetamine (meth) use.

The results show that most teens haven't tried meth. But many say they could get meth pretty easily if they tried.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/09/19/health/webmd/main3274335.shtml

Digital Nobody says;

That's only 32 in 33 to go then! Meth ftw! Tweak, tweak, tweak!

Seriously though 1 in 33 teens prolly claim to have banged a lap dancer as well, a further 1 in 33 probably claim to be real life paranormal investigators or laughingly 'admit' to be Jedi Knights. Just because someone "admits" to something on a faceless survey dished out my "the man" doesn't mean that it actually happened.

Further more, they surveyed a pathetic 2,600 students in total for this bullshit. Great. I know a multitude of camwhores with more people on their Myspace. Lets get them to take the same survey - it'd be no less relevant, I wonder how many Myspaz stalkers have tried meth and if it's any more than 1 in 33? Tards.

Aside from the limited pool of people taking the survey, the fact none of the claims have been verified rings alarm bells with me in terms of CBS publishing the “results” of this survey as anything other than a complete waste of time.

Again as with so many things in modern life the internet shows us a fantastic way of verifying such claims that perhaps those who dish out these lame ass surveys should adopt; Photo or it didn't happen.

That's how we do shit.

Saw IV - What in the holy fuck.

In Soviet Russia, the DHS control your mind.

The future of U.S. anti-terrorism technology could lie near the end of a Moscow subway line in a circular dungeon-like room with a single door and no windows. Here, at the Psychotechnology Research Institute, human subjects submit to experiments aimed at manipulating their subconscious minds.

A dungeon-like room in the Psychotechnology Research Institute in Moscow is used for human testing. The institute claims its technology can read the subconscious mind and alter behavior.



Elena Rusalkina, the silver-haired woman who runs the institute, gestured to the center of the claustrophobic room, where what looked like a dentist's chair sits in front of a glowing computer monitor. "We've had volunteers, a lot of them," she said, the thick concrete walls muffling the noise from the college campus outside. "We worked out a program with (a psychiatric facility) to study criminals. There's no way to falsify the results. There's no subjectivism."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has gone to many strange places in its search for ways to identify terrorists before they attack, but perhaps none stranger than this lab on the outskirts of Russia's capital. The institute has for years served as the center of an obscure field of human behavior study -- dubbed psychoecology -- that traces it roots back to Soviet-era mind control research.

Click for Moar...

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/news/2007/09/mind_reading

Random pic of the day.

Resident Evil: Extinction, September 21st.

I liked the first two. Zombies are cool. This looks like Land Of The Dead a bit. But lets face it, Land Of The Dead was pretty poor - so things can only get better.

Review to follow.

In bizarre twist of fate Florida veterinarian extracts 7-inch toy rubber lizard from real lizard.

Seven-year-old Finley Collins thought her pet 12-inch bearded dragon might be giving birth when she noticed an unusual protrusion near the lizard's tail.

But Finley's father, Jeff Collins, feared it might be something more ominous and rushed Mushu to an animal hospital, where a veterinarian pulled out a 7-inch toy rubber lizard.

"I've never extracted a lizard from another lizard before," said veterinarian John Rossi.

Rossi had sedated Mushu and pulled on the protrusion.

"The next thing I knew, I was seeing legs and a body and a head. It was very strange to be tugging on this thing," he said.

By the time the rubbery lizard's legs began to appear, Rossi realized what it was.

"We were all laughing," he said. "It passed completely through the entire (gastrointestinal) tract," Rossi said.

Rossi said bearded dragons, a variety of Australian lizards, often swallow such things as small suction cups, screws and dimes.

This is just too wierd.