SpaceShip One

[Gauracandra]

Tomorrow morning 9:30 A.M. Eastern, 6:30 A.M. Pacific U.S.A., not sure India time, but there will be the first privately funded launch of a space ship to carry a person into space. Its called SpaceShip One and the launch I'm sure will be carried live by all major networks. It should be real cool.

 

Here is their website:

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/

 

And a picture:

[Gauracandra]

If this succeeds its going to make the Russian, Chinese, and U.S. space agencies look a bit awkward. Why? Because they have built these huge machines to get a few people into space. China just became the third country in the world to successfully put a man into space - with a huge rocket ship. This company has effectively built their space ship in their garage. It was 40 people in an airline hangar. They received like $20 million in seed money from billionaire Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft). I don't know the total price tag, but if the total cost is in that $20-50 million range, thats really, really, REALLY cheap to creat a ship that can be able to get a person into space. Sure you can't carry anything like satelites etc... but just to get a person up and then back its great. And they've apparently made it all with existing technologies but in unique combinations.

[ancient_paztriot]

All the fruitive work of millions of people and the earth's resources are dovetailed for the whimsy of the rich. Why whimsy? That wealth is not spent for the public or God… Miserly aspirations. The earth is in the bag… looking ahead!

 

Thanks. I needed that. (I'm looking for the next plug).

 

Wearing the Inside Out

 

Didn't recognize I'd become

No more than alive I'd barely survive

In a word...overrun

 

Won't hear a sound

From my mouth

I've spent too long

On the inside out

My skin is cold

To the human touch

This bleeding heart's

Not beating much

 

I murmured a vow of silence and now

I don't even hear when I think aloud

Extinguished by light I turn on the night

Wear its darkness with an empty smile

 

I'm creeping back to life

My nervous system all awry

I'm wearing the inside out

 

Look at him now

He's paler somehow

But he's coming round

He's starting to choke

It's been so long since he spoke

Well he can have the words right from my mouth

 

And with these words I can see

Clear through the clouds that covered me

Just give it time then speak my name

Now we can hear ourselves again

 

I'm holding out

For the day

When all the clouds

Have blown away

I'm with you now

Can speak your name

Now we can hear

Ourselves again – Pink Floyd

 

............................

 

Technology? Advancement? … we pay for this stuff with our taxes and yet we can't even afford the little things in stores. All the frontmen justify the costs on circumstances. The wealth of the capitalists owners is ignored… The market has nothing to do with their policies.

 

But then their progress is yours. Right?

 

I don't know. I'm just curious. Does India give public money to capitalists too?

............................

 

Lost for Words

 

I was spending my time in the doldrums

I was caught in the cauldron of hate

I felt persecuted and paralyzed

I thought that everything else would just wait

While you are wasting your time on your enemies

Engulfed in a fever of spite

Beyond your tunnel vision reality fades

Like shadows into the night

 

To martyr yourself to caution

Is not going to help at all

Because there'll be no safety in numbers

When the Right One walks out of the door

 

Can you see your eyes blighted by darkness?

Is it true you beat your fists on the floor?

Stuck in a world of isolation

While ivy grows over the door

 

So I open my door to my enemies

And I ask could we wipe the slate clean

But they tell me to please go . myself

You know you just can't win

 

High Hopes

 

Beyond the horizon of the place we lived when we were young

In a world of magnets and miracles

Our thoughts strayed constantly and without boundary

The ringing of the division bell had begun

 

Along the Long Road and on down the Causeway

Do they still meet there by the Cut

 

There was a ragged band that followed our footsteps

Running before time took our dreams away

Leaving the myriad small creatures trying to tie us to the ground

To a life consumed by slow decay

 

The grass was greener

The light was brighter

With friends surrounded

The nights of wonder

 

Looking beyond the embers of bridges glowing behind us

To a glimpse of how green it was on the other side

Steps taken forwards but sleepwalking back again

Dragged by force of some inner tide

 

At a higher altitude with flag unfurled

We reached the dizzy heights of that dreamed of world

 

Encumbered forever by desire and ambition

There's a hunger still unsatisfied

Though down this road we've been so many times

 

The grass was greener

The light was brighter

The taste was sweeter

The nights of wonder

With friends surrounded

The dawn mist growing

The water flowing

The endless river

............................

 

I'm not the last word by any measure. You have your reality. How big is it?

[Gauracandra]

Here is China's space ship, Shenzhou 5, that took up ONE astronaut into space. The Shenzhou 5 is essentially based on pilferred Russian technology (though China denies this).

 

 

 

The U.S. now has a space shuttle, which is different because its meant to carry large payloads. Still, its pretty funny to see the size difference.

 

Spaceship One will carry 3 people into space. Not deep space, but I believe they will be like 65 miles above the earth and weightless for 2 or 3 minutes. It seems to me once you get to zero gravity, its only a little bit more of a push until you are in deep space.

 

The scary thing is Spaceship One is dangerous as it has ZERO heat shields. When they reenter the atmosphere they are going to tilt their wings to 45 degrees to create a parachute type setup, kind of like a badmitton birdie, to create drag and keep the temperatures down. But if they don't hit this exactly they will burn up upon reentry. So its a very risky move.

[ancient_paztriot]

How many lives does a spaceship cost? (Not just humans).

 

How much effort by how many for what? (Not just the death toll, but the time and effort).

 

Silence? (… good time for silence).

 

(Maybe we'd be better off plowing a field… at least that's honest).

 

But by all means, you ignorant people enjoy yourself… a good machine helps! Cheer the symbol of advancement!

[Gauracandra]

If they succeed I'll be cheering. I have no problem with technology. I'm glad there are people out there who are smarter than I am, more talented than I am, and more adventurous than I am.

 

As for "plowing a field", sounds like typical devotee "utopianism". Everyone wants to be a gentleman farmer (sit back and let the hired hands do the work). Nothings stopping you from buying some land and growing your own food. And of course you are using the internet, a huge, global technology. Or driving your car. You think if everyone had horses we'd be living in a wonderful world? How about 100 tons of horse manure to pick up from the streets every day? Now thats pollution!!!

 

I'm glad everyone in the world isn't like me /images/graemlins/smile.gif we'd be in the stone ages.

[ancient_paztriot]

Missing the absolute one?

 

My opinion is certainly not final… It is not the best.

 

The problem with technology is that it is not directed by a brain. You should know that. If technology was devoted to Krsna, I'd applaud.

 

As it is… The rich can affored technology that you can't. Is it for the people? Or is it just for their advantage? And the more they spend, the more you pay?

 

As for the rest of your explanation… I know modern people can hardly imagine life without all these technological advantages. God help them if they can't buy their groceries and provisions from the store… it just keeps getting harder every day… what to speak of doing it yourself? You have the skills?

 

What to do if you can't talk to someone in China the next second? Hard to compete?

 

It makes more sense to ship vegetables around the world to you than grow them in your yard.

 

And how did the world ever survive without machines anyhow? People must've been morons not to have machines to facilitate their life, huh?

 

The problems of the world? We need the ultimate machine!

 

…Adieu. (Pardon my French)

[Gauracandra]

 

The rich can affored technology that you can't. Is it for the people?

 

 

All technology starts off with the wealthy. I don't have DSL but the rich do. The auto was once considered a toy for the rich. Now even the poor have a car. I live better than the king of England ever did 100 years ago, and I'm just a poor shlub. I have better food, better healthcare, more entertainment options, indoor plumbing, indoor heating, hot water, better travel options etc.... I am richer than kings and 99.9999% of the people in history. All due to technology.

 

 

I know modern people can hardly imagine life without all these technological advantages.

 

 

I'll tell you what. When you create your natural farming life I'll stop supporting all these technological advantages. Until then its just easy words.

 

 

And how did the world ever survive without machines anyhow?

 

 

I'll tell you how. They led a brutish, hard life. They died at 35 if they even made it to 2. They worked 15 hours a day of back breaking work. And when the weather turned bad in a year, they were destroyed. I can point to plenty of "natural" countries in the world if you'd like to try it yourself.

[ancient_paztriot]

I'm glad for you… You're secure in the direction of the present. (Nevermind you ignored my absolute challenge on justification).

 

I'll not argue with you even though I have a reply… My opinion of you has changed… your standards are VERY relative… enjoy the hope that technoloy brings.

 

Enjoy it while you can! Should be good for your lifetime, huh? (But that's assuming there really aren't people like our President and all those scientist who demand on their empirical process of control and power… just believe what they tell you… "… this technology is good for you.")

 

I have the creepy feeling I'm talking to guest(s)… or other registered subversives… GOODBYE! (I'll not bother you anymore… I don't want to be bothered with you). People can have thier opinions… but I choose not to to most of them.

 

I see alot of deception going on around here just by the association of words… I'm not interested.

 

(I won't even ask why we didn't inherit pollution from the past).

[krsna]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3825185.stm

 

 

/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Kulapavana]

it is all part of a desire to play god. quite childish and futile...

[gHari]

The 62 year old went 62 and half miles up (100 kilometres) and then landed okay. I had my fears.

 

[ancient_paztriot]

SB 7.2.13

Thus the demons, being fond of disastrous activities, took Hiranyakasipu’s instructions on their heads with great respect and offered him obeisances. According to his directions, they engaged in envious activities directed against all living beings.

 

PURPORT

The followers of demoniac principles, as described here, are thoroughly envious of the general populace. In the present day, scientific advancement exemplifies such envy. The discovery of nuclear energy has been disastrous to people in general because demons all over the world are manufacturing nuclear weapons. The word kadana-priyah is very significant in this regard. The demoniac persons who want to kill the Vedic culture are extremely envious of the feeble citizens, and they act in such a way that ultimately their discoveries will be inauspicious for everyone (jagato ’hitah). The Sixteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita fully explains how the demons engage in sinful activities for the destruction of the populace.

[theist]

we can also see positive things in this endeavor. One no tax money. I like that trend. But beyond that perk Krishna says "...I am adventure..." These people are certainly exhibiting that.

 

Krsna says that He "...is the intelligence of the intelligent.." And their steady determination is a good quality, and is necessary for fulfilling krsna conscious projects.

 

In and of itself flying for a little while may not be worth all the effort. For sure. But the train of thought that these folks are laboring under was sent in motion long ago in their past lives and no amount of telling them to stop for this reason or that, even if right, will stop them.

 

So if Krsna can be seen somehow in the endeavor then to that degree it has some merit. All of science is similar. It can't be stopped, too much momentum, but if we can nudge it a bit towards krsna then maybe that's all that we can hope for now, and maybe that's all that is needed.

 

As far as industrial/scientific progress is concerned I see it as a two edged sword. For all it's problems i sure am glad i don't have to pass stool in a community field or backyard everyday like our very recent ancestors did and much of the world still does.