mj

I wouldn't describe it as 'no more keyboards', but as mulit-point interfaces which include virtual, conformable keyboards.

I wouldn't be an advance if it did not include something for all computer users, including writers and journalists. ( I bet photo-jounalists will love this when this hits the market. )

War is inevitable if one side is determined to have a war. Neville Chamberlain (sp) could not dissuade Hiltler.

The Dominion would have found a way to go to war,with or without the wormhole.

Only old, non-removed parking permits. Currently we use hang-tags. I own a lot of decals that collect dust in a corner ( AAA, Alumni stuff, ect.).

There is a privately financed space port in the works.

 

Details Emerge on Private Spaceport Plans

By MICHAEL GRACZYK (Associated Press Writer)

From Associated Press

July 23, 2006 12:36 PM EDT

A spacecraft taking off from a private West Texas spaceport being bankrolled and developed by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos would take off vertically, but unlike NASA's space shuttle would also land vertically, according to an environmental study that offers a glimpse into the secretive plans.

 

The craft would hit an altitude of about 325,000 feet - or almost 62 miles - before descending and restarting its engine for a "precision vertical powered landing on the landing pad" in sparsely populated Culberson County, about 125 miles east of El Paso.

 

Those were among the plans detailed in a 229-page draft of an environmental review filed with the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA would issue permits and licenses for Blue Origin to go ahead with launch plans.

 

The report was assembled by Blue Origin and Tetra Tech Inc., an engineering and technical consulting firm based in Pasadena, Calif.

 

According to Blue Origin's Web site, the company is "developing vehicles and technologies that, over time, will help enable an enduring presence in space."

 

"We are currently working to develop a crewed, suborbital launch system that emphasizes safety and low cost of operations," the Web site says.

 

A public hearing on the environmental review was scheduled Tuesday in Van Horn, a town of 3,000 and the closest center of population to the space base. Bezos, the 42-year-old billionaire who built Amazon into an Internet sales giant, won't attend the hearing, Blue Origin spokesman Bruce Hicks said.

 

The environmental assessment process is "only one of the steps prior to obtaining an experimental permit for a launch operator's license," FAA spokesman Hank Price said. "We have received permit applications from Blue Origin and are evaluating them for safety and other considerations, as well."

 

As many as 10 flight tests lasting as long as a minute and reaching an altitude of about 2,000 feet could occur this year at the site, north of Van Horn on the 165,000-acre Corn Ranch purchased by Bezos. Over the following three years, as many as 25 launches would be made annually, growing in altitude to 325,000 feet and in duration to more than 10 minutes.

 

Commercial flights, a goal of the project, could begin in 2010, according to the timetable in the document, with as many as 52 a year.

 

"The flight rate would depend on market demand," said the document filed with the FAA.

 

Bezos, who spent summers on his grandfather's ranch in South Texas as a child, has talked in the past of building spaceships that can orbit Earth and possibly lead to colonies in space.

 

Construction would cover 223 acres with buildings, launch and landing pads, storage tanks and parking lots, but that's just over 1 percent of the land. New fencing would be needed to enclose the launch site area, 18,600 acres of desert scrubland and grassland now in use as a private wildlife management area.

 

Within that fenced area is the likely landing area if something goes wrong with a flight.

 

"In some rare cases, the vehicles may land outside the fence line," the report says. "However, in nearly all cases, the vehicles will stay within the boundaries of private land controlled by Blue Origin and present no danger to the public."

 

Some space industry publications and Web sites have reported the New Shepard Reusable Launch Vehicle spacecraft is named for Alan Shepard, who in 1961 became America's first man in space. Hicks, the Blue Origin spokesman, said he didn't think that was correct.

 

According to the environmental statement, the craft to be launched from West Texas includes one module for propulsion and one "capable of carrying three or more space flight participants to space." The two would be stacked atop one another to form a conical-shaped vehicle about 50 feet tall and 22 feet in diameter at the base.

 

Studies showed no threatened or endangered species in the project area, according to the environmental report. Also, 14 Native American tribes that may have cultural ties to the area were contacted, but none indicated impact by the project.

 

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

I am 50 years old, and have watched Star Trek from the beginning, when TOS was on the air. My sister and I were preteens, and used to watch it together.

I am not married nor do I have children. I have my mother with me now, but with three earthbound brothers, I would give my mom the option of coming with me, or staying with one of them.

I would go.

And to think I was annoyed by them making Sisko a "God" ...

 

At least someone laid down the law on the whole "dream" thing. That would have been REALLY stupid.

I was not bothered by Sisko becoming a Prophet or whatever happened there. It was kind of confusing, but it -did- tie up the series quite nicely. I loved when Sisko really became passionate about Bajor. The Prophets really transformed him, and while I'm not religious, the story does have a certain appeal for me.

 

I believe the opposite. I hated the fact that the Bajorans had brainwashed Sisko into believing that he was actually a religious figure. I like Sisko much better when he referred to the "prophets" as the wormhole aliens because thats all they really were.

I don't think Sisko actually believed he was a prophet, or 'god'. beyond the fact that he discovered that he was half-human, half 'wormhole alien.' I think that in the course of learning to love Bajor, and to respect the Bajorans and their faith, that he learned to fulfill the 'calling' their perspective foisted upon him. I do not think he ever thought of himself or the wormhole aliens as gods, just as aliens whom the Bajorans regarded as prophets. I think he respected the gifts that the 'prophets ' had due to their existing outside of 'linear time.' I think he was able to manage the ambiguity of his position as a Star Fleet Officer and his position as 'Emissary' precisely because he did not buy into the religious aspect, beyond certain 'responsibilities,' but did learn to operate within the 'prophets' ' special knowledge of time.

I agree that it was better not to end DS9 as if the whole series had been a dream, and not a true part of Star Trek universe. It would have been deeply disappointing to me. To me the reason why the story 'Far Beyond the Stars' was so poignant was that there really was a time when Deep Space Nine could not have been published as a short story, let alone be part of a long running TV series. During that time, Sisko in command would not have been accepted among the general public.....it would be more unfathomable to accept such an idea than it would have been to believe any of the fantastically imagined plots.

If DS9 had all been a dream, then somehow, it would not have the same validity of the other Star Trek series. It would be in some kind of limbo where, even within the imaginary Star Trek universe, the role of Commander Sisko would not have to really be accepted as a major part of the Star Trek universe - not in a starring role. DS9 would be like a 'second class' Star Trek series, in my opinion.

Sounds like the scenario of the movie 'When Worlds Collide.' They had lots of 'top' people working to create escape rockets at different sites, but one site succeeded.

There was a lottery among these 'top' people, and even then there was violence, as the losers attempted to commandeer the rocket.

I think whomever was selected, the process would have to be as secret as possible, with restricted access to the rocketship, and those working on the project could not know they were among those selected to go, just as in this case of this movie.

A last minute lottery among a select group of mostly young, extremely capable people.

( Of course my religious convictions tell me someone else wil be making selections at the end.)

Delaware

 

You're from Dela Where?

 

(Sorry, but many folks have just never met anyone from Deleware, nor visited there)

Does this count? I have met someone who lived in Delaware during the 1990's and was told that he just recently moved.

This guy moved from my current state to Delaware, but was orginally from West Africa.

You can Live in California where...

 

 

5. When someone asks you how far something is, you tell them how long it will take to get there rather than how many miles away it is.

So true! After living in California for eight years, I had to learn to return to talking about real distance when I moved here.

But the real adjustment was to stop crossing the street by what I and my other midewestern- and southeastern- born friends called 'California style', because in the part of the Bay Area where we lived, the pedestrian had right of way. We learned to just step out into the street, and have all the cars stop. Cannot do that in my city of birth without being splattered all over the roadway by a bewildered driver who later would be forced to tell the police "he/she just stepped out in front of my car!!'

You can Live in the Deep South where...

 

1. You can rent a movie and buy bait in the same store.

2. "y'all" is singular and "all y'all" is plural.

3. "He needed killin' " is a valid defense.

5. Everyone has 2 first names: Billy Bob, Jimmy Bob, Mary Sue, Betty Jean, MARY BETH, etc.

You left out the big one.

6. You have to have a minimum speed on the interstates.

The southerner in his/her 4X4 drives at whatever speed he/she likes on a city street, and would do the same on the interstate without minimum speeds posted.

You can live in the Midwest where...

 

3. You have had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" on the same day.

4. You end sentences with a preposition: "Where's my coat at?"

Oh so true!!!

Hoosiers = basketball. ( Remember the movie 'Hoosiers.' The movie was named 'Hoosiers', but it was ABOUT basketball!)

Indiana basketball > Kentucky basketball.

This is the young man who was the subject of your television spot, CP. So you knew him. That is probably why he came across so clearly through the images you shared

in that 33 second program.

Port Orchard.

Well, I will pray for the family. The prayer group I belong to continues to pray for our country, the soldiers, and our leaders.

We have lost one or two students from the institution where I teach. I feel a strong loss when these young people make the ultimate sacrifice, and I feel for the families.

I don't know if the herbal smoke would be any less troublesome as just smoking the usual things. I hope you continue to stick it out. I think smoking anything will just be a roundabout path back to cigarettes.

For the first three months of this year, I had absolutely no desserts, not even diabetic ones. My blood sugars were pretty good, and I did not even miss the dessert. Then I attended a wedding, and ate a couple of pieces of wedding cake. So I am back to eating desserts. My blood sugar is slightly elevated because of it, even though I only eat them moderately and am taking my medication.

My point is that I know I can live without the desserts, but it is hard to chose to. I would still be not eating them, if I had just kept up with what I had been doing at the start of the year.

I did not get to see it, but these days I am just glad that it launched safely. I want them to get their work done, and then get back home safely.

Then I want them to go up again, and come back again. And keep going, and keep working toward an active future for human beings in space.

I think it was a good effort. The composition was very good. In the brief 33 seconds, you showed us a picture of the young man ( Mr. Devon Gibbons) as himself, then a picture with his family, and then a couple pictures as a soldier. A young man with family ties who was part of a military unit. You pointed out that he died later of injuries that instantly killed his fellow soldiers, as those pictures ran. Then you told that many appreciated his sacrifice as you showed someone with a hand-made sign with an American flag, acknowledging the young hero.

Without being preachy you reported on and honored the soldier's self sacrifice, and the fact that family and the communtiy will miss him.

It is true that you spoken words seemed a little rushed, and some words were unclear. I am not sure what city the young man was from, for instance.

But overall, it was a very nice presentation.

No. I have heard of it, but am not familiar with it. I believe Ihhave been there once, through a link that was in a thread here.

I can't believe this thread was revived. I barely remember it.

 

Someone's got too much free time on their hands. :wink2:

But the question, which would seem so silly on some other website, is actually funny and fits this forum just perfectly.

I myself don't say anything when I log on, but I could see someone doing that.

 

As for Sisko, he was sort of the "anti-Captain" at points wasn't he? He's my favorite of the franchise.

On Spike TV, I again saw the episode where Sisko ended up advising the newly admitted Bajor to NOT join the Federation.

If Sisko wasn't the ant-captain, he certainly had an an ambiguous role as a Federation officer and Bajoran religious icon.... a role that he himself was not quite clear about.

But you may be talking about the Sisko of "In the Pale Moonlight.." or the one who struck Q....

Looney Tunes.

Weren't Rhode Island Red, and Sylvester and Tweetie with Looney Tunes?

Well, some people did vote 'no.'

I voted 'no' - my English sounds like the standard 'news anchor' English.

SG-1. Many of my favorite episode of it I like as well as my favorite Trek episodes.

( That is, among the reruns.)

I also like Stargate Atlantis.

I do have several confidants, but most live far away. We talk by phone, or we talk when we are in the same city.

One friend told me about this study, at the same time we exchanged details about the latest crazy thing happening on our respective campuses.

 

Gul Dukat is the best villain ever to grace a Star Trek episode or movie (and yes, I am including Kahn in that estimation). We were so up and down with Dukat over the course of the series ... first we hate him, then we kind of like him, then we do like him, then we're back to hating, then we pity him, then we LOATHE him at the end.

 

I absolutely agree with this.

Fianally, after seeing the episode 'Wrongs darker than death or night' in season six ( my DVD's) I was convinced that Dukat was the worst, the cruelest being to inhabit the Star Trek universe. I was never fooled or deceived into sympathy with that character again!

I own seasons 4, 5, and 6. I still have some episodes I have not seen, within those first 3 years, but I do not know how many. It is probably less than 10 by now. I think I will get season 7 before I buy the first three.

I heard it before from a math professor, a few years ago, and I heard it with the last iterations involving the spanish.

Reruns regularly; current series, often.

I won't celebrate his passing, but I won't miss him either.

Same here. I will neither celebrate his death nor mourn his loss. I think of the evil he has done, but I also think of John Donne's poem, something that would have never crossed his mind: 'any man's death diminishes me...."

The most unfortunate aspect here is that they will find a replacement, someone willing to continue his 'work'.