Buzz Aldrin: Ask Me Anything by BYTEMITE

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
Worthy reading. I'll try to get back and explore further.

Thanks for posting!

Only thing I might mention is that reddit tends to get wildly off subject pretty fast. So unless you like seeing internet jokes and random observations and questionable links at the (not so) finest - and I do - you might want to focus in on the stuff that is on topic by just searching for wherever Buzz made a response.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 9:46 AM

And now for the inevitable: this thread will degenerate into cat gifs in three seconds.

Science!

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 9:53 AM

Buzz is an American hero.

si shen

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 10:07 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

How tempting was it to lay in the moondust and make moon angels?

BuzzAldrinHere 213 points 18 hours ago
"That was not at all tempting. I wanted my white spacesuit to remain as clean as possible!"
www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2a5vg8/i_am_buzz_aldrin_engineer_americ
an_astronaut_and/ciruqun

Hey Mr. Aldrin! Have you heard this joke before?

"I was the second man on the moon. Neil before me."
www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2a5vg8/i_am_buzz_aldrin_engineer_americ
an_astronaut_and/cirsyv8

i have no idea what to ask so i'll just ask. Have you ever eaten a burrito? Also thank you.

BuzzAldrinHere 364 points 18 hours ago
"Absolutely yes!"

mpls_hotdish 229 points 18 hours ago
"Was it out of this world?"
www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2a5vg8/i_am_buzz_aldrin_engineer_americ
an_astronaut_and/cirsoj3

All Buzz Aldrin, all the time, channel: www.reddit.com/user/BuzzAldrinHere

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 11:42 AM

Quote:
What really grabbed me though was his discussion of a mission to Mars, that it would be a one way mission for the first few astronauts. They would go to build a permanent settlement AND STAY, not come home! How flipping cool is that?!?

I think that one was actually the post that prompted me to bring this here. If we ever put a permanent colony on Mars, that really is an astounding achievement that would belong to all humans. Just as we can look at the moon and no matter who we are and where we came from, we can say, with some pride, "we have been there."

It was in that spirit that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and it is in that spirit that we will go to the stars.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 1:17 PM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by G:
Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

I am seriously impressed by the eloquence in the answers here. Don't have to read all of them but there's some good stuff here.

Great questions and greater answers, yeah. His descriptions of the moon (seeing the curve of the surface) and the Titanic from a French sub, were super.
What really grabbed me though was his discussion of a mission to Mars, that it would be a one way mission for the first few astronauts. They would go to build a permanent settlement AND STAY, not come home! How flipping cool is that?!?

A colonist?
Many of our ancestors were also colonists, leaving their homelands never to return.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 2:30 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

It was in that spirit that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and it is in that spirit that we will go to the stars.

Spirit and Heroism are bullshit. They don't sustain us for long, which is why nobody has been back to the Moon in my lifetime.

Even down to the name, Buzz is not serious. Buzz Aldrin is now his true legal name; he changed it 1988. An astronaut that is NOT full of bullshit like Buzz would be Franklin Chang Díaz. His plasma rocket propulsion technology can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and even has the theoretical capability to take a manned rocket to Mars in 39 days. Buzz should be buzzing about plasma rockets, if he has got to run his mouth.

It is the Kaylees that will get to Mars, not the big talk Mals of the world, who give speeches, motivating themselves and other to get killed. Thanks you, Mal and Buzz. Buzz is a classic Mal promoting a bonehead Mars plan. One way trip. What a dumb-ass of a plan, based on chemical rockets.

Buzz needs a Kaylee to tell him how to really get to Mars. Then promote that plan.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 2:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

It was in that spirit that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and it is in that spirit that we will go to the stars.
Spirit and Heroism are bullshit. They don't sustain us for long, which is why nobody has been back to the Moon in my lifetime.

Even down to the name, Buzz is not serious. Buzz Aldrin is now his true legal name; he changed it 1988. An astronaut that is NOT full of bullshit like Buzz would be Franklin Chang Díaz. His plasma rocket propulsion technology can achieve very high exhaust speeds, and even has the theoretical capability to take a manned rocket to Mars in 39 days. Buzz should be buzzing about plasma rockets, if he has got to run his mouth.

It is the Kaylees that will get to Mars, not the big talk Mals of the world, who give speeches, motivating themselves and other to get killed. Thanks you, Mal and Buzz. Buzz is a classic Mal promoting a bonehead Mars plan. One way trip. What a dumb-ass of a plan, based on chemical rockets.

Buzz needs a Kaylee to tell him how to really get to Mars. Then promote that plan.

On one hand, I'm wondering what prompted you to go into a rant like that. On the other hand, you called heroism bullshit and I can't disagree.

Yet, to be frank, we DID go to the moon with 1960s technology and the guys who went did it knowing they might not come back.

Your point about having greater technology is good, but you also have to realize that it's BOTH the engineers at NASA and ALSO the brave people making speeches and willing to sacrifice themselves who don't understand what the smart guys are even saying a quarter of the time who get stuff done.

We can not wait until we're sure that that going to Mars is safe and that we know we can come back, or we'll never do it. Sometimes you have to step out into that unknown and take a big chance. And that takes motivation, it takes spirit, it takes bravery, it takes a sense of adventure, all of which are shared by both the Kaylee's and the Mal's (and Wash's, since technically Buzz was an Air Force Pilot) of the world.

The reason we haven't been back to the moon in your lifetime isn't because the spirit and heroism has failed us, it's because of penny-pinchers and wars and everything else that idiots in politics and business put ahead of the long-term survival of the human race.

And frankly if we're really going to get into an argument about more viable ways to establish space colonies, we probably should talk about a how carrying fuel to escape a gravity field as strong as the one produced by Earth isn't actually the best idea and we ought to construct all the equipment and vessels we need in space.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 3:10 PM

Quote:
Talk about a buzz kill.

Looking for problems in Aldrin places.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 3:45 PM

Ion propelled to wonder why this is the thrust of the disagreement.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 6:21 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

Kaylees might be needed, but they sure as hell won't make a 1 way trip into a round trip. You need Mals and Buzzs of the 'verse to actually BUY the ships in the first place.

And if Mal wants to speechify, then by all means, he's earned that right.

Even IF Kaylee told him about those entry couplings SIX MONTHS AGO, and not just last week !

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 6:50 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Ion propelled to wonder why this is the thrust of the disagreement.

Buzz is promoting a highest risk, lowest reward program, exactly like Apollo, which killed astronauts. Apollo 1: Gus Grissom, Roger B. Chaffee and Edward White died and then the Apollo capsule was re-engineered. I go to the Freeman Memorial Library, named for another astronaut who died flying his trainer into a field rather than bailout and let the plane kill people on the ground. Apollo 13 almost killed 3 astronauts.

It's not Apollo, but the Space Shuttle made it very clear, twice, that it wasn't engineered as well as was claimed by management. The one catastrophe per million launches was a completely bogus claim by management. One catastrophe per hundred launches was the truth. And the truth got the Shuttle cancelled.

And after Apollo there was no after, they just stopped going to the Moon. If humans don't go back to the Moon real soon, Apollo was all in vain. It becomes a mere thrill that's never worth repeating.

Buzz is sending those who listen to him down that same heroic path to Mars as was used by Apollo. Where that path ends is a pile of dead heroes. That is Malcolm Reynolds' natural territory where risk is nearly meaningless. And then they give up on Mars for several decades, waiting for engineering to catchup to Buzz's dream of colonizing Mars.

Buzz needs a lower risk plan that doesn't smell of a suicide. Claiming a one-way mission to Mars is not suicide is not the same as building a colony on Mars. Does the Mars program really need to kill the maximum number of heroes? Could they please have less heroics and less vanity and less emotional appeal? And better engineering?

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 7:08 PM

Arguing for an approach that isn't a one way trip means you would have to have a way of creating fuel on Mars.

The issues of a one way trip and the few who have died are not the problem - there will always be people willing to take that risk. The problem is that other people have denied them that opportunity for financial reasons.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 7:12 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by G:

How about going to reddit and asking Buzz yourself? Let us know who you sign in as so we can watch the exchange (and please don't mention you're a Firefly fan).

IAMAs only go so long, it's over at this point.

There is an interesting IAMA going on with Glenn Greenwald about the NSA and Snowden right now though.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 7:14 PM

OONJERAH

Quote Bytemite, "And frankly if we're really going to get into an argument about more viable ways to establish space colonies, we probably should talk about a how carrying fuel to escape a gravity field as strong as the one produced by Earth isn't actually the best idea and we ought to construct all the equipment and vessels we need in space."

Islands in the Sky ... to house & manufacture, etc.
Didn't we already start that?

Asking because I know nothing of our current space program.
Like ... do we still use our own space shuttles?

P.S. Since the moon & asteroids have low gravity compared to
Earth, round trips to them need far less fuel. Would it be practical
to mine some manufacturing materials out there?

... oooOO}{OOooo ...

Part of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 7:18 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by G:
How about going to reddit and asking Buzz yourself? Let us know who you sign in as so we can watch the exchange (and please don't mention you're a Firefly fan).

I'd rather ask him why he divorced his three wives. His answer was "incompatibility" which is a worthless answer. I can't dig deep enough into his guts to get a meaningful answer. It's all personal emotion and very private. But killing Mars pioneers with his dumb-ass plan will be very public.

The wiki says, "Aldrin is an active supporter of the Republican Party, headlining fundraisers for GOP members of Congress." I should not have been surprised, he's a dirt-bag in many other areas of his life, besides supporting the riskiest, stupidest possible, yet still workable, configuration for a Mars Colony.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 8:00 PM

Cites private life as a negative indicator of character, similar to republicans and Clinton.

Actually hates because of a different political leaning (again like Republicans).

Considers this relevant to a conversation about the space program and Mars colonies.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 8:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:

Quote Bytemite, "And frankly if we're really going to get into an argument about more viable ways to establish space colonies, we probably should talk about a how carrying fuel to escape a gravity field as strong as the one produced by Earth isn't actually the best idea and we ought to construct all the equipment and vessels we need in space."

Islands in the Sky ... to house & manufacture, etc.
Didn't we already start that?

Asking because I know nothing of our current space program.
Like ... do we still use our own space shuttles?

P.S. Since the moon & asteroids have low gravity compared to Earth,
round trips to them need far less fuel. Would it be practical to
mine some manufacturing materials out there?

... oooOO}{OOooo ...

Part of being smart is knowing what you're dumb at.

Just don't call any of them Laputa and we'll probably be fine.

ISS started as a potential jumping point for that kind of manufacturing, but it's getting older now and would take a lot to prepare it for that function.

We don't have space shuttles anymore. There's been discussion about what to replace them with but no real conclusions.

And yes, mining asteroids is a good idea, asteroids and meteors have a high metal content. Really once you get into space, the question of certain rare earth resources becomes kind of moot. Space has infinite supplies.

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 9:21 PM

AURAPTOR

America loves a winner!

So second , it's YOUR opinion that what Buzz says per going to Mars, and how to do it, is that he has no clue of what he's saying, and will needlessly put lives at risk ?

Of the two, Buzz and yourself, who has actually been to the Moon ?

And you DO understand that Buzz wasn't the DIRECTOR of the Apollo program, right ? He was himself just a pilot.

And you DO know that, it's pretty unlikely that he'll be in charge of over seeing ANY missions to Mars, per his advanced age, even now.

No Mars pioneer's lives have ( that we're aware of ) yet been lost. And yet you're already trying to lay blame on anything that goes wrong at the feet of Buzz ?

Really?

I got news for ya second , not all GREAT men in history were angels. Even your dear and fluffy Democratic leaders, Clinton and Obama, used copious amounts of drugs and or slept around w/ lots of women, even after marriage.

Your rants are as comical as they are irrational.

Oh , and then there's this from Wiki -

Aldrin, a Presbyterian, was the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon.

Dear god in heaven...he's a Republican AND he's religious!!

EVISCERATE HIM !!

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 9:55 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Cites private life as a negative indicator of character, similar to republicans and Clinton.

Actually hates because of a different political leaning (again like Republicans).

Considers this relevant to a conversation about the space program and Mars colonies.

As a side note, Buzz liked the movie Gravity. Didn't he notice that all manned space programs on Earth were destroyed by the end of the movie? Or did the failures just not matter? The only thing Buzz saw was the heroics. www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2a5vg8/i_am_buzz_aldrin_engineer_americ
an_astronaut_and/cirt35v

The man's judgment is crappy. And not just about space. He is fundamentally blind to the obvious. I liked Gravity, too, but noticed the humongous failure that was right before my eyes.

Mars is too important to ruin colonization with Buzz's half-ass dreams of glory, bravery and sacrifice. The best plans will certainly need many heroes. The worst plans need heroes, too, but a few big failures (remember the Shuttle?) on Mars because of Buzz's con job of Congress and no government will try again for a century. Buzz is really persuasive. Too bad he isn't pushing a good plan.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 10:02 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
So second , it's YOUR opinion that what Buzz says per going to Mars, and how to do it, is that he has no clue of what he's saying, and will needlessly put lives at risk ?

Of the two, Buzz and yourself, who has actually been to the Moon ?

. . .
Oh , and then there's this from Wiki -

Aldrin, a Presbyterian, was the first person to hold a religious ceremony on the Moon.

Dear god in heaven...he's a Republican AND he's religious!!

EVISCERATE HIM !!

Buzz has got problems. But he is so smooth you lose track. He keeps telling you [read his books] but you keep not noticing because he is handsome and well spoken.

Please read Buzz's Suicide Mission to Mars www.amazon.com/Mission-Mars-Vision-Space-Exploration/dp/1426210175/ It will inspire you. Just don't follow his plan. Make a better plan.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 10:05 PM

OONJERAH

Au, as long as Aldrin held a religious ceremony up there in the name of
Rhiannon-Luna-Juno-Hera-Selene-any Moon goddess ... it's all right then.

... oooOO}{OOooo ...

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Wednesday, July 9, 2014 11:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Oonjerah:

Au, as long as Aldrin held a religious ceremony up there in the name of
Rhiannon-Luna-Juno-Hera-Selene-any Moon goddess ... it's all right then.

... oooOO}{OOooo ...

Not many people know this, but the Abrahamic god (El/Adonai/YHWH) is based on an old mesopotamian god of the moon, named, ironically enough, Sin. His holy mountain, and holy mountain of the Jews, is Mount Sinai. (He was probably later merged with a sun god)

Also little known, the Abrahamic god has a feminine aspect called Shekinah.

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:57 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:

Not many people know this, but the Abrahamic god (El/Adonai/YHWH) is based on an old mesopotamian god of the moon, named, ironically enough, Sin. His holy mountain, and holy mountain of the Jews, is Mount Sinai. (He was probably later merged with a sun god)

Also little known, the Abrahamic god has a feminine aspect called Shekinah.

Buzz does have Mythology swirling around his brain.

Buzz wrote Encounter with Tiber, about "the key to the mystery of Tiber, a civilization who left artifacts in the solar system some 9,000 years ago, with sufficient impact on human affairs to explain some odd references in the Bible."
www.amazon.com/Encounter-Tiber-John-Barnes-ebook/dp/B00COWLXUS/

If Arthur C. Clarke had gone to the Moon, and used a co-writer, he could have been . . . Buzz Aldrin, Man of Letters. But Buzz's Suicide Mission to Mars is S.F. and P.R. and B.S., not engineering. Follow that plan and set back eventual Mars colonization a century.

And yet, Clarke did have co-authors! OMG! The similarity to Buzz is uncanny. And since Clarke did invent synchronous orbit communications satellites, maybe Buzz does know how to colonize Mars. But probably not.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 8:07 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by G:

I get you don't like or respect the guy :) but it's unclear to me what you don't like about his plan

Here is an analog between Buzz's chemical rockets and wind power. When Lief Ericson sailed to Vinland he could choose wind or rowing. There was nothing else imaginable. You know what the results were for centuries: many failed colonies, abandoned and forgotten. People kept trying to settle N.America because they didn't know the failures.

Buzz's chemical rockets are the 20th century equivalent of wind power. But when his Mars colonies fail, everybody on Earth will know failure in excruciating detail. That Buzz doesn't give a 'gorram' is the key to what truly goes on inside his head. Buzz could have died on the Moon so, for him, it's no big deal people die on Mars because they died in a heroic effort. Except, people will not keep paying to send heroes in rockets to Mars. Chemical rockets are not the way to colonize. Buzz ought to admit that killing colonists on TV with crappy chemical rocket technology is bad judgment. Buzz has glory and heroics compensating for a bad tech. By God, I swear, Buzz is Mal Reynolds, ready to risk his life and others' on a terrible plan. {Casting suggestion: Nathan Fillion plays Buzz in Buzz's biopic.}

Lucky for us, other technology is imaginable, just not available. We are not stuck for life with poor technology like Lief Ericson was. Except people are romantically in love with the roar of rockets and don't want any better than that. Good enough for Neil and Buzz means good enough for now and 2044.

Just now noticed a headline: Buzz Aldrin makes the case for a one-way manned mission to Mars www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-buzz-aldrin-earth-to-echo
-20140709-story.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 11:24 AM

Quote:
…..SECOND
Here is an analog between Buzz's chemical rockets and wind power. When Lief Ericson sailed to Vinland he could choose wind or rowing. There was nothing else imaginable. You know what the results were for centuries: many failed colonies, abandoned and forgotten. People kept trying to settle N.America because they didn't know the failures.

SECOND means TWO or 2. Would you be offended by me referring to you as two or 2, its simpler?

What you speak about second is called the pioneer spirt. One of the reasons Leif Ericson stop exploring is because his father died and he had to remain in Iceland to rule in his stead. Another reason for failure is encountering bacteria your immunization process is not familiar with. It takes generations for that to change. Then there are very harsh conditions or native inhabitants to content with. Leif ran into the latter problem in his claimed visits to the Americas.

While I wish to be cautious the gains we made going into space are close to immeasurable. Here is some food for thought.

“Right now, all of America’s human space flight programs cost around $7 billion a year. That’s pennies per person per day. In 2006, according to the USDA, Americans spent more than $154 billion on alcohol. We spend around $10 billion a month in Iraq. And so on.”
http://freakonomics.com/2008/01/11/is-space-exploration-worth-the-cost
-a-freakonomics-quorum/

When we went to the moon we created immense amounts of new technologies that launched America into a future that put us at the head of the world economically. Those technologies are lifting the rest of the world economically to this day. We need to keep that edge no matter what the cost. Solar technologies are also the future as far as major economic gains and probably will be relied upon heavily if we travel and establish colonies in space.

I say we go!

si shen

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 11:33 AM

Two is actually the name of his other account. That's why we call him that in other threads.

But I thought it was polite that you asked.

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 11:36 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Two is actually the name of his other account. That's why we call him that in other threads.

But I thought it was polite that you asked.

Thanks for the info. Did you notice I did not ask rappy?

si shen

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:38 PM

Well, I did now.

In truth, I don't really use nicknames to mock a person, I usually start using a nickname - often without asking - because it's easier or quicker to type and because I don't really stand much on formality.

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:44 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Well, I did now.

In truth, I don't really use nicknames to mock a person, I usually start using a nickname - often without asking - because it's easier or quicker to type and because I don't really stand much on formality.

Me to, it's easier. I implied with my post he was underserving of the respect I choose to give to 2. Kinda like a poke in jest. He gets worse.

si shen

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:52 PM

This board taints everything you know. It's hard to not get wrapped up in all the grudges that go around.

Sometimes, I have acted like an fool over very minor or maybe even imagined slights.

In an environment like this, the conflict is almost living, sentient. This board can make you lose yourself. You go crazy, and you may not find yourself again. I've come out the worse for all of that - I've always been a jerk, but I used to care if I was and what other people thought about me. Now I don't.

I'm just saying, you've only been here a couple weeks. Don't be in a hurry to make enemies, people will oblige you. Ask yourself always if you think you're being out of character for your normal self, and be ready to put on the breaks if you think things are getting out of control.

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:54 PM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
I'd rather ask him why he divorced his three wives.

Why?

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”? Isaac Asimov

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 12:55 PM

STORYMARK

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
Cites private life as a negative indicator of character, similar to republicans and Clinton.

Actually hates because of a different political leaning (again like Republicans).

Considers this relevant to a conversation about the space program and Mars colonies.
As a side note, Buzz liked the movie Gravity. Didn't he notice that all manned space programs on Earth were destroyed by the end of the movie? Or did the failures just not matter? The only thing Buzz saw was the heroics. www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2a5vg8/i_am_buzz_aldrin_engineer_americ
an_astronaut_and/cirt35v

The man's judgment is crappy. And not just about space. He is fundamentally blind to the obvious. I liked Gravity, too, but noticed the humongous failure that was right before my eyes.

Maybe he didn't watch it thinking it was a documentary....

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”? Isaac Asimov

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 1:20 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
This board taints everything you know. It's hard to not get wrapped up in all the grudges that go around.

Sometimes, I have acted like an fool over very minor or maybe even imagined slights.

In an environment like this, the conflict is almost living, sentient. This board can make you lose yourself. You go crazy, and you may not find yourself again. I've come out the worse for all of that - I've always been a jerk, but I used to care if I was and what other people thought about me. Now I don't.

I'm just saying, you've only been here a couple weeks. Don't be in a hurry to make enemies, people will oblige you. Ask yourself always if you think you're being out of character for your normal self, and be ready to put on the breaks if you think things are getting out of control.

Sound advice but I have no intention of walking on egg shells. I am capable, for the most part, of understanding what I read. That allows me to recognize how to respond to posts and judge, for good or bad, who represents what on these threads.

However, keep the advice coming. I like everyone else needs to have errors in judgment pointed out so corrections can be made.

si shen

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 1:41 PM

Private solar spacecraft due to launch

http://technology.iafrica.com/apps/imageUtil/view/article/948552/1/630
x385

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/privately-funded-solar-spacecraft-to
-launch-in-2016-in-us-556028

si shen

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Thursday, July 10, 2014 7:56 PM

KPO

Sometimes you own the libs. Sometimes, the libs own you.

Good stuff.

It's not personal. It's just war.

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Friday, July 11, 2014 9:52 AM

Love Neil DE grass Tyson and with John Oliver how can you go wrong.

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Friday, July 11, 2014 11:58 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Storymark:
Maybe he didn't watch it thinking it was a documentary....

The disaster in Gravity (2013) begins with a Russian missile destroying a Russian satellite. The Russians had to plan that missile firing months ahead, but the planners forgot to include the disastrous consequences. Buzz's book Suicide Mission to Mars is not a detailed plan for Mars Colonization, but it is not thinking through the disastrous consequences.

When the first step in Buzz's plan is to send astronauts on a one-way trip to Mars because it is cheaper than a two-way trip, Buzz has guaranteed that colonization will fail. When that plan kills astronauts, the US government will end its support. Mars colonization will be delayed while memories fades. Then the government will start again with a two-way trip.

{Maybe Google, Apple, Amazon, Exxon-Mobile, and SpaceX will, together, colonize Mars using the cheaper one-way trip. They can kill as many volunteer astronauts as they please when democracies can't.}

Make Buzz a little happier. Buy his book Suicide Mission to Mars: My Vision for Space Exploration www.amazon.com/Mission-Mars-Vision-Space-Exploration/dp/1426210175/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Saturday, July 12, 2014 9:50 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by BYTEMITE:
http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/2a5vg8/i_am_buzz_aldrin_engineer
_american_astronaut_and/

I am seriously impressed by the eloquence in the answers here. Don't have to read all of them but there's some good stuff here.

Why is Buzz's heroic missions not the way to colonize Mars?

Apollo was six lunar landings and then cancellation. (think Firefly)

Mars Colonization can not follow the example of Buzz's Apollo and Buzz's book. A few hundred people getting dropped onto Mars will not be the seed to a successful colony. Millions need to go.

Tens of thousands have already gone to Antarctica and that continent is not self-supporting. If Earth is permanently taking over Mars, it needs to commit resources as large as the task. The resources will be withdrawn if the first colonists, on Buzz's suicide mission, end as dead colonists. It will be on TV, where everybody can see their death story and be appalled, which will cause future Mars missions to be cancelled.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canceled_Apollo_missions#Cancellations

Who wants the Mars colony to die just because the original planners were thinking too cheap and too small? Apollo small.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at www.mediafire.com/folder/1uwh75oa407q8/Firefly

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Saturday, July 12, 2014 10:14 AM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by second:

Apollo was five lunar landings and then cancellation.

Actually, there were 6 Apollo lunar landings...

11
12
14
15
16
17

But besides that error, why are you so psycho about Buzz Aldrin? Who the fuck are you to challenge a national hero and space travel icon about anything. Besides shoving Mars Bars up your ass, what have you ever done in the field of space exploration?

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Saturday, July 12, 2014 10:39 AM