So...Newt Gingrich
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So...Newt Gingrich
I do not like the majority of his views, I think his is a shitty person, and I really dislike him...but why do people harp on his belief that we will colonize the moon and his push for us to establish a base there?
That is one of the absolute best things we could possibly do, not just for our country, but for the human race in general. A base on the dark side (or scientific outpost at least) could use radio telescopes with no interference from radio waves of Earth.
The "soil" is full of precious metals and tritium. In fact, using the soil, we could produce super efficient solar panels that could produce enough energy to power the entire Earth. If I remember correctly, it would take somewhere around 100 square miles of them to achieve that. That sounds like a lot, but all of the materials are in the soil, and a mobile machine powered by the same solar panels could basically scoop the soil, and print the panels as it moved, laying them down behind it. The power produced could be beamed by microwaves directly to the planet with very little loss.
Also, a base there would serve as a needed launching point for missions to Mars or other points in our solar system (or beyond).
What is so crazy about that? Just because it's in space and would be difficult and dangerous? Because the initial investment would be large? Because people think it is not possible?
That is one of the absolute best things we could possibly do, not just for our country, but for the human race in general. A base on the dark side (or scientific outpost at least) could use radio telescopes with no interference from radio waves of Earth.
The "soil" is full of precious metals and tritium. In fact, using the soil, we could produce super efficient solar panels that could produce enough energy to power the entire Earth. If I remember correctly, it would take somewhere around 100 square miles of them to achieve that. That sounds like a lot, but all of the materials are in the soil, and a mobile machine powered by the same solar panels could basically scoop the soil, and print the panels as it moved, laying them down behind it. The power produced could be beamed by microwaves directly to the planet with very little loss.
Also, a base there would serve as a needed launching point for missions to Mars or other points in our solar system (or beyond).
What is so crazy about that? Just because it's in space and would be difficult and dangerous? Because the initial investment would be large? Because people think it is not possible?
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
it mostly comes from the fact that you can't even afford to make payments on your debt without grinding government to a halt every time the ceiling is hit. and he is talking about colonizing the moon. you have to have perspective. no one's interested in moon bases when their job just got carted off to china thanks to more GOP globalization policies that exist solely to make billionaires even wealthier. moon bases are tertiary to having providing for your family, a comfortable home, stability and money in the kid's college fund.
americans had all that in the 1960s. now you don't. once you get all that again then you can talk about colonizing the moon. unless china has already sub-divided it all by the time you get there. with your money that you gave them in exchange for widening your income gap to historic levels.
americans had all that in the 1960s. now you don't. once you get all that again then you can talk about colonizing the moon. unless china has already sub-divided it all by the time you get there. with your money that you gave them in exchange for widening your income gap to historic levels.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Because being able to provide all of the energy needs of not just the US, but the world, would not be a huge economic boon? Or having access to hundreds of trillions of dollars of precious metals? It doesn't take a lot of thrust to launch a nice payload from 1/4th gravity.
What about tritium? It is almost nonexistent on Earth, but it is "abundant" on the moon. We have maybe 60 or 70 lbs collected in the US, but could harvest tons on the moon. It is still rare there, but it is possible to actually collect and send home. A fusion reaction between deuterium and tritium is over 3x as efficient as burning fossil fuels.
Of course, with the solar power, if done correctly, we would not need the tritium, but until we can perfect that, or in case there are issues with making it work, the tritium is a guaranteed thing. We know we can do the fusion reaction, we have plenty of deuterium, and we know the results.
I'm sorry, but unlimited power and insane amounts of precious metals alone make it worth it. That is without even considering the scientific implications.
What about tritium? It is almost nonexistent on Earth, but it is "abundant" on the moon. We have maybe 60 or 70 lbs collected in the US, but could harvest tons on the moon. It is still rare there, but it is possible to actually collect and send home. A fusion reaction between deuterium and tritium is over 3x as efficient as burning fossil fuels.
Of course, with the solar power, if done correctly, we would not need the tritium, but until we can perfect that, or in case there are issues with making it work, the tritium is a guaranteed thing. We know we can do the fusion reaction, we have plenty of deuterium, and we know the results.
I'm sorry, but unlimited power and insane amounts of precious metals alone make it worth it. That is without even considering the scientific implications.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
unlimited power means nothing when there is already plenty of power now.
look at the oil sands in canada. 20 years ago we knew how much fossil fuels there were in alberta and saskatchewan, but it wasn't even remotely viable to pull it out of that dirt because oil was less than $20/barrel ($32/barrel in 2012 money). now it is just under $100/barrel suddenly it is worth all that effort. the amount it costs to get all that canadian oil that is technically inferior to arab and south american oil is hideous both financially and in the toll it takes on the environment, but with prices where they are it's a great deal.
I can't even fathom the astronomical upfront costs of the infrastructure you're talking about. there isn't enough money in the world. wealthy nations balk at the cost of building a gen 4 nuclear power plant and you're talking about the benefits of robots building 100's of square miles of solar panels out of dirt in a low gravity vacuum and beaming the energy to earth with microwaves.
tritium is great but we don't need tritium. "insane amounts of precious metals" rules but not while we just buy all that shit from dirty chinese mines at such miserably low prices. if you want the majority of the population to back something that huge there needs to be a reason. you only went to the moon because you were racing the russians there. there is no more impetus to go there because there's nothing there now that you can't get here.
look at the oil sands in canada. 20 years ago we knew how much fossil fuels there were in alberta and saskatchewan, but it wasn't even remotely viable to pull it out of that dirt because oil was less than $20/barrel ($32/barrel in 2012 money). now it is just under $100/barrel suddenly it is worth all that effort. the amount it costs to get all that canadian oil that is technically inferior to arab and south american oil is hideous both financially and in the toll it takes on the environment, but with prices where they are it's a great deal.
I can't even fathom the astronomical upfront costs of the infrastructure you're talking about. there isn't enough money in the world. wealthy nations balk at the cost of building a gen 4 nuclear power plant and you're talking about the benefits of robots building 100's of square miles of solar panels out of dirt in a low gravity vacuum and beaming the energy to earth with microwaves.
tritium is great but we don't need tritium. "insane amounts of precious metals" rules but not while we just buy all that shit from dirty chinese mines at such miserably low prices. if you want the majority of the population to back something that huge there needs to be a reason. you only went to the moon because you were racing the russians there. there is no more impetus to go there because there's nothing there now that you can't get here.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Besides being harder to extract, the oil coming from the sands in Canada also produces higher carbon emissions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... rty-secret
![Image](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/8/2/1280757859285/Michigan-oil-spill-004.jpg)
Canada has their own oil covered birds.
There's also this:A 2011 study for the EU by Stanford University academic Adam Brandt found that oil-sand crude was as much as 22 percent more carbon intensive.
Canada, whose oil sands have helped it become an energy power, fears such a ruling could imperil a resource it estimates will add more than C$3 trillion to its economy over the next 25 years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... rty-secret
![Image](http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2010/8/2/1280757859285/Michigan-oil-spill-004.jpg)
Canada has their own oil covered birds.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Just a FYI, Marshall, Michigan is not in Canada.
It's right near where Fair lives.
It's right near where Fair lives.
I've got 99 problems and I'm not dealing with any of them - Lay-Z
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
That should be part of Canada! You can have it!miir wrote:Just a FYI, Marshall, Michigan is not in Canada.
It's right near where Fair lives.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
There's also this:
It will be interesting to see what happens with the proposed Canada-->US pipeline
Finally the US is pumping out oil again. America may not need Canada's oil so it becomes crucial for Canada to convince the Euros/Rest of the world to take their oil. US oil is so clean you could take a bath in it.The International Energy Agency (IEA)’s latest forecast at the World Energy Outlook 2012 points to a similar conclusion, namely, that the US could become the largest oil producer by 2020, and become a net oil exporter around 2030:
It will be interesting to see what happens with the proposed Canada-->US pipeline
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Just stop before you make a fool of yourself... Oh, wait
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Oil is unsustainable in the long run.
Kyo, unlimited energy is important because it would pay for itself in the long run, and we could completely eliminate pollution from power production.. Tritium in the short term, solar in the long term. And, you mentioned the fact that it is in a vacuum as a negative, when the vacuum is the only reason it will work. The solar cells I am talking about are possible to make today, but the issue is, they must be created in a true vacuum and only function in a vacuum. They are 5x+ more efficient than the best solar cells we can create outside of a vacuum, and on the moon the lack of an atmosphere also increase the intensity of the light hitting them.
Also, while we do get most of our rare Earth metals from China, they are threatening to stop exporting them, and may have good reason to do so. Their deposits are running low. The world as a whole consumes them, for things ranging from light bulbs to electronics, at a rate that is higher than they are being discovered. Estimates say, that at the current rate, we could hit a wall between 2020 and 2030 that would cause us to no longer be able to produced electronics because we run out of important components (including gold and platinum).
There is a reason that these metals are called rare Earth metals, or precious metals. They are only on the Earth in small quantities, and they are not just useful...they are absolutely required for many technologies we have today. This is not like energy, or oil, where there are other options, and we just don't really want to mess with them because they are difficult. These elements are critical, and rarely have another element capable of replacing them.
We only have two hopes for this. Colonize the moon, or asteroid mining. Preferrably both.
Asteroid mining is another cool idea, and faster to capatilize on. That is why you see people like James Cameron, google execs, Microsoft execs, etc investing in it. The figures I saw on it said that an average asteroid should contain around $24 trillion in gold, platinum, and cobalt. That is not even considering the other rare metals, more common metals, or even water. I's freaking expensive to launch water to space. If we can have it waiting, that makes things much easier.
Kyo, unlimited energy is important because it would pay for itself in the long run, and we could completely eliminate pollution from power production.. Tritium in the short term, solar in the long term. And, you mentioned the fact that it is in a vacuum as a negative, when the vacuum is the only reason it will work. The solar cells I am talking about are possible to make today, but the issue is, they must be created in a true vacuum and only function in a vacuum. They are 5x+ more efficient than the best solar cells we can create outside of a vacuum, and on the moon the lack of an atmosphere also increase the intensity of the light hitting them.
Also, while we do get most of our rare Earth metals from China, they are threatening to stop exporting them, and may have good reason to do so. Their deposits are running low. The world as a whole consumes them, for things ranging from light bulbs to electronics, at a rate that is higher than they are being discovered. Estimates say, that at the current rate, we could hit a wall between 2020 and 2030 that would cause us to no longer be able to produced electronics because we run out of important components (including gold and platinum).
There is a reason that these metals are called rare Earth metals, or precious metals. They are only on the Earth in small quantities, and they are not just useful...they are absolutely required for many technologies we have today. This is not like energy, or oil, where there are other options, and we just don't really want to mess with them because they are difficult. These elements are critical, and rarely have another element capable of replacing them.
We only have two hopes for this. Colonize the moon, or asteroid mining. Preferrably both.
Asteroid mining is another cool idea, and faster to capatilize on. That is why you see people like James Cameron, google execs, Microsoft execs, etc investing in it. The figures I saw on it said that an average asteroid should contain around $24 trillion in gold, platinum, and cobalt. That is not even considering the other rare metals, more common metals, or even water. I's freaking expensive to launch water to space. If we can have it waiting, that makes things much easier.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Oh, yeah...if we had the ability to beam energy to any place in the world (that had built a giant receiver to let us send it to), then we would be able to control the worlds energy market.
The only scary part, and this would likely be a positive reason to do it for the government, is that the same technology could be used as a weapon. A giant microwave beam would be, in essence, a death ray. It could be reflected by tin foil, but anyone not shielded by metal would be vaporized.
The only scary part, and this would likely be a positive reason to do it for the government, is that the same technology could be used as a weapon. A giant microwave beam would be, in essence, a death ray. It could be reflected by tin foil, but anyone not shielded by metal would be vaporized.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Don't sass me boy!Funkmasterr wrote:Just stop before you make a fool of yourself... Oh, wait
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
everything that you just said doesn't negate the fact that there is more sources of energy on earth that is literally millions of times cheaper to exploit. you cannot possibly argue from a standpoint that it should be done just because it's awesome. the united states doesn't have enough cash to pay for anything like this. you can't even pay for adequate medical care and disability for your veterans.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Because we spend money that you should be contributing to, protecting your third world countries with our gigantic, high tech, unstoppable military.kyoukan wrote: the united states doesn't have enough cash to pay for anything like this. you can't even pay for adequate medical care and disability for your veterans.
Pay up! US Dollars please, don't want your dirty oil as payment!
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Solution: Cut the defense budget.. Divert funds to NASA. win-win.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
I fail to see how it would be so expensive. Building the infrastructure to beam the solar energy back would be a giant undertaking and would take $trillions and a decade+ to complete, but as I said, that is long term. Producing the solar panels themselves would be fairly cheap. The idea has already been proposed, and we have the technology to build a rover robot that could do it. Once it is there, it takes literally 0 input. It is powered completely by the sun, and prints the panels using lunar soil for all of the resources.
The quick money would be in tritium, and that would not be nearly as difficult as you seem to think. NASA is already developing prototype inflatable habitats for the moon or mars. They are light weight, and stronger than steel. You send those ahead in unmanned crafts, and they can self inflate. Also send multiple rovers that sort the lunar soil for tritium, once again, powered completely by the sun. You would only need to send people to oversee the process, and make sure it all works as it is suppose to. With 1/4th gravity, small crafts on the lunar surface could be used to load the tritium and drop it into orbit around earth, then return. The only thing that would need to be sent from earth to the base would be fuel, food, and water.
It would completely pay for itself within a few years, and after that, the profit could be used toward the microwave emitter/death ray.
The quick money would be in tritium, and that would not be nearly as difficult as you seem to think. NASA is already developing prototype inflatable habitats for the moon or mars. They are light weight, and stronger than steel. You send those ahead in unmanned crafts, and they can self inflate. Also send multiple rovers that sort the lunar soil for tritium, once again, powered completely by the sun. You would only need to send people to oversee the process, and make sure it all works as it is suppose to. With 1/4th gravity, small crafts on the lunar surface could be used to load the tritium and drop it into orbit around earth, then return. The only thing that would need to be sent from earth to the base would be fuel, food, and water.
It would completely pay for itself within a few years, and after that, the profit could be used toward the microwave emitter/death ray.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Now let's trim $200,000,000,000 of unstoppable military fat in order to make college free for everybody. Then our military can protect a society of people who have both money to spend and support homosexual rights.Winnow wrote:Because we spend money that you should be contributing to, protecting your third world countries with our gigantic, high tech, unstoppable military.kyoukan wrote: the united states doesn't have enough cash to pay for anything like this. you can't even pay for adequate medical care and disability for your veterans.
![Image](http://s3.amazonaws.com/readers/2012/07/21/educationunitedstates_1.gif)
choo choo
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
That map would be red for another reason if we cut back defense spending if you know what I mean....WOLVERINES!Leonaerd wrote:
Now let's trim $200,000,000,000 of unstoppable military fat in order to make college free for everybody. Then our military can protect a society of people who have both money to spend and support homosexual rights.
choo choo
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
wolverines are blue and yellow dumbsas
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Leo's too young to remember that movie. I remember seeing in the theatre opening weekend. Yeah I'm old.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
you guys keep replying to that trolling retard and he's never going to go away. he will reply to himself for only so long before he will stop posting for awhile.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Members of VV: Please give kyoukan more attention before it breaks down and cries or it posts pictures of burning babies again to get your attention.kyoukan wrote:you guys keep replying to that trolling retard and he's never going to go away. he will reply to himself for only so long before he will stop posting for awhile.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
At least Kyo is not so encased in her own bullshit that reality cannot penetrate to her brain. Your self centered behavior is entertaining as a case study in self entitled douchebags new era baby boomer kind of way, but outside of learning about kiddy porn and software theft techniques you add no real value to any discussion.
War is an option whose time has passed. Peace is the only option for the future. At present we occupy a treacherous no-man's-land between peace and war, a time of growing fear that our military might has expanded beyond our capacity to control it and our political differences widened beyond our ability to bridge them. . . .
Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.
--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Dwight Eisenhower
Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.
--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Dwight Eisenhower
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
yeah yeah, kiddy porn, blah blah. lol, you're a joke. entitledJice Virago wrote:At least Kyo is not so encased in her own bullshit that reality cannot penetrate to her brain. Your self centered behavior is entertaining as a case study in self entitled douchebags new era baby boomer kind of way, but outside of learning about kiddy porn and software theft techniques you add no real value to any discussion.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Honestly, thank god Winnow is here. This place would be so quiet otherwise. Even if his views on almost everything are wrong, he is narcacisstic, and aggressive...at least it is usually entertaining, or gets other people talking, even if just to agree that they disagree with him.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Asheran understands what's going on.Asheran Mojomaster wrote:Honestly, thank god Winnow is here. This place would be so quiet otherwise. Even if his views on almost everything are wrong, he is narcacisstic, and aggressive...at least it is usually entertaining, or gets other people talking, even if just to agree that they disagree with him.
What he's saying is that you people are really boring.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/smile.gif)
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
Actually, debating people like Funk and Midnyte was and is a lot more entertaining. They actually believe what they are saying and it comes without the smug self centered douchebag angle. Hell, Avestan (while self serving) is genuinely a nice guy and fun to debate with. When Winnow spam bombs a thread its always a two page derail into feed the trust fund troll before we get back on topic.
On topic, Newt is an intelligent man... but he is also the most horrible man to hold public office since the Reagan era. It is important that someone in the GOP have some degree of intellectual ability and sanity (not to mention sense of humor) if we are ever to get this two party shit fest back to something resembling a functional form of government, but he should never ever hold elected office again.
On topic, Newt is an intelligent man... but he is also the most horrible man to hold public office since the Reagan era. It is important that someone in the GOP have some degree of intellectual ability and sanity (not to mention sense of humor) if we are ever to get this two party shit fest back to something resembling a functional form of government, but he should never ever hold elected office again.
War is an option whose time has passed. Peace is the only option for the future. At present we occupy a treacherous no-man's-land between peace and war, a time of growing fear that our military might has expanded beyond our capacity to control it and our political differences widened beyond our ability to bridge them. . . .
Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.
--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Dwight Eisenhower
Short of changing human nature, therefore, the only way to achieve a practical, livable peace in a world of competing nations is to take the profit out of war.
--RICHARD M. NIXON, "REAL PEACE" (1983)
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, represents, in the final analysis, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children."
Dwight Eisenhower
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
I have no complaints with VV. We are a diverse group of idiots trying to shit on each other from interesting angles. Y'all people who get offended should chill, though.
Re: So...Newt Gingrich
I'm pretty sure those of us left here aren't getting offended by anything that is posted here these days.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
While I agree that Newt is pretty horrible, I don't know if he is the worst since the Reagan era. I can think of a few worse ones, and some that are not necessarily bad people, but cause more damage by being so backwards and retarded.Jice Virago wrote:
On topic, Newt is an intelligent man... but he is also the most horrible man to hold public office since the Reagan era. It is important that someone in the GOP have some degree of intellectual ability and sanity (not to mention sense of humor) if we are ever to get this two party shit fest back to something resembling a functional form of government, but he should never ever hold elected office again.
Even if they were not elected, both Dick Cheney and Karl Rove held office during the Bush years, and they are pure evil. I don't think Newt is evil...just self centered.
Rick Santorum bothered me quite a bit...would have taken Romney over him every day.
I dont think Sarah Palin and Rick Perry working together could score a 100 on an IQ test. They are both completely retarded. Thankfully, Palin is no longer in office, but Perry is.
Those are just the recognizable ones. Watching videos of Republican senators and representatives during the last few election years, I've saw sooo many who were obviously completely oblivious to the world, uneducated, and just straight up stupid...and others who were clearly racist, sexist, homophobic, evil, anti-separation of church and state, or any combination of these.
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
I actually like Herman Cain, lol. He is obviously a bit too forward sexually, as was shown when he was running for the nomination, but he didn't try to chane himself. He did not hide his personality (other than his sexual harassment). He had a sense of humor too. He cracked me up on the Colbert Report.
Of course, he doesn't come off as extemely intelligent either, and is a little crazy...
Of course, he doesn't come off as extemely intelligent either, and is a little crazy...
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Re: So...Newt Gingrich
3D printer on moon or Mars could make tools from local rocks
NASA is already experimenting with 3D-printing components for rockets to Mars, but the fun doesn't have to stop at liftoff.
Researchers at Washington State University and NASA are suggesting that rocks on the moon or Mars could be used to print useful objects like tools or replacement parts.
A study published in the latest issue of Rapid Prototyping Journal describes an additive manufacturing process called "laser engineered net shaping" (LENS).
The laser-assisted technique can be used to create metal parts from computer-aided design (CAD) files. The study marks its first use with simulated lunar material.
Along with their collaborators, WSU's Amit Bandyopadhyay and Susmita Bose, a husband and wife research team in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, experimented with 10 pounds of simulated lunar regolith provided by NASA. They managed to create structures from the regolith that didn't exhibit any visible cracks, according to the study.