Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

Cassini mission ends on 9/15. This link contains two lovely videos from for it and Huygens. Take a moment to watch them. You will feel proud of being a human being.

We did that. Our little monkey brains did that.

The beauty of the world. The paragon of animals.

Hard not to get a little misty thinking about it. The science and engineering that went into it which will only be topped by the science to come out of it.

It really does make me proud. I often think about stuff like this while staring at the solar objects. That we've actually put a man on the moon and returned him safely. We've set landers down on a friggin moon of Saturn and returned images. That an organized grouping of organic molecules can think about, send, and return things and information to and from the heavens.

ETA: I particularly liked this line:

The last signal from Cassini will reach Earth at 7:55 am EDT, 83 minutes after Cassini becomes one with the object of its admiration.

[joecct]

Hard not to get a little misty thinking about it. The science and engineering that went into it which will only be topped by the science to come out of it.

It really does make me proud. I often think about stuff like this while staring at the solar objects. That we've actually put a man on the moon and returned him safely. We've set landers down on a friggin moon of Saturn and returned images. That an organized grouping of organic molecules can think about, send, and return things and information to and from the heavens.

ETA: I particularly liked this line:

All the moon landings occurred in Richard Nixon's first term. We squandered an opportunity.

The Voyagers, some 40 years on, are still sending data back from beyond / fringe of the solar system.

New Horizon is sailing out to the Kuiper Belt and those redoubtable Mars Landers are still working.

Engineers and mathematicians are very good. JPL should be a shrine.

[dxmnkd316]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

Well said.

We spend billions of dollars on shrines elevating men literally kill each other on the grid iron and revere them as our childhood idols.

Why can't we all have posters or Mowhawk Guy from the mars lander or dream of someday being Higgs? I know I did. I know this is going to get some eye rolls and barbs, but when we were asked to dress up for a day as what we wanted to be when we grew up, while most kids went with baseball player, fireman, or even an astronaut, I went with mechanical engineer. In the fall of first grade.

Lame, I know.

[joecct]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

Elon Musk poking fun at SpaceX failures to land.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bvim4rsNHkQ

[joecct]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

R.I.P. Cassini.

[Kepler]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

R.I.P. Cassini.

With the exception of Apollo and The Grand Tour, the greatest space mission so far.

Now colonize Mars already.

[MissThundercat]

David "Avocado" Wolfe had his invitation to speak at a biohacker summit taken away.

Wolfe says outrageous things like "gravity is a toxin" and "chocolate is an octave of the sun."

[5mn_Major]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

I think NASA is a good use of public funds and I generally support it. But sometimes I wonder about the purpose of the missions.

I don't know it well enough...but I wonder if it should be working closer with the private sector on actual commercial developments to help facilitate real short term space progress. Cassini is cool and probably gets a lot of scientific data (the use of which I'm unsure)...but it seems fairly long term, as a result possibly lower value add and somewhat disconnected from current efforts at space travel. Perhaps a big goal is to inspire the next generation. Dunno.

[Slap Shot]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

Now colonize Mars already.

Ugh

[Kepler]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

I think NASA is a good use of public funds and I generally support it. But sometimes I wonder about the purpose of the missions.

I don't know it well enough...but I wonder if it should be working closer with the private sector on actual commercial developments to help facilitate real short term space progress. Cassini is cool and probably gets a lot of scientific data (the use of which I'm unsure)...but it seems fairly long term, as a result possibly lower value add and somewhat disconnected from current efforts at space travel. Perhaps a big goal is to inspire the next generation. Dunno.

The NASA missions are science. They're the R&D department of the human space enterprise. If we waited for the private sector it would never be cost effective, so government takes the big hit up front and gifts the lessons learned to the private sector, and then conservatives compare them on ROI de-hurr de-hurr.

See also: canals, railroads, highways, dams, rural electrification, the internet, aerospace, and the military.

But you know, "gubmint doesn't work" because de-hurr de-hurr.

[joecct]

The NASA missions are science. They're the R&D department of the human space enterprise. If we waited for the private sector it would never be cost effective, so government takes the big hit up front and gifts the lessons learned to the private sector, and then conservatives compare them on ROI de-hurr de-hurr.

See also: canals, railroads, highways, dams, rural electrification, the internet, aerospace, and the military.

But you know, "gubmint doesn't work" because de-hurr de-hurr.

But, if you want to harvest an asteroid for the minerals and volitiles, then a private company (profit motive) would be best.

Colonization will be a public/private joint venture.

[Kepler]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

But, if you want to harvest an asteroid for the minerals and volitiles, then a private company (profit motive) would be best.

Colonization will be a public/private joint venture.

Sure, but the entry costs are enormous so governments carry the load.

The place for the private sector is when there's a market for something. There's no market for exploration and science per se, only for the tech they trailblaze. So let the parasit-- er, MBAs exploit the results after the hard work is done.

It fits in perfectly with the current fad of socializing costs and privatizing profits, too.

[5mn_Major]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

The NASA missions are science. They're the R&D department of the human space enterprise. If we waited for the private sector it would never be cost effective, so government takes the big hit up front and gifts the lessons learned to the private sector, and then conservatives compare them on ROI de-hurr de-hurr.

See also: canals, railroads, highways, dams, rural electrification, the internet, aerospace, and the military.

But you know, "gubmint doesn't work" because de-hurr de-hurr.

That's the point. I wonder if Cssini is too far out there and aimed at scientific findings (samples from Saturn)...when the US space interests (and space developed financial returns) would better benefit from partnering with private enterprise in getting short distance travel logistics worked out - whether it be for short distance space shuttles or mining.

[Kepler]

Re: Science: Vaccines Work, GMOs Are Safe, Everything is a Chemical

As we fall apart others pick up the pace.

It's happened before.

[MissThundercat]

Nice piece on why AA/12 step programs are ineffective.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/04/the-irrationality-of-alcoholics-anonymous/386255/?utm_source=atlfb

I attended Overeaters Anonymous, and it was repeatedly stressed that if you deviated from the "3 meals a day, nothing in between" philosophy, you were doomed to be a compulsive eater.