S'up dawgs

[Dead_Parrot]

What have I missed?

[Chipper Chat]

1. Sarah Palin is still asking God if she should run for President.

Next July we collide with Mars.
.
Newt Gingrich ate too much turkey today.
(correction: he IS the turkey.)

[Dead_Parrot]

2. so, same ol', same ol'?

But I refuse to believe that Gingrich is a turkey. Not unless he tastes good with gravy, and who's prepared to take *that* risk?

[Kennah]

3. First the earth cooled. And then the dinosaurs came.

[Dead_Parrot]

4. But they got too big and fat...

...so they all died and they turned into oil. And then the Arabs came...

:D

[joshcryer]

5. We're fucked.

Of course, no one could've expected us to do squaddly about climate change. Came to that realization when Jacobson's unrealistic numbers were being touted.

[Dead_Parrot]

6. Reading skills, josh....

...when I say "What have I missed", I expect you to exclude the f--king obvious. :)

[Nihil]

7. Yeah but we know what you're like ...

... when it comes to missing the f--king obvious :P

Welcome back! :toast:

[Dead_Parrot]

9. Oi! are you casting nasturtiums in my dissection?

I was aiming for "Hey, we found some more black rhinos" or something



Oh well.
:beer:
:toast:

[XemaSab]

8. Let's see:

Hatrack and kristopher eloped to Tobago, Phantom Power's back in rehab, and GliderGuider was revealed to be Hugo Chavez's sock. :popcorn:

[Dead_Parrot]

10. Sock? Weird, he always struck me as more of a jockstrap.

I hear Tobago is lovely at this time of year.

[GliderGuider]

19. It's worse than that! I've just been demoted...

I'm filling in as Vlad Putin's peter-heater. It's a disgusting job, but they say I'm helping to prevent WWIII, so I don't feel too bad about it.

Actually, here's a serious update: this is my first post on the intertubes after having my right elbow completely rebuilt. Had a narsty fall on a patch of ice Wed. morning that left me with about 10 fractures in all the various bones in there. Since I was right-handed I won't be my usual jock-strappish self for a few weeks.

I used to say, "I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous," and the Universe finally said, "Really? Well OK then, here you go..."

[XemaSab]

20. Bummer

Hope everything knits and you're back in action soon.

[Nihil]

22. That must put a crimp in your sex-life ...

:P

(Sorry to hear about your fall - get well soon!)

[Dead_Parrot]

23. Ouchie

Hope you lift beer with the left arm, we seem to need it...
:)

[hatrack]

21. Hey! HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! KNOCK IT OFF!!!!

:hi:

[bananas]

11. The First International Assessment of Space Solar Power

"Economically viable Solar Power Satellites appear achievable during the next 1-3 decades."
Watch the press conference if you can.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x85751

edit to add:
discussion in E/E which started before the report was released:
National Space Society To Announce "Ground-Breaking" Wireless Space Solar Power Findings
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x316840

[Dead_Parrot]

12. Thanks...

...I saw that elsewhere, and cost to LTO is the problem ("dammit, if it weren't for reality we'd be sorted") but you've got the idea. :)

[bananas]

13. Two other space news items

Two other space news items:

1) We have an astronaut running for Congress in CA district 10
He seems like a really good guy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Hern%C3%A1ndez_%28astronaut%29
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5018432
edit to add: his twitter feed is pretty active: http://twitter.com/Astro_Jose

2) Elon Musk announed his plans for fully-reusable rockets
The project is called "grasshopper",
each stage returns to the launch pad using retro-rockets.

Here's the animation:
http://www.spacex.com/multimedia/videos.php?id=0&cat=recent

In this talk, he says the animation isn't accurate,
partly to confuse Chinese spies:
Elon Musk Outlines Grand Plans In Speech (Video)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=228x84043

FAA Assessment Clears Way for SpaceX Grasshopper Tests
http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/11/18/faa-assessment-clears-way-for-spacex-grasshopper-tests/

[Dead_Parrot]

14. Good news about Hernandez

I like the idea of people who can do shit in the halls of power.

Not sure about grasshopper - Looks funky, but I see a lot of embedded energy in there - I'd go for the skylon approach, to be honest. SSTO, FTW.

[jpak]

15. We attacked Mars with a nuclear powered robot

:D

:hi:

[Dead_Parrot]

16. Should've used a solar powered one

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[jpak]

17. We sent two the last time

This time - it's personal

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[NickB79]

18. It was inevitable after we bombed the moon. nt