Posted on 12/06/2003 9:14:26 AM PST by John W
Edited on 04/29/2004 2:03:32 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- NASA is relying on Russian-made thrusters to steer the international space station following a new malfunction with the U.S. motion-control system, officials said Friday.
Flight controllers detected spikes in current and vibration in one of the station's three operating gyroscopes on November 8. Last week, when the gyroscopes were used again to shift the position of the orbiting outpost, all three worked.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Another EST graduate out an about mucking with stuff. Breaktrough Racing was a failure. When will they ever learn?
A fish rots from the head.
The new NASA Administrator has the uncanny ability to talk forever while saying absolutely nothing. Welcome to the "New NASA."
It saddens me that so much has been hijacked by new agers and modern mystics that it is difficult to cull away the noise to get to the useful information.
This has been a huge problem for me in trying to research ancient texts and mysticism. For instance, the new age movement has embraced the book of Enoch and the Jewish Kabbalah. These are not "new" concepts. The book of Enoch found at Qumran carbon dates to 200 B.C. and the first record of Jewish Kabbalah dates to the 12th century (Kabbalah claims greater antiquity because it literally means an oral tradition).
But simply because some "new" agers have embraced certain elements of these ancient thoughts, it follows in the minds of many that there is nothing touched by them worth studying.
Likewise, it appears that some new agers or mystics have also embraced what is serious scientific research into the phenomenon of ultraweak bioluminescence and dark luminescence. Fascinating information has emerged from this research, but it is deemed guilty of mysticism by association and thus some American scientists choose to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Other countries don't seem to do that. Penrose certainly did not reject biophotons out-of-hand, though he was quick to disclaim any conclusions regarding a relationship between the physical phenomenon and consciousness. And China is certainly an atheistic country; surely they aren't researching this to support an Eastern mysticism.
Nicolo Dallaporta complained - and I agree with him - (paraphrased) that science has lost its deep thinkers. Over the years it has become too burdensome and thus specialized requiring enormous investments of time and effort among the scientists.
But frankly, I'm tired of scientific baby steps, betty boop ...
Me too, Alamo-Girl. The past will suffocate us altogether if we cannot be bolder, more "aggressive" -- and creative -- thinkers. I've had just about all the "received doctrines" right up to my eyebrows by now.... Time to let in some fresh air. JMHO FWIW.
The mission of the Biophotonics Information Laboratories, Ltd. (BIL) is to understand the various states of life through information gleaned from biophotonics, the study of light-biological interactions. BIL is an element of the "Life Support Technology Plan" of Yamagata Prefecture and is intended to develop the Tohoku region as a center of excellence in science and technology.
The project's objective is the development of life support technologies through technologies for non-invasively measuring the functions and structures of living systems at high speed using light. Expected results include the following:
Studying the active oxygen generating mechanisms of leukocytes. When completed, the applications are expected to include treatments of patients with diseases caused by insufficient active oxygen generation.
Measurement of light scattering through coherent detection imaging technology based on optical heterodyne technology.
Optical computer tomography (CT) images of hard tissue (teeth and bones) have been obtained that can then be used in medical diagnostics. With the hand as the model biological system, optical images have revealed structural details about the joints, bones and some of the blood vessels. A high-quality image has been achieved in terms of resolution and contrast.
BIL was founded in March 1993 by 13 firms and several Yamagata Prefecture organizations and foundations. It is a 6-year joint research project terminating in 1999, with a planned fund of ¥3.45 billion of which 70% is invested by the Japan Key Technology Center (JKTC) and 30% by participating companies.
As far as my personal accomplishments...the people who I've become friends on FR with know what they are. To everyone else I remain comfortably anonymous.
As you well know, we have no experience with permanent facilities on planets other than our own. A Lunar Base would give us valuable experience...and give us a decent platform from which to launch a Mars mission.
Thank you, I'll accept the kudos.
if I went out and really tried, perhaps I could find a suitable replacement for my wife, instead of wasting my time on things like this thread.
A word of warning: Take jogging lessons, for if she ever reads your post, you'll need some speed.
As far as wasting time on these threads...now you know why I no longer frequent them.
I asked Santa to express those kits to you, but he thought this might be more suitable.
Merry Christmas! :^)
I've seen sliced ham appear to have a pearly sheen, generally on its way to the garbage bin. I never thought to take a look in total darkness. It must be sick, though. I've never seen this when it's been properly cured.
Oh my, are you identifying me as a "supernaturalist," Patrick? Hey, I'm the one who keeps yelling about how pre-analytical (metaphysical) notions [e.g., metaphysical naturalism, theism, scientific materialism, et al.] have no place in science!!!
And yet I know how difficult it is to completely omit all "self-elements" from any human endeavor. In the case of science, an ultimate question is whether the universe is "causally closed" (e.g., uncreated, eternal) or "causally open" (e.g., having a created or designed beginning). Probably every person alive who bothers to think about scientific questions is persuaded in one of those ways or the other. But it seems to me that questions of ultimate cause(s) are not proper subjects for science, for science has no method by which it can experimentally test or falsify hypotheses on such questions.
Still, one's view, whichever it may be, in many cases gets loaded into our thinking quite unconsciously: This is part of what I mean by the term "pre-analytical notion."
Recently, a friend of mine, a working scientist, informed me that he didn't "believe" in the Big Bang. He argues for a "causally-closed cosmos," an eternal universe that had no beginning in a Big Bang or "creation event." Myself, I tend to think this concept is not correct, given the cosmic microwave background radiation, and also the studies conducted by Penrose and Hawking in the late '70s, in which they concluded that a Big Bang was "highly probable" as the event that "began" the Universe in space and time. Of course, Penrose and Hawking did mention two caveats: This high probability was conditioned on all known physical laws, and relativity theory.
But despite my own personal "preference," I wouldn't say my friend is wrong -- or foolish, or stupid, or crazy, or -- heaven forfend! -- "New Age."
To me, reading the scientific literature is like panning for gold: There's a lot of "dross" in the pan; but often enough, there's gold there, too -- and not just iron pyrite; i.e., "fool's gold." It pays to discrimate carefully.
Meanwhile, I am looking forward to hearing the elaboration of my brilliant friend's theory. Truly, I try to be open-minded. It's amazing the new things you can learn about that way.
Thanks for the link to a most interesting site, Patrick!
To me, the excerpt at post 194 suggests one form of prejudice is better than another. I am flatly against prejudice in science. IMHO, it is always better to give each theory or speculation as objective a reading as is humanly possible.
Stephen hawkings would argue that the known evidence for the big bang does not require a creation event. He has writtent the books on this subject. I'll let him do the math.
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