Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/spacedig/v16_2/v16no287.txt

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Date: Mon,  8 Mar 93 05:00:09
From: Space Digest maintainer <[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail]
Subject: Space Digest V16 #287
To: Space Digest Readers
Precedence: bulk


Space Digest                Mon,  8 Mar 93       Volume 16 : Issue 287

Today's Topics:
                            Aurora Update
                                Charon
                      Gaspra Animation (2 msgs)
               International Space Plasma Summer School
                        Spot the anon poster!
                  The courage of anonymity (2 msgs)
                    Wireless Power notes (1 of 3)
                            Without a Plan

    Welcome to the Space Digest!!  Please send your messages to
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----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 7 Mar 1993 14:58:13 -0500
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: Aurora Update
Newsgroups: sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Donald A Martin) writes:
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    "This program. code-named AURORA, has been confirmed by a retired
|Air Force official, who said, ' USAF has had this type of aircraft on the
|drawing board for many years now.'"

Probably true.

|
|- Designed and built at Lockheed Skunkworks in Burbank Ca.
Reasonable.

|- Top Speed: 3,800 m.p.h.
Possible, if it uses a scram jet, or other advanced engine cycle.

|- cruise range: 5,750 miles
aPossible.
|- operational altitude: 100,000 to 150,000 ft
100,000 I can see, 150, would have to be some sort of ballistic shot.
there's not a lot of air up there, and usually recon aircraft don't
have the spare horsepower to build up for ballistic flight plans.
I'd want to know more on this.

|- funding in 1985: $2.3 billion

 2.3 billion/year, over a 10 year program  with funding
variation of 50%, i can see.  Any sort of use of exotic fuels is going
to demand an entire support army.  aerial refueling things like that,
it'd have to be all custom gear  and need all sorts of new people.

|- 25 operational from tonapah Base Area 30 in Nevada

Grossly exagerated.  I don't think there were ever more then 12 SR-71s
operational, samething with U-2s.  Operational losses, needs for training
aircraft,  will produce 30-40  over the program life,  but if this thing
is what it's cracked up to be,  you wouldn't  need more then 2-3 in
say 4 bases worldwide.  why stick 25 in nevada.  from nevada,  you get to
spy on panama and nicaragua,  but we overfly them with TR-1's and
RF-14s  and dare them to do anything.  Or you could kinda make the poles,
but BFD, there's nothing there.

Look at the old U-2 ops bases, or SR-71 bases.   Scotland, turkey, pakistan,
Nevada,  Japan,  Korea, Norway?   The places you want to see
are not in the western hemisphere.

|- personnel: 2 or 3 seated in tandem

Don't they mean in a row?

|- body shape: double-delta design, with conformal wings and fuselage blending
|- low Radar Cross Section - approximately .1 to .2 square meters

Possible.  meets, a lot of criteria for high speed and stealth.

|
|    "According to another retired DOD official, ' With the SR-71 Blackbird,
|they [the soviets] knew we were there, but they can't touch us.  With the
|Aurora, they won't even know we're there"

Of course,  given that we knew by 1981, that they were economically washed
up,  does it matter.   ANd given we signed a diplomatic agreement (TREATY)\\
to not overfly their air-space,  why should we spend  N billion
dollars to do so.  In time of war,  the agreement is off.
In peace-time, it's an act of war,  and we already had pretty damn good
satellite  recon.  good enough to knwo the big picture.

|
|    -- Taken from "Stealth Technology - The Art of Black Magic" by Joseph
|        J. Jones, 1989 TAB Books
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|I don't vouch for the authenticity ........ I just pass it as I see it

I'd have to read the book,  but some of it sounds a little hokey.

pat

------------------------------

Date: 7 Mar 1993 16:31:45 GMT
From: CLAUDIO OLIVEIRA EGALON <[e-mail]>
Subject: Charon
Newsgroups: sci.space

That is the faster, cheaper and quicker approach. A recent Aviation Week and Space
Technology had a cover article about the Pluto/Charon fly-by and I guess that a
recent Space News also had an article about that.

[e-mail]

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 16:26:03 GMT
From: Tero Sand <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gaspra Animation
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ron Baalke) writes:
>                       ==============================
>                              GASPRA ANIMATION
>                                March 5, 1993
>                       ==============================
>
>     A Gaspra animation is now available at the Ames Space Archives.  This
>animation is courtesy of Jeff Alu.  The animation was formed from 11 images
>taken by the Galileo spaecraft shortly before its closest approach to the
>asteroid in October 1991.  The animation is in FLI format.  Using anonymous
>ftp, the animation can be obtained from:

Where can FLI-viewers be obtained? Do they work on CGA?

    Tero Sand
--
    EMail: [e-mail]   or   [e-mail]
   "I feel most ministers who claim they've heard God's voice are eating
too much pizza before they go to bed at night, and it's really an
intestinal disorder, not a revelation." - Reverend Jerry Falwell

------------------------------

Date: 7 Mar 1993 20:20 UT
From: Ron Baalke <[e-mail]>
Subject: Gaspra Animation
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Tero Sand) writes...
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Ron Baalke) writes:
>>     A Gaspra animation is now available at the Ames Space Archives.  This
>>animation is courtesy of Jeff Alu.  The animation was formed from 11 images
>>taken by the Galileo spaecraft shortly before its closest approach to the
>>asteroid in October 1991.  The animation is in FLI format.
>
>Where can FLI-viewers be obtained? Do they work on CGA?

For an IBM PC, there is a fli player availabe at ames.arc.nasa.gov in
the pub/SPACE/SOFTWARE directory called play79.txt.  I don't know if it
will work with CGA - I'm surprised anybody is still using CGA.  There is
also an fli player for UNIX called xanim available at export.lsc.mit.edu.
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | [e-mail]
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | It's kind of fun to do
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | the impossible.
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | Walt Disney

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 7 Mar 1993 01:43:38 GMT
From: Bo Thide' <[e-mail]>
Subject: International Space Plasma Summer School
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.aeronautics,sci.space,sci.space.shuttle,sci.physics

                  FINAL ANNOUNCEMENT
                              ------------------

          International Summer School on Space Plasma Physics

                  Organised by
       Radiophysical Research Institute, NIRFI, Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia
                      and
       Swedish Institute of Space Physics, IRFU, Uppsala, Sweden

                   to be held

    Onboard the Cruise Ship "Turgenyev" on the Volga River, 1-10 June, 1993

The purpose of the school is to give an introduction to the problems of
linear and non-linear space plasma physics and plasma astrophysics,
ionospheric modification, the use of the ionosphere as a space plasma
laboratory, as well as to discuss current topics in astrophysics and
ionospheric, solar, and stellar plasma physics.

             List of lecturers and lectures

o Prof C E Alissandrakis, Greece, Emissions from Solar Flares.

o Prof A O Benz, Switzerland, Plasma Diagnostic of the Solar Corona
  using Decametric Radio Waves.

o Prof A A Boyarchuk, Russia, Symbiotic Stars.

o Prof T Chang , USA, Electromagnetic Tornadoes in Space--Ion Cyclotron
  Resonance Heating of Ionospheric Ions; Lower hybrid collapse, caviton
  turbulence, and charged particle energization.

o Dr F C Drago, Italy, Radio Emission of Active Regions of the Sun and Stars.

o Prof G Dulk, USA, Radio Methods For Investigating the Solar Wind Between
  Sun and Earth.

o Prof Lev Erukhimov, Russia, Space Plasma Laboratories.

o Dr J Foster, USA, Scattering in the Ionosphere.

o Dr C Hanuise, France, Coherent Scattering in the Ionosphere.

o Prof M Hayakawa, Japan, Terrestrial Electromagnetic Noise Environment.

o Prof A Hewish, UK, Mapping Interplanetary Weather Patterns.

o Prof Yu Kravtsov, Russia, Polarisation and Wave Propagation Effects in
  Inhomogeneous Plasma.

o Prof J Kuijpers, Holland, Magnetic Flares In Accretion Disks.

o Dr Y Leblanc, France, Jupiter's Radio Emissions and Parameters the Plasma.

o Prof M Nambu, Japan, Plasma Maser Effects.

o Prof V Petviashvili, Russia, Vortexes in Space.

o Prof V Radhakrishnan, India, Pulsars-The Strangest Radiators in the Sky.

o Prof H O Rucker, Austria, Planetary Radio Emissions.

o Dr R Schlickeiser, Germany, The Theory of Cosmic Ray Transport and
  Acceleration and Astrophysical Applications.

o Dr K Stasiewicz, Sweden, Auroral Kilometric Radiation.

o Dr A V Stepanov, Ukraine, On the Penetration of Fast Particle Beams into
  Solar and Stellar Atmospheres.

o Dr B Thide, Sweden, Controlled Generation of Radio Emission in the Near-Earth
  Plasma by Wave Injection from the Ground.

o Prof V Trakhtengertz, Russia, Alfven Masers.

o Dr Yu M Yampolsky, Ukraine, Artificial Ionospheric Turbulence Investigations
  Using the Phased Array UTR-2.

o Dr V Zaytsev, Russia, Solar plasma.

o Prof V V Zheleznyakov, Russia, Cyclotron Resonance in Astrophysics.

General and topical lectures will be mixed with seminars and poster
sessions.  The lecture notes and reports of new results will be
published in "Radiophysics and Quantum Electronics".

You should plan to arrive in Moscow early on May 30.  People from NIRFI
will be there to meet you and take you from the Moscow (Sheremetyevo)
airport to the railway station and the night train to Nizhniy Novgorod
where you will arrive on the following morning (May 31); the train fare
is included in the registration fee.  In Nizhniy Novgorod you will
immediatley check in on the ship which will be our ``floating hotel''
from then on.

We will start with an excursion to Vasilsursk, about 100 km down the
Volga (easterly direction from N Novgorod) to visit the NIRFI radio
obsevratory facility.  If you are late, there will be a possibility to
catch up by going on a Meteor river boat from Nizhniy Novgorod to
Vasilsursk (4-5 hours, depending on route) where you will be able join
the rest of the group.  After this excursion (a day or two), the ship
will head back to Nizhniy Novgorod where you will have a last chance to
board the boat if you are really late.

The ship will then take us up the Volga and we will stop in Tver (ex
Kalinin) and Dubna on the 6th/7th of June so you can leave the school
early and go to Moscow by train.  The rest of us will return to Nizhniy
Novgorod on June 11 where we will catch the night train to Moscow.  We
will arrive in Moscow early the following morning (June 12) allowing you
to catch a plane home the same day.  Since the transportation between
Moscow and the Sheremetyevo airport often takes a long time, make sure
to book a late flight out of Moscow on June 12.

The total cost for full board an lodging on the ship for the school is
estimated at between US$300 and US$500, depending on type of cabin (first
class single, first class double, second class single, second class
double).  Transportation from Moscow to Nizhniy Novgorod and back will be
provided free of charge.

Applications for attendance must be submitted before 15 March, 1993 to

Bo Thide
Swedish Institute of Space Physics
Uppsala Division
S-75591 Uppsala, Sweden
Fax: [+46] 18-403100
E-mail: [e-mail]
--
   ^   Bo Thide'----------------------------------------------Science Director
  |I|        Swedish Institute of Space Physics, S-755 91 Uppsala, Sweden
  |R|    Phone: [phone].  Fax: [phone].  IP: 130.238.30.23
 /|F|\          INTERNET: [e-mail]      UUCP: ...!mcvax!sunic!irfu!bt
 ~~U~~ ----------------------------------------------------------------sm5dfw-

------------------------------

Date: 7 Mar 93 14:24:48 GMT
From: Graham Toal <[e-mail]>
Subject: Spot the anon poster!
Newsgroups: sci.crypt,sci.astro,sci.space,comp.org.eff.talk,alt.usage.english

Posted to sci.astro, sci.space, comp.org.eff.talk, sci.crypt and
alt.usage.english.  I've redirected followups to poster, which
means send me mail; if you really want to post a reply I suggest
sci.crypt as the group with the most relevance to traffic analysis,
though I'm not entirely happy with that choice.  Since there isn't
anything better though, I'd recommend mail.  I'll summarize once
I've analyzed the suggestions...

Certainly please don't follow up this article in sci.astro/space
or comp.org.eff.talk.

======================================================================

Anyone want to help play a new game?  'Spot the anon poster'!

Encouraged by the trivially easy identfication of an8729, I thought I'd
enlist your help in finding an8785 who started the flamefest in sci.space
and migrated to comp.org.eff.talk.  He has a distinctive style, but I don't
think the poster frequents any of the groups I read under his real name, so
I've nothing to compare against.  Does anybody recognise this man...

I've noted below the most common features of an8785's postings.  Although
a lot of these are common to all of us, in combination they are a
fingerprint that should identify the poster.

[alt.usage.english folks: the comments about grammar, punctuation etc
aren't criticisms; I'm pointing out where there are in general choices
of how to write something, and which choice this person has made.
Don't post saying 'there's nothing wrong with that'.  You're probably
right - it may be something *other people* consistently get wrong and
he gets right...]

Btw, some signs - such as short lines - may be a deliberate
stylistic deception to fool us (especially since he changes
average line length between postings).

By and large, the poster's spelling, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
show him to be reasonably well educated, though not nearly as much so as
he thinks.  His use of sentence structure (reflected in how he abuses
commas to link clauses) is deplorable, and his deliberate pretention in
choice of vocabulary is most noticable.  Further, he talks almost
exclusively in cliche and metaphor... (By the way, I infer that the
poster is male from his studious use of non-sexist language...)

I think if anyone recognises this style after having it pointed out, it
should be trivial to compare this definitively with other postings by
any suggested author.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
EFF has to choose its battles carefully, since it
^^^^^^^ EFF has, not EFF have - poster isn't British.

doesn't have the resources to fight *all*
                                    ^^^^^ uses * for emphasis (a lot)

battles *all* the time.  Mr. Godwin has said that
                      ^^^^^^^^ Two spaces after sentences
                               One space after abbreviations
                               Incorrect "." after Mr

he is reviewing the situation and will report
back on his thoughts.

Why should we assume that the search and siezure
                                         ^^^^^^^ can't spell seizure
were "unwarranted"?
     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Double quotes for "quotations" (that aren't really)
                    Question-mark outside quotes, in contrast to full stops.

Remember, we are about to see a shocking loss
^^^^^^^^^ common grammatical form:  "word, sentence..."

for the SS in the Steve Jackson case.  How
many times before has an entity sued and won
against the SS?

Now that we've seen that pseudonymous postings are not an
unmitigated evil by demonstrating their accountability and
responsibility, we need to go further and to *promote*
pseudonymous postings as a positive good.

The reason that they are to be encouraged is that the
pseudonymous article distance the ego of the poster
                           ^^^ sometimes slips despite apparent proof-reading
                               Note this one is a disagreement in number.
                               This happens again below.

from the content of the message. That is, defense of
                                          ^^^^^^^^  US, not brit (or
                                                    canadian?)

the posting is divorced from defense of the self and
conversely, advocacy of a position is separated from
simple self-promotion.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ not very good at
  writing long sentences where semicolons would be appropriate. Note
  the way an independent clause is just tacked on the end with a comma.
  He does this a lot.

Look in a text of fallacies.  A good number are fallacies of
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  Sign of poster's age. (or possibly education -
                             if he isn't from 'the old school', he's
                             possibly from a jesuit or catholic school.
                             Or maybe some second-rate private school.)

ad hominem (personal attacks).  These kinds of attacks
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ condescending

would be blunted in  blind and double-blind arguments
because (1) by not directly identifying the originator
       ^^^^^ Note the style of enumerated arguments.

of a post, less of his or her personal feelings are
"on the line" and (2) by revealing less personal and
^^^^^^^^^^^^^ inappropriate quotation marks

irrelevant information the opponent has less of a toehold
                                                  ^^^^^^^ toe-hold.
by which she or he might launch personal attacks.
        ^^^^^^^^^^^ Note, uses "she or he", not "he or she".
                    Presumably balancing the 'his or her' above.
                    (Lots of signs of an obsessive personality in these
                    posts)

This does not mean arguments would become less passionate,
but the passion is redirected from a defense of a self-image
to the defense of a *position.*
                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ full-stops consistently *inside*
                                 punctuation, whether emphasis or quotation.


Thus the exhortation by *emotional pressure* or by
"pinpointing an enemy", which is by far and away the
                ^^^^^^^ commas consistently outside punctuation

the key ingredients of propaganda, is short-circuited.

   Note the use of a parenthetically elucidating clause between commas.

The fog of personal special pleading and posturing
is blown away, leaving the stark contours of argument.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Just *loves* pretentious
                                                   metaphor.

Moreover, appeals based mainly on submission to badges
^^^^^^^^^^ again, starts lots of sentences with Single Word and Comma.

of authority, such as the posting site or the reputation
or power of the poster is muted.  This removes another
constraint to Usenet readers using evidence of their own
             ^^^^^^^^ Anally careful about proper capitalization

sense coupled with conclusions derived from independent
   ^^^^ Another disagreement in number.
thought with facts that can be gleaned from good postings.

True, a lot of sludge will be channeled by Anonymous.  But
                              ^^^^^^^^^ again, proof of US/Canadian spelling

of far more importance will the occasional Copernican theory
(still censored in some areas until the early 19th C.) be able
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ sometimes uses
                                                     parenthetical digressions.

to surface without intimidation or retribution.

Anonymous postings demand a lot from the readership in
requiring skill to prune and select from a broader array of
responses; responses that may be incorrect, in poor taste or
         ^^^^ only one space after semicolon too.

just plain dumb.  This burden of selection and analysis will
certainly increase as anonymous postings become the norm.

For those who are unable or afraid to boldly take this step into
                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Watches Trek (but doesn't
                                                  everyone?)
the future of a free society, you can still use the N key or the
kill file to prepackage your Usenet information stream.
^^^^^^^^^ says 'kill file', not 'killfile'. Probably not a born&bred
          computer person.

But for the rest of us, this difficult and frustrating process of
learning effective strategies of analysis and resolution is identical
with education in our free society, a society that is slowly
^^^^ idiosyncratic 'identical with', not 'identical to'

transcending national boundaries at the speed of light.

[e-mail] (Wes Morgan) complains
that the double-blind anonymous replies
might in general be good -- but why
                        ^^^^ em-dashes represented by two hyphens plus
                             space on either side.  (Many people use either
                             one dash, or no space - perhaps he's a TeX user)

ought one be *required* to respond
anonymously?

You *don't* need to: just include
                  ^^^^^ One space after colon.

identifying indicia *within* the
            ^^^^^^^ more pretentious latin

body of the response.  Your choice.

It's been six weeks now since I posted the original
"Challenger" article to sci.space and sci.astro as a
contribution to the on-going thread reminiscing on the
                    ^^^^^^^^ on-going hyphenated, but toehold isn't.
                             (both of which are wrong btw)

tragedy.  I am still surprised at the intensity of negative
reaction that several posters had to the article and
by association to the concept of anonymous posting.

While the usual reader of those newsgroups may be far more
comfortable with the inhuman aspects of space flight --
                    ^^^^^^^^^ knows lots of impressive words,
                              but more that once choses wrong one
                              in casual talk. (Should be 'impersonal')
metric tons of fuel, pseudoinverse trajectory calculation,
torrs of Oxygen, kilos of payload -- I believe that the
phenomenon of crewed space flight is far more interesting at
the sharp human edge, the sharp edge that cuts a thin bead of
                   ^^^^ adjectivial phrase tacked on the end of
                        a sentence with a comma. (pretentiously
                        metaphoric at that)

blood into the skin.

Looking at political issues of funding and priorities as well
as the social consequences of space exploration, many of us
                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^
believe that the human angle is far more important, but fluid
^^^^^^^  feels qualified to speak on others' behalfs.

and ill-defined, than the technical problems of space travel.
This protean quality of the human issue makes for many of us
     ^^^^^^^ uses pretentious Greek too.  Age probably over 30 --
             unlikely over 40 (from the 'she or he' thing...).

a more interesting challenge to understand and integrate
into the whole picture than the relatively more deterministic
mechanical issues.

Sci.space and sci.astro need many more blunt posts centered
on the human theme, even if strong medicine to many readers.
                          ^^^^ misses out verbs ('it is' in this case) a lot.
                               Next line also has an understood 'go' after
                               'postings in general'

As far as anonymous postings in general, the threats of
personal violence that the Challenger post unearthed, for me,
more than confirmed my decision to use it.  The contrary

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ despite apparent education,
   totally incapable of stringing more than two lines together to
   form a coherent sentence.

arguments that legitimate science will be swamped with
anonymous bacchanals is simply not happening, even though
          ^^^^^^^^^^ choice of vocabulary most distinctive

over 20,000 people now have used the Finnish anon service.
     ^^^^^^ note the comma in large numbers.

The newsgroups have approximately the same mix of surplusage,
                                                  ^^^^^^^^^^^ personal
                                                              coinage?

truth and tripe as they always have had.  The imminent death
of the sci. and comp. groups seems a bit presumptuous.

I think it takes far more courage to post anonymously than to
hide behind your affiliations.  For me, a poster who,
although anonymously, slowly built a strong argument through
a series of well-written anonymous posts and politely
responded to counterexamples and the other stuff of a good
debate, would capture my respect far more than Dick
Reputable, [e-mail] making a simple pronouncement on
           ^^^^^ Note ends *all* abbrevations with "."...
the whole matter that his net-flacks are expected to parrot.

   [aside: I wonder if he means himself when he says 'well-written'?
    -- and in a sentence like that! *ROFL*]

Yes, it takes more effort to get your mind around anonymous
posts than attributed ones: we get out of the habit of
                       ^^^^^^^ consistently uses single space after colon

evaluating arguments without the guiding badges and trappings
of authority accompanying them.  Those posters who have
forgotten how to legitimately persuade and, through time and
              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  dares to split the classic infinitive!
                                        (see also 'to boldly take')

accreting rank, have relied upon the prestige of their
posting site may well have reason to fear the new order of
things.  But the content of the argument ought to be
important for all posters, not just the ones who do not have
a Keogh plan or a doctorate. Certainly most scientists agree
  ^^^^^^ gives some indication of background? (I've no idea what a Keogh
         plan is)

that the necessity of experimentation, systematic
observation, and falsifiability supporting a scientific truth
applies equally to the member of the Academy as well as the
                                     ^^^^^^^ does he mean some particular
                                             Academy (thus pinning down his
                                             background) or 'academia'?
first-year lab assistant.

The concept of anonymous posting is the next great step in
washing away the detritus that impedes our search for truths.
                 ^^^^^^^^ more pretentious latin

Yes, it has a great capacity to annoy and anger, but it has
^^^^^ The old single-word introduction.  Distinctive writing trait.

an even greater capacity to engage the truth for those with
courage enough to learn to use it universally and well.

===================================================================

I think that should be enough.  Any suggestions?

Graham

------------------------------

Date: 7 Mar 93 13:35:31 GMT
From: Rich Kulawiec <[e-mail]>
Subject: The courage of anonymity
Newsgroups: news.admin.policy,alt.privacy,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] writes:
>I think it takes far more courage to post anonymously than to
>hide behind your affiliations.

This is ludicrous.  If you do not have the courage of your own convictions,
and are not willing to back those convictions up by using your own name,
why should anyone pay the slightest attention to you?  (I certainly won't.)
Either you have the guts to back up what you say, or you don't; and if you
don't, then you should probably just be quiet.

---Rsk

------------------------------

Date: Sun,  7 Mar 1993 14:17:04 -0500
From: Nicholas Kramer <[e-mail]>
Subject: The courage of anonymity
Newsgroups: alt.privacy,comp.org.eff.talk,sci.space,news.admin.policy

Excerpts from: The courage of anonymity by 8 February [e-mail]
> I think it takes far more courage to post anonymously than to
> hide behind your affiliations.

 Only if you have impressive affiliations to list (and you list 'em). If
you want courage, post your message without a long list of affiliations
and credentials.


                        Nick

------------------------------

Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1993 11:14:05 GMT
From: Stefan Hartmann <[e-mail]>
Subject: Wireless Power notes (1 of 3)
Newsgroups: sci.space

[e-mail] (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey) writes:

>Dr. Gay Canough ([e-mail]) has asked me to
>post these notes to sci.space for her.  Please respond to her, not to
>me, if you have questions.

>The notes are long, so I'm breaking them into three parts.  And I
>suppose it would be a good idea to cross-post to sci.energy, no?


>The pilot system will supply power to a village which is
>across the water from a generating station and to which it
>is very expensive to string wires. The system will have to
>work in the harsh weather conditions, which includes snow,
>100 mph winds, and temperature extremes. It will use
>magnetrons (2.45 GHz) such as found in microwave ovens,
>because they are cheap and well developed. The distance will
>be a few miles, power received will be 50 to 100 kW. Each
>magnetron puts out 1 kW. They chose to use many magnetrons,
>so that if one breaks, it won't be a total loss of power,
>but only a small amount. The overall efficiency will be
>around 25%. This is not the maximum efficiency possible, but
>higher efficiency would be too expensive for a pilot plant.
>The antenna will be a phased array with an effective
>aperture of 35 m in diameter. The maximum power density will
>be about 20 mW/square cm. [This is the same power density as
>Bill Brown's power beaming demo, or 100 times less than your
>typical microwave oven.] The receiver will employ the Bill

Hi,

but what will happen, if a human accidently gets into this
field of transmitted energy ?
Will he be blown up ? What about the safety ?
What, if the transmitter will be directed not to the receiver, but
accidently to another area, where people live ?

25 % efficiency..... hmm what a waste of primary energy, which of course
is generated from burning carbon or atomic power plants...


Better proposal:

Join the FREE Energy Research group.

We will dicuss the rebuilding of the Methernitha Testatika free energy
machine, where I'll soon upload all informations I have to a FTP site.


Join this group to be one of the first guys to get a working zero-point-
energy taping machine..

Best regards, Stefan Hartmann, c/o Gatz & Hartmann
email to:  [e-mail]



--
*************************************************************
*  Stefan Hartmann                                          *
*  EMAIL: [e-mail]                          *
*  Phone : ++ 49 30 375 55 68      FAX : ++ 49 30 344 92 79 *

------------------------------

Date: 7 Mar 1993 15:21:36 -0500
From: Pat <[e-mail]>
Subject: Without a Plan
Newsgroups: sci.space

Dennis, does  anice job of hitting the problems with space research
on the nose.

As i see it,  Research in space will only be fundable and viable
for the masses as an economic venture  or a political goal.

Columbus discovered the new world, while looking for a cheaper route
to asia for spice and gold.

The american colonies were mostly funded as cheap places to store prisoners
or places for political refugees to hide out.

Certainly explorers like the french and lewis and clark went for
mapping or to seek exploitable resources.

But polar explorers went mostly as symbols of national pride.

Certainly we as a nation are willing to put money into R&D  and science
missions.  The planetary science program  does get a fair bit of money
in real terms,  and the payoff from  astronomy work is unlikely
in the next century.

However manned space to-date is a cadillac program.  it's been done for
reasons of Glory,  and not much economics.  Until manned space can
find an economic route, it will remain a lab bench process.

Genetic technologies were  lab bench ideas until the 70's  when it turned
out there was big money prospects in them.  Now Genetic technologies
are multi-billion dollar investments.

NASA has lost sight of it's mission.  it has been pursuing GLory at
the expense of Economy.   We don't need in the critical sense,
a manned lab,  what we need are low cost technologies to provide
that lab.  Then the market will provide the lab.

Diving has been around for centuries,  but the developement of key technologies
allowed it to flourish.

Cheap, light, effective air compressors/pumps.    Strong light glass
for visors.   Water-proof suits   and neoprene wet suits.
oxygen re-breathers.  Strong light air tanks.  high performance fins.
cheap, accurate pressure and depth gauges.
Scads of underwater tools,  Advanced breathing mixs.  Effective
diving tables for dive medicine.

There have always been riches in the sea,  but they weren't reachable
until the technology improved.

caisson disease killed hundreds.  Off shore platforms used to be limited
to ~100 ft for numerous reasons,   now drilling in 1 mile of water
is practical.

What the space program has never done, is deliver one of two things.
Either Cheap technologies  or A worthwhile goal.

I am a sport diver.  i don't do it for pay, i do it for fun,
just as i used to fly for fun.  I do it because it's affordable, on a
upper middle class income.

The people who opened the american colonies didn't come here because it
was fun, they came because they could marginally afford it, and they had
a goal.  FREEDOM.  Canadian oil men work in hellish areas, for the money.

The space program has not been able to either provide  cheaper technologies
or worthwhile places to go.

If NASA were to work on :  Hard Suit/ Skin suit technologies, that would
be a plus.

Cheap ELVs  or SSTO's, that would be good.

Closed cycle  life support

Native materials exploitation programs.

All these areas have been given frankly lip service.  in favor of
Glory programs.  Until they make a goal,  Cheap access to space,
it will remain a minor program.

pat

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End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 287
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