Atnn:Americans

[Wyrmlord]

If there is one group of people who are critical about Americans, it's the Americans themselves. They are always under this paranoia that they are going down and everybody is coming up and going to bypass them. It's absurd.

Here's an example:
During the Space Race, Americans were always putting a face of awe towards the Soviets and disgust towards the American space program. They were talking about how the Soviets had gone way ahead of Americans and would attack them from space. It was ridiculous. The first part of the space program wasn't much different from basic aeronautics. And during testing of rockets, the rockets always blew up. The media used this to put a face of ineptitude on the American space program. But it was testing! The rockets would obviously blow up when theey are testing them, and the moment they stop blowing up is the moment they are ready for use. And the Soviets set dates for completion for a particular project which was months before that of the parallel American project, but atleast the Americans did it before the deadline while the Soviets did it much after their deadline(Although they completed before Americans). The only thing about the Soviet program was that it started earlier. The American space program was in solid shape.

That's not the only example. Americans keep talking about how Asian countries are going to get ahead of them these days, but I can safely tell you that this is all HOGWASH. There are still 80 years before they can catch up, and I'll likely be dead by then. And lets not forget how Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier but was never given proper recognition because everybody assumed he was only the first American to do so.

[Alaric]

Yes, we could worry about continuing to be the first and thus striving to maintain our lead, or we could smoke hashish and ponder dao, thus setting ourselves on a downward spiral.

[The-Rack]

It's exactly what he WANTS us to think!

We've seen it all before... South Park episode #42... we're on to you! First it's all high praise, then BAM... our kids are bombing Pearl Harbor!

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

*jumps out window*

[coldwave]

*Walks by TheRack's now broken body. Hands him a dollar. Continues walking*

[The-Rack]

HA HA! I got your dollar, PUNK!

*runs off screaming*

[Patrick.Cox]

They were talking about how the Soviets had gone way ahead of Americans and would attack them from space. It was ridiculous. Um... not accurate. The Russian program did involve the concept of weaponizing space and it was a huge concern. A FOBS (fractional orbital bombardment system) could fling warheads down on US targets rapidly and with little or no warning, and at the time the technology didn't exist to intercept incoming nearly hypersonic warheads nor track them, let alone attack the platforms directly. Both sides explored this angle in the cold war early on and treaties mutally assured the othe wouldn't do it since it was so darned scary. Heck, even today we can barely intercept and destroy a traditional ballistic missile (and then not in the terminal phase), imagine missiles launched with no warning from orbit with tremendous entry velocity directly at their targets starting off essentially at the terminal phase!

And the space race was a military race anyway, just with a civillian face on it. Sattelites as a concept and application were critical for launch detection, communications, coordination, and imaging (recon) and the developments of liquid and solid fueld rockets, guidance systems, and re-entry technologies were crucial in the development of long range, ballistic nuclear missiles. Beyond those core technologies the space race would definately benefit the military as it would prompt fast development of key technologies in areas like computing, software, communications, materials (metals and plastics and composits), etc.

[calvin]

Chuck Yeager did, in fact, kick ***.

That dude flew with broken ribs, if I recall correctly. That's ****in' dedication.

[Wyrmlord]

Originally posted by The-Rack:
HA HA! I got your dollar, PUNK!

*runs off screaming* American man, I have your job, thanks to your very generous President.

[Alaric]

My freind just came back from India. He was there for a month overseeing the programmers who work for his company.

He had a great many stories to tell when he returned and great many pictures to share.

This was taken in a bathroom in an office of a very high-tech company.

http://obormot.com/portal/modules/Articles/resources/Article_20060309/toilet.jpg

[Wingnut]

Heck, if you have a orbiting platform, you don't need warheads. You just need large steel rods with a good coating that can withstand reentry. Let e=mv^2 do the rest. You can get a massive v variable by flinging stuff down from orbit.

[Patrick.Cox]

'The Hand of God' approach to tactical support in essence. It's been considered a dozen times in the last two decades for conventional ground warfare. Loft a relatively big sattelite powered by a smallish nuke reactor. Build it to have good optical, thermal, and radar wavelength sensor with decent resolution (at least 3m resolution on the primary). Stock it with an assortement of tipped and non-tipped 'rods'. Install a hypervelocity rail gun. You got yourself an all seeing, all killing orbital platform.

Now, mount boosted warheads or fling them with a rail gun (big gun though) and you have a nuke coming down at near hypervelocity speeds... try and intercept that.

[Angus McFeargus]

It's "attn"

[Patrick.Cox]

Spelling... err... phonetic... err... acronym Nazi!

[Angus McFeargus]

Originally posted by GNNR:
Spelling... err... phonetic... err... acronym Nazi! I think you're looking for "abbreviation".

av_biggrin.gif

[kyleh]

It seems like an orbital platform railgun thingy would be extremely high maintenance. How do you make it shoot down with no counterthrust? How does it store huge amounts of counterthrust for multiple shots? I always thought mass drivers were probably the most awkward of scifi's space-based weapons, since you would have to constantly counter the forward velocity of the mass you were shooting.

[Evilpenguin]

Originally posted by kyleh:
It seems like an orbital platform railgun thingy would be extremely high maintenance. How do you make it shoot down with no counterthrust? How does it store huge amounts of counterthrust for multiple shots? I always thought mass drivers were probably the most awkward of scifi's space-based weapons, since you would have to constantly counter the forward velocity of the mass you were shooting. dont you know? the pixies would be flying against it on the other side to negate the counterthrust

[Alaric]

Not sure about orbital ones but the only reason rail-guns aren't used right now (as far as I understand – and I could be wrong) is that there is no power source that is both powerful and small enough.

As far as space goes, the real problem with weapons would be cooling them. So far there really isn’t a solution for that.

[kinein]

I'm sorry but Asia is clearly going to become bigger and more powerful economically then the West. Denial does not mean the truth will suddenly disappear.

Analysts had forecasted that in maybe 6-8 years China alone would pass the United States. Of course this study was about 1-2 years old. 6 Months ago analysts came back to the table and added in the Chinese blackmarket and the billions that are generated there and they came to the conclusion that instead of 6-8, it is more like 3 or 4 years.

India is another juggernaut that continues to become bigger badder and stronger as more American companies outsource.

Oh yah and there is still JAPAN, KOREA, and TAIWAN. Did I mention Vietnam is coming? Don't close your eyes to the inevitable.

Instead start learning mandarin, japanese, vietnamese, and korean.

[Johannes]

Originally posted by Michael Teplitsky:
Not sure about orbital ones but the only reason rail-guns aren't used right now (as far as I understand – and I could be wrong) is that there is no power source that is both powerful and small enough.We're working on a few now and even have a some working prototypes. We're going to have to mount them on warships since nothing else is big enough yet.

Originally posted by Michael Teplitsky:
As far as space goes, the real problem with weapons would be cooling them. So far there really isn’t a solution for that. The "rods of god" idea usually involves a tungsten/osmium alloy that is supposedly dense enough to withstand re-entry. The fact that it will light up the sky is another matter entirely since that could be used for initial ASAT tracking.

[kyleh]

Originally posted by Evilpenguin:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by kyleh:
It seems like an orbital platform railgun thingy would be extremely high maintenance. How do you make it shoot down with no counterthrust? How does it store huge amounts of counterthrust for multiple shots? I always thought mass drivers were probably the most awkward of scifi's space-based weapons, since you would have to constantly counter the forward velocity of the mass you were shooting. dont you know? the pixies would be flying against it on the other side to negate the counterthrust </font>[/QUOTE]Well there you go. I didn't learn anything about pixies in public school.

[Wyrmlord]

Originally posted by kinein:

India is another juggernaut that continues to become bigger badder and stronger as more American companies outsource.Sure it's growing, but you overestimate it. I tell you this as an Indian. It's only making up for the 45 years of terrible economic policy.

[Braznor]

Originally posted by Wyrmlord:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by kinein:

India is another juggernaut that continues to become bigger badder and stronger as more American companies outsource.Sure it's growing, but you overestimate it. I tell you this as an Indian. It's only making up for the 45 years of terrible economic policy. </font>[/QUOTE]Listen, Wyrmlord, there is no set law in this universe that only one or certain nations can progress or cannot.

The future is unknown to all of us. Can you tell me how exactly India's potential progress is an overestimation ?

It would be better if you provided convincing explanations rather than wave around the certificate that you are an Indian.

[Wyrmlord]

I'll put it this way. I'm an urban middle class person living in a secluded residential area next to a fast developing mall street. I could say based on this, that things are really in good shape and are developing well. The moment I step outside this paradise, I see that this paradise is an island on a ocean of a miserable s***hole which hasn't changed much for years. This is true and also an analogy for the whole nation. That's the best way I can put it.

[MarkN]

Originally posted by calvin:
Chuck Yeager did, in fact, kick ***.

That dude flew with broken ribs, if I recall correctly. That's ****in' dedication. I had the unexpected pleasure to meet that dude 2-3 years ago when he came to my line and I rang him up at Target.

[Wyrmlord]

Originally posted by MarkN:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by calvin:
Chuck Yeager did, in fact, kick ***.

That dude flew with broken ribs, if I recall correctly. That's ****in' dedication. I had the unexpected pleasure to meet that dude 2-3 years ago when he came to my line and I rang him up at Target. </font>[/QUOTE]WOW!