lol CNN saying that Turkey's been instrumental in the fight against ISIS, yes, if they mean by making it more difficult because they bomb people fighting ISIS.

Updates will have a to stop for a moment, my brother has to use the bathroom lol

@thwr said in Non-IT News Thread:

Doesn't sound like he's very confident.

It definitely seems like reports from a little while ago that things calming down turn out to be probably very wrong and that this may be the start of a minor civil war, depending on how much support Erdagon can muster, and/or if he can split up the military.

@thwr said in Non-IT News Thread:

@MattSpeller said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

It definitely seems like reports from a little while ago that things calming down turn out to be probably very wrong and that this may be the start of a minor civil war, depending on how much support Erdagon can muster, and/or if he can split up the military.

It seems to be the Military vs Police somehow - very confusing!

It's just wild guessing right now. Problem is, Erdogan placed lots of people into key positions at the police.T he german reporter just said that he heard that the whole military is supporting the coup - if so, the police wouldn't have any chance.

Certainly true, if all branches of the armed forces are behind it, it's over, as far as general force goes, though the people can be unpredictable.

@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:

Sturgeon: Second independence referendum could be next year
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-36819182

I think it's sort of funny to see the last pieces of the Empire be chipped away, but also kind of sad for conflicting reasons.

@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

If you have any specific questions I may be able to answer them as well, because I tried to absorb as much as I could with this event, and I'm also very disappointed nothing came of it other than Erdagon seizing more power and the US kissing his ass the entire time, and the US media in general using the words "democratically elected" so often, sometimes multiple times in the same sentence, so often it was like Edward Bernays wrote the crap.

Just like the US did with Pincohet.

Great historical example!

@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:

Pokemon Go: Bosnia players warned of minefields
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-36841828

Some nieces and nephews of mine have already been warned, well, they already know to basically stay away from anywhere that has grass that isn't an active park. Perhaps a bit over the top, but better than the alternative.

@thanksajdotcom said in Non-IT News Thread:

@thanksajdotcom said in Non-IT News Thread:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/21/part_2_of_elon_musk_master_plan/

This man is legit one of my heroes...

I used to think he was kind of interesting until I found out he micromanages his employees and he's a general lunatic who ignores physics in favour of "disrupting" things. If they don't get over this single stage rocket nonsense they'll never go anywhere except low Earth orbit.

@hobbit666 said in What Are You Doing Right Now:

Waiting for my Sausage and Bacon sandwich to arrive, also doing some RADIUS work today as I've just banned 12+ Android phones off the network to free up some IP's for actual work laptops

Arrive? Waiting on the pig to be born and the chicken to hatch?

H0h0h0

@travisdh1 said in Non-IT News Thread:

@dafyre said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

@dafyre said in Non-IT News Thread:

The problem that most folks see with Nuclear powered rockets... is what happens when one inevitably explodes on the launch pad?

Well, explosions on the launch pad these days are rare. The amount of fissile material though is not that much compared to a standard nuclear power plant, but also due to media and hippie paranoia convincing everyone that all radiation of any amount at all will sterilize the entire Earth, you can store it in a container similar to what's used for transporting nuclear waste, and in orbit have it open up and your device come out, or depending on the size, only store the fuel itself in there. This way if it explodes on the launch pad, it flies away from the explosion not any more dangerous than the other material, plus then you can recover it.

While rare, a nuclear explosion anywhere would be a catastrophe, though you do raise a good point about the system not having as much radioactive materials as a nuclear power plant...

Do we really want the lowest bid contractor building a nuclear reactor? lol.

I didn't mention anything about contractors, plus you're ignoring the fact there are hundreds of nuclear reactors in ships and submarines which were built by contractors and we never hear about them in the media at all.

True. I think I was trying to be sarcastic there, lol. We also never hear about the nuclear submarines exploding anywhere.

I think that nuclear power is good and safe enough to use, but I'd recommend launching from the Dust Bowl rather than Cape Canaveral.

What/where is the Dust Bowl? You launch from Cape Kennedy (Yes, I refuse to change the name back) because you do gravitational free loading, by going more north (I assume this bowl is more north) you lose that, plus also launching from Florida failure is over the ocean, launching from within the rest of the US, you're talking about failure over land, that's far, far more dangerous for any rocket.

Well, this is good to learn something every day.

The Dust Bowl is in the desert areas around Arizona & Nevada (I'm not looking at a map, so I may be of by a state or three). But you do raise a good point about failure being near the ocean as opposed to landlocked as well.

I was also under the impression that a nuclear reactor was self-sustaining to a degree?

Keep in mind that the nuclear piece doesn't have to be providing thrust anymore either, just electrical power for a new drive systems that we really have no idea why it works.

True, but I was also referring to things already fully functional, not in early development/testing, and I make a point of that because NASA loves pet projects and, hell, they could go to Mars now with current technology, but instead they need to build a Moon base, and have all this other crap that hasn't even been invented yet.

@scottalanmiller I knew about that, which is why I was confused that "launching from the Dust Bowl" being an event in history.

@dafyre said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

@scottalanmiller I knew about that, which is why I was confused that "launching from the Dust Bowl" being an event in history.

I didn't say it was history... I was suggesting it might be a good idea to launch a nuclear powered space ship from there. Geography is not one of my strong suits, lol.

I know you didn't say that, but my knowledge of "Dust Bowl" is "an event in history" so I as confused as to why you used it as a location.

@coliver said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

@coliver said in Non-IT News Thread:

@scottalanmiller said in Non-IT News Thread:

@coliver said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

@dafyre said in Non-IT News Thread:

@tonyshowoff said in Non-IT News Thread:

@scottalanmiller I knew about that, which is why I was confused that "launching from the Dust Bowl" being an event in history.

I didn't say it was history... I was suggesting it might be a good idea to launch a nuclear powered space ship from there. Geography is not one of my strong suits, lol.

I know you didn't say that, but my knowledge of "Dust Bowl" is "an event in history" so I as confused as to why you used it as a location.

I've heard it used as a location only in reference to the "Dust Bowl states" I think that's what @dafyre was going for.

Wouldn't the unpopulated desert area be more useful than America's prime farmland, though? Farmland isn't heavily populated, but it is populated. Our desert is basically empty.

Agreed, I feel like the salt flats in Utah or the desert in Nevada/New Mexico would be a much better place then the dust bowl states.

The best place is closer to the equator, the more north you go, the worse it is for launching. There's less people in parts of Siberia, but Russia launches from Kazakhstan primarily because it's further south.

Yep, linear velocity is much faster the closer you get to the equator right?

The angular velocity of the Earth's rotation helps with the rocket's linear velocity caused by the rocket engine itself, and it's best directly at the equator though yes, you get an added boost.

@gjacobse said in What does your desk look like?:

@scottalanmiller said in What does your desk look like?:

@stacksofplates said in What does your desk look like?:

Wish I could take a picture. I have 5, 27's on my desk for everything right now. It's kind of nice.

I miss just having monitors at all.

You know - there is a fix for that,....

You mean you don't use the computer by laying of hands? Amateurs!

@scottalanmiller said in Walking Dead Plot Holes - How would IT folk survive:

Since we started this topic, I have now actually seen the first season of this show! And yeah, compared to the people on it, many IT people would actually do better. Those people are idiots.

Compared to people in the show, basically anyone could do better, they're classic Romero zombies, as long as you can move faster than them, you're safe. Having said that, in a real zombie apocalypse, I stand by my original assessment of IT people.

@gjacobse said in Walking Dead Plot Holes - How would IT folk survive:

@scottalanmiller said in Walking Dead Plot Holes - How would IT folk survive:

@tonyshowoff said in Walking Dead Plot Holes - How would IT folk survive:

@scottalanmiller said in Walking Dead Plot Holes - How would IT folk survive:

Since we started this topic, I have now actually seen the first season of this show! And yeah, compared to the people on it, many IT people would actually do better. Those people are idiots.

Compared to people in the show, basically anyone could do better, they're classic Romero zombies, as long as you can move faster than them, you're safe. Having said that, in a real zombie apocalypse, I stand by my original assessment of IT people.

Oh I agree, the IT people would be the second group dead. The first group dead would be Hollywood screenwriters who are apparently already on the cusp of being zombies already.

there would be a (small) percentage of those IT people who would manage...

Well there's a 1% margin of error in any zombie apocalypse.

Your mo...I mean pizza. I had pizza.

@thwr said in What did you have for lunch or dinner today?:

First try and it was just too warm for the whipping cream, but who cares

That looks good

@scottalanmiller said in American presidential elections or lol, they really do it that way?:

It's strange to me given that all throughout school (even traditional rural American schools) it was driven home that America was not a democracy and was never supposed to be and that the founding father's believed that democracy was an insane idea (the term was a synonym with anarchy then) that they were specifically avoiding. The American ideal, from day one, was to not let democracy happen. That any American says that America is a democracy, was a democracy or intended to be a democracy is itself, very un-American. In fact, wanting democracy conceptually could be see as an anti-American / unpatriotic activity.

I agree and it is true what their intentions were, though from what I can tell they don't seem to teach that anymore, people love saying 'our democracy" when I watch American TV.