Between the main stream media and Hollywood, Conservative values are constantly under attack.
The GOP debate last night called them out on their hypocrisy; which I would doubt many liberals even watched.
The government is “Of the people, by the people, and for the people.”
Progressives want government in every facet of your life, not theirs, just yours….
Conservative values are for limited government… Keep the country safe from all threats both domestic and foreign. We don’t need you mucking with our McDonalds fries or Big Gulps!
When the MSM decries Hillary had a good week when she was exposed as the liar she is, you know that the Rachel Maddows of the world are just so biased, that they cannot be objective, therefore they are not journalist!
Journalism is finding the truth and telling the truth about it, whether it is against what you would like to see or happen or not.
Walter Cronkite was a Flaming Liberal, but you would not know it by his reporting of the facts. He was a journalist.
I would like to turn on my TV and watch the news without the Brian Williams of the world slanting the story to fit some White House agenda as they currently do….
Fox has the ratings that it does because they are for the most part “fair and balanced.”
I would exclude Hannity from that lineup, as he is entertainment, opinion related, with a biased version of the news.
The Winners last night were Cruz, Rubio and Chris Christie in that order (in my opinion.)
Donald Trump was just about a no show last night, as were the rest of the candidates.
For the record, I don’t believe that Trump knows what an H1B is.
Companies lobby to bring them over by the thousands to pollute the pool of workers keeping the price down that they have to pay for talent.
The talent is here…they just done want minimum wage for a job that is for skilled workers.
Any visit to a Walmart of hardware store you can find American people who are under employed because of H1B’s.
Our government is for sale to the highest bidder, and the American people don’t stand a chance as they are asleep!
Where greed is concerned, companies will find a way like outsourcing, shipping jobs overseas or taking their whole company to Mexico and beyond.
If you are in college now and looking to pick a major…pick something that requires English, knowledge of our mores, idioms and possibly customer service centric, as “Peggy” still does not have it….
Should America get involved in stopping the wholesale murder of Christians?
Any person with any kind of morality would give the immediate knee jerk reaction of, Hell Yes!
As Wilford Brimley might say, “It’s the right thing to do!”
In this day and age we don’t do anything. We are paralyzed by politics.
If Winston Churchill had been this worried about political blowback, we all might very well be speaking German!
There is this problem that some face in management called “analysis to paralysis.”
Today with a 24 hour news cycle, we have taken that to all new levels!
We have organizations who do polls of everything.
Frank Luntz, who is an interesting guy, makes his livelihood by putting together groups of people to gauge their emotional state, at different snapshots in time of events like speeches or debates.
There are several different pollsters and they all solicit an opinion from a low percentage of actual people who will take the time to take a poll. That in and of itself is a problem, in that it biases the results.
Polls are flawed to begin with, in that the accuracy is somewhere below 10%, depending upon the type of poll and the questions ask.
Robotic polls are the least accurate and even some of the most prestigious or respected pollsters, depending upon their particular bias, are flawed. (Aka Fox news Vs MSNBC)
Politicians today are always in re-election mode so they are in fact paralyzed. If there is a bill on the floor and some senator does not want to cast a vote one way or the other, he simply votes present or is a no show. Currently, Planned Parent Hood funding was on the floor and one of the presidential candidates was in fact a no show. This was an important bill and for his party, he should have been there. He however represents the Millennials, and a good amount of them are liberal leaning and do not distinguish the difference between the murder of a baby, and “women’s health.”
“You’ve got to stand for something, or you will fall for anything!”
We send these folks to Washington to represent us.
Obama, when he was senator voted present 130 times, not allowing his political aspirations to get tarnished with anything. The people of Chicago sent him there to represent them, and he voted present. One could infer from his votes that the people of Chicago, simply don’t care about anything!
Today on the stage of the world’s Arena, we have a president who is still voting present, and leading from the rear.
Is it politically safe to stop the wholesale slaughter of Christians in the Middle East?
No, because there are some who don’t like Christians, who happen to vote and they might vote Democrat unless of course you do anything that they don’t like. Is it the right thing to do? Hell Yes!
We watch them on the computer, and TV, and what have you, being butchered in the most heinous of ways, and there is nothing but the sounds of Crickets coming from Washington.
Today we have the Russian Dictator Putin “standing for something.” I am not certain what he is doing and if he is truly targeting the right folks, time will tell. The US has always taken the lead in such things and yet, we are dismantling our military.
“The purpose of our government is to Defend and protect the people of this country and this country from all threats domestic and foreign.”
This president has cut military spending and in fact allowed our military men and women to fight with antique equipment.
Air Force tactical aircraft: over 20 years old;
Navy and Marine Corps tactical aircraft: over 15 years old;
Army M-113 armored personnel carriers: 27 years old;
Bradley fighting vehicles: 17 years old;
CH-47 Chinook helicopters: nearly 20 years old;
UH-1 Huey helicopters: 35 years old;
Ticonderoga-class cruisers: nearly 20 years old;
P-3C Orion long-range aircraft: almost 25 years old;
B-1 Lancer bomber: over 20 years old;
C-5A Galaxy transport aircraft: 40 years old; and
KC-135 tankers: 44 years old.
Over 65% of this president’s budget goes to ….wait for it….”Entitlements”and they are really not entitlements because for it to be an entitlement, you must have done something to be entitled to it!
We are talking about food stamps, Obama phones, Obama Care, and to quote one of the people in line for her share of the free stuff, “his stash!” These are not simply for American poor folks, these are for anyone that can cross the border in any way shape of form!
The money he is giving away is not his to give, in fact he is appropriating it from places like the military, and your great grandchildren’s future piggy bank!
Which candidate will save us from ourselves?
The outsiders are leading the pack for the republicans and the Socialistis leading the pack “basically” for the DNC.
He wants the government to pay for everything! $20 Trillion of debt is nothing to this man. We can simply print some more…lots of ink and paper…
How you ask? They are telling the truth, the things that you were afraid to even think about, as they need to wake you up. Even Bernie Sanders is talking trash about the Washington Elite or as one candidate calls them “The Washington Cartel.”
We need a candidate that will shake things up, and focus on what the government is supposed to be doing.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
“Establish Justice:” Appoint or elect judges who interpret, not create the law.
“Insure domestic Tranquility:” Unite instead of divide us by race, religion or sex or by any other means. We are Americans, and we need to bind ourselves together by that.
“Provide for the common defense:” Have a military that is so strong, that no one will dare to test it.
We are not doing that, and these last 7 years have proved that beyond any shadow of doubt.
Whoever inherits this mess, will indeed have to be the best of the best. We will need to start with the basics and go forward. This will take a concerted effort from everyone to put this country back up straight; we need to prepare for that.
At the rate this administration is pissing money away, we will most likely be $20,000,000,000.000.00 in debt by 2017. That is if the rate does not change one way or another.
All of these candidates except one are bought and paid for by someone, or a group of someone’s.
That is why the Keystone pipeline has never happened.
That is why 20 odd percent of our Uranium was sold to Russia in a backroom deal made by Hillary.
Do you want more of the same or would you like a change?
Campaign reform and total transparency needs to top any agenda for this next administration.
Term limits need to also top any list of to-do’s as we need to get the good old boys out of Washington.
As one man put it, we need to dismantle the Washington Cartel.
You dismantle them by holding them accountable.
You dismantle them by transparency of their funding and you force them to create term limits for themselves.
They need to live by the same laws that we live by, and by the same social security, and the same health care.
In short, you remove the incentives to be corrupt. If you go to Washington to serve, you go there to serve, not to serve yourself!
Most Americans do not want this Iranian nuke deal to happen and yet the Democrats are supporting Obama, thus pushing this through; against our wishes.
The majority of Americans thought that Obama Care was not a good deal and yet the Democrats pushed it through anyway, in spite of the folks.
All of the promises of the plan were indeed empty promises. You might in fact, not be able to keep your doctor. “sorry….”
Washington is a “good ol boy club” and even after a politician is booted out, they become lobbyist and still write the bills that nobody but special interests want! The same bills that nobody reads.
Running a successful campaign takes money. To be a successful candidate you must always be in campaign mode, which means you must always be looking for money.
Campaign funding laws need to change. Transparency is key so at least you know what company or special interests, owns your candidate. Truly I want to know where their loyalties are. You vote for a guy that talks the talk and as soon as they get in they no longer are responsive to the voters that put them there.
Maybe you own a railroad or you have interest in a company that owns a railroad. That railroad is currently making tons of money hauling oil from Canada to the gulf. A pipeline which would put thousands to work, would not bode well for your bottom line so….you give money to whoever will sit on the pipeline bill, stall it or stop it, from happening!
You might even fund some tree hugging activist to bring some sort of frivolous law suit claiming that some fish might become extinct if the pipeline is allowed to continue. Everyone knows that nothing moves fast in the government so a committee must be formed to look into it. The committee calls for an investigation which means specialist must be hired (at taxpayer expense) and study the possible impact that a pipeline would make on the fish in question. This process could take years just to return the study.
If progress is being made another group is hired to pursue a suit claiming that the pipeline might affect the migratory patterns of the rare and troubled species of bird.
Another committee is formed, another specialist hired and more time is bought for the controlling partners in a company that happens to have a railroad.
If it was truly about climate change someone might point out that the railroad has a much higher carbon footprint than oh say, the building a pipeline. There is also a much greater risk of the fish being effected or those birds becoming confused by a derailment with toxic spills in god knows where.
Donald Trump is using his own money.
The question I and everyone else has to ask is“what is in it for Donald?”
Mr. Trump has said he will work for a $1 a year!
I for one like the idea of someone that is not in the pocket of the others.
Now the people in the house and the senate are still in the pocket of special interest, but Donald, not so much.
Any candidate that takes millions from someone is beholding to someone. I am guessing that the Unions, big business and those hedge fund guys, which make billions if things happen a certain way are the big contributors to politicians. You know, the “fat cat bankers” that Obama warned about as he was taking their money.
Most politicians promise relief for the middle class.
The middle class pay the bills.
The middle class is squeezed from the top and bottom, and then marginalized when it comes to benefits because those are handed out as cell phones, free internet and food stamps to those who choose not to work.
If we take in 10,000 Syrians as Obama is saying, those too will be paid for from the taxes of those who work.
The people pay for these things in taxes and in fees that are levied on their bills as some sort of “universal fee,” code for socialism.
Most people look at their phone bill or cable bill and see those “universal fees” and have no idea what they are. That is what they are, both federal and state.
Emotions are one way to manipulate you, and that is not lost on Hillary as she cries for the camera in a recent interview.
Are you old enough to remember the Sally Struthers commercials for the orphans? She had her 90 second spot on prime time TV crying for the orphans. The purpose of her tears were to evoke a response from people, an emotional response which would hopefully translate to opening your wallet.
It was later reported that this group was not Christian and that is simply used the word Christian to garner support from “Christians.” It was also reported that very little money actually went to help children.
This Iranian deal is a mystery to me and to anyone that knows anything about it.
I was astonished to learn that if Israel should attack Iran, part of the contract is that the US has to defend Iran! Hello, Israel is our friend.
Depending upon where you get your news, this is either the greatest deal of all time or it is the absolute worst deal.
I have found that the main stream media is terribly biased towards the liberal ideology so I tend to treat anything that they report with more skepticism than say One America News Network.
Please Mr. President, go work on your golf game. I bet Trump would allow you access to his courses, just stop doing anything else. Deals like this we don’t need.
At this point it would be cheaper if the president took his family and simply traveled the globe on a yearlong vacation. Let Uncle Joe see if he wants to really try out for the job, at least he is entertaining.
Trump is a flawed man and probably not in touch with us mere mortals. I think he loves the country, it has been good to him and I think he is genuine when he says he will make us respected in the world again.
Dr. Carson is soft spoken, smart man but I have not heard from him any strategy for dealing with the issues we have at hand.
True statement…Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
Carly, waiting for the debate next week to make up my mind.
Chris Christie shoots from the hip but I don’t like the idea that he will further screw with Social Security. What I picked up from him today is that the age might be raised again and there might be some sort of means test, meaning; if you planned for retirement or are making some ambiguous amount of money decided by some committee, that you might not qualify to get “your money from social security, back!”
Make no mistake, the money that you paid into the system is yours. When I got into the work force it was 65. Reagan changed it so now the baby boomers get it much later.
The argument is that people are living much longer today but…here is the gotcha…! Once you reach middle age, companies don’t want you anymore! Why do you think that so many middle ages professionals that are working at a hardware store or other retail part time job? They don’t want to, that is all they can get. Something part time without benefits that makes their retirement income last a little longer.
They should be enjoying their golden years but they had to live off of what they saved for retirement because they were let go before they reached retirement.
The deal was 65, and it should be changed back to 65! We need the jobs to come back to the US.
We need people to be able to work until retirement instead of being subjugated to part time retail jobs meant for kids in high school. By the way Wall-Mart got rid of their door greeters, which was my retirement strategy….. I love people, what can I say….
We have some tough challenges ahead of us and the next president had best be up for the challenge and really needs to be in tune with the folks who pay for everything, the middle class.
More on this after the next debate…. I know, you can’t wait…
Big corporations really suck when they go the extra mile forcing one to buy expensive stuff.
Under the guise of “saving the planet” we have lost it!
First off let me just rant a little about the planet. The Earth has been around 4.5 billion years. Man has been around for about 6 million of those years but, we only have we been a “threat” to the planet the last 150 years or so.
When I say threat, not really. One lucky strike from a meteor and we are done! Toast,the next life form to take hold will hopefully be more evolved than some of our peers who think money is the answer to everything no matter who they screw!
Industrialization is claimed to be the largest threat to the planet along with the ever increasing population. I agree that millions of people all creating waste emissions from gasses to solids, probably are not doing the earth any good but, do you really for just one minute think that one Volcano, or large fire does not do as much if not more damage to the eco-system than man?
There is a super volcano that is due to erupt any moment in Yellow stone park. When that bad boy goes off it will be a life changer!
Then tell me about coal power plants or Gas guzzling SUv’s.
Despite High Emissions, New Coal Power Plants Planned in Germany…AACHEN, GERMANY – MAY 15: Behind the open-pit coal mine Gartzweiler exhaust rises from cooling towers at the lignit coal-fired power stations Frimmersdorf, Neurath and Niederaussem May 15, 2007 near Aachen, Germany. The four German major energy providers Vattenfall, RWE, E.on and EnBW plan to invest more than 30 billion euros in construction and infrastructure of cole conducted power plants in Germany. (Photo by Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images)
Yes, we are burning fossil fuels “dinosaurs” to heat and cool our homes and to drive our gas burning vehicles to and from the job and what have you.
If you really want to solve global warming first you really need to get truthful with the numbers, and facts, as what has been published thus far is to push a “carbon credit agenda” to make the rich richer and in the end is simply another tax!
Now, back to bulbs.
Edison through trial and error “brute force” came up with an incandescent light bulb.
The typical light in your home burns 60 watts of electricity.
It took me a few minutes to do the math for you, so here it is in a spreadsheet.
You can do any further multiplication you like, as in how many of these bulbs do you have and how long do you really leave them on.
The 100 and the 60 are representing incandescent “old school” bulbs.
The 12 is representing a CFL bulb and the 3 watt is representing the LED variety.
Basing the cost per kilowatt hour at 8.5 cents, this is what it would look like to run one bulb for a year never turning it off.
So, if you want to save the earth…or money, lets look at how and where you would put what kind of bulb.
Here is the bulb that failed prematurely. Notice the black around the inside of the plastic. This thing got hot before it stopped working and the important part of this is that the fuse did not blow!
I also think that we were pushed into using them by congress via some backroom dealwith GE or some other maker of these things through the good folks at AVE K,you know lobbyist. Like republicans or not, this was a GW Bush thing and I think it smells.
CFL or any fluorescent bulb must stay on for a minimum of 15 minutes or you shorten the life of the bulb. That means, don’t put them in places that you turn the light on for a few moments and then off again. CFL or fluorescent tubes should go into places that you energize them, and then leave them on for hours, like a kitchen, family room or porch light.
This bulb died because the capacitor died. If you look at it you will see that it has bubbled up on the top. Checking the capacitor it is non functional.
GE must have purchased a plethora of bad capacitors from China!
If you look at the actual glass you will notice that there is no black around the base, this bulb died way too young…
LED bulbs don’t just quit “usually” unlike an incandescent of fluorescent. They grow dim over time as they age and one day you will notice that it is not very bright, and replace it. I like them in bathrooms and closets, desk lights and lights in areas where I don’t want a lot of heat generated.
LED bulb replacing CFL bulb which replaced an incandescent bulb.
The average cost of a CFL or LED bulb however is much higher than its incandescent counterpart.
While they have come down in price, they are still no where as inexpensive as an incandescent.
A box of 4 or even 6 on sale, was around $1. The CFL is around $2 each but that is now. When they first came out they were about $4 each. As other manufacturers entered into the arena the price came down.
The same is true of LED bulbs. These bulbs can get downright pricey!
As far as function goes we have the incandescent with fewest complications. A filament across the two electrodes sealed into a vacuum. Apply the right voltage and suitable current that the filament will light and there will be light, and heat!
Fluorescent is much more complex in that there is two filaments and high voltage applied which ionizes the gas inside. This gas reacts to the phosphorescent coating inside the bulb making light, And oh yes, they have mercury in them.
The CFL takes in 110 or 220 depending upon your location and converts it into the voltages and currents needed to start the process as well as maintain the process while voltage is applied. If you look inside the base of a CFL bulb you will see a host of associated circuitry to accomplish this task.
LED Bulbs are less complex in that they use minimal components to convert the voltages into the needed voltages to run the LED’s.
There is not much heat and the circuitry is not complex. LED bulbs should really be less expensive than CFL and I look for that to be the case as time marches on. Currently you are still paying for the novelty much like the early adopters of flat screen TV’s.
Pay attention to these bulbs when you buy them as they must be set up for “dimmable” circuits if you intend to use them in a legacy lighting system that had incandescent lighting in it.
As a science fiction writer it should be no small surprise that my focus is usually physics or other science things instead of politics.
Yes, I write about things that I notice that I think might be helpful but, I would much rather be talking about “Space, the final frontier…”
If we as a world did not have to spend so much money and time on all of the BS in this world, that we currently do, life would be so much better.
Instead of spending billions on wars, entitlements and bailing out other countries; we could be doing meaningful things like they are doing at CERN.
Russia and the US and other countries have a space station for Pete Sake!
Tonight I broke routine and watched the news. I usually do not watch too much if any TV, because I am a firm believer in Garbage in Garbage out. Too much Garbage in the form of “entertainment” that comes from Hollywood and we as a country nay a people, are consumed with it and controlled by it.
We have people who know everything about who is sleeping with whom in Hollywood, but have no idea who the VP is.
Vice President Joe Biden
Watching trends in Twitter, you can see where people are focused, usually stupid shit!
Trending top on the list currently is USMNT (soccer). At least it is not about someone sleeping with someone.
Politics fascinates me only in that it is full of lies, half-truths and manipulation usually aided by Hollywood and the media. Hillary for example has a list as long as your arm of untruthful tales that she has told. She and her husband are the King and Queen of prevarication and yet 47% of the country will vote for her because 47% are Democrats and that is what people do. People vote the party rather than character. It takes little thought process to pull the D lever…
What is interesting to me however is not Hillary. She is part of a dynasty that we know all too well, and yet because of name recognition she stands a good chance of winning the Democratic nomination. The person who currently interest me is Trump.
The Donald
Donald interest me in that he is taking a huge financial hit for basically speaking his mind. Now think about this for one second. Obama has handlers which basically tell him every word or utterance that comes out of his mouth. Without his teleprompter and his ability to read with feeling, he would be lost.
I find it fascinating that both the democrats and the republicans, are attacking Trump!
The media, both sides are attacking Trump.
How refreshing would it be to have someone in the White House that is not owned by special interest, lobbyist on Ave K, and of course handlers!
The more that he is trashed by the republicans, the more that I like him. I was surprised to see Governor Perry trash talk him. I know it is a political move but Perry has been dealing with these issues a long time. He knows firsthand what we as a country face.
The simple facts are that we have some serious problems to deal with, and it is going to take serious people to solve them. The debates should prove interesting as the republicans tear one another apart, doing the job for the democrats.
We are already hearing about stuff that Bernie Sanders (the other democrat) wrote 40 years ago or so regarding cervical cancer and why women get so much of it. I am certain that was leaked by the Hillary campaign; Bernie is actually getting traction. He is a Socialist, left of Obama and is gaining traction!
The game is afoot and the next 16 months ought to be interesting if you follow such things.
If not, keep in mind that we are close to getting our probe to Pluto, so there will be more “science” to talk about instead of politics.
Sleep tight, another day is around the corner and more “stuff” will happen; giving us much to talk about.
Listening to the news, talk radio or even reading the news online, wouldn’t it be refreshing if someone simply admitted that they did not know, vs. making a statement that is blatantly fabricated?
It is easy to tell why some news outlets have so few in their audience. Even the most desperate of viewers wants it to be true so they watch and listen and parrot what they hear which is again blatantly false!
There is an old axiom regarding telling a lie enough where it becomes fact. I think some in the news media are guilty of this. I think that many in this administration are guilty of this.
Yesterday it was pointed out by Hillary Clinton and other liberal outlets that the GOP will take us back to the stone age if they had their way. Vaccinations are totally safe according to their science.
Do you trust anything that any government says?
Mr, “I did not have sex with that women,” defending his wife! Really, we believe you, ah huh….!
Thimerosal is a mercury additive to vaccines, which are “multi-dose.” This is a way that the drug companies increase profits by putting many doses in one vial instead of individual vials. Problem, while thimerosal is effective at killing any bacteria that might make it back into the vial it is also linked to neurological disorders, especially in children.
I feel for the monkeys….
Let’s think about this pragmatically for just a moment. Mercury was so problematic, so hazardous that the government did away with all batteries that were made with mercury; forcing many to junk electronic equipment that needed that particular battery.
Mercury is so toxic that you cannot throw those CFL light bulbs in the trash, they have to be treated specially. Mercury is so bad that there are specific cleanup methods for the breakage of a florescent light or computer monitor or neon sign as they contain small amounts of mercury.
Handling mercury is incredibly toxic as it will go right through your skin and research on laboratory animals prove that mercury seems to deposit itself in the brain. Could there be an autism link? Mercury, brain… let me think….. “I don’t know,” but if it smells like a fart…… Do you really want to chance it?
Therefore, mercury is bad…yet it is perfectly safe to have it injected into your body. Really, Hillary, now that you tweeted that the earth is round maybe we should check, because I do not believe anything that you say! Someone who leaves the white house claiming they were broke when in fact they had millions, I just don’t know.
All vaccines for children have a Thimerosal free product and if you really care about your child, pay the extra and get the vaccine without the mercury “single dose.” As the matter of fact, if it is not good for kids, it is not good for adults either so, I always opt for the thimerosal free product myself!
I don’t always get vaccinated; but when I do….
Between the lies of this administration, and the IRS, I do not believe anything that this government says. It is one of those “I hear you but,” let me check it myself.
Wouldn’t you like to play poker with him?
Factually, it is politically expedient to lie to the people. Much like the movie Mars Attacks,“horrible movie” but; do you remember the Martians telling the earthlings stop running, we are here as friends, right before they blasted them with their ray guns? Why? Because people are lazy and will not fact check!
Wait, don’t run, we are your friend….
That is the way that I feel about most of the liberal news media and of course, anything that comes out of Josh’s mouth, not to mention his boss.2016 cannot come soon enough for me, and I hope that the voters this time pay attention to the blather that pervades the airwaves and ignore the millions of social media hacks, trolls and other vermin that seek to get another liberal liar in to the White House.
When you have to spend over a Billion Dollars to “buy the presidency,”what does that tell you?
Well, “I don’t know,” what people were thinking this last time around but I can tell you, I hope that they pay attention to the fact that they are not better off today than they were 6 years ago. We should not have pulled out of Iraq, and we should not be pissing off our allies.
Since this “political football known as sequester” we need someone who wants to tame the new frontier, to “boldly go….” Ok enough..
Calling Bill Gates, or any of you other billionaires out there with nothing to spend your money on…. I have a proposition for you! Read on to hear my plan…
One year ago, in April, we just about lost a $960.000.000 telescope to a defunct Russian spy satellite. Quick thinking on the part of several people managed to save our telescope however; the risk remains and it is not getting better, but worse.
With each and every launch, other “stuff” is left in space to orbit, and slowly fall back to earth. Depending upon the altitude and velocity, it could take weeks, years, decades or centuries for the orbit to decay enough for the earth’s gravity to pull it back down.
The good news is that things fall back to earth often and usually burn up during the re-entry process , falling harmlessly into the ocean or some other body of water, the Canadian Wilderness or the Australian outback. This is just about a verbatim statement from “those who know.” I for one am glad that these things only fall where people aren’t; pretty clever of them to arrange that.
Truth be told, (you know how I like truth) this claim is made because 70% of the earth is covered with water of one kind or another. If you have ever gambled you know that it is all about the odds, which are derived from percentages of one thing or another.
By last estimates there are 23,000 pieces of space junk and about 1500 satellites give or take the dozens that neither country will admit to. That means that there are about 24,500 objects up there with no planned way of removing them safely. I think that we actually have an “end of life” policy created for ours, if the thing is still functional.
The hazards are increasing exponentially with each and every launch and of course should two satellites collide as they did in 2009 at hyper speeds, lots of space junk gets released into orbit. The collision between Iriduim 33 and Kosmos 255 was not the only collision in space. In fact there have been 8 known high speed collisions and several minor collisions. Someone gets paid to keep up with each and every little thing up there. How well do you think they do their job?
As of yet, there are no Universal treaties as to who does what in space; so the problem continues to get worse. The lawmakers are too concerned about anything but what they should be, so don’t look for help from any government.
Along come the visionaries…
Well maybe not these folks…
We need some visionaries to come up with a way to reclaim the space junk. Instead of figuring out ways to make a weapon more precise or more lethal, how about working on this problem before it is totally out of hand?
I actually have an idea that might work. Scientist have proposed building a type of tractor (not like the one on Green Acres) but a “Space Tractor” to snag or deflect an asteroid causing its trajectory to change enough to save the earth.
What if…we tested that theory on some space junk? What if…. we slowed the orbit of some space junk down enough so its orbit would decay at a more rapid rate, and maybe, just maybe with some practice, we could manage where and when it would fall, not using the current Vegas method of science, but real science. Instead of trying to deflect an asteroid first, start out with something small and closer to home like, a defunct satellite. One could actually make a business out of it, and charge Millions! Why does it take a science fiction writer to come up with this stuff? Maybe if the space station has enough mass they could figure out a way to test the theory with it. It is already up there, with a crew and everything!
No, Ok well how about this?
If any of you happen to know Michio Kaku; or the guy that demoted Pluto, or some other notable “scientist,” forward this to them. If you know Bill, give him my best and show this too him but, sell it as the newest form of software development. Someone would have to write the stuff to control this thing, right?. I would love to hear why it would not work or why it is not a good idea. Personally, I think if the nation(s) could focus on something else, other than politics, it would be a good thing. If any of you scientist need any more “out of the box thinking”…call me….phone is write here…waiting….
You must be logged in to post a comment.