Random Raves XVII: A sporran in my kitten!

[SuperJay]

Dammit, I meant to watch the live broacast

Rave: My only goal for this weekend is to drink alcohol out of doors.

 

[W|M]

I finally pulled off a successful landing in Google Flight Simulator.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I finally pulled off a successful landing in Google Flight Simulator.

How do you do that? I always crash.

 

[civplayah]

I've only done it in flat places, like the Midwest or Greenland.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

The Space Shuttle

Watched a doco on it last night . I didn't realize what an amazing piece of machinery it is . As an example , they took a small cube of the material the heat shield is made of and placed it in a blast furnace till it was glowing red hot . A guy then removed the cube with some tongs , placed it on a table and after 2 seconds picked it up with his bare hands . That is how efficiently this material dissipated the heat .

The horsepower required to launch it from earth was the equivalent of over 60,000 V8 engines .

I was very impressed (even acknowledging , in the field of big kick ass space stuff ,USA #1)

 

[Ajidica]

The sad thing about the shuttle termination is that until we can get the next generation of heavy boosters for manned spaceflight up and running, we have to rely on the aging Soviet Soyuz capsules, which have less computing power then my phone! Given the current funding reductions for NASA and the brain drain they are experiancing as a result, it may be quite a while before we get native manned spaceflight back.

 

[W|M]

EDIT: I only heard about the launch on the radio, due to a TV not being available at the time of the launch.

How do you do that? I always crash.

You need to descend (go down) quickly, and press F until it says 'Flap 100%' on the side. Once you get near the surface, press G to get the wheels down, and make the plane touch the ground at a very light angle (definitely less than 5 degrees) facing down. The plane needs to be going at about 100 knots/hour if you're using the F16 plane, and about 70 knots/hour if using the other one. Go here for more information.

I've only done it in flat places, like the Midwest or Greenland.

I did it after I flew from Vienna to either Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic (I couldn't tell which once I got past Slovenia), and landed in a mildly sloping field.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm not very good with that plane. I can only fly in a straight line. Or I end up crashing it when I try to turn it. Haha.

I forgot to mention this Rave: My toe apparently didn't break. The pain and swell went down overnight!

 

[W|M]

To turn the plane (without spinning it), you need to hold shift and press the left or right arrow keys.

Rave: A guy who looked exactly like Charlie Sheen walked into my class.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I once flew the airplane underwater.

 

[madviking]

I once flew the airplane underwater.

Behold! The power of drugs!

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I meant the google earth flight simulator airplane

 

[madviking]

I meant the google earth flight simulator airplane

That's lame.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Not if you read the posts before mine

 

[_random_]

Not if you read the posts before mine

It makes sense, but it's still lame.

 

[Joecoolyo]

Rave: I just watched the shuttle takeoff live on the NASA website. Unfortunately, the live stream was dropped for a bit when the orbiter separated from the main fuel tank.

I did the same thing on the BBC site.

Rave: Had a great time downtown today, visited my Dad's office in the Tribune Tower, and got to go on the 22 floor balcony. T'was a great view from there, might post some pics soon.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Someone was searching my site for naughty terms. I'm amused.

 

[Tee Kay]

The sad thing about the shuttle termination is that until we can get the next generation of heavy boosters for manned spaceflight up and running, we have to rely on the aging Soviet Soyuz capsules, which have less computing power then my phone!

This sounds like a badly written opinion piece in a tabloid. The truth is you don't actually need the latest or even a "powerful" computer on a spacecraft. The shuttle computers were developed in the 1970s and 1980s and has 1 MB of RAM and it works well enough (the latest Soyuz computer has a whopping 2 MB of RAM). And these systems are far more reliable than your average PC.

 

[DroopyTofu]

I think we should all know from Civ IV that you don't even NEED computers to fly all the way to Alpha Centari, so why waste our time with to go to the silly old Moon? Abacuses work fine!

 

[Ajidica]

This sounds like a badly written opinion piece in a tabloid. The truth is you don't actually need the latest or even a "powerful" computer on a spacecraft. The shuttle computers were developed in the 1970s and 1980s and has 1 MB of RAM and it works well enough (the latest Soyuz computer has a whopping 2 MB of RAM). And these systems are far more reliable than your average PC.

The systems may be reliable, but they are still aging. The basic Soyuz design dates to the sixties. There have been upgrades along the way, but reliance on aging technology is never the best bet when so much new technology is out there.