Your arguments are basically correct.

I amortize the cost of any given mission over the gigantic returns that are going to pile up in the form of solar power plants in orbit, manufacturing, mining from asteroids, etc. Exploration and colonization ought to piggyback the commercial development of the solar system in general... so when I argue that the cost of Mars missions is lower than people think, it's with that context in mind.

Note: to go to the moon (or anywhere) carrying all your return fuel really does impose a significant penalty on the delta v you can accumulate. It's a geometric cost, not a linear one. That's why I say manned missions to Mars (etc) can be made much faster if we assemble refueling onsite. This doesn't even count the cost of having to design a machine to lift the fuel from the ground in the first place. Whereas once you've built orbital manufacturing infrastructure to provide goods + electricity for the ground (at an absurd margin given their scarcity), that stuff is already pretty much paid for.

For my part, I'm against building space elevators. Too much temptation for the Osama bin Nutballs of the world.

You put a lot of metal on the ground in many places, and aim microwaves at them from the collectors in orbit. The metal is connected to water tanks (or salt, whatever). The water heats up, and the steam drivers a turbine.

No one has tried power transmission through the atmosphere. Certainly rainstorms will screw it up. Better energy storage will help that some, and that's certainly getting research dollars these days. Shrug. In the worst case scenario we can just start moving electricity intensive activities offplanet. That should be our ultimate (>100 years) goal anyhow.

Here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_power_transmission#Proposed_uses

In sig too.

I really don't want to have to hope that my Leader will be so benevolent he'll make the right decision about the disposition of people he arbitrarily claims are Terrorists. I want the law to be followed, and for people who break it to stand trial. At this point that includes Obama, because he's holding people without any authority to do so.

The problem is the inmates are running the asylum.

No, when Hamas won the elections in Palestine, they were still Terrorists. It has more to do with skin color and religion than reality.

Word.

"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and besides, the pig likes it." -GBS

on how long it will take Russia to invade after a successful secession by Alaska?

My personal guess is 6 months. Logistics mainly.

...Ignorance that profound is such that I don't want anyone like that owing me money. Especially if they have guns. At least our esteemed representatives know it's a series of tubes. No one rules the tubes.

Thanks for writing that. It was a new way of thinking about some things I've been saying here for a while. It's nice to see so many other people echoing my fundamental concern about the structural shifts our government has undergone in the last century or so. I won't reiterate what so many people have descibed so well.

But I'm with you, peoples. One term maximum, fully funded public elections, corporate lobbying of any kind barred with hefty prison sentences, automatic wipeout of equity for any company caught lobbying, etc. This does seem to the sort of problem that calls for a sledgehammer.

You're almost right. Revolutions begin when a substantial percentage of the population believes it has nothing to lose. For all the hair-tearing and crying, we're a long way from that here. For all the people talking about the 95% and 5%, that 95% is still richer than 90% of the rest of the world.. and deep down they know that. There are hungry people in this country.. but not many. Not yet, anyway.

You think logic will deter the Faithful? The True Believers?! They've got their story and they're sticking to it.

I disagree. Manufacturing implies a market to supply to, and some competitive advantage. We don't have either. We have three choices: enlarge our resource base, reduce our population, or accept that as population goes up, we get poorer overall. That's it.

Sadly, there is a whole universe out there we're not bothering with as we attempt to build perpetual motion machines here on Earth. Damn shame.

I read "doesn't have a beef" as "ignorant people flapping their jaws".. he was acknowledging the idiocy of the whole story, no?

He'll apologize to the families of the innocent people we kidnapped and tortured to death. Or the innocent people we're still holding, with no legal right to do so.

look at the fundamentals of the economy:

We have in fact experienced a massive increase in the national debt due to two dubious foreign wars and a breathtaking transfer of wealth from the taxpayers to the financial sector.

We have (and will have more of, once the economy "recovers") a ruinous export imbalance that acts as a constant drain on the assets of the country.

The government is owned lock, stock and barrel by the people who caused this mess.

Long term, I'm something of an optimist. I don't think global warming is the end of the world. I do think technology will largely eliminate disease and poverty, in time. The US may or may not continue to lead.

Short term-- this is the time to be invested in foreign currencies/companies.

Speaking for myself only.. I dislike guessing games. A woman wearing something that looks like a wedding/engagement ring has made a clear statement of unavailability. That's kind. And if she should decide to pursue something with me herself, I have something right off the bat with which to mock her unmercifully for a long time to come.