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Comment Re:Blast off to Mars in 2026? What are they smokin (Score 0) 47

Radiation on Mars really isn't an issue. Radiation levels on Mars are on average 0.64mSv per day. Radiation levels in Ramsar, Iran are 0.71mSv per day (that's entirely natural, not some crazy weapons program the Iranians are running). Want to know how many extra cancers there are in Ramsar due to the elevated natural radiation levels? None. Absolutely none at all. In fact, Ramsar has a lower cancer rate than both other cities in Iran, and the world in general. This matches a pattern where it seems that people exposed to low-moderate radiation levels actually appear to have lower risks for cancer than people not exposed to any elevated radiation at all.

There certainly will be areas of Mars with high radiation levels due to geology, altitude, etc, and we'll want to avoid those areas, or use shielding, but the average case is really not a problem at all.

Comment Re:Tim Sweeny wants (Score 2) 69

While you're not wrong about pushing a bunch of recycled crap in a lot of cases, you're just plain wrong (TM) on prices. The price of games has been falling for decades when you adjust for inflation. The average retail boxed game has cost:

1985: $35 ($110 after adjusting for inflation)
1990: $50 ($125)
1995: $60 ($125)
2000: $60 ($115)
2005: $60 ($105)
2010: $60 ($95)
2015: $60 ($85)
2020: $60 ($75)
2025: $80 ($80)

As you can see, the "$20" price increase is rather more modest when you account for inflation, and is a *long way* from offsetting the drop in pricing that we've seen over the past 3 decades. The games industry, unfortunately, can't survive on expecting the base of players to continuously expand, like it has in the past. If they're going to pay all the people working on these games, they genuinely do need to keep up with inflation now.

Comment Re: I can see why they ignored it for so long. (Score 1) 35

Uhh, except that on macOS, to implement XDG youâ(TM)d set the config directory to ~/Library/Preferences, and the state directory to ~/Library/Application\ Support, so⦠if you think their implementation is good, then thereâ(TM)s no problem having multiple locations to put the data.

Comment Re: Cost per KG compared to Falcon 9 / Heavy? (Score 1) 68

I'm sure they'll go on to point out all the damage to the heat shield, and the leaks etc that occurred in the last test. And they'll carefully gloss over the fact that the heat shield had tiles missing deliberately to find out what happens if you lose tiles in all kinds of places.

Comment Re: Too little, too late? (Score 1) 68

The thing is, Blue isnâ(TM)t learning lessons from SpaceX on how to do it. Theyâ(TM)re not building an incredibly cheep rocket thats fast to build and lets spacex innovate for them. Theyâ(TM)re building the lightest, most expensive possible rocket with intricate machining steps that require an age, and a ton of money to produce. No big sheet steel parts welded together, instead complex aluminium isogrid..

Comment Re: Cost per KG compared to Falcon 9 / Heavy? (Score 1) 68

What part do you think they will not achieve? Theyâ(TM)ve got to the point where they can achieve orbital velocity, they can recover the booster, they can fire the engines in space to reenter, and they can deploy payloads. Thatâ(TM)s at least as good as New Glenn.

Comment Re: What happens to other MD11 pilots? (Score 2) 89

On the contrary, MD11 pilots have the most to learn about the automated systems. Just because its automated, doesnt mean you dint need to know how it works, when it works, what it looks like when itâ(TM)s not working, what you still get when it doesnt work, what you dont get when it doesnt work,â¦

Some of the worst Airbus crashes for example have been caused when the automation has suddenly degraded from normal law to either alternate of direct law, and the pilot has not understood that they now dont have the protections that they normally get, or have straight up lost control of the aircraft in the degraded state.

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