Bigglesworth_XIII

Reply to I GOT IN! in Everything Else Sins Forums

I'll tell you what's fun. Programming in FORTRAN with punch cards. One day, your dream course will be obsolete. -Dr. B

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

Ion drives are currently used for unmanned space probes and satellite orbital stabilizers. There is, however, a base limit on the thrust you can get out of an ion drive due to the electrostatic repulsion between the ions. At a certain point you just get sparks, which looks really cool, but makes the thruster fail. [quote]Pls show me your noble prize in Quantum Physics to correct me, otherwise you're just bashing the idea. It's always impossible unless somebody makes it a real

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

Two points: 1. Ion drives are always going to be slow as that funny looking kid that sits at the end of your lunch table. 2. FTL travel is [i]not[/i] possible. All theories (folding space, quantum shells, warp coils, phase space, etc.) fail to address the relativistic issues of sending any information (read: matter and energy) faster than light. Even if your ship doesn't reach infinite mass, just by being someplace your not supposed to be will cause all sorts of funny issues.

Reply to What do you guys, think space warfare should be like. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]FTL is as much of a fantasy as your time traveling myths. Let me put it this way, "doctor". As distance increases, the light you observe has come from increasing points backwards in time. The ship may be right next to you when you observe its light signal from some long distance out, but IT IS NOT THERE, BECAUSE YOUR SLOW ASS EM SPECTRUM MAKES YOUR OBSERVATIONS OBSOLETE. You can not both treat the observable universe as the absolute universe AND ignore the limitations of

Reply to What do you guys, think space warfare should be like. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Since when has "appears to go back in time" come to mean "goes back in time"? There is no known observation that can occur faster than the speed of light. This does not mean that when a ship instantly travels a Light Year it has traveled a year back in time! What it means is that the light from the original ship's position has not reached you yet, and will not be seen for another year. The ship has only arrived before the fastest known medium could display the info. The ship has

Reply to What do you guys, think space warfare should be like. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

There are [i]theoretical[/i] ways to get around the infinite mass/negative length/zero time conundrum of FTL speed. With our current understanding of physics, you might be able to go faster than light without the universe exploding. There is, however, one unavoidable consequence: If you can go faster than light, you [i]can[/i] go back in time, even if you instantly "jump" between two gates, or the like. You need three points in space in order to do it (two stationary relative to each

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]Not only that, but the second law of thermodynamics, otherwise known as the law of entropy, says that everything in the universe is winding downward from a state of order to a state of disorder. Without an outside force, nothing in the universe can become more complex. So how did we get a hydrogen atom from nothing? From where did DNA come? According to current scientific THEORY (not law), life came about from a state of disorder to a state of order. How is that possible?[/quote] It's

Reply to A Futuristic Metal....... in Everything Else Sins Forums

It's pointless to armor spaceships, even more than its pointless to arm them. Let me just do the rundown: Name: Instant Armour (just add water) Countering Weapons: Every heavy weapon known to man Benefits: It sounds cool Liabilities: It doesn't protect you from dying, and your spaceship is absurdly overweight Okay, that was kind of fun. -Dr. B

Reply to Gas Prices: $12-$15/gallon in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]I am in favour of a range of solutions. Inculding a far greater use of Nuclear Power, change in habits, increased energy efficentcy across the board espacially in cars, extended research into hybrid technologies. There are a very broad range of things that need doing. Many of them cultrals habits yes. What your solution? Mail mr Arab a 'pump more oil' card?[/quote] No. You actually have a pretty thorough, intelligent plan. I'll get you next time! -Dr. B

Reply to A Futuristic Metal....... in Everything Else Sins Forums

How are we supposed to speculate on [i]your[/i] imaginary world? -Dr. B

Reply to A german view on history and terrorism in Everything Else Sins Forums

You peons and your pathetic politics. One day [i]I[/i] will take over the world, so who you elect president is of little consequence. But I do derive some twisted satisfaction in watching the future feudal estates of my world order pointing at each other and shouting meaningless obscenities. Ah... It reminds me of my days perched atop the jungle gym of my elementary school, forcing the other children to fight to the end in caged deathmatches. -Dr. B

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]Thank you for clarification. "We" is not me and my pet gerbil, but me and the top scientists at Princeton, Cambridge, etc., as I believe I stated before.[/quote] Forty billions years is a laughably short timescale for the end of the universe. You'll have stars burning for hundreds of billions of years. If you want death by entropy, you're going to have to wait for ten or so more orders of magnitude. I am not aware of any scientists claiming otherwise, but I'm not exactly involved i

Reply to Gas Prices: $12-$15/gallon in Everything Else Sins Forums

Cultural change is your solution for the waning oil supply and surge in price? I'm mailing you a get-well card. -Dr. B

Reply to What do you guys, think space warfare should be like. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]I don't know where you get this fantasy land where you can probe the entirety of space and time at once, but clearly some good drugs are involved.[/quote] Only beer. Look, I'm not messing with you. We can seriously do spherical scans with radii on the order of magnitude of astronomical units using nothing but cheap thermal sensors. It's mostly an issue of data management. But you'll be pleased to learn that something known as the "computer" has also been invented. <br/

Reply to Gas Prices: $12-$15/gallon in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]First class mail is also dependent on you actually sending things by mail. There are alternative methods, email, telephones, faxes, internet bill pay. Almost everything has a viable, cheaper alternative method of transfer. Which is why first class mail is almost entirely comprised of junk mail now.[/quote] I use it to mail weaponized bio-agents. I enjoy the irony of my foes contracting smallpox from a get-well card. -Dr. B

Reply to 5 patches later: 1 enemy ship > 50 TEC heavy cruisers in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Frankly, the part about this that I find the most depressing is that someone is actually losing to the AI. I forbid you from citing balance issues until you can beat on the Unfair AI like it's your wife on Christmas eve. -Dr. B

Reply to Gas Prices: $12-$15/gallon in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]Interestingly enough, this is one of the few government programs that actively competes with other companies: You can, after all, deliver through UPS or FedEx instead of through USPS.[/quote] Well, first class mail is a USPS monopoly. -Dr. B

Reply to What do you guys, think space warfare should be like. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Oh Mr. Wiggles, I'm sorry that the constant war of stealth vs. detection is lost on you. Yes, as long as there is a unique imprint on the fabric of space-time, something will be able to see it. However, the KEY POINT is whether it can be spotted with reasonable resources on a proper budget. Yes, you can spend a trillion credits to find a spacesuit 5 stars down the road. No, there is no way any politician will buy it. And hell no, there is no way any future galactic empire will ha

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]ya i can see that so your justs a sarcastic A-hole huh?[/quote] A really [i]smart[/i] sarcastic A-hole. Why do you think they call me an evil mastermind? -Bigglesworth

Reply to The China Post in Everything Else Sins Forums

I like China. If I had to pick a country to defect to and share sensitive nuclear secrets with, it would be that one. -Bigglesworth

Reply to What do you guys, think space warfare should be like. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]The no stealthy ships argument is bogus. As long as you need something to see a ship, you only need to be invisible to its eyes. It doesn't matter how noisy the rest of the ship is. What sort of things will help? #1: Be in a noisy place. There will be places where you are difficult to spot by sensor, and if you use local elements as reactive propellent you'd be none the wiser. Dust clouds, asteroid belts, even the backside of an asteroid are good places to hide.[/quote] H

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]Now, we have calculated that it will take the universe, at most, forty billion years to run out of usable energy, from start to finish.[/quote] "We", I assume, being you and your pet gerbil. [quote]If it has been around for only a finite period of time, then there was a time at which it did not exist.[/quote] Solid. You win an e-cookie for stating the obvious, but I see you're going for the formal syllogism. [quote]If there was a time when it did not exist, then

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]The Second Law of Thermodynamics clearly states that all energy in the universe is rapidly becoming unusable. If this be so, then it follows that eventually there will no longer be usable energy in the universe, unless more is being created. Which directly contradicts the First Law of Thermodynamics, as it states that energy (and matter) can be neither created nor destroyed. We therefore are left with the conclusion that eventually the universe will have no usable energy left. If the

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

Sure, antimatter could work. We just need to start mining for antimatter in the Imaginary Land of Fantasyville. Unless you want to start collecting the antimatter we get from particle collisions. Someone suggest we do that, so I can laugh at you. -Bigglesworth

Reply to Future politics, what do think it will be like when we can colinize other planets and fight space battles. in Everything Else Sins Forums

[quote]Take comfort you fatalists! Mankind can't quite extinguish itself that easily.[/quote] Agreed. Take it from me, humans are like cockroaches. Even my best efforts to bring about doomsday have all failed miserably. It's much more difficult than you think to kill the entire world. If you fools could do it yourself, I would be out of a job. -Bigglesworth