Quote of the week!

[Cody]

In 1990, NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope into Low Earth Orbit (LEO.) The Hubble has been called the most successful science project in history, and Universe Today readers probably don’t need to be told why. The Hubble is responsible for a laundry list of discoveries and observations, and has engaged millions of people around the world in space science and discovery. In that year, NASA had a budget of $12.4 billion. And smoking? In 1990, Americans smoked their way through $26.5 billion of tobacco.

[Cody]

To an engineer, fan belts exist between the crankshaft and the water pump. To a physicist, fan belts exist, briefly, in the intervals between stars.

Book review of Turing's Cathedral at El Reg.

[Cody]

Vladimir Kuzin, the deputy head of the Moscow State Traffic Inspectorate, assured that the powers that be will demand Filin's strict adherence to his religion. Kuzin told Russian media: "The next time he is stopped by the traffic police, if he doesn't have a pasta strainer on his head, his licence will be taken from him."

Ramen!

[Cody]

Jeremy Corbyn has suggested the UK could keep its Trident submarine fleet but without carrying nuclear warheads.

<scratches head>

[Wildeblood]

Jeremy Corbyn has suggested the UK could keep its Trident submarine fleet but without carrying nuclear warheads.

<scratches head>

It makes sense. The Royal Navy ordered two new aircraft carriers then decommissioned the harrier jet fleet.

[kanthoney]

"On the count of three, everybody shout "Bang!""

[Cody]

"here n america, you can be anything, worship anything, & believe anything... EXCEPT the earth not being round... they'll hang u 4 that 1."

<sniggers>

[ocz]

Isn't it weird how we cook bacon and bake cookies?

[ClymAngus]

Jeremy Corbyn has suggested the UK could keep its Trident submarine fleet but without carrying nuclear warheads.

<scratches head>

This only works if everyone puts down their pointy sticks at the same time, makes up, shakes hands and says sorry.
It's a lovely idea. Ahhhh bless. I hear the SMP don't like trident. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34911204

So if someone nukes Scotland does that mean England doesn't have to retaliate? Don't worry! Of course we would! (you can't stratosphere that much good whisky and expect to get away with it.)

[Disembodied]

So if someone nukes Scotland does that mean England doesn't have to retaliate? Don't worry! Of course we would! (you can't stratosphere that much good whisky and expect to get away with it.)

Only if the USA lets you ...

To be fair to Corbyn, he's just suggesting that the constant at-sea patrols, with nuclear weapons ready to fire at any time, be stepped down. If global tensions start to build, then the warheads can be restored to the submarines. It's a bit like having a gun, but choosing not to carry it everywhere in your hand, cocked and loaded: perhaps in some situations it could be kept in its holster, or even - now and then - left at home ... (although there is of course the issue that putting the warheads back into the submarines in a time of global crisis might make things even more tense).

My issue with Trident isn't that it's a "deterrent", and that if we gave it up we'd suddenly be invaded by the Russians/Chinese/Vikings/Martians/whoever. Clearly, given all the countries around the world that don't have nuclear weapons, and who aren't constantly being overrun by invaders, there is no correlation between having nukes and not being attacked. My main, and pointed, objections to Trident are that A) it's a hell of a lot of money to pay for something that does nothing (see previous sentence), and which we can never use - if we have to fire it, then it's waaay too late and frankly, I would quite honestly prefer that millions of civilians somewhere else are NOT murdered to avenge my death; and B) it's bloody dangerous, it's based less than 30 miles upwind of Scotland's largest city, where I happen to live, and it's held in the less-than-competent hands of the British military. (For another, squeakingly hilarious, example of British military competence with regard to nuclear submarines, see this story, and try to imagine what happens the next time some sailor goes nuts with a gun on board a nuclear submarine and there ISN'T a two-fisted local councillor on hand to sort things out.)

The purpose of Trident is to channel vast sums of money into the arms industry, and to allow British politicians to pretend that we're still some sort of player on the global stage. But consider: who do you think has more clout, internationally? The non-nuclear-armed Angela Merkel, or the Trident-toting David Cameron? Are we really safer as a nation because we have a stockpile of WMDs built and maintained by another country, given that soon we will very likely no longer be able to make our own steel?

You might like to watch this:

http://www.channel4.com/news/nuclear-tr ... -schlosser

I'd strongly recommend reading Schlosser's Command and Control - it's about US nuclear weapons accidents (because the USA lets its own people find out about these things), it reads like a thriller, and contains some of the most hair-raising true stories I've ever read.

[NigelJK]

perhaps in some situations it could be kept in its holster, or even - now and then - left at home ... (although there is of course the issue that putting the warheads back into the submarines in a time of global crisis might make things even more tense).

Given that most of the MAD scenario is based on posturing then this is an excellent idea. You let the other side know you are taking them seriously by loading them up and setting sail. This has to be more effective that walking around (allegedly) loaded and cocked.

[Cody]

The chief executive of the civil service, John Manzoni, has defended the government's decision to outsource everything 15 years ago, telling MPs it was "what everyone did at the time". Speaking at a Public Accounts Committee hearing yesterday, Manzoni said there was nothing wrong with outsourcing, but the government must now build its own skills if it is to transform services. Manzoni said the Cabinet Office had 32 consultants on its books paid more than £1,000 per day.

<sobs>

Source here.

[Disembodied]

From 2005: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2916 ... rcing.html

In a time when all organisations are focusing on how to reduce costs, outsourcing should be an option. But not just because everyone else is doing it. It should only be considered if costs can be reduced, while not hurting service.

Perhaps the ultimate test would be to ask the managers making the decisions what the real costs of outsourcing will be and if they don't know, outsource them instead.

[Disembodied]

"In outer space you develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, 'Look at that, you son of a bitch'."
—Edgar Mitchell, sixth man on the moon, died 4 February 2016

[Cody]

I have to throw in another Edgar Mitchell quote:

I happen to have been privileged enough to be in on the fact that we've been visited on this planet and the UFO phenomena is real," he said in an interview with Kerrang Radio. "It's been well covered up by all our governments for the last 60 years or so, but slowly it's leaked out and some of us have been privileged to have been briefed on some of it.