tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205629115324669426.post8451049775764089239..comments2023-10-08T07:39:49.102-07:00Comments on Book Calendar: Daily Thoughts 4/2/2010Book Calendarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12549140171632794868noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205629115324669426.post-3357271439005922092010-04-03T20:33:20.153-07:002010-04-03T20:33:20.153-07:00Space is a very long term prospect. Solar power s...Space is a very long term prospect. Solar power satellites are a decent ways away, but the promise is worth working decades for. <br /><br />Also things like JP Aerospace, airship to orbit projects are monumental long term projects that have potential huge payoffs. The ability to manufacture goods cheaply in space, or the transhab inflatable habitat which is 20x cheaper than the international space station.<br /><br />You add in things like helium 3 which could be mined on the moon, the only way to easily generate fusion power currently. Again another monumental long term project.<br /><br />The payoff is in decades. Much like any kind of long term projects to reduce global warming would be. Think decades of work.<br /><br />People have a hard time seeing past the next three months now.Book Calendarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12549140171632794868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205629115324669426.post-9548997900372379532010-04-03T17:10:44.526-07:002010-04-03T17:10:44.526-07:00Book Calender, that comment should be a post in it...Book Calender, that comment should be a post in it's own right, 'we need to be more down to earth to get back to space' is exactly the kind of thing the kids would have found incredibly inspiring.<br />At least some of this generation are more accepting of mystery to, they don't neccessarily have to have an absolute answer, as you point out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205629115324669426.post-11963310977258968712010-04-03T09:25:14.330-07:002010-04-03T09:25:14.330-07:00We still get a very small group of people. Scienc...We still get a very small group of people. Science has been very good lately at explaining away things. How the pyramids were built, how they built the monoliths on easter island, and a lot of other things have been explained. People are also becoming more acceptable to the idea of we don't know how they did it. <br /><br />We still don't know how the Incas cut their stones so perfectly, or how Greek fire was made, or how they moved the giant obelisks in Egypt, but we realize it doesn't have to have a fantastic explanation. People forget things. <br /><br />Also, it is more acceptable to say I don't understand when it comes to things like the Nazca lines. Cultures are different, and we don't have to explain away the cultural achievements of others that are fantastic. It does not have to be space aliens or a secret power that shows people how to do things.<br /><br />If we had a more long term focus, like spending the next 600 years planning a Mars colony, like the Egyptians or the Inca we might be able to do some pretty amazing things.<br /><br /><br />The government has also been doing a better job with describing weather balloons, secret jet aircraft experiments, and spin to get past the conspiracy people.<br /><br />There are other things to get excited about. We need to be more down to earth so we can go back to space. If we are going to build a mars habitat we should understand how to build a permanent ecology which people can survive in. We also need to be able to build solar panels for the mars and moon settlements that are a lot more powerful than ones we have now.Book Calendarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12549140171632794868noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-205629115324669426.post-60998080827230616652010-04-03T04:04:26.724-07:002010-04-03T04:04:26.724-07:00It's interesting that people no longer seem to...It's interesting that people no longer seem to want to read about; out there kind of theories, but also things like space, I guess there really is a loss of a sense of wonder. I used last years International year of astronomy as the basis for promotions and displays which worked well with kids, but kids generally find it pretty easy to get excited about things, they also get excited about things like alternative energy, which is a good thing.<br />A teacher set a project last year on the theme of mysteries which let the kids explore things like theories about aliens, it was a great assignment, it let them develop their critical literacy and they had a lot of fun with it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com