Why I Support President Bush and the ZOT!

[thousand dollar hamburger]

I think he has a sincere desire to help everyone. he has even gone out of his way to embrace people like Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy. He does not hold grudges as shown by his willingness to bend over backwards to allow terrorist supporting nations to operate our ports. We need this type of benevolent leader.

Our President is not a cheapskate, as he has opened up our budget to give to anyone who might need anything.

Aliens from all nations are welcomed into our great country without having to deal with mundane bureaucratic State approval. Cutting government red tape -- that's the Bush way!

Yes, our Prseident even realizes that occupying as many countries around the world as possible is the best way to spread American ideals.

We are truly lucky to have this great man. I suggest that at 10:00 AM EST, we all stand up in unison and shout -- HOORAY FOR BUSH!!!

[NicknamedBob]

"I think the combination of geodesic strutwork, redundant self-sealing joints, and tensioning cables is a rather elegant solution."

That's what Fanfan said ...

"Our ship is pretty!"

[Das Outsider]

Don't forget the Canadian weirdness!

So does that make me Canadian?

[King Prout]

"plantefal"???

DARKS!!!

[King Prout]

hehhehheh... good one!

[Das Outsider]

test

[King Prout]

yes.

in terms of mechanical design, it has long struck me as interesting that what we respond to aesthetically as "pretty" is often a close approximation of the ideal balance of function and stresses for a particular application

[King Prout]

I am *so* ignoring that post :)

[Monkey Face]

You're here...

"X" marks the spot. Yep...here you are.

[NicknamedBob]

"... it must distribute two entirely different sets of stresses under radically different conditions ..."

Actually, it's more than two. We have gravitational, rotational, and acceleration stresses to be distributed around a strangely articulated structure.

Nothing gives more rigidity than a cylindrical wall, anchoring tensioning cables and supporting struts in a radial configuration. The tiled surfaces have just enough give in their flexible sealing gaskets to be able to adjust along with the redistributed stresses.

Even with all the strength that our supporting arms have, we find it expedient to use tensioning cables to reduce wobble and help to balance the forces. In many respects, it's like an old-time sailing vessel, with some lines secured, and others belayed, and tremendous forces played against each other.

[Das Outsider]

I am *so* ignoring that post :)

What post?

[Das Outsider]

O-kay...I think I'll just nod and smile politely.

[sionnsar]

That post.

[Lady Jag]

Amazing how ill-informed people are. We had some Euro visitors who figured they could see the US in four days, too - by train!

Three cowboys, one from Louisiana, one from Arkansas, and the other from
Canada are sitting around a campfire, out on the lonesome Californian
desert, each with the bravado for which they are famous. A night of
tall tales begins.

The guy from Louisiana says, "I must be the meanest, toughest cowboy
there is. Why, just the other day, a bull got loose in the corral and
gored six men before I wrestled it to the ground by the horns, with
my bare hands."

The guy from Arkansas can't stand to bested. "Why I was walking down the
trail yesterday and a fifteen foot rattler slid out from under a rock
and made a move for me.  I grabbed that snake with my bare hands and bit
it's head off and sucked the poison down in one gulp.  And I'm still
here today!"

The Canadian remained silent, slowly stirring the coals with his finger.

 

 

 

 

[King Prout]

indeed. I left out the liftoff, drive, and rotational stresses as relatively minor in comparison to the gravitic and PSI stresses... but "relatively minor" does NOT equate to trivial.

[King Prout]

gooooooooood one!

[King Prout]

precisely.

[Das Outsider]

That post.

Which post? This one?

[Monkey Face]

LOL!

Was it that bad?
(I'm so sorry...)

[sionnsar]

No, the last one:

[Lady Jag]

Ahaha!   I just stole that.   It might be old to you, but it's new to me.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I'm now thinking 'quadary' code ->

8^4 = 4,096

16^4 = 6,5535

32^4 = 1048576

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Howya!!

[Tax-chick]

Bwahahaha! We were watching an old TV episode the other day, and Anoreth noticed them carrying a floppy disk around (the big ones!) and wondered what it was.

[NicknamedBob]

For me, the primary difficulty is trying to do orbital maneuvers, takeoffs and landings, without subjecting the passengers to zero gravity.

When you consider that all of NASA's previous plans seemed to involve months of no gravity on a trip to Mars, you can appreciate that it is tricky to have none.

[Das Outsider]

Was it that bad?

I can't tell. There's a connection missing somewhere. I don't get it.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

RAM your ROM

It would be more interesting to ROM a RAM!!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I think I see how that would work.

[Monkey Face]

You're welcome to steal anything I post.
How do you think I got it?
*snort*

[fanfan]

Wow!

I get some customers, and come back to find you folks thousands of posts ahead of me!

I'll try and get back on after I get home.

[SandyInSeattle]

And I remember when 8-inch floppies were new.

Ahem. Yes. I used big, cumbersome floppy disks in our "green machine" when I was a not-so-young warrant officer at Tustin.

Oh, to be on active duty now. These kids today have no idea how easy they have it compared to when I was a young pup!

I remember running off the duty roster on a ditto machine with purple ink that made you high if you sniffed it. Now these cheeky little snotrags have word processors! Humph!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Howya fan!!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

You aren't old unless you remember saving your programs to tape.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Not too shabby ;)

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Oh the ditto machine! Such fun. You should never let your daugher near it when she is dressed up in her white Easter Sunday dress.

(I think my mom still has the picture somewhere)

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I'm not very shabby either.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Howya HTB, let's see if Claremorris is rowdy busy tonight:

Boring Dalton Street in Claremorris

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Not even a little riot?

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Not even a little riot?

Ireland is celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Easter Rising tomorrow - maybe there will be trouble then...

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Ok I take it back. I wanted to see happy people cavorting in the street not the real thing.

[Irish_Thatcherite]

It's a bit early - maybe in a couple of hours!!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I see nothing but cars passing in Claremorris, geez, I could look out of my window for that!!

[rzeznikj at stout]

Good to hear...

[Monkey Face]

What? They can park in either direction? LOL!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

I'm talking about the link I posted at #2,736!

[Irish_Thatcherite]

Forget that post...

[stephenjohnbanker]

I didn't see it anyway..................................

[NicknamedBob]

Outside, the wisps of reddish atmosphere are showing. Gradually, the thrust ramps up, setting us all more firmly in our seats.

Seat backwards to the ground is not the most fun way to make a landing.

In the control room, the task is to keep the displays in the green, without too much thrust, or too little, and at the same time, sliding a little sideways to home in on a special landing spot.

Something landed here a long, long time ago. It really made an entrance!

We’ll try to be more circumspect, and not disturb the site too much.

We’re getting closer now. You can hear the roar of the engines, even in the tenuous air of Mars. A sad and lonely screaming as of dying ghosts.

If ever there were “people” here, they’ve certainly been long gone. Even the ghosts would be dusty skeletons by now, blowing about in the wind.

Again the force increases. Almost the weight we had on Earth. How could we ever stand it? I feel as though I weigh a ton, but it’s just a little over a hundred pounds.

Poised above the crater now, we slowly descend, rotating slightly to knock down any high spots. The grinding can be heard and felt. And then the engines slow, and throttle down, and stop.

Only the hiss and pop of cooling metal in the distance, and a whisper of the ghostly wind.

The Flying Castle has landed on Mars.



And no you can’t go out just yet. We have to check for leaks.

I’m pretty sure I have an incipient one to deal with, myself.

[stephenjohnbanker]

We need to test the air.

[NicknamedBob]

"We need to test the air. "

It's about one-half of one percent Earth pressure of Carbon Dioxide, and very little else.

You wouldn't want to try to breathe it.

[Lady Jag]