Archive for October, 2009

To Mars!

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

Prepare to Energize! Punch it Chewy! Warp Factor 9 Ensign Crusher!

Whatever your declarative for interplanetary travel, warm it up, as Mars missions are looking more likely.  One of the (many) huge problems with missions to Mars is the huge timeframe to get them there, and then back again.  Not only is that a problem for the amount of time in spacem, and all that implies, but also the lay over time. See, unlike say a truck you can’t just launch the return jaunt anytime you like. You have to ensure that Earth and Mars are relatively close together.   With the existing theories and engines, that’d mean a TWO year layover. And realistically there would be way to many issues, forseen and unforseen, on the ground to expect the Aresnauts to live during that.  At least without having a series of missions to set up base camps.

The big win is that these are looking likely within a few weeks timeframe to get there, and the same to return. The win is the ion engine, built with a mix of US, Canadian and other’s know how.  Cool!  The big difference is payload, and firing times.  Less fuel is used, but shot from the butt of the ship at much faster speeds. Neuton’s law of equal and opposite reactions mean that the rocket can indeed go much faster in the end, using less mass. A win all around.

And fun too; I mean don’t we all love saying “Ion Engines”, even if we’re just making fun of Star Trek techy talk? Heheheh…

Posted in Colin's Random Rants | 1 Comment »

Sometimes Luck is Enough

Monday, October 19th, 2009

Badluck, good luck. Interesting mix for a guy stuck in the mud in a river in Alberta, Canada.  He was found by a patrol of firemen looking for a place to have an out of the way practice run later in the year.  They were not looking for him, nor would anyone normally have been near where he was.  If the young man believes in any deity, I’m sure their temple’s floor will be worn out by his knees over the next few months.

The details: Edmonton firefighters scouting an area for future exercises along the North Saskatchewan River heard calls for help from an 18-year-old man was suffering from hypothermia as he had been stuck overnight waist-deep in the “slow quicksand-like mud”.  Although the weather was unseasonably mild that night, he was in bad shape and was taken to hospital for treatment for exposure.

Firefighter Sean Desmarais says it was “an amazing coincidence”. I’d say I know why the guy sunk into the mud — his arse was loaded with horseshoes…and now he’s used them all up.

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“Burn the Boats”, says Toronto GM

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs are on the way to the worst start in their team’s very checkered history.  This year’s Leafs may be as bad as the Ballard era “Milk ‘em for all you can” Leafs.  Which is actually a good thing as they need to spend a few years rebuilding.  They have few players of quality in the minors, no goalie to speak of, and only memories of the teams that went deep into the playoffs in years past.

The crappiness of this year and next year’s Leafs could then be the best thing for them, right? After all the worst team in the league gets the top pick; and a few of those top picks are what are needed if you want to truly contend.  I mean look at last year’s playoff winners; they have the first overall picks from 2 years in a row.  That plus some solid second rounder lead to them getting the cup in all its glory.

So the Leafs just need to lose this and next year right? No.  See after they started out crap, they traded those picks away. Yes that’s right, AFTER THEY STARTED OUT CRAP.  So they managed to trade away their draft picks this year and next year for a player who is age 22.  Oh and he’s injured and may not recover.  That is perhaps the second worst trading move in the league’s history.

The only logic may be that Burke has done this to tell the team you have to win with what you have. So learn to win.  Very much like the Spanish conquerors of Spain burning their boats to ensure that a message was sent of  “win or die”.

OK, so they’ve absolutely screwed their rebuilding plan right?  Yes, it’s true.  But well at least they can trade away their free agents right?  And they did that in the past years when they were tanking?  No.  See they haven’t signed anyone of great stature in the past while, and even in the year they decided to rebuild, the players that were here had no trade clauses.  And they wouldn’t let themselves be traded.

Well at least they have the picks from those years they did poorly?  Yes, but see they never did poorly enough.  Most teams when they are close to a high pick, will not try to win their last few games. But the leafs are April and May teams. They do GREAT in the last 3 weeks before the playoffs. Never enough to squeak into the playoffs in recent times, but absolutely enough to ensure they get the worst of all worlds – no draft picks of value, and no playoffs.

Oh and the best part?  These are supposed to be the A-list management team.  The B-list was supposed to be worse, but I honestly can’t say that’s true.   John Ferguson, the former Leafs GM, is a better GM than Brian Burke will ever pretend to be.  At least he wanted to rebuild but wasn’t allowed to.

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