AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[james_davis_nicoll]

AAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH.


You'll know why when you get to it.

William Hyde's fault

Comments

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

sadly every time i try to read it my system hangs up.. i have an acient computer and probably there is a video ad on the page...

whats up?

[womzilla.livejournal.com]

I knew as soon as I saw "moon" in the URL. I will confess I've forgotten why you have the despair reaction to He3, but I know well that you do.

On the broader issue, can it *possibly* be energy-effective to ship petroleum an average of 9 AU from Titan to Earth orbit? The difference in orbital velocities is 20km/s, and that rotational energy has to come from somewhere.

Ah, unless I've dropped a 0 somewhere, I think it can't be. Gasoline has an energy content of 44 Mj/kg, and the difference in kinetic energy is ~400 Mj/kg (1 kg x (20,000 m/s)^2).

[elsue.livejournal.com]

Actually, having as I do absolutely no knowledge of helium 3 mining, I don't know which part of the article calls for an anguished cry....

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

In the interests of making James cry some more...

Has anyone seriously (for questionable values of the term) looked into the idea of converting the fuel to energy onsite and then pulsing it towards receivers in Earth orbit? (distances and dissipation ratios be damned!)

[keithmm.livejournal.com]

Yeah, saw the words "lunar mining" and didn't even have to bother going to look.

Why so serious?

[matthewwdaly.livejournal.com]

You're reporting nothing but bad news. Did you miss last week's story about the flying car that got FAA approval?

[wintermuted.livejournal.com]

Awesome. Don't even need to check the link. I've been waiting for just this response since I saw the article this morning.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

It's all part of the Heliotrinitarians' dastardly plan. First, they start with the media...then they'll control the soda-pop manufacturing...

ONLY YOU CAN SAVE US, NICOL JAMES!

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

I think I'll just reread "We Open on Venus". I forget the author's name but the setting was a theater troupe landing on a planet with massive hydrocarbon resources (as in "seas of gasoline").

I believe the anti-smoking ordinances involved the death penalty...

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

It's worth noting that the rest of Reynolds' columns follow that tendentious sort of line.

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

I liked the namecheck of Ralph Lorenz, who is cool.

[raycun.livejournal.com]

I laughed as soon as I saw the headline, tbh. Helium 3 was the obvious punchline, but was there any good direction for that article to go in?