Commercial Space Race

I wonder how long it will be before we can go into space as tourists sponsored by commercial companies. So far only governments have had the desire and money to send men to space although many companies have paid to have satellites put into orbit.This is an issue many have thought would happen for many years.

It is becoming cheaper to make spacecraft and get them into orbit but fuel costs are increasing. Money can be recouped through paying passengers for a trip around the Earth, to the moon and beyond.

There is an impact upon the environment from fuel. Space elevators or nuclear powered rockets may bridge the gap between chemical propellents and advanced technologies such as matter-antimatter drives, zero point energy (antigravity) or macroscopic quantum teleportation.

If there is going to be a commercial space race I hope it is to build solar panels in orbit, provide research bases and for platforms to build interplanery craft. It be worthwhile to consider building in space and mining asteroids for raw materials. Maybe we could develop self replicating machines that can extract raw materials and convert them into useful building resources.

Please do not pollute space with huge advertisements or create artificial light pollution. This will not go down well with the public or with astronomers.

Anyone for launching a series of telescopes using the Earth's orbit as a baseline for spying on alien Earth's or determining the shape of the universe?

Universal Device

Technology is confusing because of choice - too much of it. There are so many gadgets that do so many different things. It would be nice to have one thing that is portable and link directly to the brain. It would be auto-upgradable (using software and memory), intelligent and have functions including telephony, gaming, computing, audio/video/holographic and use a touch-screen interface and virtual projection screens for communicating to others. With a link to the brain it could operate up to the speed of thought. Very likely this would have a combination of organic (neural), inorganic (holographic, cystalline) and virtual components that are all scalable in power and function according to user requirements and developments.

Then there would be little need for rooms and shops full of things that are going to be obselete soon, cost a lot of money and require time to operate.

When Will We Be Free?

I think that the media is the weapon of choice of governments and big business. There is so much information out there and much of it is disinformation. We are crushed by a combination of politics, religion and (lack of) money. News is full of stuff about terrorism and war (much of which is created deliberately to instill fear in the population), CO2 greenhouse gas (how many have looked up at the sun and back in time to temperature records?) and celebrities (to take our minds off things and make us consume).

Things need to change. Change can be done in many ways. I am only going to talk about peaceful methods because they are the ones that will ultimately work. These include the use of media and information to fight back. These techniques include awareness online, alternative TV, alternative press and independent scientific research presented to the public in a clear and concise way. Also, there are global peaceful protests and the idea synchronous thinking and meditation on peace. These would need to be done but a large percentage of the population and may affect our way of thinking if not the physical reality around us. Maybe we could use some of the environmental issues as test cases.

Here are some sites to check:

What the Bleep do we know?
Stop the war coalition
Out There TV
TerrorStorm (Alex Jones)

Question everything you see and hear and if something feels wrong then it is worth investigating further.

Cars and Bins

Pavements are for pedestrians and roads are for cars. Yet on the roads in my local area there are countless cars parked halfway across the pavement. This is due to the amount of people owning cars compared to the amount of alloted drive or garage space. One could argue that there are too many cars but this is only half the problem.

People need to put out their rubbish once a week. This is left on the pavement on the streets. After the dustmen take the rubbish away they leave the empty bins all over the pavement (and sometimes on the curb too). Often the bins are not taken back in for a day or two. Also in the summer the trees and bushes grow out over the paths. This situation has to occur across residential and suburban areas across the UK.

All of this combined creates a situation where the pavements are totally blocked to pedestrians who have to walk onto the road around the cars. This causes anger and frustration especially when carrying heavy shopping or pushing a pram. Often the view is blocked by the parked cars so it is hard to see an oncoming vehicle (including bicycles). There is, I believe, potential for accidents.

This is nonsense and may in fact be illegal (bins on roads, cars parked over the pavement at crooked angles). We need to remind binmen to put bins on the empty drives to force drivers to put them in the correct places when they come home. Also, to ensure that drivers are aware of correct parking procedures.

Letters to local MPs across the UK?

Where are the electric cars?

As we pollute the environment what has happened to all the research about electric cars? Have all the patents been gobbled up by corporations interested in making more money on polluting oil and gas as well as forcing higher costs and taxes on the consumer?

Also, why are there no solar panels on aircraft? These can be added to the fusilage without affecting areodynamics much and would provide extra energy to power the craft when in flight during the day and during take off / landing under clear skies.

Job Trials and Training

I cannot believe that most UK companies now expect people to have so many specific skills in order to do a job. Many of these can only be kept current by being in a similar job yet academic study does not always provide the level of knowledge and skills expected by companies. Also not everyone can secure a place on a graduate recruitment scheme and many, like myself, are unhappy with call centre or temporary jobs through agencies.

It would be a lot more useful to be able to go to work and have a 50:50 work training split where I could learn further skills on the job but also able to put what I know to good use. This is instead of having to do stop gap jobs and pay for training.

Of course this would mean that private companies, for example in IT, would need to be flexible regarding employment and allow new recruits to learn on the job rather than expecting them to know everything already. It may also mean a lower starting salary or extra training hours for the employee.

BA baggage problems

After the passenger tax increase now comes the horrendous baggage charges. Yet we can carry several pieces of hand luggage and carry sports equipment in bags at no extra cost!

Why not tax the airplanes for fuel consumption - NOT the passengers.

Also issues about police state (inequality) and nanny state (overprotective over children). Irony is most trouble is caused by white teenagers yet these are the most protected people. Second irony - you cannot do anything (except report to the police or if in danger of losing life) if you are hassled by gangs of kids on the streets or (in some cases) burglers and thieves.

This country - the "dis-united kingdom" makes me laugh!
Equality for all - discrimination for none.