News Forum - Up, up and away – the annual Thai rocket festivals are here! VIDEO
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Thaiger Talk Quiz #172 - Thailand N's
Yeah when my wife only wants something from Nayara, that's a massive win!! 5555 -
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If you could go, would you?
Eagle-eyed members will note that I have an interest in Space and Space Travel (He's an Eleventh-Level Geek. Ed.). One of the most interesting questions is as we think about travelling in space, how will we do it, as a practical matter? Space is... er... ahem... big; for example, out best current estimate for humans to travel to Mars is seven months, each way, and that assumes a perfect trip. Travel to Jupiter's moons would take about three years, one way. If we are thinking of going to another star system, and we are, it'd be decades. There are three basic models (a vast oversimplification) on how we humans might approach long space flight as boarding a space ship and sitting in an economy-class chair ain't reasonable. Faster than Light Travel (FTL). This will be the proverbial 'Holy Grail' of space travel and space exploration, but is beyond our means to date. Some say that FTL is impossible, but I simply don't accept that; I don't have any scientific basis for the belief, but rely on the vast amount of knowledge that we don't know yet. Looking around at the Science Fiction Genre, we see 'Warp Speed', we see "travelling on Cosmic Strings', we see 'Wormhole' travel, we see 'Subspace Jumps' and many other speculative means of propulsion. Are any of these viable? I haven't a clue, but as a matter of faith I think humans will either figure something out or aliens will arrive and share the tech, er... if they don't use us as a food source. Until that discovery or visit occurs... There are two methods of space travel currently viable(-ish), at least in theory (another oversimplification). If we want to 'Reach for the Stars', but don't have FTL yet, the only real solution would be generation ships; these are ships which essentially contain their own self-sustaining ecosystems which will allow humans to travel for decades and allow for the descendants to arrive. What would such a ship look like? Universe today has an excellent article on the concept. https://www.universetoday.com/144894/what-is-a-generation-ship/ If we are talking about intra-system travel and still don't have FTL, then some kind of hibernation and/or induced torpor might be the solution, a la Science fiction novels and movies, but we still need to sort a few things out first. The European Space Agency has been thinking of this, and the link below offers some interesting thoughts. And, the Smithsonian magazine also offers an interesting perspective. https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Hibernate_for_a_trip_to_Mars_the_bear_way https://www.smithsonianmag.com/air-space-magazine/hibernation-for-space-voyages-180962394/ Or, it may be a combination of both methodologies. Ultimately, if one wants to go into space currently or in the near future, it means giving up a portion of your existence. That said, it'd be one hell of an adventure. So, if you could go, would you? My answer is a resounding 'Yes'. 'Yes' to either a torpor-induced hibernation and 'Yes' to a generational ship. Why? I, like I am certain everyone reading this, have lain on my back and looked up to the stars and wondered "what the hell is out there?". I'd love to get some more answers to that question before my time is used up. Would you go? -
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Thaiger Talk Quiz #172 - Thailand N's
I can relate. My father can identify the make, model and year of any car we encounter when out for a drive. My wife is the same, only with handbags, with extra info about the price. ”Ahh… Hermes Mini Kelly… $8600” -
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News Forum - Smuggling crackdown thwarts illegal cow import from Myanmar to Thailand
Let them in... the beef has to be better than Thai beef. -
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News Forum - Frustrated Thai delivery rider sets fire to own motorbike due to tyre problems
Such a grownup... preventative maintenance probably not in his vocabulary.
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