Did I say it was a good thing? You said preventing war is good for the economy. I disagreed.
So having a war is better for the economy than preventing one?
Peace through superior fire power. Right now the USA spends as much as the rest of the world combined on war materials. It has given us 60 years of Pax Americana. Warfare has been on the decrease for the whole of that 60 years (with interludes). People are tired of American domination though. As the WW2 generation dies off the value of a relatively benign hegemon is forgotten.
As usual the world prefers to learn its lessons the hard way. OK. Expect some very hard lessons in the next 4 years.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
If Nebel is on a gag order, but we're reading all the receipts, can we reasonably infer that Nebel is happy we know what's up?
Like some others, I do have a small shred of fear the Navy would keep this from really changing the private energy sector.
The Navy will not "prevent" anything. They will take care of their own needs and leave us to take care of ours. If we opt for windmills, that's fine by the Navy. The Navy is going to build BFR's.
So, lemme ask you John Q. Public. Which would you rather have? Hit or miss power from solar power, all of the "alternative" forms of energy being solar, or do you want something that powers your house and business 24-7?
hmm, well the US has been involved at least one war pretty much all the time. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, again Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia, again Iraq and again Afghanistan. I might have missed one or two. Not that I have a problem with the US interfering wherever (other than that it ruined their economy this time arround). Still, I do not quite see any pax in that Pax Americana.
Skipjack wrote:hmm, well the US has been involved at least one war pretty much all the time. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, again Iraq, Yugoslavia, Somalia, again Iraq and again Afghanistan. I might have missed one or two. Not that I have a problem with the US interfering wherever (other than that it ruined their economy this time arround). Still, I do not quite see any pax in that Pax Americana.
Over the years the wars have been getting smaller and fewer people on both sides die. And the number of wars has decreased over time.
You should look it up some time. Headlines are not a reliable indicator.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.
Wars are becoming increasingly expensive because we are spending large sums to limit casualties on both sides. What do you suppose Iraq would look like today if we had used the same bombing techniques we used in WWII, or even in Vietnam that matter?
The perceptions of war a different today as well. Today, the war is brought into your living room as it happens. Prior to Vietnam, war was always rather more distant and something you watched on the newsreels at the cinema or read about in the papers and magazines.
Pax Americana? If you would have peace, prepare for war.
Forget not the corollary. Yield not unto the temptation of using force simply because you can.
Billy Catringer wrote:Holy smokes! Lookit what Alex found!
FY 2007 Accomplishments: The primary objective of this initiative is to revalidate and prove the effectiveness of inertial electrostatic confinement using the polyhedral magnetic field systems studied over the previous 19 years of R&D. The final success of the last tests in CY2005 will be reproduced and results validated by experiments on two more machines to prove that the entire concept, applicable to boron/hydrogen reactions, can and does work and can be developed for employment in DoD power systems at an early date.
Hullabaloo, canek-canek!
Boys and girls, we are working on the single most important thing every devised by humankind. If only Doctor Bussard were here to see it.
Hmmm...they mention FY2005 (01Oct2004->30Sep2005). How current is this? Does this refer to the just completed work (Aug 2008)? Is this for new stuff? POM10?
I was not saying that the wars are big or small. I was just saying that the US was still fighting in wars (no matter how small). So a Pax (as in peace) Americana does not exist. You can turn it whatever way you like.
Btw, I am not sure that "war light" is the right thing to do. If you dont want to kill people, then dont start a war. War is dirty, evil and it will kill innocent people. You dont want that, dont fight wars! Use diplomathy!
Bribe people!
Just my opinion.
Billy Catringer wrote:Holy smokes! Lookit what Alex found!
FY 2007 Accomplishments: The primary objective of this initiative is to revalidate and prove the effectiveness of inertial electrostatic confinement using the polyhedral magnetic field systems studied over the previous 19 years of R&D. The final success of the last tests in CY2005 will be reproduced and results validated by experiments on two more machines to prove that the entire concept, applicable to boron/hydrogen reactions, can and does work and can be developed for employment in DoD power systems at an early date.
Hullabaloo, canek-canek!
Boys and girls, we are working on the single most important thing every devised by humankind. If only Doctor Bussard were here to see it.
Hmmm...they mention FY2005 (01Oct2004->30Sep2005). How current is this? Does this refer to the just completed work (Aug 2008)? Is this for new stuff? POM10?
It was from the "OSD RDT & E Budget Item Justification (R2 Exhibit) dated February 2008. It is 41 pages long and runs the gamut on weapons R&D.
Skipjack wrote:I was not saying that the wars are big or small. I was just saying that the US was still fighting in wars (no matter how small). So a Pax (as in peace) Americana does not exist. You can turn it whatever way you like.
Btw, I am not sure that "war light" is the right thing to do. If you dont want to kill people, then dont start a war. War is dirty, evil and it will kill innocent people. You dont want that, dont fight wars! Use diplomathy!
Bribe people!
Just my opinion.
I hafta agree with you most of the way, Skipjack. There ain't no such thing as a good war and I don't think that our attempts at "kinder and gentler" war are working very well. Still, being the biggest SOB's in the valley has kept us out of a lot fights we would have otherwise been in. When you look at it, most of the fights we have gotten into since WWII have actually arisen from blunders made by our politicians.
hey I am all for having a strong national army. The only country I knew that did not have one was uhm, Lebanon? Did not fair to well for them, did it?
There is a difference between being for a strong defence and being for fighting wars. I am for the first. Wars should be that last and very, very last tool of diplomacy. Only if you have tried everything else then you should fight a war. But if you decide to, then you should not fight "a little bit" of a war. That will make a war take a long time. The longer a war takes the more costy it will be. Read the Art of War, still valid after what? 4000 years?
Skipjack wrote:I was not saying that the wars are big or small. I was just saying that the US was still fighting in wars (no matter how small). So a Pax (as in peace) Americana does not exist. You can turn it whatever way you like.
Btw, I am not sure that "war light" is the right thing to do. If you dont want to kill people, then dont start a war. War is dirty, evil and it will kill innocent people. You dont want that, dont fight wars! Use diplomathy!
Bribe people!
Just my opinion.
The Romans were always fighting wars too. It was still called Pax Romana.
War is for settling irreconcilable differences.
BTW diplomacy with hard cases only works when there is an "or else" component. War is an integral part of diplomacy. And you know some alphas running a country can't be reasoned with or bribed. But they do fear being deposed. At least some of them.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.