Rocky

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6158855.stm Move to new planet, says Hawking Prof Hawking is in "no hurry to die" The human race must move to a planet beyond our Solar System to protect the future of the species, physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has warned. He told the BBC that life could be wiped out by a nuclear disaster or an asteroid hitting the planet. But the Cambridge academic added: "Once we spread out into space and establish colonies, our future should be safe." Prof Hawking, 64, was speaking before receiving the UK's top science award, the Royal Society's Copley Medal. My next goal is to go into space; maybe Richard Branson will help me Professor Stephen Hawking He said there were no similar planets to Earth in our Solar System so humans would "have to go to another star". Professor Hawking said that current chemical and nuclear rockets were not adequate for taking colonists into space as they would mean a journey of 50,000 years. He also discounted using warp drive to travel at the speed of light for taking people to a new outpost. Instead, he favoured "matter/anti-matter annihilation" as a means of propulsion. A collision with fragments from space could end life on earth He explained: "When matter and anti-matter meet up, they disappear in a burst of radiation. If this was beamed out of the back of a spaceship, it could drive it forward." Travelling at just below the speed of light, it would mean a journey of about six years to reach a new star. "It would take a lot of energy to accelerate to near the speed of light," he told BBC Radio 4's Today. Professor Hawking became famous with the publication of his book A Brief History of Time in the late 1980s. 'Goal is space' The physicist was not given many years to live when he was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in the 1960s, aged 22. He said since then he had "learned not to look too far ahead, but to concentrate on the present". "I am not afraid of death but in no hurry to die," he said. "My next goal is to go into space; maybe Richard Branson will help me." Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group has contracted a firm to design and build a passenger spaceship. Offshoot Virgin Galactic will own and operate at least five spaceships and two mother ships, and will charge £100,000 ($190,000) to carry passengers to an altitude of about 140km on a sub-orbital space flight.

Yes, I think you pretty much nailed it ChasUFarley! Of course, most of us old farts that endured a dozen or so years in a certain religious cult in our early adulthood won't likely see any such space travel, except on TV. But by 2020 (when I'll turn 67), most (if not all) of us will have HDTV sets... so it could easily LOOK to us like we're on the journey with these future astronauts. :blink:

Well... that hydrogen fuel cell IS an idea whose time has (should have) come. Let's hope it gets done soon. However, last week, Stephen Hawking declared that we earthlings need to colonize other planets in order to ensure survival of OUR species...

NASA Plans Lunar Outpost Permanent Base at Moon's South Pole Envisioned by 2024 By Marc Kaufman Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, December 5, 2006; A01 NASA unveiled plans yesterday to set up a small and ultimately self-sustaining settlement of astronauts at the south pole of the moon sometime around 2020 -- the first step in an ambitious plan to resume manned exploration of the solar system. continued at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...0400837_pf.html See you on the moon in 2020 or so...

Hmmmm.....? What if I were satisfied with only PART eternity? Is that like part PATernity? Or maybe it's like JUMBO shrimp?

I can say 'AMEN' to that brother Simon!

Last time I lived where it snows was 81-82 as a WoW in Fremont OH... it was a dark and stormy... winter. Lot's of snow. I do NOT miss it. I was born where there's usually an abundance of snow in winter (Roch NY), left there for the desert when I was 13 (with family)... when I was younger, I thought about missing the snow... but that winter in OH cured me of that forever! Who says WoW years weren't healing... ;)

Well, we had a freeze... but you got SNOW?! Holy Frozen Water, Batman! enjoy the kiddos!

Ok, now that it's over for another year... my humblest thanks to all of you (especially for the humble and gracious greeting given by our dear friend DMiller from the North shore of Lake Superior).

Hey kids... for all you George Hendley fans (especially fans of his motivational speaker business)... Nov 30 is HIS birthday... In case you wonder how I know this... Memory key -- association. George's b'day is the day AFTER mine... I forget, however, how old he is now. And if you think that's bizarre (that I remember something so inconsequential), I even remember the birthday of a "kid" I went to high school with... because his birthday is on the same day of the month as mine, but his is in September... and I haven't seen this guy in, oh, about 34 years... but I found him to be a dentist in Anchorage, AK... and even more bizarre... this DENTIST'S name is Dr. DeKay! oh, that's all the useless information I have for you at this time. Over and out (for now). Health to all 9th and fans of the 9th!

I hope Simon didn't get blown off a roof today... coldest day in the Phoenix area since last March... and VERY windy (like some of us). And niKa... glad to hear about your good news... you're still in my thoughts and prayers...

Well, I've been thankful for a very long time that my birthday isn't a month later! ;) And I count many of you among my wisest (and wisest arst) friends! Thanks Ron and Mark and Jardi...

How did I know? I read on the main forum page that it's MY birthday!

LikeanEagle said (translated): Hope that you birthday is very marvellous that you are, and it is literal OR perhaps less literally translated: Hope that your birthday is as marvellous as you are, and I mean that literally! Thanks dear sister Eagle! I spent the morning visiting "my kids." That is, a bunch of 3-5 year old kids, at a crisis nursery, who have been taken out of their homes because of abuse and/or neglect. I hang out with them one morning each week. They're wonderful and made a book of drawings and birthday greetings for me... maybe I'll post a pic of the book... Thanks folks... I hope each of you has a wonderful year and many wonderful birthdays too...

I am NOT a squirrel! I spent the morning visiting "my kids." One morning a week I visit/work with 3-5 year olds, who have been taken out of their homes because of abuse and/or neglect, at a crisis nursery. The kids are wonderful and I love going there and being with them. :)

And then there's the dilemma of the future... when guys that have had screamingly hot careers keep playing until they're chased out by no longer being able to play at the major league level... Like Glavine, Maddux, even the Big Unit. Koufax and Carlton knew what they were doing... and they're not the only ones. How long will Maddux hold on... 'till no one can remember his string of Cy Youngs? Maybe Maddux's star shined bright enough that it will be easier to remember, but Glavine and Smoltz have definitely waned for multiple seasons since their peak years. Of course, some of them want to hit the magical 300 win mark. But the Mad Dog has already made that one. Glavine and Johnson are hoping to last long enough to get there, but I dunno...

I'm sorry I missed it too... glad it was a good one, Paw... and here's to many, many more.

:eusa_clap: Absolutely!

Well, it WAS high school football, afterall. :blink:

You got it niKa... anything for da family, eh! Keep us posted. Tnks.

Agreed on Belle... he lives in Scottsdale now (unless he's been jailed already for his domestic violence convictions). Some of these guys had some real exciting post-season play... I'd like to see Orel make it, Blyleven probably deserves it, and definitely Gossage. Jack Morris had some WS excitement... he should get some serious consideration. Of course, Mattingly never was in the WS, but was always a key player. btw, at the MLB.com site, the list has links to a summary of highlights for each of them. If Ripkin and Gwynn DON'T make it first ballot, there'd be something rotten going on. Obviously, not everyone on the ballot this year deserves serious consideration, even though they had some very good highlights... Devon White was key to Florida's first WS win... and played an outstanding CF for the new Dbacks. Anyway, it will be interesting to analyze the voting once it's all tabulated.

Who makes it this year? (besides Ripkin and Gwynn?) From MLB.com here are this year's HoF nominees, number of years on ballot in parentheses. • Harold Baines (1) • Albert Belle (2) • Dante Bichette (1) • Bert Blyleven (10) • Bobby Bonilla (1) • Scott Brosius (1) • Jay Buhner (1) • Ken Caminiti (1) • Jose Canseco (1) • Dave Concepcion (14) • Eric Davis (1) • Andre Dawson (6) • Tony Fernandez (1) • Steve Garvey (15) • Rich Gossage (8) • Tony Gwynn (1) • Orel Hershiser (2) • Tommy John (13) • Wally Joyner (1) • Don Mattingly (7) • Mark McGwire (1) • Jack Morris (8) • Dale Murphy (9) • Paul O'Neill (1) • Dave Parker (11) • Jim Rice (13) • Cal Ripken (1) • Bret Saberhagen (1) • Lee Smith (5) • Alan Trammell (6) • Devon White (1) • Bobby Witt (1) http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article...sp&c_id=mlb I'm not betting on anyone, but I like Hershiser. I have no hunches on anyone else, but do see a couple of names that I'd vote for... (IF I had a vote).

HOT off the AP wire -- http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BBO...EMPLATE=DEFAULT AP: Fame likely not in cards for McGwire By RONALD BLUM and BEN WALKER AP Baseball Writers NEW YORK (AP) -- For one glorious summer, Mark McGwire was bigger than baseball itself. America stopped to watch each time he came to the plate, and cheered every time he sent a ball into orbit. He could do no wrong, it seemed. Surely he would be a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame someday. And then came that day on Capitol Hill. Over and over, the big slugger was asked about possible steroid use, and his reputation took hit after hit as he refused to answer, saying he wouldn't talk about his past. Now, with Hall ballots in the mail, McGwire's path to baseball immortality may have hit a huge roadblock. (continued at URL linked above) ----------------------------- The article also mentions that Cal Ripkin Jr. and Tony Gwynn are on the ballot and are expected to be shoo-ins for first ballot selection.... I would certainly think so.

Oh, I thought maybe they waited tables.... ;) just kidding... It would be great fun to have direct contact (swim) with dolphins...

Hey Tom, What do the dolphins do there?