[News] strange happenings of 2015

[soul.assassin]

There's less than an hour before NH passes Pluto.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

And now, it is done.

[Sicarius VI]

Keeping up with Space.

I thought this was pretty interesting. Tommorrow there will be the launching of Atlas V in Florida's space coast. The location I happen to have moved too a few weeks ago. As such I realize that people in other states such as NJ(where I lived before) or other places in the world may not even know there are more rocket launches than you would think. Well certainly more than I thought...

As for reaching Pluto I think it's a bit crazy that New Horizion has been flying for over 9 years.

[Mr. Tines]

Apparently it is still difficult to come out of the coffin...

[KingXanaduu]

And now, it is done.

Can you believe this people? History in the making, and we've traveled (indirectly at least) than ever before, and now have the solar system mapped. They're gonna be using those pics for decades.

*sigh* It brings me hope for the future that when the next generation looks at those photos, along with the other beautiful sights of the universe, they'll look up and shoot for the stars.

[IronEvangelion]

Maybe now NASA can focus on building an actual reusable spacecraft that we can use to travel to these planets and do research instead of just photographing them. I'd like the next set of planet pictures NASA produces to have humans in the frame. And by spacecraft I'm not talking about that concept they came up with for a manned Mars mission. That thing looks like it could have been made 40 years ago. It's sad that our ability to design spacecraft has stagnated so badly.

[Sicarius VI]

^ I am pretty sure Obama screwed that one up, but NO Politics and I've know for a bit that NASA was trying to develop a future space craft or something like that. I don't know if that has gotten anywhere since I've last heard about it, but we should start to really focus on space in the next decade or so.

[Guy Nacks]

Obligatory, in light of recent NASA events.

[Shamsiel-kun]

Maybe now NASA can focus on building an actual reusable spacecraft that we can use to travel to these planets and do research instead of just photographing them. I'd like the next set of planet pictures NASA produces to have humans in the frame. And by spacecraft I'm not talking about that concept they came up with for a manned Mars mission. That thing looks like it could have been made 40 years ago. It's sad that our ability to design spacecraft has stagnated so badly.

Er...Pluto is really cold. The journey to there takes close to a decade. Sending a unmanned space probe there is entirely feasible with enough preparation, sending a manned space ship there (and getting it back) is currently pretty much impossible. Mars might be doable in the future (possibly only one-way), but don't expect Star Trek-like* spacecraft exploring the rest of the solar system anytime soon - most planets are quite inhabitable places. Mercury is a barren and very hot rock, Venus is a good example of greenhouse effects gone mad, the gas giants have near supersonic storms and are very far away, Pluto is a giant fridge with 3 km high mountains of ice. Mars is...kind of decent, if you ignored the atmosphere not protecting much against radiation and the dust. Some of the moons of the gas giants might also be decent (still cold).

Manned trips to other planets will likely be one-way trips at first, and considering the many challenges (extremely hostile and harsh environment, risks of psychological issues in high-confinement habitacles, risk of technical failures) maybe a international moon base would be a better option...that would also give a place to build spacecraft with less of the problem of escaping earth's gravity field.

* Most sci-fi spacecraft are highly unrealistic and would probably suffer structural failure quite quickly.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

College student blows her entire 90k education fund, blames parents for her behavior. With $90,000 I could attend my state college for more than 18 semesters. This is ridiculous.

[drinian]

College student blows her entire 90k education fund, blames parents for her behavior. With $90,000 I could attend my state college for more than 18 semesters. This is ridiculous.

And you could do about two years at a top private university, so I'm actually failing to see what the big story is here. She made it through three years with that cash, it sounds like.

I guess the story is that she didn't want to get a job to help pay for her one remaining year. She'll still graduate with few loans. Big deal.

[Ray]

I hate to empathize with people who do this. But if I had $90000$ I'd probably do the exact same thing.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

I guess the story is that she didn't want to get a job to help pay for her one remaining year. She'll still graduate with few loans. Big deal.

She spent it on a trip to Europe and blamed her parents for not teaching her how to manage her money, even while her statements made it obvious that she was self-aware of her actions. People who screw around with money meant for their education really tick me off.

I understand why people want to go to "top colleges"-- they simply haven't done the research to know that they don't actually have to go to a "top college", and I speak as someone who didn't even bother applying to a so-called top college because I did my research and recognized that goodness gracious, I can get a wonderful education for less than half the cost.

[pwhodges]

Why did she even have all the money at that time? I was given my money term by term, the exact recommended amount and no more.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Her grandparents left a college fund to her, presumably in her name. Evidently it was not a smart decision.

[Guy Nacks]

I'd love to know which college she went to. It would really clarify how much she should have needed to go for four years. State schools typically cost under $60K for four years, and private schools over $90K.


The only purchases that money should have been used for other than covering the cost of tuition is $5,000 or less for a used car to be able to get around, only if living off-campus or if it's really necessary and $1,500 for computer supplies (laptop, external hard drive, printer, insurance plan, software, etc)

The remaining $83.5K should have gone solely to tuition and books.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

Are you talking about in-state or out-of-state tuition? My state school at in-state cost is a little under $10,000 a year including room and board. Also, those numbers you mentioned aren't quite correct; while accurate with regard to state schools as it pertains to what it won't cost you, it's unlikely that a state school would ever cost you more than $40,000 a year w/ room and board (state residency notwithstanding) and there currently isn't a private university that would ever charge more than $90,000 per year-- I believe the most expensive one is currently around $80,000 yearly.

[Bagheera]

Her grandparents left a college fund to her, presumably in her name. Evidently it was not a smart decision.

Nor was dropping it in her lap without bothering to teach her a thing about budgeting. Her attitude is egregious, but her parents' isn't much better.

[Guy Nacks]

Are you talking about in-state or out-of-state tuition? My state school at in-state cost is a little under $10,000 a year including room and board. Also, those numbers you mentioned aren't quite correct; while accurate with regard to state schools as it pertains to what it won't cost you, it's unlikely that a state school would ever cost you more than $40,000 a year w/ room and board (state residency notwithstanding) and there currently isn't a private university that would ever charge more than $90,000 per year-- I believe the most expensive one is currently around $80,000 yearly.

The numbers I was giving were for total costs over 4 years. The college I went to charged in the low 40Ks per year, not per semester. I had a yearly scholarship of $5K, which brought my total down to the mid 30Ks per year. Should I have gone to a state school instead of a private college/university? In a fucking heartbeat. No, literally in a fucking heartbeat. Your heart pumps faster when you're fucking, so--

Oops.

My apologies. My debt-addled mind sometimes fucks with my ability to stay on topic.

But yeah. When (if) I have kids, they're not going to a private college unless they get HUGE scholarships or Bernie Sanders becomes the second coming of Jesus Christ and makes college free across the board when he becomes president in a landslide election that will be based on the policies and not the people. He's probably the most respectable candidate in the fact that more than 80% of his campaign fund come from actual people donating rather than corporations and--

Oops.

[Nuclear Lunchbox]

The numbers I was giving were for total costs over 4 years. The college I went to charged in the low 40Ks per year, not per semester. I had a yearly scholarship of $5K, which brought my total down to the mid 30Ks per year.

Ah, so that's what you meant! Yeah, I'd say that's pretty much correct. I'm going to a state school, but it's not in my state-- that means out-of-state tuition, but it's not that bad compared to a private school simply because it's a public institution. Tuition + room & board is ~38k a year, but because I have a 8k scholarship (academic merit, yay) it's down to ~30k yearly. The nice bit is that I'm on track to graduate with $0 debt, which is wonderful!