OT: Virgin Galactic

[marciero]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

Thank you for a pedantic addition to my pithy statement, but I think it's somewhat misleading. They are falling at approximately 1g, which is quite fast, it's just that they miss (for a fairly long time in most cases).

1g is an acceleration, not a speed. They are accelerating toward earth at constant rate, independent of speed, which remains constant, approximately, for an orbiting body, assuming no drag. You probably know this.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by gemship

Yeah actually I put this forum and my time here in perspective. I used to get on here for bike porn I'm still interested in new tech but more so in off topic talk. I hear you on getting aboard a rocket ship as there is more of a chance of dying but I have to say riding a bicycle on the street sucks and creates paranoia for me. I don't like the noise from the cars and I feel like I don't stand a chance if they run me down from behind. Now you have to understand this is subjective the roads you ride and the roads I ride maybe different. I will say that when I ride a motorcycle on these same roads I'm usually the one coming up from behind and I like it that way, it's got something to do with 150ish hp to the rear wheel I think. However I don't get a workout doing that. I dunno I don't completely fit in around here anyway I do know that.

Yee gads man, DON'T ride a bike on roads then...life is too short to be that worked up about a supposed 'leisure time activity'..I know this is a 'bicycle forum', but it's OK to NOT ride a bike if it makes you that uncomfortable..

Some will look down their nose for 'wimping out', but not me and others..find something else to do that you ENJOY...

[bicycletricycle]

The spaceport is a building new mexico owns and virgin rents time in. It is just like an airport.

It isn't exactly a subsidy, but it sort of is. I guess they are hoping to the hub of passenger space travel or something?

I think it is wrong to use tax payers money for this.

Originally Posted by oldfatslow

Hmmm. Actually, an enormous pile of government money enabled Branson's VirginGalatic as well as Tesla and Space X. We subsidize billionaires so they don't have to use their own money then they keep the profits.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/11/tech/...scn/index.html

The Atlantic: NEW MEXICO’S SAD BET ON SPACE EXPLORATION
https://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...ration/554243/

Spaceport Cost to NM taxpayers 100s of millions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4nk1qH73Jc

Elon Musk’s growing empire is fueled by $4.9 billion in government subsidies
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-...mpression=true

[bicycletricycle]

He contributes to society by providing jobs and services that people voluntarily participate in. That is all anyone should be asked to do.

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Dont know if it's been mentioned in this thread, but Branson has avoided 14 years of paying personal income taxes by residing in the British Virgin Islands. So, again, what we have here is another "billionaire" paying no personal tax, and one wonders how much his company (the airline, I mean) contributes to the general fund. My bet is not very much at all.
And yet the taxpayers of Britain, and where ever his planes travel, provide him with airports to conduct his business, and roads to and from those airports, along with many other amenities, like an educated workforce.

[Bruce K]

Airports aren’t “provided”.

They are revenue sources from renting out gate & terminal space to airlines. They are job providers for thousands of people from cleaning to parking to baggage to security etc, etc plus all the satellite businesses that surround them (rental cars for one).

A spaceport might be a bit optimistic/aggressive but at some point it might be a viable revenue source but probably too late to pay back the investment.

BK

[redir]

I can't imagine space tourism being like regular air travel tourism is today any time soon if ever. It will always be a billionaires play thing and hence not really much return on the investment. Unless they put together some deliverables with the tourism like for example drop off a satellite while on your little weightless tour and make some money to cover the costs.

And far enough into the future where an average working Joe family can save up enough over a year to afford a trip to a space station for a week of fun the cost of the energy to do so might even surpass the cost of the technology.

IOW I would not invest in space tourism

[Clean39T]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

He contributes to society by providing jobs and services that people voluntarily participate in. That is all anyone should be asked to do.

The internet requires a “ /S “ after such statements.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

He contributes to society by providing jobs and services that people voluntarily participate in. That is all anyone should be asked to do.

He needs some basic infrastructure like just the ability to have contracts and own property. Without that, who is going to lend him money with any confidence they can get it back? He probably wants well regulated and efficient financial markets. Those people he is providing jobs for probably need roads, police, fire departments, schools for their kids (heck they needed to be educated). There is a lot of common infrastructure that a society needs in order to grow and benefit people in common. That is why people should pay taxes.

Richard benefitted from those before him who paid taxes providing an infrastructure he could leverage to start his original record store and get his grub stake. Without contract law and royalties, how would he have built virgin records......

[bicycletricycle]

None of the things you listed need to be provided by a state and most of them have their origins in voluntary/private arrangements. It seems to me that in many ways the state gets in the way of these things.

For example-
He has probably been punished by the state getting in the way of efficient financial markets just as much as he has benefited. Also who would look back on the the last 50 years and describe the markets as stable? Central banks are a joke.

Similar arguments can be made for all of your other so called benefits. Public roads suck, lets not get started with the police, schools, etc. All perform terribly and are on a continual downward spiral because like all other monopolies they continually fail upwards. If they do a bad job they just get more money and more power so that they can just keep failing bigger and harder.

Has he benefited from the state? Sure. Does a person need to obey an institution just because they have benefited from it? That is a dangerous idea. That is the logic of gangs, abusers and totalitarians. No one should be forced to forfeit their rights/property to an organization, even if they have benefited from it.

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

He needs some basic infrastructure like just the ability to have contracts and own property. Without that, who is going to lend him money with any confidence they can get it back? He probably wants well regulated and efficient financial markets. Those people he is providing jobs for probably need roads, police, fire departments, schools for their kids (heck they needed to be educated). There is a lot of common infrastructure that a society needs in order to grow and benefit people in common. That is why people should pay taxes.

Richard benefitted from those before him who paid taxes providing an infrastructure he could leverage to start his original record store and get his grub stake. Without contract law and royalties, how would he have built virgin records......

[bicycletricycle]

I am not being sarcastic. Taxation is theft. I do not want to pay for the murder of foreigners I have no problem with, I do not want to pay for police violence and the imprisonment of non violent offenders, I do not want to pay for new nuclear weapons to replace the old nuclear weapons that still work fine to the tune of trillions of dollars, list goes on......

I have to though, or I will be thrown in a cage.

No sarcasm.

Originally Posted by Clean39T

The internet requires a “ /S “ after such statements.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[unterhausen]

Originally Posted by marciero

1g is an acceleration, not a speed. They are accelerating toward earth at constant rate, independent of speed, which remains constant, approximately, for an orbiting body, assuming no drag. You probably know this.

note that I said falling, which is not clearly delineated as velocity or acceleration. Y'all really know how to mess up a joke.

[redir]

Well I hope when your house catches on fire you have your own fire truck then.

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by bicycletricycle

None of the things you listed need to be provided by a state and most of them have their origins in voluntary/private arrangements. It seems to me that in many ways the state gets in the way of these things.

For example-
He has probably been punished by the state getting in the way of efficient financial markets just as much as he has benefited. Also who would look back on the the last 50 years and describe the markets as stable? Central banks are a joke.

Similar arguments can be made for all of your other so called benefits. Public roads suck, lets not get started with the police, schools, etc. All perform terribly and are on a continual downward spiral because like all other monopolies they continually fail upwards. If they do a bad job they just get more money and more power so that they can just keep failing bigger and harder.

Has he benefited from the state? Sure. Does a person need to obey an institution just because they have benefited from it? That is a dangerous idea. That is the logic of gangs, abusers and totalitarians. No one should be forced to forfeit their rights/property to an organization, even if they have benefited from it.

and we don't need money we can just barter for everything.

[AngryScientist]

Probably getting into the finer points of pro and anti government sentiments is not a great idea. let's stay on topic please.

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

and we don't need money we can just barter for everything.

money is not a state phenomena, states usurped monetary systems, they did not invent them.