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When Luke's happy about my posts, I know they're good ones.

Here's another very interesting thing I've read and I think you should read it too

[u]EARTH v 2.0[/u]

Humanity's home is far from factory-fresh these days. Frankly, the Earth has received its share of scratches and dents, including large asteroid impacts, megavolcanoes, earthquakes, ice ages, and heat waves. It's to be expected. There are over four billion years on the clock, after all.

Though it has long been clear that Earth 1.0 is in need of an upgrade, it was not until a few years ago that someone began to take the notion seriously. In 2004, at a respected international design exhibition called the Venice Architecture Biennale, a young artist and architect named Christian Waldvogel displayed his plans for total global annihilation and the creation of Earth 2.0.

According to Waldvogel, a brave new world could be built from the remains of our current one. The circumference of this construction? dubbed Globus Cassus, or 'hollow sphere' in Latin? would be comparable to the giant planet Saturn. During the multi-million year assembly period, massive hoses would worm deep into the Earth's fiery bowels and suck liquid metal and magma into orbit through four space elevators sited at equal distances around the equator. This material would be squirted out and transformed into a lattice framework to support the rest of the edifice. As the Earth gradually shrivels and shrinks under this onslaught, its gravity would weaken. Over generations, the skies would darken with the relentless encroachment of the enormous structure above.

Of course it would be easy to dismiss the idea as ridiculous fantasy, one belonging only on the pages of the very pulpiest science fiction. Yet the Globus Cassus concept is outlined in all seriousness, with the same level of detail as befits any other entry in an eminent international architectural exposition. While there is much that is quibble-worthy about the plan? both in engineering terms and in its underlying rationale? Waldvogel makes a good case for the idea as an intellectual and philosophical exercise. He presents his scheme as both an architectural design, and as a thought experiment that could turn the way we think about our current planet? and human society? inside out.

Globus Cassus under constructionGlobus Cassus under constructionWaldwogel's suggestion involves the redistribution of the Earth's material from its present clumpy solid-ball form to that of a 150 km (93 mi) thick hollow shell? one with a diameter of 85,000 km (52,817 mi), around seven times that of our current planet. People, plants and animals would live on the inside surface, with rotation of the giant habitat providing a centrifugal gravity-effect to hold everything in place. The habitable surface area would be approximately ten times that of the Earth's. The geometrical construction would take the form of a rounded twenty-faced icosahedron, with air, sea and lands of plenty located on the equatorial regions, and continent-scale silica glass windows allowing sunlight into the interior.

The design appears commendably thorough. Dimensions are calculated carefully with an architect's attention to detail. The symmetrical construction processes, materials used, and function of the space elevator 'scaffolding' are described exhaustively. Even the issue of temporary accommodation for the future occupants is addressed: it's proposed that while construction takes place, humans, plants and animals wait patiently? through countless successive generations? in holding areas or archival nodes in the space elevators. Nor is the provision of basic amenities like air and water overlooked. When the excavated Earth shrivels to a size where gravity can no longer retain its atmosphere and hydrosphere, the envisaged migration of gas and liquid onto the equatorial regions of the newly-built structure is described poetically as the ?Great Rains?. Waldvogel uses detailed computer graphics to illustrate his ideas, and has even published a glossy coffee-table book with colourful pictures depicting the construction of his idealized new world, and the irreversible destruction of our current one.

Yet curiously there are numerous objections to the concept. Perhaps the most fundamental relates to the construction material. Our current understanding of physics dictates that no molecular bonds in any conceivable material could ever be sufficiently strong to hold the structure together: certainly Waldvogel's proposed ferrous-nickel framework would be hopelessly inadequate. Globus Cassus would simply come apart from the internal stresses of its rotation and tidal forces from the Moon and the Sun. Carbon nanotubes form one of the strongest currently-known molecular structures, and are frequently proposed as a construction material for futuristic engineering projects? but even their great tensile strength would be insufficient to keep the hollow habitat in one piece.

Stanford TorusStanford TorusThen there's the problem of the prolonged construction time, and a related objection to one of the principal stated reasons for the project: the provision of extra living space for the ever-growing human population. The proposed temporary accommodation in the 'archival nodes' provides insufficient gravity at geostationary altitudes for long-term human occupancy. Yet if humans can be made to live in the nodes long-term, why the need for Globus Cassus in the first place? In fact there are numerous alternative proposals for large-scale habitats which could be built more easily: hollowed-out asteroids, giant rotating space stations such as the proposed Stanford torus or Bernal sphere, or even the terraforming of planets such as Mars or Venus.

Waldvogel is far from the first to propose the construction of giant hollow worlds in space. Visionary physicist Freeman Dyson gave his name to the concept of a 'Dyson Sphere'? a colossal structure totally enclosing a star, capable of capturing all its energy for use by a power-hungry civilization. The dimensions of such a structure would be vastly greater than that of Globus Cassus, and rotating versions would have the same ?artificial gravity? acting on the equatorial regions of the inner surface, providing mind-bogglingly huge tracts of habitable land. Of course many of the same objections to Globus Cassus apply to the Dyson Sphere, and the time, energy, and technological difficulties would be correspondingly magnified. Dyson never seriously proposed one of his enormous namesake spheres for our own solar system, but he did see the idea as being theoretically feasible? suggesting a possible way to detect mega-engineering civilizations elsewhere in the galaxy. The 'energy exhaust' from such a construction would be predominantly in the longer wavelengths of infrared, and this tell-tale electromagnetic signature could be detected from Earth. Although a few SETI searches have been carried out with this in mind, no such signature has yet been detected.

Practical objections aside, there are more basic questions to ask of Waldvogel, Dyson, and other would-be mega-engineers. Precisely why a terrestrial or extraterrestrial civilization would want to build such structures may be beyond the grasp of our puny 21st century minds, but it?s hard to accept Waldvogel?s ?extra living space? justification. Apart from the aforementioned easier expansion options, it?s not explained why our near-omnipotent descendants? capable of transmogrifying simple Earth rock into impossibly strong wonder-material and fashioning it into an outlandish, outsized, inside-out living space over the course of millions of years? would still not have mastered basic birth control. Maybe advanced civilizations would build these structures simply to test their technological prowess, or to provide enclosed habitable areas within which they can observe the evolution of life and intelligence on a far grander scale than that which mere lumps of rock can provide.

Perhaps aware of these unanswered questions, Waldvogel provides an intriguing alternative rationale for his hollow global proposal. He asks us to view the Globus Cassus concept as more than just a simple mega-architectural exercise, and suggests that much of its importance lies in its underlying philosophical foundations. With a scheme that explicitly requires the complete destruction of Earth and its rebuilding inside-out, it follows that human society might also end up with a radical re-design. The precise nature of the proposed 'Cassian' society is left vague and open to discussion, but it?s suggested that its values would in some way reflect the shape of the New World. Looking upward, the vision-enhanced citizens of the Globus Cassus would see, instead of blue sky, their neighbours eighty-five thousand kilometres away on the opposite side of the sphere looking back down on them. Waldwogel's hope is that such a situation might change their perspective: with people forced to face each other in this way, maybe they would be, well, nicer. In such a large, well-resourced environment, more open social structures might have the freedom to evolve compared to the rigid hierarchies of the tired old rock-ball we now call home. Waldwogel?s website invites us to consider his proposal in these utopian terms, as a social and metaphorical ?antipode?? or opposite? to our current Earth, as well as a physical one.

The idea's resemblance to science fiction doesn't deprive it of philosophical value. At a time when we are increasingly encouraged to see the Earth as something threatened, fragile and in need of ?saving?, it?s intriguing to contemplate its complete destruction in a positive light. Perhaps in the future, crowds of conservation-minded conservatives will protest on the streets, waving placards reading ?Stop Global Hollowing NOW!? and ?Halt Earth Change.? As the ground starts to thrum and quiver with the work of fearsome engines, it's easy to imagine idealistic social reformers cackling manically at their command consoles in the space elevators towering overhead, as they celebrate the dawn of Earth's final metamorphosis.

Awesome.

Wow. I was shocked . Thanks.

The human body exposed to outer space

In scores of science fiction stories, hapless adventurers find themselves unwittingly introduced to the vacuum of space without proper protection. There is often an alarming cacophony of screams and gasps as the increasingly bloated humans writhe and spasm. Their exposed veins and eyeballs soon bulge in what is clearly a disagreeable manner. The ill-fated adventurers rapidly swell like over-inflated balloons, ultimately bursting in a gruesome spray of blood.

As is true with many subjects, this representation in popular culture does not reflect the reality of exposure to outer space. Ever since humanity first began to probe outside of our protective atmosphere, a number of live organisms have been exposed to vacuum, both deliberately and otherwise. By combining these experiences with our knowledge of outer space, scientists have a pretty clear idea of what would happen if an unprotected human slipped into the cold, airless void.

In the 1960s, as technology was bringing the prospect of manned spaceflight into reality, engineers recognized the importance of determining the amount of time astronauts would have to react to integrity breaches such as a damaged spacecraft or punctured space-suits. To that end, NASA constructed an assortment of large altitude chambers to mimic the hostile environments found at varying distances above the Earth, accounting for factors such as air pressure, temperature, and radiation. Adventurous volunteers were subjected to simulations of the conditions found several miles up, and a handful of animal tests were conducted with even lower pressures.

Using the data from these experiments and their knowledge of outer space, scientists were able to make some reasonable conclusions about how the human body would respond to sudden depressurization. A series of accidents over the years proved most of their extrapolations to be accurate. In 1965, in a space-suit test gone awry, a technician in an altitude chamber was exposed to a hard vacuum. The defective suit was unable to hold pressure, and the man collapsed after fourteen seconds. He regained consciousness shortly after the chamber was repressurized, and he was uninjured. In a later incident, another technician spent four minutes trapped at low pressure by a malfunctioning altitude chamber. He lost consciousness and began to turn blue, but escaped death when one of the managers kicked in one of the machine's glass gauges, allowing air to seep into the chamber.

A Soviet Soyuz spacecraftArtist's rendering of a Soviet Soyuz spacecraftIn 1971, three Russian cosmonauts aboard an early Soyuz spacecraft tragically experienced the vacuum of space first-hand, as described in the Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight:
"?the orbital module was normally separated by 12 pyrotechnic devices which were supposed to fire sequentially, but they incorrectly fired simultaneously, and this caused a ball joint in the capsule's pressure equalization valve to unseat, allowing air to escape. The valve normally opens at low altitude to equalize cabin air pressure to the outside air pressure. This caused the cabin to lose all its atmosphere in about 30 seconds while still at a height of 168 km. In seconds, Patsayev realized the problem and unstrapped from his seat to try and cover the valve inlet and shut off the valve but there was little time left. It would take 60 seconds to shut off the valve manually and Patsayev managed to half close it before passing out. Dobrovolsky and Volkov were virtually powerless to help since they were strapped in their seats, with little room to move in the small capsule and no real way to assist Patsayev. The men died shortly after passing out. [?] The rest of the descent was normal and the capsule landed at 2:17 AM. The recovery forces located the capsule and opened the hatch only to find the cosmonauts motionless in their seats. On first glance they appeared to be asleep, but closer examination showed why there was no normal communication from the capsule during descent."

When the human body is suddenly exposed to the vacuum of space, a number of injuries begin to occur immediately. Though they are relatively minor at first, they accumulate rapidly into a life-threatening combination. The first effect is the expansion of gases within the lungs and digestive tract due to the reduction of external pressure. A victim of explosive decompression greatly increases their chances of survival simply by exhaling within the first few seconds, otherwise death is likely to occur once the lungs rupture and spill bubbles of air into the circulatory system. Such a life-saving exhalation might be due to a shout of surprise, though it would naturally go unheard where there is no air to carry it.

In the absence of atmospheric pressure water will spontaneously convert into vapor, which would cause the moisture in a victim's mouth and eyes to quickly boil away. The same effect would cause water in the muscles and soft tissues of the body to evaporate, prompting some parts of the body to swell to twice their usual size after a few moments. This bloating may result in some superficial bruising due to broken capillaries, but it would not be sufficient to break the skin.

A NASA vacuum chamberA NASA altitude chamberWithin seconds the reduced pressure would cause the nitrogen which is dissolved in the blood to form gaseous bubbles, a painful condition known to divers as "the bends." Direct exposure to the sun's ultraviolet radiation would also cause a severe sunburn to any unprotected skin. Heat does not transfer out of the body very rapidly in the absence of a medium such as air or water, so freezing to death is not an immediate risk in outer space despite the extreme cold.

For about ten full seconds? a long time to be loitering in space without protection? an average human would be rather uncomfortable, but they would still have their wits about them. Depending on the nature of the decompression, this may give a victim sufficient time to take measures to save their own life. But this period of "useful consciousness" would wane as the effects of brain asphyxiation begin to set in. In the absence of air pressure the gas exchange of the lungs works in reverse, dumping oxygen out of the blood and accelerating the oxygen-starved state known as hypoxia. After about ten seconds a victim will experience loss of vision and impaired judgement, and the cooling effect of evaporation will lower the temperature in the victim's mouth and nose to near-freezing. Unconsciousness and convulsions would follow several seconds later, and a blue discoloration of the skin called cyanosis would become evident.

At this point the victim would be floating in a blue, bloated, unresponsive stupor, but their brain would remain undamaged and their heart would continue to beat. If pressurized oxygen is administered within about one and a half minutes, a person in such a state is likely make a complete recovery with only minor injuries, though the hypoxia-induced blindness may not pass for some time. Without intervention in those first ninety seconds, the blood pressure would fall sufficiently that the blood itself would begin to boil, and the heart would stop beating. There are no recorded instances of successful resuscitation beyond that threshold.

Though an unprotected human would not long survive in the clutches of outer space, it is remarkable that survival times can be measured in minutes rather than seconds, and that one could endure such an inhospitable environment for almost two minutes without suffering any irreversible damage. The human body is indeed a resilient machine.

And when it comes to mapping I also do :

Mmmmyeah ... 25 % spam :/

Of course pepper, you see pentium 4 in all the magazines and adds. What can I say ....

You are perfectly right, I still have a pentium 2. The stoppinf of the distribution of that processor never stopped me using that computer.

So yeah, you are so right. Check this lines after two years or three please.

My advise is that you save your money and wait at least one more year. Intel just introduced their brand new processor on the market : Nehalem.

It's and i7 processor, and from my point of view it shocks me with its power just as core2duo did when it was launched. Of course the LGA 775 will quickly become history, it's being replaced by the LGA1366. It's kinda confusing to remember the names, it has 1366 pins but its DRR3 controler reaches 1333 mhz

But the technology that makes this piece of baby so interesting and powerful is called QPI(short for quick path interconnect). I can't remember well, but it like hooking up the ram,video card and proccessor in one unit. No need for FSB anymore.... That means that the cores will communicate quicker and the amount of bandwidth is huge.
It also has around 700 millions of transistors( around 700 because I don't remeber the exact number) and it's lithographed at 45 nm.

There will also be 3 versions : i7 920,940 and 965 Extreme Edition
But even the mainstream (920) will be a lot more powerful than all the processors available today.
The most expensive one is around 1000 USD and the cheapest around 300 USD.
For exact values search on google ,I only told you what I remembered(and I remember quite well actually because it was interesting )

Penguinboy.... my bad

Have you heard that some crazy scientists from australia discovered that Jesus was born in july not december ? I lol'd ! ( I saw this at tv ..)

Ok , huge confusion. And because I can't edit my post ( damn it penguinbody ) everybody will read "can" . I meant can't

[Edit] Spam deleted. Shit, I'm spaming to easy
Well you see , I can't proove that. But you can proove God doesn't exist.

Back to Christmas. I can't wait for presents xD

That's the first not-spam response.
Thank you.

Well I believe in Christmas. No, there's no Santa but at least these celebrations makes you more happy and you feel ( at least I ) less stressful and a lot more opened to the other people.
I also believe in god. I don't want this thread to be full of flame spame, we should stay on topic. But just one observation ... I see more and more people are becoming atheists.

Proove me god doesn't exist. Show me how the matter was created before the big bang. If I were to believe in your words, we shouldn't exist. This Universe shouldn't exist. But we do ...(off-topic ...)

I'm asking them . It's actualy a trap questions that prooves me something. I just want their responses.

Luke , I know TWHL since 2003 . But I didn't like mapping at that time.

Do you believe in Christmas ?
If not , do you like it ? Like getiing presents, like having a tree with lights in your house ?

Welcome back

I no longer use my FF anymore

Google infests everyone's computer with it's google chrome.But I won't fall in this trap. It's a malefic plan, I tell you !

Haha the revolution begins =))

Just click on the link for the original site ....

That's absolutely preposterous

Happy to say you're wrong.

The Andromeda-Milky Way collision is a predicted galaxy collision, due to take place in approximately three billion years time

Thus, while it is known that the Andromeda galaxy is getting closer to the Milky Way by about 120 km/s

Source

22 may 2009

Wow. That literally kicked my ass

Let's begin a little science interesting stuff thread here

Well, just post some facts and then comment or whatever, thread for the bored ones, like me

I'll begin with one fact :

Do you know that Galaxy Andromeda is heading towards our galaxy at the speed of aprox 400,000 km/h?(or second I don't remember,correct me if I'm wrong and you know about this:D).
In a couple of million years the 2 galaxies will collide, resulting into one or 2 black holes. Our faith(destiny or whatever, shitty english) ?
2 possibilities : 1. We are sucked in one of the black holes. Bye-bye earth.
2. The Solar System is catapulted out of the galaxy. We may survive or even get attracted by another galaxy !

Well there's also small foot in Indonesia or where but I know it is, I saw that on National Geographic.

[EDIT] haha, zoom in at satchmo's city. It looks like a simcity =))

yep

I only use a GUI in FINAL COMPILESSSSS

nah, just kick in -texdata 8192 and it'll be fine ( write this on the csg line)

Aye.

Ok here are some facts soo far :

Penguinboy is the most eastern fellow . Yay for him. Between me and him there's aprox. 15,000 km = 9,000 miles

The shortest distance from me to a member is almost 900 km = 600 miles. Guess who. Of course, Daubster ! Going with a medium speed of 80 km/h I can be there in aprox 11 hours, depending on traffic conditions. Daubster, here I come

"Wet" is living right on the atlantic rift . Hey, at least you have some heat from time to time.

More facts coming soon as the map is being populated.

xD

Lol few people on the map. Added myself too ( I'm actualy in a village near the city I entered )

The single solution to all these discussions is that the admins should make a big paypal donations banner right under the either/or banner .

Donate and we will have a bigger TWHL with more features and with more active admins !

Well that was just a stupid idea , but trust me it's good.

And if I were to judge the entries, to be honest, I wouldn't have the time too. Maybe only until 20 dec. Being a student is hard...

You're not using the steam version

What, are you waiting for... Christmas ?

Steel...steel steel steel

NOOOOOOO! Don't give them ideas! They'll take even longer!

lol.

I really suppose they analyze every aspect of our compos. First of all I just want to tell you I'm not crazy to find if I won because my compo medium quality and I saw very good quality compos posted anyway.

Assuming you're analyzing every aspect of our maps, you shouldn't forget to see what chemistry is involved in the different processes of industrial areas in our maps. You should definitely look after information on Google or Wikipedia too see if our ideas are physically possible or not. If they aren't, what SF films would they assemble ?
You should study some artistic guides or plastic art books and learn more about color to see how our lightnings are. If they are good or not.
Calculating distance from one point to another is also important, that way you can discover the dynamics of our levels.
Not talking about sounds and texturing .

So yeah, judging a competition is hard-work.

Slow TWHL results are a necessity, you wouldn't come back to us otherwise. ;D

You better be kidding.

Ok ok , Gmod 10. But I don't think we can expect for gmod 20 in the next 5 years =))

[EDIT] Btw, HL3 will appear. But unfortunately Garry Newman won't be so enthusiast anymore and somebody else will have to make this but, if not Valve itself.

There's no 10 if you look closely. Some people even call it Gmod 11 but I don't believe that ...

Gmod 9 - Funny
Gmod(the actual one is without a version number, it's just being updated) - Funny as hell.

Yeh.. i'm sorry about that guys :/

I've got some hold ups on my end. I promise it'll be up this very next weekend.

I don't trust you.

[EDIT] Ok maybe you weren't satisfied. Buy youself some land and plant a couple of these :

Aren't you mapping for a mod ? It should be listed in its features...

A duck's shit is enough.

what author

I hope I'll be a designer\programmer or if this fails, a jobthat implies usign the computer. Or even a truck driver what the heck(the least I can expect tho)
When I was younger I hoped I'll be a doctor, but the risks are too high(like malpraxis) and the learning procces too long.

Wtf how can you even think the duck will lose. It just has to sit and it wins !

What do you think ?

Sorry if I annoy somebody, but I don't really see the point of this thread. Few things have been added from these suggestions and the thread is already 10 pages.

Here the gas is more than 1 $ ....

wow that;s a huge one

Wow, you're too a deviantart member ?