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Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

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Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#261

Post by vxNsr »

godtoldmetodoit wrote: post #176
vxNsr wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Washington DC isn't a state because it was literally created to not be a state. If they want to give DC residents voting rights they should make it impossible to be a DC resident and instead anyone who lives within DC should vote as part of the state the land was taken from for federal elections. That solves everyone's problems (well aside from the democrats who are trying to get another 2 seats in the senate). Local…

DC has nearly the same amount of people as North Dakota. Having two Dakotas doesn't make any sense from a political representation point of view either, but here we are.

two wrongs don't make a right.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#263

Post by vxNsr »

tt433 wrote: post #254
vxNsr wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Washington DC isn't a state because it was literally created to not be a state. If they want to give DC residents voting rights they should make it impossible to be a DC resident and instead anyone who lives within DC should vote as part of the state the land was taken from for federal elections. That solves everyone's problems (well aside from the democrats who are trying to get another 2 seats in the senate). Local…

That this is clearly a partisan issue for you in your own words instead of an issue of Americans receiving their due representation is disappointing.

The fact that you feel so smugly confidant in your hyper-condescending self-righteousness is similarly disappointing. Especially because I gave two real solutions that make a lot more sense and you dismissed them out of hand because they're "partisan", when they're absolutely the opposite. both my solutions make a lot more sense from an objective standpoint, because they preserve the due representation and one of them also preserves the original intent in making DC independent.

It's kinda mindblowing that you can't identify your own hypocrisy right off the bat and actually posted this comment.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#264

Post by amercado »

wavefunction wrote: post #44
skuhn wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem (partly) is that the F-35 program puts money into 307 congressional districts in 45 states [1]. These insanely expensive defense projects are wealth transfer programs that make contractors like Lockheed and their many sub-contractors rich, and also create jobs in these communities. That a fighter plane may or may not come out the other end is only nominally important, the key is to spend the money. The mo…

I think it's high time for Puerto Rico to become a US state. Puerto Rico has twice the population of the two Dakotas combined and the only way they'll receive more-equitable treatment is if they become a state. I think the will is there locally but there has been resistance from established political factions in the US who fear a place that might tip the balance of power one way or the other.

They're better off becoming independent. There's nothing for them in the United States. The statehood cry is only coming from cynical democrats and corrupt business politicians in PR whose only interest is in trade with the US for their own benefit because they have financial connections to the US, not ordinary Puerto Ricans. The only reason statehood gets so high in these polls is that the commonwealth, free association and independence voters have been boycotting the plebiscites forever.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#265

Post by tt433 »

vxNsr wrote: post #263
tt433 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That this is clearly a partisan issue for you in your own words instead of an issue of Americans receiving their due representation is disappointing.

The fact that you feel so smugly confidant in your hyper-condescending self-righteousness is similarly disappointing. Especially because I gave two real solutions that make a lot more sense and you dismissed them out of hand because they're "partisan", when they're absolutely the opposite. both my solutions make a lot more sense from an objective standpoint, because they preserve the due representation and one of the…

State creation has been partisan for much of this country's history for what it's worth. I find any excuse for not giving the district two senators and a representative (or more) to be unconscionable and based in partisan politics. You are welcome to argue otherwise.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#266

Post by VikingCoder »

doctat wrote: post #252

The logical thing to do here is to simply rebuild it, right? I mean all the infrastructure is there. Power, networking, housing, staff, etc., etc. Like there couldn’t ever be a more convenient place to drop a similar type of instrument, right? And it seems that the towers are still up, surely the anchors for the cables are no worse for wear. The actual dish itself looks to be composed of a bunch of panels that are pr…

It was built in a natural sinkhole, and maybe this is what happens to sinkholes?

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#267

Post by progman32 »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #259
doctat wrote: post #252

The logical thing to do here is to simply rebuild it, right? I mean all the infrastructure is there. Power, networking, housing, staff, etc., etc. Like there couldn’t ever be a more convenient place to drop a similar type of instrument, right? And it seems that the towers are still up, surely the anchors for the cables are no worse for wear. The actual dish itself looks to be composed of a bunch of panels that are pr…

Well, one reason why it may not be worth bothering is because of the existence of FAST. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-hundred-meter_Aperture_Sp... It's bigger, more steerable, and better in (almost) every way, although one could imagine reasons why its location in China could be problematic.

FAST cannot do radar astronomy, as it has no transmitting capability. Among other things, this means FAST is less useful for tracking near-earth asteroids.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#269

Post by WarOnPrivacy »

VikingCoder wrote: post #266
doctat wrote: post #252

The logical thing to do here is to simply rebuild it, right? I mean all the infrastructure is there. Power, networking, housing, staff, etc., etc. Like there couldn’t ever be a more convenient place to drop a similar type of instrument, right? And it seems that the towers are still up, surely the anchors for the cables are no worse for wear. The actual dish itself looks to be composed of a bunch of panels that are pr…

It was built in a natural sinkhole, and maybe this is what happens to sinkholes?

I've read a number of publications covering Arecibo. I've not read anywhere that subsidence or any other sinkhole related activity hastened it's demise.

This seems to have been much more a problem of ~60yo hardware, suffering decades of insufficient maintenance funding, compounded by multiple tropical events and at least one earthquake.

Re: Arecibo Observatory Collapsed

#270

Post by khuey »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #256
doctat wrote: post #252

The logical thing to do here is to simply rebuild it, right? I mean all the infrastructure is there. Power, networking, housing, staff, etc., etc. Like there couldn’t ever be a more convenient place to drop a similar type of instrument, right? And it seems that the towers are still up, surely the anchors for the cables are no worse for wear. The actual dish itself looks to be composed of a bunch of panels that are pr…

Large portions of the towers fell. Large portions of the dish are destroyed. And if you're going to effectively build over again, you might as well build a bigger one.

Topography is a major determinant of the size.
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