Links for 27-05-2008
Alternative boondoggles; climate and agriculture in 2080; insects and radiation …
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“If we take $20Bn as the cost per mission and $450Bn as the cost to develop the technology to go there, the direct cost of the Iraq war would be sufficient to develop a gold-plated Mars expeditionary capability and send six crews of astronauts to Mars…”
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“Stretches of the Thames Valley, Hampshire and the Severn Valley are expected to warm by as much as 5C by 2080, making them too hot to grow grapes. Instead, the areas will be more suited to currants, raisins and sultanas …”
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“True bugs (and possibly other overlooked life forms) appear to be sensitive bio-indicators of harmful radiation, she said. They may be tiny skittering ‘canaries,’ suffering first from a poison none of us can feel or see.”
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“There’s so many stupid pop songs it’s really hard to pick the worst. I think it’d be funny to erase a song like the American national anthem just because it’d have such a big effect on history.”
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