value-is-what-you-get

Musk stated that the primary reason they do not file patents on much of their technologies related to SpaceX is because their primary competitors are governments which makes patents more or less unenforceable. USA is not the only customer on Earth!

spacex isn't necessarily doing it better. they are offering to do it cheaper. very likely bidding has been based on what they think they can charge, not cost. Musk has applied the same basic process to SpaceX as he used with Tesla. He calls it engineering based on first principles. This is a world of difference from engineering and design based on analogy. He explains all this in several of his interviews. Do you think the ModelS is the safest car ever tested by a fluke? It s a concious effort to design to a standard. With rockets, his thinking process is basically to add up the weight of all components and fuel, multiply by the price per pound, and then minimize the cost to form all the constituant parts into a rocket. Certainly safety is a number one priority as well. I will go out on a limb and suggest SpaceX will run the safest launch program ever with live people. With rockets andastronauts it s really easy to price better than the competition because you re competing with governments - the least efficient way to get things done. What an ideal circumstamce when the low bid turms out to be the highest quality!

The more people that see Earth from space, the better. The more we learn there is nothing out there to support our survival anywhere but on Earth, the better. We launch people into space but guess what - we are all people in space - existing in a thin film on a blue eyeball we call Earth. Here are some first hand observations and quotes on the subject: http://www.spacequotations.com/earth.html yeah but it will stay expensive for your everyday man. Personally i would pay a lot of money to go to the ISS. I would kill my own mother to go there :D . But most people dont care, and it will stay too expensive untill we get something of value from outside earth, economically. It's important only to send up world leaders. The everyday man will reap the benefits of their adjusted psyche. Perhaps a prerequisite to assuming power. Would only require a tiny sliver of the $1.75 Trillion global defence spending budget.

The more people that see Earth from space, the better. The more we learn there is nothing out there to support our survival anywhere but on Earth, the better. We launch people into space but guess what - we are all people in space - existing in a thin film on a blue eyeball we call Earth. Here are some first hand observations and quotes on the subject: http://www.spacequotations.com/earth.html

Hey the stocks dropping a bit but that's no reason to delete the thread(s) :o EDIT: Found it - please feel free to delete this subject

I believe the basic concept here is to analyze without knowing how it did! Great idea, but now we are biased by knowing the result.

That you are asking the board indicates to me that you know it is wrong and it doesn't sit well with you. Follow your instinct. You already know what you want to do. If the moral aspect doesn't appeal to you then perhaps the fact that you are training them to do your job might help sway your decision. You're company is exporting intellectual capital/knowledge by illegal means. Bad enough it happens, but at least pay the proper costs to do so.

To paraphrase, I believe Buffett told Becky Quick on CNBC interview that Bitcoin is an instantaneous money order in essence. As a result, it has no intrinsic value in and of itself so buying them as an investment doesn't make sense and using them for transactions subjects the holder to speculative fluctuations in the exchange rate. It's not a matter of liking it or not - it's an assessment of value. I understand the value as a result of scarcity argument, but that's not an investment, it's price speculation. I also understand the value in terms of computing power required to "mine" each subsequent coin increasing the cost of each additional coin, but just because something costs a lot doesn't give it intrinsic value. Quite frankly, they will be "all that" when world currencies are quoted in Bitcoins not the other way around. Widespread acceptance is they key here. All Bitcoin has to do to get there is replace the visceral feel and centuries old previous value store of heavy gold, displace the existing global currencies (US Dollar, Euro, Renmninbi etc) by convincing governments to forfeit their money printing capabilities . . . no need to continue past this point.

Thanks for posting! Fair warning though - there will be all kinds of interesting TED talks listed next to it tempting you to watch them rather than doing whatever it is you are supposed to be doing!!!! ;D Good quote "most people have no idea whether their fund manager is charging them 1% or 1.5% per year on their life savings but will clip coupons to save a dollar on toothpaste"

+1

That would be one Manhattan per month for 11 years. That,s a lot of subways!

Suppose the US had their only permanently unfrozen and one of their largest naval bases in a territory that was largely inhabited by English speaking pro-American people which used to be part of the United States. For geographical comparison, let's say the territory in question is the States of Florida and Georgia, with the base in question being in Florida. Then, the Florida/Georgia government becomes bankrupt and starts shopping around a deal to bail them out. Seems like the best deal is what the Cubans are offering so they decide to become indebted to them. Then of course all of the pro-American citizens in the former US territory (Florida) become enraged and demonstrate and oust the leader who is contemplating this deal with the enemy. Now the territory is in flux and control over their largest naval base is in jeopardy and all the pro-American english speaking citizens in the zone containing said naval base start getting worried about the anti-Americans who are on the other side of this argument and are also citizens of the same territory but in a different region. What would the American response to this situation be? Would they be hailed as heroes in the press for looking out for their own, restoring order and showing strength in light of political upheaval? Why is Putin compared to Hitler for a similar response? The military-industrial complex requires only one fuel - an enemy - and without it would wither and shrink. Invert, always invert.

Does anyone else laugh at the same "that is, since present management took over" line every year? I know it's coming but I chuckle every time!

I hope he gets a word in edge wise. ::) Yeah with WEB and Ted, Todd and Traci present, just think of the time value he'll be wasting!

Hope he gets some good jabs in on Kernan!