I now have the LED indicators on and a nice new rear hugger. The hugger needed a bit of modification - some holes needed elongating to fit, even though it was designed for the bike.
It's also had it's first MOT, with the only failure being electrical. The front brake switch needed changing. All set for a summer of biking! :-D
2012-05-27
The value of Space
With the recent launch of the SpaceX dragon capsule to the ISS, there have been various comments on news websites about the value of expenditure on space given the current economic climate. Here are some facts.
Since SpaceX was founded in 2002 up to the end of the 2010 financial year, their total expenditure was less than $800 million.
Facebook recently bought Instagram for $1 billion.
Facebook has been valued at it's first IPO at just under $100 billion, but it's current stock price indicates it's much less than that now.
The cost of the war in Afghanistan so far to the US is over $500 billion.
Given even these few examples, space is exceedingly good value for money. The fact that it's now private companies driving development in the space industry has meant that the cost is falling due to these companies being leaner, meaner and more efficient than the traditional space companies. This is through necessity as they have to make a profit in an industry that has an exceedingly tight profit margin.
There has also been some comments about SpaceX being funded by NASA. This is true to an extent. Funding is being made through the COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) but this money is only forthcoming when milestones are reached.
Speaking of milestones, SpaceX have been clever in persuading NASA to have this test flight extended to include the oblectives for COTS 3 mission. The original criteria for COTS 2 mission was a successful launch, demonstrate the various manoeuvres needed for rendezvous, and the limit of contact with the ISS was RF comms, with the crew able to command the capsule. This has meant that money has been saved in the process, although it would not have been easy, with no doubt that NASA would have been exceedingly thorough through the review process.
As I raise a glass to SpaceX, I'm looking forward to what the future holds for space exploration in the hands of private companies, searching for funding to realise their dreams. Dreams and visions that once were those of presidents and government agencies.
Since SpaceX was founded in 2002 up to the end of the 2010 financial year, their total expenditure was less than $800 million.
Facebook recently bought Instagram for $1 billion.
Facebook has been valued at it's first IPO at just under $100 billion, but it's current stock price indicates it's much less than that now.
The cost of the war in Afghanistan so far to the US is over $500 billion.
Given even these few examples, space is exceedingly good value for money. The fact that it's now private companies driving development in the space industry has meant that the cost is falling due to these companies being leaner, meaner and more efficient than the traditional space companies. This is through necessity as they have to make a profit in an industry that has an exceedingly tight profit margin.
There has also been some comments about SpaceX being funded by NASA. This is true to an extent. Funding is being made through the COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Services) but this money is only forthcoming when milestones are reached.
Speaking of milestones, SpaceX have been clever in persuading NASA to have this test flight extended to include the oblectives for COTS 3 mission. The original criteria for COTS 2 mission was a successful launch, demonstrate the various manoeuvres needed for rendezvous, and the limit of contact with the ISS was RF comms, with the crew able to command the capsule. This has meant that money has been saved in the process, although it would not have been easy, with no doubt that NASA would have been exceedingly thorough through the review process.
As I raise a glass to SpaceX, I'm looking forward to what the future holds for space exploration in the hands of private companies, searching for funding to realise their dreams. Dreams and visions that once were those of presidents and government agencies.
2012-05-26
Scanner update
OK, so I posted a few years ago about getting an old Cannon USB scanner working with Vista. Since then I have now got Windows 7 on the PC, and tried to get it working with that. I seemed to get the drivers to install, but there was nothing from the scanner. Seems like it's died on me.
I'm now the proud owner of a Canon CanoScan LiDE 210 Flatbed Scanner. A good value 4800dpi 48-bit colour scanner.
I'm now the proud owner of a Canon CanoScan LiDE 210 Flatbed Scanner. A good value 4800dpi 48-bit colour scanner.
A New Trend
OK, so this blog was originally a LiveJournal account. Moved across to Wordpress hosted on my ownserver, and now decided to host it here instead.
It's gonna have more tech related stuff on here that the original whiny crap that was here.
Life is good.
It's gonna have more tech related stuff on here that the original whiny crap that was here.
Life is good.
2012-05-25
In the process of migrating
After trying to host my own wordpress blog, decided to give this a go. There will be a period off transition while everything (not that there was a lot) is migrated over.
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