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Sixtynotout's latest comments
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13th Nov 2014Sixtynotout commented on:
Speakers Corner CommentsHats off to all the European scientists and engineers who achieved this fantastic feat. Now we await with baited breath what the comet can tell us about our origins.ViewDate:
11th Nov 2014Sixtynotout commented on:
Speakers Corner CommentsWonderful quote, Rob60, from Brian Cox. Thanks. I feel absolutely honoured to be living through such a wonderful period of discovery which seems to be accelerating all the time. There is of course another perhaps more practical importance of Rosetta's mission. It is a technological piece of genius that has enabled Rosetta to travel for 10 years and several times around our solar system passing our sun no less than 5 times before arriving at its target of comet 67P. One of the probable dangers to continuation of life on Earth, assuming Man doesn't destroy it and himself beforehand, is a major asteroid hit. It is believed that Life Extinction Events such as this have happened at least 5 times since Earth was created some 4.48 billion years ago. Life started on our planet 4 billion years ago and has evolved continually with Man appearing 200,000 years ago. Up until this point life has largely only been able to react to the circumstances it finds itself in, but now for the first time we can say we have some control over our own destiny. We have now developed the technology to reach out to distant objects so if the need ever arose to nudge a major Earth threatening asteroid away from a collision course there is hope that it could be done. Remember Rosetta took over 10 years to develop before being launched 10 years ago and technology has developed hugely even in that 20 year time-scale. We are standing on the edge of a massive leap in knowledge.ViewDate:
11th Nov 2014Sixtynotout commented on:
UK and the EU: Better off out or in?mystic, you raise some interesting points. The number of job vacancies must go hand-in-hand with the state of the economy, the stronger the economy the more vacancies. And, as we know the state of the economy goes in cycles up and down. Much of time through the 1970's and 80's our economy was thriving as was much of Europe, jobs were plentiful as were vacancies. So was inflation. Today we find ourselves, after the banking scandals and financial collapse which brought the economy of the world to a standstill, in a very different place. Our economy is just about holding its own with reasonable unemployment figures compared to many other countries in Europe. There are jobs to be had but it seems many of our own people do not want to do them which is why farmers and many factories are now reliant on better educated Europeans coming here to do work. It also appears that over the last 20 years or so our education system has let many of our children down badly so that many are leaving school with very little prospect of competing against far better educated Europeans for good jobs. It is our politicians, not Europe's, which are responsible for education in Britain and they have failed badly. Reports in some of today's papers report that many of our smaller businesses now have to look to Europe for staff as they cannot fill vacancies with people from the UK. Another issue is the lack of trained engineers for the great projects which are about to get started such as HS2, the Northern Rail Hub etc. Engineering companies have already said that there are too few trained engineers here to satisfy their needs so they must look to abroad for trained staff. So far from becoming the human waste bin that you suggest, the UK is actually importing better trained and better educated people from Europe. These are people we need to staff our hospitals, build our railways and boost our economy.ViewDate:
11th Nov 2014Sixtynotout commented on:
Speakers Corner CommentsDid life on Earth start with a collision with comets? 4 billion years ago it is believed that comets first brought water and organic compounds to a barren Earth. The conditions here allowed the first crude and simple life forms to take hold and evolution started its long pathway to the present day. "Rosetta" the European Space Agency's 10 year long space mission is about to find out by landing the first craft on a moving comet 500 million miles from Earth. Touchdown is Wednesday. The comet we are landing on, 67P, is expected to contain frozen water and organic compounds. Already readings by Rosetta have detected unusual smells like cats urine in the comets trail. What secrets are about to be revealed? Is this not the most exciting mission since Man first landed on the Moon? Are other readers as fascinated by this as I am? Further info can be found at http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/RosettaViewDate:
10th Nov 2014Sixtynotout commented on:
Public ProfilePerhaps one of the most exciting events since Man landed on the Moon is about to happen 600 million kilometres from Earth on Wednesday afternoon. The European Space Agency probe "Rosetta" was launched over ten years ago and in August this year, after being spun several times around our solar system, it arrived at its destination a 5 mile long comet called 67P. It has been orbiting 67P taking readings and searching for the best landing spot. On Wednesday a small washing machine sized craft called Philae will detach from Rosetta and slowly descend to the surface of the comet. It is believed that life here on Earth started 4 million years because comets crashed into our world bringing water and organic compounds. It was this combination that kick started the cycle of life on our planet culminating in the appearance of Man some 200,000 years ago. On Wednesday, if the landing goes well, we should start to find out if that theory is correct! You can read more about this fascinating event here: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/RosettaViewDate:
10th Nov 2014Sixtynotout commented on:
UK and the EU: Better off out or in?No one would claim that the EU is perfect - there is always room for improvement in everything. However, leaving the EU would be absolutely foolish and damage the future of the UK and its workforce. We need to improve from within the way the EU works so that all Europe's citizens, including us, feel that they have a good, healthy, safe and prosperous future together. In the past century we were involved in two calamitous World Wars killing millions of people not just in Europe but around the World. Both those wars started here in an unstable Europe. The beginnings of the EU started after the end of the Second World War as The European Coal & Steel Community set up to prevent the repeated bloody wars between neighbours. That has grown into a fantastically successful community of European countries and prevented disputes between members getting out of hand which might lead to war. Europe has seen its longest period of peace and stability in history. We need to remain a member of that community not only to protect jobs here in the UK but to ensure the Community remains strong enough to keep peace within the diverse countries and races within its borders. Just as it was right that Scotland and the rest of the UK are stronger together so it is right that the UK and the EU are stronger together.