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jbwelda
So f'in awesome.
jb
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IrixQuote
georgie48
Maybe an additional suggestion to sir Richard: free condoms for everyone to bring down the global population to what it was before the Industrial Revolution.
It's the other way round: Industrial Revolution (and the contraceptive pill) brought down the population numbers in the Western World while the insecure living conditions in the 3rd World still require many offsprings.
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treaclefingersQuote
TheflyingDutchman
This looks far more adventurous to me:
I'm sure that is still to come, as an 'add-on' for $300,000.
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Irix
Wildfires in California, severe hurricanes in Florida, 130 °F extreme heat -- do we really need space tourism ?
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treaclefingers
Well besides a completely different design and the fact that it is a private and not government achievement, I think the real point of this being momentous is that it marks the start of a new space race and creating a tourism industry there, whatever one may think of that.
No, the basics are the same (like the Sänger). A newly, privately developed Concorde would be then a "momentous achievement" too? New tourism industry: yeah, just give everyone his private Jet-Set via new Concorde - the Earth has eternal resources for this kind of fun.
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skytrench
Envy, no, just calling out Branson's foolish obsession. It was good you brought this up, so we could discuss this here. There really is no reason for him to go to space and waste all those resources, it's disrespectful. I'm pretty sure Bob would agree!
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treaclefingers
You're disagreeing on why I believe it to be momentous. You can feel free to do that, but you can't say I can't believe that just because your belief is different. I'm not saying you have to agree with it being momentous. All I was doing was explaining a position.
You can of course believe what you want. If it's momentous, then it's your opinion.
Btw: in Germany we had already in 1942 rockets (A4/V2) which reached more than 100 km (62 miles) altitude - but instead of peacefully exploring the space, they destroyed London & Antwerp.
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DaveG
If I take this trip into “space”, will the miles flown count toward Elite status on my Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account?
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Nikkei
I don't want to shame them into giving away their fortunes. I want them taxed. Not sure how it could work to tax someones income retroactively, but it's got to make up for the last 40 years.
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DaveG
If I take this trip into “space”, will the miles flown count toward Elite status on my Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan account?
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jbweldaQuote
Nikkei
I don't want to shame them into giving away their fortunes. I want them taxed. Not sure how it could work to tax someones income retroactively, but it's got to make up for the last 40 years.
Well man, I would sure put a whole heap of people before Sir Branson in that line. One particular chump comes immediately to mind.
And I believe I read somewhere an article about how Branson proudly pays his taxes and does not go near all the way he could in legal tax evasion and reduction. Thats both his various enterprises and himself personally...I trust you understand the difference before you bring up the taxes issue, it sounds from your post like maybe you do not.
As an aside, these are not necessarily "toys". Think for a second about the actual uses of near space access for medicine and world survival in the face of global climate change. Not to mention a million other things. This isn't some clown doing this because hes got nothing else to do. Yes there is the commercial oh-ah about selling tickets to "near space" but like Marcus Garvey taught, sometimes you have to make money to cover expenses if you want to get where you think you need to go.
jb
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Nikkei
I don't want to shame them into giving away their fortunes. I want them taxed. Not sure how it could work to tax someones income retroactively, but it's got to make up for the last 40 years.
Well man, I would sure put a whole heap of people before Sir Branson in that line. One particular chump comes immediately to mind.
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GasLightStreet
The discourse regarding Richard Branson is ridiculous. What he's involved in is an issue? There is so much going on every day to make what he's doing or has done with "going into space", whatever, so minute, that it's ridiculous.
And if those that are contriving up such a storm of judgement, why aren't you concerned with such everyday issues?
So fake. FAKE.
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mariannaQuote
jbweldaQuote
Nikkei
I don't want to shame them into giving away their fortunes. I want them taxed. Not sure how it could work to tax someones income retroactively, but it's got to make up for the last 40 years.
Well man, I would sure put a whole heap of people before Sir Branson in that line. One particular chump comes immediately to mind.
And I believe I read somewhere an article about how Branson proudly pays his taxes and does not go near all the way he could in legal tax evasion and reduction. Thats both his various enterprises and himself personally...I trust you understand the difference before you bring up the taxes issue, it sounds from your post like maybe you do not.
As an aside, these are not necessarily "toys". Think for a second about the actual uses of near space access for medicine and world survival in the face of global climate change. Not to mention a million other things. This isn't some clown doing this because hes got nothing else to do. Yes there is the commercial oh-ah about selling tickets to "near space" but like Marcus Garvey taught, sometimes you have to make money to cover expenses if you want to get where you think you need to go.
jb
Did it ever occur to you that the increasing use of space travel will contribute to global warming? From the mining of materials to the burning of fuel, creation of space junk, etc. None of it is good for global warming or the environment in general, especially if it becomes more widely available.