Does no one care anymore?

I will be impressed when we find a way to equitably distribute food and energy around the world that doesn't require us to have a power trip on nature or destroy it. When certain humans will stop using limited world resources to keep fabricating weapons of destruction. When we will stop being so egocentric and finally understand: "Yes! We can achieve what ever we want if we put our minds and hearts into it!"

Let's put our hearts and minds towards something that will serve humanity now and forever. Jumping from that high is impressive. How important is it really? How useful will this be in 120 years or even tomorrow? Other then giving advertisement and entertainment, I fail to see the useful application of this in the real world. It seems we have our priorities upside down. We want to find ways to leave this planet and find a new one and we can't even properly take care of this one. With great power comes great responsibility and right now we are comparable to babies with a book of matches.

I don't see it. Please shine some light on me if you can see what I can't. Thank you!

Originally posted by dayve
Y would anyone care about that....? Highest balloon jump.... I'd rather watch football, n i dont care for football really...

So you are saying that this guy...



Is more of an athlete than this guy...

reply to post by DarkKnight21
I couldn't agree more with you on Space Exploration. 20 Billion or less is what NASA gets and it doesn't go far.

I'm personally thrilled by what was accomplished today and amazed he managed to do it all without getting himself boiled or popped like a balloon. Some of the "what if" graphics people put together left nothing to imagine. lol..... So he sure wasn't doing a 100% safe freebie for getting his name in the books, by any means.

Personally, I'm watching space exploration closely but with a type of..anticipation. A pause, I guess. We're stagnant it seems, until the next step is reached. Someone has to find something out there that makes money. Failing money, then makes shiny things people like or want or that do neat new things. However we put it.

When that thing is found and more importantly, a way to bring it back to Earth is perfected........Well, everyone recall reading about the Gold Rushes of Alaska and California? Once gold has been found, figuratively speaking, it's just a matter of everyone building their own wagon and heading out.

Originally posted by bitsforbytes
How important is it really? How useful will this be in 120 years or even tomorrow? Other then giving advertisement and entertainment, I fail to see the useful application of this in the real world.

Very important! Very useful!

People shrug it off because it "has been done before", but not to these extremes.

The discoveries made today will save lives should another Columbia or Challenger accident happen. Sponsored event or not, it pushed the limits of the human body and the scientific data collected will lead to improved safety for future astronauts of all nationalities. It's not like it is hypnotizing you to buy red bull. Buy red bull or not, but the fact remains that this is a major accomplishment in aeronautical science.

/*9reply to post by DarkKnight21


Someone who trains their whole life, plays their sport on an annual basis (dozen times annually) for a public audience of tens of thousands, in a sport that continuously changes with equally as smart competition... Compared to someone who has trained the past 5 years, jumped three times including this from a high altitude, and will probably never be heard from again?

Yes, I would say that Tom Brady is more of an athlete than a three time high altitude jumper.

Crazy I'm saying that and I absolutely hate football.

reply to post by bitsforbytes

Let's put our hearts and minds towards something that will serve humanity now and forever. Jumping from that high is impressive. How important is it really? How useful will this be in 120 years or even tomorrow? Other then giving advertisement and entertainment, I fail to see the useful application of this in the real world. It seems we have our priorities upside down. We want to find ways to leave this planet and find a new one and we can't even properly take care of this one.

Given that there is a hypothetical energy resource on the moon which could power Earth's energy needs a few times over I think anything that progresses space exploration is pretty damn useful to humanity. Even if this jump only opened up the idea new alternatives for safer re-etry it is still a worthy development.

“Red Bull Stratos is making significant contributions to the Crew Escape Systems area – in layman's terms, in regard to high-altitude bailout -- that are of interest to the commercial space sector, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, NASA, and the military,”

www.redbull.com...

As far as bringing food and energy to every person on the planet, that will never happen as humans have this innate sense to reproduce beyond what is normal when conditions are fitting. Hence the giant population boom once the benefits of oil were discovered. The only thing that will bring the world into shape is useful education and complacency.

These things will not be solved overnight, and neither will the tendency for others to bomb the #*$% out of their counterparts, unfortunately...

Originally posted by DarkKnight21

Originally posted by dayve
Y would anyone care about that....? Highest balloon jump.... I'd rather watch football, n i dont care for football really...

More like this guy...

Is more of an athlete than this guy...

Originally posted by QUANTUMGR4V17Y
/*9reply to post by DarkKnight21

 

Someone who trains their whole life, plays their sport on an annual basis (dozen times annually) for a public audience of tens of thousands, in a sport that continuously changes with equally as smart competition... Compared to someone who has trained the past 5 years, jumped three times including this from a high altitude, and will probably never be heard from again?

Yes, I would say that Tom Brady is more of an athlete than a three time high altitude jumper.

Crazy I'm saying that and I absolutely hate football.

Talking out of butt?

Check.

Felix Baumgartner (pronounced [felɪks baʊmgaːɐtnəʁ]; born 20 April 1969) is an Austrian skydiver and a BASE jumper.

Baumgartner spent time in the Austrian military where he practiced parachute jumping, including training to land on small target zones.

In 1999 he claimed the world record for the highest parachute jump from a building when he jumped from the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.[4] On 31 July 2003, Baumgartner became the first person to skydive across the English Channel using a specially made carbon fiber wing.[5] He also set the world record for the lowest BASE jump ever, when he jumped 95 feet (29 m) from the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.[6]

he went to the opposite end of the scale, completing the world's lowest ever base jump from the 30m-high arm of the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

He became the first person to BASE jump from the completed Millau Viaduct in France on 27 June 2004[citation needed] and the first person to skydive onto, then BASE jump from, the Turning Torso building in Malmö, Sweden on 18 August 2006.[7] On 12 December 2007 he became the first person to jump from the 91st floor observation deck, then went to the 90th floor (about 390 m (1,280 ft)) of the then tallest completed building in the world, Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan.[8]

en.wikipedia.org...
Link covers some of the training needed for base jumping...

Originally posted by QUANTUMGR4V17Y
/*9reply to post by DarkKnight21

 

Someone who trains their whole life, plays their sport on an annual basis (dozen times annually) for a public audience of tens of thousands, in a sport that continuously changes with equally as smart competition... Compared to someone who has trained the past 5 years, jumped three times including this from a high altitude, and will probably never be heard from again?

Yes, I would say that Tom Brady is more of an athlete than a three time high altitude jumper.

Crazy I'm saying that and I absolutely hate football.

They're both athletes, and neither should be knocked for what they are doing. The comparison is pointless too because they are different types of sports.

reply to post by DarkKnight21


I don't want to take away at what Felix and his team has accomplished. Bravo! A lot of thought obviously went into it and this man just has balls of diamond. However, I still do feel that we are doing things for the wrong reasons. Do you think that finding a way out of our current situation (flying to another earth like planet) is the solution to the current state of affairs? I mean, if you can't take care of an apartment and keep clean and maintain it should you live in a castle?

I know I am nobody when it comes to stating what is the actual state of affairs concerning the planets condition but, here is my opinion anyway. From what I can observe certain people have made considerable mistakes in the past abusing OUR planet. This behaviour is still in practice and is showing no signs of stopping. I feel like we are trying to avoid the fact that we need to reassess the very fabric of our civilization and how we view the world. I feel like we need to make changes from within before we will be able to safely and intelligently leave this planet without trying in a rash and arrogant manner.

I don't mean to put a damper on the victory shared by some of you. I share this groups victory and applaud them for their efforts. I can't help but feeling that we are not using our resilience for the right things.

What are they going to find out and they sure will not tell us and act confused.
That gravity is 32 feet per second per second everywhere.
We know that.
There is a terminal velocity of falling objects of about 200 feet per second.
We know that.
air terminal velocity is feet per second

A Rather Simple Freefall Question www.physicsforums.com › ... › Introductory Physics 6 posts - 3 authors - Mar 22, 2007 Terminal Velocity = 120 mph = 176 feet per second ... perfectly still and rigid) because as you go faster, you experience more air resistance.

So to reduce drag or air resistance and go faster he must dive or be specially equipped.

reply to post by TeslaandLyne

That gravity is 32 feet per second per second everywhere.

You are talking about acceleration. In the case of this jump his initial speeds were higher because of the little to no air resistance of how high he jumped from. He was actually pretty close to the sound barrier...

reply to post by DarkKnight21


To answer your question, I do not care. There is far too much to still explore on earth, and I don't mean just the planet. We are mean Mofo's and we need to figure out why before we spread that disease to anywhere else, including the moon.

I watched the movie "The day the earth stood still" a few weeks ago, and a point it made really got me thinking. That was that humanity won't change until we are forced to change. I feel like ever since the decades after WWII and the Cold War, we americans have been given a very "comfy" lifestyle. Until something disrupts this and makes us have to invent and create, and maybe even find ways to survive, were just not going to accomplish much, or at a fast rate like we did in the 60s.

Originally posted by DarkKnight21
What saddened me is that virtually no one in my social circle cared. They would rather sit in front of the TV and watch football. (Maybe I am picking the wrong friends

).

Complete opposite of my social sites, where it was just all about the jump! I woke up 2 hours after the jump so I was sad I missed the live stream

maybe find cooler friends?

Originally posted by zysin5
reply to post by DarkKnight21

 

I have to ask. When has anyone really cared?
They have the money to fund outlandish defense budgets, rob us blind as you pointed out.
While people in this world are starving to death, and live in make shift huts and live on the edge and barely make enough to feed and cloth their own families.

Bill Hicks made a good quote once.

You know all that money we spend on the military ever year -- trillions ... Instead, if we use this money to feed and clothe the poor of this world, which it would do many times over, then we can explore space, inner and outer, together,

I have always cared about this stuff.. But until we can take care of our own.. We have no place out there.. When so much is screwed up right here on Earth..

I feel you man, I really do.. But you know what I mean.. Hope you don't take my post the wrong way. ( When I said when has anyone really cared? I am talking about how most people are live life with blinders on. Not any kind of jab or snippy remark.)
I have empathy for your topic and There are many people Here that do care.

edit on 14-10-2012 by zysin5 because: 1.2

I agree completely. I CARE. I DO; but now.......space is not where we need to focus at this moment. Our Earth Spaceship and inhabitants are in need of repair before we can venture back into the outer depths........Our time hopefully will come again when the younger generation feels inspired....

I was on the edge of my seat watching this live. Football is boring compared to this.
Anyways he had a malfunction of the visor heater, which made for some nail biting excitement...and a frozen mask on the way down...Kittinger had a malfunction with his glove leaking. This is a test plus commercial hype. I hate red bull drink so didnt sway me. But i would watch all these type of events. If we never push our selves to greater triumphs then we might as well give up. Long live people like Felix that push the boundaries of what humans can do.

While it is a pretty fantastic achievement that was accomplished today, and will no doubt provide a wealth of scientific information, people are making a bigger deal out of it than need be.

Sure, he was higher up, fell faster and farther, and we have better technology to give better data than when Joseph Kittinger did it. But Kittinger did it over 52 years ago, and without all the fanfare. He did it for purely academic reasons. This was more of a publicity stunt than anything else.

One of my friends summed it up succinctly today.

Guy jumps out of a balloon and falls really far.
People go ape #.
Guy proves existence of particle that gives credit to last 50 years of physics.
People barely notice.

Originally posted by DarkKnight21

Originally posted by bitsforbytes
How important is it really? How useful will this be in 120 years or even tomorrow? Other then giving advertisement and entertainment, I fail to see the useful application of this in the real world.

Very important! Very useful!

People shrug it off because it "has been done before", but not to these extremes.

The discoveries made today will save lives should another Columbia or Challenger accident happen. Sponsored event or not, it pushed the limits of the human body and the scientific data collected will lead to improved safety for future astronauts of all nationalities. It's not like it is hypnotizing you to buy red bull. Buy red bull or not, but the fact remains that this is a major accomplishment in aeronautical science.

edit on 10/14/2012 by DarkKnight21 because: (no reason given)

Actually this guy wasn't even close to testing the limits of the human body. No one has pushed the human body more than Dr. John Paul Stapp.

reply to post by DarkKnight21


I was watching, and yeah it was cool. Most people around me said "what a waste of money that could have been spent"...... I thought it was awesome...Most people in this day and age think that he is a glutton.