h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I want to be the first person to have zero G sex! Its now my lifes ambition!

Well, the space race (now there's an old phrase!) came directly out of the Cold War. Just think: if we lived in peace and harmony, we wouldn't have satelite TV, GPS, Google Maps, or weather satelites.

I also concur with the notion that if all space related funding was stopped tomorrow, it is doubtless we'd see any difference to our living standards on planet earth. Daily Mail readers and others who see the world in black and white, do rather have this assumption that the spare cash would all go to worthy causes Yeah theoretically, the money *could* build ex-number of hospitals and feed the starving... but, would it? ever? really?

It's a bit like me and my credit card bill. Every time I have some spare month at the end of the money, I'm full of noble intentions thinking- 'wow, I could wipe out half my card dept with that money'.... oh look something shiny on ebay

Well, yes, all the tech was the upside to the Cold War downside. It's worth pointing out that there is another side to the equation. Or Dialectic, to use alternative terminology.

Sure, on our side the Cold War fetched up satelite TV, GPS, Google Maps, and weather satellites. All those essentials of life. But it also fetched up wars across Africa, in Indochina, in Bangladesh, in Afghanistan, some of which are still ongoing or whose effects are still being severely felt. For many, our Cold War was hot. Perhaps we should be grateful not to believe in the Pearly Gates malarkey otherwise we'd have to think of good reasons to justify the cool app that directs us to the nearest Wagamama against the kiddie with all the flies in her eyes.

Sorry to be a Jeremiah, like. Yes - I *do* like my comfortable, hi-tech Western lifestyle. But c'mon - we should at least be honest to ourselves about how we came by it.

Can we get all the cool tech without doing all that again? I kinda think we'd better try.

Surely being THE first person to have zero-G sex is impossible... it'd be a joint position (fnar) with the person you're with, surely.

Sex in space, more quoits than coitus.

I expect they talk about the commute a lot.

Galaxy Babe and I started an Entry on Sex in Space, but we couldn't agree on what to put in it.

This was my unfinished version: A581258

Mr D:

>>Surely being THE first person to have zero-G sex is impossible... it'd be a joint position (fnar) with the person you're with, surely.

Hmm. Valery Polyakok was up there for 438 days. I think not.

(And if you don't count that as sex, then certain sites don't count as pr0n. )

Presumably it acts as a form of rocket propulsion...?

Polyakov might have a lot of self-discipline. A lot. A LOT.

Hard to get privacy, I'd have thought.

Maybe they don't care! Maybe they're at it *all* the time!










'In space, no one can hear you...'

Interesting. China is meant to get us to the moon again, right? But so far Costa Ricans have spent more than three times as much time in space as the Chinese:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spaceflight_records#Total_human_spaceflight_time_by_country

Costa Rico? They grow some of the best coffee! So, there you have it: even if space, there are more coffe-drinkers than tea-drinkers.

[Hopefully space has feswer typos. I meant Costa "Rica." Sorry]

Using that special "vomit comet" airplane you can achieve zero G for about 30 seconds. That might be enough for some people to have sex.

I know the ISS has a 'Commercial Enterprise Module' which is currently under bids as to who gets to use it, I believe it is privately owned. Boeing built a lab module called Destiny which is also there. Sounds busy to me.

I know someone who's been on a vomit comet. He used to work for ESA. Unfortunately I don't know him well enough to ask.

For crowning achievement I would put the Hubble telescope and Voyager probes ahead of the ISS.

(and I once met an ISS commander)

There have been several state-of-the-art telescopes in the last twenty years. They are doing magnificent work. We now know, for instance, that the cosmos is organized into clusters of galaxies. The Milky Way is in a cluster of 35 or 36 galaxies, which scientists are calling "The Local Group." That sounds cozy.