DECIMUS:

George Alcorn, Method of fabricating an imaging X-ray spectrometer 1967 (Do you even know what one of these is?)

Dr. Patricia Bath, a method for removing cataract lenses using a laser device making the procedure more accurate. 1988

Andrew Beard, inventor of the rotary engine 1892 and the jenny coupler 1897 (not janney coupler)

Henry Blair, Dry Cleaning Process 1821

Otis Boykin, Improved Electrical Resistor, variable resistor  used in guided missile parts,  control unit for heart stimulators, a burglar-proof cash register, a chemical air filter..... (Getting the picture yet?) 1959-1985

Charles Brooks, inventor of the street-sweeper truck 1896

Phil Brooks, inventor of the Disposable Syringe 1974

Henry Brown, fireproof filing cabinet 1886

Marie Brown, home security system, video security system 1969, smoke and heat detector 1976

John Albert Burr, rotary lawn mower, 1899

And that's just the first two letters of the alphabet after 5 minutes of research.

> Ehawk wrote:

> okay. i have served in iraq and i know some MEN that i will not trust next to me with a rifle! and i know some women that i would trust my life with!

gender does not matter, on the battlefield, its the honor that matters!

NMCB74 hooooraaaahh!!!!!<

And on that note I think we can end the thread.

It depends on how you define democracy. As Justinian pointed out Iran is democratic, as is China, North Korea, Burma and a few other "regimes".

So perhaps the question is not "Which is the most democratic" but "Which democracy is most like our dream of a democracy"?

See, the problem with democracy is that everyone has an equal say, so frequently democratic votes (thanks to outside interference) become little more than two Wolves and a Sheep deciding on what is for dinner.

Judaism - 7
Buddhism - 12
Catholicism - 8
Protestantism & other minor Christian groups - 4
Hinduism - 8
Islam - 4
Sikhism - 7
Taoism - 9
Shinto - 7
Bah

I like how nobody tells me Easter is coming untill it's Easter and then have the nerve to get snotty because I didn't get them any smegging eggs X(

You're quite welcome. X(

Judaism - 7
Buddhism - 12
Catholicism - 8
Protestantism & other minor Christian groups - 8
Hinduism - 9
Islam - 4
Sikhism - 7
Taoism - 9
Shinto - 7
Bah

Krg raised what on a human would have been an eyebrow, "Projectile weapons, how quaint," The electronic voice stated, "I am Krg, Commander of the Crbrs," Krg raised a gauntlet to indicate behind Carl, out of the window, to the Crbrs which was currently performing a flyby. During the fleeting seconds that passed as they watched the Crbrs perform its flyby Krg opened the dark bubble about  his head, flipping it back into his bulky armor. "On the way down the planetary defences did not acknowledge us, not even to engage sensors to track us, which is what I expected, after all we are one big happy fleet," Krg flung his arms wide, grinned even wider, "But then I walk in here, and I am greeted with weapons. Is there something I should know?"

Carl smiled, "No, no. I was just demonstrating some new security precautions before we started." As Carl spoke to the bronze armoured bulk with the shocking pink head and bulbous purple eyes he noticed Jeodan seemed shocked for a moment, only a moment, before his face took on the look of one giving a salute. Although Krg seemed not to notice Carl himself felt the overspill of the telepathic salute.

"How many lobes does your brain have?" Jeodan asked. As Krg turned to answer a curious expression passed over his face for the slightest moment, "Six." Krg held up all the fingers of one gauntleted hand. It took Carl a second or two to realise there were six fingers, and another second to notice that the thumb had the same number of joints as the fingers.

"So, to business, Commander Krg would you like a seat?" He indicated an empty space to the left, in which a glittering silver puddle appeared, seemingly from under the skirting, and rose up like a germinating seed before blooming into a chair. As Commander Krg sat the chair creaked sightly, and several diagonal trusses appeared between the legs.

Wow, he's heavy.

Subcommander Erf strolled slowly around the bridge, occasionally tipping his head to one side or the other in an effort to stretch his stiff neck muscles, trying to keep busy while Krg sat in the command chair, lost in thought, even though his watch had ended hours ago.
A small beep came from the science console, "Sir," The officer spoke, "A ship just entered orbit, configuration and transponder signal match The Reaper. They're launching a shuttle."
With a deep breath Krg stood, "Ready a tactical away team, make sure we have a mystic or two with us, we're going down."
"To do what?"
"To take an active role."
"What if they don't want us to take an active role?"
Krg stopped halfway through the open bulkhead door, turned and grinned, "Then I'll have to say please".

> TheYell wrote:

> Wouldnt be politics if you didnt flame BW would it

there's a fourth possibilty that theyd just blow through the gas giants for raw materials and ignore us. Kind of like a grown up pumpimg gas into his car would ignore a kid across the street yelling at him to come visit.  If something the size of the death star stopped by jupiter and stole a billion tons of hydrogen ever month for ten years, we still wouldn't have a vessel designed, built launched and arrived to meet it. We'd just be shouting over radio<

Most likely scenario in my opinion.

> [RPA] Arocalex wrote:

> All the alien abductions are stupid, beyond belief. Although i do believe there are more intelligent sentiant beings(if thats the 'cool' word) then us.

What i'm wondering is, where did those first video messages reach till now?<

Radio/Television waves travel at the speed of light, and it has been almost 150 years since the first radio broadcast, so anyone on a planet with a radio/TV that is inside 150 Ly knows we are here.

To put that in perspective:
This is everything within 10 lightyears (1pc=3Ly) http://www.solstation.com/stars/s10ly2.jpg

20 lightyears http://www.solstation.com/stars/s20ly2.jpg

30 lightyears (10pc) http://www.solstation.com/images/10pc-t2w.gif

Getting crowded, huh?

This is 100 lightyears (only giants ans subgiants are mapped) http://www.solstation.com/images/100ly2g.gif

In short, our messages currently cover 16000 to 32000 stars.