Utterly pointless stuff

Still waters

Have you anything that really strikes you as being beyond useless, my big WTF is that all about has to be space exploration.
When I think of the huge amount of resources, energy and billions being spent on taking pictures of black hole hundreds of thousands of miles away it just strikes me as a big swinging dick contest, mostly between countries that can ill afford to spend billions on sending rockets to take pictures of Mars when the money they waste could be put into education or health, or in the case of India trying to improve the lives of the poorest people on the planet living in slums.
Is there any huge gains to be made for mankind by these missions or is it just the attitude of , we can, therefore we will.

(yes, utterly pointless thread)

Kevin Finnerty

Christ. Smoking or popping?

Atlantic Dawn

Ireland giving aid to any country with a space program or nuclear weapons is completely pointless.

Jessie Belle

Kevin Finnerty wrote: »

Christ. Smoking or popping?

I get popping and smoking but whats wrong with Christ!?

looksee

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Ireland giving aid to any country with a space program or nuclear weapons is completely pointless.

Do we?

McDermotX

Honestly...........I sometimes think people actually think the money spent on space exploration and discovery is literally loaded onto a rocket and shot into space.

The Orb

Ray D'Arcy

Kevin Finnerty

Jessie Belle wrote: »

I get popping and smoking but whats wrong with Christ!?

He doesn't listen.

Arghus

I'm a sports fan, but I often find it amazing that it's covered and pored over to the extent that it is. Sports reporting must take up at least a third if not half of all "news" across all sorts of formats and media, when at the end of the day it's just games and doesn't really mean all that much.

Tacklebox

I remember buying a load of fishing hooks online and they were utterly pointless.

Asking for directions in Kerry is pointlessly futile, as I always end up going in the wrong direction anyhow.

But I like the OP now and again come up with a thought and its pointlessly expressing it without a sharp response....

They do have a point.....

Still waters are usually deep

corner of hells

Oxygen masks on airliner's , probably lifebelts too.

riffmongous

Hundreds of thousands of miles? You've got a lot to learn about interstellar distances my friend

riffmongous

Buy you're actually pretty right, although I wouldn't say space exploration, rather the weapons industry is an absolutely gigantic waste of money.. literally burning billions and billions

Guy:Incognito

Still waters wrote: »

Have you anything that really strikes you as being beyond useless, my big WTF is that all about has to be space exploration.
When I think of the huge amount of resources, energy and billions being spent on taking pictures of black hole hundreds of thousands of miles away it just strikes me as a big swinging dick contest, mostly between countries that can ill afford to spend billions on sending rockets to take pictures of Mars when the money they waste could be put into education or health, or in the case of India trying to improve the lives of the poorest people on the planet living in slums.
Is there any huge gains to be made for mankind by these missions or is it just the attitude of , we can, therefore we will.

(yes, utterly pointless thread)

People in Spain, Portugal and elsewhere were probably saying the same about 500 years ago when lads were heading off in boats......

Guy:Incognito

riffmongous wrote: »

Hundreds of thousands of miles? You've got a lot to learn about interstellar distances my friend

But sure you can see space. It cant be that far away

Mahogany Gaspipe

Hollywood and the fashion industry.

wakka12

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

People in Spain, Portugal and elsewhere were probably saying the same about 500 years ago when lads were heading off in boats......

But they thought there was other land to find, resources to find

What is the point of space travel? We know for almost for certain that there are no useful resources, or any intelligent life or anywhere liveable for humans within reach with our current technology or any technology of the near future, so it is just going to look at rocks and darkness

Like its very interesting but Id have to agree its so wasteful when there are so many ways the money could be better spent here

riffmongous

riffmongous wrote: »

Hundreds of thousands of miles? You've got a lot to learn about interstellar distances my friend

Still waters run deep.

Day Lewin

Egyptology with mummies and pyramids and scarabs and pharaohs and all that. I mean, why?

Atlantic Dawn

looksee wrote: »

Do we?

Yes to India and Pakistan, both countries throw money around like confetti on arms.

backspin.

Still waters wrote: »

my big WTF is that all about has to be space exploration.

That would be an existential matter..

backspin.

backspin. wrote: »

That would be an existential matter..

YES.

Junkyard Tom

The obsession with 'Royal' families. Get ta fuck with that shite.

prinzeugen

wakka12 wrote: »

But they thought there was other land to find, resources to find

What is the point of space travel? We know for almost for certain that there are no useful resources, or any intelligent life or anywhere liveable for humans within reach with our current technology or any technology of the near future, so it is just going to look at rocks and darkness

Like its very interesting but Id have to agree its so wasteful when there are so many ways the money could be better spent here

This is the problem with folks today. Its a waste if it does not benefit them directly.

Gone are the days of individuals and countries racing to be the highest, fastest, first etc.

I think we should stop wasting money on useless AI for everything and start spending money on getting humans further and faster into space.

Driverless vehicles is the biggest waste of cash. They are not going to happen.

dxhound2005

Education. Utterly pointless judging by what I'm reading.

Kevin Finnerty

dxhound2005 wrote: »

Education. Utterly pointless judging by what I'm reading.

Dont be so harsh on yourself. You didn't need the space after the full stop.

alchemist33

riffmongous wrote: »

Buy you're actually pretty right, although I wouldn't say space exploration, rather the weapons industry is an absolutely gigantic waste of money.. literally burning billions and billions

We're going to need those weapons once the aliens we've alerted to our presence with our space exploration show up!

4068ac1elhodqr

prinzeugen wrote: »

I think we should stop wasting money on useless AI for everything and start spending money on getting humans further and faster into space.

Driverless vehicles is the biggest waste of cash. They are not going to happen.

Until 2030c, and sure that's eons away.
By then it'll be all 'dey (ai/automation) tuk {48.5%} of our jobs'.

There's an ai-bot currently working on the optimum algorithm for cold nuclear fusion, ah sure what use is that, putting all those coal powerstation folks out of work and offering unlimited free global energy.

Yes, giving money to India for 'space projects' should be restricted. Well, until the reduce their 22% poverty rate a tad (much worse for ladies, and youths). Think 'sacred' cows there have more rights, that some lower casts of women.

Other pointless things: Cricket.

And sports 'stars' in suits. Look just get the ball in the hoop/net and when the whistle blows all your 'important' work is done, and can go back to the leisure wear and playstation.

prinzeugen

Liliana Old-fashioned Self-confidence wrote: »

Until 2030c, and sure that's eons away.
By then it'll be all 'dey (ai/automation) tuk {48.5%} of our jobs'.

There's an ai-bot currently working on the optimum algorithm for cold nuclear fusion, ah sure what use is that, putting all those coal powerstation folks out of work and offering unlimited free global energy.
.

The head of Google said recently it won't happen. There are far to many issues to over with true self driving cars. They struggle on pre planned routes!

I can remember watching a film from the late 40s/early 50s about nuclear power.

"It will be to cheap to meter"... Yeah right. Fusion is the way forward but you will still pay for it. Like wind power. Should be cheaper right??

Governments should be responsible for tech development not Google or Musk. They are not doing it for humanity. They are doing it for $$$$.

And coal power stations are actually very, very efficient today. One major by-product is flyash. Same properties as cement. And cement production is the most polluting, energy wasting, inefficient process that we still do.

Still waters

riffmongous wrote: »

Hundreds of thousands of miles? You've got a lot to learn about interstellar distances my friend

Agreed, but I've no willingness to learn about something that can be proven with fairly good accuracy to have absolutely **** all going for it except the fact it's largely black, if it can be seen from a big telescope in offaly there's nothing in it so why bother.

So how many miles are we talking about ?

angel eyes 2012

Digital photo frames. They were popular about 10 years ago and even then I thought what a complete waste of energy and time.

Fourier

Still waters wrote: »

Agreed, but I've no willingness to learn about something that can be proven with fairly good accuracy to have absolutely **** all going for it except the fact it's largely black, if it can be seen from a big telescope in offaly there's nothing in it so why bother.

So how many miles are we talking about ?

The closest black hole is V616 Monocerotis which is 19,399,463,731,505,905,512 miles away.

The reason from a scientific perspective they're looked at is that they are one of the few places where you can observe and measure what happens when time and space become severely distorted, it's not just because they're black.

From a practical perspective you have to consider how interlinked science is. Although one thing might seem useless pragmatically figuring out the technology needed to observe it often requires improving technology in ways that are useful to other areas. Also little known to most people is that large scientific projects make money.

For example LIGO which observes gravitational waves from black holes has been profitable to the local area, profitable in a larger sense to the US economy from the amount of programmers and engineers that have been trained to a very high level and went on to work in private companies. Also the companies that supplied LIGO had to improve their lasers, software, algorithms, optics technology, chemical bonding etc to an extent that does have practical benefits.

A list of patents and technological improvements from LIGO are here (menu on the left): https://www.advancedligo.mit.edu/tech_overview.html

Basically you can't just look purely at a very simplified view of the direct object of study itself for what the practical benefits of a scientific project are. Studying the extremes of the universe pushes our science in ways that are generally beneficial.

kneemos

The Swiss Navy.

Franz Von Peppercorn

wakka12 wrote: »

But they thought there was other land to find, resources to find

What is the point of space travel? We know for almost for certain that there are no useful resources, or any intelligent life or anywhere liveable for humans within reach with our current technology or any technology of the near future, so it is just going to look at rocks and darkness

Like its very interesting but Id have to agree its so wasteful when there are so many ways the money could be better spent here

The money isn’t being burnt as someone pointed out. It flows through the economy.

AndyBoBandy

prinzeugen wrote: »

Driverless vehicles is the biggest waste of cash. They are not going to happen.

But they already happen! There are countless examples of driverless vehicles in operation today from trains to busses to cars.

lbc2019

a broken pencil

AndyBoBandy

AndyBoBandy wrote: »

But they already happen! There are countless examples of driverless vehicles in operation today from trains to busses to cars.

I think what that person means is that it won't catch on.

It does kinda seem like pretty boring technology, in the sense that it's a lot of effort for something that most of us enjoy. How many people here prefer to drive than to be a passenger? I know I do. If driverless cars became affordable, I'd probably (stupidly) buy one and then drive it myself anyway.

I appreciate there is a safety aspect to it. But I'd continue to drive because my instinct would be 'I'm a responsible driver', and so would most people. Which is silly, but here we are.

There are so many more exciting technologies to pursue. This ain't it.

Wanderer78

Franz Von Peppercorn wrote:

The money isn’t being burnt as someone pointed out. It flows through the economy.

Apparently it turns into water, and trickles down, or something

kneemos

Still waters wrote: »

Have you anything that really strikes you as being beyond useless, my big WTF is that all about has to be space exploration.
When I think of the huge amount of resources, energy and billions being spent on taking pictures of black hole hundreds of thousands of miles away it just strikes me as a big swinging dick contest, mostly between countries that can ill afford to spend billions on sending rockets to take pictures of Mars when the money they waste could be put into education or health, or in the case of India trying to improve the lives of the poorest people on the planet living in slums.
Is there any huge gains to be made for mankind by these missions or is it just the attitude of , we can, therefore we will.

(yes, utterly pointless thread)

The Moon is the current go to destination. Several Governments and private expeditions are planned,even Israel sent a rocket recently I think.

wexandproud

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

But sure you can see space. It cant be that far away

that reminds me of the yarn about two lads sitting on a hill in kerry one night ..
hey paa , says the first lad , which is further away , donegal or the moon . dont be so thick came the reply , shur ya cant even see donegal from here

Franz Von Peppercorn

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Apparently it turns into water, and trickles down, or something

Well pz was in favour of government spending.

kowloon

kneemos wrote: »

The Moon is the current go to destination. Several Governments and private expeditions are planned,even Israel sent a rocket recently I think.

Nice to see a rocket leaving, they usually land there.

looksee

The closest black hole is V616 Monocerotis which is 2,463,731,893,901,250,000,127 miles away.

Numbers like this. First of all how could a distance like that be measured to an accuracy of 7 miles.

Second, how do you say it? (We just spent about 5 minutes we will never get back figuring how you can express it in words).

the beer revolu

Those child proof electric socket covers.

If a child has the ability to open the socket with something in the earth opening and then get something conductive into each of the other openings, I think they probably have the ability to just pull out the pointless cover.

Franz Von Peppercorn

looksee wrote: »

The closest black hole is V616 Monocerotis which is 2,463,731,893,901,250,000,127 miles away.

Numbers like this. First of all how could a distance like that be measured to an accuracy of 7 miles.

Second, how do you say it? (We just spent about 5 minutes we will never get back figuring how you can express it in words).

Once you get past a billion the names are based on Latin roots for numbers. Trillion, Quadrillion, Quintillion, Sextillion, Septillion etc.

So working backwards it’s

127 +
0 thousands +
250 million +
901 billion +
893 trillion +
731 Quadrillion +
463 Quintillion +
2 sextillion

Or in order

Two sextillion, four hundred and sixty three Quintillion, seven hundred and thirty one Quadrillion, eight hundred and ninety three trillion, nine hundred and one billion, two hundred and fifty million and one hundred and twenty seven miles away.

I am stuck on a bus, yes.

Fourier

Will Franz Von Peppercorn forgive me if I say I forgot to divide by 127 at the end!

Distance is actually 19,399,463,731,505,905,512 miles.

So it starts off with only quintillions, no sextillions.

Franz Von Peppercorn

Fourier wrote: »

Will Franz Von Peppercorn forgive me if I say I forgot to divide by 127 at the end!

Distance is actually 19,399,463,731,505,905,512 miles.

So it starts off with only quintillions, no sextillions.

Forgiven! It passed time on the bus either way :-)

dxhound2005

That programme on BBC television. Utterly Pointless.

Paddy@CIRL

It's not really what we've found by exploring space, but what we've created by wanting to explore space. This is a pretty non-exhaustive list of things that were created because of the space program:

• Cordless Tools
• Baby Formula
• Water Purification
• Artiifical Limbs
• CAT Scans
• LEDs
• The Computer Mouse
• Jaws of Life
• Foil Blankets
• Athletic Shoes
• Land Mine Removal
• Camera Phones

And a considerable amount more which you can find on your nearest search engine.

Ger Roe

Schools and solar panels....

A current government policy is to upgrade as many school buildings as possible, to fit solar panels for electrical energy generation by 2030.

A report this week on a school in Sutton that has already done it, featured a young TY student pointing out some very obvious lack of co-ordinated planning... the high sun period in this country is june, july and august, the same time that schools are closed..... and we don't yet have a process in this country where private generators can sell unused energy back to the grid.

A spokesperson from Sustainable Energy Ireland said that the school solar energy programme is already way behind schedule... like every other environmental and energy saving policy..... so what exactly does SEAI do?

In it's current guise, the schools solar energy programme is a handy headline grabber and nothing more.... utterly pointless, just like the SEAI that continually tells us how far behind various environmental targets we are.

the_pen_turner

the beer revolu wrote: »

Those child proof electric socket covers.

If a child has the ability to open the socket with something in the earth opening and then get something conductive into each of the other openings, I think they probably have the ability to just pull out the pointless cover.

they are even worse than that.
they bypass the inbuilt safety system and allow objects to the put into the live conections.
how they are allowed to be made and sold is beyond me. literly the most stupid product even made