Nothing strange about it. Here is where you are wrong: I never said that the overhead power lines system is superior in anyway.
I only pointed out the uncomfortable facts that underground power lines are not as advantageous as you tried to posit and you did it from ignorance at that. The best argument for underground power lines is aesthetics and any other advantages over the alternate are slight. If some communities can afford it they can get it. But that does not mean the method is inherently superior and so overwhelmingly that its argument alone will compel others to obey. So far, the sway goes to the overhead power lines method.
Please...Am not interested in detailing how certain safety codes can or may not violate aesthetics sensibilities. There is no way you can convince everyone that there is a definitive standard to measure how something 'look nice'. What is 'nice' to one may be offensive to another. It must be that German desire to control.
That is funny and revealing how the intellectual dishonest can speak contradictory things at the same time without knowing they do it. If you cannot tell the future then how can you say what we have now is a failure? Is it a fact simply because you pronounce 'Fact is' with no supporting evidence? You sound like Edison when he called Tesla's alternating current (AC) theory as: '...splendid, but they are utterly impractical.'
So let us continue...
Since you had to concede that you have no credible arguments against the reusable space vehicle concept, we will move on to
HOW the Space Shuttle is reusable. We can start with aerodynamic exploitations. If you assert that the Space Shuttle is a 'failure' then give us a credible explanation as to why aerodynamic exploitations is a failed method when said reusable vehicle is in atmosphere. Give us a credible speculation as to why the Chinese
WILL NOT go to same route. Please consult in private with the Chinese members regarding 'Chinese physics' to support your arguments.
This is gonna be good...
I asked you on why
NOT the Apollo moon program is a 'failure' by your simplistic argument and you lamely responded that the rocket idea persisted. What a joke that was.
The Apollo program lasted for 11 years with 10 manned missions to the Moon and back. Manned does not mean landed. Each mission was a total discard, from booster rocket to command module with half of the lunar excursion module (LEM) left on the moon for the landed missions. So if we go by your simplistic argument, since no one have returned to the Moon since Apollo 17 back in Dec 1972, the entire endeavor must be considered a 'failure', but because the Chinese is planning to go to the Moon, the Apollo program must be considered a success. How do we know if the Chinese will use the same methods to land on the Moon? We do not. Given the Chinese penchant for copying successful endeavors, the Chinese will most likely execute the same methods.
Whereas with the Space Shuttle, only the main fuel tank was discarded, the rest recycled and reuse. Conveniently, because no one followed the design, the vehicle is considered a 'failure' just to poke US in the eye.
We do not know if the Chinese will actually make it the Moon, but the Apollo program must remain a success despite absence of follow ups. But for the Space Shuttle, even though the possibility exists that the Chinese will copy the design in the future, for now the Space Shuttle must be a 'failure' in order to make sucking up to the Chinese valid.
The intellectual dishonesty and mental gymnastics are gold medal worthy and I readily yield this podium.
There are two non-financial arguments for calling the Space Shuttle a resounding success:
- Outcome
- Process
Considering the Space Shuttle is first reusable type from humankind on Earth, a total of six orbit worthy vehicles were built and together flew 135 missions. The 'outcome' based argument demonstrated that we can build reusable vehicles, hence, the Space Shuttle is a success.
The 'process' argument is more complex and is even more supportive for the judgement of success. In the process supportive argument, we break the item down to individual components and examine their utility and benefits, immediate and long term. Here is where you completely missed the WW II pilots analogy. So much for that Eurosnob intelligence and sophistication. Each time an experienced combat pilot is reassigned to training new pilots, experiences and knowledge make better a new pilot. Just like how today's cars are much more powerful, safer, and more reliable than when Mercedes and Ford started out in the business.
For example...Each time a shuttle returned to Earth, its structural integrity is examined and one of the many tools use is the classic strain gauge and there were 130 per wing as well as other sites.
Shuttle fueling test on tap Friday | Space News, STS-133, Space Shuttle, International Space Station
Materials and structures do not last forever. The harsh environment of space and the changes in environments a shuttle must undergo, from weightlessness and no atmosphere to weighted with atmosphere, demands that we know as much about their effects as possible. The Space Shuttle is the first reusable space vehicle with wings that must endure extreme cold and heat. Each wing leading edge have 22 temperature sensors to monitor temperature gradients and spread over time. Each wing also have 66 accelerometers to monitor structural movements under reentry stress and each device measures at 20,000 readings/sec. The knowledge that we gained
PER MISSION and
ACCUMULATIVE over 135 missions
WILL BE invaluable for future designs, in materials and structural.
Does China have this kind of data? No? Does the Russians? No as well? But the US does and we will share this knowledge. What a 'failure' the Space Shuttle program turned out to be when for the past 30 years we produced and accumulated this kind of engineering knowledge and insights that China or anyone aspiring space traveling country can use in the future.
The Russians have a lot of knowledge about long duration weightlessness, but having a human being experiencing short term cycling between weightlessness and being weighted produces its own physiological effects and with 135 missions with many astronauts, men and women, we have plenty of data to study and to prepare for future long duration exploration of our solar system.
Does China have this kind of data? Was it China or Russia that made possible space tourism? No. Russia did provided the vehicle for the first space tourist, Dennis Tito, but it was the US with the Space Shuttle data on repeated human cycling between weightlessness and being weighted that gave non-astronaut space travelers like Dennis Tito (2001), Charles Walker (1984), or Christa McAullife (1986) their drastically reduced training to be in space.
About Space Shuttle Discovery
Tito was the first
PAYING non-astronaut in space, in effect, the first space tourist.
Space tourism for non-astronauts is a reality thanks to the US and our Space Shuttles, certainly no thanks to China and Germany. By the way, the word 'cycling' does not mean the stationary exercise bicycle.
Being weightless does not equal to being mass-less and when there is mass, physical forces are in play. Which country have the most experience at using construction tools larger than hand tools in space, as in the robotic arm on the Space Shuttle? China?
The financial argument for the Space Shuttle being a 'failure' is weak from the start by the simple fact that the first of anything will have cost that are non-comparable, or to put it another way, you need a competitor who is also a first attempt to make a valid comparison and judgement, like
IF the Soviets' Buran was running Soviet payloads at the same time the Americans were running ours. The Space Shuttle is a first and to this day have no competitor. If cost is the sole determinant, then the Ford Model T is superior to the Ferrari Testarosa because the T is cheaper to produce and took only two work shifts to build? Probably so in Eurosnob 'logic'.
How much did it cost to build Eiffel Tower? For what purpose? Is there a comparable structure like the Brandenburg Gate elsewhere in the world? Is there a utility to all that ornate carvings on the structure? But since there is nothing else like either the Eiffel Tower and the Brandenburg Gate and since we are operating on Eurosnob 'logic' of cost only, we have to conclude that both structures are spectacular failures. Same for the Lincoln Memorial in the US and Pyramids in Egypt. In fact, the Egyptian pyramids are truly 'failures' because the one we have in Vegas -- The Luxor -- is a gaming resort, got plenty of blinking lights, and is always filled with pretty girls. Or how about the Voyager probe that is at the edge of interstellar space? Since no one followed US, that mean the Voyager probe program is a 'failure' as well.
But if we measure the Space Shuttle program with non-financial metrics then the program is an undeniable success from only 7 vehicles that ended up with 135 launches over 30 yrs. It will take China decades to meet that record, let alone exceed, assuming the US will remain static in space for that long.
So who is really losing the debate now? And yes, it is still
YOU who are comparing the orange against the watermelon.
Germany is the size of what US state and with how many people compare to US?
And am willing to bet you do not know the differences between DC and AC over long distances that affected the decision to go which way, over or buried, back then. I will leave you in suspenders for that.
Am willing to bet that prior to this discussion, you did not know the difference between a transmission line and a distribution line, and that there are serious practical issues and problems associated with both. When I read that comment from you about how 'superior' Europe is with buried power lines, I know right off the bat that you do not know what the hell you were talking about. The engineers could present all kinds of technically sound arguments against one way or the other but the final decision is still political in nature.
The decision to bury power lines in spite of knowing your land is below the water table is not a wise one just because you want your place to 'look nice'. Not all decisions are wise decisions. Levees can fail or be overwhelmed. Plus there is global warming coming to melt all that polar ice so now to deal with that possibility Germany must pay even more to build new overhead lines, right? Looks like the Americans are not so stupid after all.
I know you are desperate to maintain the delusion that somehow you are 'superior' to the Americans on this forum, but the reality is that by latching on to this shallow argument you are no different than the American 'red neck' you so believe you are his better. Your history is filled with wars over economics, bigotry, and petty jealousy. You have great successes as well as great failures, the most recent and spectacular failure was WW II and you had to rely upon the 'inferior' Americans to help you rebuild and to protect you against the Soviets. I have sipped long sessions of coffee just to watch jackbooted German neo-Nazis strut their stuff on the streets. I fought against their ****** literature when their odious beliefs were exported to the US and disseminated to US airmen.
So if you need buried power lines to convince yourself that you are my better, go right on...