MK controversy thread

[randomq]

Merry Christmas to all.

Matthew 7:6

[TomK]

There's a new record for cycling up Mauna Kea.

"Larry Warbasse ended 2023 on a high – literally – after setting a new Strava KoM on one of the world's toughest climbs.

The Mauna Kea volcano climb in Hawaii is 89.5km long, beginning at sea-level and topping out at a dizzying 4,214 metres. Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale rider Warbasse completed it in 4.59.04, taking just 15 seconds off the previous best time set by former pro rider Phil Gaimon in 2016.

"They are the only two riders to have broken the five-hour barrier for the climb, which averages 4.7%, with a final 21km averaging 9%. There is even a 10km dirt section that averages 12% and comes at the 3,000m altitude mark that Warbasse was forced to walk at times. No wonder this climb has the super-tough reputation it does."

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/larry...strava-kom"

I can't imagine how fit you have to be to do this and it is one hell of an achievement if it turns out to be true. On the other hand, I've watched some videos about other cyclists attempting this and they often call it "summiting" Mauna Kea. Does anyone know of anyone who has truly "summited" Mauna Kea? I've never seen anyone cycle up the trails to the summit.

Someone will likely call it desecration once they learn about this, but I'll leave that to others.

[terracore]

Cremated remains on the moon is "desecration" to indigenous peoples on Earth who have never been there:

"...Also onboard, courtesy of the space memorial firms Elysium Space and Celestis, are cremated human remains and DNA, some of which belong to Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. The latter payloads have proved divisive. In a letter to Nasa, Buu Nygren, the president of the Navajo Nation, emphasised that the moon was sacred to many Indigenous cultures, and said depositing the material was “tantamount to desecration”. In response, Culbert stressed that Peregrine was a commercial mission and that Nasa was not in a position to tell Astrobotic what they could and could not fly."

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024...n-the-moon

I hinted at something like this on a post a few years ago that I'm not going to look up. The gist was that every mountain is sacred to somebody, so agreeing that there should be no telescopes on one of them means agreeing there should be no telescopes on any of them. And sacred ground isn't limited to mountains, there should be no telescopes anywhere on Earth, and now, all the celestial bodies are being claimed as sacred and subject to "desecration".

The slope just gets more and more slippery.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

the moon was sacred

Good luck with chaining themselves to the cattle grate on Lunar Trajectory Access Road.  Maybe they can use hot air balloons at 100,000 feet?  Probably even less successful than the Haleakala Highway blockade on Maui.

[terracore]

Maybe the guy has a beef with Star Trek?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Paradise_Syndrome

[randomq]

Ironic the paradise planet's religion was based around technology that could detect and deflect asteroids.

Also ironic that people that consider places *they* left their remains to be sacred consider other people's remains to be desecration.

It's almost like none of this makes any sense!

[TomK]

I hinted at something like this on a post a few years ago that I'm not going to look up.  The gist was that every mountain is sacred to somebody, so agreeing that there should be no telescopes on one of them means agreeing there should be no telescopes on any of them.  And sacred ground isn't limited to mountains, there should be no telescopes anywhere on Earth, and now, all the celestial bodies are being claimed as sacred and subject to "desecration".

The slope just gets more and more slippery.

Couldn't agree more. The moon is important for some, as is the sun. Others think the planets are important and have a big say in our lives. It doesn't matter if a new planet is discovered in the 1930s, they add that to their list of important planets, but it's no longer a planet because there are thousands if not millions of objects like it.

Maybe space itself is where people can go and do stuff although then I'm sure some creationists will say god made space so it's sacred as well. Even if it isn't, we'd have to launch a spacecraft from a place that's sacred to someone. OK, build a launch pad in the middle of the ocean. Oh no, water is sacred as well. And clouds. So that doesn't work either.

[randomq]

If any god cares enough they can intervene. None have.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

This seems like as good a place as any, to post the article below, and continue the conversation about Mauna Kea and the future of astronomy there.  It’s almost as if there are two sides to the issue, and neither one has any idea the other exists.  One seems delighted to return the mountain to the Stone Age, except for the roads on which they can drive up and shovel snow into the back of their pickup trucks during winter storms.  The other wants to spend $40 million to train students to, to, what exactly?  Do they have an ace up their sleeve?  We can only hope.

On Sunday, the University of Hawaiʻi announced that it is in the initial stages of creating a space engineering and instrument development center on the the UH-Hilo campus, at facilities at the UH Institute for Astronomy. 

UH received $2 million in state funds to start the initial design of the facility, which officials estimate will cost about $30 to $40 million to build. University students “will receive valuable hands-on training at the center producing instruments for space-based missions and ground-based telescopes,” officials say.

https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2024/...lo-campus/

[MyManao]

If any god cares enough they can intervene. None have.

Well, maybe one has..

Moon landing attempt by US company appears doomed..

From: https://apnews.com/article/moon-landing-...fbf9a7cade

The first U.S. moon landing attempt in more than 50 years appeared to be doomed after a private company’s spacecraft developed a “critical” fuel leak just hours after Monday’s launch... ..Besides flying experiments for NASA, Astrobotic drummed up its own freight business, packing the 6-foot-tall (1.9-meter-tall) Peregrine lander with everything from a chip of rock from Mount Everest and toy-size cars from Mexico that will catapult to the lunar surface and cruise around, to the ashes and DNA of deceased space enthusiasts, including “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke...