ErsatzVerkehr

Ahhh - now it makes so much more sense. :-)

The Google etymology thing (I didn't even know it existed - just search for "stuff etymology" and you get a nice little graph) tells me that the word "stuff" came to English from Greek (stuphein) via Old French (estoffe). So maybe it is not correct to say it's not a French-derived word?

But it's also present in German- stoff means something like "material". Amusingly, there's a wikipedia article titled "List of stoffs". The elements have names like Wasserstoff = water stuff = hydrogen. In the attached essay (which claims to be written without German derivatives), it seems strange to prefer "waterstuff" to the very Greek "hydrogen"... ?

It always pains me to see the space program justified on the basis of its spin-offs. The main (civilian) problems that the space program solved were in getting to space, putting a man on the moon, developing a re-usable orbiter, and building the space station. Similarly, if we really want to solve problems of energy or hunger, why not create a dedicated alternative-energy or anti-poverty 'Apollo program'?

One of the greatest engines of technological development in the 20th century was WWII. Fortunately few people argue for new wars by citing the potential for spin-off technologies. But the logic would be about as good. (Arguably the space program itself was a product of the Cold War.)

Aside from that - the linked article doesn't say anything about spin-offs. It says that very prosaic, existing technology for daily life on Earth was adapted for use in the space program.

> Is it 500EUR per week or per month?

I LOL'd at this - only someone in the SF bubble could mistake EUR 500 for a weekly rent.

My one-bedroom apartment in Germany is around EUR 350 per month.

Do you really consider the iPhone 4/4S obsolete? To me this sounds like an unrealistic idea of real-world upgrade schedules. The iPhone 4S was released in October 2011. I would hope that a device of cost O($1000) would last more than 2.5 years.

Important details are really hidden on the webpage. For example, who are the mentors? Second: unlike the Hacker School, it's not free. Both of these items should be addressed under "The Essentials".

> A nautical mile at the pole would be quite short, a nautical mile at the equator would be quite long.

No, this is emphatically not the case. You're confusing a minute of curvature -- a minute along a great circle path -- with a minute of latitude.

"Successful people affirm the consequent" - Not sure what you mean here; you're linking to a description of a logical fallacy.

> Why not have an atomic (nuclear) battery that will be able to send out sonic pings for a year?

Are you really proposing to have every commercial airliner fly around with a relatively large lump of plutonium?

This article makes no sense.