Carl Sagan

I think it’s largely the thought of seeing Sheff Wed and Plymouth, two sides who looked better than the current Derby side, struggle to hit 50 points in the Championship.
I see us currently weaker than teams like QPR, Huddersfield and Wednesday so we will need to have a decent summer (or a manager who can excel on a budget) to give us a chance next season. 

I think this underestimates AI and how it will advance. Soon it will be able to bring up children here, so in decades/centuries it would be far more capable of doing this for a new space colony. If Human and machine minds work together, we'll be able to start spreading across the Galaxy (and beyond according to some work).
[And, on one weird evening, a very friendly Anne Hathaway pulled me out of the audience in her one-woman New York Theatre play (she was playing a remote drone pilot in the USAF) and we had simulated sex before she went on to be pregnant and then had our baby! Very happy to oblige 😂😂 Maybe there'll always be a friendly Anne Hathaway to bring up children?] 

I’m just thinking if you don’t have a friendly Anne Hathaway because there is no option other than to send the space ship on a red dwarf style journey spanning thousands of years (unless you had like one generational family of in bred caretakers on the ship), then you’d need to work out a way of automatically raising embryos into a civilisation of children, without it descending into lord of the flies. That’s going to be a pretty shitty childhood at best. And with absolutely no way for us sending the ship to know how it would turn out. Seems like it would be theoretically possible, but it all seems a bit unethical. Stupid ethics getting in the way of a good bit of science. If nothing else I’ve come up with the plot of a decent sci fi book. If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my study. 

I know FTL travel is pure sci fi, but I guess with enough progress in automation tech, would it be possible to shoot off an unmanned ship full of frozen embryos and hundreds of years later have that ship populate a new colony light years away.
i wonder what the ethics would be in that. 

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

This is Derby we're talking about - I still wouldn't feel safe. Has to be 4 points clear for that.

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

You don't want to pop the cork too early!

The thing that Warne has really achieved is a colossal improvement in both our attacking and defending set pieces. 
Obviously the stats show the effectiveness off the attacking corners and free kicks - I believe we've scored more than any other of the 92 clubs.
However, I reckon the improvement in the defending from corners has been even better. For so many years, I've sat in the West Stand watching us defend set pieces with my hands over my eyes in terror. They had the same effect as Doctor Who had on six year old me. Now I'm relaxed enough to carry on a conversation. I expect us not to concede. 
I actually think that improvement is a significant reason why automatic promotion is in our hands with two games to go.

Never understood us not signing Matt Derbyshire early in his career when he was obviously going to become a good player.

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

Been away for ever and find no one has updated this thread. After today's win against Orient and the other results, we can't finish lower than 4th. Come on you Rams!

All great experience for Brown. Make him hungry for success. 

Got his own song already.
Blimey! Max Bird still hasn't got one and probably never will now.
Pleased for Brown, though. Hope he's leading our line in a couple of seasons.

Love the song. 
"They" (the Mars naysayers) might have said that about radiation, but they're completely wrong. 
We're protected from some radiation on Earth because of our planet's magnetic field, created by a molten iron dynamo at Earth's core. Mars used to have a similar dynamo, but being smaller it cooled to the extent it no longer works. However, there are LOTS of solutions, some of which will be deployed at different times along the colonization timeline. 
Due to its historic magnetic field, areas on Mars already have a stronger magnetic field than Earth's and might be sites for early settlement. Then, rock provides shielding. Other early settlements will be built inside collapsed lava tubes or into the walls of canyons with rock above. Water is also a great radiation shield, so some cities will have lakes built into their roofs, with fish etc for food swimming above the settler's heads. 
Overall, the risk from radiation only leads to a small increase in cancer risk, but even so Mars genetic engineers will work to reduce this. Then, moving on, it will be possible to create an artificial magnetic field for Mars. One suggestion is to place a large magnet at the gravitationally stable point between the Sun and Mars (called L1). A magnet only a quarter the size of those already in use at the Large Hadron Collider at Cern would probably suffice. We just need to work out how to power it at that location. So these problems are surmountable. And definitely not on the critical path to Mars colonization. 
 

Should have called this thread something around Dajaune Brown - I thought at the time, other key U21s would be out on loan.
Dajaune played the full game yesterday as Gateshead lost 4-2 away at Ebbsfleet. A Gateshead central defender was sent off after 5 minutes, so Brown's striking partner was sacrificed meaning it was probably a tough game. No goals for our boy, but Gateshead were 1-2 up at half-time. Guessing they ran out of steam.

All the very best to you and Leanne. And to your great nephews. Life's sometimes heartbreaking and difficult, and often complicated. But then also filled with joy. And I hope yours are filled with much joy in the future. 

Or you could say the sheer abject absurdity of religion. How crazy. When I was younger it looked as if we were heading into a new golden age of rationalism, but instead we're returning to medieval thinking. You're a professional athlete but because of an imaginary being you're not allowed to eat or drink while playing professional sport. Yeah, let's all applaud that.
Could easily have been a red. What on earth was the ref playing at not booking him.
And what a goal from Ward!!!!!!

What a massive Monday and Tuesday coming. How we feel going into this game will partly be determined by what happens the day before. Normally in League One I'd say only wins matter, but if Bolton don't win I'd be OK with a draw here. The extra day works in our favour in terms of recovery time, which makes me think Warne will pick an unchanged team for this one. Which would be:
Wildsmith
Wilson     Nelson     Cashin     Sibley
Ward     Adams     Smith     Blackett-Taylor
Mendez-Laing     Washington
Bench: Loach  Robinson  Hourihane  Thompson  Fornah  Collins  Waghorn
I hate seeing Sibbo so far back, but at least when you look at Saturday's positions on WhoScored, the "back four" was actually more like Nelson, Cashin, Adams and Smith, with Wilson and Sibley much further forward. This selection means not rushing Collins back into the starting lineup - we need to be careful with him.
On a side note, what an amazing few days it's been for young defender Keilen Robinson, playing for England U19s and then making the first team bench. Congrats to him!

Caught the local bus down to Portsmouth harbour this morning and asked the bus driver if he'd accept my gold card. He said, "From God's own county - definitely!" He was wearing a Derby County lanyard and turns out he is from Allestree! Got to be a good omen, that. 

On the plate. Anything else is an abomination.

Very disappointing (if predictable) results today with all three chasers winning. Lose at Portsmouth and automatic promotion is out of our hands. Sadly, with us scraping wins while Bolton bagged 5 each against Oxford and Reading, our goal difference can no longer be relied upon if the final points tally ends up being tied.
What does that mean for this game? Obviously we all want to win, but I expect we will set up as a "must not lose" game and be quite cautious. So one of the strikers (NML/CBT/Wash) drops our for a midfielder (who will probably be Hourihane). I expect it will be CBT who makes way. Warne would take a draw now, and I think so would I. Then we remain masters of our destiny with just 4 games to go.

I think momentum is so important in football. Last time we crawled out of the third tier under Arthur, we won the league the next season and went straight into the top flight. Look at Ipswich this season, top of League One and full-on competing for promotion, while Wednesday and Argyle didn't maintain their momentum and may very well come back down.
If we go up, and if the mindset is then just to survive for a year, we will likely be relegated.