1237a5be9611
tech



Hello Mike - 

MR> --- on the topic of "Columbia's 'computers'" 

CA>> Money is not a factor in the equation of life and death
CA>> for me. I understand that it is for other people and they
CA>> should pray we never cross swords over it or that I am old
CA>> and they are young. 

MR> So then you're a rank sentimental and an idealist... 

"Rank?" I seriously doubt I am 'rank'. 

I would say I'm a fair man but vicious. ;-) 

--8<--cut 

MR> Everyone is out for their own greedy self interest
MR> otherwise car makers wouldn't be building monster SUV's
MR> that don't comply with car safety rules due to a loophole,
MR> and are prone to roll over and likely to kill their
MR> occupants as well as pollute the planet causing even more
MR> death and disease! 

Yes but if there were more of me they'd all be dead by now. ;-) 

CA>> If the shuttle has square windows it's another indication
CA>> they are behind the times and not really paying enough
CA>> attention to their 'craft' (aerospace design?). No I don't
CA>> think the windows did in the shuttle. When the day comes
CA>> one of the others snaps in half you can email me an
CA>> apology though. 

MR> Well, not exactly square, they do have rounded corners of
MR> course, but the windows are rather sort of triangle-like,
MR> or trapazoidish. Sure, I'll apologize but I think you are
MR> over concerned about that... 

I wasn't until the documentary about airframe failures and
aging convinced me I should be. 

MR>> I agree it's a white elephant to a point but it's needed
MR>> for a lot of reasons least of which are the spinoffs. 

CA>> What spinoffs can you cite recently? Within the last
CA>> decade even? 

MR> Well, at very least in the maintenance of the Hubble Space
MR> Telescope. Newer rocket engines were developed for the
MR> Shuttle than can be used elsewhere. The heatshield tile
MR> ceramic materials are now used to line metals in engines.
MR> The fly by wire autopilot avionics now becoming commonplace
MR> in the airline industry. These are just a scant few of the
MR> technical spinoffs of the program. There are in reality
MR> many more. 

Everything you've mentioned so far only benefits the rich
(corps are incl in 'the rich'). For the money spent none of
this is sufficient reward even to the rich (if it was their
money being spent). 

MR>> Realize that 1 billion dollars doesn't just go up in
MR>> smoke, it paid people's jobs, but much more importantly
MR>> kept an infrastructure capability alive. 

CA>> So you're saying that while innocent children and the
CA>> elderly starve to death, freeze to death, and live like
CA>> animals we need a welfare for the middle class that we
CA>> disguise as our 'space program'? 

CA>> I disagree. 

MR> One can't rationalize knowledge in terms of innocents and
MR> victims. 

See? You've already forgotten what I told you. This politico
smoke screen would result in many deaths and not the innocent
ones they had anticipated either. ;-) 

--8<--cut 

MR> If we didn't do the basic research then we would never know
MR> if the square of the hypotenuse was ever useful for
MR> anything. 

That was a nerdy Greek if I recall and no one had to die for it. 

MR> It's the hard fought acquired ability to do something about
MR> it that frees us all from the tyranny of fate. It's in the
MR> hope that people in future won't starve, freeze to death,
MR> and die of diseases. 

Volunteer for drug testing somewhere then and die for the rest
of us. 

>
>        ,                                        ,
>      o/      Charles_Angelich  - DOS Ghost       \o       ,
>       __o/
>     / >  www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/faf/  < \   __\__
 

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