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Shuttle Politics
TheLoneCabbage writes "Texas Rep. Joe Barton has been quoted today in an AP article saying that he is in favor of grounding the remaining fleet of shuttles. 'If we have to stop manned spaceflight for five or 10 years, then so be it.' The fine gentleman from Texas displays his outstanding grasp of statistics and engineering stating that 1 failure in every 62.5 flights is NOT acceptable. According to OpenSecrets.org this may have more to do with Joe's friends than how much attention he paid to his math teachers." There's also an interesting piece on testimony given by the first Shuttle program manager.
Why rush it? According to his math in another 187.5 flights, the shuttle fleet will be destroyed anyways.
Trolling is a art,
There are two schools of thought in Texas:
1) Edukayshun (phonetic manglings).
2) Mathematical Miscalculation.
I think they are planning on adding a third one in 2004:
3) Piracy Through Accounting
-Cyc
/.'s 10 Millionth
Tang. I mean if the shuttle program is stopped, will there still be the ever present supply of Tang still be available?
If we can get it so that the shuttles are built, launched, and landed in West Virginia, and renamed as well (i.e, "Senator's Bird"), we can get the program more than adequately funded as a pork program by Senator Robert Byrd.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Auto and plane stats are given as deaths per N miles. Now that would be an interesting and possibly more valid statistic. Shuttle deaths or even Space program deaths *per mile*!
Could it possibly be that we've just gotten soft, and started to take space flight for granted (which would be good in it's own way)? Is it just that the fucking baby-boomers have no spine?
Dude, are you saying people should risk their lives to do stupid little experiments with ant farms and shit? Come on.
There's nothing wrong with taking a breather and trying to minimize risk. It's obvious these shuttle people are totally incompetent.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
... I am ashamed this guy is from Texas.
Do I get to appear naked on the cover of Entertainment Magazine now or what?
I came to the datacenter drunk with a fake ID, don't you want to be just like me?
No, you use tried and true Chevy/Ford/Toyota trucks.
That's what I'm waiting for before I go into space: The Ford F-950 Space Shuttle Heavy Duty (King Ranch edition, with comfortable all-leather interior). =)
From The Simpsons:
Tom: It's a lovely day for a launch, here, live at Cape Canaveral, at
the lower end of the Florida Peninsula, and the purpose of
today's mission is truly, really electrifying.
Man 2: That's correct, Tom. The lion's share of this flight will be
devoted to the study of the effects of weightlessness on tiny
screws.
Tom: Unbelievable, and just imagine the logistics of weightlessness.
And of course, this could have literally millions of applications
here on Earth -- everything from watchmaking to watch repair.
Homer: Boring.
[tries to switch channels, but the batteries fall from the
remote control]
No! The batteries!
Tom: Now let's look at the crew a little.
Man 2: They're a colorful bunch. They've been dubbed "the Three
Musketeers". Heh heh heh --
Tom: And we laugh legitimately. There's a mathematician, a different
_kind_ of mathematician, and a statistician.
Homer: Make it stop! [panics]
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
Correction: Our stupid country spent 300Bn NOT destroying Iraq.
We could have turned the sand to glass at a much lower cost. Why didn't we? Because we're saving ourNUKEs for FRANCE!!
You were 80% angel, 10% demon. The rest was hard to explain. - Over The Rhine
"Math in a song is good."-Linford
People who breathe oxygen have a 100% chance of dying at some point.
Hold your breath! Boycott oxygen!
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?