"When Obama said he'll cancel Constellation, he crushed the dreams and hopes of MY generation."
Funny, that was my dream growing up in the 70s and 80s and guess what? We are absolutely no closer today than we were when I was five and the Apollo program was cancelled.
The simple fact is this - the US government will NEVER again pay to send people back to the Moon, let alone Mars. It isn't going to happen.
By getting the government out of the rocket building business, this decision will actually IMPROVE the chances of humans going into space to STAY. The next time we go, we'll do it for the best reasons of all - to make money and to live there.
My little anecdote. I graduated in '93 with a BA in CS Applications. I spent three years in school as a student Unix admin and went right to work doing that - for a mere $28k. I spent the 90s switching jobs every 2-3 years (and getting a 10-20% raise each time). When the tech bubble burst in 2001, I had worked my way up to an $87k/yr salary.
Since then, I admittedly haven't had a raise, and I've watched in alarm as more and more jobs were outsourced by my employer to India, then China. I even did a stint as a team lead for a group that was mostly in China (personally rewarding, but professionally alarming).
My response was to specialize in firmware QA work, and then move to a smaller company where the work requires lots of hands-on tasks. I did take a small pay cut, but the bonuses are actually better here than a certain, two-letter acronym computer giant I used to work for. Better still, my employer already 'outsourced' this group from the Bay Area to Colorado, so they aren't likely to move it again anytime soon. My group is actually hiring right now, and we can't find people with the experience we need. That's when you feel more secure.:)
My personal advice would be to avoid web application programming like the plague. Specialize in something requiring deeper knowledge and/or hands-on work (get closer to the hardware), and watch for outsourcing trends. Jump ship whenever it is beneficial to you to do so, and don't worry about your company or your friends you are leaving behind. Be a mercenary and do what is best for you and your career.
You do realize that virtual everyone with experience in developing a working launch vehicle at NASA retired years ago? Your 50 year legacy is dust or in the nursing home.
SpaceX has at least built a rocket that flies and is more than vaporware. Better yet, they did it with ZERO taxpayer dollars, and no government bureaucracy.
What the New Space industry needs right now is more customers, and for that, the gov't is perfect to help jump start the market.
I also grew up as a big fan of the shuttle program, but as I've gotten older and wiser, I can see what a boondoggle this program was. It never lived up to its goals of reusability and was over the projected costs by orders of magnitude.
Frankly, I'm now glad to see the shuttle retiring and I'm greatly looking forward to the impending launch of the first SpaceX Falcon 9 this spring ( http://www.spacex.com/updates.php ) . Space will not be conquered with government programs, but by private enterprise and individuals looking to make a profit and a better life.
There is nothing that can be done with an HLV that can't be done cheaper with multiple smaller (and already/soon existing) rockets. On orbit assembly and refueling are the technologies we should be developing expertise in.
On a brighter note, I've read some more analysis today that says this announcement may in fact be the stake through the heart of the boondoggle that is Ares-1. Hopefully, by the time this hypothetical HLV is designed, the commercial sector will have proven that it isn't even needed.
D*mn it. The government needs to stop competing with the private space industry and get the hell out of the way. We don't even NEED another HLV. This is nothing but a government jobs program for the big NASA districts.
I've stumbled into this problem recently myself, when my ex-wife switched bank accounts, and my payroll department suddenly realized it was illegal for me to be auto-depositing my child support to someone else's account (despite the fact that I've been doing it for four years). Since my ex now lives many hours drive away, and refuses to set up a joint account for deposits, this presents a problem.
After some research, I was forced to conclude that even in late 2009, there is no way in the United States to cheaply and electronically send money to someone else without paying a substantial fee, or involving a third party. PayPal is slow and the ex hates it. A wire transfer costs $20 from my bank. I suppose there is always Western Union, but nothing approaches the cheapness of a check and a 44 cent stamp - it just takes most of a week to get from here to there.
Whether it is AT&T (my carrier) or not, the first wireless company to do this with will drive away smartphone users by the millions. Once that first usage-based bill hits, the cancellations will come rolling in.
I am willing to pay $30/month for mobile Internet. I am NOT willing to pay $100/month in the future for the same usage. I'll either switch phone companies, or failing that, I'll just switch back to a phone without the data plan and do without mobile internet access.
I'll second that. I wore contacts when I was younger, but since then have developed Sjogren's Syndrome and have severely dry eyes. Contact lenses are an absolute impossibility for me (and millions of others). A display in a pair of eyeglasses is obviously much more useful and less intrusive.
The upper stage was clearly hit by the first stage and left tumbling after the separation. In the NASA feed, they had several minutes of continued video from the upper stage with a cartwheeling background, but I'm assuming that it had no attitude control. Glad nobody was riding in it.
Western civilization is like a tsunami, spreading across the world and leaving slavery, poison and death in it's wake.
I can't say this any better than Heinlein did:
"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
I recently had a fibre channel router whose flash had gone bad. This is an embedded Linux system on PPC (Brocade 7500). Basically, the flash was showing a zero size device:
Booting "Fabric Operating System" image. Blk map has an invalid version 0 Blk map has an invalid version 0 ThisOSLoader has an invalid magic number (0x00000000) ThisOSLoader has an invalid magic number (0x00000000) ATA()0x48047's entry point is too small (0x00000000 0x00100000) OSLoader contains no bootable devices.
When I tried to reflash it after booting off the network, there wasn't any/dev/hda device there to format. Replacing the flash card solved the problem.
Unfortunately, the dead flash took with it any prior logs of errors it might have given before it failed, but it certainly wasn't readable after the fact.
Ignoring the anti-American screed there, this is a serious claim, and one, I confess, that I've never heard. Can you provide some reference that the video of Bin Laden admitting he planned the 9/11 attacks has been 'universally decried'??
Moraelin wrote: "Germany largely went pacifist and socialist after the war, mostly as a result of still remembering the war and the far-right dictatorship."
And here I thought that before/during WWII, Germany was ruled by the NAZIs (National SOCIALIST Party)??
It was many years ago, but I used to work as a contractor for the Western Area Power Administration, aka WAPA ( http://www.wapa.gov/ ). This is part of the Department of Energy, and has sister organizations that cover the entire United States. IIRC, they don't build new transmission lines per se, but they help manage them with all of the involved owners. Perhaps the DOE is a good place to start. Has anyone even bothered to look if they are working on this issue?
Why is it that all humanoid robots to date are tiny? Is it just for cost or what? To me, it seems that most people will consider these things to be an expensive toy, as long as they are the size of a toy.
When the robot can take a verbal command to go to the kitchen and get me a beer, _and_ it is tall enough to reach everything in all the cabinets, then it will be useful.
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"When Obama said he'll cancel Constellation, he crushed the dreams and hopes of MY generation."
Funny, that was my dream growing up in the 70s and 80s and guess what? We are absolutely no closer today than we were when I was five and the Apollo program was cancelled.
The simple fact is this - the US government will NEVER again pay to send people back to the Moon, let alone Mars. It isn't going to happen.
By getting the government out of the rocket building business, this decision will actually IMPROVE the chances of humans going into space to STAY. The next time we go, we'll do it for the best reasons of all - to make money and to live there.
Necron69
My little anecdote. I graduated in '93 with a BA in CS Applications. I spent three years in school as a student Unix admin and went right to work doing that - for a mere $28k. I spent the 90s switching jobs every 2-3 years (and getting a 10-20% raise each time). When the tech bubble burst in 2001, I had worked my way up to an $87k/yr salary.
Since then, I admittedly haven't had a raise, and I've watched in alarm as more and more jobs were outsourced by my employer to India, then China. I even did a stint as a team lead for a group that was mostly in China (personally rewarding, but professionally alarming).
My response was to specialize in firmware QA work, and then move to a smaller company where the work requires lots of hands-on tasks. I did take a small pay cut, but the bonuses are actually better here than a certain, two-letter acronym computer giant I used to work for. Better still, my employer already 'outsourced' this group from the Bay Area to Colorado, so they aren't likely to move it again anytime soon. My group is actually hiring right now, and we can't find people with the experience we need. That's when you feel more secure. :)
My personal advice would be to avoid web application programming like the plague. Specialize in something requiring deeper knowledge and/or hands-on work (get closer to the hardware), and watch for outsourcing trends. Jump ship whenever it is beneficial to you to do so, and don't worry about your company or your friends you are leaving behind. Be a mercenary and do what is best for you and your career.
Necron69
You do realize that virtual everyone with experience in developing a working launch vehicle at NASA retired years ago? Your 50 year legacy is dust or in the nursing home.
SpaceX has at least built a rocket that flies and is more than vaporware. Better yet, they did it with ZERO taxpayer dollars, and no government bureaucracy.
What the New Space industry needs right now is more customers, and for that, the gov't is perfect to help jump start the market.
Necron69
Frankly, I'm now glad to see the shuttle retiring and I'm greatly looking forward to the impending launch of the first SpaceX Falcon 9 this spring ( http://www.spacex.com/updates.php ) . Space will not be conquered with government programs, but by private enterprise and individuals looking to make a profit and a better life.
Necron69
There is nothing that can be done with an HLV that can't be done cheaper with multiple smaller (and already/soon existing) rockets. On orbit assembly and refueling are the technologies we should be developing expertise in.
On a brighter note, I've read some more analysis today that says this announcement may in fact be the stake through the heart of the boondoggle that is Ares-1. Hopefully, by the time this hypothetical HLV is designed, the commercial sector will have proven that it isn't even needed.
Necron69
D*mn it. The government needs to stop competing with the private space industry and get the hell out of the way. We don't even NEED another HLV. This is nothing but a government jobs program for the big NASA districts.
Necron69
It is too damn easy to forge or create a counterfeit check. I won't take one from anyone I don't know personally.
Necron69
I've stumbled into this problem recently myself, when my ex-wife switched bank accounts, and my payroll department suddenly realized it was illegal for me to be auto-depositing my child support to someone else's account (despite the fact that I've been doing it for four years). Since my ex now lives many hours drive away, and refuses to set up a joint account for deposits, this presents a problem.
After some research, I was forced to conclude that even in late 2009, there is no way in the United States to cheaply and electronically send money to someone else without paying a substantial fee, or involving a third party. PayPal is slow and the ex hates it. A wire transfer costs $20 from my bank. I suppose there is always Western Union, but nothing approaches the cheapness of a check and a 44 cent stamp - it just takes most of a week to get from here to there.
Necron69
Whether it is AT&T (my carrier) or not, the first wireless company to do this with will drive away smartphone users by the millions. Once that first usage-based bill hits, the cancellations will come rolling in.
I am willing to pay $30/month for mobile Internet. I am NOT willing to pay $100/month in the future for the same usage. I'll either switch phone companies, or failing that, I'll just switch back to a phone without the data plan and do without mobile internet access.
Necron69
Good Lord. I made $12.50/hr back in the early 90s for a student job.
$8/hr is a burger-flipping, "least responsibility possible" wage.
Do yourself a favor and look for somewhere else to work.
Necron69
I'll second that. I wore contacts when I was younger, but since then have developed Sjogren's Syndrome and have severely dry eyes. Contact lenses are an absolute impossibility for me (and millions of others). A display in a pair of eyeglasses is obviously much more useful and less intrusive.
Necron69
The upper stage was clearly hit by the first stage and left tumbling after the separation. In the NASA feed, they had several minutes of continued video from the upper stage with a cartwheeling background, but I'm assuming that it had no attitude control. Glad nobody was riding in it.
Necron69
The last Prime installation I saw was one I helped migrate to HP-UX back in '94. Lord that was scary.
"Baryonyx plans to sell excess capacity to the local utility, which it will use as a backup when the wind dies down."
Translation: the local utility will need to build/buy additional generating capacity to cover the lack of base-load power from the wind farm.
This is a gimmick that isn't near as 'green' as they want you to believe.
- Necron69
Western civilization is like a tsunami, spreading across the world and leaving slavery, poison and death in it's wake.
I can't say this any better than Heinlein did:
"Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded - here and there, now and then - are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as 'bad luck'."
- Robert A. Heinlein
I recently had a fibre channel router whose flash had gone bad. This is an embedded Linux system on PPC (Brocade 7500). Basically, the flash was showing a zero size device:
Booting "Fabric Operating System" image.
Blk map has an invalid version 0
Blk map has an invalid version 0
ThisOSLoader has an invalid magic number (0x00000000)
ThisOSLoader has an invalid magic number (0x00000000)
ATA()0x48047's entry point is too small (0x00000000 0x00100000)
OSLoader contains no bootable devices.
When I tried to reflash it after booting off the network, there wasn't any /dev/hda device there to format. Replacing the flash card solved the problem.
Unfortunately, the dead flash took with it any prior logs of errors it might have given before it failed, but it certainly wasn't readable after the fact.
- Necron69
You don't seem to understand the environmentalist movement. Allow me to educate you:
NUCLEAR == BAD/EVIL/YUCKY
Until all of humanity lives like the Amish, we are all evil and destroying the Earth.
Thank you.
- Necron69
"DOn't be one of those fools that travel halfway around the world to sit in a McDonalds or an internet cafe."
Bah. After 10 days in China a couple of years ago, the first thing I did upon arriving in San Francisco was to get a big cheeseburger and a COLD Coke.
In another cool twist, I actually bought a coffee at the now closed Forbidden City Starbucks!
Foreign travel is great and I highly recommend it, but you just might appreciating things at home a bit more afterwards.
Hah! This is just the opening that Itanium needs for WORLD DOMINATION!! Just you wait, naysayers. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAAAA!!!!
- Necron69
Seriously, I like Itanium. :)
Ignoring the anti-American screed there, this is a serious claim, and one, I confess, that I've never heard. Can you provide some reference that the video of Bin Laden admitting he planned the 9/11 attacks has been 'universally decried'??
- Necron69
Moraelin wrote: "Germany largely went pacifist and socialist after the war, mostly as a result of still remembering the war and the far-right dictatorship."
And here I thought that before/during WWII, Germany was ruled by the NAZIs (National SOCIALIST Party)??
- Necron69
It was many years ago, but I used to work as a contractor for the Western Area Power Administration, aka WAPA ( http://www.wapa.gov/ ). This is part of the Department of Energy, and has sister organizations that cover the entire United States. IIRC, they don't build new transmission lines per se, but they help manage them with all of the involved owners. Perhaps the DOE is a good place to start. Has anyone even bothered to look if they are working on this issue?
Oh hey, look at that: http://www.wapa.gov/newsroom/pdf/WCIOpenSeasonOutcome82608.pdf
- Necron69
Why is it that all humanoid robots to date are tiny? Is it just for cost or what? To me, it seems that most people will consider these things to be an expensive toy, as long as they are the size of a toy.
When the robot can take a verbal command to go to the kitchen and get me a beer, _and_ it is tall enough to reach everything in all the cabinets, then it will be useful.
- Necron69
I got all excited about a Kindle competitor... until I saw the price.
Lop a zero off the price guys, and I'll consider it. Give me a fscking break.
- Necron69
Or you can buy an HP SuperDome with up to 2TB of RAM.
- Necron69