While it may be an unpopular opinion on this thread I think that the writers were not entirely wrong in their decision to have the remaining humans abandon the technology that had kept them alive throughout the series and ultimately delivered them to the Sol system. Recall, that throughout the series the Galactica and the surviving fleet were always attempting to scavange and repair their degrading technologies, usually just a few steps ahead of a catastrophic failure or two. The running down of the previous civilization and the technologies that made the Galactica and the fleet possible was a constant running theme, even though it wasn't always addressed explicitly. The 30,000 or so surving humans of the Galactica fleet did not have the necessary skills, knowledge, or materials to continue operating indefinitely. In fact, when the Galactica did reach Earth it was heavily damaged from its latest encounter with the Cavil and with the fold drive completely shot the Galactica, or what was left of it anyway, wasn't going to leave the Sol system for a long time if indeed it ever would again.
It was practically inevitable, even if all 30,000 had agreed to settle together and carefully husband, maintain, and pass down all of their collected technical knowledge and the remaining equipment that much of that knowledge and equipment would be lost in the following centuries as the remaining Galactica technology ran down to broken and the comforts of the previous civilization began to fade into a more primitive and agrarian society of descendents on Earth.
The truth of the matter is that without an advanced civilization and population in the millions to support it on at least one fully developed colony planet, the Galactica and the technology that made everything work was impossible to maintain indefinitely. There were perhaps some minor details that the writers could have done a bit better, but the decision to abandon the Galactica and the remaining fleet was not an entirely illogical one given the state of the Galactica and the remaining equipment (and its penchant for attracting the Cylons from far and wide). It is also important to remember that as the series continued it became more and more apparent that technology was not "the answer" to the problems of humanity (i.e. something to be pursued as an end unto itself). Recall that it was technology that brought them the Cylons and put them on the path into their present circumstances; so is the decision to "start again" so completely illogical in the context of all that they had been through and the state of their remaining technology when they finally arived at Earth? Maybe not.
The Los Angeles Times published an article today concerning this bill and they cited some important previous Supreme Court precedents regarding bills of attainder and tax laws. For example, the courts have been reluctant in the past to interefere with the power of Congress to raise or lower taxes, granting them broader latitude in this area then they might perhaps in others. Second, the Supreme Court has limited past rullings on bills of attainder to those which "inflict punishment" on specific individuals. For example, Richard Nixon lost his bid to keep the Watergate tapes secret when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a bill compelling him to "give the tapes over to the control of the public" was NOT a bill of attainder because it did not "inflict punishment" or at least not in the same sense as criminal punishment is normally understood (i.e. a term in prison). There is actually a good chance that this law will stand up and be ruled as NOT a bill of attainder. The only other question then would be when exactly the tax laws take effect; the year in which they are passed (the 2009 tax year - the same as when the bonuses were paid) OR only in the part of that year when they were in effect and all subsequent years? Perhaps a tax attorney among us can answer that one.
A beard, ala Richard Stallman, lends a certain air of distinguished elder geek experience in IT while at the same time conveying an almost mystical knowledge of things like GNUs, Linux, and ancient shell programming incantations. Of course, to properly accessorize and complete the look a pair of old addidas sneakers, well worn bell-bottomed jeans, and suspenders are required equipment.
it may not be the end of the movie but the tide of the war may be turning, and it's a part you probably don't want to miss.
Can we all go charging down the mountain side while the light of dawn streams down from behind us (although NYCL might look a bit odd leading the charge in white robes on a white horse)?
you of course drown in private as 'er' history as proven.
It is important not to draw the wrong conclusions from history...
Cronies are not unique to government (of course), but the difference between the public and the private sector is that private businesses that screw up go bankrupt (or at least they should, but governments seem to be in a bailout mood these days) whereas governments never go bankrupt per se, but rather they sometimes don't pay or pay back with money that is worth less than the original amounts borrowed (which is what the US is going to end up doing). The present crisis is, IMHO, being proclaimed (wrongly) as a "failure of capitalism" because of "greedy bankers", but very few people move beyond the usual suspects and ask, "How was the greed facilitated, who made the money available to do these things"? The answer to that question is the real kicker because ultimately it gets to the heart of the matter which is government mandated fiat currency AND fractional reserve banking. Of course, the powers that be (fearing the collapse of the monetary system as we know it) are doing everything they can to conceal this truth from the general population (they are happy to let the bankers and their clients take the blame) so that people continue to believe in the political "funny money" that has been passed around by everyone since at least 1972 when Nixon closed the gold window.
The nasty secret about our present system is that banks, through fractional reserve banking and fiat money, can continue to create MORE money as long as they can find someone who is willing to borrow (the Fed can create money out of thin air too, but in the past they have generally left most of the direct money creation to the private banks). Now, you can try to centrally plan and regulate who gets loans for how much and what they get used for, but I think that in practice this type of regulatory system (i.e. the one proposed by Obama) will fail because central planning of markets has always in the past proven to be a fiendishly difficult task (well neigh impossible) in the same way that predicting and timing the global financial markets has been a fiendishly difficult task, even for the "smartest guys in the room"...the big hedge funds and their super-genius PhD mathematician quants.
I do not propose to offer a full solution here (because frankly I don't have one) but I think that either continuation of the present monetary systems or their attempted regulation is bound to fail us again in the long run. The only course that seems to make logical sense is for us to abandon this experiment that we have been conducting since the 1970s with fiat money backed by nothing and return to some form of money which requires both real work to produce or is tied to some commodities which require real work to produce and can serve as mediums of exchange (i.e. commodity money). Some people might acknowledge the shortcomings of our present system while still believing that it is the least bad, but for my own part I am beginning to lose faith in the ability of fallible humans to manage a monetary system which, while excellent in theory, inevitably falls prey to abuse by greedy and imperfect people in the real world.
The only places CDs are still widely used are car CD players, home hi-fi systems, and DJ booths
The CD also enjoys a niche with home users in the amateur remixing scene since many dance and techno CDs contain lots of original unmixed loops and tracks in short format and high quality for easy ripping, importing, and remixing.
The only source for funds for the development of cheap renewable energy has to be the government, there is no profit in it and the real benefits are the free benefits of a cleaner healthier environment, lower medical costs from a healthier population and of course cheap 'free' energy(beyond initial capital outlay and maintenance).
You speak as if it costs society (us) nothing as long as the government produces it instead of the private sector. Remember that the government does not create wealth, it taxes wealth and then spends it on other things. If I am going to spend your money on someone else then I first have to take it away from you (with taxes). There is no free lunch, somebody is going to pay for that healthier environment, lower medical costs, and "cheap" energy; just because it may not be you doesn't mean that it costs the rest of us nothing. Finally, if you believe that the government can efficiently produce these goods and services by directly entering the market as a producer of these goods and services then let me just tell you: you've got another thing coming if you believe that will actually work. If central planning and government control of the economy actually worked, then the Soviet Union would not have collapsed. Socialism, central planning, government control...it didn't work last century and it won't work this time around either, but the young people seem determined to learn this lesson the hard way, ignoring the advice and experience of their parents who lived through the Cold War and saw first hand the results of collectivism. Why do people always have to learn economics the hard way?
estimates are like information from interrogation -- torture will get you the answer you want quickly, but the answer itself will likely prove to be worthless.
That is the most insightful thing that I have heard said about project estimates in a while here on Slashdot. I would liken this to the programmer who "plays dead" so that the cage match negotiator (i.e. the manager who you can never win an argument or negotiation with and who just wears you down until you say whatever it is that he wants to hear) will think that he has won.
Background: The name of the antipattern, cage match negotiator, comes from the professional cage match wrestling where many wrestlers enter the cage, but only one exits the cage victorious.
On one hand, this is not good because my revenues are down and I enjoy from-scratch development work.
If you find yourself making the same sorts of mods on a regular basis AND you use open source software in your consulting business then why not consider contributing those mods to the contrib or branch parts of the official project source(s) so that the devs can fold them into the trunk? It would be a nice way of saying 'thank you' to the open source projects that you and all of us use on a regular basis.
On the other hand, this is good because the profitability of my customers makes my future revenue streams more stable.
I don't know about you, but personally I would rather have regular, recurring, and stable support contract payments on a quality software installation then the occasional large development contract which I never hear from again when completed. If you feel the need to scratch a coding itch then why not do it by contributing to your favorite open source projects and using those same enhancements in your consulting gigs? You might not get paid directly for enhancements that way, but it might pay you indirectly by making the software that you provide via your consulting services more valuable to your customers who may then engage you in a regular support contract. Lots of regular, recurring, and stable support contract payments make for large regular recurring, and stable monthly income for your consulting business. Think of it like Voltron, the more the small pieces come together the better and more powerful things get.
You not only need to ID yourself, but also prove where the money come from to the bank.
The client could have transfered the money through several foreign banks already before wiring it on to his Swiss account. What are the odds that all of those intermediate banks are going to have detailed records of where the funds actually originated from (a front company perhaps)? I may be mistaken (I don't work in the banking industry), but wouldn't each bank only know as much about where the money came from as the last hop in the wire transfer relay? As for Identification, you yourself said that many countries around the world keep spotty records at best so unless you are going to require each prospective client to show up in person in order to open an account then any reasonably sophisticated person and certainly most intelligence agencies around the world would quite easily be able to conjur up a fake person identity (with supporting documentation) out of thin air ala Jason Bourne. If there is a will then there is a way given enough money.
What did you expect now they have paid off the guns?
How about invading and conquering Canada? Those wiley canuks have been passing off their Canadian quarters in my change for years; Its all part of a vast conspiracy by those crafty Canadians to take over the United States, eh.
I have just about given up hope that the complete and utter failure of "get tough on crime", War on Drugs, and police state laws will ever be understood by the average American living in suburban fantasy land. When fully two thirds of Americans cannot even name the three main branches of our government, let alone understand how they actually work, I fear that our grand experiment in democracy will not survive the rising tide of stupidity in 21st century America. We are becoming more and more like latin America, where a core minority elite do anything necessary to keep the masses living in the slums from invading the mansions situated on the surrounding hills and socialism, poverty, and populism are the rules of the day.
Sort of like the kind that are often placed on standardized tests to trip up the average kids and produce a smoother Bell curve in the results. Critical reasoning is part of scientific investigation, so from that standpoint the question was not a trap, but rather just another form of test.
The parent was modded funny, but he actually does have a pretty good point. Why would anyone choose to run Windows 2008 Server as their desktop OS (one would have to un-configure a lot of server things out of the box, like server process having processor priority over user programs) and if this is not a desktop then why the fancy sound card? This build is like Chewbacca, who is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk, but Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense. I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense!
Staples will probably quietly settle the case and there will be an amendment made to some "must pass" bill in the Massachusetts legislature this year to amend State law and remove this "loophole" from future consideration in libel cases.
Would not normally reply to my own comment, but in this case the above should read that Gerald Ford was the only US President who was appointed to both the Vice Presidency and the Presidency, having never been elected to either office. other US Presidents have risen to the office of President by appointment or succession, but they were initially elected to the office of Vice President.
It would be nice if the submission summaries could stick to the details that are known and allow people to post their personal thoughts and opinions in the discussion's comments.
You do not get to be president by being a nice honest guy
Generally speaking that is probably true. However, Gerald Ford, the only US President who was appointed rather than elected (yes, that is possible albeit highly unlikely in our system), was by all accounts a genuinely nice guy. Of course, he sort of "fell into" the office of President so perhaps he should be considered an odd exception rather than the rule.
either you don't understand something about what they are asking for, or they are about to learn a painful lesson.
In my experience it has generally been the later rather than the former.
It may well be that your input is being ignored because you come off as a condescending and arrogant prick.
I generally come off as the thoughtful type when speaking with my coworkers and I allow them to ask me if they don't understand something or want clarification, but otherwise I presume that they know what they are doing even if I know that they don't. The MBAs I have known seemed perfectly fine with walking off a cliff rather than having someone else suggest that their financial analysis could be wrong.
"Massive egos" are not solely exhibited by the MBAs.
I don't think that any category has the sole monopoly on that one.
they ought to either clean it up or pay a very hefty fine to reimburse the loss of a country's hard-earned space mission.
Yeah, those other countries will be eager to pay you whatever you tell them...right. It took decades to get any sort of compensation out of the Soviet Union after one of their failed satellites contaminated large swaths of northern Canada with radioactive debris. The United States was fined $400 for littering when parts of Skylab came down in rural Australia (a fine which remains unpaid to this day). The response from most countries would probably be something on the lines of "f*** off", albeit in more polite and diplomatic language. It is always instructive to remember when talking about sovereign countries that international law, treaties, etc are only courtesies granted from one country to another(s). If at any time any one of them wants to dispute then they can simply refuse to cooperate in which case your options are sanctions (i.e. we will screw you in every way that we can short of coming over there and stomping your guts out) or armed conflict (i.e. we are coming over there to stomp your guts out). Most of the time, like at summits of world leaders, everyone just smiles and says "yes" because it looks better that way even though nothing changes.
Slashdot Mirror
While it may be an unpopular opinion on this thread I think that the writers were not entirely wrong in their decision to have the remaining humans abandon the technology that had kept them alive throughout the series and ultimately delivered them to the Sol system. Recall, that throughout the series the Galactica and the surviving fleet were always attempting to scavange and repair their degrading technologies, usually just a few steps ahead of a catastrophic failure or two. The running down of the previous civilization and the technologies that made the Galactica and the fleet possible was a constant running theme, even though it wasn't always addressed explicitly. The 30,000 or so surving humans of the Galactica fleet did not have the necessary skills, knowledge, or materials to continue operating indefinitely. In fact, when the Galactica did reach Earth it was heavily damaged from its latest encounter with the Cavil and with the fold drive completely shot the Galactica, or what was left of it anyway, wasn't going to leave the Sol system for a long time if indeed it ever would again.
It was practically inevitable, even if all 30,000 had agreed to settle together and carefully husband, maintain, and pass down all of their collected technical knowledge and the remaining equipment that much of that knowledge and equipment would be lost in the following centuries as the remaining Galactica technology ran down to broken and the comforts of the previous civilization began to fade into a more primitive and agrarian society of descendents on Earth.
The truth of the matter is that without an advanced civilization and population in the millions to support it on at least one fully developed colony planet, the Galactica and the technology that made everything work was impossible to maintain indefinitely. There were perhaps some minor details that the writers could have done a bit better, but the decision to abandon the Galactica and the remaining fleet was not an entirely illogical one given the state of the Galactica and the remaining equipment (and its penchant for attracting the Cylons from far and wide). It is also important to remember that as the series continued it became more and more apparent that technology was not "the answer" to the problems of humanity (i.e. something to be pursued as an end unto itself). Recall that it was technology that brought them the Cylons and put them on the path into their present circumstances; so is the decision to "start again" so completely illogical in the context of all that they had been through and the state of their remaining technology when they finally arived at Earth? Maybe not.
The Los Angeles Times published an article today concerning this bill and they cited some important previous Supreme Court precedents regarding bills of attainder and tax laws. For example, the courts have been reluctant in the past to interefere with the power of Congress to raise or lower taxes, granting them broader latitude in this area then they might perhaps in others. Second, the Supreme Court has limited past rullings on bills of attainder to those which "inflict punishment" on specific individuals. For example, Richard Nixon lost his bid to keep the Watergate tapes secret when the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a bill compelling him to "give the tapes over to the control of the public" was NOT a bill of attainder because it did not "inflict punishment" or at least not in the same sense as criminal punishment is normally understood (i.e. a term in prison). There is actually a good chance that this law will stand up and be ruled as NOT a bill of attainder. The only other question then would be when exactly the tax laws take effect; the year in which they are passed (the 2009 tax year - the same as when the bonuses were paid) OR only in the part of that year when they were in effect and all subsequent years? Perhaps a tax attorney among us can answer that one.
A beard, ala Richard Stallman, lends a certain air of distinguished elder geek experience in IT while at the same time conveying an almost mystical knowledge of things like GNUs, Linux, and ancient shell programming incantations. Of course, to properly accessorize and complete the look a pair of old addidas sneakers, well worn bell-bottomed jeans, and suspenders are required equipment.
it may not be the end of the movie but the tide of the war may be turning, and it's a part you probably don't want to miss.
Can we all go charging down the mountain side while the light of dawn streams down from behind us (although NYCL might look a bit odd leading the charge in white robes on a white horse)?
Presumably there is some kind of system to prevent that.
One would hope, but as these data breaches demonstrate, we have been bitten and disappointed before.
you of course drown in private as 'er' history as proven.
It is important not to draw the wrong conclusions from history...
Cronies are not unique to government (of course), but the difference between the public and the private sector is that private businesses that screw up go bankrupt (or at least they should, but governments seem to be in a bailout mood these days) whereas governments never go bankrupt per se, but rather they sometimes don't pay or pay back with money that is worth less than the original amounts borrowed (which is what the US is going to end up doing). The present crisis is, IMHO, being proclaimed (wrongly) as a "failure of capitalism" because of "greedy bankers", but very few people move beyond the usual suspects and ask, "How was the greed facilitated, who made the money available to do these things"? The answer to that question is the real kicker because ultimately it gets to the heart of the matter which is government mandated fiat currency AND fractional reserve banking. Of course, the powers that be (fearing the collapse of the monetary system as we know it) are doing everything they can to conceal this truth from the general population (they are happy to let the bankers and their clients take the blame) so that people continue to believe in the political "funny money" that has been passed around by everyone since at least 1972 when Nixon closed the gold window.
The nasty secret about our present system is that banks, through fractional reserve banking and fiat money, can continue to create MORE money as long as they can find someone who is willing to borrow (the Fed can create money out of thin air too, but in the past they have generally left most of the direct money creation to the private banks). Now, you can try to centrally plan and regulate who gets loans for how much and what they get used for, but I think that in practice this type of regulatory system (i.e. the one proposed by Obama) will fail because central planning of markets has always in the past proven to be a fiendishly difficult task (well neigh impossible) in the same way that predicting and timing the global financial markets has been a fiendishly difficult task, even for the "smartest guys in the room"...the big hedge funds and their super-genius PhD mathematician quants.
I do not propose to offer a full solution here (because frankly I don't have one) but I think that either continuation of the present monetary systems or their attempted regulation is bound to fail us again in the long run. The only course that seems to make logical sense is for us to abandon this experiment that we have been conducting since the 1970s with fiat money backed by nothing and return to some form of money which requires both real work to produce or is tied to some commodities which require real work to produce and can serve as mediums of exchange (i.e. commodity money). Some people might acknowledge the shortcomings of our present system while still believing that it is the least bad, but for my own part I am beginning to lose faith in the ability of fallible humans to manage a monetary system which, while excellent in theory, inevitably falls prey to abuse by greedy and imperfect people in the real world.
The only places CDs are still widely used are car CD players, home hi-fi systems, and DJ booths
The CD also enjoys a niche with home users in the amateur remixing scene since many dance and techno CDs contain lots of original unmixed loops and tracks in short format and high quality for easy ripping, importing, and remixing.
The only source for funds for the development of cheap renewable energy has to be the government, there is no profit in it and the real benefits are the free benefits of a cleaner healthier environment, lower medical costs from a healthier population and of course cheap 'free' energy(beyond initial capital outlay and maintenance).
You speak as if it costs society (us) nothing as long as the government produces it instead of the private sector. Remember that the government does not create wealth, it taxes wealth and then spends it on other things. If I am going to spend your money on someone else then I first have to take it away from you (with taxes). There is no free lunch, somebody is going to pay for that healthier environment, lower medical costs, and "cheap" energy; just because it may not be you doesn't mean that it costs the rest of us nothing. Finally, if you believe that the government can efficiently produce these goods and services by directly entering the market as a producer of these goods and services then let me just tell you: you've got another thing coming if you believe that will actually work. If central planning and government control of the economy actually worked, then the Soviet Union would not have collapsed. Socialism, central planning, government control...it didn't work last century and it won't work this time around either, but the young people seem determined to learn this lesson the hard way, ignoring the advice and experience of their parents who lived through the Cold War and saw first hand the results of collectivism. Why do people always have to learn economics the hard way?
Have they set a BIOS password too or can you change the boot order, throw in your Ubuntu LiveCD, and boot into Linux instead?
Raymond Kurzweil, is that you?
Here, look at the monkey...
estimates are like information from interrogation -- torture will get you the answer you want quickly, but the answer itself will likely prove to be worthless.
That is the most insightful thing that I have heard said about project estimates in a while here on Slashdot. I would liken this to the programmer who "plays dead" so that the cage match negotiator (i.e. the manager who you can never win an argument or negotiation with and who just wears you down until you say whatever it is that he wants to hear) will think that he has won.
Background: The name of the antipattern, cage match negotiator, comes from the professional cage match wrestling where many wrestlers enter the cage, but only one exits the cage victorious.
On one hand, this is not good because my revenues are down and I enjoy from-scratch development work.
If you find yourself making the same sorts of mods on a regular basis AND you use open source software in your consulting business then why not consider contributing those mods to the contrib or branch parts of the official project source(s) so that the devs can fold them into the trunk? It would be a nice way of saying 'thank you' to the open source projects that you and all of us use on a regular basis.
On the other hand, this is good because the profitability of my customers makes my future revenue streams more stable.
I don't know about you, but personally I would rather have regular, recurring, and stable support contract payments on a quality software installation then the occasional large development contract which I never hear from again when completed. If you feel the need to scratch a coding itch then why not do it by contributing to your favorite open source projects and using those same enhancements in your consulting gigs? You might not get paid directly for enhancements that way, but it might pay you indirectly by making the software that you provide via your consulting services more valuable to your customers who may then engage you in a regular support contract. Lots of regular, recurring, and stable support contract payments make for large regular recurring, and stable monthly income for your consulting business. Think of it like Voltron, the more the small pieces come together the better and more powerful things get.
You not only need to ID yourself, but also prove where the money come from to the bank.
The client could have transfered the money through several foreign banks already before wiring it on to his Swiss account. What are the odds that all of those intermediate banks are going to have detailed records of where the funds actually originated from (a front company perhaps)? I may be mistaken (I don't work in the banking industry), but wouldn't each bank only know as much about where the money came from as the last hop in the wire transfer relay? As for Identification, you yourself said that many countries around the world keep spotty records at best so unless you are going to require each prospective client to show up in person in order to open an account then any reasonably sophisticated person and certainly most intelligence agencies around the world would quite easily be able to conjur up a fake person identity (with supporting documentation) out of thin air ala Jason Bourne. If there is a will then there is a way given enough money.
What did you expect now they have paid off the guns?
How about invading and conquering Canada? Those wiley canuks have been passing off their Canadian quarters in my change for years; Its all part of a vast conspiracy by those crafty Canadians to take over the United States, eh.
I have just about given up hope that the complete and utter failure of "get tough on crime", War on Drugs, and police state laws will ever be understood by the average American living in suburban fantasy land. When fully two thirds of Americans cannot even name the three main branches of our government, let alone understand how they actually work, I fear that our grand experiment in democracy will not survive the rising tide of stupidity in 21st century America. We are becoming more and more like latin America, where a core minority elite do anything necessary to keep the masses living in the slums from invading the mansions situated on the surrounding hills and socialism, poverty, and populism are the rules of the day.
Plus it is in at least one way, a trap question
Sort of like the kind that are often placed on standardized tests to trip up the average kids and produce a smoother Bell curve in the results. Critical reasoning is part of scientific investigation, so from that standpoint the question was not a trap, but rather just another form of test.
just another reason why we should have sanity tests and age limits on politicians.
Apparently they don't help much if our current slate of politicians are anything to go by.
The parent was modded funny, but he actually does have a pretty good point. Why would anyone choose to run Windows 2008 Server as their desktop OS (one would have to un-configure a lot of server things out of the box, like server process having processor priority over user programs) and if this is not a desktop then why the fancy sound card? This build is like Chewbacca, who is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk, but Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it; that does not make sense. I am not making any sense! None of this makes sense!
Staples will probably quietly settle the case and there will be an amendment made to some "must pass" bill in the Massachusetts legislature this year to amend State law and remove this "loophole" from future consideration in libel cases.
Would not normally reply to my own comment, but in this case the above should read that Gerald Ford was the only US President who was appointed to both the Vice Presidency and the Presidency, having never been elected to either office. other US Presidents have risen to the office of President by appointment or succession, but they were initially elected to the office of Vice President.
It would be nice if the submission summaries could stick to the details that are known and allow people to post their personal thoughts and opinions in the discussion's comments.
You must be new here.
You do not get to be president by being a nice honest guy
Generally speaking that is probably true. However, Gerald Ford, the only US President who was appointed rather than elected (yes, that is possible albeit highly unlikely in our system), was by all accounts a genuinely nice guy. Of course, he sort of "fell into" the office of President so perhaps he should be considered an odd exception rather than the rule.
either you don't understand something about what they are asking for, or they are about to learn a painful lesson.
In my experience it has generally been the later rather than the former.
It may well be that your input is being ignored because you come off as a condescending and arrogant prick.
I generally come off as the thoughtful type when speaking with my coworkers and I allow them to ask me if they don't understand something or want clarification, but otherwise I presume that they know what they are doing even if I know that they don't. The MBAs I have known seemed perfectly fine with walking off a cliff rather than having someone else suggest that their financial analysis could be wrong.
"Massive egos" are not solely exhibited by the MBAs.
I don't think that any category has the sole monopoly on that one.
they ought to either clean it up or pay a very hefty fine to reimburse the loss of a country's hard-earned space mission.
Yeah, those other countries will be eager to pay you whatever you tell them...right. It took decades to get any sort of compensation out of the Soviet Union after one of their failed satellites contaminated large swaths of northern Canada with radioactive debris. The United States was fined $400 for littering when parts of Skylab came down in rural Australia (a fine which remains unpaid to this day). The response from most countries would probably be something on the lines of "f*** off", albeit in more polite and diplomatic language. It is always instructive to remember when talking about sovereign countries that international law, treaties, etc are only courtesies granted from one country to another(s). If at any time any one of them wants to dispute then they can simply refuse to cooperate in which case your options are sanctions (i.e. we will screw you in every way that we can short of coming over there and stomping your guts out) or armed conflict (i.e. we are coming over there to stomp your guts out). Most of the time, like at summits of world leaders, everyone just smiles and says "yes" because it looks better that way even though nothing changes.