NASA says warp speed possible

What the Holy Heck is WRONG with you people? I am really shocked on four accounts:

1. An interesting scientific idea is presented and all anyone can do is make it about money or politics.

2. Nobody appreciates all that NASA has done for us over the years. Where would we be without Velcro? TANG?

3. That Barnes can't do any better than a shot across the the bow at Canada in a vain attempt to stir some freakout.

4. That this statement did not come from the smelly old drunk living downtown that wears aluminum foil on his head and has conversations with himself:

repoman wrote: They should just devote themselves to Muslim Outreach which I understand is their primary mission now.

engineer Al wrote: 2. Nobody appreciates all that NASA has done for us over the years. Where would we be without Velcro? TANG?

NASA should change it's name to National Aeronautics and Defenestration Administration.

3. That Barnes can't do any better than a shot across the the bow at Canada in a vain attempt to stir some freakout

There's no bow to shoot across. Canada has no spaceship.

From ABC news dated July 6, 2010:

A few days ago, in Cairo, Bolden told Al Jazeera that when he became the NASA administrator, President Obama charged him with three things: "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and engineering — science, math and engineering."

abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/07/wh...ed-by-conservatives/

Put that in your tinfoil hat and don it, Engineer Al!

Michael Barnes wrote: Not quite. Why don't we get Black Barney to tell us about the Canadian Space Program?

How bout this: "Now that the shuttle has been mothballed, we got our arm back and it just so happens to need a new use, so if you don't drop that 'Canaduh' shit it'll be used to fistf*ck you with"
Better?

repoman wrote: From ABC news dated July 6, 2010:

A few days ago, in Cairo, Bolden told Al Jazeera that when he became the NASA administrator, President Obama charged him with three things: "One, he wanted me to help re-inspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science and engineering — science, math and engineering."

abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2010/07/wh...ed-by-conservatives/

Put that in your tinfoil hat and don it, Engineer Al!

Well it must be true then. I know that I personally trust the fuck out of ANYTHING reported on Al Jazeera. That's how I got my spiffy nickname.

engineer Al (Jazeera)

Shellhead wrote:

engineer Al wrote: 2. Nobody appreciates all that NASA has done for us over the years. Where would we be without Velcro? TANG?

NASA should change it's name to National Aeronautics and Defenestration Administration.

or Needs Another Seven Astronauts

(that was my favourite joke after the Challenger disaster)


Yeah, I wasn't actually coming down on NASA but I was actually trying to be tongue-in-cheek to what Dogmatix's point is.

A leading research organization is playing 2nd fiddle to a ton of really not-that-important issues. Says more about the country than it does about the science.

Dogmatix wrote: In the end, it actually *is* up to the government to fund and generally perform that sort of work--but, since many seem to believe that the need to be smarter than the other guy ended with the end of the Cold War, you really have to sell this idea to the people who hold the purse strings. It doesn't take much lookin' to see that THOSE cockgobblers are more interested in having square-jawed 'Merican HeeeRowwws standing next at some photo-op in their district, not some schlub in a lab coat. The suspension of manned flight, with its exorbitant costs and moderate returns, was the most sensible financial thing for NASA to do but it's bad from a PR perspective. America doesn't actually lag the world in maths and sciences--there are scores of PhDs out there either trapped in the endless cycle of post-doc wage slavery or working outside their fields altogether--what we now lag the fucking world in is a basic appreciation for and value on basic research and the cost of undertaking it. It's the "Walmart Shopper" worldview--why spend scads of money on doing the work; we can just wait for China (or Germany, Switzerland, Israel, etc.) to do all that Expensive Hard Stuff; I'm sure we can just license whatever it is later--after all, we ARE the U.S. so they couldn't possibly say no to us....

That sufficient to start a proper Friday Freakout?

Do I detect some bitterness? A fellow scientist perhaps? Sure the average Joe doesn't realise the importance of basic research and most politicians aren't to interested either but it's like that pretty much everywhere not just in the US. Any time you need to make budget cuts science is pretty much the first candidate as you won't see the consequences for a very long time. Why cut down on military or bureaucracy if you can trim the pointless science? What good are these eggheads anyway? Just a huge money sink without a prospect for any profit.

you guys had your chance, you had to nominate Newt Gingrinch as the GOP candidate.

Moon Base 2020!

Even NASA still admits that Warp Drive is still in the speculation phase. There is still no actual scientific research ongoing, and even if there were we are decades if not longer from the technology phase.

The fact that anyone would even make a statement on preliminary science is only to get peoples juices flowing.