Giving the world a hand since February 3rd, 2002. "If you're gonna dine with them cannibals, sooner or later, darling, you're gonna get eaten."




Comments by YACCS

 
IT'S EASY TO FORGET...

...that every spaceflight is being conducted in the same spirit of the early explorers of North America. They knew that there was land & interesting stuff there, but not what was there. They were experienced sailors, but never certain of their return home. They were placing themselves in the care of Mother Nature, with only their skills & luck to keep them from harm. Not all of them returned, but those that did expanded what we knew of the world.

Those astronauts also knew that there was interesting stuff up there. They were experienced and highly trained explorers, but not absolutely certain of their return. They placed themselves in the care of the Universe, with only their own skills and luck to keep them from harm. This time their luck did not hold.

Unfortunately, risk is a part of exploration. Risk for the betterment of humanity should not be avoided. Some will use this tragedy as an example of why we shouldn't be involved in space exploration. They'll say that we have enough problems to worry about here on earth. They'll say that human life is too precious to throw away on expensive speculative ventures when better uses could be found for the money.

I say tell that to Christopher Columbus.

Allow me to use the metaphor of walking. If you refuse to look ahead of where you are, instead constantly focusing on your own two feet, you'll never trip. You'll also be constantly running into things that you never anticipated. If, instead, you are constantly looking at the horizon, you may stumble from time to time, but you'll always know where you're going.

Today, we have stumbled. Our eyes, however, are firmly fixed on the horizon. As they should be.
so wrote Leper around about 1:01 PM

 
INTERESTING

The NBC newscast & interviewees are starting to point the finger at Congress for "pennypinching" the NASA budget. "It costs more to go back & fix something later than it does to do it right the first time." The shuttle fleet is based on 1970's technology that has been updated pretty much constantly for the last ten years, but it's still outdated. This was the 144th manned spaceflight by NASA, the 113th by the space shuttle program. Catastrophic failure is expected in 1 of every 75 missions, so mathematically, they were due.

Hmmm.....how will all of this affect the federal government's budget? Will Dubya "step up to the plate & swing for the bleachers", or will he abandon NASA?

UPDATE: NBC is also reporting that a NORAD early-warning satellite had detected a thermal spike at apporximately the same time contact was lost, on the same trajectory as Columbia. These satellites are built to detect the heat put out by missile launches, large (i.e. nuclear) explosions, and the like. The thermal spike could be the result of an explosion of the shuttle or the sudden breakup of the craft and the ignition of the remaining fuel due to structural failure.

Debris has rained over the city of Nacogdoches, TX, closing the airport there. Other reports say that the town is covered with debris, much of it three feet across and smaller.
so wrote Leper around about 12:28 PM

 
ANYONE WANNA GO TO THE BIG GAME?

According to new British research, football matches (that's soccer games to us Americans) are an excellent place to find love.

Relationship expert Susan Quilliam rated football stadiums alongside restaurants, bars, theatre, walks and cinema to see how they matched up in five categories necessary for a perfect date.

Football matches came top of the league, providing couples with an external event to alleviate date-related stress, conversation topics, and an insight into each others' character through spontaneous raw emotions.

Yep, nothing says "I love you" quite like a soccer hooligan riot in the stands.
so wrote Leper around about 11:31 PM

 
"YOU GOT TO APPRECIATE WHAT AN EXPLOSIVE ELEMENT THIS SADDAM SITUATION IS..."

Remember the whole "Royale with cheese" scene in "Pulp Fiction"? well, now it's Iraqi disarmament, "Pulp Fiction"-style!

(link via VodkaPundit)
so wrote Leper around about 4:14 PM

 
AMEN

We must think new thoughts; we must love as we have never even suspected we can love; and if there is honor to violence, we must get it on at once, have done with it, try to live with our guilt for having so done, and move on.

--Harlan Ellison

so wrote Leper around about 7:28 PM