That, and water heaters. Those things are INSANE!!

More importantly, from an engineering perspective their launch vehicle looks like a total scam. They're using hypergolic fuels in a big conjunction of smaller booster systems. This is going to give them crappy aerodynamics (they claim it will be more aerodynamic than the space shuttle. Maybe so, but only if you consider total drag force and then you have to realize that the space shuttle lifts some 10x the amount this is proposed to), and reliability problems from the accumulated probabilistic failure rate of their engines (they want 84 for a 4000kg payload to orbit). Additionally, the partitioning of their fuel among all of these "modules" is going to give them a crappy mass fraction which means they have to use more materials to lift the same payload. In other words I don't think these people have the technical basis on which to claim they'll be successful, if only from a feasibility perspective on their launch vehicle. Could it get things to orbit? Yes. Could it do so reliably and cost effectively? I doubt it. And that's the whole point.

I disagree. A job isn't "what you don't want to do". If it is, you're doing it wrong. A job should be something that brings meaning and a sense of accomplishment to your life which, while you might not always enjoy it, you would miss it if it went away (and I'm not talking about the money part). At least that's the way a lot of my friends and I in basic research view our jobs. Oh wait...

The problem with basic research is that we live in increasingly impatient times. People want more results faster and harder and more extreme. If something doesn't pay off in a few years, no one wants to worry about it. Its "technically infeasible" or some other sort of excuse. One such area where this is obvious is fusion research, another is space exploration. Both will be critical to the continued employment and improvement of the standard of living of mankind. And yet both receive relatively trivial amounts of money when compared to other less pertinent areas of society.

Yes, but isn't it everyone's dream to one day be part of "the top 1 percent"? I mean sure most people are ok with their position in wealth and interwebs and energy usage, but don't you think there's instances where some people want to be in that 1 percent? I know I do. And I'm getting a little tired of everyone who's not in that 1 percent pointing their finger and saying "not fair!" No, it isn't fair. If it was fair then it wouldn't be sought after. And it cannot be denied that a little competition is good for the game.

Right, cause its ok to hack and disrupt everyone else's positive experience of the game. You're one of those 13 year old kids that thinks its "really cool" to get "super h4x" and then take them onto ranked/public/hack free servers, aren't you? The rules are there for a reason, and CCP is not required to give them service any more than any other game, especially since the actual copy of the game is totally free.

Cause hackers... suck so hard that not only can they not get laid, they can't even play video games well either! Piles of n00bey epic failure.

Exactly, I'm stuck with AT&T or Comcast. I just moved from an area where I had FiOS last week.

I miss my FiOS :( And I'd love someone to step in and get some new blood around here so maybe I could get a fast internet connection AND use it too!

Yeah, but if it's big enough, and its close enough, nothing short of multiple standoff high yield thermonuclear explosions will do the trick. We're talking on the order of 3-5 Ares V payloads for a 1 km asteroid if not detected soon enough.

I guess if worst came to worst, the world could wait until it got close enough and then bombard it with the world's collective nuclear arsenal and hope for the best. But I'd rather have a better contingency in place.

Too bad, like Rome, spacecraft aren't built in a day. Throwing money at the problem isn't going to make space ratings and endurance testing and all that other fun stuff go any faster. Although letting the engineers actually do some engineering instead of the politics they're forced into so much of the time these days might avoid the sort of high technical risk problems that have arisen with the Ares I: officially the most ass-backwards retarded sorry excuse for a launch vehicle ever developed.

"But oh!" says the congressman, "that'll put a bunch of solid rocket manufacturers in my district out of business! You have to use the SRB in your new system to maintain those jobs or I won't sign off on your funding!!"

I dunno, the rail tracks outside my window seem busy enough at... 4 in the morning!!??? Is the horn really necessary?

That's bullshit. If we cut ALL CURRENT FEDERAL SPENDING by 15%, we MIGHT be able to pay for health care. Check CBO, they think it's a trillion dollar deal for 10 years.

Three words.... Daycare: Total War.

Ehh, that's ok, we made the internet. If you don't like this one, you're welcome to go make your own internet somewhere else. Call it the extranet or something. Make your own ICANN, and start with IPv6. And FFS don't use tubes!

I dunno, sounds like a "shovel ready" project to me.

Wow, its almost like the government is trying to control doctors' options for providing health care. Oh wait. Honestly, this kind of cry baby "we have to take care of the people who might overdose if they don't read the label" bullshit is starting to get out of hand. No where in the constitution does it say that the government has the purpose of "keeping people from doing stupid things."

Actually, this is a way to allow the federal government to install a tracking device on your car under the guise of "wanting to tax the people based on how much they use the roads to work to create a better highway system for all (insert smiling children and puppies here)." But make no mistake, this government wants to know where you're at. I know this sounds like crazy talk because were talking about America, but how else can you explain the use of a system DESIGNED TO LOCATE AND TRACK THINGS????? No bureaucrat is installing one of those on MY car!