+1 informative if I could -- Thanks, I was trying to figure out what the GP was referring to when they said Comcast was owned by MS...

Ya, thanks. I was trying to find what altitude this flew at before I posted but couldn't find it.

Besides, I don't see how that changes the point. Did you forget to take your "don't be a dick" pills today?

It didn't have to fly over the tallest point...

According to the WSJ article that the AOL article is "borrowing" from (and sensationalizing) these limitations are only applied to "documents used for reports and presentations."

That's bad enough, but we really don't need to discredit them even more for limiting their employees ability to communicate with each other (which they haven't done). They are simply trying to keep emotion out of the official reports & presentations and stick to the facts. I actually don't blame them for trying to do this.

I'm not sure what altitude this flew, but most class B and C airspace goes no higher than 10,000ft MSL so if this was above that altitude, it would not have broken any of those airspace regulations. In order for it to get past the Rocky Mountains, it was probably at least 7,000ft so it's quite possible it was over 10,000 ft.

People want SO BADLY to believe that we're being visited by aliens, that they won't accept a very clear explanation for what they saw. It's kind of sad that we are so disillusioned with our own world that we need to convince ourselves of things like UFOs.

Access will actually work for a few years before IT finds it and murders you for using it

FTFY ;-)

Just wanted to add: If there is research that needs to be done that is not, by itself, profitable, then I believe we should consider funding it without forcing the researchers to make PR statements like these because who knows what ideas or conclusions that research might actually lead to -- It's really too bad that we are so focused on all research building profits for someone. We, as a society, suck at thinking about anything long-term.

Crowdsourcing... well if we have a government of the people then isn't everything they do technically crowdsourced already?

I just don't see how making promises like this is good for anyone. Clearly they are just looking for funding; no scientist or researcher in their right mind would promise something they can't already do by a specific date unless they were lying (or guessing, call it what you want) in order to get funding. This is the kind of crap that makes simpler people no longer "believe in science."

I find this sad because it's one of the sole means we, as a species, have of exploring the next frontier right now. Any time a space launch fails, regardless of who launched it, it sets us all back. The silver lining is, perhaps we can all learn from whatever happened, and hopefully the next launch will be more successful no matter within whose borders it launches.

Sorry, but base is a joke. by far the LEAST functional part of that suite.

How is that different from MS Access?

It's not the same piece of ice, you buffoon.

I'm convinced you are being deliberately dense.

Now THAT is insightful.