Extending the shuttle gets more and more expensive every day as key support functions and hardware are eliminated.

And how many of the materials and processes involved in making the Saturn V rockets are now illegal in the U.S. and most of the rest of the world? Having the design is a much smaller part of the problem than you think.

Here's the problem; you've never registered for Facebook, but have your friends? Your family? How many pictures of you are on Facebook regardless of your non-participation? Did one of your friends post a picture taken that night you all got drunk and maybe did something you'd prefer you mother (or a potential employer) didn't hear about?

The problem is that your friends disregard for their privacy translates into their disregard for your privacy, and suddenly a "reasonable person" no longer has an expectation of privacy.

Facebook may already know you, like it or nor.

After all the unrelated pork-barrel is added? Thousands of pages, I'm sure.

I hope your German girlfriend never decides to move to Southern California. Virtually all the housing here is wooden, because all the brick houses fell down in earthquakes a long time ago.

No, it means a rich person is much more likely to get the correct sentence, for better or for worse. I read most of TFA so I may have missed it, but it didn't seem to say whether longer or shorter sentences were more likely. It did say that race wasn't a factor in the error, and implied that the errors were non-intentional.

Heck, I often use voice dialing even when I'm NOT driving. Far easier. Interesting that the studies comparing talking to a passenger vs. conversing on a cell are mixed, I don't think I'd classify it as "probably" safer, at best I'd say "possibly" safer. I think it would be quite revealing to see studies of things like listening to music vs. listening to the news vs talking on a cell. Might be a bit surprising.

No, my conversations are not more important than the lives of people around me. But then again, I have no trouble shifting my focus as necessary, even if it means asking the person I'm talking to to repeat themselves because I've shifted enough of my focus outside the vehicle that I'm no longer listening to them.

You misrepresent what I said. I did NOT say talking on the radio caused crashes, I said it is rarely listed as a contributing factor. I have never seen it listed as a primary factor.

And, it's been proven to me time and time again, that no, the tower is NOT looking at me, and may not be looking at the runway either. Safety is my responsibility, not the towers. Even says so in the regs.

Given that I'm straight, and I can't remember the last time I talked to female controller, I doubt I'll be hitting on the tower controller any time soon. Pity that, the few female controllers I've delt with have been excellent.

I'm not protesting at all. I'm just drawing a parallel between flying an aircraft and talking to ATC and talking with a bluetooth while driving.

Interestingly enough, another poster linked to a wikipedia article that agrees with the premise that handfreee is no more safe than holding a phone. However, it also says there are conflicting results on exactly how distracting a passenger is, and in fact talking to a passenger may be no more safe than talking on a bluetooth. Which says to me this may all be much ado about nothing.

I'd love to see actual research that backs up this claim. The claim may be correct, and I may be unique, but I don't feel any less distracted dealing with ATC when flying then I do when I'm talking on bluetooth while driving. Having seen no research one way or the other, it's difficult to say who's right here.

First, I'm NOT a "professional" pilot, by which I mean I do not get money for flying airplanes. I have commercial, instrument, and multi-engine ratings, I do not hold and do not want an instructor certificate.

The air carrier guys get almost constant recurrent training, or at least a part 121 ride every 6 months, but they also have two crew members up there so they can divy up the roles. The air carriers operate under the same rules I do, PLUS a bunch more. Not so private pilots. We merely have to pass a flight review given by a certificated instructor every two years. While this is more than your average driver's license renewal, the minimum is 1 hour of ground instruction and 1 hour in the air. Rarely does a flight review go beyond that.

I honestly think almost anyone can become a private pilot. An instrument rating, maybe not, because it's a TON more work, though even that is being reduced as GPS becomes commonplace.

I just don't see that having a conversation on bluetooth regarding your dinner plans tonight as being any different than having that same conversation with the person sitting next to you. At least when you're on bluetooth, you're not tempted to look over at the person you're talking to.

Well, while they are all related to landing the airplane, you are doing a lot of tasks.

On a typical VFR approach your concentration is outside the airplane. However, there are gear to be lowered, flaps to be lowered (in steps, not all at once), mixtures and propeller controls to be moved, throttles to be adjusted, and you ought to recheck all that once or twice before landing to make sure you haven't forgot something (like the landing gear!).

I don't think ATC telling me to make the first turn off "if able" is helping me land the airplane, neither actually, is them telling me I'm cleared to land, after all I don't need nor receive a clearance to land at a non-towered airport. It's a systematic safety check, so while it helps ensure I own the runway for the next couple of minutes, it doesn't really help me land the airplane.

True, all the things I'm doing are concentrated on flying the airplane, but it's splitting my attention several ways none the less.

You'd think that, but I highly suspect you'd be wrong.

I fly small airplanes regularly, which means it's just me, I don't have a copilot to handle the radios. I do the most communicating with air traffic control during the most critical aspects of flight, which is takeoff and landing. While approaching the airport, I not only have to listen for radio calls for me, but also for aircraft around me to maintain situational awareness and ensure the controller hasn't just cleared someone onto the runway I'm about to land on. Often I'm not cleared to land until I'm on short final and starting the power and pitch adjustments to flare. I must acknowledge that clearance with a radio transmission. I'll often receive basic taxi instructions (asking where I'm going on the airport, giving me a ground control frequency) during rollout.

Pilots every day talk to ATC at the same time they are performing critical tasks in the airplane. "Dropping the airplane to fly the radio" is rarely cited as a contributing factor to a crash. Not to say it never is, but it is rare. Pilots receive NO training on how to split their attention between the airplane and the radio ... while we are admonished to always fly the airplane first, failure to acknowledge a landing clearance has the potential to have the FAA start enforcement action against you, so it's not optional.

I don't think the big danger in driving while holding a cell phone is because you're talking, I think it's because you've just taken a hand away from controlling the vehicle. Or you've got your neck in some weird position trying to hold it between your ear and shoulder. Sure, it takes some brain cells to carry on a conversation, and that DOES reduce safety somewhat, same as singing along with the radio or carrying on a conversation with a passenger. But I can walk and chew gum at the same time, I can land an airplane and talk to ATC at the same time, and I can drive and talk to someone at the same time, regardless if they're sitting next to me or I have a bluetooth in my ear.

Just wish I could get it working under FreeBSD. The "Generic Unix" doesn't seem to work.

Driving inspectors aren't checked nearly as closely as FAA Designated Examiners. The guy I took my IFR checkride with got his DE yanked a couple years after my IFR ride. The FAA called me with some questions about my checkride, and I found out later he was playing fast and loose with some paperwork.

The checkride was honest, and the CFI's I talked to all thought his checkrides were fair - it didn't seem to be a matter of passing unqualified pilots or flunking qualified pilots, just paperwork issues.

As long as you still have to go to an FAA D.E. for the checkrides (which I doubt will ever change), there's really no comparison between drivers license tests and flight tests.

This is true.

I'd LOVE to have a GPS locator installed in our daughter. But ONLY if there was an 100% perfect surefire way that only my wife and I would ever have access to the data, and it could NEVER be subpoenaed or otherwise be required to be divulged.

In other words, I'd have it in theory, but not in practice.