"we Americans are becoming an ever-more-exhausted and accident-prone society due to sleep debt"
http://www.amazon.com/Sleep-Th...

and this from a blog by Chuck Divine, "Some people argue that humans have not evolved to do intellectual work for more than a portion of a week that might be as low as 40 hours. Yes, you can go over that limit, but other things will suffer if you do."

if that were to happen all guvmint agencies will collapse as all are coffee drinkers.

the movie "The Aviator" was fascinating to watch when they portrayed the hearing. Howard Hughes then turned the tide against Brewster with bringing up certain "contributions" the senator received including reference to the painting of llamas (first scene earlier in the movie where Howard was being sociable asking about where Owen got the painting. But he was really gathering information to be used for his benefit later). I believe movie script used was direct from the transcripts of that hearing. And there were other aircraft contracts of other companies that never delivered anything to the Army Air Corps.

maybe the chief engineer trying get this thing through bureaucracy got fed up and yelled at Politburu (or whoever at top govt), "If I can't get this thing to fly, I will leave China!" They probably then gave him the resources he wanted. Most likely not true but don't ruin a good story with facts.

true but I've seen non-licensed people who call themelves consulting engineers instead of consultants. Though many of these people use "engineer" but whaddaya gonna do, place them under citizen's arrest? However, civil engineers are very strict on licensing unlike vast number of silicon valley engineers.

reminds me of Dilbert cartoon where he is working lot of unpaid overtime where the hardhat maintenance technician either gets to go home at end of day or gets 1.5 or 2 times normal wage.

reading all this stuff of potential disasters... is it numbing our sense of urgency? There was a time when we had no idea of many dynamics of the Sun (there were no spacecraft). It is scientifically interesting, an IRIS scientists said the solar system is a system, the sun is not constant and causes non-constant interactions to planets. Speaking of disasters that have happened, might happen, a nearby star can go supernova. Or there could be a nearby gamma ray burst. But looming catastrophe is shrinking reserves of water that is safe to drink.

I second that. Yes, lots of people say it's safe, it's great, etc. but being one of the 0.01% is a chance I don't want to take.

There was PBS documentary about Mt Everest climbers, one of them went blind at altitude because his laser-surgery eyes deformed because of decreased pressure. Losing eyesight on that mountain is superbad because everyone else is struggling and leading another adds more difficultly and danger. He managed to get to lower elevations and eyesight came back. I don't know about other mentions in this thread regarding pilots and astronauts but I also heard that's why they don't accept those who had laser surgery because at pressure altitude of 30K they can lose eyesight.

not sure why this was marked down (unless all of us tired of hearing same complaints). I remember the hoopla about renaming DFRC and politicians on the house floor giving glowing speeches of Armstrong, and then later that day they cut the NASA budget $600 million.

It seems to me Neil would want that NASA facility to remain under Hugh's name. Armstrong flew the X-15 but it was Dryden who was instrumental in creating the X-15 program.
Who Was Hugh Dryden and Why Should We Care? (page 163)
http://history.nasa.gov/sp4112...

I heard verbally from someone they renamed Lewis Research Center after Glenn to discourage politicians from closing down the center.

Rumor has it they want to rename Ames Research Center after Sally Ride. Of course Sally is a fine person and but consider Joe Ames was the first NACA administrator and later he kept the NACA alive when Herbert Hoover tried to eliminate it and transfer its duties to industry. And here's another from a NASA history page (I kept this but lost the url):

"Ames accepted a nomination by Air Minister Hermann Goring to the Deutsche Akademie der Luftfartforschung. Ames then considered it an honor, many Americans did, and was surprised to learn about the massive Nazi investment in aeronautical infrastructure, then six times larger than the NACA. Ames urged the funding for a second laboratory and expansion of the NACA facilities to prepare for war. " It was these facilities and infrastructure that helped allies win WWII, helped US aerospace industries, laid down the foundations for NASA able to make Neil the first man to step the moon.

I find something lacking, a habitat module. I see lots of articles, PPT, etc. describing how Orion will go beyond but yet I haven't found much on additional space for food, supplies, tools and parts (yes, things can break down needing replacements and repairs), exercise equipment. Maybe there is but I haven't seen anything consistent (I admit I'm not involved in Orion or other HSF programs, and haven't fully searched the internet for references). I see lots of articles about Orion and SLS launch vehicle but that's it. Perhaps a little here and there for habitat modules but no major development program like someone getting a big contract to design and build modules.

I view Orion as a high speed entry vehicle when screaming back into earth's atmosphere but other than that it is limited. It carries only four people, has no airlock, no toilet, not much space for supplies, and has less room per person than the Shuttle Orbiter.

is that who that is? I find frequently on my answering machine something pertaining to cardholder, I don't bother to listen as it sounds like another telemarketer, I hit delete button without bothering to listen to the rest of message. I have been getting a slew of calls from some kind of collection agency leaving a phone number with area code I don't recognize. And long distance too so I ain't gonna call.

I am surprised of an agency like FTC actually doing something that can benefit us little people on the user side of the "tubes."

imagine if they thought it was some useless kind of foreign typewriter, put it for sale at a flea market for $5.

I guess if you're old enough to remember when the world was only two pieces (US and USSR along each their allied countries), Pluto was a planet and many think it still is. At least for me it still seems like a planet. Though that's for the astronomers to argue it out.

I believe we are fortunate that money and effort was devoted to New Horizons to examine Pluto. Imagine what the surface is like, what would the sun look like at Pluto? Yes, much smaller than here on earth but kind of fun to imagine.

"Deals of this size are done all the time, and think what having access to and rights over a billion kilos of platinum would do for your corporate portfolio."

yes, I think this phrase is worth repeating.

this is a hint on how to build a "solar system railroad" is to build a Space Navy. Paradigm of a "Space Force" has been modeled after an air force of airplanes to command the sky. But airplanes are short duration on a specific mission. A navy to command the seas needs ships of long duration and logistics ships to keep them on station for months at a time. So think of a Space Navy to conquer the solar system.

Though first commercial ventures to asteroids would not need a navy, unless "space pirates" are to appear which may happen. One country may observe another taking the lead and then license privateers to attack those vessels and steal their ore. It's happened before on the oceans.

good one, I'll remember this.