That is a beautiful thought. Any of those remote telemetry stations in military bases? Had NASA been in charge of GPS, we wouldn't have destroyed the plans of the original satellites, nor the higher precision add-ons. We are out of spare GPS satellites and a replacement has yet to be launched.

Come to think of it: where are the GOES weather satellite replacements as well?

Yes.

And, yet, America was (re)discovered, and everyone learned a fundamental truth in those times. New "spices" were discovered in the process. So, with your lack of vision, shall we leave access to space for the less timid?

GPS was a pure military development. I'm pretty sure NASA had zilch to do with it.

I believe only you would make THAT comparison. Sounds like an excessively unfair analogy to these ears!

Bird -

You like weather forecasts, right? Weather satellites freed fleets of aircraft and ground stations from creating a patchwork image of cloud cover.

You like eating, right? We have satellites measuring the health of forests AND FARMS, which help us estimate crop yields and can set the market costs even before meat, fruit and vegetables reach the processors.

You like television, right? Television programs use to be relayed across the country and compressed so much that the east coast thought Hollywood could only do film and the west coast knew the easterners for the worthless, blurred colorless taped programs. Direct TV wouldn't exist without NASA.

You like telephones, right? Can you imagine the effort it took for a secretary to place a long distance call? Ma Bell took its sweet time innovating, didn't she?

I wouldn't call the space program "worthless" by any truthful measure!

Finally, I find it fascinating that you gave examples of commercial enterprises. NASA has a superb history of servicing safety critical systems; your angst seems better placed towards private businesses.

Seeking reparations after a chemical plant failure isn't a good business model.

"Proof" as in signatures that the people have actually read it, and "Proof" residing in the margins and comments attached to said documents.

Sometime a stupidly dumb proposal helps the process by feeding the imagination engine.

Who wants a half heartedly designed pacemaker? Those must be as cheap as hearing aids. But, more to your point, it takes many people at different periods in their careers to usher in truly ground breaking discoveries. The redundancies serve as classes so that should two, three or more emergencies arise, there are adequate people to assist.

Perhaps the best reason is having experienced people taught in NASA's laboratories increase their value in the commercial enterprises desiring their skill and experience. Frankly, NASA should earn a headhunter's fee when outplacing any if their engineers.

I'm sure that Spain, Portugal and England had similar discussions in the 1400s. After all, why try to innovate and just pay the exorbitant taxes levied by the Spice Road owners. Can anybody see the relevance today with Europe, Russia and China?

NASA incorporates a cascading filter process that relies upon multiple examination of these documents to cast out the unworthy elements. The best test of any process is to introduce errors and check the process(es) work products.

There is much truth to what you say. There has to be proof, in safety-critical processes, that the people working those processes have taken the time to interpret that piece of paper properly. Redundancies exist in the process workflow as well. You can cheap out and use an airline process, and, truth be told, we probably are arriving at that level of sophistication. But not quite yet; let's watch how Space-X and Virgin perform with government contracts and with tourism as well as the next commercial Concorde.

Finally a use of gladatorial games arenaes where the geeky players can WIN!

Few things are more pathetic than student funded Megabuck Stadias dedicated to barely functional liberal arts students paid to play football, baseball and basketball.

Current strain of Microsoft Windows? Which ones? There are presently 7 variants (after losing count) of Windows 8. Are they all equally secure?

Windows 7? Vista? XPSP3 and 2003 Server?

Are the Home versions every bit as secure as the Professional versions?

Notice my glaring omission of NT.

Perpetual decay \snicker \ha \haw

Remember ANYTHING about the 50s, 60s and 70s, son? You have things SO MUCH BETTER NOW than way back in the day. Computerized checkbooks, reliable transportation, telephone,... ..., Electricity, Internet. Need I go on? Polio and Smallpox Vaccines,... ..., imaging technology that puts X-ray Films from Polaroid to shame.

The decay you believe in is a figment of your imagination. Visit a third world county sometime and see what value your "wealth of knowledge" has in the real world. \Pity.