Context matters. I never said he didn't do anything for space exploration. In response to a statement saying NASA only wants 'manned' missions, I showed an example where even a small unmanned program was heavily defended by NASA.

Nope, it was a cost cutting measure pure and simple. There's plenty the voyager's can still do that absolutely nothing else can or will be able to do for the next 40 years - measure the heliopause.

They haven't reached the end...hence why NASA stood in pretty heavy lockstep to protect them.

When they find it takes a hour to print? not so much.

5-10 minutes tops before people are going to accept it. And that's if you can completely remove any user interaction with the technical side.

It's a 'printer' and they will expect it to work (and likewise the user not work) like one from 2010, not 1980.

Nope. George Bush tried to cancel the Voyager programs (for a paltry 4 million in savings). He was informed there would be a human shield preventing anyone trying to turn them off.

You know what's 'very unlikely'? A /. poster having any clue about Europa that NASA doesn't already know in it's sleep.

how do you think volcanoes work? melting rock only near the surface?

Besides, with ice formation it doesn't destroy evidence of organisms that were in the water.

We'll never be able to fly
We'll never be able to go into space
We'll never be able to land on the moon
We'll never be able to have civil and informative political discussions....

Ok, the 4th might be true, but 'never' and human ingenuity shouldn't be lumped together very often.

From the EEOC's website:

It does NOT cover you holding and expressing views you're employer dislikes.

Nobody said it was oppression, they are freely speaking their minds. Nothing wrong with it at all. Both sides should probably expect holding and expressing their views may have unintended consequences, but nobody is remotely claiming they are being oppressed.

Perfectly legal in many places already. First Amendment applies to the government, not private employers.

Pretty sure AC means the Tweets from the rank and file saying the new boss should to step down. It's fair to expect some blowback for that, but the new boss also needs to understand if he's toxic to the people who will be making him succeed or fail as well.

I'll agree that most people who identify as libertarians..ala Ron/Rand Paul...simply aren't. I can respect a Libertarian point of view. It has concrete and arguable points. I fundamentally think it simply can't work in reality, but it's a nice ideal to strive for.

The Tea Party? It would be absolutely entertaining if it weren't such a viciously soul sucking pit of despair to anyone who appreciates logic.

The Dems a party of fiscal responsibility? Heh, whenever I've brought up the concept, my point to the Tea Party is 'tax and spend liberals' yep that's fiscal responsibility...PAYING for what you spend. Of course having the Tea Party understand that the vast majority of the debt has been rung up by Republicans is a wee bit too much to ask :) I'll even absolve Reagan of his increases as he (and a Dem Congress) bankrupted the Soviet Union making the world (hopefully) a better place.

As opposed to the GOP's quite literal flop of 'Tax and cut' yeah that'll work

Actually yes. The last time a 'few' people in cockpit tried nefarious stuff, the world changed and the US (my country) invaded Iraq and started headlong down the road to totalitarianism. A perfect storm really. An already corrupt 2 party system that doesn't do any serious check and balance, only raise money for re-election, now gets a perfect 'for the children' defense for *anything* proposed no matter how stupid or pointless it is.

Or we have a mechanical failure that can be fixed...

I'll take the latter every single time. The above sounds like a rabid libertarian point of view, but I assure you it isn't. I'm as left wing liberal as just about anybody. I believe in government and it having a purpose; but with the NSA and everything else we've seen in the last 15 years...it is truly broken to the core and it's up to us to fix it.

Which is why they waited literally days before asking the international community for help? Seriously, significant progress didn't begin until the other countries were allowed to start helping.

You can be a small country with limited resources, but you don't get to excuse for not calling for help when you are clearly in over your head.

I figure since we already have them orbiting the sun to tell us about these things, it's probably reasonable to assume that's the most efficient way to do it.

You also need one directly between us and the Sun because we need to know the polarity of the CME. I forgot which way it is but it's either if it's opposite our magnetic field then it's harmless or if it's the same it's harmless. So we need to know that before shutting down the entire power grid...a telescope (light) isn't going to tell you that.

the easiest solution is simply disconnecting the transformers when a CMP is coming.

But that requires a number of satellites in orbit around the Sun (not Earth)...and that backs up you're money point...sigh