The single biggest problem that any team is facing is getting cash and sufficient cash to pay for a launch. This has been a problem for Astrobotic (and why they have postponed to 2015). This has been an issue for Moon Express. This is an issue for Rocket City Space Pioneers. And, yes, it is an issue for Team Phoenicia (my own team). For FredNet, too. Getting material donations has not been difficult. Just the $. That's why Team Phoenicia has been selling engines and rockets. If you want to help and not just snark, go to your favourite team's website and hit the donate button. They all have them. If /. or any other entity would use the /. effect to that end, it'd be a wondrous and helpful thing.

I'm in line to get my FREE Pi. Picked up a coupon at the Blacksbug FudCON:
        http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Archive:FUDCon:Blacksburg_2012

Planning on turning mine into a MythTV frontend unit. :)

Good times..

Tweeks

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, or trolling or whatever, BUT...

The Big Bang Theory (a theory of how the universe in its present state came into being) is not the same as the theory of abiogenesis (the theory of life arising from non-living matter)

Neither the Big Bang theory nor abiogenesis have anything do with the theory of evolution, as evolution has nothing to do with how life or the universe got started. It simply details how life develops once it exists. That you confuse these three theories, and apparently think that they are all the same theory, indicates to me that you really don't understand any of them.

The story of Darwin recanting his theory on his deathbed is false, and was made up by someone who was not even in the room when he passed away. Even if that story were true, that would be no reason to discard the theory, as evidence for it comes from many different sources, and not just from Charles Darwin. He was a scientist, not a prophet.

You don't know that God created man, in his image or not. Assuming there is a God, we could be an unintended by-product of the initial creation of the universe. You simply don't know, and can't know. That it says so in the Bible isn't enough. The contents Bible can't be proven to be true by it simply stating that it's true in those same contents.

I have no problem with you believing whatever you want if it makes you happy. Don't expect me to buy into it as well, though. I certainly don't expect you to believe all the things that I believe, and that includes evolution. It's just a pity that you can't hold on to your faith AND accept that there may be things that the Bible doesn't cover, and that evolution may be one of them. You might lead a happier life that way.

Not from me, no. I tend to heavily invest in things that I like, if I sense that the company or producer behind it appreciates me as a customer and not as a wallet. I buy books from and donate to webcomics I like, I buy games after playing demos (if I like the game, naturally), and when I really get into something, I'll buy associated works like posters, toys, etc. just to fling more cash their way.

I view it as positive reinforcement towards a company that displays correct behavior. I've got enough money that I can afford to support the things that I like, in the hopes that the companies that make those things will be encouraged to make more things that I like.

If i'm getting screwed somehow, then i'm pretty fucking happy about it.

That's because you're not getting screwed. You're getting made sweet, passionate love to :P

Which is actually kind of the point. Treat your customers well, and the will (on average) treat you well back.

Our CEO was asked to go to DC to tell the legislators why SOPA/PIPA is such a bad idea:
          Sink the Pirates, Not the Internet
          http://www.rackspace.com/blog/?p=2741

Tweeks

Playing D&D isn't what makes you a cool dad (though it definitely helps). Interacting with your teenage son on a regular basis is what makes you a cool dad. Being involved in his life, and in his friend's lives, that's what makes you a cool dad. Congratulations, you cracked the code! :)

My uncle was in cancer remission for >20ys when the US-VA went in to fix a simple abdominal hernia. After they sewed him up, he was okay for a couple of weeks, but then got very sick. An infection was ravaging his body and the doctors could not localize the infection. After months of antibiotics, they found the rags and removed them and scooped out all the necrosing tissue. By this time, his immune system had sunken so low that the cancer was able to make a come back which ended up killing him (after months of chemo).

All this to say.. forgotten rags (and implements) are a pretty significant problem in many disciplines (not just fuel lines), and why many operating rooms now have a "time out" materials count in pre and post-op. Maybe launch pad protocols should adopt the same.

Tweeks

I hadn't heard anyone discuss the limited lifespan of optical and other eDoc mediums. They have very short/finite life spans (5-20 yrs) and have to be remastered or transferred off to another medium. Also.. would such a system be "safe" from technology attack like EMP, etc? Paper is cheap, and good for a couple hundred years.

Tweeks

When I first saw that sketch, I just thought it was typical (meaning: very funny) Python humor. But I've had several instances of "laughing so hard I almost passed out" in my life, which makes me wonder if a "killing joke" is actually possible.

One such incident involved an intentional outtake from the movie Serenity. If you've seen those, then you likely know which one I mean. I was left gasping for breath and my vision was graying out before I started to recover.

Actually... that made me curious enough to check Wikipedia while writing this. There are, apparently, a few known deaths attributed to heart failure brought on by excessive laughing. So much for laughter being the best medicine!

As a US citizen, I also find these practices unacceptable. The current mentality of complete control by our government has gotten entirely too far out of hand in this country. I vote my conscience in every election, and I write letters and am as politically active as I can be while still holding down a job, but there's only so much I can do when so many of my fellow Americans are bound and determined to allow our own government to undermine everything that our country is supposed to stand for.

Actions like this by the EU are pretty much the last hope I have of something may give the US the wake up call that we so desperately need. Unfortunately, with the US's current extremely confrontational attitude, the only reaction that I can see is a bunch of angry griping about how the rest of the world just better shut up and stay out of our business. Still, I applaud the EU and anyone else that refuses to tow the US-mandated line.

This is pretty much =exactly= what I did.

I pointed out that this law will have a negative impact on millions of IT workers in the US, at a time when we can least afford to be fucking the one major industry that seems to be doing well.

I'm waiting on a response, but essentially told them that if they vote for this law, I will actively engage in getting them voted out of office.

Fuckers.

is Captain Mike Yates.

Seriously, though... a movie could be great, or it could be terrible, and I would be ok with either result. If it's good, then huzzah! I'll watch it and enjoy it. If it's terrible, then yay! We can ignore it as far as canon goes (like that terrible 80's thing... Paul McGann made a good Doctor, the Tardis set was awesome, the reinvented theme was ok... the rest sucked goat ass).

My big fear is that it will be kind of decent. Too good to ignore, but too bad to really energize the franchise.

But if this is going to be it's own continuity, then I guess do whatever you want, Hollywood. If I don't like it, I'll ignore it. Though, the influx of new Who fans who are only familiar with the movie(s) will be annoying to deal with. But that's life.

There are positions out there.

Most of the folks that are hiring Hadoop and HBase folks are doing it on the sly.

It's how I got my current job :)