Remember, if you have it bad enough it's not OCD but CDO. ;-)

As a Perl guy, Python(x,y) has a complete scientific computing package. While Perl and Ruby can do these things, Python(x,y) does it in a slick way.

It is a Windows only package as far as I can tell.

Perl, Python and Ruby can deal with Excel and R but Python(x,y) provides a nice interface for everything.

Except that they create nothing of any real value and is of limited utility.

Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (FIRE) should not be the engine of any economy. It can support and facilitate it but when it becomes the prime mover. Well, then you're just fucked.

Not sure how Services (flipping burgers, IT support, etc.) fall in there but a service based economy sucks as well.

Death penalty is easy, just dissolve the company. Sorry workers. Maybe you shouldn't work for a company that is negligent enough to cause people's death.

As for incarceration, all profits go to the government for the term of the sentence. If a publicly traded company than any trades are frozen for the term of the sentence.

Other ideas welcome.

Then again, I don't think organizations are people and shouldn't be allowed to participate in our government. That means unions, political parties, any grouping of people. No contributions to campaigns and strict limits on ads and such.

But that's just me.

A very good reason to drop the program is that it was hacked.

I know for a fact that SpaceX has a ton of Purdue grads. Mostly because they have a fantastic propulsion research center.

So, either go to undergrad at Purdue and stay for a masters, or go to your state school, do really well and do your grad work at Purdue.

Blue Origin has a decent amount of Purdue grads as well.

Above all else you need to do excellent work in school have a decent amount of ambition. I did ok in school and "settled" for being happy with life instead having much ambition. :-)

Kris Rusch has been specifically writing about the change in the publishing/writing business for about past 6 months or so.

Very interesting, inspiring and great work.

The $1 billion cost from pharma R&D has been questioned.

Even if it were true, pharma can easily make that in the patent life of the drug. Let alone the derivatives that they will patent after it.

Would you rather deal with 2 systems (variable thrust engine and an air bag deploy system) or just 1 system?

You would need an engine regardless, there is no atmosphere on the moon so you can use the Martian solution. You could use a parachute for the bulk of the descent and then have the air bag.

I wouldn't even dream of using an air bag for manned missions, no control of the impact at all.

With variable thrust you have controls systems to keep things stable and can vector out of the way like Neil did on Apollo 13.

An aircraft is not a spacecraft so "imagine controlling an aircraft without control surfaces" is a non sequitor. In fact, some aircraft can be partially controlled without flight surfaces (vectored thrust fighters that stand on their tails and use engine thrust to spin about, see Cobra maneuver.

No atmosphere, no control surfaces. All you are left with is thrusters and what little gravity there is.

Compare the Lunar Lander from Apollo to the Armadillo craft to the Morpheus project.

There is only so many configurations where you have a centrally mounted engine and a bunch of spherical propellant tanks.

Not so much a knock off as that is what physics and mother nature dictates.

Because you can vary the thrust on a solid rocket booster, not.

The lander probably needs variable thrust. Solids won't be very useful for that.

The Purdue folks just built the engine. They didn't build the lander.

I just dropped the streaming option.

I can't use it because all of but 2 pc's are linux and those aren't anywhere I would comfortably watch a movie.

So, I saved myself $2 and apparently costing Netflix more because DVDs, what made Netflix Netflix, is getting more expense.

Once someone figures out a better streaming option (Linux utility and better title availability) I'll cut them off all together.

Electric vehicles pay very little in a gas tax but still use the roads.

I agree in principle but how would this be enforced with an Orwellian level of surveillance.

Putting a gps on each vehicle and somehow anonimizing the data seems the only realistic way.