Really? I have to intentionally put a 5 second delay in the first stage to get the second stage to fire straight back down into the ground

A three stage rocket with 1-2 second delays in stages one and two makes for a pretty awesome zig-zag flight (not to mention some nervous observers)

they must be power lifters, even the 3-g force of the shuttle launch would leave me mashed on the floor

Funny you should ask...

First off Mercury 1 was un-manned, so it did not really require an escape system

However, it did have both an in flight automatic abort system as well as an escape rocket that was attached to the nose of the capsule

The escape rocket fired, broke free from the capsule and launched 4000 feet vertically
The capsule drogue chute also fired, only to drape down the side of the rocket

So, there you go, essentially an ICBM with a capsule and escape mechanisms...

MK, maybe you want to consider the positives that have come from artificial satellite:
    Earth observation - Accurate crop and weather projections prevent starvation from drought and crop damage
    Global communications - Probably prevented mutual assured destruction, at least once

So, yeah, I only got a top two list, but these two have probably prevented as much death and destruction as any other two technological inventions between 1950 and the present, and they certainly would not have ever existed without space 'exploration'

I am closing in on 50 and looking to get into a director position in IT (currently a manager)

This situation terrifies me since I could be let go and have to compete for another programming job against a bunch of newbies who overcompensate for their lack of experience by hyping the uniqueness of their skill sets. Unfortunately, HR drones fall for the same buzz word bingo in job postings and always demand the language du jour instead of looking for somebody with a track record of learning new languages and being able to apply consistent good programming practices

It leads me to the desire to build a management bunker around myself, staff it with loyalists and slow any risky new development because it might expose me to rif if the scheme fails

We all know that this will lead to IT stagnation and make my employer less competitive, but it seems to be the way the game is played

and yes, it is a damn shame

I call BS
the problem with diesel in the US has been its high sulfur content, which can truly bugger up all of the sensors on a turbo diesel in a couple years

Swede has offered ultra low sulfur diesel since 1990, it only became widely available in the US since 2007, on;y as a result of action by the EPA

the petroleum industry would have kept the sulfur in, since it is cheaper to produce, if it had not been for government regulation

If anything it makes me question 'industry pundits' who fail to recognize the layered way that open source projects are able to build on each other.

Like saying a plant is irrelevant to the flowers that grow on it

MREs make malnourished people really sick. there were some unfortunate episodes where they were given to indigenous populations and they puked up the heavy calorie ridden-food designed for soldiers

There is a new class of rations called HDRs (Humanitarian Daily Rations) that follow a wide list of food restrictions (halal, kosher, vegetarian...) and are designed to be given out to locals by armed forces.

So, yeah the Ethiopians probably rejected the MREs because they thought they were being poisoned.

Bummer about the short shelf life, I have known people who were given MCIs (Meal, Combat, Individual) older than themselves that were still, um, edible

It'll be shorter than your explanation of why the links don't work :)

after Compaq sold the rights to Intel

You want to assume that some of them are still working Alpha goodness into Intel products, but it is just as likely that they killed the tech and kept their talent out of the light of day

We are here to protect you
Shoving is the answer
Humans must be shoved
They must go down the stairs

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/audio/terriblesecret

The worst people that I have worked with had AMAZING people skills.

They could convince, seemingly rational people, of almost anything... regardless of glaring logical holes or inconsistencies.

They seemed to have some sort of narcissistic disorder and usually would trend projects towards whatever outcome would earn them the most dough or gratification with little regard to the success of the outcome.

I would take a few non-communicative geeks over a boatload of these asshats any day of the week, but then I do not work in Marketing so what the hell

LED screens are common in outdoor displays, like the big TV in the Cowboy's stadium:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboys_Stadium#Video_screen

  maybe iMacs are much larger in Greece

My first Unix server had two 660 MB drives in it (5.25 full height), seemed like an infinite number since my pc was just rocking a 40MB HD at the time.

Seems funny now, but between the drives, RISC processor and 64 MB of ram, it was the shit in 1990