fnord wrote:

There were people on Cruel who said I was a nut for suggesting NASA was aware the shuttle was too damaged to survive reentry and lacked the will to attempt a rescue.

I remember that discussion and also recall wondering what advising the crew to, "smoke 'em if you got 'em," would possibly accomplish.

A group grope, an orbital circle jerk, maudlin tears while everyone got their nut one last time? The wholesome entertainment value of NASA's giant Piñata and subsequent mince meat scavenger hunt proves they made the right choice. I'd skimmed Cruel on occasion before but that story cemented my front row seat at the freak show. Ten years, huh?

Last edited by choad (2013-02-02 06:06:55)

Here's the problem with these kinds of theories;  They assume, just because someone is in a position of power, that they are automatically mass-murdering sociopaths.

I usually agree that leaders are to some degree psychopathic - and this only because I have to deal with my own minor psychopathic tendencies - you have to be more psychopathic than the people you are trying to lead or else they have nothing to aspire to - if you know what i mean.

The gov't may have known the shuttle crew was probably gonna die, but the simple scientific truth is that there was nothing that could be done about it.  They were doomed when that tile came loose at launch. 

But, WTF, it's fun to to play the 'What If?' game.

choad wrote:

NASCAR space monkeys with just enough sense to know the Challenger roulette numbers of epic fail......

Is this one of those random-word generated sentences?  But, what does it mean?

*****************************************************
I wanna tell you a side story related to this shuttle disaster.  I live in huntsville alabama, where nasa was born and where all the cutting edge nasa stuff is still, today, being developed.  I have several friends that work for nasa and associated contractors.

One friend was in charge of designing the facilities necessary to transport and to house some biological experiments.  It was related to growing plants in high radiation - zero gravity evirons. 

Anyway, on the day the shuttle was coming back, I called him early and asked him if he was gonna watch the re-entry.  He was gonna watch it at the gym, so i went down and we rode the stationary bikes and watched the nasa feed.  Everyone knew it would never see the ground because the tiles were damaged.  When it did burn up, I didn't say anything to him, I didn't even look at him, but i could tell he was crying.

I believe he was crying because he had spent 7 years of his life working on what was vaporized into nothingness.  You can't judge everything in life based on how many meatsacks are scarificed for it.

choad wrote:

fnord wrote:

It's my belief that a rescue attempt just didn't fit with the Shrub administration's budget priorities, which were waging war in order to transfer as much money as possible to his friends while giving them tax breaks.

I'm surprised at the empathy for over paid Darwin Award Winners I'm hearing here, meatheaded NASCAR space monkeys with just enough sense to know the Challenger roulette numbers of epic fail, shitting weightless in space with or without a change of diapers.

And yet you would have given your left nut to have been on one of those runs, opportunity of a lifetime, etc., etc.

As we all know: It's better to burn out than fade away...

choad wrote:

Emmeran wrote:

As we all know: It's better to burn out than fade away...

I've requested a Second Line procession to the wharf and Viking funeral at sea, not that I expect either, much less that I'll care after I've croaked. Odds are better I'll mouth off once too many and find my remainders nourishing a derelict cranberry bog.

It's safe to assume I've no use whatever for the hideous waste of our manned space program, least not until they make all launches assplode in technicolor.

I'll be up there for a beer in late April.

Lip shitz wrote:

choad wrote:

NASCAR space monkeys with just enough sense to know the Challenger roulette numbers of epic fail......

Is this one of those random-word generated sentences?  But, what does it mean?

Everyone else knows what it means, so why don't you, Mr. If-People-Around-Here-Are-Intelligent-Enough? What it doesn't mean is "tell me a pointless story".

And, by the way, I don't assume that just because someone is in a position of power that they are automatically mass-murdering sociopaths. When I see a leader acting in the same way as a mass-murdering sociopath, then I start making assumptions. If he or she is on record saying that the way to be known as a great President is to be a war President, or "I truly believe that God speaks through me" I begin to wonder. If he's a chimp-looking Bible-thumper who calls himself things 'The Commander Guy' or 'The Decider' and struts around for the cameras like a rooster on a dung heap after starting unnecessary wars then I begin to feel that my assumptions might have been valid. It's no great stretch to assume that such a leader might well decide to sacrifice real heroes on the alter of his own popularity. He might also believe that keeping their impending demise a secret would shield him from criticism.

I fucking love cabin fever time of year, virtually everybody posts like a butt-hurt bitch.

Emmeran wrote:

... like a butt-hurt bitch.

You say that like it's a bad thing.

Lip shitz wrote:

Emmeran wrote:

I fucking love cabin fever time of year, virtually everybody posts like a butt-hurt bitch.

Who asked you anything, honky?  I'm all jacked up on steroids for an illness.  I haven't felt a viscereal need to punch some smartass in decades, but i feel it now.

Do you usually feel that way after you feel the need to deflect, or is it just a passing whim?

Tall Paul wrote:

Lip shitz wrote:

Emmeran wrote:

I fucking love cabin fever time of year, virtually everybody posts like a butt-hurt bitch.

Who asked you anything, honky?  I'm all jacked up on steroids for an illness.  I haven't felt a viscereal need to punch some smartass in decades, but i feel it now.

Do you usually feel that way after you feel the need to deflect, or is it just a passing whim?

it comes and goes.

whosasailorthen wrote:

Or assless chaps.

I am curious to know what kind of chaps aren't assless.  Non-assless chaps would begin to resemble pants.

It's possible that going into space is safer than climbing Mt. Everest. I am too lazy to run the stats.

Last edited by sigmoid freud (2013-02-06 22:43:55)

It's pretty easy folks. Chaps are assless when you don't wear the "assumed to have on" jeans with them. Chaps were designed to add EXTRA protection to your already clothed body. The term "assless" means that you have not put on one of the two (jeans)  pieces of clothing that makes chaps, "chaps." Now they are just gay lingerie.

Why did I know this would happen.

It's like a turd with the shit knocked out of it.