Is NASA incompetent?

NASA...

Ya know, when I was a kid, I looked up to NASA. They did some pretty amazing things. From landing men on the moon to sending probes to the edges of our solar system, it was all pretty fantastic.

Then the shuttle Challenger exploded. That shook my faith in them a bit.

But they soon pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and...puttered around from the next 10 or so years. They were happy just sending the shuttle in and out of orbit. So much so, that most of the public lost interest in shuttle launches. They became an ordinary event. Boring almost.

NASA claimed that they were doing research and preparing for a space station. Which we did *finally* get, but at a snails pace.

It seems to me that during the early 90's NASA slowed down to almost a crawl. It lost it's drive, it's curiosity to explore and innovate like no one has seen before. Perhaps it's the upper management's fault, who knows?

All I know is that it seems to me that the NASA that put us on the moon and was so bold and adventurous died in the 90's and now we're left with a shell. Another bumbing governmental agency. I mean the DOT and DMV might as well be running NASA. Hell, they couldn't do much worse.

This latest bumbing of the chunch of insulation coming of the main tank and nearly missing the shuttle. They spent boatloads of our money to try to find the problem, and insure that it would never happen again. So that we would not lose another crew like we did when the Columbia was lost.

But what happens? The same damn thing. Luckily, this time the chunk missed the shuttle. So what was all that time and money spent for?

Nothing apparently.

I think it's time there was a house cleanning at NASA. Obviously, the folks who are running don't know their ass for a hole in the ground. I know there are a lot of hard working men and women at NASA, and I don't blame them. I know their hands are tied by the endless bureaucracy and group think that must be going on at the higher levels.

But this kind of crap has to stop. It's embarrassing. It's sickening, and worst of all it's not necessary.

I want the NASA of my boyhood back.

I want the NASA who knew how to do amazing, inspiring things, and do them right.

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Remote controlled Star Wars models

Here's some cool stuff. R/C Star Wars models.



Yann's R/C Naboo Royal Cruiser
Visit the site



Go-RC's Millennium Falcon
Project thread 1
Project thread 2




Oldpilot's Jedi Star Fighter
Project thread



Artsloper's X-Wing in progress with working folding wings!
Project thread

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A new tool in the fight against SPAM

New Scientist Magazine is reporting that a team from IBM and Cornell have developed a new anti-spam technique that may help to stop those *wonderful* "Purchase generic drugs from our #1 ranked generic drugs provider" and "have your quicker alleviations. quickly" email messages we all get every single freakin' day.

From the article:
"A team from IBM and Cornell University in New York state, US, developed the anti-spam technique, which they call "SMTP Path Analysis". It involves examining information embedded in email messages about the route it has taken across the internet. This allows it to make a good guess as to whether or not a new message is electronic junk mail."

"The SMTP Path Analysis algorithm "learns" by examining the string of internet protocol (IP) addresses included in both spam and legitimate email headers. When a new message arrives, it is then able to judge, with relative accuracy, whether it is legitimate or, in fact, unwanted spam."

Sounds good to me.


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What the hell is this outside of Beijing?

Okay, so I'm puttering around with Google's new 3D globe software trying to find the new Disneyland in Hong Kong, and I notice some weird blue splotches on the map just outside of Beijing.


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So I zoom in for a closer look:

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Did I mention how cool Google's new 3D globe software is?

And this is what I discovered:

Click for larger version

Now I'm puzzled by this, what could all these blue patches be? Anyone know?

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Become a "Certified" Geek

According to The Japan Times, a Japanese publisher, Biblos, is offering a geek exam that if passed, would certify you as an official Geek, or "Otaku". They've set up a website for the exam: http://www.otaken.jp/

From the Article:
"The computer-scored test, which will be in a multiple-choice format, will be conducted by mail so anyone can apply, even from overseas. But the applicants must be able to get the question and answer forms and comprehend the "postgraduate"-level questions, which will be written in Japanese.

The article also goes into a bit of the culture of the Japanese geek. Click those mechanical pencils boys and girls, let's get ready to test our geek knowledge!

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We were slashdotted to death

On July 4th you may have noticed that the site was down for a little while. Well, it appears the guys at Slashdot.org that it would be cool to link to our Star Wars Lego file *WITHOUT* our permission.

Needless to say, it pushed our bandwidth over the limit and I'm pissed. We had to buy more bandwidth this month (which means no more video, at least this month). The thing that pisses me off the most, is that we only got a mirror link. They didn't ask us, they just linked directly to the file, so the leechers went directly to the file, and NEVER saw the rest of the site. They missed the blog, the radio station and the forums.

They know about the slashdot effect, and yet they didn't care. This is why I don't visit Slashdot.

I'd like more people to visit the site, especially in a slashdot manner, just not leechers. I'd like folks to visit in Slashdot numbers, and come enjoy the site and the forum and stick around. Not just fly in like vultures, take what they want and leave.

Man I'm pissed. The one time we get numbers like that, and they sneak in the back door. :(

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