It doesn't take a rocket scientist....

[Anonymous]

posted on April 30th, 2010, 3:35 pm

Last edited by Anonymous on April 30th, 2010, 3:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

...to see that this is really funny!

Apparently, NASA was doing experiments on Australians to test their reaction time in avoiding a multi-million dollar telescope, should one ever come at them.  No Aussies were killed during this experiment.  But seriously, they spend all their time and money making a fancy telescope and then forget to check the anchor cables?

http://stratocat.com.ar/indexe.html

Edit:  I found a much better link.

posted on April 30th, 2010, 9:29 pm

Eeeh... humorous only when you don't think of the time, money and people involved

posted on April 30th, 2010, 9:40 pm

Don't be a Dominus_Downer

posted on April 30th, 2010, 9:42 pm

Heh, I think of my gf's projects when I read something like that . Hearing the daily news about the Mars rover getting stuck was NOT a happy time, though we do have a nice XKCD strip on that 

posted on April 30th, 2010, 9:44 pm

It's definitely The Comedian from Watchmen funny.

Millions of dollars in lost grant money and people inches from death because they didn't wait for a day with less wind or double check the anchorage.  Apparently large, fully inflated helium weather balloons can move when acted upon by a powerful force, taking expensive telescopes with them.  Who knew?

I'm just glad that elderly couple were safe when it smashed into the first SUV, which caused it to barely miss them.

Ha!  Yeah, the mars rover...   That was NASA as well...    

posted on April 30th, 2010, 9:46 pm

It lasted 6 years past its deadline - don't knock it

posted on April 30th, 2010, 10:30 pm

I was thinking of the Surveyor program, where someone decided to input force-pounds into a program designed for fig newtons.  So my bad, but the rovers have only been there for only 6 and a half years, am I right?  The original mission was only 3 months long.

posted on April 30th, 2010, 10:41 pm

Yeah, blame the contract managers - that's what happens when you have too small of a budget. In order to push programs through, you start them at NASA, contract out the rest, and when you run out of money (somewhat on purpose) you ask for an extension to finish the project. The American contractors aren't exactly in the know when it comes to using the metric system... 

Indeed, the Rovers have been there since 2003 - soooo crazy long. One of the most successful missions ever put in place too. Of course, nobody really pays attention to NASA missions after they've been launched, since 3 months (Mars) or a few years (Saturn) or a decade (Pluto) tend not to make an impact on the news hungry public  . Just look at the Apollo missions after we landed the first time. Apollo 13 only made the news because we had a disaster...

posted on April 30th, 2010, 11:46 pm

I'm sadly surprised by that, too.  I mean, the metric system has been drilled into our heads when doing any kind of scientific work, it's second nature.  In fact, besides driving and travel distances, I don't really use the English system all that much.  Well, whenever I step on the scale.   I bet before long we'll switch over to metric.  I'm used to the system we have now and I like it, but metric is sooo much simpler.

posted on April 30th, 2010, 11:58 pm

However, remember that the metric system stands for pinko commies, socialism, hoity toity Ur-o-pee-ons and fascism - so I doubt we'll be switching soon 

posted on May 1st, 2010, 12:21 am

Well, I don't know anyone who's ever made that connection before.   Stop listening to that guy in the padded room next to you, Dom.  He drinks his own pee.

posted on May 1st, 2010, 12:35 am

Fox News strikes again!

Metric is from Europe, therefore it's Unamerican, therefore, if you use it, you're a member of Al Qeada!  Isn't it obvious?!  Or maybe it makes you a Soviet Nazi, advocating the evils of social justice.

posted on May 1st, 2010, 1:02 am

That sounds about right personally i will die before i switch (except for science class)

posted on May 1st, 2010, 1:04 am

I grew up on the metric system. Consequently, I am the ONLY person I know who measures human height in Metres and as such NO-ONE knows what 1.72m is in terms of typical human height. how bothersome.

posted on May 1st, 2010, 1:22 am

Well, 1 meter is about the same as a yard, so the conversion isn't too off when you're measuring something something relatively small.  The only trouble I would have for a while would be switching over to Celcius, since it requires a bit of math if you don't intuitively think about it.  It would be convenient to have it once you do get used to it, then no more conversions, hurray!