TheMadCap

The Gallant crew of Space Shuttle Columbia Rick Husband, Commander William McCool, Pilot David Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Michael Anderson, Payload Commander Laurel Clark, Mission Specialist Ilan Ramon, Payload Specialist The final words of Laurel Clark to her family, January 31, 2003 from Earth orbit... "Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth. The perspective is truly awe-inspiring. This is a terrific mission and we are very busy doing science round the clock. Just getting a moment to type e-mail is precious so this will be short, and distributed to many who I know and love. I have seen some incredible sights: lightning spreading over the Pacific, the Aurora Australis lighting up the entire visible horizon with the cityglow of Australia below, the crescent moon setting over the limb of the Earth, the vast plains of Africa and the dunes on Cape Horn, rivers breaking through tall mountain passes, the scars of humanity, the continuous line of life extending from North America, through Central America and into South America, a crescent moon setting over the limb of our blue planet. Mount Fuji looks life a small bump from up here, but it does stand out as a very distinct landmark. Magically, the very first day we flew over Lake Michigan and I saw Wind Point (Wisconsin) clearly. Haven't been so lucky since. Every orbit we go over a slightly different part of the Earth. Of course, much of the time I'm working back in Spacehab and don't see any of it. Whenever I do get to look out, it is glorious. Even the stars have a special brightness. I have seen my 'friend' Orion several times. Taking photos of the earth is a real challenge, but a steep learning curve. I think I have finally gotten some beautiful shots the last 2 days. Keeping my fingers crossed that they're in sharp focus. My near vision has gotten a little worse up here so you may have seen pics/video of me wearing glasses. I feel blessed to be here representing our country and carrying out the research of scientists around the world. All of the experiments have accomplished most of their goals despite the inevitable hiccups that occur when such a complicated undertaking is undertaken. Some experiments have even done extra science. A few are finished and one is just getting started today. The food is great and I am feeling very comfortable in this new, totally different environment. It still takes a while to eat as gravity doesn't help pull food down your oesophagus. It is also a constant challenge to stay adequately hydrated. Since our body fluids are shifted toward our heads our sense of thirst is almost non-existent. Thanks to many of you who have supported me and my adventures throughout the years. This was definitely one to beat all. I hope you could feel the positive energy that beamed to the whole planet as we glided over our shared planet. Love to all, Laurel." RIP brave souls...

Ok, I'll probably ingnite a firestorm with this one, but I don't think any of those crappy radio shows are really preaching "hate" , except for maybe Savage, with his "liberalism is a disease". I don't often listen to those shows, but the once in a while I do, I don't hear them saying anything I would construe as being hate speach. A bit biased maybe, but not hate mongers. I generally get tired of thier one-sided rants and turn it off. I am particularly disappointed with thier failure to be more critical of the illegal immigration issue. I turn it off. But see, that's the beauty of it. I can just turn the radio off. No one says I have to listen to Rush Limbaugh, or Franken, etc. I wouldn't waste my breath to complain about it being hate speach Mick, I would just ignore them if you don't agree. To be frank about it, I don't really give a rat's @ss what anyone from either of the two parties have to say about things anymore. So I excersise my right to not listen to them, and wouldn't waste a second of my life banging the war drum against what any of them have to say. Try it, you will feel much better...

You definitely are challenged reading Herbert the elder, without doubt. I have read them all several times, and still have to go back and re-read portions two or three times to understand it. I took a writing course last year that taught me the sentence length + big words = grade level equivalent necessary for reading. If that were the case, you would have to be a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry and physics to read DUNE. By contrast, Brian Herbert's (with KJA) books were much more mainstream with respect to reading comprehension. Which is really the difference between the two writers I would say. Frank Herbert's books really challenged you to think about what you were reading, and contained more of a moral to the story. Brian's stuff is mearly entertainment value fair at best...

I am a huge Dune fanatic, I have read just about everything that Frank Herbert ever wrote. I liked the movie for what it was, an adaption of one of my favorite stories, which came out in the golden part of my youth. That being said, I think the movie was seriously flawed. Tom is right, the "weirding modules" were seriously lame. The fact is, the didn't even have to use them, why not just make it clear that the Bene Gesserit were superior warriors, due to thier intense mental and physical training. The other part I didn't like was the whole heartplugs by the Harkonnens, but I can see the need for them, to show thier savagery and such. And they did in fact make the second book into a movie, it is in the first hour of Children of Dune miniseries on SciFi, which is EXCELLENT. Here's to hoping they make God Emperor of Dune next. The novels are very engaging, and in fact, are sometimes hard to read because of the sophistication of Herbert's writing style. By contrast, his son Brian's writing is more traditional. Brian Herbert is planning on writing the mythical "Dune 7" at some point, which will actually be two books, finishing the story left hanging at the end of Chapterhouse... EDIT: Ah, Jack and Tom were probably refering to L. Ron's stuff, not Dune. My bad.

I would slightly amend Myth #6, that the shuttle was launched due to political pressure. I would agree with it being a myth for the most part, but would add the comment that the launch was a direct result of pressure to ensure that NASA's budgetary concerns for the coming years would be met by the Feds. Not exactly political pressure, but NASA was definitely under the gun, as thier "wonder craft" was proving by this time to be exponentially more costly (resulting in about 1/4th the amount of yearly flights) than projected. Remember, the original plans for the shuttle was to have only a craft capable of sending astronauts into orbit and back. The large payload the current flying turkey has is directly related to pressure added by the USAF. Without airforce support, the shuttle would never have been green-lighted by tricky Dick in the first place. It was the result of trying to be all things to all persons that doomed the shuttle from the drawing table. As an interesting little side-factoid, it is totally true that no member of any organization directly responsible for bullying the engineers into allowing the flight was ever disciplined in any way. In fact, most were promoted to higher positions. This would include the NASA flight directorship, as well as those higher-ups from Morton Thiokol. Go fig....

http://history.nasa.gov/rogersrep/genindex.htm "For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled".

are you related to Jesus?

You would have to be "Dawgged" to show up for work at Philip Morris with a pack of Camels...

possible 46 years, huh? That means he'll get 46 DAYS of probation and a small fine...

Lots of fun. People are really nice to you there, for the most part. Things were very inexpensive while we were there. The clubs tended to play cheezy 80's music while we were there, so that was a bit wierd. My advice....be VERY carefull about who you go with there. There is (or was, I was there in 1998) a large contingent of gyp women there that will lead you into ambush. My friend from Slovenia was carjacked by a few. Use caution. And go see the clocktower while you are there. Very cool...

Wow man, just wow. The Rettata thread can't hold a candle to this clown's lunacy...

Nice Ken! I fully agree...

Keep us updated. I don't care if you post fifty threads to do it either...

Prayers coming your way Nick...

Jauron is not who I wanted, but I am behind him if he is the Bills coach. Seriously, can it be any worse than Mularkey???

The part of the city here in Richmond that isn't maroon and gold, is gold and black. I just hate seeing those fuggin assrags everywhere...

I did that once too...

I imagine it will be like that for black and minority coaches as well. In ten to fifteen years there will be more black coaches and a bigger pool to select from...

I was living in NC at the time, so didn't get to go to that game. I can't imagine how cool it would have been so thanks everyone for the great stories. But I sitting with my family and celebrating together that the Bills were finally going to the Super Bowl. My parents were original season ticket holders from 1960 until we moved in 1979, and they were overjoyed...

Glad you got it fixed...

if you DID, then you would be making a racist statement... Glad to see the Tim avatar make a comeback Nanker.

I know zero about Macs. Can they play an AVI file? If you have Quicktime, you should be able to associate AVI files with the program, right? I can convert it for you I think. I can also turn it into a DIVX file, provided you have the codec to play that type...

I saved target to my hard drive using IE and it played fine with WMP 10. but I don't think I like that commercial...

It would be EXTREMELY lame for someone on the island to have been the one who cuckolds Jack. Not EVERYONE in this show has to be interconnected for it to be believable...

That's just a nickname Sawyer called him. I don't think that's the character's true name. And the others could likely leave the island whenever they want. They have a boat...