Mitt in Spaaaace...

Ancient History · Post by **Ancient History** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 3:08 pm

http://news.yahoo.com/mitt-romney-revea ... 09234.html

As usual, Mittens says bold things he claims he'll do when/if he gets to be POTUS.

As usual, he's full of shit. What little he does reveal is no increase of budget, but an increase of "focus" - that sounds suspiciously like a Bain-style "rightsizing" effort - and lo and behold continuing to foster and support the nascent private spaceflight industry.

Read: Mitt wants NASA to be a vehicle for government contracts to private spaceflight companies.

I'm pissed about this because I do want additional tender loving care for NASA, and I do want continued efforts in space. Just...not this way. We literally spent our way to the Moon, and while I'm all for being economical there isn't a lot of room there for doing great things in space on a tight budget. We're already looking at aging craft and some of the most horrific safety concerns involving the most extreme environments and conditions known to man - that's not stuff you want to skimp on.

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And the whole Russia/China thing...what is this, Rocky IV? Did anyone in Mitt's campaign get the memo that the Cold War is over, and China actually makes a lot of shit we buy over here? I'd hoped we'd kinda grown past that particular dick-measuring-in-the-space-shower contest.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 3:28 pm

A lot of what he's saying kinda is the same as what Obama is doing. They both want to use private space flight. Neither is willing to move on the budget.

Romney's standard bullshit vaguery that he throws up as a mission plan is still present with all this "focus" crap. Obama's decisions made me uncomfortable but I recognized that there wasn't a clear answer to how to further any of our goals for NASA. Romney's failing attempt at trying to romanticize NASA without offering a viable option to help it is idiocy. My point is that they both have similar points but their reasoning behind it are different and Romney's reasoning (lack thereof) is further proof of his incompetence.

DSMatticus · Post by **DSMatticus** » Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:59 pm

Ancient wrote:And the whole Russia/China thing...what is this, Rocky IV? Did anyone in Mitt's campaign get the memo that the Cold War is over, and China actually makes a lot of shit we buy over here? I'd hoped we'd kinda grown past that particular dick-measuring-in-the-space-shower contest.

Conservative politics, hint #1: your base is old as fuck. The Cold War is still a thing to them. Even though 'Reagan won it'. They're kind of senile, too.

K · Post by K » Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:05 pm

Terrified people vote Republican. It's a fact. Look it up.

Blasted · Post by **Blasted** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:11 am

I'm kind of surprised that he brought this up,
as NASA have only just landed a celebrated robot on Mars.
Is there dog whistling here I'm not aware of?
Or is he trying to rebrand success as "Only if we actually get a man on Mars."

CatharzGodfoot · Post by **CatharzGodfoot** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:29 am

Romney on NASA is obnoxious, but he's basically just saying 'Obama is terrible, and I'm going to do everything exactly like he is'. That's actually really encouraging. It sucks that a large portion of America appears to be made up of terrified racists shooting themselves in their collective feet with assault weapons, but I'm willing to accept that if we end up with 'white Mormon Obama'.

In other news, it looks like they're calling a non-Orion rocket "Orion" to further confuse the issue of 'non-chemical rockets being the only feasible way for people to leave Earth orbit'.

hyzmarca · Post by **hyzmarca** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 1:07 am

Blasted wrote:I'm kind of surprised that he brought this up,
as NASA have only just landed a celebrated robot on Mars.
Is there dog whistling here I'm not aware of?
Or is he trying to rebrand success as "Only if we actually get a man on Mars."

The Mars robot is a success, but it's a tiny one. As someone who grew up with 2001, Space 1999, and Space Camp, I'm both disappointed and jaded. Promises were made to my generation which were not kept. I want my Moonbase Alpha, dammit. I want my permanent mars colony with regular low-cost commuter flights there and back.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:47 am

While we're bitching about things we were promised by sci-fi, where are our fucking hovercars? And when did Sim City guarantee* that we'd have fusion power?

Although to borrow from PA for a moment, 10 years ago there was a game that required six cds, and now you can download it without a cable or anything, THROUGH THE AIR, in mere minutes (shorter than the old install time with those cds), to appear on your Star Trek-style communication device. I imagine if someone went to prison when BG came out and just got released (I'm not a lawyer/judge/prosecutor/felon, you come up with the crime that carries a sentence of ~10 years), they would be amazed.

"It's like living in the future."

*Actually they said in the manual "This is a guess, please don't phone us to complain in ____ if there isn't fusion power." Yes, I basically intend on quoting someone who said "don't quote me on this".

Maj · Post by **Maj** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:54 am

You know, Koumei... I actually thought a lot about what you said this summer when I met Ess' grandmother. She's 94 - which means that she was conscious for the Great Depression. What's super awesome is her preferred method for calling people - it's not on the phone, it's via Skype.

So here's this lady who has seen technology go from basic cars to moon landings to video chat. I can't even imagine what it's like to be her.

BTW - Isn't that quote from Life? I loved that show.

Josh_Kablack · Post by **Josh_Kablack** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:03 am

Koumei wrote:While we're bitching about things we were promised by sci-fi, where are our fucking hovercars?

Sadly still in the working prototype phases.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgHSaNtAMjs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xo0MEQSGW8w

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 6:49 am

Maj wrote: BTW - Isn't that quote from Life? I loved that show.

Yep, Life - hence the picture of Charlie Crews. That was an awesome show. I also like how they just did two seasons - they told the story, and left it at that, rather than just dragging it on past its lifespan. But it had the coolest cases.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:11 am

Koumei wrote:
Maj wrote: BTW - Isn't that quote from Life? I loved that show.
Yep, Life - hence the picture of Charlie Crews. That was an awesome show. I also like how they just did two seasons - they told the story, and left it at that, rather than just dragging it on past its lifespan. But it had the coolest cases.

They didn't really end the story. NBC cancelled the show.

K · Post by K » Wed Sep 26, 2012 8:45 am

Cynic wrote:
Koumei wrote:
Maj wrote: BTW - Isn't that quote from Life? I loved that show.
Yep, Life - hence the picture of Charlie Crews. That was an awesome show. I also like how they just did two seasons - they told the story, and left it at that, rather than just dragging it on past its lifespan. But it had the coolest cases.
They didn't really end the story. NBC cancelled the show.

Well, the last episode had the hero kill the villain by throat-punch. It was a complete story with no cliffhanger.

ishy · Post by **ishy** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 11:58 am

Koumei wrote:(...)I imagine if someone went to prison when BG came out and just got released (I'm not a lawyer/judge/prosecutor/felon, you come up with the crime that carries a sentence of ~10 years), they would be amazed.

How do Australian prisons work then? Because over here people in prison have laptops to do stuff on. So they can just keep up with technology just fine.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Wed Sep 26, 2012 12:59 pm

I don't know - I'll tell you after I serve a sentence for something?