Cull all IT Contractors (and PMs) under 35

[bogeyman]

...and the reason is all the health and safety and PC crud that the jobsworths have layered on. The skills are still there, the intent is still there, it's just that people are handcuffed by idiots.

Indeed.

The NASA astronauts on the early (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo missions) were very brave men.

They knew they could die at any time, on mission, or in training.

In the 1960s NASA (and the USSR) did it by trial and error. Death was an everyday risk for their crews - whether in training or in actual mission flight.

NASA has never lost a crew-member on any deep space mission, or Low Earth Orbit space-station mission.

NASA crews have been lost only on the launch pad (Apollo I, training exercise), or at low-altitude boost phase (Challenger), or upon reentry (Columbia).

Nobody has actually been endlessly lost in space, despite the Apollo mission's many opportunities to do so (Mission 13).

The men that engineered that mission series, and who flew it (several times) are my heros.

When people say "why can't we do that now?" I think to myself, "it's obvious" - we are simply not the men that they were.

[MPwannadecentincome]

They had plenty of computing power in the brains of the very talented engineers with their slide rules and drafting tables. Modern computing power just makes the calculations, design, engineering manufacturing and drafting easier. The engineering principles and science are unchanged.

Its a good job they didn't have windows - no doubt it would have given the blue screen of death or started a security download and reboot at the most inappropriate time.

[Amiga500]

Mitch,

I have huge admiration for the NASA guys of the 1960s.

They were the guys who could just 'do stuff'. They could just make it happen. Real engineers of our dad's and granddad's generation. The guys with the right stuff

beards.

This is why I sport a proud beard, looking like a 60's computer scientist gives my clients confidence in my IT abilities

[Churchill]

They did it because they didn't have masses of computing power, in fact they proved they didn't need it!

They had plenty of computing power in the brains of the very talented engineers with their slide rules and drafting tables. Modern computing power just makes the calculations, design, engineering manufacturing and drafting easier. The engineering principles and science are unchanged.

Thanks, that's what I meant.

beards.

This is why I sport a proud beard, looking like a 60's computer scientist gives my clients confidence in my IT abilities

You are Gordon Letwin and ICMFP!

Mind you I heard that Grace had to shave twice a day...

[BlackenedBiker]

Ummmmmmmm, what about

The international space station
The Shuttle
The new Shuttle - in development
The Hubble Space telescope
The Large Binocular Telescope
The LHC
The Phoenix Mars Mission

All of these have been achieved in the time since the Mercury and Apollo programmes.

And the next generation will take our species to the edge of the solar system.

We, as a species, are moving at the rate that is unsurpassed in known species development.

Don't believe me, just think how annoying you find it waiting for your TomTom (other satnav systems available) to load up...........grrrrr. Now think about your Commodore 64 and how long that took to load donkey kong.

Now that is progress.....

[Churchill]

Ummmmmmmm, what about

The international space station
The Shuttle
The new Shuttle - in development
The Hubble Space telescope
The Large Binocular Telescope
The LHC
The Phoenix Mars Mission

All of these have been achieved in the time since the Mercury and Apollo programmes.

And the next generation will take our species to the edge of the solar system.

We, as a species, are moving at the rate that is unsurpassed in known species development.

Don't believe me, just think how annoying you find it waiting for your TomTom (other satnav systems available) to load up...........grrrrr. Now think about your Commodore 64 and how long that took to load donkey kong.

Now that is progress.....

Have a chat with my mate Paulie, he wrote Freeload

[BlackenedBiker]

Have a chat with my mate Paulie, he wrote Freeload

Now that is progress, late 20th Century Software emulators rock!!!!!!

Paulie should be working for NASA

[HairyArsedBloke]

The new Shuttle - in development

Er, wot?

I thought they were going back to non-reusable capsules thingys. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it's not a 'new shuttle'.

[DimPrawn]

India have a very advanced space programme.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISRO

We all help to fund it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7198546.stm

[ace00]

The Chinese space program should be interesting - moonbases and so forth.