Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:01:41 -0400
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Today in history
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Keith F. Lynch wrote:

> The 40 years since then have given us the Internet, CD and DVD

You don't even need to look at that much time.  NASA hasn't done much
that's new since 1970.  The period from 1961 when Kennedy gave his "moon
speech" to 1969, when we landed on the moon, was about 8 years.  In the
40 years since then, NASA has done pretty much nothing except continue
programs already started, like unmanned exploration of the solar system,
and Hubble (started in 1969), and a few relatively minor science
experiments, like COBE.  Nothing even close to the chutzpa of going from
an almost standing start to landing a man on the moon in 8 years.

Sometimes I feel like I'm on the Titanic, trying to get people
interested in building a raft, and all they can say is that they'd
rather spend their time on things that can benefit the ship, not throw
their efforts overboard into the ocean.

Americans spend more on pizza and bubblegum than we do on getting off
this planet.  Of course, what can you expect from people who keep
believing what politicians say election after election after election??

The only hope life has for long term survival is for the human race to
raise its average IQ...and I just don't see that happening fast enough,
and in many areas, it seems to be in reverse.

-- Mike B.