holy shit they landed on mars again!

[dipstik]

sweet.

I watched the thing live on CNN (yeah, loser, I know) and those engineers/Nasa people were freakin stoked!

the Governator was there too



http://www.space.com/images/h_mp_color_0125_02.jpg

http://www.space.com/images/h_mp_view_0125_02.jpg

[TJ.Brk]

That's cool. But why do I get the feeling that there is some type of creature up on Mars that everytime we land something on that planet they walk up to it and pound it with a big rock. Seems every probe that has landed on that planet meets the same early end to it's mechanical life. And we paid billions upon billions of dollars for this. Seems we could take the money paid for these machines that don't work and pay for health care for all. Don't you

[dipstik]

Originally posted by TJ.Brk
That's cool. But why do I get the feeling that there is some type of creature up on Mars that everytime we land something on that planet they walk up to it and pound it with a big rock. Seems every probe that has landed on that planet meets the same early end to it's mechanical life. And we paid billions upon billions of dollars for this. Seems we could take the money paid for these machines that don't work and pay for health care for all. Don't you

come on dude, must you turn it into some political shit? Can't you just be happy? This money is already spent, so get over that. Plus it was only 820 million.

And who says they don't work?

[fiddler]

truth is, a lot of stuff sent to Mars has had problems. I don't think the Martians want us to find out they're there and we're them

[DaveTV]

Compared to what we spent in Iraq scattering body parts around the cradle of civilization, it's a pretty good deal.

[Tavi]

Originally posted by DaveTV
Compared to what we spent in Iraq scattering body parts around the cradle of civilization, it's a pretty good deal.

Yes, it costs a fraction of the 185 billion.... hang on here, let me do that again. $185,000,000,000. I think the whole senda man to Mars thing is kind of unnecessary given robotic advances and the inefficiency of human space travel. It's also being presented with insensitive timing with 40,000,000 US citizens lacking healthcare, but the space program in general is money well spent. Viva Mars!

[backpack]

Originally posted by dipstik
it was only 820 million

It's worth noting that the 820 mil was for BOTH of them... so 410 each, which is a pretty good deal.

And it sure cost a lot less than the billion-plus marriage counseling plan...

[summit]

this space exporation thing would be a lot easier if we weren't such stubborn go-it-aloners... we need to suck down the pride and just ask the green men for some pointers

[Steven S. Dallas]

Originally posted by TJ.Brk
why do I get the feeling that there is some type of creature up on Mars that everytime we land something on that planet they walk up to it and pound it with a big rock.

You're crazy?

[Tippster]

Originally posted by TJ.Brk
... But why do I get the feeling that there is some type of creature up on Mars that everytime we land something on that planet they walk up to it and pound it with a big rock...

"K9.... K9... I think they're on to us... "
http://www.glumbert.com/pictures/images/marslanding.jpg

[summit]

Tippster - THE TRUTH IS OUT!

[laseranimal]

Originally posted by backpack
[B
And it sure cost a lot less than the billion-plus marriage counseling plan... [/B]

hey backpack not calling you out but that actually is money well spent, I know most of the maggots would call this just an attempt to pacify the religious right, if it works and encouraging more people to get married it will have a major societal impact. I'm going to go down into my basement and try to pull out some data from a class i took about Race in the American Political system. If I can't find the actual figures I'll paraphrase right now

In short, white men make more then black men, white men make more then white women, white women make about the same as black men who in turn make more then black women and asian people are somewhere in the middle. Not altogther that suprising(other then the fact that its depressing that there still is a racial and gender gap) NOW what is interesting in those numbers is if you look at the income levels of black single mothers vs married black mothers the married ones make a SIGNIFICANT amount more then the single moms, its for the basic reason that 2 people earn more then one. This is also true in white women but to a lesser extent then it is with blacks. Not a slap against single moms in any way but if we can encourage people to get married they might be a little better off

[laseranimal]

edit, found the numbers at the Census Bureau
for those who would like the raw numbers click here

the numbers I was quoting were from 2001

Black


Female Householder(no husband present) value in dollars 20,894

Male Householder(no wife present) value in dollars 31,512

Married couple families(all) value in dollars 51,514

Married Couple families(wife working) value in dollars 60,693

Married Couple families(wife not working) value in dollars 29,309


White

Female householder (no husband present) 28,091

Male householder (no wife present) 37,488

Married-couple families 61,000

Married-couple families (wife working) 71,687

Married-couple families (wife not in paid labor force) 41,209


again feel free to audit my numbers http://www.census.gov/

[backpack]

Originally posted by laseranimal
[paraphrase]Unmarried women should get married because they'll have more money for themselves and their kids...[/paraphrase]

I wrote a response and then while doing research on the subject, found this, which basically says what I was saying anyway...

http://www.sltrib.com/2004/Jan/01242...nta/131964.asp

[meatdrink9]

Very cool. We need to spend a lot more time in space. Man has been sitting still for far too long. Screw the money. We spend money on so much more ridiculous shit. I'd prefer my taxes get burned up in rocket fuel rather than bullets. And the problem with our healthcare and it's incredible rising costs has a lot more to do with lawyers than the space program.

[dipstik]

Originally posted by meatdrink9
We spend money on so much more ridiculous shit. I'd prefer my taxes get burned up in rocket fuel rather than bullets.

Right on guy, well said. Didn't someone say in the last mars thread that Microsoft spent 2 billion dollars advertising Xbox? Like that isn't a waste of money?

[Tavi]

Originally posted by dipstik
Right on guy, well said. Didn't someone say in the last mars thread that Microsoft spent 2 billion dollars advertising Xbox? Like that isn't a waste of money?

It's not a waist of money if they turned a profit on the technology which I would guess they are on the software. I think they are taking a loss on the machine in order to promote the software. Microsoft is traditionally not a company that makes decisions that neglect the bottom line. The space program on the other hand has looonng term returns on investment. Actually, I'm not sure why we're comparing the two. We're comparing apples and steak. Microsoft is not using tax dollars.