[X] My Assistant

[CosmicRocker]

This isn't nuts...this is super nuts. We are on a supposed bee-line drive back to Duck Bay, and they stop for a long time at a bunch of curious and unusually colored rocks. No one is posting wild speculations, no one is posting insider information...nothing...

Why have the MER topics been so quiet lately?

[dvandorn]

I'm someone who sees the world in political terms -- I was just barely in school when John Kennedy was assassinated, I was in college when Nixon resigned, and the stuff that went down between those two events (including both the zenith of Apollo and the nadir of Vietnam) forever and indelibly shaped my perceptions. Political insights occur to me all the time, and it can be difficult to edit them out of my stream of consciousness as I comment on nearly anything.

That said, Doug and the admin staff have toed a very fine line with great aplomb and delicacy. Yes, there *are* some areas in which politics influence and even shape the course of UMSF, and a small subset (funding decisions, public outreach efforts and data sharing, to name a few) *are* within the bounds of this discussion. But, as Doug and others have said, there are many, many other places for that discourse to give vent to underlying political thought, theory and practice. And since such discourse tends to get, well, acrimonious and is not in keeping with the engineering and scientific discussions and speculations for which this site is known, it is completely fitting and proper for Doug and the admins to take whetever steps are required to keep it off of this site.

Remember, this is coming from someone who has to apply more self-editing than most to keep from pointing out the links I see between UMSF and politics... This has actually helped me in honing my skills as a writer and a curmudgeon. Those insights I actually do explore here go through an extensive review process in my own mind, to ensure that I'm commenting on basic processes of human societies (as they relate to grand and grandiose societal efforts such as the exploration of space) and not just the ideological differences between political systems or points of view.

I especially applaud Doug, in specific, for firmly insisitng that unmanned spaceflight can be celebrated and discussed without the need for constant comparison with the other side of the coin, manned spaceflight. There are fora out there that I simply cannot visit without raising my blood pressure to unhealthy levels, since they are founded primarily to advance agendas I find hateful... there are people right here at UMSF with whom I would probably get into violent arguments were such agendas allowed free reign, and I (and lots of others) would thus miss out on all of the wondrous things we *do* discuss.

I think one sign that Doug and the admins are doing the right things is the respect this site has earned amongst those who are actually planning, preparing and flying the missions. To see the same names here that we see in the author credits of articles in peer-reviewed journals, informally discussing their thoughts as they advance our understanding of the Cosmos, is a heady and invaluable experience. And hey -- when the PI of a major outer solar system probe refers to *us* specifically on a nationally televised documentary, showing pages of our own forum while speaking of the value of us, "the bloggers" (funny, I never thought of myself as a blogger prior to that), that is an especially sweet reward. (BTW, Doug, did Alan or the Discovery Channel people have to ask permission to televise images of the website, or is it in public domain?)

It's not about the snob appeal of hearing some scientist refer to this site as being at an exceptionally high level. It's not about using every rock in your path as a platform to push you own agendas. It's about having a safe, relatively friendly, forgiving but scientifically stringent band of brothers (and sisters!) with whom to share our thoughts and speculations. And I wouldn't trade that for all the tea in China. (Of course, speaking of China and tea prices... oops! Never mind! )

-the other Doug

[djellison]

(BTW, Doug, did Alan or the Discovery Channel people have to ask permission to televise images of the website, or is it in public domain?)

No one actually asked - but seriously - as if we'd mind

Doug