[X] My Assistant

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Sputnik at 50 !

[nprev]

I liked your poem very much, Stu. I'm an optimist too, but it's important beyond words to realize that humans only change anything if they are first dissatisfied...therefore, fomenting dissatisfaction with our progress in space to date can only work to make things better...

EDIT: A brief moment of outrage. Just watched the CBS Evening News (for non-US people, this is one of the three major network newscasts), and not a mention of the Sputnik anniversary. Instead, the next-to-the-last story mentioned that tonight was the 50th anniversary of the premiere of a popular sitcom, "Leave It To Beaver", then cut to a story about cleaning up some Florida rivers.

I perceive this as an intentional swipe at space exploration by the producers and/or the anchor, Katie Couric. CBS was the network of Walter Cronkite, who was not only the most respected and trusted newsman in history ever over here but also a strong supporter of the space program.

So, do we need dissatisfaction as expressed by Stu's poem? You bet your ass we do, and a hell of a lot more of it if we ever expect to reach Mars, much less the stars. (We really need a primal scream emoticon to express this properly...)

[dvandorn]

...it's important beyond words to realize that humans only change anything if they are first dissatisfied...therefore, fomenting dissatisfaction with our progress in space to date can only work to make things better...

"Mankind is more disposed to suffer what evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they have become accustomed."

-the other Doug