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#67070 03/23/10 11:30 AM
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RickeG Offline OP
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Alright, with all this discussion regarding politicians and the like I want to point out an interesting truth that shows that the current leadership staff does not hold the patent on incompetence.

Did not a previous leadership pay around $10 million for NASA to invent a pen that would write in zero gravity? And an even greater feature with this pen is that you could write in 300 degrees Celsius!! Wow! Awesome. And what could you write when your body is surrounded by that much heat? "Help! I am turning into ashes!" Meanwhile, our fellow Russian astronauts conquered the challenge of not being able to document their missions by bringing a pencil.

Hmmm. What has Harvard, Princeton, and Yale been teaching all this time?

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Ricke,
The Cosmonauts didn't take their pencils outside of the ship, where they would freeze or get too hot and the lead would melt.

And, just to set the story straight, since we have been surrounded by numbers that sound good, but may in fact not bear any real relevance to the actual items.

The pen cost $1.5 million to develop.
NASA never paid a penny for it (development costs, they paid $2.95 per pen in quantity of 400 in 1967)
Both the U.S. and Russians used it, and still do.
It was made by Fisher and called the Fisher Space Pen, and you could buy them commercially as well. Still can:
http://www.spacepen.com/

http://www.snopes.com/business/genius/spacepen.asp

Regards

Gary


I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Define competence relative to my ethnocentrism.

Perhaps you cannot.


John Conley
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I'm SO CONFUZED!!!!!

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John,
I really want to apologize for some of the people on this forum, but I can't.

All I can say is that I don't have any problems with Canada or my Canadian neighbors. We're different countries with different views on issues, and that is the choice of the citizens of those countries.

I worry that some of the conversations that have come up are showing an increasing 'not invented here' sort of mentality.

In our country, the division between left and right is growing stronger every day. I've been in a thread where logical, fact based information is beaten down by 'you're just stupid because you're a xxxxxxxx, and you have lost your mind, and you don't.....' A lot of crap that 'civilized' people would never stand for. Unfortunately, I see the same thing in this forum, not only within our own country, but now, country versus country over the political views of one or another.

I would ask the question 'Why can't we just all get along?' but unfortunately, I know the answer to that, and I also know that it is not going to get any better, it's only going to get worse.

As a Bible believing, God fearing man, I find myself wondering if this is truly our end times. Since God has said that no one knows when Christ will return, I have no way of knowing, or even formulating a guess. But, I do know that if things continue such as I see them going here, but on a global scale, that we're either going to blow ourselves up, or it is the end of the world as we know it. The two might not be too far apart.

For the record, I know that if I survive until the return, then I will be in a better place, transformed with a new body. If I die first, I will arise with a new body. I do not wish to die, there is still work yet to be done, but I find myself looking at the world, and wondering how much more this planet can stand before it comes apart at the seams.

Gary


I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Most outrageous stories are urban-legend type things. Someone makes it up just to get people pissed. Like the Air Force's $1200 toliet seat.

And the MacDonald's hot coffee lawsuit. A jury didn't really give a woman $50,000,000 because she was so dumb she spilled coffee on herself. You can google up the real facts on it.


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Quote:

Define competence relative to my ethnocentrism.

Perhaps you cannot.




You just did!



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Rubberball,
Have you ever seen that toilet seat? First, it's not the Air Force's, it's the Navy. Secondly, it fits inside of a P-3 Orion patrol aircraft. Thirdly, it's not the 'normal' toilet seat you would expect to find in your bathroom. It's an entire wall, seat and floor panel that goes from the top of the aircraft, down along the bulkhead, across the toilet, around, and then down to the floor. It is over 6' tall, 4' wide, and about 2' deep, and yes, does include the standard 'seat' part built in a part of the unit.

"Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was deep into a lengthy report before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the new Pentagon budget. He had just pointed out that the Department of Defense was the first to uncover such military expenditures as a $400 claw hammer and a $9,000 wrench when Maine's Republican Senator William Cohen said, "I'm fascinated to hear all this, but I'm told there's now a problem with a $600 toilet seat." This, Cohen deadpanned, "gives new meaning to the word throne."

The item in question was not precisely a toilet seat but a corrosion- resistan t plastic case that fits over a toilet. It is used aboard the Navy's P-3C Orion antisubmarine planes. Republican Senator William Roth of Delaware, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, which looks into suspected cost overruns, had been conducting an investigation of the accessory. Roth was tipped off by a contractor in Washington State who had been asked to bid on the toilet unit in January. When the contractor learned that Lockheed Corp. was charging $34,560 for 54 toilet covers, he wrote a letter to Roth contending that the units could be purchased at most trailer- home sales outlets for about $25.

In a cable to the Pentagon last week, Lockheed President Lawrence Kitchen insisted that his company had made only a 13.4% profit on the units. Nevertheless, he eventually lowered the price of the covers to $100 apiece and gave the DOD a $29,165 refund. "This action is intended to put to rest an artificial issue," said Kitchen, "that detracts from the critically important ongoing review of the 1986 DOD budget." Senator Roth, on the other hand, might have felt he was getting to the bottom of the whole defense- spending issue.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960748,00.html#ixzz0j6t0CwPn"

I encourage you to make sure that you know what you're talking about before spouting off some figures that you're unaware of. *I*, for one, have seen the piece that they are talking about, and my father, having flown countless hours in the P-3 aircraft, probably has substantial 'interface' with such a device.

Since people are fed 'tidbits' of information, or hear soundbites about something, and do not know the entire story, they spread this disinformation around, touting it to be 'the truth' and in fact, are often wrong and to those in the know, usually end up looking foolish.

I present the true facts to you as an example of how throwing out information that can be easily checked can come back to haunt you, in the hopes that if you're going to make a statement like this, in the future, you at least see if it's accurate.

Warmest regards,

Gary


I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Quote:

Meanwhile, our fellow Russian astronauts conquered the challenge of not being able to document their missions by bringing a pencil




Pencils were used both by the Americans and the Russians and were a hazard inside the capsules because the lead broke off and would float around and get into the eyes and noses of the occupants and into the electrical components where it could cause shorts.

As Gary points out the information debunking this was already out there and the OP could have done a little research before making his post. I wish more people would do such before putting false information out there to make a point and then making others do the research for them.


Keith
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Hi Keith,

Sometimes, I just like to have fun. Some recent posts have become very inflamatory lately. It was my goofy attempt at having fun to take away some of the heat that has recently arisen. It was my thought that if we could pull out some old hoaxes it would create a few laughs. My apologies to you all that did not take it that way.

I feel bad that somehow we arrived at this "us" versus "them" heat. It reminds me of a real life "Canadian Bacon" scene. Soon, there will be news stories of a lost American border patroller coming over the wire! (reference to the movie).

Anyway, I have never laughed louder than I did when I was able to watch the Red Green Show until they took it off the public station where I live. The whole cast is a complete crack up. I love the guy who owns the "Sewer and Septic Sucking Systems" business. Duct Tape Rules!!!

Thanks,
RickeG

P.S. "Blessed are the peacemakers... for they chall be called the sons of God."

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Quote:

Rubberball,
Have you ever seen that toilet seat? First, it's not the Air Force's, it's the Navy. Secondly, it fits inside of a P-3 Orion patrol aircraft. Thirdly, it's not the 'normal' toilet seat you would expect to find in your bathroom. It's an entire wall, seat and floor panel that goes from the top of the aircraft, down along the bulkhead, across the toilet, around, and then down to the floor. It is over 6' tall, 4' wide, and about 2' deep, and yes, does include the standard 'seat' part built in a part of the unit.

"Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was deep into a lengthy report before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the new Pentagon budget. He had just pointed out that the Department of Defense was the first to uncover such military expenditures as a $400 claw hammer and a $9,000 wrench when Maine's Republican Senator William Cohen said, "I'm fascinated to hear all this, but I'm told there's now a problem with a $600 toilet seat." This, Cohen deadpanned, "gives new meaning to the word throne."

The item in question was not precisely a toilet seat but a corrosion- resistan t plastic case that fits over a toilet. It is used aboard the Navy's P-3C Orion antisubmarine planes. Republican Senator William Roth of Delaware, chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, which looks into suspected cost overruns, had been conducting an investigation of the accessory. Roth was tipped off by a contractor in Washington State who had been asked to bid on the toilet unit in January. When the contractor learned that Lockheed Corp. was charging $34,560 for 54 toilet covers, he wrote a letter to Roth contending that the units could be purchased at most trailer- home sales outlets for about $25.

In a cable to the Pentagon last week, Lockheed President Lawrence Kitchen insisted that his company had made only a 13.4% profit on the units. Nevertheless, he eventually lowered the price of the covers to $100 apiece and gave the DOD a $29,165 refund. "This action is intended to put to rest an artificial issue," said Kitchen, "that detracts from the critically important ongoing review of the 1986 DOD budget." Senator Roth, on the other hand, might have felt he was getting to the bottom of the whole defense- spending issue.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,960748,00.html#ixzz0j6t0CwPn"

I encourage you to make sure that you know what you're talking about before spouting off some figures that you're unaware of. *I*, for one, have seen the piece that they are talking about, and my father, having flown countless hours in the P-3 aircraft, probably has substantial 'interface' with such a device.

Since people are fed 'tidbits' of information, or hear soundbites about something, and do not know the entire story, they spread this disinformation around, touting it to be 'the truth' and in fact, are often wrong and to those in the know, usually end up looking foolish.

I present the true facts to you as an example of how throwing out information that can be easily checked can come back to haunt you, in the hopes that if you're going to make a statement like this, in the future, you at least see if it's accurate.

Warmest regards,

Gary




Exactly what I mean - people oversimplify (or plain lie) to make a story sound outrageous.

I usually just lie to get out dumb stuff I did.


- Bud
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I like Bob Dylan's advice:

don't follow leaders
watch your parking meter


(except I take the bus so the second line is not important to me)


- Bud
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Rubber,
If I misconstrued your post, not seeing the humor, or sarcasm in it, I apologize. I thought it was a straight up post.

Gary


I'm blessed watching God do what He does best. I've had a few rough years, and I'm still not back to where I want to be, but I'm on the way and things are looking far better now than what they were!
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Keep yer stick on the ice!

I always wanted to record those episodes because I knew they were one day going to be gone and I would miss them..


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Make your sound your own!
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Amen, rharv.
I have kept my stick on the ice ever since!

Man, I was not sure what created the hilarious laughter out of me while watching Red and his hokey inventions. Was it that they were just plain funny? Or, was it that those ideas actually could work!

I remember when he busted the floor board of his car, duct taped a jack where he was able to lift his car off the ground, turn it to its side, lower it, and drive out of that tight cramped parking spot. And he would do it from inside his car! I cannot go to the mall and not laugh thinking about the practicality of that idea! And it has been almost ten years since I have seen that!

Humor is good medicine for the soul, while a contentious spirit dries up the bones!

BTW, you can buy their shows on DVD. It's just way out of my price budget. Canadians much a whole lot more money than I do.

Last edited by RickeG; 03/24/10 12:43 PM.
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Lead in pencils. Heaven forbid. I was taught it was graphite.

I still get some lead in my..never mind.


John Conley
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Quote:

Keep yer stick on the ice!

I always wanted to record those episodes because I knew they were one day going to be gone and I would miss them..




My stick is no where near long enough to reach the ice!


- Bud
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Not missing anything, that ice is cold.


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