The Coalition of the Swilling

And one thing I know neither of us will ever say is "I don't think bleu cheese will make it better." ;-)

Yum...

Damn straight on both counts.

Although when a Southern Boy yells "Hey, y'all, watch this!", you'd better run the other way. 'Cause you don't want him to be using the duct tape to stick part of your anatomy back on.

The sad thing is, where's the next group of freewheeling engineers coming from? We're not lookin' so good on homegrown talent, thanks to beancutting.

THS, NASA hasn't looked good on that score for a long time. I have high hopes for the privatized experimetns, though. And there are plenty of homegrown geeks who will want to work there. NASA drained all the life out of the space program with the shuttle, which was an exercise in lowered expectations and mediocrity.

I'm not so sure it's beancutting per se, but more of the institutionalized fear of failure. When we have a media that keeps a running count of every stubbed toe the hue and cry that erupts when things break is crushing for an institution whose very purpose is (or at least should be) to keep pushing the envelope until something gives.