I'd like to know why tired old man isn't posting. I like Tired Old Man. He always raises interesting questions though I know some folks don't want to consider interesting questions. I do. I want Tired Old Man back.

I loved his posts and replies, although sometimes they get too longwinded, always a new opinion.

Trust me, he hasn't gone anywhere. You just aren't reading the right threads.

I loved his posts and replies, although sometimes they get too longwinded, always a new opinion.

Longwinded?? How about "fingered-tired"??

Tired Old Man & Bitter Old Hag...

Now THATS a pair! :biggrin1: :biggrin1:

Love you both!

Longwinded?? How about "fingered-tired"??

lol sometimes when I read your posts I actually do think about/ worry about you getting carpal tunnel! sheesh! please tell us you have voice recognition software! j/k, I always like reading your point of veiw too TOM.

lol sometimes when I read your posts I actually do think about/ worry about you getting carpal tunnel! sheesh! please tell us you have voice recognition software! j/k, I always like reading your point of veiw too TOM.

I had voice recognition software, but it always argued with me.:faint:

I had voice recognition software, but it always argued with me.:faint:

:pound:

Yep, TOM gives good post.

TOM -- Come home to rants and raves. You are always fun to read and knowing how you think, I'm not surprised your voice recognition software argued with you. But you can write and that's pretty unusual. I'd love to have you in my freshman comp. class. Come to think of it, you may be in there.

TOM -- Come home to rants and raves. You are always fun to read and knowing how you think, I'm not surprised your voice recognition software argued with you. But you can write and that's pretty unusual. I'd love to have you in my freshman comp. class. Come to think of it, you may be in there.

At 61?

I took Freshman English (English 101) in 1962.

I remember coming back to my first class after lunch, Sophomore English (103) and being told that we would not be discussing Moby Dick because we would not be able to concentrate on it that day, so the professor dismissed the class. The date was November 22, 1963.

T.O.M.- Nov. 22, 1963, I was getting ready to go to my 1 o'clock English Lit class with my little essay on a book I had read about Jacqueline Kennedy. Before I walked out of the dorm past the living room, I noticed a crowd gathered around the TV. You know why. After that, we've all become jaded. We know now that some people will do ANYTHING to further their own political cause. Can anything shock us anymore?

I was in high school, a junior, and I lived in Texas. I was so callow that I was embarrassed that it happened in Texas. But that day is etched in my memory. 9/11 is also etched in my memory as is the Challenger disaster which most people have forgotten. But I remember because a teacher was on board the space shuttle when it blew up. I figured that that is the lot of teachers -- always a lot of sh*t and no glory. It's good to know that a few banders are older.

Bitter: I have the Challenger disaster etched firmly in my memory too. We lived in Orlando and my parents had come for a visit. I was taking my son to meet them for lunch. We were driving in Altamonte Springs on a direct path toward launch. We had a fantastic view and we all still were very excited back then when there was a launch. It was an incredibly clear day. We watched the Challenger rise above the trees and buildings and blow apart. Back then we were still shocked that such a disaster could happen.

I didn't think the Challenger would go up that morning. It was too cold. I had driven to Cocoa Beach to watch one previously that had been cancelled because it was too cold. The morning of the Challenger disaster, the temperature was just as cold. I told my parents there was no reason to drive to Cocoa to watch the launch, they would never send it up in freezing weather...

When the shuttle blew up over Texas, I called my sister in Florida and observed that wherever I lived, shuttles blew up. How's that for a shocking reaction? And btw, the morning of that launch it had been very cold also. I am not sure we ever heard if the weather was blamed for the tiles coming off. I'll bet T.O.M. knows.

Bitter: I have the Challenger disaster etched firmly in my memory too. We lived in Orlando and my parents had come for a visit. I was taking my son to meet them for lunch. We were driving in Altamonte Springs on a direct path toward launch. We had a fantastic view and we all still were very excited back then when there was a launch. It was an incredibly clear day. We watched the Challenger rise above the trees and buildings and blow apart. Back then we were still shocked that such a disaster could happen.

I didn't think the Challenger would go up that morning. It was too cold. I had driven to Cocoa Beach to watch one previously that had been cancelled because it was too cold. The morning of the Challenger disaster, the temperature was just as cold. I told my parents there was no reason to drive to Cocoa to watch the launch, they would never send it up in freezing weather...

When the shuttle blew up over Texas, I called my sister in Florida and observed that wherever I lived, shuttles blew up. How's that for a shocking reaction? And btw, the morning of that launch it had been very cold also. I am not sure we ever heard if the weather was blamed for the tiles coming off. I'll bet T.O.M. knows.

We have a whole section in our Technical Writing book about how the engineers warned NASA that the Challenger had a faulty something. NASA decided to ignore these warnings and send it up anyway with fatal results. It's a lesson in morality in our textbook and the writer really researched it. What a shame that people had to die because some guys were too involved in success to overlook the possibility of failure. But I'm glad you remember it. I was bummed out for days. The second disaster I expected since I'd read about the first one. But space travel is dangerous at the moment because we just don't know enough. I really admire the folks who challenge space because I think we need to get off this world and spread out a little. That way if North Korea or Iran or the U.S. sets of fthermonuclear war, someone will live. I'm feeling a bit depressed tonight.

Apollo 1

Apollo 13

Challenger

Columbia

These disasters were tragedies caused by human nature.

The reason that the Challenger blew up was that Morton Thiokol submitted an inferior design to NASA and even though it was the worst of the 5 designs for the booster rockets, it won the contract because the wife of a big shot in NASA was a member of the same church as the head of Morton Thiokol.

NASA knew that the "O-rings" had problems with low temperature, but under the pressure of meeting schedule, they launched and 7 people paid the ultimate price.