NASA Hopes Water on Moon will Save its own Job

NASA is fifty years old. NASA is an organization without a purpose. Most employees have been around long enough to know how to enjoy the privilege of a tax-payer funded permanent job with no accountability.

So, 'NASA has discovered' there is water on the moon. So what? Does this really mean anything other keeping NASA itself alive? Lets look at the true engineering issues. Going to the moon, or anywhere in space, is the ultimate 'gas-guzzling' venture. The space program is going to be even more expensive and consume more energy and chemicals. Just to send another 'washing machine' to the moon. As the 'biosphere' project showed, we couldn't create a self-contained living environment even on earth, -where we don't have to spend a billion dollars to set up a 'room'. So why are we talking about fantasies? Because NASA has paid people whose job is to, .... protect their jobs and tell us stories, so that we keep funding them.

If we are serious about space exploration, the first and most important thing is to take care of propulsion and a source of energy. Watch any science fiction, and the first assumption they have to make is that we have already solved the energy problem. NASA is not science fiction, -at least it claims it is not. But NASA has done absolutely nothing nor plans to nor is capable of, solving the energy source issue.

And if you have any doubts why going back to the moon is NOT a first step to going anywhere else, -consider this: Going to Mars will require us to carry 1 years worth of supplies (food, water.. about 2 truckloads), fuel to bring us back (another couple of truck loads), and to push all of that out of the earth will take about 100 Saturn V rockets (the one that took the washing machine to the moon). And then what? We will know that the little robots did a better job of proving there is nothing to gain by visiting Mars?

But that does not prevent NASA from talking and, basically, lying. The money spent on the 50,000 'permanent non-fireable' government employees of NASA and their outdated (or rehashed) technology experiments would be much better spent via ARPA or NSF programs for basic research on Fusion, or Bio/Algae, or improvement of solar cells. Or how about spending that money building fast trains, -like europeans are doing.

Going back to the moon to make sure all the rocks are still there is a pathetic. But we have a public that is almost completely ignorant about science, -to the point that they cannot distinguish between good worth while science and propaganda. NASA is very very good at propaganda and self-promotion. They do it with TAX money, -so that they can continue to get TAX money! For entertainment, they have affairs, screwing on the space station, and getting jealous and .... well you know the story. TAX payer money can be spent in better ways.

Microsoft, Viruses and how Apple benefited from a conspiracy

Do you love conspiracy theories? Well, try to debunk this one.

Microsoft makes money solely from the license of its windows software which can be easily pirated. Apple does not suffer from this problem because Apple forces you to buy overpriced hardware, -like buying motor-oil in a gas station, and since you can't buy the hardware without software, so Apple does not have to worry about piracy. But for Microsoft this is a huge problem. OK, so far I am just stating facts. Obviously, Microsoft has a problem, -much like Hollywood, -it has to stop the piracy.

The conspiracy theory: Some genius in Microsoft came up with a brilliant plan. Microsoft will unleash viruses which will be utilizing holes in its browser (IE) and annoy users. And Microsoft will then release patches and fixes, .... but .... only after verifying the license! So Microsoft will effectively sabotage unlicensed versions by making them slow.

Why do I think Microsoft created the viruses?
 1. Well, if you are a software engineer (which I am) you quickly realize that writing a virus (which is actually just a program that exploits a hole) is not easy, -at least not for a software that goes through as much quality testing as Microsoft does. The virus writer needs to know intricate details of the operating system and the browser application, knowledge that is not available in books, -but well known to Microsoft employees in the appropriate areas. And there are not too many experts outside Microsoft who know these details, -even game and application developers do not need to know these details.
 2. For every virus, Microsoft has a fix. This is very unusual. As a software engineer, you also know that some holes, if discovered too late, are impossible to fix without huge changes to the software. But Microsoft has been fixing holes on a surprisingly predictable and reliable pace.
3. Why write a virus if there is no money in it. To date, not a single virus has actually made any money for the author (rumors aside). There has been instances of 'phishing', but that is not using virus, thats just fooling people into actually giving their credentials. So the only motivation for the writer, other than the sick joy of annoying thousands of strangers, is with Microsoft, -which is hoping to annoy pirated copy users to buy a license and get the fixes.

But Microsoft's plan backfired. It gave the company the reputation of creating virus-prone software, which Apple took advantage of, presenting itself as 'robust'. The Internet is by design, robust, -all one has to do is to not open up holes. So Apple doesn't even have to do anything!

So Microsoft has stopped the virus campaign, for now.

There you have it. A conspiracy theory involving a big company, a righteous need to protect itself and unforeseen consequences that the conspirators never imagined!

Go ahead, -try to debunk it.

Opel, GM and Merkel's conspiracy to dupe the Germans

Do you believe that Merkel was surprised by the GM decision not to sell Opel? Well, lets look at the facts.

Months before the election, when Opel's future was being discussed, it was obvious that the only real proposal came from Fiat. They wanted to buy Opel, cut the fat (layoff some workers) and make Opel profitable. The rise in oil price (more to come) is making Opel's cars unprofitable. For this very intransigent technical reason, Opel needs to retool and modify its labor force and reduce their cost. GM or Fiat or anyone else who buys Opel actually has little choice.

But this was very unpopular in Germany. So the negotiations continued. Magna, which is not even a car company, came up with a vague proposal, -the only important thing about the proposal was that they didn't talk about layoffs. Now lets examine the scenario for a moment.

If you are the owner of a business, -aren't you the most knowledgeable about it? If GM, the owner, says layoffs are needed, and Fiat, another real car company, says the same, then why should one believe Magna, -which is not even a car company. And Merkel is no fool, so it is unlikely she would believe Magna and not Fiat and GM.

But she knew she wouldn't win the election with layoffs in GM. So, just before the election, GM made a 'u-turn' and decided to sell Opel to Magna with no layoffs. Merkel won. And right after the election, they made a second u-turn and decided not to sell after all. Hmmm.

Merkel didn't know about it? It is more likely that she not only knows about it but also actively decided on the timing. Visualize it. She was in the US and the Americans tricked her. So blame it on the Americans. Distract the poor german people away from the truth. Take advantage of the general anti-American stance of the German people and give them something to hate.

The truth is Germany simply cannot afford to subsidize 10,000 extra workers at Opel. Oil is becoming scarcer, so car companies have to adjust. But politicians, German or otherwise, are not in the business of telling the truth!

So, Merkel duped the Germans into electing her. A very clever conspiracy indeed.