NASA has been shutdown!

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by TuesdayNightCompany, Oct 5, 2013.

  1. ForrestDean Registered Senior Member

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    Yes. A patient who is physically or mentally sick normally does need the intervention of medication or a doctor... for a time.
     
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  3. arauca Banned Banned

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    I did not asked if you were selfish.
     
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  5. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Yes, you did. I said we very much need the government and you responded by asking whether I was personally effected. So much for Christianity, I guess. It goes out the door as soon as it becomes politically uncomfortable, right?
     
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  7. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    The government doesn't just come to our aid in emergencies, it's purposes are far more varied. For instance, if you want to live in a modern industrialized nation, you need one.
     
  8. ForrestDean Registered Senior Member

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    Nah, that's not quite what I meant. Considering the mindset of today's society, which hasn't changed much in many centuries, if we didn't have governments to dictate, organize, and manage society, most would be killing each other. And considering the size of today's global society with it's current psychopathic, sociopathic, insane lifestyle combined with being completely dominated by the ego and incredibly bound by deeply embedded belief systems, if all governments were to suddenly disappear today we would make the Salem witch trials look like a bunch of civilized individuals having a casual cup of tea.
     
  9. arauca Banned Banned

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  10. Aqueous Id flat Earth skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    Are you advocating anarchy? The government is created by consent of the governed, to the extent citizens stay informed (esp. fact-checking sources), and to the extent they participate.

    If Congress shuts down government activity to which I consented, then they are effectively usurping my power. The Republican struggle for power should never be couched as economic shock therapy (if that's what you meant). That's their M.O. (It failed in the Third World during the Cold War as the book I linked to laboriously chronicles.)

    No, it's simply a shot in dark to appeal to the fools who put them in office, to signal that they still have ammunition. They do have one nuke, and that's the debt ceiling. If they are testing the waters to see how much they can piss off the voters, then this may just be a lead-up to a future large scale plan to usurp all financial governance by letting the US go into default. If they're successful, they may bring us to our knees like they (their buddies, the unregulated securities jerks) did in 2007. At that point, expect them to blame the Democrats, and expect their constituents to put their hoods back on and to continue the cross-burnings in celebration of solidarity.
     
  11. Aqueous Id flat Earth skeptic Valued Senior Member

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    I missed this. From this I gather you're not at all an anarchist--quite the opposite--but someone who is highly cynical about human nature. It looks like you see federal government only as a cop. Keep in mind they do a lot more; besides, law enforcement touches average people through State and local agencies. And they're not the ones being cut.
     
  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    We are the government. If they disappeared, we would have to recreate them.
     
  13. ForrestDean Registered Senior Member

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    Nope. Stating an observation.

    Yep. Absolutely.

    Yep, pretty much. Not much different than the actions of any other average individual in our mainstream society.

    Republican, Democrat, labels. That part is irrelevant. It doesn't matter which one. They are 2 sides of the same coin. They are both a part of and serve the same System.

    It doesn't matter who we put into office. Any average individual within our society would most likely do the exact same thing in that position given the nature of the System.

    Society gets exactly everything it deserves. We have the power and the choice to create any type of society we wish. So why don't we? I believe I hinted to that answer in a previous post. Our institutions are nothing more than an extension of the System, a reflection of society, a symptom of society. Institutions are formed out of a necessity to meet the demands of society. If we are displeased with what our institutions are doing then it is of course up to society to change it. It is completely our choice. 100%.
     
  14. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    There is nothing innocent about you. Why seek to minimize the government shut-down? Do you agree with this artificial catastrophe?
     
  15. TuesdayNightCompany Registered Member

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    Oh, good, that's a relief. I thought all the missions and data had been more or less completely abandoned, with only a few exceptions. I couldn't easily find information, what with the NASA site and all being down. I'm still intending to watch MAVEN launch and was relieved that those personnel were allowed to get back to preparations. If we lost that launch window, it wouldn't be back for another... seven?... years or so.
    Still. I wonder if they had the audacity to cut power to the Very Large Array. I hope it is still going about it's business, even if they can't adjust the array.
    Politics aside in an extraordinarily political situation, some things just don't cost very much in the big picture (and many will still work without pay for the sake of science) so I'm just hoping there is enough maintenance personnel to keep the information going.
     
  16. ForrestDean Registered Senior Member

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    Hehe, nah I'm just here for the ride. Again I'm only stating the obvious based upon observation. It's pretty easy to see the direction humanity is going into at the present moment, but at the same time impossible to predict. Predicting the path of the collective consciousness is the same as trying to predict the path of a large flock of birds. You never know when or where they will change direction.

    We are a self-serving society. We live to serve the self before considering others at the expense of all else. There is nothing right or wrong with this. This is just the way it is. Again this is what we have chosen. If we don't like the path we are on then all we have to do is change it, but again we don't. The reason we don't is because we are still dominated by the ego and enslaved by our beliefs. This is not an opinion or itself a belief. It's just simple observation.
     
  17. TuesdayNightCompany Registered Member

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    Guys

    Let's get back on topic.
    This thread was started by me in a mild state of panic, hoping there were other scientifically-minded individuals who may know more about the status of astronomy experiments and data gathering that might be cut off due to personnel being locked out or other such matters.
    The arguments about politics belong in a different area of the forum - while the shutdown is highly political in nature, we want to discuss the scientific aspect of the NASA shutdown specifically.
     
  18. TuesdayNightCompany Registered Member

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    "Although 97 percent of NASA staff members are furloughed due to the government shutdown, Juno's mission-critical Earth flyby operations have not been affected." - Space.com

    Hurray for some smatterings of foresight.
     

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