The next X prize

"Bob Fry" wrote in message
...

That's the free market. It sucks, sometimes.

[With respect to engineers] It's more than simply the free market. I
work for a state water agency, no offshoring going on there. But
society's interest in entertainment in the last couple of decades, and
decreasing interest in accomplishment, has rendered our agency a bad
place to work for engineers, just like many other places.

The private sector still respects accomplishment pretty well. However, the
prestige of an engineering degree is certainly not what it was 20-30 years
ago. But then, neither is any degree.

As for entertainment, this is a by-product of leisure time and disposable
income, which have increased significantly over the long haul. People are
"struggling to get by" but they're still finding an average of 4 hours/day
to watch TV, according to Nielsen. They'd probably be struggling a little
less if they weren't making 15% interest payments on a credit card they used
to buy a $3,000 plasma TV.

Virginia Postrel has also written an interesting book called "the Substance
of Style" that talks about the increasing importance of aesthetics as a
value generator. Basically, with global manufacturing turning every product
into a low-cost commodity item (think mobile phones) the only way to
distinguish products is through their design/fashion. Thus "soft" factors
become real value generators.

I think scifi writer Neal Stephenson said it best in one of his books set in
the near-future. It went something like, "in a global economy every country
does only what it does best, and what the United States does better than
anyone is blockbuster Hollywood movies and fast-delivery pizza." FWIW, our
entertainment industry is actually a huge export earner for us. The rest of
the world may hate us politically but culturally they're still hooked.

-cwk.

Best,
-cwk.

American schools
graduate less and less engineers each year,

fewer and fewer engineers. (I are one).
--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)

I don't have to like Bush and Cheney (Or Kerry, for that matter) to love
America

"Earl Grieda" wrote in message news:

It will be interesting. However, its to bad that greedy American CEOs have
ruined engineering as a profession...

Woe is us! The situation is so bad in America that its no wonder that
the French won the X prize... or was it the Koreans or the Brasilians?
Whomever... doesn't matter, could'nt be Americans as they are far too
busy is self pity and loathing to actually acomplish anything!

"Earl Grieda" wrote in message news:

It will be interesting. However, its to bad that greedy American CEOs have
ruined engineering as a profession...

Woe is us! The situation is so bad in America that its no wonder that
the French won the X prize... or was it the Koreans or the Brasilians?
Whomever... doesn't matter, could'nt be Americans as they are far too
busy is self pity and loathing to actually acomplish anything!

So, what do you think the next X prize will bring? First privately funded
re-usable spacecraft to orbit the earth? To the moon? Looks like this is
gearing up to be the next big economy 'boom'

According to "Air & Space" magazine, Congress has before it a bill that
would provide $20 million for various aeronautical "X" prizes, in hopes of
spurring more Rutan-like entrepreneurs. One of the ideas being proposed is
an "X" prize for flying a "life form" to the moon, and keeping it alive for
90 days.

Although using taxes for this kind of stuff rubs me the wrong way, it *does*
provide "seed money" for thinking outside the box.

Sadly, some stupid government bureaucracy will (of course) have to be set up
to administer the program, which will probably suck most of the life (and
funding) out of it.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

One of the ideas being proposed is
an "X" prize for flying a "life form" to the moon, and keeping it alive for
90 days.


The Melissa worm?

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

Although using taxes for this kind of stuff rubs me the wrong way, it
*does* provide "seed money" for thinking outside the box.

I'd much rather pay this than for gasoline subsidies to Iraqis.

"Hello, NASA, (tap tap) is this thing on?"

Although using taxes for this kind of stuff rubs me the wrong way, it
*does* provide "seed money" for thinking outside the box.

I'd much rather pay this than for gasoline subsidies to Iraqis.

Boy, that's for sure!

Although, in the long run, fixing Iraq is the better thing to do.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" writes:

Although, in the long run, fixing Iraq is the better thing to do.

The Mid-East cannot be fixed, especially by outsiders (hated
infidels). Bush and his buddies were incredibly naive, arrogant, and
ignorant to think they could.

The best thing we could do is do a crash program, like the atom bomb
or space race, to develop other energy sources (safe nukes and solar
primarily) and give away the technology to Europe so the Western World
can tell these camel-f****ers to go back to the 8th century where they
want to be anyway.

Bob 30-years-studying-and-working-besides-mid-east-people Fry