Yeah, I posted a file 2 months ago, and it still isn't up.

Let's all pray for the 7 astronauts on Columbia.

Yes, but do you remember that airplane that crashed into urban New York about a week after September 11th? That one got about three hours of press time total, even though over a hundred people died on it. THis is only seven people and n million dollars.

My area's EBS was actually used about a month ago to boradcast a flood warning. First time I've ever heard it used.

yes but you forgot that the people that died in the shuttle explosion where service-men (or politically correctly: service-people) that died for the u.s.

also, only 7 people died, what about the many people's lives who were saved with NASA's medical advances? Or all of the people who are bombed every day?

Still, it's sad to see people dying while being heroic
I'm sad for them, you should be to.
It was a human error, the blocks fell off when the machine was being launched, NASA should have taken precautions, on the other hand 20 years for a spaceship is a lot, the life of a machine like that should be 10 years
sorry for the bad english :P

but these are designed to go up into space and come back again for up to 100 times

this was obviously posted right after it happened. what they really found out was that the heat-resistant foam paint on the orange gas tank peeled off and tore away at the side of the shuttle.

I've never prayed on the internet before!

I think that he meant it by personally praying, rather than posting prayers (which may cause inter-religion offence)

Yes, let's.

BTW, what is just freaky about the Columbia incidentis that the Apollo 1 fire, the Challenger explosion, and the Columbia incident all happened within the same week of their year.

fortuanately, not in the same years :p

Apollo 13 liftoff was in some pretty bad weather, i think almost like January if that gives you any ideas.

No, Apollo 13 launched on April 13, at 13:13, I believe. But it definitely wasn't in January and it definitely wasn't in bad weather.
Apollo 12 launched in bad weather (a thunderstorm) and got struck by lightning twice.

watch the movie, definitely not bad weather.

you never can trust the movies

I think you can trust that one though.

As I understand it was abnormally cold.

that was a pretty good movie
I also read the book, but it was really long

NOT APOLLO 13!!!! APOLLO 1!!!

Actually, Apollo 13 was scheduled for lunar insertion on April 13, 13:13. It launched a few days earlier. But i suppose i dosen't really matter.

My bad, spelling error
<i>it<i> dosen't really matter

lets not pray and say we did. wow, 7 people died. Big deal. More people die every day than you could possibly fathome under terrible circumstances out of their control. And i should pray for 7 people who died doing their job which is one of the most dangerous in the world? please, i have more important things to do w/ me time. If it had been a tour bus w/ 7 japanese tourist, no one would give a damn. but because these people were american and in a billion dollar capsule, we're expected to care. not me, i refuse.

I totally agree. This sort of thing is blown completely out of proportion.

Sorry, benryves.

Its just that a lot of members of ticalc.org are American (including me), and feel the loss the most. I do agree, however, that from an international standpoint this accident IS totally blown out of proportion.

Did you know that at about the same time a bank was bombed in Nigeria (?). 50 people died. The were 50 innocent people, instead of 7 people who were dicing with death anyway. So, the space shuttle gets a 4-page spread, and the Nigerian incident gets... what? A small mention hidden in a page somewhere.

The key difference, that happened in Nigeria, this happened here, natrually, people care more about the local news than international. It is still a sad event, but I dont expect them to feel to sorry for us, the same way no one else should expect us to feel sorry for them. I don't expect you Ben, to feel to sorry for it, because, well, it doesnt effect you the same way it affects us. But whatever... I think I just started rambling...

Additionally, at the same time a train crashed in Zaire, killing about the same amount of people. It got almost no recognition, either.

My point could be seen as invalid, because you're American... but the fever seems to have spread to Britain. In my opinion, the Zaire and Nigerian incidents are worse, because innocent people were killed in their everyday activities, not it some high-risk mission. You will no doubt feel that the shuttle is worse, because it happened on local ground.

Actually, you put it into a better perspective for us Americans.

What do you mean by that?

You help us compare and thus see the difference between the overall "smallness" of the loss of life in the Columbia incident and other disasters world-wide. It puts the accident into a more global perspective.

Well, Sevenoaks School prides itself on its 'multi-cultural background. That's just an excuse for the catering department to have a 'Chinese' week, make pseudo-chinese food (they use spaghetti instead of noodles) and wear sill hats ;)

...except my school district does not have that. I go to a public school.

BTW, some of the space shuttle debrits landed in my state.

Actually, see my below comment.

I don't want to sound harsh but this is how we control our population... by death. If everybody had the right of guaranteed life, the world will be in chaos. So you see starving dudes and people dying in prematured death, I say oh well... one less human to polute the world.

A cold-hearted comment, nethertheless one that has a point...

By this philosphy, we should all commit suicide and spare the earth the trouble of our existence... a more satisfying reaction to death (for me) is solemn acknowledgement, whether or not I think their deaths are overpublicized, deserved, or for an unworthy cause. I hope when I die that people don't just say "That's four pounds less pollution per day going into landfills." I'd like to think we are more than our waste.

Influenced Darwiniasm: Increasing natural selection.

So you care about what others think of you when you die? What good will come out of it? I think it's waste of time to make others feel sorry for you. Darn emotions.

I didn't say that!

oops, wrong replay and wrong way to reply. Just ignore what I've said.

Ignoring...

i think reflecting on a person's life when he/she dies is important, yes. this might or might not include 'caring' about that person.

if someone dies, and we do not consider their life or death, then we have learned nothing from them at all, and they may as well never have lived to us. better to give that life meaning than to disregard it and risk repeating mistakes (or missing out on good stuff) that that person experienced. this is a form of evolution, to learn from those that came before us in an effort to improve upon what they did.

And I say we should care. Just because others die does not mean these deaths are meaningless. Their deaths should help remind us that manned space flight is unsafe, and that the shuttles are old. More deaths can be prevented by repairing or replacing the shuttles. Their deaths also serve as a media anchor, and something to remind us that death is, life is, and all within both is precious and to be treasured. Each death completes a life, but that does not mean that any death is unmeaningfull. Most of the people who die die of disease, old age, or other natural causes. Or unnatural ones, like heart disease caused by eating to many happy meals. These astronauts died after experimenting in space, attempting to bring knowlege to the world. It is better to see a few deaths than all deaths. Humans have trouble accepting things on a large scale, (eg, infinte set theory is difficult to comprehend for most) and contemplating every death is beyond the abilities of most humans. Some can simply accept death, but since death is unknown and unknowable many will find this very difficult. Accepting and understanding and caring for each and every death would take all of our time. It is better to care about a select set of deaths, those that may lead us to richer, fuller lives. Is Hitler's death better or worse than the deaths of any of these astronauts? By your arguments, it would be the same. A death's worth should be judged not by the death itself, but by the life which was completed by it.

And on topic, TI-Calc needs more reviewers. Perhaps a distributed reviewer project, like the distributed proofreading of Project Gutenberg? I'm sure enough readership would participate.

I agree with both points. Especially the reviewer one ;)

well put.

Well put, Peregrine.

Archivers and reviewers are a definite must.

I agree

Dare i ask what Project Gutenberg is?

I was wondering the same thing...
Didn't he invent the printing press? (or was that Caxton. William Caxton went to my school - it is one of the oldest in the country).

Actually, we should care. That wasn't seven Americans in a big capsule. That was six Americans and one ISREALI. The first Isreali to go to space, a hero in a time of great disturbance in his home. Six Americans that were also heroes, although not to the degree of the Isreali.

Think about the NASA program. A lot of people think its a waste of money, sure the scientific research it does often seems kind of odd and some maybe unnecessary, but NASA is the best PR for science and mathematics. Every emenentary student at some point in their lives wants to be an astronaut. What do you have to do? Math and science, as well as other school work. "Cool!"

There is also the scientific research NASA contributes directly and indirectly, for instance caclulators wouldn't have been produced as soon, or in the way they are. (Imagine a world without TI) :) In addition, space materials appear everywhere.

NASA also provides diplomatic ties with other nations in an odd way. America and four other nations have a common interest in the ISS and will probbly add more nations as more will be able and willing to invest in the space station.

So for the astronaughts: Leaders in science and mathematics education, scientific research, and diplomatic bonding.

Yes, I think that we should still care that people died, even if it was only seven people.

Yes, we SHOULD care, however - I have a problem in that these 7 people, who died doing something that they should KNOW was dangerous - which space travel is - are specially mentionned and are given front-page spaces on the Times. Why? Sure, these people died. But people die EVERY DAY and they don't get a front page slot. What makes these people special, and why should we 'pray' for these people over anyone else?

agreed

You guys better watch it...this new forum guy is gonna delete all this 'spam' about feeling sorry for the loss of a crew of astronauts!

Well, since it's a joke news article, I guess that any topic, really, is relevant.

i agree

Hasn't he already deleted some posts from this thread, though?

I think the whole point of a fake news article was to appease all the complaints about topic deletion. So that people would have a place to talk about anything, without being censored (too harshly).

LOL, if we were vulcans, this topic would never balloon to this. Err... okay, I'll shut my nerdy A$$ up.

Your statements are too illogical to be understood.
^_^

It is also illogical and inefficient to go off-topic :)

yeah, quite a few posts have been deleted. i.e. mine which boasted "Wow! First Post" *sniff*

Given that point:

Why should we care if a few servicemen die in battle, instead the minimum quota for front page news will be one platoom, if less than that dies then they get moved to the obituaries;

If an officer falls in the line of duty, we will no longer give him/her front page news, only if the entire SWAT team dies;

If an electrician is electricuted because of unforetunate (and unlikel) circumstances, then we won't pay any attention to that.

If an employee of the US Postal Service dies from Anthrax...

Every job has a certain degree of risks. It is safer to be a NASA employee than to teach. In fact, teaching is one of the most dangerous careers in the US. It is safer to work HAXMAT or for the CDC in the highest class disease lab than to teach. So in actuality, NASA is a realtively safe place to work.

Being a cop is pretty dangerous, but when one falls, his hometown puts it front page. When a disaster occurs, it becomes national news. These people die serving the American people. NASA contributes in many ways to America and the world (see previous post), they serve us, knowing the dangers and still willing to do their job.

Let's look at it this way, people:

Job: Athlete
Description: Play a game
Pay: Multi-million $ yearly

Job: Astronaut
Description: Risk your life to further science
Pay: ???

Job: Soldier
Description: Take a bullet or two
Pay: $14,000 a year

God bless America. Or whatever. Maybe it's time to focus on the REAL heroes, America: people like soldiers and scientists who risk their lives fighting for something they believe in, or trying to cure a disease, or whatever. Not some guy who can pass a football really well. WHAT AMERICA NEEDS IS PERSPECTIVE!

That's right. Also, the nation needs to pay our educators much more money. These people that put their lives on the line need to be appreciated 1000% more than some bum with the ability to run quickly and propell a sphere or an ellipsoid with his or her limbs.

I agree totally about educators. It's no wonder that they're declining in numbers - they're getting totally shafted financially. My mom's a school counselor, so I hear all about the stuff that's going on in their world.

Actually, in some states they are payed very nicely ^_^
Just not where I live :p

"Job: Soldier
Description: Take a bullet or two
Pay: $14,000 a year "

Well, almost, you gotta think about their benefits though, 14K a year for twenty, then 14K a year after that for not doing anything. Yes, they risk their lives, but it pays off in the end. They also get cheaper gas, and they get military housing, and other stuff, so its a pretty good deal.

I don't care what my benefits are. If my job description is "take a bullet", I DAMN WELL BETTER GET GOOD MONEY FOR IT.

How about a Purple Heart?

I believe you forgot to mention Actor/Actress. We pay these people to entertain us. Americans value entertainment over everything else. If you're funny you can make millions being a comedian and starring in a sitcom. I'm guessing you're not an athlete by the way you happen to mention an athlete being overpaid but not a TV or movie star, or even Bill Gates for example. We all contribute to the popularity of athletes, comedians, tv and movie stars, and musicians because we need them in order to live, otherwise our lives would be boring, and humans WOULD NOT SURVIVE without entertainment. I'm not saying that teachers don't deserve to be paid more, but you're looking at it the wrong way. People that are paid millions upon millions are paid that much because they are known around the world for their talents. A teacher on the other hand, will only have a small affect on a few classes of 35 or more kids per year... unless you don't watch TV or go to movies or listen to music I don't think you should talk about these people being overpaid or underpaid and the importance and significance they have in America.

I agree. Humans have made entertainment a necessity. I think, however, that simply because someone entertains us, it doesn't mean they should be paid massive quantities of cash. I'd be willing to bet that I could go act in some feature film and do just as well as some of the top names out there. Being in a movie isn't hard. They do numerous takes of the same scene OVER and OVER again. If you mess up or look bad, they do it again. These people have no special talents. I'd bet that *anyone* could do just as good of a job. The only reason I'm *not* a famous actor is because I'm not really interested in theater, and - oh yeah! - Hollywood doesn't know I exist.

To sum it all up: Actors aren't special. They don't deserve millions of dollars for what they do. Period.

HAZMAT, not HAXMAT...

These people were the best of their breeding. Each graduated at the top of their classes and most served in the military and worked their way up its hierarchy to an admirable point. Additionally, deaths of this type are extremely rare, and very gruesome and painful when experienced. Also, the first Israeli in space was with them, which was a milestone in diplomatic history. Finally, the US was extremely pissed off at Iraq because they were partying in the streets singing about God punishing the Americans.

Put yourself in their shoes: You are in a space shuttle (which is more like a flying brick on approach) at 120000 mph at 200000 ft above the ground. There is nothing you can do if something goes wrong (in other words, you are now the most helpless person in the world). Your ship begins to collapse around you, letting in burning Oxygen from air friction into the cabin. Your body ignites and begins to decompress. The air is sucked from your longs, every gas within you loses their bonds with your body and begins to rapidly diffuse into the partial vaccuum, causing you to bloat and explode. You live long enough to experience the pain, maybe long enough to see your ship mates die from the same cause that you are doomed to suffer.

This is the first time in the history of the world that a space shuttle has burned up upon re-entry. It gives NASA the chilling thought that this can readily happen again. Also, the destruction delays any future launches because NASA needs to determine the reason for the shuttle burning up, and modify the three remaining shuttles to prevent this from happening again. These 7 deaths are linked to so many other things that it is really worth reporting.

They have an escape hatch, you know. (No one has ever used it.)

At their altitude and velocity, it would not have made much of a difference.

Thats for sure. I think it is there for more of crash in the water business or something.

...or for bailing out at a slower speed and a lower velocity (like in that movie "Space Cowboys")

That's the same thing as saying that a group of people died in a plane crash, they should know it's dangerous so they should stayed at home, so what? people die everyday, and we should pray for anyone else.
The people who died in that space travel was normal people, just like me, just like you, just like everyone else, they deserve us to care, as they should care for us.

Five Americans, an Indian (from India, not a Native American), and an Israeli. Not six Americans.

If I am not mistaken, the Indian was an american citizen, so yes, six americans.

Do you consider an 'American citizen' to be an 'American'? Really?

It just does not sound right to say "United States-ian." Even you would agree with that ;) If we spoke Spanish, we would be "estadounidense"

No, I meant that if someone became an American citizen they are now American?
So if a Frenchman moved to the US and became an American citizen he would no longer be French, but American?
That makes no sense to me (I'm referring to Nathan Crank above).

Yup, that is how I think it works.

Technically, yes, but every immigrant I've met still considers themselves whatever they were before (not American).

Fact: The TI-83 Plus has more memory and processing power than all the computers combined that sent the first astronauts to the moon.

show some sensitivity asshole.
No, it isnt the most important thing ever, but it is still sad, and as a decent human being, you are supposed to care. So pull whatever is in your ass out.

The space program benifits you in millions of ways everyday, but you are too ignorat to notice that. So until you learn something, dont post.

Everyone who is downplaying yesterdays events as nothing important, shut up. It is important. Not "end-of-the-world" important, but still important. Not too mention sad. So when you say you dont care if they died, think of them as being you. No one would care? What a sad day it would be when bright, young, acconplished people die. These people where those (except maybe young).

So, show some sensetivity, or shut the fuck up.

I totally agree.

I salute to them regarless of who they were. They bravely took the challenge of space exploration just to satisfy our curiousity. That takes dedication and some cajones!

You know what? The whole anti-religion trip is played out. Shut up.

That's a nice idea. But I think that the friends and families of those astronauts need it more.

Out of news, MV?

But you are right. We (Smitemeister Software) finally have some stuff to upload, but if we do, patch 5 will be finished by the time it has made it's way into the archives... It's sick. :)

Seriously, what the heck is wrong with those lazy file archivers? They are showing no attempt whatsoever to improve the sitution.

And on another note, the pending files queue is biased. I uploaded my file months ago, and it still hasn't shown up. Yet files like "Phantom Star" and "Zelda Demo" were posted less than a day after they were released to the public. Obviously the file archivers choose to post at their preference rather than unbiased priority.

When they post, that is...

Like I said before, everyone should upload their files to Calc.org instead.

If you reach a certain rank on your files, they get uploaded automatically. I got mine posted the same day I uploaded them.

Calc.org is like totally user-supported now.

BUT TICALC.ORG IS MUCH BETTER!!!

It makes no sense to have a news article without the file. So, instead of waiting a couple months for it to upload, they loaded it right away so that people could download and test out the program as they read the article.

I hear you brother

I know... I submitted a file about a month before Thanksgiving. calcgames.org uploaded it in under two days. Granted, they have a smaller file queue, but still.
As soon as the site starts working again, it's called TI-Visual BASIC (their site isn't working for me right now).

I submitted the same program on the same day to TICalc.org and Calc.org. Gues who added it the same day? :) No offenses, TICalc.org, you guys do rule.

P.S.-Michael, thanks for the lax posting rules in this topic!!

Yes, Kerm, I have also noticed the 'lax', as you called it, posting rules. Perhaps we should have fake news more often? :) Anyhoo, a new file archiver would be nice; I applied, are you? I applied for the news editor job, and they didn't pick me :( But hey, it's all good. Now's when we say,

Nee!

and call it a day.

BTW, it is now uploaded on the calc.org website. I just need to e-mail them and inform them that it's my file (they don't have an author name listed)

My file is now at 47 downloads, which puts it at number 78 out of 119! Thx to those who download!

The site now has my file again. 48 downloads places it in a tie for 77th place out of 119. Also, if you would like to join my programming group, send me an e-mail to darksideprogramming@yahoo.com. If your name is Banan or something like that @f***windows.com, try sending me a message again; i tried replying and the e-mail didn't work :(

me too...i posted abt 5 files but it still hasn't reached the archives 4 more than 5 months already!!!

wat happened to the archivers!?!?!?!?

Maybe they're being held hostage by the typewriting monkeys.

Well! i don't know when this pending problem start but one thing is true:
I sent around 10 files the oldest at around one year, and i only see one arrive (the first one), i keep waiting for the others....... i'm waiting .......... .. .. .. .. heerrrrr, ok .......... i wait...!!!

2 months ago? try 3!

Ha lol must not be good files. mine was up in under a week.