Gordaen's Blog

A report was recently completed, detailing the mistakes that were made on the Genesis probe. The probe was supposed to return “space dust,” atoms of solar wind that would help scientists figure out the origin of the solar system. On the return mission, the probe instead turned into a bomb, slamming into the Earth’s surface when its parachutes failed to deploy. The fault: Lockheed Martin installed the deployment switches backward. Oops, another quarter of a billion dollars worth of tax payer money wasted. It sounds like a huge number, but compared to other government expenses, the loss isn’t significant; after all, the Iraq War has cost over 1000 times that. (Source: CNN and Cost of War)

In other news, President Bush apologized for teasing a man for wearing sunglasses. The man had a rare disease that causes his vision to be impaired and can cause significant pain from bright lights and glare. I think Bush was just trying to be funny and was ignorant of the larger picture. At least he stepped up and apologized to the man. It’s still one of those stories that makes you think for a second. What would you do if the president made fun of a debilitating condition you had? (Source: CNN)