Kevin Myers spoofing about space shuttle

namloc1980

Anyone read Kevin Myers' opinion piece in todays independent? What a load of uninformed tripe. The link is below.

link

Some of the shuttle guys here such as Beeker etc. should draft a reply to the editor and set this clown straight.

Beeker

namloc1980 wrote: »

Anyone read Kevin Myers' opinion piece in todays independent? What a load of uninformed tripe. The link is below.

link

Some of the shuttle guys here such as Beeker etc. should draft a reply to the editor and set this clown straight.

What an stupid, uninformed, narrow-minded piece of crap:eek:

A reply will be forthcoming from Beeker later.:)

Rubecula

One word response from me.

IDIOT

(It would have been two words but I don't want to be banned for profanity)

Zubeneschamali

Beeker wrote: »

What an stupid, uninformed, narrow-minded piece of crap

Guys this is Kevin Myers. He exists to write nonsense and provoke irate letters to the editor.

Tabnabs

I wouldn't go getting upset about it. Myers opinions on the space program as about as useful and acceptable as a fart in a spacesuit.

Craven99

"For 100,000 years, we only survived on this earth with the help of dogs."

Ok I know the article is complete and utter sh*te but - Ehm what??

Mena

While we all know he's simply trolling on a national level, the problem I have is that people actually believe his tripe...

Rubecula

Mena wrote: »

While we all know he's simply trolling on a national level, the problem I have is that people actually believe his tripe...

That is the main reason I called him an Idiot. It is not his opinion as such that bothers me but the fact he can spread it via a major media output.

We are all entitled to opinions, but mass media opinions should not be in that particular vein to my way of thinking. There should be a balanced argument against it also published.

Wibbs

His notions on the origins of our species are equally daft, but like the rest of his article contains some truth, though one would need the services of a host of miners to find the tiny seam in his vast rock of bullshít.

This luddite guff based on our physical limitations is well, guff. Of course we've only started to paddle in the shallows of space, with one great swim into deeper water. So? The ancient Greeks couldn't sail far from sight of land, yet we went on to ply the oceans. No we can't breath water, yet very day people swim with fishes in the blue ocean. For fun. If Myers is so convinced of our limitations, maybe he best think on that when next he's at 30,000 feet bitching about the price of his ryanair tea. Along with the millions that do so every year. Funny enough I didn't notice anyone sprouting wings to do it.

D1stant

Educate me

Isn't his general point true?
- we have just scratched what we call space?
- we are not (with current technology) capable of going much further - at least with manned flights?

Wibbs

Yes but if we don't continue to try we'll never invent anything beyond current technology. As it is even with current technology we could go to Mars if the will was there. And do it quickly enough. I'd say if a global emergency required it we could do it in well under a decade. Don't forget when Kennedy gave that lets go to the moon speech, the Americans had barely achieved orbit, let alone docking in space, multistaging, throttleable rockets etc, yet less than 8 years later they were standing on the moon. In the sixties, when the processing power just this single post requires would have literally filled a room. When carbon fibres and other novel materials were barely a dream. We could do a lot today if we had the will.

Plug

What about the lads who went to the moon, are they not astronauts and maybe the space they travelled between was actually the road to Donegal. What kind of a clown.

Conor108

Whatever the alleged just-ification, mankind will never put a spaceman on an aster-oid. Nor will man ever land on Mars.

Bookmarked for future lols

ger vallely

What a tool. He is a shining example of the limitations some people impose on themselves.He stoops to gutter press levels of getting up peoples' noses when he should be using his position for good. He's on the list for one way flights to deep space. Pah, let him be,ignore the fool,he might trot on.

shizz

"For 100,000 years, we only survived on this earth with the help of dogs. If we are ever to survive in deep space, to which even now, 50 years after Yuri Gagarin's first flight, no man has ever been, it will have to be with outside assistance, yet again. Dogs not being of much use there -- vide poor Laika -- it looks as if we're staying put"

So basically what he is saying is that the only way were going to get any further out into space is with the help of "people" who can provide that assistance? Well how would these "people" be able to provide that assistance if they had not themselves overcome the great task of surviving in space and delving further into it?

Its nonsense to discourage going to space. In my opinion its the purpose of our life in a sense. We have been given the gift of intelligence and we have to use this to better understand the world around us and try and conquer the problems that stand in our way.

What did he expect? the space shuttle to be ferrying people back and forward from mars? There's no doubt that travelling in space is a monumental challenge, and it's dangerous, but why should we stop trying?

-Trek-

Managed to read first paragraph, I think even getting that far was too much.

redman

He is a complete wind up merchant and is scraping a barrel in his light summer column filling months. Also reaffirns my view of the indo

amacachi

I bet he hates the fact that people don't need to hold a piece of paper to read what he "writes".

galactus

Craven99 wrote: »

"For 100,000 years, we only survived on this earth with the help of dogs."

Ok I know the article is complete and utter sh*te but - Ehm what??

That's almost a Bushism, up there with "“I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully.”

rccaulfield

Lads- theres an astrology section in that paper-what do yis expect? When we land on Mars/an asteroid i'm writing to him!

BULLER

Ah lads I think you're all being a bit harsh; the article looks like it was written by a 5 year old! Taking that into account, I think it did okay! The indo have had to lay off far to many real journalists to allow for this page filler tripe.

dlofnep

I have to laugh when he talks about limitations. If he was born 100 years ago, he would have been writing the same old tripe about manned flight telling us that the furthest we could fly is a few hundred feet, and that it was too dangerous to be a useful mode of transport.

Kevin Myers, aside from the fact that he's void of any rational thought - has not looked at the broad picture of our accomplishments as a race. We went from our first manned flight, to landing on the moon in only 60 years. In another 60 years from now, we will hopefully have put a man on Mars. Asking Kevin Myers to look at the bigger picture beyond his self-serving skewed view of the world is like asking an asking a dog to clean up his own shíte.

Beeker

Sent a letter to the Indo about Myers piece, they published it yesterday Thur 28th but cut it to pieces.
I'm not a journalist so not always able to put in words what I feel in my heart, but I had to give it a shot. This is the full text I sent for all its worth.

---

I read with shock the article by Kevin Myers in today’s newspaper “Space Shuttles 30 year lie is brought down to Earth.
His arguments are pathetic at best. He claims that the word Space in space shuttle is a lie because the Shuttle only flies to an altitude of about 220 miles up. This is not “outer-space” in his words. Space officially starts at 50 miles so sorry Kevin, but yes the Shuttle does fly in space.
He claims that the use of the word Astronaut is a lie because the word means star traveler and they do not travel to the stars. Give me a break!
He claims that our Species has reached the limits of where we can go. This is short sighted and uninformed nonsense at best. We as a species have only begun our exploration, and yes Kevin it is exploration of near space, but we are on the road to exploring the planets and eventually the Stars.
Kevin claimed that 14 people died as a result of “it’s Nonsense” I think those 14 would disagree strongly with you. They gave their lives to it; they were well aware of the dangers but still believed in it enough to risk all. The Shuttle has been an incredible vehicle. It has launched and retrieved satellites repaired and returned Satellites to Earth. It has carries science experiments’ and Earth observing instruments, it launched , repaired and serviced the iconic Hubble telescope, launched probes to the Sun and planets, built the International Space Station and has served as a test bed for advanced aeronautical engineers for 30 years. On top of all that it has inspired generations of children to pursue science and engineering as careers. Nonsense! I beg to differ.
You make a joke of the Kennedy Space Center keeping a secret of how people go to the toilet in space, don’t be so childish. NASA explains this quite openly and in detail if you wish to know, it is available to all on their website if you care to look.
“Mankind will never put a man on an Asteroid or on Mars” What I’d like to know is what universe you are living in. What make you think we won’t? We are more than capable of doing just that and the only thing holding us back at the moment is money. The Space Shuttle has been an important step in that direction, not perfect or cheap but necessary to get us there.
The Space Station is an amazing vehicle, orbiting the earth every 90 minutes at a speed of 17500 mph. The largest, international engineering project in history. We should be proud of ourselves as a species for what we are capable of. Humans have always relied on help to explore and move on, dogs, horses, boats or spacecrafts, whatever we need to help, we use. We are fragile and limited but we are resourceful and fiercely intelligent with a passionate drive to explore the unknown.
It is in our very nature to explore, we have a long way to go yet but we are taking the first steps in our long term survival; we owe it to our children. The future of our species lies among the stars and I hope we are not afraid to take the steps to get us there.

xper

Beeker wrote: »

Sent a letter to the Indo about Myers piece,...

No, no, no. Don't feed the troll!:(

Rubecula

Nice response Beeker me old mate.

Beeker

xper wrote: »

No, no, no. Don't feed the troll!:(

I know but I could not sit back and ignore. Step away from my Shuttle:D

D1stant

Yes Myers is a troll He is cheeky and has balls. I for one admire his ability to stir up things and challenge conventional wisdom. He's wrong half the time, but who isn't?

But his article is basically correct and doesnt deserve the herd response from this forum

Go forth Kevin!

redman

D1stant wrote: »

Yes Myers is a troll ...
Go forth Kevin!

Sounds like your a troll too :rolleyes:

dlofnep

D1stant wrote: »

But his article is basically correct

No, it isn't. It's pig-ignorant bollocks.

thecornflake

I don't know how accurate those numbers are in relation to climbing that high or going under water to those depths, I welcome Mr Myers to prove me wrong personally.

Who let this clown write about the space shuttle, he has a degree in history I believe ? Total Bull - scat.

Its funny to note that without the people that design, build and work on these spacecraft and missions the world would not be the place it is today.

I am still in awe that people have walked on the moon and that people live in space, I mean wtf ? People actually live up there, sounds like this guy is a bit of a space cadet now that i think about it.

Well done Beeker for adding some brains to the paper.