Topic: Countdown is on for Last Night Launch of Space Shuttle

[sam]

http://www.universetoday.com/2010/02/04/countdown-is-on-for-last-night-launch-of-shuttle/

The official countdown clock is ticking for the STS-130 mission of space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. This is the last planned night launch for the shuttle program, with a scheduled liftoff time of 9:39:47 GMT (4:39:47 a.m. EST) on Sunday, February 7. "Everything thus far is going exceeding well… we're right on schedule where we're supposed to be and we'll continue to work through the day on our preparations," said NASA Test Director Jeff Spaulding during this morning's L-3 Countdown Status Briefing at KSC. The weather forecast might be the only issue, as forecasters are predicting a 70% chance of favorable weather, with high winds being the only concern for Sunday morning.

[Clive]

Not many more of them to go either.  Then it's goodbye Shuttle - hello ... errr ...I don't have Chinese letters on my computer.   

[sam]

or Indian.

[Clive]

Or Iranian.   

[sam]

nah.

[Clive]

   Madmanmahoud would like it.  There was a good programme on BBC 2 this evening about a program called Haystack which the Iranian disidents are using to access banned websites such as Face book and Twitter.  The software makes it impossible for the authorities to identify users so they cannot be punished. 

[sam]

nice!

[Clive]

I thought perhaps you might have coded it.  

[Simon]

Why, has it crashed?   

[Clive]

Not Sam's coding! 

[Simon]

I know. 

[sam]

eh my code is solid... hmmm well... it is solid that it won't crash if it gives you the right results however. 

[Simon]

It's always done us proud, Sam. 

[Clive]

Getting the right results is easy Sam.  You start with the answer you want and work backwards.  Tried and tested methods always work best.   

[sam]

lol.... but what if you don't know what the answer is.... that's what I'm doing right now.