Merv DeGriff

Yes, I was and I feel like a Derp now. I'll go collect my dunce cap... but I blame fatigue from a psudo-monday at work.

I saw today's Google Doodle... And I recognized her, Sally Ride. I didn't know today would have been her birthday, but seeing that right after a introspective memorial day hit me right *there*. Anyone planning a mission in her memory today? Oh, for the record, yes I watched it live... My teacher when I was a kid sat and talked with us after. I think this is part of why I am so damned protective of my kerbals.

I was at school. Our teacher had to explain that the teacher on Challenger would not be going back to her kids. These days I work with elevated technical cases, including health and safety issues (thankfully few and far between) and it reminds me of Gene Krantz's Dictum and the cost for saying "Nah, it'll be ok. It won't come up." Tough and Competent.... Like the man said, that is requirement, the cost of failure to meet that requirement is human life.

Do we get a quick time event of Bob stopping Jeb from launching the damaged SRB at the wrong moment?

I'm of the mindset of Gene Kranz when I play Kerbal Space Program. I have gone to a lot of effort to avoid killing Kerbals in career mode. The Kranz Dictum is the way I see it. I may over engineer my ships and spend a few extra funds, but damn it my kerbals come home. No compromises, no regrets, failure is not an option.

I recently learned my wife likes Kerbal more than she let on. We are no planning to take the kid here and to the Smithsonian when she's a little older. Can we get a a group discount?

Today I set my status on GMail to: r(v)=(a(1-e^2))/(1 + e COS(v)) So my wife immediately responds with "Are you playing Kerbal at work?" on Gmail chat. I don't know if I should be amused that she thinks I play Kerbal at work... (Only on lunch break!) Or stunned that she recognized the formula that fast. In other news, I appear to need a second copy of KSP now... Any other married Kerbal addicts out there?