That is some awesome shot Tom. It is truly amazing! I started watching The Andromeda Strain last night but was disappointed that it’s being shown in 2 parts, tonight being the conclusion…I hate when they do that!

If I understand adh3d correctly and if I may paraphrase…he’s asking where would we be if Columbus or Queen Elizabeth of Spain had said that it was too expensive to take a trip into the unknown? let’s just reinvest our money in other things and make more money. At least this is the gist of what I make of it. Well said adh3d …if I do say so myself! ;D  

Strange how this thread has gone from a celebration of man’s quest for knowledge, man’s feat of ingenuity, man’s triumph in exploration to questioning the value of the benefits reaped by mankind, as if none existed, to further questioning the decision to appropriate funds for such an ill conceived endeavor to where it should be placed (er…my bank account perhaps) and coming around somehow to the Iraq war! And so I ask (facetiously)…what does the price of fish have to do with apples and oranges?

We can certainly go down the Iraq War avenue and hatch that out for a few dozen pages together with the cost of poverty, nuclear proliferation, terrorist sponsoring sovereignties, the UN and a host of other human inequities but this is not the place. And no doubt, any threads exhibiting such discussions or any such semblance of freedom of speech and banter will be categorically and without exceptions locked out from innocent preying eyes…but we’ll keep the nude Vicky’s ;)