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4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

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Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#261

Post by Aurornis »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #155
justin66 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> NASA needs an overhaul. This isn’t how I would do it, but that’s not how things work in the real world. SLS is the elephant in the room and is a complete disaster. It’s a jobs program limping along decades old technology when the commercial options are better. It’s more accurate to say that Congress needs an overhaul. Over the years NASA administrators have pushed back on SLS to the fullest extent you’d expect, but…

It’s going to kill institutional knowledge and be so expensive to repair after regime change.

In the case of NASA, they could stand to shed a lot of the institutional structure they’ve built up. When institutional knowledge becomes more about navigating bureaucracy than doing engineering, something needs to break.

My dream outcome would be that they shrink down the bureaucracy massively, retire a lot of the career middle managers who make sure nothing ever moves too fast and no project is allowed to run lean, and then raise pay for the remaining people to attract some of the private sector talent that could infuse some new knowledge. The few people I know with SpaceX experience are not at all happy with the work environment there, but the pay and pace of a place like NASA aren’t an option for them.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#262

Post by nine_zeros »

Aurornis wrote: post #237
nine_zeros wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is the privatized NC DMV any better than the public one? Nobody knows. But the only things guaranteed are: - service prices will rise because now shareholders will seek a return every year. - AI powered elevator music phone service where you must wait 30 mins before reaching a human. - Fees and costs for every interaction. - Workers will be encouraged to do work fast - by providing less service to people, asking pe…

> Nobody knows. But the only things guaranteed are: Ironic that you jump from “nobody knows” to statements where you’re absolutely sure that it’s worse. Your “guarantees” aren’t even consistent with the language of the authorization. They aren’t giving these services carte blanche to define their own laws and processes. They’re just allowing someone else to execute part of the process. It’s hard to have these convers…

Cost of FedEx from NYC to LA: Cheapest price for 1 lb letter is $60.37 before taxes

https://www.fedex.com/en-us/online/rating.html

Cheapest price on USPS for 1 lb letter is $9.70 after taxes.

https://postcalc.usps.com/Calculator/MailServices?country=0&...

That is 7x for a standard 1 lb envelope.

The claims are not as egregious as you think. You are not the only one shipping goods around. There is a market that USPS serves and I along with many others benefit from it.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#263

Post by throw123xz »

Demiurge wrote: post #246
throw123xz wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If many around me warn me about the Nigerian prince scam and I fall for it, then I think I deserve some of the pain. Sure, I'm still a victim, but personally I'd be questioning my intelligence and would try to see where I had failed so it doesn't happen again.

What if half the people you know falls for it and tells you you’re missing out?

It's funny that you ask that because around 10 years ago, there was this investment stuff going around in my community. No one warned me about the dangers and those who tried to convince me to join only said good things about it, but I looked at it and it looked weird. It was a pyramid scheme. So I didn't join, didn't lose any money or lose any friendships over it.

If I come here and tell you that I'm going to reduce expenses and debt while reducing taxes and also investing massive amounts of money to improve the military, healthcare, etc, something should go off in your head because it doesn't add up.

Voting for someone promising unrealistic things is no different from going into a dark alley in what you know is a rough neighborhood. A victim is still a victim, but grown ups must own up to their actions... and there's no other way of saying this: what you did was fucking dumb. It's even dumber if you do the same dumb thing twice.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#264

Post by ceejayoz »

Aurornis wrote: post #223
Tadpole9181 wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the first result on Google for "NC privatize DMV". https://www.carolinajournal.com/nc-house-moves-toward-privat... > The North Carolina House has officially taken a first step toward privatizing the infamously mismanaged Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV), as issues and customer complaints have persisted for years. > The proposed budget released on Monday includes a provision that would begin the process of privat…

I’m reading the bill. This is saying they’ll authorize private services to renew licenses in parallel with the public DMV.

Yes, that’s step one. Step two is to ruin the public option. Step three is to complain about how bad the public option is.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#265

Post by giantg2 »

myvoiceismypass wrote: post #232
MisterSandman wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I hate to say it, but in this context, Musk would’ve been at least a little useful in having around. I’m aware he’s not the best person to make reliable predictions, but he does run SpaceX. With both the cuts to NASA and Musk leaving the core inner circle of Trump, space exploration is going to be set back. Mars ain’t happening in our lifetimes, IMO. I hope I’m wrong.

Elon Musk? The guy who said we would have unmanned missions to mars by 2026 and manned missions by 2030? He's just as insane and full of dookie as the rest of em.

Eh, the Moon landing was extremely agreessive and faced huge challenges yet was still achieved using technology and knowledge way behind what we have today. If we really wanted to put someone on Mars in the same aggressive manner as we had with the Moon, we could launch that mission by 2030 (travel time would take longer and there would be no return). The only real obstacle is the lack of will and money.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#266

Post by SJC_Hacker »

justin66 wrote: post #143
eagerpace wrote: post #125

I’m trying to think how I feel about this. I’ve been obsessed with space for a long time, remember traveling to see my first rocket launch of the shuttle in 2006. Follow the commercial development closely since then. Their science missions are inspiring, but not as inspiring as they ought to be. NASA needs an overhaul. This isn’t how I would do it, but that’s not how things work in the real world. SLS is the elephant…

> NASA needs an overhaul. This isn’t how I would do it, but that’s not how things work in the real world. SLS is the elephant in the room and is a complete disaster. It’s a jobs program limping along decades old technology when the commercial options are better. It’s more accurate to say that Congress needs an overhaul. Over the years NASA administrators have pushed back on SLS to the fullest extent you’d expect, but…

> It’s more accurate to say that Congress needs an overhaul. Over the years NASA administrators have pushed back on SLS to the fullest extent you’d expect, but it’s not their call how Congress allocates money.

They don't call it the Senate Launch System for nothing

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#267

Post by Yeul »

eagerpace wrote: post #125

I’m trying to think how I feel about this. I’ve been obsessed with space for a long time, remember traveling to see my first rocket launch of the shuttle in 2006. Follow the commercial development closely since then. Their science missions are inspiring, but not as inspiring as they ought to be. NASA needs an overhaul. This isn’t how I would do it, but that’s not how things work in the real world. SLS is the elephant…

It depends on what you want out of the space program.

Americans seem to expect lots of flag waving and spaceships. Less fundamental science.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#268

Post by nradov »

giantg2 wrote: post #265
myvoiceismypass wrote: post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon Musk? The guy who said we would have unmanned missions to mars by 2026 and manned missions by 2030? He's just as insane and full of dookie as the rest of em.

Eh, the Moon landing was extremely agreessive and faced huge challenges yet was still achieved using technology and knowledge way behind what we have today. If we really wanted to put someone on Mars in the same aggressive manner as we had with the Moon, we could launch that mission by 2030 (travel time would take longer and there would be no return). The only real obstacle is the lack of will and money.

Nah. No amount of will and money could launch a Mars landing mission by 2030 with a reasonable chance of success. Some of the critical components don't exist yet and development can't be significantly accelerated. This is the real world, not a Michael Bay movie.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#269

Post by scarface_74 »

waltbosz wrote: post #220
nine_zeros wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Is the privatized NC DMV any better than the public one? I was just at the Delaware DMV getting my 2 vehicles inspected and registration renewed, and while not an entirely horrible experience, it did seem like there were a lot of inefficiencies and complacentcy. I've also noticed the difference in the US post offices around me and the FedEx stores and wonder why the post offices aren't nicer customer experiences.

If you live in the 5 county metro Atlanta area you have to do a biannual emissions inspection. You can go to any of the plentiful inspection stations pay a mandated $20 and they send the results in electronically. You can then pay for your tag online. Change of address within the state can also be done online within GA.

Even when you do go in, you just get a number and wait for it to be called. It’s very well organized. This is definitely a red veering on purple state.

https://dds.georgia.gov/georgia-licenseid/existing-licenseid...

We moved to Florida three years ago and the process for getting a license was not that much different. My wife had to jump through a couple of more hoops to transfer her CDL.

Re: 4k NASA employees opt to leave agency through deferred resignation program

#270

Post by BoxFour »

jajko wrote: post #178
toomuchtodo wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s going to kill institutional knowledge and be so expensive to repair after regime change.

[flagged]

That point might hold more weight if we were talking about someone decades younger, but he’s 80 and hasn’t exactly lived a healthful life. As far as I know, no one’s managed to beat father time yet.

Transitions of power in movements built around a cult of personality rarely keep the same momentum. There are a few exceptions, but in most of those the clear successor had their own charisma. That doesn’t appear to be the case here.

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