There are many ways to turn this into productive time. Think. Listen to audiobooks/podcasts. Run through a few key work phone calls. Catch up with friends.
I really enjoy my commute.
I'll also point out that while that's theoretically $3660/mo if you aren't productive throughout any of the drive, that's not actually something many people can convert into cash. Many people spend time during the day with various items to unwind or provide a mental break from work. Working more is not always a goal. I don't want all my time to be spent working or sleeping.
You also have to account for where you spend your down time. I chose to live near friends and family in a place I can raise my kids. If I didn't live where I do, I'd be driving out here on the weekend and maybe once a week.
In addition, if you're living in town with kids and you want a quality education, you might be able to bill more $ a month (presuming you're building a business where you're selling your time, which I'm not and I don't want to do), but you're going to spend more money on a quality education or a house.
Everyone has different circumstances. My math works out for me. It might not for you.
I lived in West Midtown for five years post-college. It's the epitome of hip re-urbanization and all that comes with it. I walked from my house to a local restaurant or shop exactly 0 times during those five years.
I moved to a cul-de-sac in a northern suburb six months ago. I'm 1 mile from 270,000 ft^2 of retail shopping and 1 mile from a walkable downtown with tons of shops and restaurants.
Do I drive 60 miles to and from work every day? Yes. I've also walked to restaurants and shops on numerous occasions. And as pointed out by rkischuk, I live in a house I couldn't begin to afford in West Midtown and we live in good school districts.
If you want to live in a small apartment in a high density area away from cul-de-sacs, good for you. Let me make my decisions based off what I've optimized my life for without demonizing me because we place different levels of importance on different items in life. I am happy spending $33/day to commute in exchange for a walkable area, larger house, better schools and more family-friendly environment.
The new proposed NASA budget is a fantastic budget that will push NASA to focus on innovation beyond Low Earth Orbit and allow commercial providers to do what has been proven as close to routine over the last 60 years - get to LEO. It leverages the strengths of NASA and the commercial sector at the same time.
The delay was actually because the Range hadn't approved the Flight Termination System on board F9. The Range is really not the gatekeeper for orbit, their job is to protect the public and ensure that the rocket doesn't harm the uninvolved public. Thus the sea lane closures, airspace clearance, clearing of the immediate area, and FTS in case the rocket deviates from it's proper course (within margins, of course).
NASA has shown itself incapable of meeting deadlines or staying within budget on many projects, and Obama is right to turn access to Low Earth Orbit over to commercial companies (on fixed price contracts, not the normal cost plus contracts). We've been building the same boring "get us to orbit" rocket since the 1960s. Wouldn't NASA's leadership (doing science and developing technologies that private companies cannot afford) be better spent on LEO and out? The moon, asteroids, Mars, Phobos, etc.
This is a great plan. It's a Good Thing for the aerospace economy in the long run even if there's going to be some displacement in the meantime.
It also opens the door for entrepreneurial companies - building rockets, engines, payload integrators, whatever - to make money in a way previously not possible. It's impossible to make money when the government is competing with you. This is a great thing for entrepreneurs, scientists, researchers, and people everywhere. There's a better chance your kid will be struck by lightning than be a NASA astronaut, but now the door has opened and we'll see private astronaut corps pop up from a few different sources.
Get behind this plan, folks. It's a Good Thing and great for other entrepreneurs, even if we're not building web software. :)
It's reusable - something the government hasn't been able to produce. There are a lot of applications - vertical takeoff and landing testbed, acceleration of Technology Readiness Levels, microgravity research, upper atmospheric research, heliophysic observation, etc. It's not a "space program," but vehicles like ours and John's have a very real market.
I work for Masten Space Systems. What we've done on $2M could not be done for less than $50-100M by the government. It's unfortunate but they have ridiculous amounts of overhead that companies our size just don't have.
I think it's great that he's making records public and all, but before we start judging his character and how he's going to govern, let's realize this is only Day 2.
You can't summarize a man by one (extremely highly scrutinized) day of action. In a few years we will be able to summarize the man. I for one hope it's a good summary.
I was confused when I first visited - the different color text entry fields made it look like a flag and I didn't initially realize they were text fields.
The IntenseDebate guys work hard on their product and are some of the nicest dudes around. It's good to see a startup like ID get some big exposure like this.
Yes, it does. Skribit is still alive and well from last year's Atlanta Startup Weekend.
In defense of the other projects from this year, I will say that 6/8 projects are alive past the weekend. 1/8 died, and 1/8 is on ebay. I'm not negating anything Blake says - he hits the money on the head with his lessons learned - you just get to learn them a lot faster in a failed project. I just wanted to point out that Startup Weekends can generate something else - if the team composition is right.
There are many ways to turn this into productive time. Think. Listen to audiobooks/podcasts. Run through a few key work phone calls. Catch up with friends.
I really enjoy my commute.
I'll also point out that while that's theoretically $3660/mo if you aren't productive throughout any of the drive, that's not actually something many people can convert into cash. Many people spend time during the day with various items to unwind or provide a mental break from work. Working more is not always a goal. I don't want all my time to be spent working or sleeping.
You also have to account for where you spend your down time. I chose to live near friends and family in a place I can raise my kids. If I didn't live where I do, I'd be driving out here on the weekend and maybe once a week.
In addition, if you're living in town with kids and you want a quality education, you might be able to bill more $ a month (presuming you're building a business where you're selling your time, which I'm not and I don't want to do), but you're going to spend more money on a quality education or a house.
Everyone has different circumstances. My math works out for me. It might not for you.