Thursday, November 16, 2006

Cost of NASA

We watched the conclusion of Connections this evening. It reviews and connects everything in the preceeding installments. Then there was analysis about society's possible responses to the accelerating rate of changes in technology. One tidbit was startling.

The amount of money spent on the Apollo space program was huge. A lot of people said it was a waste. And yet...

the amount of money spent on the space program during those years was equivalent to the amount of money spent on cosmetics and beauty products during that same period. Kinda puts things in a different perspective, eh?

2 comments:

  1. That sounds like an intersting program. Wish we had seen it. Yeah, I find it interesting what things people will balk at and what they choose to ignore.

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  2. "Connections" wasn't on tv. At least, not recently. It's a 10-hour video series on [well...] connections. The connections between different inventions, different points in history, different technological advances. It not only covers history and science, it is excellent for teaching THINKING. And it's funny; usually subtle one-liners, but nevertheless pretty hilarious in spots. It was filmed in the late 1970s or early 1980s and showed on PBS back then. Now it's available from a few rare libraries and on DVD.

    Connections is part of the requirements for our kids' high-school educations. We used to get the series from the library, but it's old and half the volumes have gone missing. So I bought the series last month. It's pricey, but next to my Lutheran stuff (Bible, catechism, CCA materials, hymnal, etc) I think it's my most valuable homeschooling resource. Not only that, we just LIKE to watch it again and again.

    I keep thinking that it would be nifty to get a group of high-schoolers together and watch the whole series. It would be a cool thing to do at a Lutheran homeschool retreat, or plan for two weekends where a group could watch 5 episodes each weekend, with playtime and visiting in between.

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