Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!agate!eos!eugene
From: eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Spencer's signature
Message-ID: <1836@eos.UUCP>
Date: 1 Nov 88 07:20:48 GMT
References: <1988Oct28.180827.25578@utzoo.uucp> <2074@kalliope.rice.edu> <3437@jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV> <1835@eos.UUCP>
Reply-To: eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya)
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Calif.
Lines: 31

Let's see, Henry has gotten Phil, Lee, and Steve and a host of others to
comment on this.  All have made some emotional points.  I think I
would like to add an observation having visited most of the Centers
(KSC shortly).

Henry has a tiny grain of truth in this signature commentary.  When you
visit each of the Centers, you get a slightly different picture
of the make up of the Agency.  To this day, I am still learning myself,
for instance, I've learn a few more things about early NASA computer
funding from this book on Xerox (and the Alto).

NASA was pieced together from parts of vastly different Agencies:
the NACA, ARPA, parts of the NSF, USAF, etc.  Each had their own perspective,
their own motivations: space exploration (manned and unmanned [hum]),
defense systems, aeronautics, etc.  The people at Ames-Dryden have a much
different view of NASA that the Ames management up in the Bay Area,
the same goes for JPL.  It was leaving NASA Lewis one day which struck me:
there was this sign which said that the work we are doing is "for all
mankind."  I can think of parts of NASA who would disagree with that.
I don't think I would ever see a sign like that working for Livermore,
LANL, Sandia, AFWL, IBM, and who knows who else.

We still show the crazy-quilt of the Agencies from which we were assembled.
So the answer is both yes and no.  So what's new?

Another gross generalization from

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov
  resident cynic at the Rock of Ages Home for Retired Hackers:
  "Mailers?! HA!", "If my mail does not reach you, please accept my apology."
  {uunet,hplabs,ncar,decwrl,allegra,tektronix}!ames!aurora!eugene
  "Send mail, avoid follow-ups.  If enough, I'll summarize."