Iran Says It Sent Monkey Into Space and Back 425
Iranian state TV is claiming that the country has successfully sent a monkey into space and back, bringing Iran one step closer to its goal of a manned space flight. According to the report, the rocket named Pishgam, or Pioneer in Farsi, reached a height of 120km. From the article: "Iran has long said it seeks to send an astronaut into space as part of its ambitious aerospace program, including plans for a new space center announced last year. In 2010, Iran said it launched an Explorer rocket into space carrying a mouse, a turtle and worms."
From a US citizen (Score:4, Insightful)
Congrats Iran!
Its probably not true (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:They risked a valuable Monkey? (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean like when the United States sent Alan Shepard into space in 1961, but didn't pass the civil rights act until 1964? And it's not like the CRA ended racial discrimination.
Re:Stone age society develops space age technology (Score:3, Insightful)
As for great schools, perhaps they are, as long as you exclude science, philosophy, art, history, perhaps geography. Since they're state run (and the state bends the curriculum as they see fit), they are chock full of religion (which takes over the science, philosophy, and art departments) and since their government expresses blind hatred against other countries, I can only assume history and geography classes are equally skewed.
And that's different from the U.S. how?
Re:Its probably not true (Score:4, Insightful)
Oddly enough the story you are linking to says that that story may also be a fake.
Perhaps the Iranians just feel really insecure and want to make people believe they are more of a threat than they are?
I guess the propaganda is working. (Score:5, Insightful)
From all of these anti-Iranian comments I guess the US propaganda is working well. Pretty soon you all we clamor for war and sign up to fight. It's amazing how people can hate those they never met.
Re:What ? What ? What ? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I guess the propaganda is working. (Score:5, Insightful)
You might be misunderstanding. Persians and Americans are actually natural allies: we both want a stable Persian Gulf region, and together could provide it, as we did prior to 1979. But the Ayatollahs running Iran at the moment, since 1979, want an unstable Persian Gulf region, because that gives them openings to advance their religious interests. So even though there is a natural underlying affinity on a national level, on a political level there can be only conflict. The hostage crisis, where Iranian thugs took captive American embassy staff for well over a year, has not been forgotten in the US, and it colors our perceptions of Iran, and specifically of their leadership, to this day. On top of that, you have the Iranians committing acts of war against the US in Iraq (not only supplying and training our enemies, but planning and sometimes participating directly in attacks) and in Saudi Arabia (Khobar Towers), as well as apparently developing a nuclear weapons program aimed directly at destroying a key US ally, Israel, and really, after all of that, does there need to be "propaganda" to explain why American attitudes towards the Iranian government are what they are?
All that said, yes, I generally despise theocrats I've never met, autocrats I've never met, dictators I've never met, and monarchs (other than titular only) that I've never met. I despise the enemies of human liberty generally. Is that really very amazing? And do you not also despise the enemies of liberty? Yet, why does that mean that I, or anyone else, is clamoring for war? It is possible to despise an ideology, and to attempt strenuously to oppose and in all ways limit that ideology, without clamoring for war. War is only necessary when irreconcilable differences over non-trivial differences exist. But just because we might not want war, does not mean we must start accepting those who would kill us if only they could.
Re:Stone age society develops space age technology (Score:5, Insightful)
Unlike Iran, the USA could have rewritten some history books for the entire world, but all the information is freely available to anyone, regardless of gender or religion.
Also, in the USA, if you don't like the curriculum, you can homeschool your children, you can attend online course and there are literally thousands of colleges you can go to. No, let me go further than that, if you're from the USA, you have access to any and all democratic countries in the entire world.
If you really can't see the difference, I propose this simple experiment. Choose a subject you want to learn about. Find the most comprehensive courses available, then start slashing out anything that might be considered harmful to Iran or it's religion. When that's done, then remove all bits that don't make any sense. Next and final step, create ties that replace the removed pieces, that are showing Iran and it's religion in a positive light, and possibly anybody else (especially the USA) in a bad one. Then, write it as a book, and publish it as fantasy fiction, because no sane person in a free world would believe it to be true.
I'm not an American, I don't particularly care for them, but dismissing the entire nation and culture is wrong, narrowsighted, and possibly as dangerous as Iran and it's whole way of thinking.
Re:Stone age society develops space age technology (Score:5, Insightful)
And that's different from the U.S. how?
You mean other than the fact that you don't run the risk of having the religious police give you trouble over your beard length, that you don't get locked up in prison for being insufficiently Muslim? That you can still say the word "pizza," which has been banned in that country for being too western? That little details like being sent to prison or even killed for having been raped tend to stand out? Or charming features of Iran's foreign policy such as backing the annihilation of a specific country on religious grounds, or the steady support of some of the worst medieval-minded terrorist groups in the world because they are such?
Never mind your completely spurious and disingenuous comparison of the school systems, or the fact that you just sitting here talking about it openly would - there - put in at risk of death in prison.
Woops! Here I am feeding a troll. Never mind.
Ahh yes, that's right (Score:5, Insightful)
If a western nation ever did anything bad, at any point in their history, that is remotely like something a non-western nation is doing today, well then the non-western nation gets a total pass. You can't criticize them because at one time something bad happened somewhere else!
This false moral equivalency bullshit is just retarded. Every country has done bad shit in the past. Every country does bad shit now. That doesn't mean that we cannot, or should not, point out when it happens. This idea that every country that isn't the US, or at least every country that isn't western gets an automatic pass on everything they do because of bad shit that happen sin other places is beyond stupid and counter productive.
Re:Pigs in space! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:They risked a valuable Monkey? (Score:4, Insightful)
Despite all that's wrong with Iran, they have a very decent education system - that is even accessible for women, as I was told.
I'm no expert on the current state of education in Iran, but I can tell you with certainty that one of our allies, rhymes with "howdy arabia," is far worse than Iran when it comes to religious freedom, women's rights, and government funding of Islamic terrorist groups. Never make the mistake of rating countries on the basis of the USA's "friend or foe" list.
Re:and apparently... (Score:3, Insightful)