[Jim]

Not to hi-jack the thread, but if you see an engineer with a small pinky ring - that engineer is probably Canadian and . . . . well, ask them what it means. I am neither a "real" engineer, nore canadian, but I think that the symbolism of the ring is very cool.

The responsibilities of engineering are great - shoddy workmanship/design on a robot is diappointing, shoddy workmanship/design on something like a bridge is devastating.

oo early to point fingers in this shuttle tragedy, but that time will probably come. I would get more upset at the media's attempts to find answers (aka jump to conclusions) so quickly; however most of the engineers they have been interviewing have held fast; "it is too early to tell/speculate)