[Karl Uppiano]

[snip]

Ah, then your original example/assertion was wrong, and irrelevant the the
original discussion anyway.
That was my point.

I did not make the original example/assertion. I merely responded that I did
not think the space shuttle was an example of poor engineering. Engineers
have to work within the constraints that they are given. That involves
trade-offs, compromise, prioritization, in many cases, meaning the selection
of the best option from a list of poor options. Good engineering in no way
implies perfection or safety.

I think the fact that we had many successful missions and relatively few
failures (albeit spectacular and widely publicized) in a very dangerous
field with aging equipment, is a testament to the good (note: I didn't say
perfect) engineering that went into the space shuttle program. Sending
teachers and congressmen into space was a mistake because it led people to
the conclusion that space travel is now safe and commonplace. It isn't.

Now, if a turntable injures or kills its owner, I would say that would be
the result of poor engineering. But playing records amounts to dragging a
rock through a ditch. The technology is over 100 years old, and should be
extremely well understood by now. The only engineering that goes into it
consists of extremely minor refinements and most probably esthetic and
marketing enhancements.