Jerry: I made a reservation for a mid-size, and she’s a small. I’m kidding around, of course.
Agent: I’m sorry, we have no mid-size available at the moment.
Jerry: I don’t understand, I made a reservation, do you have my reservation?
Agent: Yes, we do, unfortunately we ran out of cars.
Jerry: But the reservation keeps the car here. That’s why you have the reservation.
Agent: I know why we have reservations.
Jerry: I don’t think you do. If you did, I’d have a car. See, you know how to take the reservation, you just don’t know how to *hold* the reservation and that’s really the most important part of the reservation, the holding. Anybody can just take them.
Now many of you may be wondering at this point, why would the Cynic be taking this nostalgic trip down Seinfeld memory lane? Yeah, sure, it was a pretty good episode – not, granted, as good as the one featuring Mr. Bookman, the Library Cop…. but still, pretty darn good.
That’s not it, though.
Over the past few months, a number of program “announcements” have been made, referring to grandiose events to occur at some date in the future, and they have been greeted with a disturbing lack of criticality that often seems to be the case whenever another bull**it space program gets some PR. Of course the alt.space.tragic masses may find them inspiring, but COME ON people, try to be a little skeptical on occasion. I know this is a big ask, but when you see a headline such as:
Russians Plan Manned Moon Mission By 2025
Followed by an opening sentence that reads: ‘Russia plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2025 and wants to build a permanent base there shortly after, the head of Russian space agency Roskosmos said Friday.’
Don’t you think the easily duped might be the least bit skeptical this time around….? I know that the Russians are attempting to re-assert themselves on the global stage and reclaim their position as a superpower (hence the recent restart of long-range bomber flights, amongst other things…) but this? It’s like the Space Race 2.0, but in slow motion… forgive me if I just can’t take it seriously.
Or, as Mr. Bookman would say: While you’re thinking about that, think about this: The Library closes at five o’clock, no exceptions. This is your final warning.
Space Enthusiast (formerly Cynic) 
What is to be skeptical about? The russians sent unmanned probes to the moon more than 35 years ago, and have been continuously improving the Soyuz since the mid-70s. What are they supposed to do, keep it a secret for the next 18 years?
Ed: The Russians announced a number of projects, like Mir 2 and Klipper, but they lack credibility because they have no money. Also, a lot of these grand plans come from Khrunichev and Energia, but the buck stops with the Russian government because it can decide whether it wants to fund these ventures.
I agree that the grandiose announcements hurt the industry. If people believe all these ‘far off’ concepts, it actually makes it harder to break through the noise when something significant (but not earth shaking) really does happen.