You Go Bill Nye!

Any scientist who can make science fun is a rare breed.  Any scientist who also speaks out for the sciences is even more rare.  Recently Nye had this to say about parents wishing there children be removed from the discussion of evolution, "And I say to the grownups, if you want to deny evolution and live in your world, in your world that's completely inconsistent with everything we observe in the universe, that's fine, but don't make your kids do it because we need them. We need scientifically literate voters and taxpayers for the future. We need people that can - we need engineers that can build stuff, solve problems. "It's just really a hard thing, it's really a hard thing. You know, in another couple of centuries that world view, I'm sure, will be, it just won't exist. There's no evidence for it."

 

So true...

Dream is Still Alive

US Space Program RIP

This Sums Up our Country

US Space Program - Rest in Peace.  Our country's lack of imagination and desire to push boundaries is officially over.  Our country is broke and continues to spend money on wars to keep our military industrial complex humming.  Today while visiting a beloved museum, the Alabama Space and Rocket Center (Home of Space Camp!), I realized just how bad it is.  Pictured above was once a nice space program relic, a full scale mock up of Sky Lab, which once held a special place in the museum is now being rained on while the space it used to fill now has dinosaurs (?). 

In the past 5 years the museum has spent a tremendous amount of money on commenerating the Apollo Project having taken another old full scale model, once located outside, and turned it into a hallmark exhibit.  Very similar to what was done at the Kennedy Space Center.  Certainly an upgrade and a nice layout featuring the apex of our space program.  No real complaints until you start to look a little closer.  Some museum pieces just thrown into display cases without indicating what they were or who used them.  Dust bunnies on rocket engines, mismash of collections, and then blantant displays of "sponsors" thus indicating that we are so freaking poor we have to plaster a whole bunch of logos to display some of our countries greatest technial feats. 

Saddest part is they have this nice little story how we are going back to the moon...oh yeah that got canceled and everything else we thought we could do...canceled.  Sorry America your future has been canceled...

Haiku Wednesday

Space Shuttle
You are all I know
Ten years old when you first flew
Columbia soared


I read the manual
I went to Space Camp, two times
Astronaut my goal


Cold January
My heart froze, Challenger gone
NASA still stalwart


Endeavour first flew
Years after her sisters built
Space Station workhorse


I'm off to college
Is reaching space common place?
My dream wavering


Discovery seeks
It brought Hubble to orbit
Universe smaller


I am too old now
Shuttle done no where to go
Dream is still alive


Atlantis ends era
Thirty years leading the way
Ahead of its time


Today's ten year olds
How will they reach the stars?
Where is their future...

Astronaut James Voss

I attended a CU Alumni Engineering event tonight at the Science and Nature center in town. The speaker was former astronaut James Voss, who is now a professor in the CU Aerospace department. A veteran of five missions, he has spent over 200 days in space, which included a stint on the International Space Station. Very nice guy, enjoyed his little talk. Got to speak with him privately after the event (if you must know meeting and talking with an astronaut is like meeting a movie star for me!). I am such a geek ;-) I asked him about sleeping in space, asked him how living in Star City was, asked him if he and his fellow cosmonaut used to talk about space secrets? Sleeping is great he said. Thought there would be a huge market for older people to retire to space has he never slept better (think no pressure points!), enjoyed his time in Russia even though they were still sorting things out back in the 90s. And finally he and is fellow cosmonaut did talk about each others space program. Guess there was a mission to the Salyut one time and the thing had been totally turned off so the ship gets there to dock and nothing is on. Everything was iced...go figure. Gotta love those Soviets...

When I returned home I wikipedia'd him and discovered two of his missions were top secret military missions. I remember those days when the DoD just took over a mission. Wow that is an easy way to get two missions in the books. I wonder what they did back in the day to make it secret? He also did a lot of stuff in support of the space station...guess that was a pretty good gig.

Good stuff...

Belated Birthday - Apollo Saturn V

The greatest engineering feat in the 20th century. Hmmm I wonder what the greatest engineering feat in the previous 19 centuries were...(Eiffel Tower for the 19th Century).  Something to think about...

Anyway I read somewhere, I can't remember where, that there was a fact that suppose the Saturn V had 10,000,000 parts and assuming the reliability was at 99.9999 then there would still be 9 equipment failures. The fact that only one mission had a potential disaster was truly remarkable. Standing in at 363 feet it is the largest rocket ever launched.  Although I believe the Soviet's Energia had more pounds per thrust (?). Marvelous creation and amazing that it took only 6 - 7 years to conceive.  

Magazine Wrap Up

Rolling Stone

REM has a new "live" album coming out next year some time.

The "Boss" is 58!

Would Godzilla and Mothra kick Megatron's ass?

The New Yorker

Good article on Scott Boras or as this article claims, "The Extortionist." Is he evil or just playing the system? We hate his methods but honestly teams are willing to pay his clients, so who is the fool? I mean the Rangers did drop 252 million on A-Rod. The statistics show that less than one percent of players will have a 6 year major league career and maybe only 3 - 4% will have a three year career. So if you are that special player who transcends the sport do you not try to get the biggest buck? Should we be critical of A-Rod for getting all that he can? There always seems to be a sucker out there willing to spend $30 million a year for a 32 year MVP. Boras just exploits the owners...eventually they will get smart. For years the Rockies ownership probably took a good chunk of the revenue and didn't add to the field. I mean if baseball is such a losing proposition then why do people buy these teams? There is always ebb and flow in anything...I think as a viewer of baseball I just have difficulty in spending $8 for a beer to watch someone take his god given talents and exploit us all. I thought his World Series ideal about moving it to 9 games and making it a spectacle. was good. The game and sport could use some shaking up. Presently he represents 65 players and takes a 5% commission on the salary of his clients.

Another issue with multiple good articles and the second article was about another odd ball entrepreneur from Boulder. In 2001 a company called Dagoba started to sell chocolate..it was a fancy chocolate not your massed produced stuff. Chocolate is known for its content with 70% being the benchmark. The beans when grinded produce a liquid which is mainly unsaturated fat (more than half the bean!). First chocolate shop opened in London in 1657. A dark chocolate has the equivalent of one cup of coffee and theobromine (which by the way makes you pee and can cause cardiac arrest in dogs) Cacao also has serotonin, a cannabinoid component similar to found in marijuana, and phenylethylamine an amphetamine like antidepressant. Wow...anyway back to the crazy entrepreneur he finally ended up selling his company to Hershey and he claimed,

"How could I make a difference at Dagoba, working on such a small scale?" I find this interesting because I knew someone who worked for a similar type outfit in Boulder selling Soy Milk and he also sold his company so that he can make a difference...well they fired him 2 years later. People shouldn't sell out...they do make a difference they just need to stick with it.

Wired

Your ears are filled with tiny calcium carbonate crystals called otoconia and help you maintain balance and sense gravity and linear acceleration. Also cause vertigo if they fall into the wrong canal in the inner ear.

Susan Kare? Anyone? Yup see designed some of the all time classic icons







Since the issue was on manga it has an interesting note that has manga sales increased comic book sales plummeted. The ideal being that manga would have hundreds of pages for $10 while most 32-page comics cost $3. The magazine Shonen Jump (500 pages) for $5 with a circulation of 250,000 while Amazing Spider-Man sells only 100,000.

Air & Space

Good article on the X-15, my personal favorite X-plane of them all. Flown from 1959 to1968 and 199 flights with a maximum altitude of 67 miles and a speed of 4,519 mph. Great plane, who knows what we would have done if NASA hadn't come along.