Posts
Human flights outside of Earth orbit taking a big step today.. hopefully..
** Update 10/28/09 11:45 EST: Congratulation, NASA. You've put us back on track for real space exploration and a future which includes space migration to other worlds. Thank you.
_________________________________________________________________
As I sit watching the live web broadcast from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, I think back to my pilgrimage to that holy place two years ago. While there, I got to do such nerdy things as being able to lay my hands on the Saturn 5's mighty F-1 engines, with its thrust capability of over 1.5 million pounds each (the rocket had five of them!). I also got to see one of the few remaining Saturn 5 rockets, laying down on display as if it were sleeping. It was a moving experience, being a child of the 60's and watching moon-rocket launches as a kid and always wondering why we stopped going there.
As the Ares I-X launch vehicle sits on pad 39-B, in the shadows of its predessors from that bold Apollo era of (relatively) low-technology, I feel moved and inspired that once again humans are beginning to reach beyond the low Earth orbit of the International Space Station and to finally begin true space exploration. As I write this, the launch is already in delay by several hours due to weather. Not a storm by any means, only that the wind is slightly over the 20 knot limit that the launch protocol permits.
Frustrating stuff, that wind. But on the bright side, the Ares program has come together surprisingly quickly (for a government agency) and doesn't use the finicky liquid fuel that the Saturn 5, Saturn 1B and even the later Shuttle used for its main engines all used. Instead, the Ares uses a nice and easy to deal with solid fuel - no refrigerants!
Unless the wind changes in the next few minutes, the launch is a scrub for today. But there's always tomorrow.. the moon will still be there. Its just beautiful to see another moon-capable rocket on 39-B, carrying on in the footsteps left behind on the moon, 37 long years ago.
Were blogin now!
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime\xAE 6.5 or higher is required.
..especially tax software.
Fire and smoke!
They rock the crap outta Christmas music.
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
Too bad for the workers and shareholders, but..
Quite awhile back my wife and I went on a rant about "Circuit City"s decision to lay off higher-paid employees in favor of lower paid ones. We thought that sucked, and so we stopped shopping there and told everyone else who would listen about this and encouraged them to also stop shopping there. We buy a lot of electronics and since then have purchased two computers, two game consoles, many computer parts, a laser printer, countless DVDs and many PC/XBOX360/PS3 game titles. Not a single penny of those purchases went to Circuit City.
We are in the market for another computer now, and will be of course shopping on 'Black Friday' again, and while I was hoping to again tip the market share away from Circuit City it looks like they're going to make it easier for me by closing their doors.
Its unfortunate that many people who work there people in the stores, warehouses and shipping companies will also suffer, but overall its nice to know that bad things happen to companies that do bad things.
I got a lot out of the Internet Librarian 2008 conference, and I'm not even a librarian. Today's sessions highlight strategies for implementing Web 2.0 technologies. I can't wait to take all my new knowledge home!
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
There were some good sessions at IL2008 today. Most of the good content talked about screencasting and video editting. And I finally found some coffee.
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
