xkcd webcomic

I like webcomics.

xkcd.com is especially good, and this particular comic about YouTube speaks to my heart and my mission at the same time. Beware the bad words if you don't like the four-letters.

NASA Academy at GRC 2006

Also, I finally got around to putting up the slideshow for the NASA Academy at GRC 2006 that I made at the end of the summer. Had to edit it down to 10 minutes, so it's not everything, and it doesn't have our names in it, which is a good thing. But I think it's a good representation of what the NASA Academy students do all summer.

Mission for the Holidays

Hmmm. I was trying to think of a holiday break space mission, and I think it would be nice if, as you all visit family and friends during the holidays, you bring up (at least once) space exploration and all the amazing things that have come of it that help everyone on Earth. The Space Coalition website has a quick summary of benefits that you can check out for reference: http://www.spacecoalition.com/benefits2.cfm

I have never heard a good reason against space exploration and the space program that could not be countered, usually by just looking to the future a bit. It helps education, it helps medicine, it helps American security, it helps the economy, and it will definitely eventually help the future survival of humanity. Definitely read that little mini-list of facts linked above.

All of the name puns have been done already

Buzz Aldrin was on NUMB3RS on CBS this evening. I'd never seen the show (which seems to be about people solvin' crime with math, so that's neato), but apparently one of the characters was chosen to go on a "NASA space mission" for six months, and Buzz Aldrin helped walk him off into the sunset. I'm not quite sure what the lead in was like, but hopefully the dude, you know, did some training before the launch (which occured in the next scene)...

This article is much like the one I read this morning in our own Daily Oklahoman (although I have to admit I was digging around in it for the sudoku) which informed me of the appearance with a little info on the show and the actors' reactions to working with Aldrin.

This article has a different angle that talks more about him. "Dr. Aldrin is determined to inform people all over the world that space is not only the next frontier, but it is their frontier. He hopes his appearance on 'NUMB3RS' will direct people to learn more about space and space travel on ShareSpace Foundation’s new website." Which I thought was very cool.

This is his ShareSpce Foundation website which I hadn't heard about yet, and hasn't really launched yet, but it'll be cool to see what they do with it.

No way!

Oh my goodness! You won't believe it...

A major US news outlet wrote a positive story on space, and it's not even on exploration! It's about the incredibly positive life-changing side effects that actual taxpayers get from the space program. No, we don't know what's coming when we do space R&D, but we do know that it has consistently had outcomes that have unquestionably improved life on Earth. NASA discovers amazing things and processes (or pays other people to), then gives them away to companies that want to develop it into something that will go on to make them rich and help (or at least convenience) humanity. That's how we roll.

Thank you, ABC News, for doing some real research and writing a great story!
Space Spin-Offs Alter Life on Earth

*Real* Space Fashion

Space tourism to be fashion's final frontier

Orbital Outfitters website

It better be a top story on cnn.com

Yep, we have "recent water activity" on Mars.

craigslist to the stars

I don't remember hearing about this (in 2005), but I came across it today, and it was interesting:

Site: http://www.craigslist.org/about/space.html
Story: http://www.craigslist.org/about/space.v09.html