We just met with Doreen Zudell, writer and editor for Aerospace Frontiers, Glenn’s monthly news publication. She used to put together the entire thing completely by herself; she now accomplishes the daunting task with the help of one assistant.
Even if I had tried, I couldn’t have manufactured a collection of publications as diverse and crazy as the list on Doreen’s resume. Before working for NASA she wrote for a Catholic convent, the premiere trade magazine of the hospitality industry, a magazine that evaluates carpeting and tile for schools and colleges (she seemed really excited about this one, for some reason), and a car engine parts magazine. Whoa. She had a lot of useful things to say about writing and about life in general. Each industry or field has its own lexicon of commonly used words and phrases, a bag of tricks a writer has to master for each type of publication. Doreen told us that, for example, when she handled the nuns’ publications she was constantly using words like “affirmed” and “triumphant”. For Doreen the most valuable skill she has is adaptability. She emphasized the importance of mastering the basics but making sure you are flexible, and I agree with her and think that advice can be applied to any vocation. It’s also important to love what you do; Doreen interviews a lot of NASA employees, and she says it’s evident when she speaks to someone who isn’t inspired or doesn’t believe in what he is doing. Crying when you are driving home from work is ok too; that’s what Doreen did when she first got the job of editing the Glenn newsletter and felt completely over her head and out of her league. Of course she persevered, mainly through she was determined wasn’t afraid to appear ignorant and ask a lot of questions.
Doreen’s words of wisdom were largely things I already intuitively know, but it was refreshing to hear them again from someone who isn’t working in a purely technical field. Yeah yeah, this entry devolved into somewhat of a generic motivational career advice pep-talk, but I think at present I really needed it. Speaking with Doreen also made me think more about writing and the possibility of becoming a writer (maybe a science writer?). For at least the third time this summer I heard about how there’s a complete lack of science knowledge and understanding in the media.
Thursday, July 28, 2005
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
This is getting old...
I know the National Weather Service likes to make their "Severe Weather Notices" sound really scary, but this is what I had to bike home in today:
---------------------------------------------------------------------
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... CUYAHOGA COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OHIO
* UNTIL 630 PM EDT
* AT 519 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR WESTLAKE...AND MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... LAKEWOOD... NORTH ROYALTON... PARMA... CLEVELAND... CLEVELAND HEIGHTS... EUCLID... SOLON...
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS.
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It amazing how quickly it goes from hot and humid to windy and cold...and then rainy and dark and scary and thundery. I thought I was going to get blown off a bridge...I was yelling the whole way home because, well, no one could hear me through all the heavy rain and thunder, anyway.
It's still storming outside, nearly three hours later...when will I be able to run? I just hope I don't have to resort to the treadmill.
In other news...today I watched the shuttle launch (way to go Discovery!) from the room at Glenn where people control all the experiments that are up in space, either on the shuttle or the space station. Each experiment has a little console where you can get a direct link to talk to the astronauts. The patch for each experiment (like the one Chandler designed for her dad's experiment that went on the space shuttle) hangs above each console. NASA is really into patches and logos.
Today I also made a lot of progress on my abrasion testing experiment. I haven't been talking about that much (mainly because it's frustrating how long it's taken to set the whole thing up), but the details of it really aren't that interesting. A lot of road bumps have come up along the way, and I've learned a lot from dealing with them. Wow, isn't that reassuring...
Sorry if I sound a little ornery...Ohio is making me angry at the moment. Stop being so volatile, Ohio! It'll be unbearable hot and then thunderstorms will swoop in...this patterns reiterates itself on a daily basis. Argh! People keep telling me summers aren't usually like this, but I don't believe them.
Ooh, also I finally finished Parade's End today (sure took you long enough, Jordan!), and I'm about a quarter of the way through Kafka's The Castle, which I brought to Cedar Point with me to read in line (not just because I enjoyed all the funny looks people gave me for reading a book at an amusement park...).
---------------------------------------------------------------------
* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... CUYAHOGA COUNTY IN NORTHEAST OHIO
* UNTIL 630 PM EDT
* AT 519 PM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDS IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH. THIS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR WESTLAKE...AND MOVING EAST AT 35 MPH.
* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... LAKEWOOD... NORTH ROYALTON... PARMA... CLEVELAND... CLEVELAND HEIGHTS... EUCLID... SOLON...
THIS STORM HAS A HISTORY OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS.
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A STRONG BUILDING. DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
It amazing how quickly it goes from hot and humid to windy and cold...and then rainy and dark and scary and thundery. I thought I was going to get blown off a bridge...I was yelling the whole way home because, well, no one could hear me through all the heavy rain and thunder, anyway.
It's still storming outside, nearly three hours later...when will I be able to run? I just hope I don't have to resort to the treadmill.
In other news...today I watched the shuttle launch (way to go Discovery!) from the room at Glenn where people control all the experiments that are up in space, either on the shuttle or the space station. Each experiment has a little console where you can get a direct link to talk to the astronauts. The patch for each experiment (like the one Chandler designed for her dad's experiment that went on the space shuttle) hangs above each console. NASA is really into patches and logos.
Today I also made a lot of progress on my abrasion testing experiment. I haven't been talking about that much (mainly because it's frustrating how long it's taken to set the whole thing up), but the details of it really aren't that interesting. A lot of road bumps have come up along the way, and I've learned a lot from dealing with them. Wow, isn't that reassuring...
Sorry if I sound a little ornery...Ohio is making me angry at the moment. Stop being so volatile, Ohio! It'll be unbearable hot and then thunderstorms will swoop in...this patterns reiterates itself on a daily basis. Argh! People keep telling me summers aren't usually like this, but I don't believe them.
Ooh, also I finally finished Parade's End today (sure took you long enough, Jordan!), and I'm about a quarter of the way through Kafka's The Castle, which I brought to Cedar Point with me to read in line (not just because I enjoyed all the funny looks people gave me for reading a book at an amusement park...).
Monday, July 25, 2005
Adrenaline and whatnot
So I don’t know who the rollercoaster fans out there are, but I’m sure at least some of you will appreciate this. Yesterday I spent the day at Cedar Point, the self-lauded biggest most amazing amusement park in the world.
The day was almost scrapped before we even left North Olmsted. Our tickets, purchased with a special NASA discount, were only good for July 24th, but the weather forecast warned of “severe thunderstorms” (a few notches above the typically advertised “scattered thunderstorms” or “isolated thunderstorms”…this weather report included a Severe Weather Notice from the National Weather Service, much like the kind Boston receives nearly every other day). Nonetheless, we decided to at least drive to Sandusky, OH (about an hour away) to see what we would see, and headed down the freeway in a light drizzle.
When we got to Cedar Point it was still cloudy and rainy, and there were dark purple evil-looking clouds looming on the horizon, but we decided we’d trust our luck and enter the park. For once the weather favored us. After an hour or two of grey drizzle the clouds parted and the sun came out to give us some of the most cooperative climate conditions we’ve had all summer.
But enough about the weather! I think I rode more rollercoasters yesterday than I have cumulatively in my entire life. (That is, if you count all the times we rode on Space Mountain in Tokyo Disneyland as just one rollercoaster.) I lost count eventually, but trying to look back, I think it was…um…twelve or thirteen, plus two really awesome rides that can’t quite be considered rollercoasters (the Power Tower, which takes you up 240 feet and then drops you, and this crazy thing that spins you around and swings you like a pendulum). So, after riding roller coasters that take you upside-down every which way, that dangle you and force you to stand up, and do just about everything else imaginable under the sun, my conclusion (besides that screaming makes everything more fun) is: the traditional no-bells-and-whistles rollercoasters are by far the best.
By traditional, I mean the rollercoasters that take you on a slow climb up a really big hill and then send you careening down the other side at an obscenely steep angle, where you then proceed to go up and down (and around) lots of smaller hills until you’ve used up all that potential energy you got from climbing the hill. Really, that’s way more exciting than going upside down again and again, because the thrilling part are all the acceleration changes you feel (i.e., going down a hill you feel weightless), and when you are going around a loop you are basically feeling the same acceleration the whole time. Also, I love the long climb up the hill, because the tension keeps building as you get higher and higher. You have time to take in the amazing view—Cedar Point is right next to Lake Erie—and freak yourself out a lot before you finally go down. And if you aren’t in the front car you never quite know when you’ve reached the top and when you are going to start the descent, which is just as exciting as getting the full view from the front. Also, wooden rollercoasters are RAD. So so rad.
That said, there was this really awesome rollercoaster called the Top Thrill Dragster. It’s marketed as the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world (at least, it was when it was first built). Unlike the traditional rollercoasters I just described, on the Dragster you are accelerated almost instantly (from zero to over 120 mph in four seconds) by a hydraulic launch system. Then you go pretty much straight up for 420 feet over a hill and back down. That thing was…something else. The scariest part is definitely the initial acceleration of the cart, but coming back down on the drop wasn’t too bad either. Oh, and I got to ride it at night. They closed it for several hours due to “high winds”—gives you a lot of confidence in the construction of the ride—but then reopened it around 9 pm so we were able to barely make it through before the park closed. This thing is so awesome it’s fun just to watch…over and over and over. Before each cart goes up to the start position the entire crowd waiting in line starts clapping. It makes this great noise when it goes by, and every so often the cart won’t get fast enough to make it over the top of the hill and has to come back down the way it came. I never saw that happen, unfortunately.
If I ever become a high school physics teacher I am definitely going to do whatever it takes to take my class to an amusement park to teach them about physics via rollercoasters.
I could write a whole blog entry about the people watching at Cedar Point, too. But…my lunch break is definitely over so I’ll have to save that for another time.
The day was almost scrapped before we even left North Olmsted. Our tickets, purchased with a special NASA discount, were only good for July 24th, but the weather forecast warned of “severe thunderstorms” (a few notches above the typically advertised “scattered thunderstorms” or “isolated thunderstorms”…this weather report included a Severe Weather Notice from the National Weather Service, much like the kind Boston receives nearly every other day). Nonetheless, we decided to at least drive to Sandusky, OH (about an hour away) to see what we would see, and headed down the freeway in a light drizzle.
When we got to Cedar Point it was still cloudy and rainy, and there were dark purple evil-looking clouds looming on the horizon, but we decided we’d trust our luck and enter the park. For once the weather favored us. After an hour or two of grey drizzle the clouds parted and the sun came out to give us some of the most cooperative climate conditions we’ve had all summer.
But enough about the weather! I think I rode more rollercoasters yesterday than I have cumulatively in my entire life. (That is, if you count all the times we rode on Space Mountain in Tokyo Disneyland as just one rollercoaster.) I lost count eventually, but trying to look back, I think it was…um…twelve or thirteen, plus two really awesome rides that can’t quite be considered rollercoasters (the Power Tower, which takes you up 240 feet and then drops you, and this crazy thing that spins you around and swings you like a pendulum). So, after riding roller coasters that take you upside-down every which way, that dangle you and force you to stand up, and do just about everything else imaginable under the sun, my conclusion (besides that screaming makes everything more fun) is: the traditional no-bells-and-whistles rollercoasters are by far the best.
By traditional, I mean the rollercoasters that take you on a slow climb up a really big hill and then send you careening down the other side at an obscenely steep angle, where you then proceed to go up and down (and around) lots of smaller hills until you’ve used up all that potential energy you got from climbing the hill. Really, that’s way more exciting than going upside down again and again, because the thrilling part are all the acceleration changes you feel (i.e., going down a hill you feel weightless), and when you are going around a loop you are basically feeling the same acceleration the whole time. Also, I love the long climb up the hill, because the tension keeps building as you get higher and higher. You have time to take in the amazing view—Cedar Point is right next to Lake Erie—and freak yourself out a lot before you finally go down. And if you aren’t in the front car you never quite know when you’ve reached the top and when you are going to start the descent, which is just as exciting as getting the full view from the front. Also, wooden rollercoasters are RAD. So so rad.
That said, there was this really awesome rollercoaster called the Top Thrill Dragster. It’s marketed as the tallest and fastest rollercoaster in the world (at least, it was when it was first built). Unlike the traditional rollercoasters I just described, on the Dragster you are accelerated almost instantly (from zero to over 120 mph in four seconds) by a hydraulic launch system. Then you go pretty much straight up for 420 feet over a hill and back down. That thing was…something else. The scariest part is definitely the initial acceleration of the cart, but coming back down on the drop wasn’t too bad either. Oh, and I got to ride it at night. They closed it for several hours due to “high winds”—gives you a lot of confidence in the construction of the ride—but then reopened it around 9 pm so we were able to barely make it through before the park closed. This thing is so awesome it’s fun just to watch…over and over and over. Before each cart goes up to the start position the entire crowd waiting in line starts clapping. It makes this great noise when it goes by, and every so often the cart won’t get fast enough to make it over the top of the hill and has to come back down the way it came. I never saw that happen, unfortunately.
If I ever become a high school physics teacher I am definitely going to do whatever it takes to take my class to an amusement park to teach them about physics via rollercoasters.
I could write a whole blog entry about the people watching at Cedar Point, too. But…my lunch break is definitely over so I’ll have to save that for another time.
Nuts and bolts...
This morning I was reveling in the fact that right now it seems like I’m messing up in many avenues of my life. So, instead of continuing to revel, I decided that I would just change my behavior and, well, not mess up anymore. That doesn’t mean that I won’t make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. I should qualify this: when I mean “messing up” I mean repetitive behavior that is counter-productive to what I really want (for example: making mistakes and not learning from them).
So, with that background to my Monday morning mindset: I spent a long time searching for a nut that would fit this one specific bolt that I needed to put part of my experiment together. As I was searching all over I kept thinking about that party at Cruft-Labs where when everyone walked in the door the guys got a bolt and the girls got a nut. In order to get drinks from the bar you had to find your counterpart, screw the two pieces together, and deposit them in a bowl by the bar. Anyway, I finally found a nut that fit the bolt, but it was some sort of locking nut that only screws about twice because one end is smaller than the other. With some more searching and improvising I was able to arrange things so that my experimental set up sort of worked the way I wanted it, but not really. I am definitely going to need to find that perfect nut eventually.
I don’t know what the moral to that story is, but I’m sure there must be one. Or not. I really hope my life isn't turning into a hardware allegory.
So, with that background to my Monday morning mindset: I spent a long time searching for a nut that would fit this one specific bolt that I needed to put part of my experiment together. As I was searching all over I kept thinking about that party at Cruft-Labs where when everyone walked in the door the guys got a bolt and the girls got a nut. In order to get drinks from the bar you had to find your counterpart, screw the two pieces together, and deposit them in a bowl by the bar. Anyway, I finally found a nut that fit the bolt, but it was some sort of locking nut that only screws about twice because one end is smaller than the other. With some more searching and improvising I was able to arrange things so that my experimental set up sort of worked the way I wanted it, but not really. I am definitely going to need to find that perfect nut eventually.
I don’t know what the moral to that story is, but I’m sure there must be one. Or not. I really hope my life isn't turning into a hardware allegory.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Big and clean...
All right, all right, what did I do today? Well, right after I posted this morning I proceeded to lock myself out of my lab, and my Glenn Research Center ID and key inside the lab. This posed somewhat of a problem when I left for the tour of Plum Brook Station, but I learned that when security guards are checking IDs for a whole bus full of people, they don't really care what you show them after a while.
At Plum Brook Station I saw the largest vacuum chamber in the world. Nevertheless, it was a bit underwhelming-just a big room with very very thick walls. The highlight of my day was the tour guide for the other test facilities we saw (B-2 and SPF?). He was a mechanical engineer but he looked like your stereotypical geologist: big bushy beard and a big bushy gut. I loved it. Geologist-but-he-doesn't-realize-it was very into talking about safety. He emphasized how important it was to know every little detail about the test facilities so you know where to run if something goes wrong. For example, if there is a liquid nitrogen spill and you step in it, your feet are gone. But if you happen to be wearing foot protection and can stay in the spill, the nitrogen will eventually turn into a gas and you will suffocate and collapse onto the floor and freeze and shatter like a bouncy ball. Another scenario: liquid oxygen condenses and then drips onto your pants. You don't realize it's liquid oxygen and think it's just water. Then you go over to machine something and a spark lands on your pants. Now your pants have been completely incinerated. Oooh, there was one other good safety scenario but I forgot it. Damn!
Some people got to ride the “Aero Bus” to Plum Brook Station, but I wasn't one of the lucky ones. Apparently it has chairs that swivel a full 360 degrees and satellite television…but no air-conditioning.
Today also featured: a cookie cake! Of the moon!
At Plum Brook Station I saw the largest vacuum chamber in the world. Nevertheless, it was a bit underwhelming-just a big room with very very thick walls. The highlight of my day was the tour guide for the other test facilities we saw (B-2 and SPF?). He was a mechanical engineer but he looked like your stereotypical geologist: big bushy beard and a big bushy gut. I loved it. Geologist-but-he-doesn't-realize-it was very into talking about safety. He emphasized how important it was to know every little detail about the test facilities so you know where to run if something goes wrong. For example, if there is a liquid nitrogen spill and you step in it, your feet are gone. But if you happen to be wearing foot protection and can stay in the spill, the nitrogen will eventually turn into a gas and you will suffocate and collapse onto the floor and freeze and shatter like a bouncy ball. Another scenario: liquid oxygen condenses and then drips onto your pants. You don't realize it's liquid oxygen and think it's just water. Then you go over to machine something and a spark lands on your pants. Now your pants have been completely incinerated. Oooh, there was one other good safety scenario but I forgot it. Damn!
Some people got to ride the “Aero Bus” to Plum Brook Station, but I wasn't one of the lucky ones. Apparently it has chairs that swivel a full 360 degrees and satellite television…but no air-conditioning.
Today also featured: a cookie cake! Of the moon!
A quickie
I came in early on my own before our tour of the Plum Brook Facility (owned and operated by NASA Glenn, where they test a lot of cutting edge propulsion stuff...basically the bread and butter of Glenn, and what has made Glenn famous)in order to check on and finish an experiment that I left running overnight. Well, I got here and my boss had stopped it after I went home yesterday, so I guess I'll just write a quick blog entry instead.
This morning I had a dream involving a very violent (sublime) thunderstorm. I was running home (home home, meaning Sherwood) up our gravel road and there were giant booms and lightning flashes every few seconds. Then I woke up and realized that there was a real storm outside, with lightning so close and so intense that I could see it flashing through my window (with closed blinds). Because it was pouring and storming, I had to nix my plans to go running this morning. I'll have to squeeze something in after we get back from Plum Brook. We've been having thunderstorms nearly every day. It's craaaaazy!
Sorry I've been lettting up slack on the blog-writing. It's a combination of me losing steam and enthusiasm about the NASA Academy program and being really busy at work. I also think the daily thunderstorms have something to do with it, too. But, my time hear is drawing to a close (I can almost taste it!), but it's going to be a hard push (or a mad dash, whichever you prefer) from here on out.
Just another note: all my favorite people around are security guards and janitors.
This morning I had a dream involving a very violent (sublime) thunderstorm. I was running home (home home, meaning Sherwood) up our gravel road and there were giant booms and lightning flashes every few seconds. Then I woke up and realized that there was a real storm outside, with lightning so close and so intense that I could see it flashing through my window (with closed blinds). Because it was pouring and storming, I had to nix my plans to go running this morning. I'll have to squeeze something in after we get back from Plum Brook. We've been having thunderstorms nearly every day. It's craaaaazy!
Sorry I've been lettting up slack on the blog-writing. It's a combination of me losing steam and enthusiasm about the NASA Academy program and being really busy at work. I also think the daily thunderstorms have something to do with it, too. But, my time hear is drawing to a close (I can almost taste it!), but it's going to be a hard push (or a mad dash, whichever you prefer) from here on out.
Just another note: all my favorite people around are security guards and janitors.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
This is kind of weird
Right now (12:17 am) there's a car parked outside my room (that means in the parking lot of an extended stay hotel) with all its lights on blasting the Cure loud enough so I can hear it perfectly from my second story window. There are people shouting and dancing around, too. Maybe I should go join them?
Oh, now it just changed to Franz Ferdinand. I feel like I'm back at East Campus.
Oh, now it just changed to Franz Ferdinand. I feel like I'm back at East Campus.
Monday, July 18, 2005
Sestina skirmish
For the Glenn Academy website we have to write weekly summaries. Last week was mine, and so I wrote this (somewhat crappy, but still time consuming) sestina:
Week Six Sestina
To start week six, th' Academy at Glenn
learned censorship makes Jordan roar like thunder.
Then later Monday the students found a new space-
the best one dollar tacos in Ohio-
had margaritas and just like a movie
star, there was rhinestone cowboy Marshal Blessing.
Tuesdays aren't always received as a blessing,
but this Tuesday was not pure work at Glenn.
A physics speaker dazzled with a movie
of waves (the pressure kind cause all the thunder).
On Wednesday at the Aero Inst. of Ohio,
a conference held; all eyes were turned towards space.
But no, the shuttle didn't return to space
(to find out why would be a NASA blessing).
At least we didn't road-trip from Ohio.
Filmed interview with Landis: guru of Glenn.
At night the skies erupted with rain and thunder,
which at Candlewood meant pizza and a movie.
On Friday we presented on our movie
and work from Kevlar to bone-loss in space.
Biking home J fled from rain and thunder;
had she been pious she would have been blessing.
Kat's mom and grandma came to visit Glenn:
a long drive from Tennessee to Ohio.
Saturday saw Kat to Dayton, Ohio,
and Kenyon (almost in the Harry Potter movie)
where Jordan went to take refuge from Glenn,
with trees and hills and wide green open space,
And no shenanigans from Marshal Blessing.
She ran for miles on mighty thighs of thunder.
Back in Cleveland beach plans foiled: the thunder
brought the stench of sewage to the Ohio
lake. Then Moses, Chris, and Marshal Blessing
rounded out their weekend: a drive-in movie.
Mo braided with mayonnaise and browsed web-space.
Time for another week of work at Glenn.
Over halfway through, thunder stormed near Glenn.
We understand Ohio, though not yet space.
Should we let Marshal Blessing be in our Mars movie?
All right, so it isn't the best poem in the world, but I'm proud of it. So I was extremely pissed when I got an email from the notorious Marshal Blessing (I could write a treatise complaining about him, but I think I've already vented enough) telling me that I needed to write a “more straight-forward prose version” for the website. The “censorship” I mentioned in the second line of the first stanza refers to how everything we write gets censored before it makes it to the website. And it's not inappropriate content (for the most part) that gets cut out, it's opinions and observations about things that are going on in NASA and in our program. I realize that we are affiliated with NASA (though only partially; none of us get paid through NASA), but I don't think that means we can't describe our reactions to the things we encounter during NASA Academy. The purpose of NASA Academy is to expose smart analytical driven creative students to the “big picture” of the aerospace industry. Those kinds of students are going to have opinions, right? (At least, I would hope so.) The purpose of our website is to show the world what our program is about and what we are doing. So why do we need to portray ourselves as boring mindless drones who don't question or challenge anything? Anything with character that we try to put up on the website gets vetoed. (And what makes me mad is that Marshal, our staff member, censors these things himself before the actual “censor” guy sees it.)
So…one of the most important lessons I've learned so far this summer is that we are never going to get very far into space unless the public gets excited about NASA and invested in space travel. We also aren't going to get very far if the quality of education, specifically science education, continues to decrease and kids don't want to pursue science and engineering. I think that one of the reasons a lot of people don't want to study science and engineering isn't that it's hard, but the stereotype that those fields are boring, stiff, and uncreative. I know that's why a lot of my friends didn't enjoy science in high school. I don't think the NASA Academy should be perpetuating that stereotype; it should be breaking it. So I think my poem should go on the website and I'm going to make sure that it does.
Before I head off to do a long run in the 90 degree Cleveland swamp, I just want to say that I know there are bigger battles to be fought. Give me some time (to cool off, among other things) and I'll get over my tunnel vision.
Week Six Sestina
To start week six, th' Academy at Glenn
learned censorship makes Jordan roar like thunder.
Then later Monday the students found a new space-
the best one dollar tacos in Ohio-
had margaritas and just like a movie
star, there was rhinestone cowboy Marshal Blessing.
Tuesdays aren't always received as a blessing,
but this Tuesday was not pure work at Glenn.
A physics speaker dazzled with a movie
of waves (the pressure kind cause all the thunder).
On Wednesday at the Aero Inst. of Ohio,
a conference held; all eyes were turned towards space.
But no, the shuttle didn't return to space
(to find out why would be a NASA blessing).
At least we didn't road-trip from Ohio.
Filmed interview with Landis: guru of Glenn.
At night the skies erupted with rain and thunder,
which at Candlewood meant pizza and a movie.
On Friday we presented on our movie
and work from Kevlar to bone-loss in space.
Biking home J fled from rain and thunder;
had she been pious she would have been blessing.
Kat's mom and grandma came to visit Glenn:
a long drive from Tennessee to Ohio.
Saturday saw Kat to Dayton, Ohio,
and Kenyon (almost in the Harry Potter movie)
where Jordan went to take refuge from Glenn,
with trees and hills and wide green open space,
And no shenanigans from Marshal Blessing.
She ran for miles on mighty thighs of thunder.
Back in Cleveland beach plans foiled: the thunder
brought the stench of sewage to the Ohio
lake. Then Moses, Chris, and Marshal Blessing
rounded out their weekend: a drive-in movie.
Mo braided with mayonnaise and browsed web-space.
Time for another week of work at Glenn.
Over halfway through, thunder stormed near Glenn.
We understand Ohio, though not yet space.
Should we let Marshal Blessing be in our Mars movie?
All right, so it isn't the best poem in the world, but I'm proud of it. So I was extremely pissed when I got an email from the notorious Marshal Blessing (I could write a treatise complaining about him, but I think I've already vented enough) telling me that I needed to write a “more straight-forward prose version” for the website. The “censorship” I mentioned in the second line of the first stanza refers to how everything we write gets censored before it makes it to the website. And it's not inappropriate content (for the most part) that gets cut out, it's opinions and observations about things that are going on in NASA and in our program. I realize that we are affiliated with NASA (though only partially; none of us get paid through NASA), but I don't think that means we can't describe our reactions to the things we encounter during NASA Academy. The purpose of NASA Academy is to expose smart analytical driven creative students to the “big picture” of the aerospace industry. Those kinds of students are going to have opinions, right? (At least, I would hope so.) The purpose of our website is to show the world what our program is about and what we are doing. So why do we need to portray ourselves as boring mindless drones who don't question or challenge anything? Anything with character that we try to put up on the website gets vetoed. (And what makes me mad is that Marshal, our staff member, censors these things himself before the actual “censor” guy sees it.)
So…one of the most important lessons I've learned so far this summer is that we are never going to get very far into space unless the public gets excited about NASA and invested in space travel. We also aren't going to get very far if the quality of education, specifically science education, continues to decrease and kids don't want to pursue science and engineering. I think that one of the reasons a lot of people don't want to study science and engineering isn't that it's hard, but the stereotype that those fields are boring, stiff, and uncreative. I know that's why a lot of my friends didn't enjoy science in high school. I don't think the NASA Academy should be perpetuating that stereotype; it should be breaking it. So I think my poem should go on the website and I'm going to make sure that it does.
Before I head off to do a long run in the 90 degree Cleveland swamp, I just want to say that I know there are bigger battles to be fought. Give me some time (to cool off, among other things) and I'll get over my tunnel vision.
Thursday, July 14, 2005
The significance of pressure waves...
Today I had a mondo adventure.
Glenn Research Center, though situated in the most sedentary inactive state I've ever visited, does make attempts to foster athletic activity. There's a nice dirt loop down by the "picnic grounds" that is exactly 1 mile long. Today after work I decided I wanted to do some mile repeats for speedwork on said dirt track, which is where my adventure began.
The run itself was good, even though I had no eye correction and was wading through a blurry world (which made the deer that was relaxing unperturbed about 6 meters away slightly less amazing). Between the second and third mile repeat the temperature dropped about 10 or 15 degrees (based on my acutely calibrated personal weather prediction system...uh...my skin...). A storm was a-brewing!
I got back to my building around 6:15, only to find that they lock all the GRC buildings at 6. Stranded outside with a thunderclouds looming, how perfect. I was finally able to break in (er, find a nice old lady who could let me in), get my bike, and be on my way. Not ten seconds after I left the storm hit. There was thunder and lighting all around me. I wasn't scared, not at all! Soon a torrential downpour started, making the already bike unfriendly pot-hole ridden Cleveland roads even less inviting due to the quickly accumulating standing water. And it didn't help that I was wearing glasses, which were rendered completely useless in the downpour.
Nonetheless, I persevered through all these physical impediments (surprises!) as I felt like I was racing home, battling for my life against the elements. I made a wrong turn when I was almost back (like I said, I couldn't see), but when I did that I passed a nice dude who shouted at me from the shelter of his garage asking if I wanted a poncho--I was almost home and already completely soaked through so I didn't take it, but it made my day anyway.
I thoroughly enjoyed the adversity. The only downside is my phone is now on the fritz. Completely useless.
I wish you all exciting adventures in the near future.
Glenn Research Center, though situated in the most sedentary inactive state I've ever visited, does make attempts to foster athletic activity. There's a nice dirt loop down by the "picnic grounds" that is exactly 1 mile long. Today after work I decided I wanted to do some mile repeats for speedwork on said dirt track, which is where my adventure began.
The run itself was good, even though I had no eye correction and was wading through a blurry world (which made the deer that was relaxing unperturbed about 6 meters away slightly less amazing). Between the second and third mile repeat the temperature dropped about 10 or 15 degrees (based on my acutely calibrated personal weather prediction system...uh...my skin...). A storm was a-brewing!
I got back to my building around 6:15, only to find that they lock all the GRC buildings at 6. Stranded outside with a thunderclouds looming, how perfect. I was finally able to break in (er, find a nice old lady who could let me in), get my bike, and be on my way. Not ten seconds after I left the storm hit. There was thunder and lighting all around me. I wasn't scared, not at all! Soon a torrential downpour started, making the already bike unfriendly pot-hole ridden Cleveland roads even less inviting due to the quickly accumulating standing water. And it didn't help that I was wearing glasses, which were rendered completely useless in the downpour.
Nonetheless, I persevered through all these physical impediments (surprises!) as I felt like I was racing home, battling for my life against the elements. I made a wrong turn when I was almost back (like I said, I couldn't see), but when I did that I passed a nice dude who shouted at me from the shelter of his garage asking if I wanted a poncho--I was almost home and already completely soaked through so I didn't take it, but it made my day anyway.
I thoroughly enjoyed the adversity. The only downside is my phone is now on the fritz. Completely useless.
I wish you all exciting adventures in the near future.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
I've said it before, but...
I just want to travel around and have adventures. I'm getting so restless. I have this road atlas (the National Geographic "Adventure Addition", which means it has inserts on a lot of national parks and descriptions of great places to hike, bike, climb, paddle, everything) and I spend so much time looking at the maps and planning imaginary trips that I would want to take if I had the time and freedom (and money). I want to go everywhere. I want to live in the woods and not in a hotel. I want to climb mountains and hike through deserts and paddle on white water and scale cliffs and eat cacti and fight alligators. How am I ever going to survive as an engineer?
I really want to organize some kind of adventure between when I get done with work (August 13th) and when school starts (after Labor Day). I am supposed to be back for cross country on the 22nd, but...our captains have already kind of said if you have cool adventures planned that's ok since we don't even know who our coach is yet and no one has officially given us a "you must be here on this day" mandate.
If I ever get married I'm taking my honeymoon in Glacier National Park. But we can also swing down to the Grand Tetons, too. Or maybe I want to trek through Australia? Who cares that your sex drive drops when you are hiking 15 miles a day or that sex attracts grizzly bears...I'm sure I could overcome those obsticles and have the sexiest wilderness honeymoon ever.
I really want to organize some kind of adventure between when I get done with work (August 13th) and when school starts (after Labor Day). I am supposed to be back for cross country on the 22nd, but...our captains have already kind of said if you have cool adventures planned that's ok since we don't even know who our coach is yet and no one has officially given us a "you must be here on this day" mandate.
If I ever get married I'm taking my honeymoon in Glacier National Park. But we can also swing down to the Grand Tetons, too. Or maybe I want to trek through Australia? Who cares that your sex drive drops when you are hiking 15 miles a day or that sex attracts grizzly bears...I'm sure I could overcome those obsticles and have the sexiest wilderness honeymoon ever.
More woodland creatures than you can shake a can of bear spray at (though why would you want to?)
Yes yes, I know it's been eons since I really updated this thing...you don't have to remind me. I haven't written about my trip to Niagara Falls or to Washington, D.C. (where we met with the Goddard Academy, aka the "dark side"...more about that later...maybe). You can discipline me if you want, or...
You can read about the awesome run I had. Today I had a whole bunch of extra energy. Why? Who knows. Maybe it was the fact that I started running in the morning again, maybe it was the coffee I had today--though I hope it wasn't that, or maybe it was the fact that I actually had a ton of stuff with which to keep myself busy at work today...though Saideep, my new nutritionist/"life coach" might tell me it was something else all together. But anyway, today I ran in the morning, where I encounted a dog that was really more like a small bear (think Newfoundland, only bigger and white with brown spots). It was lovable and cute, and tried to run along with me when I passed it. Then later, minutes after I got home today a massive thunderstorm hit. I went running in its aftermath, through air that was so warm and thick and wet that I could see it (really) and feel it (really really) and even could have tweezed it (huh?) if I had wanted to. The river was engorged from the rain of a few hours before and the fireflies were buzzing about freshly re-charged from the lighting (ok, so that's now how it works...but wouldn't it be rad if it was?).
On my second run I saw three raccoons crossing the road (a mother and two babies) right in front of a quickly approaching car! "No!" I said "There are racoons in the road!" (Really, I said this aloud.) So I kind of ran into the road a bit because I knew the car would see me and swerve to get around me. Yay. The raccoons didn't die. But as I passed them they kind of hissed at me. Ok, ok, so I didn't expect them to gratefully hand me a medal or anything (ok, so maybe I did), but still...
Um...also I've been perfecting my finger skills during my runs. Around North Olmsted, OH I get heckled, yelled at, and honked at than anywhere else I've ever run (even College Park, MD at night...where everyone warned me that I'd be "bothered"). It used to be that my mouth was quick with a rebuttal ("Fuck you, asshole in the car!"), though it was pointless because the car would have already sped around the corner and couldn't hear me anyway. But now I've honed my skills and improved my hand-mouth coordination so that I can give the finger while shouting an insult. I'm so proud. But seriously, I'm not being rude or vulgar, I'm just returning the sentiment.
Today I heard the best phrase ever: phantom dook. It was used on my new favorite TV show Brat Camp. It's a reality show that takes place in Central Oregon (near Hancock Field Station), where trained wilderness staff members (with names like "Little Big Bear") take troubled teens on a 60-day mission of strenuous hiking and outdoor skills to work out their emotional and disciplinary issues (a la Outward Bound). I've seriously entertained thoughts of devoting my life to such a venture (the wilderness staff part, not the troubled teen part), though I'd need to be thoroughly convinced that this kind of thing actually helps the kids. I know outdoor education was a huge part of my personal development, but I don't know if it can help everyone.
All right, there is a more eloquent, coherent, educational and information entry coming up some time in the near future.
You can read about the awesome run I had. Today I had a whole bunch of extra energy. Why? Who knows. Maybe it was the fact that I started running in the morning again, maybe it was the coffee I had today--though I hope it wasn't that, or maybe it was the fact that I actually had a ton of stuff with which to keep myself busy at work today...though Saideep, my new nutritionist/"life coach" might tell me it was something else all together. But anyway, today I ran in the morning, where I encounted a dog that was really more like a small bear (think Newfoundland, only bigger and white with brown spots). It was lovable and cute, and tried to run along with me when I passed it. Then later, minutes after I got home today a massive thunderstorm hit. I went running in its aftermath, through air that was so warm and thick and wet that I could see it (really) and feel it (really really) and even could have tweezed it (huh?) if I had wanted to. The river was engorged from the rain of a few hours before and the fireflies were buzzing about freshly re-charged from the lighting (ok, so that's now how it works...but wouldn't it be rad if it was?).
On my second run I saw three raccoons crossing the road (a mother and two babies) right in front of a quickly approaching car! "No!" I said "There are racoons in the road!" (Really, I said this aloud.) So I kind of ran into the road a bit because I knew the car would see me and swerve to get around me. Yay. The raccoons didn't die. But as I passed them they kind of hissed at me. Ok, ok, so I didn't expect them to gratefully hand me a medal or anything (ok, so maybe I did), but still...
Um...also I've been perfecting my finger skills during my runs. Around North Olmsted, OH I get heckled, yelled at, and honked at than anywhere else I've ever run (even College Park, MD at night...where everyone warned me that I'd be "bothered"). It used to be that my mouth was quick with a rebuttal ("Fuck you, asshole in the car!"), though it was pointless because the car would have already sped around the corner and couldn't hear me anyway. But now I've honed my skills and improved my hand-mouth coordination so that I can give the finger while shouting an insult. I'm so proud. But seriously, I'm not being rude or vulgar, I'm just returning the sentiment.
Today I heard the best phrase ever: phantom dook. It was used on my new favorite TV show Brat Camp. It's a reality show that takes place in Central Oregon (near Hancock Field Station), where trained wilderness staff members (with names like "Little Big Bear") take troubled teens on a 60-day mission of strenuous hiking and outdoor skills to work out their emotional and disciplinary issues (a la Outward Bound). I've seriously entertained thoughts of devoting my life to such a venture (the wilderness staff part, not the troubled teen part), though I'd need to be thoroughly convinced that this kind of thing actually helps the kids. I know outdoor education was a huge part of my personal development, but I don't know if it can help everyone.
All right, there is a more eloquent, coherent, educational and information entry coming up some time in the near future.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Whoa! It's all connected (again)...
So I was searching for information on lunar regolith (moon dust) and lunar simulant (fake moon dust...the stuff we use to do research), and I was looking through the abstracts from the Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials Workshop held at Marshall Space Flight Center this January, and lo and behold (behold!) I find a paper by none other than Donald Sadoway (for those who don't know: my totally badass chemistry professor from freshman year, also the guy who basically convinced me to go to MIT when I was a pre-frosh)! Whoa! I had no idea he was into lunar simulant! The paper was way over my head, but I think the jist of it is: if you are going to make lunar simulant, its properties when you try to process it (the ways you can process it are the things I don't really understand) have to be the same as the real deal.
All right...I'm probably getting a little too excited, but think how great it would be if I could call up Professor Sadoway and say "Hey, so I have this little problem with some fake moon dust..."
Anyway...back to work...
All right...I'm probably getting a little too excited, but think how great it would be if I could call up Professor Sadoway and say "Hey, so I have this little problem with some fake moon dust..."
Anyway...back to work...
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
The Amazing John H. Glenn
I thought that my summer had already peaked when I got to ride on a Segway last week; I was so wrong. Today I had lunch with John Glenn and his wife. That's right: first American astronaut to orbit the Earth John Glenn, Senator (who ran for president in 1984 but didn't make it past the Democratic primaries) John Glenn, the very same. It wasn't a huge anonymous assembly-style meeting (though that would come later in the day), either. It was an intimate 5-students plus John and Annie Glenn lunch around a very shiny table in a very swanky conference room.
Though I don't need to tell you, here are some (lesser-known) reasons why John Glenn is awesome:
-Even though his name is plastered everywhere around this neck-of-the-woods, he still finds it startling and unnecessary. He tried to argue them out of renaming Lewis Field to Glenn Research Center. (Though even his negotiating skills as a politician couldn't curb the enthusiasm of the hordes of people who look up to him.)
-He extremely passionate about education. Someone asked him what work from his time in the senate he's most proud of, and he said nuclear non-proliferation legislation, voting in support of every bill favoring educational funding, and pushing towards improving communication with China.
-He and his wife met when they were 2 years old. It's implicit to an observer that they can communicate clearly and completely without even speaking. When he was offered a chance to return to space on the shuttle in 1998, he wanted his wife to accompany him so they could be a husband and wife astronaut team. Annie Glenn said she'd love to go to space, but would never be willing to go through lift-off or re-entry. Nonetheless, she went to most of his "astronaut classes" with him.
-Before John Glenn's flight, no one really knew what would happen to humans in microgravity. They thought that maybe vision would fail, debilitating nausea would ensue, and they didn't know whether it would be possible to eat. John Glenn said that he wasn’t worried about swallowing, though, because when he was a kid he and his friends stood on their heads to find out if they could drink water “up hill.”
I guess being in the Glenn Academy does have some perks, after all...
Though I don't need to tell you, here are some (lesser-known) reasons why John Glenn is awesome:
-Even though his name is plastered everywhere around this neck-of-the-woods, he still finds it startling and unnecessary. He tried to argue them out of renaming Lewis Field to Glenn Research Center. (Though even his negotiating skills as a politician couldn't curb the enthusiasm of the hordes of people who look up to him.)
-He extremely passionate about education. Someone asked him what work from his time in the senate he's most proud of, and he said nuclear non-proliferation legislation, voting in support of every bill favoring educational funding, and pushing towards improving communication with China.
-He and his wife met when they were 2 years old. It's implicit to an observer that they can communicate clearly and completely without even speaking. When he was offered a chance to return to space on the shuttle in 1998, he wanted his wife to accompany him so they could be a husband and wife astronaut team. Annie Glenn said she'd love to go to space, but would never be willing to go through lift-off or re-entry. Nonetheless, she went to most of his "astronaut classes" with him.
-Before John Glenn's flight, no one really knew what would happen to humans in microgravity. They thought that maybe vision would fail, debilitating nausea would ensue, and they didn't know whether it would be possible to eat. John Glenn said that he wasn’t worried about swallowing, though, because when he was a kid he and his friends stood on their heads to find out if they could drink water “up hill.”
I guess being in the Glenn Academy does have some perks, after all...
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Whoa! Landis!
Dr. Geoffrey Landis, who I raved about a few weeks ago, was just announced as a visiting lecturer (I think the official title is "Ronald E. McNair-NASA
Visiting Professor in Aeronautics") at MIT for the upcoming academic year! How crazy is that? Maybe I can take a class or seminar from him, because he's so totally rad. Anyway, I'll ask him about what he'll be teaching at MIT when we interview him next week.
Oh yeah, he's also the principal investigator on the Robotic Exploration of Venus project. So...maybe now I have two new heroes.
Visiting Professor in Aeronautics") at MIT for the upcoming academic year! How crazy is that? Maybe I can take a class or seminar from him, because he's so totally rad. Anyway, I'll ask him about what he'll be teaching at MIT when we interview him next week.
Oh yeah, he's also the principal investigator on the Robotic Exploration of Venus project. So...maybe now I have two new heroes.
I'm a walking (no longer wheeling) road hazard
I was late to work today because when I was nearly a mile away from my hotel on my way to work my pedal fell off. I was making a left turn, thus I stopped in a lane of on-coming traffic. My bike couldn’t even make it a week! I tried to reattach the pedal, which screws into the pedal-shaft, but the threads were all eaten up. I had to walk back home and get a ride to work. Sigh. I was really sad that I couldn’t bike to work, but really happy that the cars didn’t get angry and run me over while I was scrambling to pick up my pedal and make it out of the road. Hopefully I’ll get my bike replaced later today.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
In which Jordan experiences interplanetary travel more than once...
I'm about to head off to Niagara Falls for the weekend (as long as I keep reminding myself that the “camping” we are doing isn't anything like real camping, I won't be disappointed; I really excited to get out of North Olmsted…and I've never seen Niagara Falls before!), but before I do…
A few things…
We heard this talk on Thursday all about futuristic and innovative ways to design planes (if you can really call them that) that can fly in the atmosphere of other planets and moons. This is a complicated problem because some planets, like Mars, have an atmosphere that is much thinner than Earth's, which means you need to generate much more lift somehow (either by flying really fast or having a huge wingspan). Some planets, like Venus, have very thick atmospheres (which makes the aerodynamics easier) but are enveloped by extremely noxious gases. Another engineering problem arises when one considers that these planes need to be packed up into tiny spacecraft in order to get to their destinations. This means designing wings that fold up in inventive ways.
I was beyond excited to hear that they are working on creating a “dummy” rover for Venus that will be controlled by a plane that soars above the noxious layers of gasses (we can design metals that withstand the heat and sulfuric acid, but electronics just frazzle). Venus's geology is my first great scientific love, and physically exploring the surface is something that used to be an impossibility.
I was also fascinated by some of the creative flight designs they are considering for Martian flight. They are developing planes that flap their wings like birds. The wings are made out of some kind of special plastic that is very thin and flexes up and down. They are also using insects as inspiration. People like to say that insects like bumble bees are aerodynamically infeasible, but that's only because they don't use the same aerodynamic concepts that airfoils use. Instead they use the principles of an unsteady flow. If you'd like to read more about the way insects rely on vortices to produce lift, here's a good article.
On Mars, because of the fluid properties of the atmosphere, insect type flight can be scaled up to create larger flying insect-robots. Yeah…it's crazy. They are using technology that DARPA has been working on (apparently the military has tiny insect- flight technology robots but a lot of the work is classified…which makes me a little suspicious about the fly that attaches itself to my left shoulder every single day while I am running…seriously, it follows me, buzzes around my head, and then lands in the same place…am I being watched?) and making it bigger!
We saw lots of crazy far-fetched animations of all these designs. They were awesome.
Ok, getting back to reality, though…
Having a bike is the most wonderful thing ever. I have started biking to work, which is fantastic. I even love biking up the two huge hills every day, twice a day. I went on a long bike ride Thursday evening (don't worry, I didn't ride my bike at night; civil twilight began at 9:38 and I was back at around 9:45). I haven't gone on a long bike ride since…last fall along the Charles River, with Rob Radez (of all people) on the bike Sarah bought from the police auction (of all things). Anyway, I biked through the MetroPark and there were so many fireflies it was like I was biking through a planetarium. I didn't even know there were fireflies in Ohio. It was amazing…like a million tiny cameras flashing, or sunlight reflecting off a lake-only it was fireflies in the woods. Fantastic. I also rode through the entire solar system. Along the bike trail there are signs set up for each planet in the solar system and then the sun spaced to scale. So I biked in all the way from Pluto to the sun-which took about a mile-and then back again. It was awesome.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Don't forget: Deep Impact is making its dynamic collision Sunday night/Monday morning. I'll be in a campground that has heated pools and is right next to a casino. Talk about “roughing it smoothly.”
A few things…
We heard this talk on Thursday all about futuristic and innovative ways to design planes (if you can really call them that) that can fly in the atmosphere of other planets and moons. This is a complicated problem because some planets, like Mars, have an atmosphere that is much thinner than Earth's, which means you need to generate much more lift somehow (either by flying really fast or having a huge wingspan). Some planets, like Venus, have very thick atmospheres (which makes the aerodynamics easier) but are enveloped by extremely noxious gases. Another engineering problem arises when one considers that these planes need to be packed up into tiny spacecraft in order to get to their destinations. This means designing wings that fold up in inventive ways.
I was beyond excited to hear that they are working on creating a “dummy” rover for Venus that will be controlled by a plane that soars above the noxious layers of gasses (we can design metals that withstand the heat and sulfuric acid, but electronics just frazzle). Venus's geology is my first great scientific love, and physically exploring the surface is something that used to be an impossibility.
I was also fascinated by some of the creative flight designs they are considering for Martian flight. They are developing planes that flap their wings like birds. The wings are made out of some kind of special plastic that is very thin and flexes up and down. They are also using insects as inspiration. People like to say that insects like bumble bees are aerodynamically infeasible, but that's only because they don't use the same aerodynamic concepts that airfoils use. Instead they use the principles of an unsteady flow. If you'd like to read more about the way insects rely on vortices to produce lift, here's a good article.
On Mars, because of the fluid properties of the atmosphere, insect type flight can be scaled up to create larger flying insect-robots. Yeah…it's crazy. They are using technology that DARPA has been working on (apparently the military has tiny insect- flight technology robots but a lot of the work is classified…which makes me a little suspicious about the fly that attaches itself to my left shoulder every single day while I am running…seriously, it follows me, buzzes around my head, and then lands in the same place…am I being watched?) and making it bigger!
We saw lots of crazy far-fetched animations of all these designs. They were awesome.
Ok, getting back to reality, though…
Having a bike is the most wonderful thing ever. I have started biking to work, which is fantastic. I even love biking up the two huge hills every day, twice a day. I went on a long bike ride Thursday evening (don't worry, I didn't ride my bike at night; civil twilight began at 9:38 and I was back at around 9:45). I haven't gone on a long bike ride since…last fall along the Charles River, with Rob Radez (of all people) on the bike Sarah bought from the police auction (of all things). Anyway, I biked through the MetroPark and there were so many fireflies it was like I was biking through a planetarium. I didn't even know there were fireflies in Ohio. It was amazing…like a million tiny cameras flashing, or sunlight reflecting off a lake-only it was fireflies in the woods. Fantastic. I also rode through the entire solar system. Along the bike trail there are signs set up for each planet in the solar system and then the sun spaced to scale. So I biked in all the way from Pluto to the sun-which took about a mile-and then back again. It was awesome.
I hope everyone has a great weekend. Don't forget: Deep Impact is making its dynamic collision Sunday night/Monday morning. I'll be in a campground that has heated pools and is right next to a casino. Talk about “roughing it smoothly.”
Friday, July 01, 2005
An odd collection...
This entry is dedicated to K.T., who has the book-a-licious job of interning with a librarian doing educational outreach this summer. That means she gets to coerce kids into reading with promises of wealth and glory.
I read George Eliot’s Middlemarch during my first two weeks in Ohio. It was an interesting experience reading about provincial Victorian English life from suburban 21st century Ohio. In some bizarre ways the two settings are strangely analogous, but they are completely discordant. [For graduates of OES Humanities: I know, Sean and Debbie would whack me in the back of the head for that wishy-washy “similar yet different” thesis.] But back to the novel… Middlemarch is everything a Victorian novel should be (a snapshot of life in an era on the cusp of social change) plus a whole lot more. The massive size of the book give it freedom to cover a much greater scope: the lives of nearly a dozen “main” characters interweave in ingenious ways. The book seriously and meticulously addresses gender roles, political and economic debates, views on science and medicine, wealth and social status, the dynamics of a small society, the ever present dichotomy between physical and mental prowess, and much more, all in an community that is just stifling and restrictive enough to allow its satisfaction but not completely happiness. This book is not as comic or overtly progressive as a Jane Austen novel, but it takes you far beyond the happy ending where every loose piece is tucked into place. Eliot narrates with a subtler and more understated voice, but then catches you off-guard with a passage or sentence that knocks you down with its eloquence and beauty.
After that, I raced through Swann’s Way, the first volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. I read the “new” translation by Lydia Davis, which is part of the Penguin Classics series. Many (if not most) of the books I’ve decided to tackle this summer are in translation, and translation is a topic that fascinates me. My favorite book on the subject is Hofstadter’s La Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language. But…I’m supposed to be writing about Proust!
The translation was clear and lucid, but I haven’t looked at the Moncrieff version, so I can’t offer any kind of accurate comparison. It’s hard to evaluate the quality of both the original prose and the translation at the same time, especially if you only have one translation. So, staying more on the thematic side…
I wanted to underline something (or several things) on every page. I wanted to remember so many passages that I went out and bought sticky tabs to stick on the pages. Proust’s portrayals of personal and social psychological phenomenon offer not only accurate and beautiful description, but also profound analysis and contemplation. He presents his observations in such a way that they are philosophical yet unobtrusive, which is a really hard thing to accomplish. I find reading Proust to be a lot like reading Dostoyevsky (except that Dostoyevsky’s subject matter tends to be much darker, but then again, I’ve only read the first of many volumes, and this one focused on childhood and young adulthood). The two authors have similar genius when it comes to describing human character while offering philosophical insight on human nature.
I need to acquire volume 2, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, because I definitely want to read more Proust.
The next book I read was The Golden Ass, by Apelius. I didn’t have the Robert Graves translation, which made me sad, because I really liked I, Claudius (though apparently not enough to have read the sequel yet…). I had to buy a different translation because I bought the book for a class which I then later dropped…such is life. Anyway, The Golden Ass is structured sort of like Don Quixote, where there’s a main storyline about a traveler, but he encounters many colorful characters who get to tell their own stories. There was magic, witchcraft, mischief, more cuckoldry than you can shake a stick at, a healthy dose of intervention by the gods, thievery, tomfoolery, kidnapping, comic violence, attacks by vicious beasts, and just about everything else under the sun. If I were to write a paper about this book, it would definitely be on the use of sex as a coercive tool (and how that relates to gender roles, of course).
I just stated reading Parade’s End by Ford Maddox Ford. It’s another brick (840 and some odd pages), so it might be awhile before I update again on my summer reading…
I read George Eliot’s Middlemarch during my first two weeks in Ohio. It was an interesting experience reading about provincial Victorian English life from suburban 21st century Ohio. In some bizarre ways the two settings are strangely analogous, but they are completely discordant. [For graduates of OES Humanities: I know, Sean and Debbie would whack me in the back of the head for that wishy-washy “similar yet different” thesis.] But back to the novel… Middlemarch is everything a Victorian novel should be (a snapshot of life in an era on the cusp of social change) plus a whole lot more. The massive size of the book give it freedom to cover a much greater scope: the lives of nearly a dozen “main” characters interweave in ingenious ways. The book seriously and meticulously addresses gender roles, political and economic debates, views on science and medicine, wealth and social status, the dynamics of a small society, the ever present dichotomy between physical and mental prowess, and much more, all in an community that is just stifling and restrictive enough to allow its satisfaction but not completely happiness. This book is not as comic or overtly progressive as a Jane Austen novel, but it takes you far beyond the happy ending where every loose piece is tucked into place. Eliot narrates with a subtler and more understated voice, but then catches you off-guard with a passage or sentence that knocks you down with its eloquence and beauty.
After that, I raced through Swann’s Way, the first volume of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time. I read the “new” translation by Lydia Davis, which is part of the Penguin Classics series. Many (if not most) of the books I’ve decided to tackle this summer are in translation, and translation is a topic that fascinates me. My favorite book on the subject is Hofstadter’s La Ton Beau de Marot: In Praise of the Music of Language. But…I’m supposed to be writing about Proust!
The translation was clear and lucid, but I haven’t looked at the Moncrieff version, so I can’t offer any kind of accurate comparison. It’s hard to evaluate the quality of both the original prose and the translation at the same time, especially if you only have one translation. So, staying more on the thematic side…
I wanted to underline something (or several things) on every page. I wanted to remember so many passages that I went out and bought sticky tabs to stick on the pages. Proust’s portrayals of personal and social psychological phenomenon offer not only accurate and beautiful description, but also profound analysis and contemplation. He presents his observations in such a way that they are philosophical yet unobtrusive, which is a really hard thing to accomplish. I find reading Proust to be a lot like reading Dostoyevsky (except that Dostoyevsky’s subject matter tends to be much darker, but then again, I’ve only read the first of many volumes, and this one focused on childhood and young adulthood). The two authors have similar genius when it comes to describing human character while offering philosophical insight on human nature.
I need to acquire volume 2, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, because I definitely want to read more Proust.
The next book I read was The Golden Ass, by Apelius. I didn’t have the Robert Graves translation, which made me sad, because I really liked I, Claudius (though apparently not enough to have read the sequel yet…). I had to buy a different translation because I bought the book for a class which I then later dropped…such is life. Anyway, The Golden Ass is structured sort of like Don Quixote, where there’s a main storyline about a traveler, but he encounters many colorful characters who get to tell their own stories. There was magic, witchcraft, mischief, more cuckoldry than you can shake a stick at, a healthy dose of intervention by the gods, thievery, tomfoolery, kidnapping, comic violence, attacks by vicious beasts, and just about everything else under the sun. If I were to write a paper about this book, it would definitely be on the use of sex as a coercive tool (and how that relates to gender roles, of course).
I just stated reading Parade’s End by Ford Maddox Ford. It’s another brick (840 and some odd pages), so it might be awhile before I update again on my summer reading…
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