The Shanks Dimension » Science and Technology

Mars in the 2030s now!

admin — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 07:11:57 +0000

I was NINE years old when we landed on the moon. Now according to President Obama’s latest speech about American manned spaceflight – at minium, I would be 71 years old by the time the US gets around to going out to Mars!

No Fracking Way! (To barrow a useful word from the TV series “Battlestar Galactica”).

I have previously agreed with our President that we should booster private space companies who can provide ‘taxi’ service duties (eventually) up to the International Space Station. I still agree with that part of his plan.

We have already spent about $9 billion on the Orion part of the Constellation Project and now, as an after thought; we’ll develope a smaller version (can anyone say “Apollo?”) to be used as a lifeboat at the international space station. Problem is getting the damn thing UP to the space station.

And oh, maybe a new heavy-lift booster decision will be made in 2015.

Quote: With the shuttles to be retired after three more flights, NASA has left crew transportation in the hands of Russia, the only other country besides China that flies people in orbit.

China is not a part of the space station partnership.

Russia charges the United States $51 million a seat on its Soyuz capsules. The price increases to $55 million in 2013.

Part of Obama’s plan is to develop commercial U.S. space taxis to avoid reliance on Russia.

SpaceX, owned and operated by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, already holds NASA contracts worth nearly $1.9 billion to develop and fly Falcon 9 rockets and Dragon capsules for space station cargo resupply missions.

Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp has NASA contracts of similar value for its Taurus II-Cygnus system, which is scheduled to debut next year. end Quote.

NASA is only a jobs program for our politicans to play around with just to get votes in Florida. Screw actual research!

Screw a future generation of American children. Already overtaxed, what the hell are THEY going to dream about? What will they want to be when they grow up? ”I want to be a astronaut” will turn into what? “I want to be a faceless government bureaucrat in a grey cube somewhere in no-name USA doing a meaning less government job?!” Because being employed by the government in such a meaning less job is the only job growth to be seen on the horizon.

Man – that would really suck! Wouldn’t it? Also in my link section, there is a well written article posted on New Papyrus that the reader needs to check out entitled ”How Congress Should Respond to Obama’s Manned Spaceflight Budget.”

I am sorry my fellow Americans, but American leadership in spaceflight has officially been turned over to the Russians!

___

Ref. Reuters. April 13, 2010. “Obama pushes NASA revamp, vision of Mars flight”. by Steve Holland and Irene Klotz. (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63C3FJ20100415).

Reuters. April 13, 2010.

“Q+A: Pros, cons of Obama space plan fire up debate”. (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE63C3FQ20100414).

The Shanks Dimension. (http://www.theshanksdimension.com/2010/04/you-tell-him-neil-atta-boy/).

New Papyrus.com “How Congress Should Respond to Obama’s Manned Spaceflight Budget.” (http://newpapyrusmagazine.blogspot.com/2010/04/how-congress-should-respond-to-obamas.html).

Tony Blair & the Chilcot “Iraq Inquiry” Panel

admin — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 19:58:19 +0000

The Right Honorable Anthony (Tony) Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007, was recently testifying before Britain’s Chilcot “Iraq Inquiry” panel and the article by Christopher S. Carson,makes for some interesting reading.

Here are 4 Pulled Quotes from that article:

1. But Mr. Blair disappointed them all. “The decision I took – and frankly would take again – was if there was any possibility that he could develop weapons of mass destruction (WMD) we should stop him,” he said. “That was my view then and that is my view now.” Dressed in an impeccable suit, he used his considerable charm to tell the colorlessly verbose members of the Board that he had made the judgment that Britain should not “run the risk” of allowing Saddam to remain in power. “This isn’t about a lie or a conspiracy or a deceit or a deception. It’s a decision. And the decision I had to take was, given Saddam’s history, given his use of chemical weapons, given the over one million people whose deaths he had caused, given 10 years of breaking UN resolutions, could we take the risk of this man reconstituting his weapons programmes or is that a risk that it would be irresponsible to take?” He went on: “I had to take the decision. I believed, and in the end the Cabinet believed – so did Parliament incidentally – that we were right not to run that risk.”

Mr. Blair was his usual polite self, effortlessly addressing the Board members by their knightly titles and displaying a remarkable self assurance during his six hours of historical reckoning. Of course he was savaged for it—for not apologizing, for not groveling, for not admitting he had been wrong to ally his government with the hated Texan in 2003 over WMD and Iraq’s ties to terrorists.

2. All this matters because history matters. The lessons people draw from history are inevitably distorted by the historians’ consensus viewpoints. Repeat them often enough, and no matter how erroneous they are, generations of bad decisions based on them will result. Think about the “lessons” of Vietnam, memorably kicked off by Walter Cronkite in an infamous broadcast during the Tet Offensive of 1968. We are still un-learning them today. (Contrary to Cronkite’s prognostications of doom, the Tet Offensive was a gigantic military defeat for the Communist cause, and in fact essentially destroyed the Viet Cong as a fighting force ever after).

3. Keep in mind: the real danger to Americans was not that Saddam would use chemical weapons in a final battle against American forces invading his country. Our forces can protect themselves against nearly every unconventional weapon with the gear and supplies they’re trained to use. The real danger was that Saddam would hand over smaller quantities (not battlefield quantities) of his anthrax spores to the next Mohammed Atta, who would then rent a crop-duster plane in Cedar Rapids and spray the good stuff all over Des Moines at rush hour. That was the danger we went to war over. It doesn’t take much more than one 155 millimeter shell filled with mustard gas to dump into the HEVAC system of the NBC Building in Chicago. Shortly before OIF, Hans Blix, of all people, found fourteen of these 155 mm shells filled with mustard gas, which totaled approximately 49 liters and was still at high purity (more than 90% concentrate). Blix’s UNMOVIC also found, among other things:

Approximately 500 ml of thiodiglycol

Some 122 mm chemical warheads

Some chemical equipment

224.6 kg of expired growth media

50 Al-Samoud II missiles

Could these chemical shells be really just harmless relics from before the first Gulf War, more than twelve years earlier, if their purity was still over 90%? Don’t the chemicals degrade over time, and if so, wouldn’t this high purity mean that the shells were filled far more recently than 1991? Fleet Street, and it appears Mr. Blair, were not curious enough to even ask this question.

NOTE: This last one got me. We found mustard gas. But because that wasn’t “sexy” enough as far as future body counts might go, it was underreported (in my opionion). So the myth that NO chemical weapons of ANY kind goes on to this day.

4. In his 2009 memoir, Hide and Seek, the Search for Truth in Iraq, Mr. Duelfer devotes some time to his dedicated and hard work from 1993 to 2000 as the Deputy Chairman of UNSCOM, the UN inspection regime tasked with disarming Iraq. But strangely, he impliedly slights the entire value of UNSCOM (and his work within it) by saying, on page 196, that “In the end, UNSCOM could only prove that Iraq was hiding something. We could not prove that they were hiding WMD.” Yes, Mr. Duelfer, it was WMD they were hiding, not “chicken feed,” baby milk, or pesticides, as the regime variously claimed. (One “chicken feed plant,” the al-Hakan germ warfare center, was helpfully guarded by an array of anti-aircraft missile batteries when UNSCOM showed up and was denied entry by the regime. It must have been some powerful chicken feed).

There are other points in this article that one must read on their own.

Ref. New English Review, “The Worst of Intentions” by Christopher S. Carson, March 2010 (http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/57506/sec_id/57506).

Burt Rutan – Recent Letter to the News Media

admin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:10:38 +0000

Burt Rutan is an amazing man. A designer of avaition and now branching out into space in the last ten years. I personally think that in another fifty years, when people talk about the great aviation pioneers in human history – Burt Rutan is going to be in the top 25.

Recently, he gave a interview to the Wall Street Journal which “cherry-pick” his comments to A Mr. Thomas M. Culligan, a assistant to Congressman Frank R. Wolf of VA.

The actual posting was on comspacewatch.com. Mr. Rutan’s comments as presented are in that article is printed below. What is important here is that those of us who are believers is manned spaceflight… especially by the United States of America, and represented by NASA – have been shafted by our very own government. Anybody who has followed my blog knows I am a space cadet. So I have to be counted among that number of “believers.” The most telling comment was his final paragraph in that note to the news media…

Quote: “Some have guessed that my recent comments are based on my overall displeasure with the Obama Administration. they are not; however it does seem that the best technical minds in U.S. industry are still striving to find HOW America can continue to be “exceptional”, while the Administration does not want America to BE “exceptional”. end quote by Burt Rutan.”

Commercial space can handle the – well, day to day chores of resupply the international space station. And since we have no Star Trek like Starfleet for exploration duties, that task falls to NASA. And NASA should be the ones testing new hardware, travelling to the moon and beyond. In their tracks, the commercial operators can follow behind building the moonbases and other things needed to make the human race spacefarers and colonizers.

Since Mr. Rutan doesn’t want anything of hsi statement taken out of context, it is posted below. The original link is in the Ref. section.

Burt Rutan has released a statement saying the Wall Street Journal “chose to cherry-pick and misquote my comments to Cong. Wolf.”

“To my friends in the Press…

Since the WSJ chose to cherry-pick and miss-quote my comments to Cong Wolf and since the blogs have taken that to further mischaracterized my comments, I am forwarding the Wolf memo in its entirety, in the hopes that some of this gets corrected. Some additional clarification of my thoughts follow: My basic concern is that the real value of NASA’s contributions that America realized in the 60s and early 70s is now being completely discarded. How can we rationalize a surrender of our preeminence in human spaceflight? In my mind, the important NASA accomplishments are twofold: 1) The technical breakthroughs achieved by basic research (not by Development programs like Constellation) and 2) The Forefront Manned Exploration that provided the inspiration for our youth to plan careers in engineering/science and that established the U.S. as the world leader in technology.

In short, it is a good idea indeed for the commercial community to compete to re-supply the ISS and to bring about space access for the public to enjoy. I applaud the efforts of SpaceX, Virgin and Orbital in that regard and feel these activities should have been done at least two decades ago. However, I do not see the commercial companies taking Americans to Mars or to the moons of Saturn within my lifetime and I doubt if they will take the true Research risks (technical and financial) to fly new concepts that have low confidence of return on investment. Even NASA, regarded as our prime Research agency has not recently shown a willingness to fly true Research concepts.

For years I have stated that a NASA return-to-moon effort must include true Research content, i.e. testing new concepts needed to enable forefront Exploration beyond the moon. The current Ares/Orion does not do that. While I have been critical of Constellation for that reason, I do not think that NASA should ‘give up’ on manned spaceflight, just that they should be doing it while meeting the 1) or 2) criteria above.

Some have guessed that my recent comments are based on my overall displeasure with the Obama Administration. they are not; however it does seem that the best technical minds in U.S. industry are still striving to find HOW America can continue to be “exceptional”, while the Administration does not want America to BE “exceptional”.

Burt Rutan

Thomas M. Culligan

Congressional Appropriations Legislative Assistant

The Hon. Frank R. Wolf (VA-10)

Tom,

I occasionally banter with my friend, Mike Griffin on subjects that include golf, the AGW scare and NASA policy. After sending him my latest tirade, he shared with me his recent letter to you regarding taxpayer-funded space research. I promised him that I would send you my thoughts on the debate, which follow:

From my past comments on NASA’s post-mid-70s manned space efficiencies/accomplishments, an observer might think that I would applaud a decision to turn this important responsibility over to commercial developers. However, he would be wrong.

No question, it would be good to see commercial companies quickly succeed at orbital access and to take that capability beyond low earth orbit. However, I am fearful that the commercial guys will fail; i.e. they will do little more in my remaining lifetime than NASA accomplished in 3.5 years with Gemini in the mid 1960s. That would be a very big mistake for America to make, as we move into an era of real competition in space exploration as well as risk the loss of our leadership in nearly every other technical discipline.

Mike Griffin’s excellent statement says it best; “I too want, in the strongest possible terms, to have government policies which serve to stimulate private development of space. But at the same time, I too am reluctant — with an analogy to instrument flying — to give up an airport where I know I can get in on the approach, for one where I might”.

What I would like to see is a decade or two of overlap – an initial push in the commercial arena of manned spaceflight (Development programs, not Research programs), while NASA flies risky new ideas (read, true Research programs, giving at least a chance of discovering an important new Breakthrough), and at the same time pushes the forefront of Exploration beyond the earth’s moon.

Imagine how much better America could motivate our youth if we were spending the billions of Stimulus Package money on making real progress in our efforts to someday colonize off the planet.

Two years after Neil and Buzz landed on the moon, America led the world in awarding PhDs in science/engineering/math. Today we are not even on the first or second page and most of our University’s technical graduates take their skills back to their own countries to compete with us. The motivation of our youth is the most important thing we do for our nation’s long-term security and prosperity. NASA’s role in that can be as critical as it was in the 60s if the taxpayers fund true Research and Exploration.

The attachment is a photo I took at the Shuttle STS-130 launch – Caption: “Reaction when told about the President’s NASA directive to abandon manned spaceflight”.

As always, I am ok with the distribution of my thoughts without limitation.

While I usually offer candid remarks at the drop of the hat, I am not interested in Congressional testimony, since under duress I occasionally have been known to blurt out the truth. I have no interest in being in the same room with John Holdren….. Taking a line from a very old play: “I must turn away, least I soil my hands with the blood of a fool”

Burt Rutan

___

Ref. February 26, 2010. ”Burt Rutan Issues Clarification on Wall Street Journal Remarks” (http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=30293)

Recently, he gave a interview to the Wall Street Journal which “cherry-pick” his comments to A Mr. Thomas M. Culligan, a assistant to Congressman Frank R. Wolf of VA.

Since Mr. Rutan doesn’t want anything of hsi statement taken out of context, it is posted below. The original link is in the Ref. section.

Burt Rutan has released a statement saying the Wall Street Journal “chose to cherry-pick and misquote my comments to Cong. Wolf.”

“To my friends in the Press…

Burt Rutan

Thomas M. Culligan

Congressional Appropriations Legislative Assistant

The Hon. Frank R. Wolf (VA-10)

Tom,

Imagine how much better America could motivate our youth if we were spending the billions of Stimulus Package money on making real progress in our efforts to someday colonize off the planet.

The attachment is a photo I took at the Shuttle STS-130 launch – Caption: “Reaction when told about the President’s NASA directive to abandon manned spaceflight”.

As always, I am ok with the distribution of my thoughts without limitation.

Burt Rutan

___

Ref. February 26, 2010. ”Burt Rutan Issues Clarification on Wall Street Journal Remarks” (http://www.comspacewatch.com/news/viewpr.rss.html?pid=30293)

Climategate Scientist Admits NO Global Warming Since 1995!

admin — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:44:14 +0000

Professor Phil Jones it seems is being passed off as some sort of absentminded professor type. Quoting the article: “The academic at the centre of the ‘Cimategate’ affair, whose raw data is crucial to the theory of climate change, has admitted that he has trouble ‘keeping track’ of the information.” And this as well, ” Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is ‘not as good as it should be’.

Professor Jones has stepped down as director of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit.

For more details, please read the article. (link below).

___

Ref: The Daily Mail. February 14, 2010. By Jonathan Petre (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1250872/Climategate-U-turn-Astonishment-scientist-centre-global-warming-email-row-admits-data-organised.html)

And this as well, ” Professor Jones told the BBC yesterday there was truth in the observations of colleagues that he lacked organisational skills, that his office was swamped with piles of paper and that his record keeping is ‘not as good as it should be’.

Professor Jones has stepped down as director of the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit.

For more details, please read the article. (link below).

___

SUPPORT CONSTELLATION

admin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:32:15 +0000

Those of you who are Star Trek fans should know the name of the artist that was with the Next Generation era tv programs – Michael Okuda. Remember those fantastic display panels? They were given the name “Okudagrams” in honor of him.

Anyway, he has his own website and today, I stopped in and found this: Support Constellation.

The current PROPOSED Federal budget for 2011 will basically drop the return to the moon program from NASA’s budget. Instead, while NASA will get additional funding, none of it will go to the Constellation program.

Longtime readers of either of my blogs such as this one or my other one (http://aerospacedreams.blogspot.com/) know that I am not too happy with the Apollo on steroids program. While in principle, I agree with President Obama that private industry should step up and build vehciles that can take our astronauts up to the international space station (such as SpaceX’s proposed Dragon capasule); to simply drop what has been done for Constellation is bad news.

I support the Jupiter Booster plan that NASA engineers have proposed using as much common hardware from the shuttle program as possible for our boosters. I suppot ‘man rating’ the modern Delta and Atlas boosters that we currently are using now.

And when in the future, Virgin Galactic – when they get tired of just doing sub-orbital flights and want to go all the way up into orbit.

Anyway, please visit the Okuda’s website for supporting the Constellation Program.

___

Ref. (www.supportconstellation.com)

Anyway, he has his own website and today, I stopped in and found this: Support Constellation.

And when in the future, Virgin Galactic – when they get tired of just doing sub-orbital flights and want to go all the way up into orbit.

Anyway, please visit the Okuda’s website for supporting the Constellation Program. Also, this is the previous article that I posted on this subject matter here on The Shanks Dimension (http://www.theshanksdimension.com/2010/01/back-stabber-in-chief-no-more-moon-program/).

___

Ref. (www.supportconstellation.com)

Back Stabber In Chief! No More Moon Program

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 05:14:10 +0000

If the Back Stabber in Chief (aka President Barrack H. Obama) gets his way – Project Orion/Aries is toast!

Part of it was expected (try and get private companies to come up with transportation vehicles that seats can be leased out to NASA for a lot cheaper rates than what the Russians are going to be charging the United States of America to send astronauts up to the International Space Station (ISS).

His current plan is NO lunar landers.

No moon bases…

Really, no Constellation program at all. Basically, all he wants NASA to do is Earth-science projects only like monitoring climate change. And to take on a new technology research and development program that will one day make human exploration of asteroids and the inner solar system possible.

Believe it or not, hope actually lies in Congress to revent this outrage!

Quote: Last year, lawmakers prohibited NASA from canceling any Constellation programs and starting new ones in their place unless the cuts were approved by Congress. The provision sends a “direct message that the Congress believes Constellation is, and should remain, the future of America’s human space flight program,” wrote U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., last month.

This blogger likes the idea of private industry taking on the role of taxi service to the space station, other low earth orbit missions. But the ultimate goals of the moon and Mars should still be in the government sights.

The way things are going for the USA right now, China and India will get to the moon before we can go back there. This upsets me personally and should upset ALL Americans. But hey, we CAN NOT interfer with “American Idol” now, can we?!

Ref. Orlando Sentinel, January 27, 2010. By Robert Block & Mark K. Matthews. “Obama amis to ax moon mission”

(http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-no-moon-for-nasa-20100126,0,2770904.story).

If the Back Stabber in Chief (aka President Barrack H. Obama) gets his way – Project Orion/Aries is toast!

His current plan is NO lunar landers.

No moon bases…

Believe it or not, hope actually lies in Congress to revent this outrage!

UPDATE (January 28, 2010): This bit of news came my way today. Also from the Orlando Sentinel, the last paragraph of a article they posted today. Quote: Already lawmakers are preparing to fight Obama’s NASA plan. On Wednesday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R- Texas, said she would introduce a bill that would force NASA to fly additional shuttle flights beyond the final five now scheduled while NASA works on developing the next generation space vehicle.

UPDATE: (February 8, 2010). Check out this latest post of mine relating to this subject matter (http://www.theshanksdimension.com/2010/02/support-constellation/) .

Ref. Orlando Sentinel, January 27, 2010. By Robert Block & Mark K. Matthews. “Obama amis to ax moon mission”

(http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-no-moon-for-nasa-20100126,0,2770904.story).

IS there a Doctor in the Country?

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:00:13 +0000

For what it is worth – I received a email overnight that after reading, I had to post it here. Culture Crisis is correct and Dr. Starner Jones is one of the foot soldiers in the HealthCare Battle. Below is the email that I received….

Subject: Culture Crisis

Please meet Dr Starner Jones from Jackson , Mississippi . [see photo below].

His short 2-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a “Culture Crisis” instead of a “Health Care Crisis”. Its worth a quick read:

Starner Jones, MD

I am a seventh generation Mississippian and wanted to come back here after going somewhere else for college and medical school.. My extracurricular interests are golf, hunting, fishing and college football.

Dear Sirs:

“During my last night’s shift in the ER, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient with an expensive shiny gold tooth, multiple elaborate expensive tattoos, a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and a new cellular telephone equipped with her favorite R&B tune for a ringtone.. Glancing over the chart, one could not help noticing her payer status: Medicaid. She smokes more than one costly pack of cigarettes every day and, somehow, still has money to buy beer..

And our Congress expects me to pay for this woman’s health care? Our nation’s health care crisis is not a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. It is a crisis of culture ˜ a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on vices while refusing to take care of one’s self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance.. A culture that thinks “I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me”.. Life is really not that hard. Most of us reap what we sow. Don’t you agree?

STARNER JONES, MD

Jackson , MS

–

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one

useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more

is a Congress. — John Adam

For what it is worth – I received a email overnight that after reading, I just had to post it here. Culture Crisis is correct and Dr. Starner Jones is one of the foot soldiers in the Health Care Battle. Below is the email that I received….

Subject: Culture Crisis

Please meet Dr Starner Jones from Jackson , Mississippi .

His short 2-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a “Culture Crisis” instead of a “Health Care Crisis”. Its worth a quick read:

Starner Jones, MD

Dear Sirs:

STARNER JONES, MD

Jackson , MS

–

In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress. — John Adam.

Star Trek Political Parody – Obama Doomsday Borg Machine

admin — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 04:14:28 +0000

This little “adaption” of a famous Star Trek episode is simply AWESOME! The “Doomsday” episode has always been one of my favorites. And now this political parody has come to my attention. President Obama is the Doomsday Machine with a bit of Borg tossed in to add some spice.

I discovered this through a link from the Jawa Report. That’s why I recommend you go to this site and scroll through the pictures. Its on the Doug Ross blog. It was posted back on February 16, 2009.

Its a fine parody.

___

Ref. Doug Ross (http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2009/02/star-trek-doomsday-machine.html). Image of Obama in Bridge view screen comes from this website.

The Jawa Report (http://mypetjawa.mu.nu/archives/200235.php)

A Cold Laugh on the Greenies!

admin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:57:00 +0000

Irony. Don’t you just love irony. And when it comes to sticking it back at the Greenies (i.e. Climategate) – I love it all the more so.

In the United Kingdom, a electric train was disabled by snow and ice. 100 passengers were stranded. From out of the 1940 tech era came their rescuer – a steam engine called the Tornado.

I love this story. I work in a call center that handles troubleshooting calls from people who have VOIP phone service through a major cable tv company. One that has recently purchased a tv network. Anyway, one of the many, many questions I get from the customers is why is their phone going out all the time.

There are many valid reasons for that to happen. But I look on those questions and in the back of my mind I am thinking, “Just because it says digital on it doesn’t always mean its better.”

Again, I just love irony.

Ref. Gizmodo.(http://gizmodo.com/5434725/antique-steam-engine-rescues-passengers-after-electric-trains-fail-in-the-bitter-cold). image also came from this website.

Irony. Don’t you just love irony. And when it comes to sticking it back at the Greenies (i.e. Climategate) – I love it all the more so.

In the United Kingdom recently, an electric train was disabled by snow and ice. 100 passengers were stranded. From out of the 1940 tech era came their rescuer – a steam engine called the Tornado.

I love this story. I work in a call center that handles troubleshooting calls from people who have VOIP phone service through a major cable tv company. One that has recently purchased a tv network. Anyway, one of the many, many, questions I get from the customers is why is their phone keeps going out all the time.

There are many valid reasons for that to happen-mostly weather related. Then equipment does wear out and needs replacing. But I look on those questions and in the back of my mind I am thinking, “Just because it says digital on it doesn’t always mean its better.”

So a steam engine saves the day. Thats great.

Again, I just love irony.

Ref. Gizmodo.(http://gizmodo.com/5434725/antique-steam-engine-rescues-passengers-after-electric-trains-fail-in-the-bitter-cold). image also came from this website.

Avatar – Good or Bad for America?

admin — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:12:19 +0000

Lets get something straight right up front. This is the biggest 3d movie-ever! Director John Cameron has something to be very proud of.

I both love and hate this movie. But, more on that later.

Lets get something straight right up front. This is the biggest 3d movie-ever! Director John Cameron has something to be very proud of. I both love and hate this movie. But, more on that later.

Technically, it is the most inspiring work ever. When view the movie through the 3d glasses (which were included in the price of the ticket), you actually felt like you were in that jungle, that room, flying on the back of a dragon-like creature. In the movie previews, other pictures will soon be using this format. ITs here to stay.

And 20th Century Fox announched on December 20, 2009, that the movie has taken in $159.18 million dollars internationally. Here in the USA, Avatar took in $73 million. That is a worldwide total of $232.18 million dollars. And 20th Century Fox added that this was the highest take for a orignial, non-sequel, non-franchise, opening weekend ever.

John Cameron helped with the creation of the Fusion Camera System technology that allows for photo-realistic computer-generated characters though motion captur animation. The script for Avatar was written back in the mid-1990s with Stan Winston who co-founded Digital Domain.

Heres the overall plot for the movie (Spoiler Alert): Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), is a former U.S. Marine who was wounded and paralyzed from the waist down in combat on Earth. Jake is selected to participate in the Avatar program, which will enable him to walk again.

Pandora, is a lush jungle-covered extraterrestrial moon filled with incredible life forms, some beautiful, many terrifying. It is also the home to the Na’vi, a sentient humanoid race, who are considered primitive, yet are more physically capable than humans. Standing ten feet tall, they have tails and a sparkling blue skin, the Na’vi live in harmony with their unspoiled world. As the evil humans encroach deeper into Pandora’s forests in search of valuable minerals, the Na’vi unleash their formidable warrior abilities to defend their threatened existence.

Sully has unwittingly been recruited to become part of this encroachment. Since humans are unable to breathe the air on Pandora, they have created genetically-bred human-Na’vi hybrids which are known as Avatars. Through his Avatar body, Jake Sully is able to walk again. Sent deep into Pandora’s jungles as a scout for the soldiers that will follow, Jake encounters many of Pandora’s mystery’s-many are beautiful and deadly. There he runs into a young Na’vi female, Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldaña-”Uhura” in J.J. Abrams Star Trek).

Over time, Sully integrates himself into the Na’vi clan, and begins to fall in love with Neytiri. As a result, he finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth(i.e America) and the Na’vi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of the Na’vi and their moon.

Now for what I hate about this film. The plot is old and tired. Instead of Ewoks fighting against the evil empire, we have these giant blue smurfs-the Na’vi. Or we have the American Indian fighting back and winning this time (or if you insist on being Politically Correct – a Native American. I’m a Native American too! I just don’t have any Indian blood in me. But that’s a pet peeve of mine as far as the whole concept of folks who use the words “Native American” and the way its used by those who do love to be oh so Politically Correct).

The humans are the enemy.

And I will point this out-ALL the evil humans I saw in that movie all seemed to be Americans only! I didn’t see other nations taking part in mining the moon Pandora. So – in a way, this flick was a hit against America in general. I mean, we’ve (i.e. Americans) been doing the universe wrong ever since the evil white man robbed the Indians of their land ever since Columbus discovered the damn place. For Hollywood, America is evil. That also plays into the tired old plot line that is the basis of this post and what I am so sick and tired of. And this American is sick and tired of Hollywood’s BS view of this nation.

Corporations are evil (not that they are angels – don’t get me wrong on this). I’m 50 years old now and I’m tired of this same old plot line in the movies that Hollywood dumps on us for the past 25, 40 years or so. In talking with my friends after the release of this movie, I did hear great praise for this movie. But I asked them if they even noticed the old plot line. I even used the Ewoks vs. the Empire as an example. They did – but I guess I’m the only one who gives a damn. I then asked them wouldn’t it be wonderful if just once, we had a Hollywood movie come out where the corporation wasn’t evil. I used the example of it’ll be like the Godfather escaping at the end of the first Godfather movie. I remember that when THAT movie came out, the critics flipped cause he did escape at the end. And in full disclosure – I have never watch ANY of the Godfather movies all the way through. I’ve seen bits and pieces on cable – but those type of movies never hold my attention.

So, if corporations are evil, is James Cameron going to return his money to 20th Century Fox? No. In fact, if he did, everybody would think he was insane.

Bottomline, from a technical point of view – Avatar scored a perfect 100! For the underlying plot that moved the story along, I have my doubts.

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REF (http://cinema.theiapolis.com/movie-0BE4/avatar/storyline.html).

(http://www.deadline.com/hollywood/first-word-avatar-midnights-only-3-million-even-with-higher-3d-ticket-prices-hollywood-now-predicting-85m-weekend/)