Blasted

Once upon a time, I wanted to be an astronaut. It was my dream for a good 9 years or so. Upon graduation from Northwestern, I had a series of interviews with NASA Marshall. They even flew me down for an interview. In the end, though they were intent on hiring me, they were prevented from making an offer due to the restructuring NASA was undergoing at the time. (Thanks a lot Bush!) Instead, I went off to grad school in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. But as time went on, I became more and more disillusioned with NASA. Rojas got a job at NASA Langley and rarely had positive reports about the work environment. Not to mention the fact that a couple years ago I discovered I am ineligible to be an astronaut based on my poor vision. (You don't have to have perfect vision - but it has to be within a certain range. Mine is not. However I knew that. What I didn't know until a few years ago was that getting laser eye surgery to bring me within this range would in fact disqualify me from candidacy.) Anyhow - the point of all this is merely to say that another news story has eroded my faith in NASA...

Drunken astronauts reportedly allowed to fly.

Pearls Before Breakfast

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
-- from "Leisure," by W.H. Davies

Some of you may have already caught wind of this story - others perhaps not. But as I've finally finished reading the entire article (it's admittedly kind of long), I felt I had to share it with you all. A few weeks ago the Washington Post ran an article about an experiment they conducted in which one of the world's most renowned classical musicians (Joshua Bell) performed in disguise at a Metro station in Washington, D.C.

The idea was to see how many people - despite being busy and on their way to work - would recognize the high quality of the music they were hearing. Would they be willing to take a few moments from their day to appreciate truly beautiful art? Or would they walk by oblivious to what they were missing?

I'm sad to say, the latter scenario is what unfolded. Over the course of 45 minutes, more than 1000 people passed by indifferent - perhaps even intentionally ignoring. Only a handful of people so much as looked his way - let alone stopped and listened. The article is truly fascinating, if sad. I'd like to think I would have been the kind of person who would stop. But then again I'm also not the kind of person who would ever live in D.C.

A moment of Blog silence

I intended to post earlier this week. But somehow I haven't been able to find the words.

Should I post about how UVA has reacted to the tragedy at Tech? After all, Tech is just a couple hours down the road. Many of us - myself included - have friends who go there. It's impossible to not feel the immense impact this has had at UVA - even on the grad student population. It's incredible to think how easily it could have happened here instead of there.

Should I post an engineering-oriented comedic rant about the inefficiency of straws and dedicate it to the victims? Perhaps they would have found it funny.

Should I post about how once again I am faced with the question of why the second amendment is so damned important to people in modern America? I can see how the right to own a firearm was necessary back in the days of the founding fathers. It's probably much easier to shoot your dinner with a rifle than with a bow and arrow (or worse yet, catch it with some clever rope-snare). But what on earth do we need them for now? Oh right, fun - and protection I guess. The Expert has said he wants to own one in case he is ever robbed. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but I've been on this earth for 25 years and yet to have my home broken into. Personally, I'd feel much safer if the police were the only ones with the guns. I'll defend my home with a baseball bat and an imitation Albert Pujols swing.

In the end, nothing I can say will be appropriate. Nothing a fitting enough tribute to honor these lives. I hope each of you has taken the time to read the short bios of the victims. I've found I can only read a few at a time. And finally, since all I have been able to write is that I'm not sure what to write, I'll quote the only source I know that can offer peace amidst such agony.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
Psalms 42:5

The LORD is close to the brokenhearted
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Psalms 34:18

You and your third dimension

Wow.
Just...
Wow.

Read this.

We are Mooninites from the inner core of the moon.
Our race is hundreds of years beyond yours.
Some would say that the Earth is our moon.
But that would belittle the name of our moon, which is: The Moon.
Point is: we're at the center, not you.

Are you not entertained?

First off, I'd like to say I'm disappointed at the lack of audience participation this week. I was really excited to hear what some of you would say if you were the first person on Mars (cough cough Dubs cough Sandals). But I guess ya'll weren't interested. Well perhaps you'd rather I blog about politics....

Uh... the state of the union happened this week. It .. uh... was boring and I left after the first half and went to South Street for a beer instead.

Or maybe I could blog about the news...

A U.N. panel on climate change is set to give its strongest warning yet that human use of fossil fuels is stoking global warming. Of course this is nothing new to me, but I know I'll probably get posts from a relative or two telling me that the consensus of the 2,500 scientists who drafted this report is grossly exaggerated by the liberal media and that no credible link has yet been made between human actions and global climate change. Then if I really wanted to make them mad at me, I'd drop links like these on them: One Two (three?)

Or I could blog about sports...

...that is... once spring training begins. God how I miss baseball.

Maybe I'll just stick to what I'm best at - blogging about nonsense...

I hate umbrellas and here are some reasons why:

1. It's another thing you have to carry around with you... just in case.
2. They don't even do that great of a job usually. Your upper third perhaps stays a little drier but the rest of you still gets wet. The only way to get proper coverage is with an enormous umbrella which leads to...
3. They are unwieldy in windy situations. You have to hang on so tight it's not even worth the struggle. I let go of an umbrella in a storm a few years ago and haven't used one since. I just gave up on them.
   
4. It's just freaking water! We bathe in the stuff. We drink it. We're 80% made up of it. Why are we suddenly so scared of it?
5. Wear a freaking rain coat. Most people already are wearing one in a rainy situation - so what's the purpose of an umbrella? Oh right, you forgot how to use the HOOD.

I have spoken.

a One that is not cold, is scarcely a One at all

Just a quick addendum to yesterday's post regarding fast food. Coincidence or not, I found it humorous that yesterday two stories broke in the news regarding health scares and food chains. Taco Bell had an E. coli outbreak spanning three states. And now it seems Jamba Juice is concerned about smoothies contaminated with deadly bugs! I suppose that isn't funny after all.

In other obscure news, some crazy lady shot her husband for serving her a warm beer. I guess us St. Louisans really do love our cold brews. She must be a strict student of the property of ones. You know...the ONE^itude is directly proportional to the Cold^itude of the ONE. What confuses me is - this was a house that has been without power due to the recent ice storms. The house must have been freezing! How did the beer get warm? If nothing else, set it on the porch or something! Also, this other crazy lady had her son arrested for playing with his Christmas present before Christmas.

Anyhow, sorry for the news-link post. I won't make a habit of it. I promise my next post will be more irrelevant.