THE END OF AN ERA -- THE "BENEDICT" PAGES

So, my readers...this is my last "official" entry for my class.

I want to thank Jeff Benedict for encouraging me throughout his class to learn to appreciate the world around me a little bit more, and to know how to became an active observer of what is going on in today's world.

All of my postings up until this point are now officially dubbed the "Benedict" pages.

The class was a glorious challenge and I feel that it stretched my "thinking muscles" and strengthened me in ways that I never would have thought of.  He managed to take me down from my permanent location of sitting on the fence and actually make decisions and points, and forced me to learn how to defend my side.  This is something that I've never been comfortable with, but now that I know how to jump down from off of that post, I think I'll do it a little bit more.

Jumping fences is more fun than just sitting on them and watch others jump them.  I used to think that jumping fences was boring and tiring, that there was no point in tiring one's self out with all of that ridiculous leaping and frolicking.

However, I've discovered that it's not tiring.  It is a constant recharging that comes with each leap and bound over to the field on the other side of that fence...but every now and again, I need to sit on that fence-post and remind myself that I will always, at heart, be an extreme objectivist...

(Except when it comes to horses)

Over and out.

Without Reservation

So, I read a book recently that raised my hackles.  It was called "Without Reservation", by Jeff Benedict.

Apparently, these days, in order to form a tribe it's as easy as forming a club.  If I start ranting now, I'll never stop, so let me get straight to the point:  the government is stupid.

This might be a blatant and outrageous thing to say, but after reading about all of the things that they allowed, I have lost my faith entirely in the system.  They know that the documents "supporting" the tribe's "heritage" have been tampered with to make it look like they have native blood in them of a certain tribe...which they don't.  And they don't do anything about it.

I just, I just...

Why?  Why do I even bother put any trust in the government, or in those that claim to uphold the law for the people?

I had to write an essay explaining how I thought that one of three men was the most influential on getting the Foxwoods casino off the ground (which is kinda what the book was about), and I just simply got disgusted about half-way through writing it.  I also got disgusted about haf-way reading through the book.  I finished the book, but I was sick to my stomach as I read through the rest of it.

How can people believe all of this stuff?  It just...sickens and apalls me that people actually believe this stuff, and manage to convince themselves they're doing good.

Every person involved was either in it for money or for....wait, no, money just about sums it up.

I guess I went on a rant/tangent anyways.  Well, I tried to contain myself, but this kind of stuff just makes me sick, as I said earlier.  I just can't stand it.

Can you?

America Falling Behind?

I have read that America is falling behind in testing.  Yes, that's right.  The great United States is falling behind other countries...and I have a theory as to why that's happening.

Because of the media and what we see on a day to day basis, we've discovered that you don't have to be educated to make lots and lots of money.  Look at today's reality television stars who have made ridiculous amounts of money without having to have any sort of education.  They're simply themselves and they get paid to do it in front of lots of other people.

When mind-sets like this start to settle in, we develop a laziness that is practically an epidemic.  No one is free from it.  No one.

We trun on the television and we're hit with television shows that tell us that we don't really need to work to be rich or famous.  All we have to do is worry about ourselves and do whatever we gosh darn well want, and things will eventually work out.  This is another reason why exercising has also gone down the drain.  We don't want to do all of that hard work, and this is the same with school.  When we have everything at our fingertips, we begin to think that we shouldn't have to work hard in order to get things, but all this truly leads to is an unhealthy mind-set that hard work is old-fashioned.

Because of this mind-set, we are practically encouraging kids to cheat their way through school and not put any effort into the learning process.  When we let them think that this is okay, we are degrading the values that our nation was founded on.

The idea that hard work can get you anywhere is true, but the problem is no one seems to want to put in the effort to do so, which is what is causing our gradual downslide in testing and in almost every other aspect in our lives.

This is an epidemic.  It's called...

Laziness.

I was once a victim, and I admit that I'm still recovering from it, but it can be cured.  I was put through a series of harsh wake-up calls about my life in order to notice it and catch it in time, but at least I finally noticed it.  I was raised in a family where hard work was a part of our daily lives, and my parents enforced it, but I'm just now understanding what it truly means.

It means this:

Get up and be productive, gosh darnit!!

The link to the New York Times article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/opinion/28friedman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Forced Prostitution?

I read an article on the New York Times website and was shocked at what I had discovered.

Some young girls are forced into prostitution in order to pay off their smuggling debts in order to get into the United States in order to have a chance at a normal life with a normal career.  This story that I read just about made me livid!

Someone forcing someone else to sell their body for sex on a regular basis in order to pay off a debt needs to be in prison, at least.

Read the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/opinion/28kristof.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Tolstoy's Centennial

So the centennial of Leo Tolstoy's death was celebrated (or mourned?), and as I read the article that was written about him, I will admit to the fact that I cried.

Although I've never read any of his works, I can still appreciate one of the greatest writers of our time.  I can understand how he thought.  He once said,

“The aim of an artist is not to solve a problem irrefutably, but to make people love life in all its countless, inexhaustible manifestations.”

And even though his thoughts became those of helplessness later on in his life, I believe wholeheartedly on this one.  Being someone who is an artist and loves to create in almost every sense of the word, I agree that an artist's job is to show the world how to love life in all of its' aspects.


Although Tolstoy was a novelist and a crusader, he still remained incredibly influential on the people of the time.  All the way from Ghandi to the czar himself, he will remain, at least in my book, one of the most influential writers of our modern day.

My Favorite Book

I was starting an assignment for my Approaches to Literature class, and I got the chance to use a book that I haven't read in a long time, but has been a favorite of mine for years. It's called The Music of the Dolphins, and it's written by Karen Hesse.

The book can be read in just a couple of hours by almost anyone, but it has one of the most haunting messages in it that I've ever come across.  There's a link to the first twenty-seven pages of it, and to a couple of reviews down at the bottom of the article.

Although many people might find the book to be almost mind-numbingly simple in the beginning, it still has something to it that I feel holds a very deep meaning.  In a review on the back from the School Library Journal, they say that it is "Haunting and unforgettable."

I remember what first caught my eye to this book when I was younger: I saw the cover.  That was all that it took to capture me, and that was how I bought most books.  If the book cover caught my eye, then that meant that the story must be good as well.  The picture gave me an image for the story and caught my attention.

(It didn't hurt that I was absolutely obsessed with animals, dolphins being one of my favorites)

Doing this essay brought back memories for me, and I felt that I should share these thoughts with you.  I would recommend this book to everyone, and feel that it is a must read.  Please read it and enjoy Karen Hesse's writing as much as I have.

http://books.google.com/books?id=EZ0rlycAwRwC&lpg=PP1&ots=4neTIoiB0i&dq=music%20of%20the%20dolphins%20by%20karen%20hesse&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false



From Teen Idols to...Something Else

So...  I came across a slideshow that showed a few teen idols in their before and after shots.  And by that I mean showing the difference from when they originally started to who they are now.  I'm disappointed.

I came across one that showed Christina Aguilera and I was...well, not shocked because I'd heard and seen a few things, but I was, as I said before, disappointed.  She was an amaizng singer with such raw talent, but now her talent has been changed into selling sex in music and in what she wears.  This seems to be a trend among many female stars who start out young.

Because I've seen this, it reminds me that if I ever do record anything and sell it (my fingers are crossed!), that I don't want to become that way.  I want to stick to my morals and to the real reason why I do music.  I do it because I love it!  The real reason why these girls started has been lost throughout the years, and I grieve for the young girls that they left behind.  They've lost a part of themselves that they'll never really get back because of what the world now knows them to be.

Because their' focus has shifted, so has their' image, and this is sadly a common trend among almost all stars in the entertainment industry today.  I mean, think of the most wholesome actress or singer that you can think of, within the past fifteen or twenty years, and then look them up on google images.  I will bet you that you will eventually find some scandalously trampy photo, of some kind, of them. 

I just wonder as to how they live with that, knowing that there are people that see them only in one way: a sex symbol.

I hope that we can still have some artists that stick to the real reason as to why they got into music in the first place: for the music.

Intelligence or Beauty? Never Knew There Was A Choice...

In an opinion column on the New York Times website, an articel by Maureen Dowd, called "Making Ignorance Chic", had me very worried.

There are two main stereotypes for women (at least, most of the time): the smart ones and the pretty ones.  There are, of course, many exceptions to this rule, however the problem seems to be that many poeple don't realize that these exceptions exist.  A man sees a pretty blonde waitressing and he might assume that she'll make an easy date (at the least).  However, what he might not know is that she's working on getting her graduate degree in political studies and has the highest grade point average in her class.

A really good example of this comes from an episode of Bones that I watched not too long ago.  Dr. Temperance Brennan (Bones) and Agent Seeley Booth go to a strip club in order to find out some information and end up talking to one of the lap dancers.  As they talk to her they explain they're investigating a homicide and she replies that of course she'll comply and talk to them.  Then she mentions that she's going to school and aced her Criminology class.  The reaction from Booth is one of surprise, but of course Dr. Brennan is less objectifying and merely aceepts it.

However, it provides the example that you can be smart and still be pretty.  Labels and stereotyping started as soon as we started school when we were little.  We grew up doing it, without ever truly realizing it.  WE are the ones responsible for this idea, not others.  However, I think that we can break this habit if we just tweaked our perspective on these kinds of things.  So...

Here's to everybody!

The link for the article mentioned above is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/opinion/20dowd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Cheerleaders in Politics?

Reading an article on the New York Times website, I was slightly frightened.  An article by Maureen Dowd, called "Playing All the Angles", gave me a new perspective on the type of women that are now in politics.

Remember that girl in your high school?  The one that seemed to have everything?  She was head cheerleader, she dated the most athletic guy in school, whether it was football or basketball, or even the swim team captain, it didn't really matter.  What mattered was that she was the girl that everyone wanted to know, even though she was probably the worst person you could be around in order to make yourself feel better.  She was the one who put down the people who actually liked school and cared about things other than her dating life.  The kind of girls that I've always tried to avoid in life.

Well...apparently they're showing up in politics.  Is anyone else absolutely terrified?  Maybe they've been there for a while, and I just haven't noticed.  Cleverly disguising themselves in professional pantsuits and elegantly understated makeup, while at the same time speaking those words that have come from their lips for years, only now they're getting paid to do the only thing that they know how to do: Speaking the same taunting words that gave them their status at the top of the totem pole in high school, and now is giving them their new found position.

The article was a fascinating read, and almost had me grinning in several parts, and I found myself nodding at certain sections, realizing that I knew exactly what she was talking about.  Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/opinion/17dowd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Books...the New Technology

So, in response to what someone said on my most recent post, I would like to address something that is very important to me.  The power of the book.

A long time ago (about 9 years ago), I read a book that was done from an alien's point of view.  In it, his culture was extremely advanced, but when he saw our books and computers he was confused.  He said that we had done everything backwards.  With computers there is a load time for a page of information, but with books it was instantaneous.  He thought that the book was a marvelous invention, but that we were backwards for thinking that computers were a progressive step forward...to him, it was a step backwards.

This is something that I feel is very true.  To quote a dialogue from a favorite show of mine...

"Honestly, what is it about them that bothers you so much?"

"The smell."

"Computers don't smell, Rupert."

"I know! Smell is the most powerful trigger to the memory there is. A certain flower or a, a whiff of smoke can bring up experiences...long forgotten. Books smell...musty and, and, and, and rich. The knowledge gained from a computer, is, uh, it... it has no, no texture, no, no context. It's, it's there and then it's gone. If it's to last, then, then the getting of knowledge should be, uh, tangible, it should be, um... smelly."

What is spoken here is, surprisingly enough, fact.  It has been scientifically proven that the sense of smell is our strongest sense, especially when it comes to memory.  Think about it... a whiff of a certain smell, such as oranges, can bring up a memory of maybe a certain teacher who used to eat oranges all the time and you can suddenly hear their voice telling you some particular fact that you never would have remembered otherwise.

Just the other day, I smelled something, not sure what it was, and suddenly had a memory of when I was five years old, running around the back yard.  Whenever I smell black walnuts I remember when I was three years old and went to a preschool where I first learned how to tie my own pony-tail and where a friend taught me how to hang upside down on the monkey bars.

Learning from books is more tactile and lets us remember things in a way that we can't with a computer.  I believe in this whole-heartedly, which is why I will always have books.  In a way, those who learn through reading books are the more technologically advanced.

So, keep reading my friends.

"The Social Network" or Not?

So...there have been a ridiculous number of reviews on this movie.  I have not yet seen it, but the more and more I hear about it, the more I've felt that I've already seen it.

Unlike many other college students, I only text when I have to, only check my facebook about once a month, and I've never "tweeted" in my life.  My mom e-mails more than I do, and I have no desire to take photos of every event that I go to and put them all up on my facebook page.

I do not own an iPhone.  In fact, my phone doesn't even have internet, and I have my original ring-tone that I've had since the beginning.  I've owned it for four years.

The movie, "The Social Network", seems to merely explain how it all got started, but the truth is there has always been a form of it in one way or another.  Instead of listening to the local gossip and knowing who to talk to, now it's just "go on facebook".  It's a way of making things worse, I feel, and it honestly scares me as to how much interaction people do over the computer.

My friends and I don't e-mail each other, and we never text each other.  Over the summer, we have virtually no contact with one another, but when we see each other again, we get along as though no time has passed.  Hard to believe, I know, but none of us like to.  We are an anomaly in this generation.  All of us prefer face-to-face interaction.  And because of the way I was raised, I know, for a fact, that nearly all communication, real and honest communication, is communicated nonverbally.  That's right.

By limiting our communication to the computer, we are completely cutting ourselves off and destroying an important part of the human experience.  It's called the human experience for a reason.  Because we talk *directly* to people.  People wonder why marriage is dwindling and divorce is increasing...well, here's one of the reasons. 

People think that sending a text to your boyfriend or girlfriend saying that you love them is considered an interaction for the day, so when two people try to actually talk face-to-face they don't know how to act because they don't know what to do.  They have no clue how to *read* the other person.  My mom has taught me all about this, and I completely agree with her.  We are losing something so important, but the sad part is that people don't even realize it.  In a few generations, talking will cease to exist, and all communications will be done through computers.

To me, that is absolutely horrifying.

So, my advice is this... TALK TO SOMEONE!! (without using any electronics)

What's the Issue With Birth Control?

So, I read an article on the New York Times website that bothered me...

It addressed the issue that there is more research being done on things such as baldness then there is being done on serious issues as birth control.  I believe in birth control, but at the same time, I have a firm belief that within marriage it isn't always necessary.  I believe that children have a right to come into this world, and coming up with more effective ways to prevent that is only going to convince those who are married to not have children due to "expenses".

The full article discussed ways that other countires were going about it, and though it is rather interesting, I would advise reading the entire article before saying that it's a great idea.  The link is below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/26/opinion/26kristof.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Man's Best Friends Being Recognized

So...  Here's something extremely cool, pardon the pun.  In the expedition to the South Pole in 1911-1912, they used ponies and dogs to help them along the way, and now they are finally being officially recognized.

Something that is rather neat is the fact that they've found out the actual names of some of these animals, and air controllers use their' names as way point names in recent years.  Of course some of the names have been shortened to fit the five letter code that radio controllers use, but nonetheless, it is rather amazing.

Here's a link to the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/science/28polar.html?ref=science

Computers of the Modern Age

So...

They say that computers of the modern age, specifically laptops, are supposed to be so tricky to understand and fix, that you need people who are educated in nothing but computers in order to fix things for you.

Well...according me, not necessarily.  You see, I've had problems with the clicker on my laptop mouse for about two, maybe two and a half years now, and today, when my center click failed and I had no way to work on my computer, I decided to do something about it.

I took it apart and examined it.  Well, how about that?  The inner workings were merely gummed up a bit...looked like some crumbs had gotten in there.  Proabably from my freshman year of college when I was at WVU and had an addiction to jalapeno flavored Pringles.  So, I pulled out some cleaner and a paper clip (for those pesky small places), and within fifteen minutes...VOILA!  And then, I put it back together again, perfectly.

So there, modern age of computers.  How do you like that?  That's right. I, Elise, have fixed part of my computer.  So maybe it was just a mouse, but after two years of listening to my step-dad tell me that I needed to take it to be fixed, I did it myself!

(And I fixed my center-click, too!)

Sex Ads on Craigslist?

So, here's shocker for you.  As I was looking through the New York Times website, I came across this article, titled "Craigslist Has Said It Has Shut Its Section for Sex-Ads".

Now, how would you react to a title like that?

Let's say that I had the same reaction that you did, and leave it at that.

I had no idea that Craigslist even had a section like that on its website.  I was on there over the summer at one point, looking for a car, and I never even noticed.  You would think that something like that might stick out as it would be an unusual thing to be selling.  Yes, well, apparently Craigslist was expecting to make $44 million in revenue just from that this year, until they suddenly banned it.

Honestly, I don't know why they even let it exist in the first place.  It is wrong and...there are no words as to how wrong it is.  Read it for yourself on the website:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/16/business/16craigslist.html?ref=technology

No words...

Violence in Sports...and in Players

WOW! I just finished reading the book "Out of Bounds" by Jeff Bendict for the same class that I'm doing this blog for, and it was amazing.

I've never followed sports, but I have followed some crime, and I was still floored at the statistics of athletes as perpetrators of violence.  There were two articles by Jeff Benedict that appeared in Sports Illustrated, at least on their online postings.  Both of the articles speak about violence in sports, and an alarming statisic made itself known in one of them.

Did you know this crazy fact?

"So far this year through August, 125 college and professional football and basketball players have been arrested on serious charges.  By that I mean felonies or misdemeanors involving violence, weapons or substance abuse. That's pretty astounding. At this rate, the number will be up around 200 by year's end."


Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jeff_benedict/09/08/athletes.crime/index.html#ixzz0yyoOQB43

This was taken directly from the article, and it honestly scared me a little.  I am so very glad that I didn't stay at my previous university, because the chances of something violent with athletes happening there is extremely high.  The university I'm at now has high standards and I'm very grateful for that feeling of protection, unlike other universities.

However, I was unsurprised that it was common among athletes, especially pros.  It's a natural inclination of anyone who gets used to having such a nomadic life and having things handed to them on silver platters, figuratively and literally.  This merely enforces the idea that they can have anything that they want, especially with the money that they make.  In our modern society, money is everything.  It may be an awful thing to say, but the truth is, money can make lots of things go away, and these athletes believe in it.

Thankfully, though, there are still athletes who do understand consequences and responsibility.  These few are even more highly regarded, as they know not to use their positions of money and power in abusive ways.  We need athletes to understand a few things about responsibility, and not just get used to being handed things all of the time.

Well, I digress.  Tell me, what are your thoughts on the matter?

Money, Home, and Hearth

So...I was reading an article called, "The Gospel of Wealth" and the humor in the very beginning of it hit home to me, peronally, right off the bat. (see link below)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/opinion/07brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

The writer, David Brooks, says: 

"Maybe the first decade of the 21st century will come to be known as the great age of headroom. During those years, new houses had great rooms with 20-foot ceilings and entire new art forms had to be invented to fill the acres of empty overhead wall space.

People bought bulbous vehicles like Hummers and Suburbans. The rule was, The Smaller the Woman, the Bigger the Car — so you would see a 90-pound lady in tennis whites driving a 4-ton truck with enough headroom to allow her to drive with her doubles partner perched atop her shoulders.  When future archeologists dig up the remains of that epoch, they will likely conclude that sometime around 1996, the U.S. was afflicted by a plague of claustrophobia and drove itself bankrupt in search of relief."

As soon as I read this, I immediately thought of my mom.  We have two cars at out house.  Both of them are Toyotas.  One of them is a Tundra truck, the other is a Rav4.  My mom is petite.  Her favorite car is... Yep.  You guessed it.  The Tundra.

However, back to the article.  It continues on to speak of how, in recent years, we have shrunk back slightly from that idea and are moving towards more practical ways of living.  Although, I would have to disagree with what it says.

My brother, an architect, has worked on buildings for the modern age.  Today's age.  And things don't seem to be shrinking much...but they aren't expanding, either.  It's almost as though we have found a size that suits us, and we feel that we need the space as though it were a subconscious way of saying, 'This is my house, and, yes, I bought it with my own money.'  We use our houses as well as our churches to say, 'Look at me, look at my religion.  We have money, we have power...', but on the other hand we're still trying to say that we're humble.  Does something seem wrong with this picture?  It should.

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At my house, we have a book called The Not So Big House, by Sarah Susanka, and it explains how to use a smaller house to its' wonderful advantage.  You use it to the old adage..."A place for everything, and everything in its' place.", while at the same time, making feel as though it has space.

Recently, I lived in a house with a ridiculous amount of square footage...at least, for me and my parents.  The basement alone added 1,200 sqare feet. However, whenever we had the rest of the family there, it felt as though it was almost filled.  It was a modern house, which, if you pay attention, is made for hosting parties, for entertaining.  A large foyer and kitchen with an open layout to a living room is almost something that we expect to see, along with sideboard lighting, open floors, and large countertops.  All of this says one thing, 'I have money.'

However, my mom hated having all of the extra space because it was never used (though she still had to clean it, how it got dirty, I'll never know).  We recently moved to a house that is practically identical to our previous house in every way...except it's much smaller, and way more usable.  When a house is large, people tend to feel the need to fill it with things, unnecessary things, and waste money by doing so. When you take it down a few notches, you discover you don't need things...you only need what you need, and maybe a couple of things to make it your own.

This is the perfect example of how our society seems to change their values simply by their living space.  When I lived at the other house, it was very easy not to see each other the whole day except for at dinner and in the evening when we watched television.  Now, however, even when my mom and I are both on the computer, we can carry a conversation easily...even when one of us goes upstairs, we don't have to raise our voice very much to be heard, nor do we have to walk across the house. 

We have become stronger in our faith as well within the home.  We are more aware of each other, and notice the absence of someone in the home more easily; whereas, at the previous house someone could have left for a couple of hours and come back, and you wouldn't necessarily notice. (sorry, mommy, but it's true)  Brooks makes a good observation about our society, but I wouldn't take everything he says at face value.  Life in reference to space is changing, but it's not necessarily shrinking.  However, I doubt we'll fall back into old habits.  We've lived through it and we've learned...

...I hope.

NASA in Trouble?

I was on the New York Times website, when I came across a headline article in the Science section. It was talking about a rocket that NASA had developed many years ago, and had been used on the Challenger, but was now fixed up and modified for a new program.


I was curious about this because I know that Obama has been cutting back funding on NASA programs, and this one seemed relatively new. So, in curiosity, I e-mailed my step-dad, who works at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

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Here's what I e-mailed my step-dad:

"John--

What do you know about the Constellation project in relation to the new rocket that NASA has developed? I read an article recently in the New York Times about a new rocket motor that they've developed, even though in actuality it's an older model that they've improved on. Or, as the article said, "antiquated" version. Apparently the same style was used on the Challenger, and even though there was the huge accident, they've fixed what was wrong, that it was just a segment joint problem.

Do you know about why Obama is cutting funding? I figured, since you work at HQ, you might have some insight as to what is really going on.

--Elise"

Here's what my step-dad e-mailed to me:

"That’s a lot of questions with a lot of twists and turns in the answers. I’ll try to keep it simple:

1. NASA began a program called Constellation around 2006 under the Bush administration. It’s goals were to build a new rocket and new crewed vehicle, return humans to the moon, and eventually send humans to Mars.

2. As a part of the Constellation (usually abbreviated Cx) program, there were two “new” rockets planned. A smaller rocket to left humans, and a larger for cargo/components for the moon/Mars missions. The latter wasn’t planned to be started for a couple of more years. The smaller rocket, based on the Space Shuttle’s Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) has been designed, and an early prototype has already been flown.

3. Yes, the SRBs were used on Challenger (as they have been on every Shuttle flight since it’s inception in 1981). Challenger exploded in 1986 and we haven’t had a problem with the SRBs since, so I’m surprised the article would make any kind of deal about them. TheSRBs are segmented (think of cans stacked on top of each other) and the solid rocket fuel propulsion is more like a controlled explosion, than anything else. Once the solid rocket fuel is ignited, it goes and can’t be stopped. The SRBs provide almost all the lift from launch through the first couple of minutes, and then are discarded (land in ocean and are picked up and refurbished for reuse).

4. The Cx smaller rocket uses 5 SRB segments. Space Shuttle uses four, but that’s the only difference physically.

5. The Cx program has been underfunded by Congress since its inception, which hasn’t helped the chronically over-budget and behind- schedule program. An independent committee reported to Congress, the President, and NASA last year that, without a HUGE infusion of money (which won’t happen, especially in this economy, but even in the best of times the HUGE was tooooooo HUGE), the program was going to miss its milestones by at least a decade (!!).

6. In light of the above, Obama set new goals for NASA.

a. Instead of NASA developing a small rocket, let private industry be responsible for ferrying people and cargo to low Earth orbit. NASA doesn’t need to do it anymore, and private industry is showing they can quite well.

b. Start the development of the larger of the two rockets immediately. Other than for space exploration, rockets of the size being discussed have little use, and are therefore not economically viable for private industry.

c. Stop the rest of Constellation and instead develop the key technologies that will answer the vexing technology problems that prevent human space exploration today (e.g., how to stop astronauts from losing too much bone mass when on the two year Mars odyssey; or how to prevent those same astronauts from dying from space radiation that they will be exposed to once they leave low Earth orbit).

d. When we have the answers to the technology problems, then start developing a generic human exploration capability rather than develop the point solutions planned today (i.e., today as in the past, NASA will develop a system to go to point A. When we decide we want to go to point B, we start all over again and develop a solution peculiar to getting to Point B. etc.).

e. Ensure that all of the above are funded adequately to succeed.

How’s that?

John"

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I found this incredibly interesting as it shed so much more light on what's really going on with the space-program and how things are really going. I find it sad that our space-program is constantly over-budget and under-funded. Having grown up with my step-dad working for NASA, I've always felt close to the space program and have always thought that it should be in our top priority.

Think about it this way: We're a constantly expanding society...what will happen when we don't have any more room here? Where will we go? If we continue to fund NASA, then we could actually see the eventual colonizing of moons, furthering ourselves into the galaxy as we always see in science-fiction movies.

The truth is, science fiction could easily become science fact if we just step up to the plate and give NASA the funding that it truly deserves. Programs such as the Constellation program shouldn't be pushed back...they should be our now and today, instead of our tomorrows and our maybes.

Alternate History...or Alternate Story?

So...while looking at articles in the New York Times, one of them caught my eye.  Written by David Brooks, it tells about what Obama is trying to do to fix our economy.  But unlike other times, he's looking to go long term.  (see link below)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/opinion/03brooks.html?_r=1


At point in the article, I couldn't hold back a grin when it said that Obama had apparently put up signs throughout the Whitehouse that said, "No Quick Fixes".  I thought:

'Imagine... You're going to an important meeting where you'll be talking to the head of the FBI about the need for immediate changes in gun protocol for agents, and suddenly you see a sign on the door that you're about to open.  It says, No Quick Fixes.  You think, 'Am I in the right place?' and then hesitatingly open the door, wondering what awaits you on the other side, and hoping he doesn't yell at you when you give him the paper in your hand.'

Anyway, I digress.

I have to admit, I like Obama's idea that we can't solve our economy with "quick-fixes" (such as bailouts for companies that are going belly up).  He sees that we need to have something long-term that will help us for future generations, ensuring that our children don't have to go through the same thing that we did.

However, I have to question a couple of things that he's doing.  He had the choice between health care and energy reform...and he chose energy first?  I mean, seriously.  People can survive on candles and boiling water if they have to, but they can't survive without healthcare that they can't afford.  I think his plans are good, but his priorities are just slightly confused.

                    OR

From the "Henhouse" to "My House"

I recently read an article on the New York Times website by Nicholas D. Kristof, called "Cleaning the Henhouse".  It addresses some interesting issues about what is going on in our modern food industry, specifically within the egg industry.  If you're aware of the recent recall on eggs, then you know what I'm talking about.  I wasn't really shocked to hear about all of what's going on.  However, here's something that I didn't know: 

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study in 2005 suggesting that in 2000 there were about 182,000 cases of egg-caused salmonella in the United States, including 70 deaths. That means that even without an outbreak in the news, eggs with salmonella kill more than one American a week."

This is a direct quote from the article.  Here's a link to the actual article.  http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/02/opinion/02kristof.html?_r=1

The most fascinating thing for me, however, was the fact that I think I was one of the only one in my class who was aware of it before the teacher had brought it up.  In fact, because of my sister-in-law and my mom, I knew about it as soon as the announcement went out. 

Back at my house, my mom only buys organic food, which includes free-range eggs.  In the article, it mentions that salmonella (the reason for the recall of eggs) occurs more often when hens are in extremely enclosed spaces, which is usually how it is in industrial situations for production.

I am extremely grateful that my mom is all for the organics.  Don't know about you, but I'm very proud of the fact that my mom's all for the organics.  This way, I know I'm playing on the safe side...which is starting to look like the right side.