Entries for July 2005
A Bit of SAGES Silliness
Campus is starting to gear up for the school year again now that August is nearly upon us. In an attempt to prepare, I braved the humidity for a trip to the bookstore yesterday to check on prices for my engineering textbooks, and, as often happens when I get out of my lab, I ran into someone I know through SAGES. In this case, it was Arthur Evenchik, one of the supervisors of my tutoring work with the SAGES Peer Writing Crew (and I will be resurrecting that blog soon). E-mails and such for that job have already started flying and between planning for that blog and contributing to our wiki, SAGES is creeping back into my engineering-fortified brain.
In a fit of pure silliness this morning, I decided to check the Net's Googlisms for SAGES, and here are a few of the gems, (along with the commentary I couldn't resist including):
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Inspiring Flight
I watched Discovery's launch from my lab today via AOL's live webcast. It may well be the first and only time I've been impressed with AOL. Between simultaneously broadcasted views and brilliant footage from the camera mounted on the external fuel tank, my co-worker and I spent a good half hour glued to the webcast. At first we excitedly discussed the launch; then came the moment when AOL switched to the fuel tank camera and we watched the edge of the earth appear, the black of space in the background. Even with the image pixilated and over-exposed, it was astounding. How thrilling was it to catch a glimpse of a shock wave coming off the shuttle's wing, vindicating in a single instant an entire third of one of last semester's classes? Watching quite simply brought back every ounce of enthusiasm and excitement I have ever had for space flight.
I was in third grade when I received an issue of Weekly Reader, a "newspaper" geared toward elementary age kids, whose cover was graced with an artist's conception of the International Space Station. I took one look at it and declared to my classmates that I would be living there one day. From that moment onward, the manned space program inhabited a special place in my imagination and dreams. I have no doubts that I would not be an aerospace engineering major--perhaps not even an engineering major--were it not for my fascination with space flight. To judge from other students, my experience is not unusual.
Of course, time and maturity wear down the romantic view of space flight that children have. But beneath all of that, there remains a level of fascination and a sense of adventure that cynicism can't touch. It's that spirit that quickens at the sight of a shuttle launch. Remote images and vehicles will probably tell us everything we want to know about the universe beyond our doorstep, but there's something about going there ourselves that excites us far more. Yes, there is danger. There will always be danger. But that rush--that sense of pure wonder--that comes from manned space flight provides motivation and enthusiasm far beyond that of imagery.
NASA's website, I know from experience, is a treasure trove of useful information for educators. With all the hype around Discovery's latest mission as our "Return to Flight", I suspected that there would be a special amount of coverage, and, in this, I was not let down. Pictures, crew profiles, video, status reports (supposedly available via RSS, but the feed hasn't been updated since the 12th)--a wealth of information. But, I asked myself, what would be most likely to excite school-age kids? You've guessed it. A blog. Imagine sitting in your classroom hearing daily updates from crew members on how the mission was going, what it was like to live in space, and how the dehydrated ice cream tasted from low-earth orbit. If I'd had something like available to me when I was younger, I would have been in low-earth orbit myself. Maybe I've been encouraged a bit too much by Weblogg-ed's blogvangelism, but NASA is really missing out here! Grab the next generation's attention with a launch and then hold it there with something longer term. That's the way to inspire kids to pursue science and engineering. Having been thusly inspired, I should know.
Difficult Decisions
Life is full of tough decisions, and I've never relished the difficulty of weighing alternatives, gathering thoughts from others, and, in the end, trying to justify to myself what decision I'll make. Some of my decisions have turned out well in the past. Although I agonized over whether to attend the University of Michigan or Case, I've never once regretted my decision to come here. Last night I made another decision that was very difficult for me, one that may lead to me dropping my second degree.
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The Camping Trip
Otherwise known as "What I Did While Everyone Else On Earth Read Harry Potter 6".
I have officially survived the camping trip at Pymatuning State Park. Anyone who was in the Ohio/Pennsylvania vicinity, I'm sure, knows that it has rained this weekend. Most of the weekend, in fact. It just got done pouring outside my window a few minutes ago, actually. But that's beside the point. The point is that I survived. And so did the people with me.
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Research Reflections, Web Sites, and Camping, Oh My!
It's been several months since I started working on a new personal site to put on home.cwru.edu, and though I had a design that I liked and most of the content written, I hadn't uploaded it. Today I was supposed to spend some time explaining my research at a SOURCE luncheon, and I decided to put together a web page that gave an overview of my project, my work so far, my problems, my accomplishments and so forth. I didn't quite get everything I wanted done before lunchtime, but I got quite a lot, including pictures. While I was at it, I uploaded the rest of the site. Here it is.
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Spammers
I think I've gotten around 20 spam trackbacks on here in the last 36 hours. This is just ridiculous. Is anyone else getting pounded?
London Bombings
I woke up this morning to hear the news about the bombings of the London Underground and a bus. I've gotten confirmation from my UK friends in the area that they're alright, and right now I'm just hoping that the same can be said for my cousin Rich. There's never a good time for this sort of tragedy, but it seems particularly callous after London won the bid for the 2012 Olympics and the G8 started up in Scotland. So far there are only two reported dead. I hope the number doesn't rise, though I suspect it will.
Happy Fourth of July!
The 8th floor of Howe provides a spectacular view of downtown Cleveland on most days, particularly if it isn't too hazy. But tonight the view is especially nice because it's a direct view out my suite window to the big fireworks display downtown, along with a clear view of at least a dozen shows along the southwest horizen of Cleveland.
I may not always agree with my government and its policies, but I remain proud to be an American and to be fortunate enough to live in a country founded on certain truths and ideals.
Happy 4th of July, everyone!