|
|
|
Welcome to mistersite.net, home of... well, something unique, I hope. Be sure to check out all those lovely links to the left to see who I am, what I do, and what I like. Read my blog too... it's right under this paragraph. And leave a comment, so I know you've visited.
An Open Memo to Congress and the President:
Re: Space
When I was growing up, there were few things that made me prouder to be an American than to recount our successes in exploring space. Seeing the American flag painted on the side of the shuttle, or on a patch on a spacewalking astronaut's uniform, was probably the first time I ever associated myself with this nation. Though I have perhaps become more cynical since those youthful days, glimpsing the realpolitik that crushes so much idealism on both sides of the aisle, I still have not lost my youthful love for my country's exploits outside our atmosphere.
Unfortunately, it seems that many, particularly those of you in power, do not share this love. As budget deficits loomed, NASA's funding has repeatedly been slashed; viewed as a non-essential, space exploration has been at the bottom of the priority list as far as federal funding goes. Meanwhile, our students lag behind in math and science scores as compared to the world; our scientific community is graying, with a great deficit in their younger replacements. It is unfortunate that previous Congresses and administrations have been so short-sighted as to fail to see the benefits that an inspirational and exuberant space program, dedicated to manned exploration of our solar system and beyond, can and will yield.
A strong space program would convince the world that Americans are not just focused on ourselves or our needs. Because space exploration benefits all humanity, and because the next step in space exploration necessarily requires cooperation with the other major powers of the world, we could show other nations that we are capable of harmony and multilateral action, rather than the discord and unilateralism that seems such a feature of our foreign policy at the moment. A robust space program would also instill in countless American children not only a love for America, as they see their countrymen and -women exploring the vast unknown, but also a love for the pure scientific exploit, for science and reason and exploration for its own sake. Perhaps some of these children will be inspired enough to dedicate their lives to the pursuit of scientific knowledge, bringing America to the forefront of the scientific world again and replacing our graying scientific community. Quite honestly, we need space exploration - like we needed the Lewis and Clark expedition almost two hundred years ago - not because we wish to control space, but because there is this vast unknown place just waiting to be discovered and experienced.
What we need is for you, Mr. President, to inspire Americans to reach for the next goal in space: landing a crew on Mars and bringing them safely home again by 2015. Want a legacy? There's one, right there. To challenge America to this goal would put you in the same league historically as John F. Kennedy, and to be honest, that's pretty good company in the eyes of the American public. It would also give our country a new mission, one based on hope and progress - a mandate that America do something good not only for ourselves, but for the whole world.
What we need from you, Congress, is to ensure that NASA has the money to make this possible. Too often, mistakes have been made because NASA had to cut corners, because it wasn't given the resources it needed to ensure successful missions. You allocate hundreds of billions of dollars of our money every year to the military - to forces whose purpose is to destroy, to maim, and to kill. Just think of what the benefits would be if just a tenth of this were transferred to NASA, to invest in the future of humanity. A swell of patriotic fervor, an inspiration to young scientists across our country - not to mention something to replay over and over in your campaign commercials - would be the crop you would reap from the sowing of this money.
Please give us the inspiration we need to reach for a higher goal again. Please allocate the money to make this possible. Please invest American time, American money, and the American future in space exploration.
Sincerely,
James Gilmore V
posted by jimmy at 07:47 -
Read comments here!
The results of the three-month post-LASIK checkup:
Left eye: 20/15. Right eye: 20/10. Meaning, of course, that my vision post-surgery is significantly better than perfect. Seriously, this is probably the best decision I've made in a long time. I recommend to anyone who's spending unreal amounts of money on eye exams, glasses, and/or contacts to look into this surgery.*
* This is not a paid advertisement on the part of TLC Eye Centers or the people who make lasers, although the people who make lasers are pretty darn cool... especially since they made that one for me that's going to brand my name into the Moon...
posted by jimmy at 11:03 -
Read comments here!
Another morning, another entry....
(as you can see, I'm trying to make as many entries as I can, regardless of whether I actually have something to say.)
Right now my brother is watching Saved by the Bell reruns on TBS, and the few minutes I watched made me wonder: Was there ever a time when that wasn't cheesy? Even when I watched it religiously in junior high and high school I still recognized how utterly unrealistic it was. As I watch it now I see also that the production quality left a lot to be desired. But at the same time, there was a time in my life when I was entertained by that show, whereas now I've become so cynical that I just see it as an artefact of the overly-optimistic times of my youth and the ugliness of faux-90's style. Ahh, the changing times. (But I really did want a phone like Zach Morris had.....)
posted by jimmy at 09:37 -
Read comments here!
...so then there was the time I didn't update for a long time, despite the fact that SO MUCH is happening in my life...
...oh wait, that wasn't me.
Yes, it was.
I just got back from my eight-day roadtrip tour of the Northeast. I and my brave and patient companions (including my ladyfriend Alisa, whom I will discuss later) saw 11 states and Canada, lived through a blackout and several minor traffic jams, and saw a number of historic sites without which Our Country(tm) wouldn't be the place it is today. Or something like that. So it was cool.
Oh yeah, the blackout. We were in Niagara Falls when the blackout hit, sitting in a little cafe' because we needed water. I had just tripped over an orange extension cord plugged into the wall with a sign saying "do not unplug or the power will go out to the Northeast" when the muzak stopped playing, the lights went out, and all the world - at least, the New York/Pennsylvania/Ohio/Michigan parts of it - was plunged into darkness. As we travelled, the world grew darker (as it is wont to do in the evening) and by the time we were about to stop for the night, the hotel wasn't so much visible as it was a big black shape against the night sky. Needless to say, there would be no sleeping there for us. So we pressed on to Cooperstown (our next day's destination) and were shaping up for a night under the stars when the lights came back on, and we went to an Econo Lodge where we were marginally less likely to receive mosquito bites.
Compared to that, the rest of the trip - the Adirondacks, Boston, Philadelphia, driving through but not stopping in NYC - was rather uneventful, albeit in the "enjoyable and cool" sense of the word. Saw mountains, presidential birthplaces, Hahvahd, the Liberty Bell, yadda yadda yadda. I'll have pictures - though probably not of the usual touristy things - on here as soon as I'm confident enough my computer won't crash. Which could be as late as 2012. One never knows.
So, my life. As you may or may not have guessed, I'm rather taken with this Alisa person. The week we spent together with our other travelling companions taught me a lot about her, most of which was pleasant, and taught her a lot about me, most of which probably wasn't as pleasant, but for some reason she still seems to like me so I'll take that where I can get it. It's a shame I have to move to California in a couple of weeks (!), because this relationship will be more difficult to maintain over a long distance, for obvious reasons. I like her a lot. Is there a future for us? I like to think so, but then one never knows what stresses the distance will put on our relationship, and I never know when she'll meet some nice boy from Omaha who will sweep her off her feet. (You have to look out for those Omaha types.) We'll have to see.
And then there's California. Yeah, that state, out west there, with the Ahnuld running for guv'nuh and all those crazy earthquakes and all the open apartments - oh wait, scratch that last one, there aren't any. At least, none that I and my future roommate have found yet. I move in two weeks and I still don't know where I'm moving to, save that it's somewhere in Pasadena, hopefully. At least all my stuff is in Brighton now and I'm out of my place in BG. But still, there's the whole "living" thing and the whole "working" thing and the whole "going to school" thing I have to attend to, and so far only one (the school) has been determined, and that kinda sucks.
That's my life, in a nutshell. Please, comment below.
posted by jimmy at 18:11 -
Read comments here!
And thus, it is over. Playhouse ended today with the big final loading-out shebang, and my academic career at Bowling Green State University is now finally kaput. I'm done with this place, except coming here when I need to use the Internet until I've moved out of my apartment here.
So now all I have to do is figure out where I'm going to live (though my future roommate has been doing a lot of legwork on that front, bless his heart), how I'm going to move there, how and when I'm going to move out of my current apartment and into my parents' house for the next month or so, when I need to be at Fuller, what I'm going to do about employment, and finally what Alisa and I are going to do about the fact that we'll have been together for a little over a month and I'll be moving away. We're pretty sure we're going to try the long-distance thing, at least for the time being. I like her a lot. (Just thought I'd add that in.) Look for some pictures from Playhouse - including some of her - within the next few days, as my "civilian" life revs up again.
Other than that, not much happening. Well, that's a lot happening right there, so to not have much else happening is a good thing, since that something else that would be happening would probably involve sickness, injury, the bends, or death, or a combination of two or more of the preceding. I'd have a deep thought here to ponder, but honestly I've been in "no-think-just-do" mode for the past week or so (since things started getting really busy at Huron) and right now I'm really very tired and sore, so sorry. Nothing today.
posted by jimmy at 14:10 -
Read comments here!
Log
Archives:
After
2.9.2003
9.23.2002-2.6.2003
6.1.2002-8.21.2002
|
|
|
