Leave it to Virgin Atlantic billionaire Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson and American aerospace engineer Burt Rutan. For just the price of a modest house they’ll fly you into space on a two and a half hour round trip with five minutes of weightlessness. @ a mere $40,000 per weightless minute.  As if real estate wasn’t enough, set your sights on the outer atmosphere and you may be spaceborne as soon as 2011.

Artist's Rendering of Spaceship II Being Launched by its Twin Jet Ferry

Spaceship II was unveiled today in the Mojave Desert after two years of highly guarded secrecy, the first public appearance of a commercial passenger spacecraft. Imagine being launched after an initial terrestrial climb under a twin jet,  your emissary to the stars.

Sir Richard Branson started out purveying cut out records from the boot of his car to retail outlets, later selling his Virgin Records to EMI for a billion US.

Flamboyant and competitive, Branson’s Virgin Brand includes over 360 companies.

“My interest in life comes from setting myself huge, apparently unachievable challenges and trying to rise above them…from the perspective of wanting to live life to the full. I felt that I had to attempt it.”

Spaceship Two in Flight

Branson formed Virgin Galactic in September of 2004, a sub-orbital pace tourism company.  He is considered a “transformational leader” with maverick strategies and a focus on  informality and information.

Click on this video to gain animated insight into what $200,000 will bring you.

California Gov. Arnold Schwartznegger Christening Spaceship Two today in the Mojave Desert with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson

If your ambitions are more earthly bound, call 800-525-7965, e-mail info@maplesweet.com or connect to maplesweet.com to list your property or purchase some incomparable Vermont real estate and expand your dynasty right here on our Green Mountain planet surface.

garvity and energy are just a big mystery… there are some rules, huh?… yeah, they just made them up… i was really only interested in the why?

what about the absence of gravity?…. weightlessness…  that’s what i’m talkin’ about!

you guys need to go to the fucking andes mounains and talk about pressure and shit… my face was turning blue and shit… it effects your hemoglobin and shit.

in the bottom of the ocean you go {smush noise}.

there’s this new species they found on the bottom of the floor… but it moves so quickly… so they       take this time fucking photo of it, and they slowly roll across the bottom of the floor, the balls, the unicellular organisms, obtaining the energy.

they’re down there eating sulfur, man.  the chemicals of the earth…

…its amazing.

/ceasar vajello

I just received an email from one of the teachers on my WFOD telling us the video is up! I wish I could embed it directly into this post, but it isn’t allowed. Here are the links to the three videos! I was part of the “gold team,” hence those gold socks! Pop some popcorn and enjoy these shorts (short videos for those who don’t know that term).

Gold Team Video

Blue Team Video

Silver Team Video

Thanks again to Northrop Grumman for making this experience possible.  Watching these videos brings back that day and all the great memories!

In this post I would like to talk about Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity as a sequel to my previous post.How it came into existence?How was it different from Newton’s Gravitational model?What are the implications of it?

Let me summarize what we learnt previously before moving on. In my previous post I talked about the Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity which emerged as a resolution to solve the conflict of looking at light from the perspective of Newtons laws of motion and looking at light having a constancy of speed from the perspective of Electromagnetic Radiation.We learnt how space and time are affected from speed of light , how simultaneity was not there in recording the time due to relative motion of the observers, how time reduces in a moving object, how length contracts for a moving object, and how space and time are related, why we should not consider them in absolute terms.

Theory of Special Relativity brought a new conflict into scene.This theory established that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, but according to Newton’s Gravitation Theory,one object affects another object through gravity instantaneously.So Einstein had to come up with incorporating gravity into the theory of Special Relativity to resolve this conflict.

Einstein wanted to explain gravity in tangible terms and he found a link between gravity and accelerated motion.Let us consider an experiment to understand the relationship between Gravity and Accelerated motion.

Let’s imagine a bomb set as a booby trap by a terrorist which is supposed to detonate in 7 days time.This is captured by the investigative squad.Now the bomb cannot be diffused also the bomb is set on a scale such that if the weight of the bomb increases or decreases by 50% it will detonate.Also its known that the bomb will explode if buried in the depths of the earth and will thus cause devastating effects .Now the investigative team thinks how to stop it from affecting the mankind and decide to place the bomb in deep space and if the bomb explodes the effects will not be seen on earth.

So they imagine to send the bomb mounted on the scale via a rocket to outer space.Now several objections were raised to this suggestion.One person by name Newton said that as the bomb moves away from the surface of the earth, its weight decreases because of the reduction in gravitational pull and hence the weight will decrease more than 50% and hence will detonate before it reaches deep sky and hence will not be successful.

Another person by name Albert added that, when the rocket begins its journey, there will be an increase in scale, due to the squeeze in the scale, due to accelerated motion when the bomb tries to stay at rest(inertia) just like it happens when a car starts and we feel a force on our back from the seat and we move back or squeeze back.Thus the weight of the scale will increase more than 50% and hence will detonate before it reaches deep sky and hence will not be successful.

Albert also added that if the both these i.e gravity and accelerated motion can be tuned such that one negates the other and the net effect is zero then the bomb can still be taken into deep space and the bomb made to explode in outer space.

The above experiment talks about the connection between gravity and accelerated motion which is the key in understanding the Theory of General Relativity.While learning the Theory of Special Relativity we considered a constant speed motion,but not accounted for accelerated motion.Here we account for accelerated motion as well.When we are sitting in a train moving at constant speed everything seems the same for observers in the train unless you happen to be an outside observer.But when the train is accelerating you can feel the force on you, just like you felt when the force when the car started.You feel this force in the presence of gravity.Had there been no gravity this would have been similar to the constant speed motion of the train with gravity.This explains the Equivalence principle between gravity and accelerated motion.The same was denoted in the above example.

Another example to understand Equivalence principle is given below.

Imagine you are in an elevator or, more precisely, in what looks like an elevator cabin from the inside, and that you are isolated from the outside world. If you pick up an object and let it drop, it falls down to the floor, in exactly the way you would expect given your experiences here on Earth. Does that mean the elevator is indeed situated in a gravitational field like that of the Earth – as shown in the following illustration?

It ain’t necessarily so. Theoretically, you could be in deep space, far away from all significant mass concentrations and their gravitational influence. The room you are in could be a cabin aboard a rocket – as long as the rocket engines work at exactly the right rate to accelerate the rocket at 9.81 meters per square second. This is sketched in the following illustration:

In such a situation, if you let go of an object, the cabin floor would accelerate towards that object at 9.81 meters per square second – exactly the same acceleration of free fall here on earth. From your vantage point as an observer standing on the cabin floor, you cannot distinguish between the two situations: are those objects falling towards a massive body like the earth? Or is the cabin floor accelerating towards them?

Weightlessness poses a similar problem. Imagine you’re floating freely inside the elevator. Around you, other objects are floating, as well, and you feel totally weightless. Does that mean you are far away from all gravitational influences, far away from all stars, planets and other massive bodies, somewhere in deep space?

Thus we can sum up equivalence principle as the inability to distinguish between experiments conducted in free space or gravitational field or the inability to distinguish between Gravitational field and accelerated motion.There is no difference between accelerated vantage point observation without gravitation and constant speed vantage point observation with gravity.Thus the introduction of gravity into the Theory of General relativity introduces all observation vantage points at equal footing. This was great observation because it gave a way for explaining gravity which is somewhat vague, with accelerated motion which is a bit more tangible.

Now Gravity according to Newton was defined as the force between 2 bodies directly proportional to product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.This theory has been used to determine the direction of projectiles, path of the comets, when eclipses happen and so on.

Although Newton was able to define the gravitational force that existed b/w 2 bodies, he could not give a reason as to why and how gravity existed between 2 bodies.

Now Einstein went on to explain how gravity and accelerated motion can be linked with the warps and curvature of Space Time.

Einstein showed that an object in accelerated motion (Change in speed or direction), say moving in a curved space, has a length contraction and similarly time slows down.(Warping of space and time). Einstein already showed that gravity and accelerated motion are indistinguishable and now accelerated motion as warping space and time, thus he was able to conclude that Gravity is warping of space and time.

He imagined space time as a grid like structure completely flat in the absence of matter or energy.When a massive object like sun is present it warps the space time structure, that is how it exerts a force on planets like earth, which makes it revolve in a specific orbit, the same holds good for the orbit of moon around earth because of warping of space time due to earth.Thus the agent of gravity is the cosmos of the universe.Thus the mere presence of mass of object causes the space time(Gravity) to warp.Also the earth does not orbit because of the gravitational pull of an external object which guides it along the valleys of warped space, but he showed that objects move through space time in the path of least resistance which happens to be the curved dimension.

He showed that an object moves at a constant velocity in a straight direction in this space time until the introduction of a massive object like sun which warps space and time and hence the change in path from straight to curved.But the disturbance created by the presence of this massive object takes time to reach the other object and is not instantaneous and he proved that this takes the speed of light and not more than that, thus the speed of light still remained as the speed limit in the universe.

It was also proved that in the presence of massive objects like sun the path of other stars observed also shows variation,than when they are not present.

In special relativity we consider the constancy of the speed of light as a major factor,in general relativity we considers how massive the objects are, more massive the objects are more is the warping of space time, hence more time dilation and length contraction.

Lets now consider the implications of General Relativity.We can consider some important observations with Black hole.Black hole is an object which is formed by compressing massive masses into concentrated small spherical regions where the density, temperature is very high(Ex earth squeezed into the radius of half an inch) and any object caught in the gravitational pull of the black hole cannot escape it, not even light, hence the name black hole.This just goes to show the gravitational pull of the Black Holes.No one knows what happens inside the deepest interior point of a black hole.The surface of the Black hole is called the event horizon any object near to the event horizon experiences the slowing of time substantially(warping of time) and moving almost at the speed of light .Your watch may tick 10000 times slower than that in earth.Thus when the object return back to earth it can be 10000 years since its departure thus we move into the earths future after staying near the event horizon for a few minutes.

Also Einstein was able to logically conclude through his equations that the universe is either expanding or contracting.He was not able to fathom this and introduced a cosmological constant which would lead to a static universe.But now it has been proved that universe is either expanding or contracting and Einstein accepted that he did a blunder by introducing a cosmological constant into the system.Also gives an idea of how big bang might have taken place for the formation of the universe.

References:

1)The elevator, the rocket, and gravity: the equivalence principle

http://www.aei.mpg.de/einsteinOnline/en/spotlights/equivalence_principle/index.html

2)The Elegant Universe – Brian Greene

From Live Science

The researchers first levitated a young mouse, just three-week-old and weighing 10 grams. It appeared agitated and disoriented, seemingly trying to hold on to something.

“It actually kicked around and started to spin, and without friction, it could spin faster and faster, and we think that made it even more disoriented,” said researcher Yuanming Liu, a physicist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. They decided to mildly sedate the next mouse they levitated, which seemed content with floating.

A plastic cage was also designed by physicist Da-Ming Zhu at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, to keep the mice in during levitation. Its top remained open to let in air, food, water and video surveillance, and its bottom was filled with small holes to allow waste removal.

From time to time, mice would kick the walls of the cage, causing it to briefly drop off from the levitation zone before re-entering it and floating again.

…..end snip….

Okay, I’m amused.  And fascinated. And a wee bit sorry for the mousies. Stoned, floating and mousy is no way to go through life son.

Many students and teachers have been asking lots of questions. For example: How do they create zero-gravity? What happens when they turn on the gravity switch? How many people are going on this flight? Do you have a strong stomach? Lots and lots of questions, which I will try and answer over time here. Of course, feel free to post your own questions in the comments section. I will definitely do all I can to answer them.

Today was my first good day of being lived by Fernando.  I’m not sure what it is.  The company?  The light at the end of the tunnel?  Or the inevitable resignation to the week which comes, each week, by Monday?  Anyway, friends, it was good.  Or good enough.

I woke up early, as usual, but had to 1. stay in bed until 10:40 (up late with Jess [P] I didn’t make it to bed until 2:40 last night).  I find when I’m confined to bed until a particular hour, I experience a much greater sense of impotence than I did when “paralysed” & confined to a wheelchair, as in Week 6.  I tossed & turned, & read some of the Nicholson Baker book I picked up recently.

Then arose.  Did some light housework while Jess was in the shower & then made some tea for her (hot 2. water for me) & chatted before she left for lunch.

Jess, artfully backlit.

As she prepared to leave, I 3. prepared my breakfast of oatmeal.  By now you know the drill.  I 4. added some blueberries as it was cooking & then 5. sweetened the whole mess with honey.  Said my goodbyes to Jess & got on the phone with a future participant (not to give too much away, but it involves a vineyard!).

Meanwhile, Bella finished my mostly uneaten oatmeal.

Mairzy doats & dozy doats

Then I waited… & waited… & waited for Braden to arrive so we could 6. watch La jetée/Sans soleil.

Just as I gave up & started the movie(s) he arrived.  We had a grand old time with the films.

They seemed a little dull at first & throughout. I eventually liked the first one very much.  The second one made me awfully sleepy, & there was a particularly horrible moment in which I had to watch a dying giraffe with spurts of blood coming out of the gunshot wounds on either side of its neck.  That woke me up a little.

By the time the second film ended (& it seemed interminably long) I realized that the movie was not boring, exactly.  Rather, it so closely approximated a dream state that it was impossible not to feel very sleepy as it was going on.  I can’t say I exactly enjoyed watching it, but after it was over I felt I was in a heightened state of consciousness.  I’ve never seen a film quite like it before.  Nor a film quite like the other one (composed almost entirely of still snapshots & a voiceover).  Each worked within an entirely unfamiliar genre & I was certainly improved by watching them.  It’s hard to explain, though I’m sure I could do it if I wasn’t so tired right now.  If you’re curious, I recommend that you watch them for yourselves.

Bella & Braden fell into deep post-Sans soleil slumber.

I 7. Read the booklet that came with the DVD.  I liked it much better than the other one.  There was a short interview with Chris Marker (the director) & I appreciated his refreshing snarkiness.

Woke up Braden, & began my long 8. walk to the 7-11.  Then we sat in a park, where I was to 9. Write whatever came to mind. Prompted by Sans soleil, I decided to write a list of the first 10 things I saw which “quickened the heart.” I would have liked to take corresponding photographs, as it seemed only right, but I’d left my phone at home, sadly.  Here’s the list.

1. glint of bearded man’s septum piercing
2. pigeon coasting on an updraft
3. brown water moving over green tile inset in stone moat of fountain
4. tree with a knot in it, small manageable size
5. congregation of pigeons bathing on ledge of fountain
6. skull patch on arm of sweatshirt belonging to 1. as he leaves park
7. my shoelaces are still too long (I always appreciate this extravagance on part of designer)
8. shadows of pigeons on blue, sky-colored wall
9. long ears of Wiemaraner disappearing behind wall of red flowers, smoke coming out of owner’s nostrils
10. airplane noise? passing train? buses.  like movement of wind over mouth of cave/breath over neck of a bottle

So there, I’ve 10. posted what I wrote.

Then I went home, where I prepared my 11. no-carb lunch.  It’s an exciting new take on cucumber sandwiches.  I cut open a cucumber & scraped the seeds out, then put a can of tuna in the middle.  With some seasoning & mayonnaise for good measure, of course.

Curiouser. & curiouser.

I ate this bizarre concoction.  I 12. took my time, enjoyed it.

Then, after some more Nicholson Baker, I read a random page from 13. Luis Cernuda’s Written in Water. The poem was “Time.”  The final paragraph of the poem reads:

There, in the absolute silence of summer, underscored by the murmuring water, my eyes open to the clear half-darkness that heightens the mysterious life of things, I saw how time can hold still, suspended in air, like the cloud that conceals a god, pure and weightless, never passing.

Quite appropriate.  It encapsulated the strange sensory experience I’d been having since the movies ended very nicely. Right down to the murmuring water.

I went about my chores.

Then I finished my (somewhat pornographic) Nicholson Baker book on the couch.  As soon as I was done, I had a call from TD.  He was outside!  He’d finally arrived!  I took out the garbage & then joyfully went to greet him.

After I got dressed in normal clothing, we went for a 14. walk.  Where did we walk?  To 15. dinner.  It was delicious, if carb-less.  He consumed the entire contents of the breadbasket.  Good.  It was otherwise too tempting to me.  We got some oysters & he had some chowder & I had some steamed clams.  I would’ve taken a picture but I’d forgotten my phone again.

Upon returning home, TD took the dog for her nightly constitutional & I sat down to 16. write for an hour.  Here you see the result of that writing.

Tomorrow we have a very busy day.  Not only do I have to accomplish all of my directives for Day 7, I also have to run some errands, rent a car, & ferry over to Galiano Island, where a family friend has graciously agreed to lend me a house for the first few days of Week 8.  Quite excited.  Next week we will witness a new strain of vicarious living, perhaps more true to the intentions of the project.  It’s being choreographed by a certifiable stranger (only the second true stranger we’ve seen).

All I have left to do is 17. abstain from use of electronic devices in the hour before bed & 18. go to bed at 2:20am.  I’m at this point so well-versed in Week 7 that I have the whole schedule down by memory.  Staying up late will be hard to do– I have almost three empty hours looming before me, along with a house guest who will certainly be asleep well before 2:20am.

I suppose I will occupy myself by responding to comments, handing out a gold star, & maybe picking up another book to read before turning in.

Oh, the fun of it.

many poets and artists have made works meditating on light through trees

it seems to be a view of our bodies

It’s been nine days since I posted something. Bollocks, bollocks, bollocks. To compound the lassitude, it’s not like I’m posting anything now, but I hope these links rather explain why I haven’t posted anything over the nine previous days. They’re all videos I’ve been working on. These don’t in themselves explain the silence – for that you have to look at the damn good flan I had on day 3, and the 14-hour lie-in I enjoyed on day 7 – but they are an honest representation of my time.

Man cracks whip in world-record-attempting fashion

Train that goes fast goes fast

Man loses not just some weight, but all of it

Cricket man talks about cricket women

Man who kills trees loves trees

Right, hope that helps. See y’all back here in September.

Not really: I’ll have something up by the end of the week. It’s a verbal contract, and that’s legally binding. Hang on, it’s a written contract. Well, whatever.

Will Derryberry

Approximately two years ago, I came across Will Derryberry’s music page on myspace. I think he sent me a friend request… or was it the other way around? I really cannot remember but I DO remember the song that began playing as his page opened up. The introduction set an immediate mood of profound introspection. The best part was… I didn’t know I was being led there because the vocal quality and soul-speak of the lyrics transported me… weightless and unaware. Does this sound dramatic? It was.

I’m writing this blog as I look out of my front window at the Hollywood hills. The sky above is casting June gloom but I find myself energized while I write about this very special songwriter and musician. The depth of lyrical content in the song, “SEVEN” is nothing short of brilliant. I had to find out which symbolic meaning of the number “7″ he had drawn his inspiration from.

Pythagoras

This led me on a search that ended with Pythagoras, (an ancient Greek philosopher interested in numbers and their meanings). He discovered the relationships between mathematics and music, proposing that sounds and their relationships with other sounds can be measured using numbers. Pythagoras called “7″ a perfect number. I don’t know what Will’s reasons were but when you read the lyrics, you’ll see how I drew my hypothesis.

Lyrics ~ “Take these hands, and turn them around, (seven) times.
Pointing in the right direction, leading to perfection”.

Perfect? Well, pretty damn close… listen for yourself! 

[MP3] Will Derryberry ~ SEVEN

Hey! I’ll bet you enjoyed that huh? Well, how about a LIVE video of the second featured song? Will is from northern California and has been working hard on his craft up there for many years. He has new material to talk about but I’m hoping you will follow him on twitter @derryberrysongs for the latest news, as well as visiting his other links listed below. Here is Will’s song … “California”.

I like the way he has lightened things up a bit in that song, while continuing to honor his penchant for intimacy with the listener.

In closing, Will has actually done a lot of the work for us by making this video at an earlier time. It nicely weaves his body of work with his stated intentions in a very personal way. You’ll be refreshed to see the genuinely humble nature inside of this artist, despite the fact he has earned several television song placements and a highly polished quality. He has arrived at his stated intention by bringing us to a sort of “restoration” with his songs. I am left to wonder at the end of this video and in closing of this blog, why everyone hasn’t already heard of this guy. So why don’t you spread the word? Maybe one day we will be able to say, “we knew him when”. How exciting!

Find out more about Will Derryberry’s music at the following links:

http://willderryberry.net

http://www.myspace.com/willderryberry1

http://twitter.com/derryberrysongs

My Morning Jacket @ Bonnaroo 2008 Credit: Steve Cross

It’s that time of year again in Tennessee. The hot days and humid nights have settled in for good, and that only means one thing: Bonnaroo is upon us. I’m covering it again for the Scene this year and I’m ready to make my 2nd experience even better than the 1st. I’ve been told that the Village Voice may be using some of my images for other blogs/papers under their umbrella. (For a list of their papers go here.) Normally I would never attend Bonnaroo. Don’t get me wrong- the bands are great, the outdoor setting is great, but the people are generally not so great. Having to constantly deal with mud-caked hippies who’ve done waaay too many drugs and smell like a combination of bad patchouli, port-a-john, and feet is not my idea of fun. Being a member of the press, however, alleviates that concern because you spend a minimal amount of time actually out in the crowds, and NO time in the camping/parking area. Press parking is right behind the stages, and there’s a nice air-conditioned tent with complimentary water, as well as media trailer with wi-fi. Look for my photos on Nashville Cream, and possibly those other papers’ blogs mentioned above. Speaking of Bonnaroo, Nashville’s own music blogger superstar Janet Timmons has been hard at work (along with some help from a few other local bloggers/writers) posting a preview for every artist playing Bonnaroo. Check it out. Will she make it in time?

The Tennessean/Metro Mix is hosting another edition of its annual Toast of Music City poll. Last year some of the top restaurants ended up being Olive Garden, Shoney’s, and Golden Corral. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! WTF?!?!? Get your ass over to the poll and make sure such a travesty doesn’t happen again. Thanks to Nashvillest for reminding me of this.

Improv Everywhere comes up with some of the best pranks/social experiments I’ve ever seen. Their latest was one of their best yet: they gave one lucky NYC couple getting married at the clerk’s office a surprise wedding reception in Foley Square. Check it out.

Speaking of couples, the first weightless wedding is being planned. Though not actually happening in space, it’s the next best thing: the famed “Vomit Comet.” Let’s hope they don’t end up puking on each other during their vows. “I do… BLEGGGHHH!”

Part of the problem with the public image of NASA and space exploration in general is that astronauts aren’t viewed in the same light now as they were back in the 60’s. Back then, media coverage of NASA and its missions was MUCH more extensive than it is now. Those astronauts were literally treated like movie stars. The public adored them and they helped to make people actually care about space exploration. Nowadays coverage of the shuttle launches barely gets onto the bottom of CNN.com. I found a tiny glimmer of hope this morning, though: this new Louis Vitton ad photo taken by Annie Leibovitz on i09. It’s astronauts Sally Ride, Buzz Aldrin, and Jim Lovell. For more info go here. This is totally awesome and I hope to see NASA start caring more about PR and creating a bigger, more positive public image for itself.

Photo by Annie Leibovitz

So here’s the first of a segment on 10 influential songs/artists that have shaped my musical tastes and otherwise rocked my world over the years.  They are in no particular order.  They are also wonderful 

#10 MAE//Embers and Envelopes

“we write to apologize.” (MAE)

I had been on a serious Jimmy Eat World kick in high school at the time I came across Mae.  It only made sense.   With their first album Destination: Beautiful (2003), Mae struck me as a natural extension of the same sort of pretty, melodic rock that JEW espoused with Clarity in ‘99.  Distortion (but not too much), layered vocal harmonies and boatloads of ambience and charm… all similarities.  Even Mae’s album-opening “Embers” has kind of a twinkly “For Me This Is Heaven” vibe.

“Embers and Envelopes” is a giddy, atmospheric thing, no doubt capable of inciting feelings of weightlessness.  Jacob Marshall’s subdued dancefloor rhythms combine with (at-the-time) keyboard player Rob Sweitzer’s synths to set the stage for Dave Elkins’ soothing vocals.  When I first heard “Embers,” I liked it so much I turned it off halfway through because I didn’t want it to age quickly.  Haha! 

Now what is truly interesting is how the music video seems completely at odds with all the elements I have just described :O

Today Mae’s lineup has changed, but they still have some cool stuff goin’ on.  Check out their myspace page for some hip new jams.  Mae will be in San Diego on May 5th.

[x] Mae- This Is The Countdown (mp3)

[x] Mae- Embers and Envelopes (mp3)

 ready for more | 1969- Save A Place [x]

 

Thirty Seconds to Mars Logo

For my analogy, I have chosen the band Thirty Seconds to Mars’ logo. Their logo incorporates all of the feelings of lightness expressed under my design post. They use the red and white and also black to create an element that escapes the binary. The blackand white are in the background while the red phoenix is the foreground. The Latin on the bottom of the logo means, “Launch forth into the deep”. This is the band’s personal motto, just as Calvino’s is “hurry slowly”. 

The band’s name, 30 seconds to Mars, also bears in it the qualities of lightness and weightlessness. Combined with their personal motto, “Launch forth into the deep”, the band gives off an atmosphere of  space-like feel. One’s imagination is brought to idea of an environment devoid of gravity. 

Conclusively, I believe that the 30 seconds to Mar logo bears in it the complete attitude of weightless and rebirth. Sadly, the band has abandoned this logo for a newer one. Yet, Mithra, the name of phoenix in the logo, still lives on the hearts and minds of the band’s  fan base. Nothing less should be expected of a phoenix.

As you probably know, one of the problems with humans entering into weightless environments is that we’ve spent a heck of a lot of time evolving to do just fine WITH the force of gravity holding us down. Take that away from us and a host of things start to go haywire in our gravity-based bodies. Chief among these is bone mass loss. Quite simply, if you don’t use it, you lose it — and at an incredible pace.

In fact, visitors to the International Space Station lose up to 10 times more bone mass each month than most postmenopausal women do on Earth do in the same time frame.* NASA has tried to address this issue in the past by having astronauts use treadmills, but according to a recent Science Daily article, the agency figured out a promising way to improve on the measure.

The answer sounds pretty elementary once you’ve heard it: simply strap the user to the treadmill so that the force of the straps pulls them against it in a way that mimics some of the effects of gravity. Granted, this wouldn’t help the entire skeletal system, but researchers insist that it could help prevent bone mass loss in key areas of the hip.

We’ve been working on the problem for 40 years and nothing has come close to fully addressing the problem, but this seems like a step in the right direction — at least until we get artificial gravity up and going, right?

*If you’ve ever seen the superb retro space musical “The American Astronaut,” then you’ve witnessed a fictionalized vision of the ultimate fate for a weightless human: “space punies.” In the production, the character afflicted by the condition is a lanky-armed puppet.

Drift off into space at HowStuffWorks.com:
How Space Stations Work
How Weightlessness Works
How Zero-gravity Flights Work
Why do astronauts have to work out on the international space station?

One of the most outstanding scenes in the landmark film “2001: A Space Odyssey” was the Pan Am Space Clipper approaching Space Station 5.  The huge wheel, spinning in the star speckled darkness was a nearly hypnotizing sight.  reality, though may be something entirely different.  The purpose of spinning the space station is to create the illusion of being anchored against a gravity field, a making possible in the free-fall of orbit, things like running, bathing, eating, sleeping, and No. 1 and No. 2.

However, convienence is not the motivation for whirling tons of metal around and around.  Without some kind of gravity field pull us down, we become blobs of jelly, unable to stand up, to walk, even to sit.  The adaptation to weightlessness is amazingly quick, while the recovery from the effects can take longer than the exposure to free-fall.  One answer in science fiction books in the mini-centrefuge, which spins up fast enough that people can stand on the walls, which have become the floor.  So, if you ever walk into a room and notice a toilet hanging from the wall, you will know that your hosts are prepared for free-fall, and will be able to provide you with a device that you are familiar with the operation of, if not the process.

Having the sleeping quarters in a centrefuge might be the answer to exposing crew memebers to long periods of acceleration, (the term for experiencing a gravity field,) without the tedium of confinement in close quarters for long periods of time with nothing to do.  The force created by spinning the container around and around does not have to be the same, oh so powerful 1 g (for Gravity.)  Even the Moon’s miniscule 1/6 of a g might be enough to prevent turning into an ugly bag of water.  So the bunkhouse might take you for a spin.

And remember always the three folks who are living in space right now, zipping by once in a while at 17,500 mph.  If you notice a really bright star moving steading across the heavens, without any blinking lights, non-ballistic motions, or energy beams, you are probably looking at the International Space Station, which is frequently visible from some part of the U. S. or another.The crews rotate out on a flexible schedule, as the transit system is still in the development stage.  But we are learning to live and to work in space.  Most of the work has just been to keep the whole thing working, but problems with the transit system have had major impacts.  For a while there were only two folks on an “expedition” as the tours of duty are called.  Getting anything done was almost impossible.

And they suffered mightly when they returned to Earth, but we have learned much since those days.  Ever wonder where the idea of the ‘glider’ type exercise machine came from?  Up there.  These awesome cordless tools?  (Look for a battery powered floor buffer in the next five years.)  Up there.  Microminiture cameras that provide incredible video?  Take a guess.  Up there, you have to learn to do things differently than you do them down here, which leads to innovation, which leads to invention, which leads to wealth.

I remember this time of year in 2005 when the sun shone brightly through my kitchen window casting intense shadows of my pregnant belly onto my favorite painting.

I remember the way that the oak pollen fell slowly from the trees covering everything like Florida snow.

I remember longing for warmer weather so that I could swim and experience weightlessness. When I did visit the ocean it was surreal, her floating inside of me, me floating inside of her (the ocean). Embracing my new position in the circle of life and all that is feminine.

I remember sleepless nights and exhausting days, the pain from the athletic event of walking the length of the Super Target parking lot.

I remember feeling insecure one moment and more beautiful than ever the next. The unfounded fears about the multitude of things that could destroy my family were unbearable at times.

I remember going to countless shows. Alchemy rocking out inside of me, safe and protected. Knowing that these days were limited, enjoying my freedom while it lasted.

I remember the look on Joran’s face the first time he heard her heartbeat, saw her ultrasound and felt her kick. I know that there were times that Joran had trouble relating to the fact that there was actually a life growing inside of me. I know that there were times that he was scared. But when it clicked, it really clicked. There is nothing like seeing a man become a father.

I remember preparing to give birth and the slow retreat inward to a place inside myself that I never knew existed. A place where her and I worked diligently together toward the goal of meeting face to face.

I remember the magical day that Alchemy was born. 22 hours of labor. A beautiful home birth. An amazing support team. Joran solid and strong, there for me every moment. She arrived at 4:59 am on April 20, 2005.  As Joran placed her on my chest the three of us became a family. Life will never be the same, and that is a good thing.

love is strange.

i don’t really know how else to say it. love is strange.

if someone would have told me a year ago that i would meet a guy that is completely amazing (on the internet, i might add) and i would fall madly in love with him. i would have laughed hysterically. first of all, me and love. we don’t really mix at all. and meeting someone online? i never thought that i’d ever even think of dating someone i met online. i didn’t need the internet to help me find someone that i was ridiculously attracted to. i didn’t need to find them anyway. i knew the right person would come to me. and he did…online. i know. i sound like a hypocrite now. but i think that’s why i met him online. because i was always thought the online dating scene was so crazy and ridiculous. i never thought that there were normal people online looking for love. and i never thought it’d be the place for me to ever run across it. but, it was. and that changed my view of the whole online thing, and i’m all for it now. i guess it just takes the experiences of life to show us where you can find something important. anyway.

me and love. yea. right. my love consists of my family and friends. that’s it. three months into a relationship and i’m over it. i’m bored and don’t want to be with the other person. granted, i stayed in a relationship for 11 months and wasted so much of his time and my time on something that i knew wasn’t going to work and something that he thought would last for the rest of his life. after my three months, i was done, but he wasn’t and i didn’t know what to do. ohh, high school relationships. i’m bad with the whole crying thing, so when i tried to end it and he started crying, i was lost and couldn’t do it. luckily enough for me, he was moving, so i used that as the way to end it. i suppose that could have been the easy way out, but he really is a good person, and i hated to hurt him. he just isn’t the right person for me. up to this point of my life, i have loved and lost. just one really though. one guy that i could have loved. i was almost there too. man ohh man, did he tear me in two. for the longest time. and it’s weird because, for the last year and a half of my life, i haven’t been able to let him go. but a few months ago after i had started dating my online romeo, it was the first time that i could say that i was happy that i wasn’t with my heartbreaker. i even had a dream about it, which i’ve read means that you have complete closure over it. the strange thing in the dream was the fact that he was the one that was coming back for me. and i said no. i said no extremely vehemently in my dream. i know i’m finally in the right place.

i’m having trouble though. i mean, i feel like i’ve been holding in a lot of anger and frustration that has been coming from all corners of my life: work, school, family, friends, everything. he’s the only person that really makes everything better, that makes me forget everything else that has been happening, so why has he been the one that i feel like i’ve been taking all of this out on. i don’t mean to, but here’s the thing. he’s amazing. i love him, there’s not doubt. and because of this, i want to give him the world. i want him to succeed and be the most that he can be, which is a lot. i want him to be successful. i don’t mean successful and make a lot of money and be well-know, i mean successful in the fact that i want him to look back and be glad that he didn’t skip class on that sunny afternoon and i want him to be happy with where he is in life and what has come of him. i want him to wake up happy every morning and love what he ends up doing every morning. so i don’t want his friends that, as far as i know, don’t seem to be doing anything with their life to get in his way. i don’t want him  bringing him down. i don’t know any of his friends, and they could be awesome. but i don’t think that they really value him for what he is. he hasn’t had the best life, but i know he’s stronger than what he’s doing now. he’s better than what he’s doing now. and i told him all of this last night, but i’m not here to rule his life or tell him how to run his life. i’m not his mother to check up on him and i don’t want to be. i want to just prove to him exactly how wonderful he is and how smart he is. so how do i do this? we talked again today and i explained all of this, so he knows all of this, but i just want to make sure this doesn’t happen. communication is going to be key i think.

i love love. i really do.

it’s strange though.

at about 15.5 minutes, Nithyananada starts to speak about weightlessness. siddhis rock!

One of the many things to do before I die:

The weightless experience on Zero G!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

While we’re waiting for lunar tourism to be possible, a simulated vacuum experience should suffice.

PAGE CONTENTS

WWII PERSISTENT CONTRAIL STORY – WAKEUPCALLCHANNEL Control!

Don’t forget my other posts and links are available to the top right of the page…

A WORLD WAR TWO PERSISTENT CONTRAIL STORY

This is an excerpt from a long and fascinating interview (conducted by kued.org UTAH WW II Stories) with Dr. Ray Matheny, who was the flight engineer on a bombing raid over North Germany which, for him, culminated in being shot down in an aerial battle with defending BF-109s. (After all, you’ve ploughed through 40,000 words so you deserve some infotainment!)

Okay the green burst of flak comes up which is a signal for the German fighters to come down and engage us because the flak barrage is over and they wouldn’t want to fly in their own flak barrage. So at that point our airplanes tighten up our formation – we see the green bursts so the airplanes just slide together as close as we can manage and that means (every airplane has thirteen 50-calibre guns on it) so that means there’s a bristling mass of guns out there and these fighter planes have to engage the enemy no matter what.

That flak burst went off and we were ready and I remember a Messerschmidt 109 often called a ‘BF109′ came diving in on us and I have a gun sight that’s a flat piece of glass that’s horizontal and then one bar is up and one bar is down and these bars move back and forth according to little bicycle controls I have on my turret and I can frame a sight but first I have to crank in the dimension of the target. So the fuselage length on that airplane is 29 feet six inches and so I cranked that in and I was tracking this fighter plane now…we’re going one way and he’s coming the same way so the closure isn’t too bad. So I’m tracking and ‘brrpppdd, brrpppdd, brrrpppdd’ I get about six rounds shot off as I track and you really can’t get any more than that with any accuracy and then as I swung around all of a sudden I saw the tail guns fly up in the air like that…

Now the tail guns (remember I told you they were 64 pounds apiece) and they’re balanced but when you let go of the breeches the barrels go up like that. So here we’re under fighter attack and the tail gunner lets go of his guns. Well that only means one thing – that he’s hit and I then became aware that in the same line of fire the radio operator dropped his gun and his gun went straight up.

Well I’m next in that same line of fire so those two boys probably got hit and sure enough there was a Messerschmidt 109 on our tail. Now that day being as cold as it was, our engines produce these huge contrails (not these little streaky things that you see jets producing here) I think it was about 32 airplanes that day and each engine was producing these huge contrails and they were just lining the sky – no wind up there and you could see them for 300 miles. They were just there and all of us were leaving those…

So this Messerschmitt 109 pilot was down in our contrail, snuck up behind us and let go a burst and then I could see him dive down into the contrail. I said “hey I’m going to be ready for that guy”, so I swung around my turret and then I set my wing dimension for the 109 – thirty two feet nine inches right there. I set that right there and then I tried to judge the distance that he would be because he was very close and sure enough I could see his propeller chopping through the contrails and his nose came up and he was coming up too high. So I bore down and tried to adjust on his wingtips for range and that means my turret guns would be accurate to 25 percent which is very very good for a mechanical analog computer in those days.

He leveled off and by the time he started firing, I started firing.

So we were both firing at each other in a duel right at the same time but he was still high and I could see his 20mm cannon shells, his wings just lit up with blasts and flashes and I could actually see those 20mm cannon shells stringing over the top of my turret. I just held down the trigger just blasting! My right gun quit firing and I think there’s an interrupter cam on the outside of my turret track so you wont blow your own vertical fin off but the left gun just kept firing away and the first thing you know I could see he was getting very, very close. It was frighteningly close and his propeller just ground to a halt and pieces of cowling started to fly off the engine and I yelled into the intercom at that moment to “jump it!”

That’s an evasive action because we’ve had experiences before where the fighter pilot has been killed and his airplane is still alive and it comes and crashes into you and I thought maybe it was possible that I could have killed the pilot and here’s a live airplane still going much faster than us and it could collide with us so I yelled “jump it!”

The pilots have a big yoke there and this is a 60 ton airplane and we burned off a lot of that weight but they have to haul back all their strength because there are no boost controls on B17s, just cables and lever horns that they operate and so that means that we would go up like this and let the airplane pass under us. So at that moment we undergo a terrific G-force because we’re inducing that G-force and you’re massed down like that but we’re… tail end Charlie ‘purple heart corner’ is the favorite saying there and we’re stacked up twelve twelve and whatever – ten there, we didn’t have a full compliment.

And so we go up but we can only go up for a second and then they have to slam the yoke down and we have to go through weightlessness. So I felt the G-force and we’re going up. So I threw both of my arms over the ammunition cans inside of my turret because I knew when we were going through weightlessness anything that’s not tied down in an airplane while going back down will just stay there and the airplane will go around it.

Now that sounds weird but combat airplanes are build for very high stresses and that maneuver is very necessary and all that ammunition in my ammo cans would just stay there and the airplane would go there and they would… the ammunition would go right through the top of my turret – right through the plexiglass out into space.

So I was all braced like this and then there was just a big explosion and it threw me out of the turret right on the bottom of the cockpit and you know if you’re going to be a survivor in any flying combat you have to be mentally set to take instant action or else you’ll die and we witnessed it many times. You have three maybe five seconds to take positive action and if you don’t there’s a good chance you’ll not make it. So I knew from the impact of the explosion and everything that that airplane was not going to fly anymore.

Our airplane went up like this. It turned out that the right outer panel of the wing was blown off. It’s about twenty feet long, it was full of 130-octane fuel, it weighed about a ton, so all of a sudden all that was gone from the airplane. The left wing is still flying and so it raised us up in the air like this and eyewitnesses say that here we have these airplanes stacked like this (three stories of airplanes) and our airplane did a roll up as high as the high echelon and came around and then entered into a flat spin.

Well I grabbed my parachute which was… I wore the harness but I safety wired my chest pack (because I couldn’t wear it in the turret – there’s no room) to longerons which are bare metal inside of the airplane, part of the structure with breakaway safety wire – it’s 15 thou soft copper and that’s its purpose – and I ripped off my parachute and by that time I’m being mashed down into the floor of the airplane and I pick up my parachute and I hook on to the right hook, I reached and tried to pick up the parachute and pull it up to the left hook but I can’t lift the parachute – it weighs too much.

We’re in a spin and the centrifugal force has induced these forces and it makes everything weigh so much more than it normally is. I couldn’t pick it up to hook it on the left hook and I just kept being mashed and mashed down.

The peculiar thing here is that in my turret I have this little small oxygen hose that hooks up to my oxygen mask and supply and as I moved around the cockpit (it was short) I would pull it loose and the first thing you know I would be out of oxygen. So a day or two or before (I don’t remember) an airplane crashed on our airfield taking off one of the short runways and it tipped over and burned up and the tail assembly did not burn up with the rest of the airplane.

So I went in there and I took the tail gunner’s oxygen hose which is a great big long thing – I took that off, threw mine away (the little short one) and put the long one on.

So now I’m in this spin and I’m exerting myself at 25,000 feet and I have a good flow of oxygen and as I’m rolling forward there is a crawlway, there’s a pilot and co-pilot here, instrument panel and controls right there and then this crawlway gives you access to the nose section. Also down at the bottom of the crawlway on the left behind number two propeller is an escape hatch about so big.

My goal was to get to that escape hatch…

I could see the co-pilot and the pilots. They were supposed to have backpack parachutes but they ran out of them so they issued chestpack parachutes. Well these men were big enough where they couldn’t wear a chestpack and work the controls so I had safety wired their parachutes on the backs of their seats.

I remember the co-pilot, I could see his left hand reaching back trying to get to his parachute but it was just hopeless, he couldn’t even raise his arm and the pilot, you know, he’s twenty years old now and his duty is a different duty from everybody else’s, and I could see him working the yoke and the controls trying to right the airplane so everybody can bale out. But there’s no chance.

It was a totally uncontrollable airplane at this point, and the last I saw of them both of them were leaning over like this and being scrunched down into their seats and I know what was happening to them. This spin was very different from a normal spin because when over a ton of your airplane’s gone you have a new center of gravity for the airplane.

Normally the cockpit is the center of gravity so when you’re in a spin the forces are minimal but now the cockpit is no longer the center of gravity and it’s swinging around like you’re on a skating rink – the whip.

So the forces are terrible and the blood is draining out of their brains and they’re just going into oblivion unable to help themselves or do anything…

I crawled forward head down into this crawlway. What a fortunate thing! I have oxygen; I have blood in my brain! So I crawled down and the control cables are being drawn out of the pulleys and two sets of them are like this… and I have to crawl through those or just past them like that… and I can remember black smoke just coming in like this… and in front of me is the navigator Lieutenant Dodi and he has a steel helmet on, he has his flak suit and he’s the only crew member that has a steel helmet and a flak suit and he had this awful premonition and talked about it too much. He knew he was going to die and so he tried to get this protection; but he was on his back like a turtle. He had a backpack parachute and he was on his back and his arm was out trying to get to the escape hatch but there’s no way he could do anything.

He couldn’t even turn over, and I could not help him that’s for sure, and there’s no way anybody can help anybody else in those moments, so I crawled up to the escape hatch to the forward part. There was a red D-handle and on the D-handle are two little cables that go to the hinge pins.

Now this is the leading edge of the escape hatch so I pull that and pull the hinge pins out. The escape hatch is supposed to fly off into space but because the airplane’s under this terrible stress from the spin it locks the door in place. So by that time I am flat on the floor. My whole body is just mashed down on the floor…

The last memory I have – I propped my arm up like this, my elbow on the floor and I reach up and grab the handle and it’s at the aft end of the door (a normal bullet-shaped handle) and I pull it down and it stays down, and the last thing I remember I was beating my fist on the door trying to force it open.

My next consciousness is – I’m free falling feet-first, the parachute’s on the right hook and it’s beating me in the forehead like this… and you know who’s thinking about anything, who’s rational or anything at this moment! I know I’ve got to get that parachute open! I’ve gone through this in my mind ten thousand times what I’ve got to do to get out of that airplane and get that parachute open. And I just reached up and clawed open or clawed at the D-ring (it’s another red one right there on my parachute) and ripped it open and out came this beautiful white silk – it went “sshhooopp”, and then it popped open really hard, and it pulled up on this right hook, and that’s all that was needed…

But the force was so great it displaced these left ribs and those darn ribs never went back. I still can’t lay on my stomach today because they stick out there. Anyway…

WAKEUPCALLCHANNEL Control

“plenty of footage and evidence contrail and chemtrail differences at the SAME TIME!”
Chemtrails don’t exist so you CAN’T spot “the difference”.

“Get it through your head that I’m not saying that all chemtrails are “BAD” and that contrails don’t exist.”
Get it through your head that I’m saying that no chemtrails exist at all.

“Try thinking outside your brainwashed manipulated head for a few hours and do more research.”
You feeble hypocrite. “Research” has demonstrated your point of view to be dross for nearly a hundred years.

“Understand that these dumbass elite of dumbed down cowards persist on making mock videos about chemtrails distorting information.”
NO. They are worried about the riot-speech jargon of a group of ignorant idiots.

“THE GREATEST ENEMY OF KNOWLEDGE IS NOT IGNORANCE, IT IS THE ILLUSION OF KNOWLEDGE“
Your illusion permeates you. I have an urge to vomit.

“You have both ignorance and the illusion of knowledge.”
I am tough and accustomed to talking with anuses with pretensions. A brain – isn’t expected at this time.

“It’s time for you and stars and Sprite and all the trolls to understand that.”
YOU are the TROLL. You befoul everything you touch with your ignorant hypocrisy (and bad spelling and grammar).

“Let me ask you this.. Does Eugenics exist?”
Yuch. The answer is NO, they don’t. The reasoning behind eugenics has been known to be faulty ever since the work of Mendel.

“Is flouride and aspartame bad for you?”
Yuch. “Flouride” is unknown. Aspartame is a sweetener which no-one should choose.

“I bet you like the idea of population reduction don’t you?”
If it were to be YOU – yes – a great idea.

“Do you feel like your part of something beyond anyone understands?”
Yuch. Fuck off. Speak English.

“I’ve done research for years on the nonsense you’re pushing.”
Must have been recent, for I’ve only heard about this snake-oil for eighteen months. (So, you are also a liar. But who cares.)

“Oh and I’m not a religious nut either. I just see through the bullshit and the disinformation.”
You’re a chemtard, and couldn’t give good advice to my cat.

“Ok then. I’ll be the bigger man and actually discuss some topics Instead of calling you an old stupid ignorant fool or some stupid lingo you deniers like to use.”
See this ring? It will whisper to you…

“Explain to me why I have evidence of a contrail flying in the same area of a jet spraying chemtrails that stay in the sky while the Contrail dissipates?”
A waste of time, arsehole, but here goes. Kerosine in jet engines burns to form carbon dioxide and steam. (You exhale approximately the same, for you too, live by COMBUSTION). The steam freezes to ice in about a twentieth of a second into the LAYERED stratosphere with its -40 temperature. Then it attempts to evaporate into water vapor. Already present in the air is a certain amount of water, called its vapor pressure. When there is a sufficiently high vapor pressure resisting the sublimation of the ice to water vapor, then NO sublimation will take place, and the ice will remain. Not only that, but if the vapor is in SUPERSATURATION, it will add ice by the thousandfold.. ..it simply depends on which layer the aircraft is in as to whichever sort of trail it makes..

“I do understand the difference between the two. Do you? Cause I don’t think you do.”
You are a piss-poor ignoramus to set yourself up against human society’s understanding of atmospheric science. But who else is suited?

“Your a complete and utter moron. Everything you messaged me was complete non sense. Have fun paying your carbon taxes and being a miserable know it all.”
So the “man” accusing others of blocking him is QUITE EASY blocking others. WAKE UP CALL for CHANELLING away all that HYPOCRISY!
Chemtard. (I know THAT much!)