Potpourri CIII

The usual mixed bag, so let's get to it. Five days to vacation and counting.

From the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE):

• A suggested reading list for young 'uns. I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't read a lot of these, but some of them I wish I hadn't and some I'm probably still glad I haven't, so it might be a wash.
• Also, an overseas source for buying electronic gear.

Some additional second-guessing about Administrator Bolden might or might not have said about Ares I-X. After Mr. Cowing admitted to posting flat-out rumors, I'm beginning to take him less and less seriously.

This struck me as surprising and more than a little disturbing: Boeing is looking to move more of its operations overseas...to China. Not a bright idea--that would make U.S. proprietary technology that much more accessible to a nation that does not have our best interests at heart. And isn't Boeing supposed to be exporting products to China, not itself? I'll be interested to see what the Department of Commerce and the State Department have to say about this.

Here's something interesting from my friends at Science at NASA: could investigating the process of fusion on the Sun allow us to build a better fusion reactor here on Earth? That would certainly be a useful spinoff from astronomy, wouldn't it?

From Father Dan:

• A Fox News story (via YouTube) about Obama's new flyover policy regarding an event that honors America's military service members.
• Father also recommended I check Clark Howard's web site to seek out deals on calling overseas. I'll have to do some more reading here. Clark either assumes that my phone can be easily switched over to use in Europe (something Verizon told me was not doable) or he's offering advice on switching services, which I'm not looking to do. I might just buy a disposable phone or a phone card. I think I've reached the saturation point on helpful advice. I just want to get there, ya know?

A good editorial by one of my fellow NSS Policy dudes, Ryan, on what should be done with NASA. One can only hope we get this lucky.

From another NSSer, Ken, a list of 25 reasons we should go to the Moon. The space advocacy community is getting its message out there, but who's listening?

From Hu: a link to a blogger suggesting "concourse cruising," that is, walking up and down an airport concourse and saying "thank you" to any and all uniformed military personnel you encounter. I'm a fan. If I see any in the airport bar, I try to buy 'em a round. Whatever. They're the ones running around with 80 pounds of gear in 120-degree weather, getting shot at.

From Gwen, a spectacular way for space geeks to humiliate their dog.

Could Kindle and related electronic books spell the end of hardcover books? Maybe, says I.

A school is trying a "no touching" policy to prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus. That's going to make joining hands to sing Kum-ba-ya difficult...jeez. Keep your hands washed, don't come into school if you're sick. It's not rocket science.

How much real estate would it require if we wanted enough ground-based solar power to power all of the Earth's needs? This site offers one answer, though it ignores things like night and day, bad weather, etc.

The British have developed a spacecraft to help deflect asteroids. Cool! Now all we need is a launch vehicle capable of lifting it into orbit.

European Vacation Preparations, Continued

I packed most of my stuff yesterday. A couple of last-minute items will get packed last (prescriptions, toothbrush, shaver), but my primary concentration this week will be getting used to walking around with 40 lbs. of gear on my back/front (backpack plus reverse-slung backpack, which makes me look pregnant--joy). A couple friends have suggested I get a letter of permission from my doctor authorizing me to carry my Synthroid and Simvastatin. Don't want to get caught like Rush Limbaugh, right?

And of course there are all sorts of little, stupid things I need to take care of, like emptying the fridge, dumping the trash, bringing in the grill, double-checking the locks on everything, and setting an out-of-office message for Hotmail, most of which will wait until the day before I go. Beyond that, what can I do? Not a whole lot. I'm still in over-thinking mode, so I'm occasionally losing sleep as I contemplate things I might be forgetting. I'll be fine once I get on vacation, but it'll take me awhile to get into a vacation frame of mind--or not. Put me in a business-class seat in a grownup-sized airplane, and even I can shed the workaholic attitude. Can't believe it, but after nearly two years of planning, I'm less than a week from making my big trek.

And from there, let the magic commence!

I've Found Myself! See? I'm Right Here

Back in da day at Disney, my friend Kate complained to me because a guy was going to Europe to "find himself." "What the hell does that mean, anyway?" she asked. I didn't really know, either, but my delayed response was to buy her a button that featured the title above. She found that amusing.

The thing is, I've always thought that way. This trip is not about finding myself or indulging some sort of mid-life crisis. It took two years of planning and has been as methodical an effort as I've made. Hardly the efforts of a middle-aged geek suddenly deciding to drop everything and scoot off to the Continent on the spur of the moment. Mind you I did explain to a couple of people that, having hit 40, I need to do some planning on what to do with the other two-thirds of my life. At least I'll have some leisure time to contemplate, right?

The trip is a reward to myself for three years of hard work in the space business--as a NASA contractor and citizen space advocate. I also wanted to broaden my horizons a bit and take a trip that didn't involve family (sorry) or Disney World. Now mind you, I'll probably come back missing my family and Disney World more than ever, but I owe it to myself to at least go and see and learn and experience for myself.

My friend Jane went to Europe back in the '90s to figure out what she wanted to do with her career, and she came back with a fiance. That's one way of "finding yourself," I suppose. Personally I'm hoping for a statuesque Italian contessa who's her own chef, and owns a villa in Tuscany with an internet hookup, but that's me daydreaming. :-)

Potpourri XCII

More vacation progress! Rick Steves.com has finally sent me a detailed itinerary/list of hotels for my stay, along with a list of the people on my tour. This was accompanied by a letter offering packing reminders (map, hotel list, rain coat, flashlight) and a one-page summary/reminder of the itinerary. My tour consists of 24 people: 6 couples, 10 singles (9 women + Bart. My, my). Twenty-five days and counting.

From Martin, a video recommendation.

New from Hu: Another story on orbital fuel depots.

This is just wrong: some idjit is going on trial for groping the cast member playing Minnie Mouse.

Congress appears to be backing down on their attempt to buy more corporate jets for themselves. Good. Maybe if they spend enough time flying commercial aviation, they might learn to fix the Air Traffic Control system.

Jihadists have attacked Pakistan's nuclear facilities at least three times. Times they are a-changin'. The facilities were originally placed to keep them away from the Indians. Unfortunately for Pakistan (and us), the threat now is terrorists from the Northwest, where the facilities are located.

From Melissa: an article from a group boycotting companies like Amazon or Apple/iTunes, which can take away the digital material people purchase. The Amazon issue I understand because the content that was purchased was, in fact, posted illegally. But this is why throwbacks like me prefer CDs, tapes, and similar physical media because then you have something, not just a purchased right to electrons. But then I'm one of those crusty Gen Xers, so what the heck do I know?

Travel Expenses

Well, at last check, the euro was up to $1.42. Fortunately, I budgeting the trip for €100/day when the dollar was lower, so I'm not behind...I was just hoping the euro would've stayed below $1.30. Oh, well. Things to consider before travelling overseas.

Another hot item I looked into was the cost of buying stuff while I was informing my bank/credit card companies about my impending travels. Dig this: it's $5 extra per ATM withdrawal, (and from there you must add whatever the ATM's fee is going to be). To make point-of-sale purchases, Visa tacks on an additional 3%...never mind the cost of exchange rates, Value-Added Taxes (VAT), etc. American Express charges 2%. Might not want to leave home without it. On the plus side, VAT will get refunded at the end of the trip, but that means keeping all my receipts until I get Stateside. I didn't even ask about personal checks--I presume the Europeans aren't stupid enough to accept an overseas check.

A few things my seasoned-traveler friends have been telling me:

• Don't bother with traveler's checks. They're becoming passé, and credit cards are accepted nearly anywhere anyway. The joys of electronic money.
• American Express offices are supposed to get good currency exchange rates--better than the guys at the airport, anyway.
• It's probably better to just buy euros stateside or use ATMs in larger chunks.

The tricky question will be: is it cheaper to make purchases as I go or just rack up the ATM fees and risk carrying more cash? The 2-to-3-percent charges make the cost issue academic. $5 ATM fees are fine as long as I'm taking out bigger chunks of cash and stowing them safely. Going to have to think like a smuggler without looking like a spy, I guess. Pickpockets are reputed to be infamous across the pond, but then so are pickpockets in New York City, and I never had anything stolen there. Have to chalk that up to the Lord's protection; it certainly wasn't due to any smart or precautionary behavior on my part.

The idea Rick Steves advocates in his books is to keep larger amounts of cash in your money belt and smaller amounts in your wallet...and to make your wallet a cheap one so you don't miss it if it's stolen. I particularly like this little card, which Steves recommends keeping in the el cheapo wallet (printed in five languages):

Dear Thief: Sorry this contains so little money. Consider changing your profession.

Ha!

Anyhow, my list of things to do/buy continues to shrink. Put down some change today to buy a backup pair of eyeglasses. There are some bills I need to start double-paying to keep the collection agency people off my back when I get home. I need another travel lock for my backpack and more batteries for the camera. I probably need a bigger memory card for the camera, or just a backup. Need to buy a soap container and transfer money from savings to checking before I head out the door. Otherwise I've left a lot of optional stuff to the family if they feel inclined to buy. And yes, I need to get back to at least a refresher on my rudimentary French/German/Italian. I've got a three-language phrase book and can match the sounds to the written spellings (mostly), but otherwise I'll be doing a lot of gesticulating and faking it with those folks who didn't bother to learn any more English than I learned of their language.

The countdown continues.

Huzzah!

Father Dan sent a rain poncho from Bass Pro Shops...folks who actually DO the outdoors. Progress on the European checklist continues.

Here's Something You Don't See Every Day

Some bums(?) picked up a six-foot-long shark and dragged it into the mean streets of Miami. Guess that'll teach THAT shark...

*

On a completely unrelated note, I'm thinking of leaving my Kindle at home when I go to Europe. If I need to hear/see news, I can always buy the local paper, right? If I want to relax, bringing the electronic world with me might not be the brightest thing.

*

Another random thought: So let's say I'm wrong and NASA is NOT communicating well. What could the agency do better?

Potpourri LXXVII

All sorts of Apollo 11 and other space stuff today (and rightly so!):

• An Australian newspaper on the prospects for space.


• Neil Armstrong reflected on those who gave their lives in the quest for space.


• Ares V imagery.


• Alan Stern on the greatest impact Apollo 11 had.


• Apollo seen by another writer as a dead end rather than a great beginning.
• Jeff Foust reviews several Apollo 11-related books.
• Best moon landings in movies.
• It looks like the Augustine Panel's public meeting in Huntsville has moved to July 29.
• NASA released a Neil Armstrong statement on the death of Walter Cronkite:
  "For a news analyst and reporter of the happenings of the day to be successful, he or she needs three things: accuracy, timeliness, and the trust of the audience. Many are fortunate to have the first two. The trust of the audience must be earned.
  "Walter Cronkite seemed to enjoy the highest of ratings. He had a passion for human space exploration, an enthusiasm that was contagious, and the trust of his audience. He will be missed."
• Popular Mechanics has a series of "untold stories" about Apollo 11.
• Space.com has several good stories, including this one...
• Apollo astronauts advocating trip to Mars.
• From Martin, an AOL list of fun space facts.
• And Darlene the Science Cheerleader has a nice roundup of some other Apollo 11 links.

Some stuff from Lin:

• The White House is delaying its budget report.
• This mind-bending financial bail-out could top $23 trillion in cost.
• "Earmark" is now part of the dictionary. Oh, goody. Another unwelcome addition to the vocabulary.
• An editorial recommends making businesses use electronic background checks of immigrants, illegal or otherwise, if only to verify that they're not on the DHS terrorism watch list. Maybe, says I. However, the watch list remains unreliable.
• Amazon.com can wipe out books from your Kindle if they find something amiss with them. Hmmmm.

From Cousin Katherine, a travel planning site recommendation. This might've been useful for the Europe trip when I was earlier in my process. Still might be good for future trips.

The wickedly funny gnomes at NeedCoffee.com are trying to wean themselves off of advertising by going to a subscription-only site as a means of paying their bills...at least the bills having to do with running the site itself. It's a reasonably sound business model: Jerry Pournelle runs Chaos Manor in this fashion--sort of like PBS. My fellow SF geek Doc, a part-time contributor to Need Coffee, referred me to the site, and I have been pleasantly amused with their content. NC is a media review site, if by "media" one can include items as diverse as TV shows, movies, video games, YouTube videos, and caffeineated energy drinks. Their rates are reasonable (starting at $1/month) and their range of attitudes and opinions suitably entertaining that even a cranky GenX conservative like me can laugh at their stuff on a regular basis.

Fighting Jet Lag and Other Trip Tasks

This link recommendation comes from Father Dan: http://www.antijetlagdiet.com/faqs.asp#how. The no-alcohol rule probably makes sense, but kinda takes the fun out of business class, yes? Interesting food for thought...er, so to speak.

In other Europe-related news, I made copies of my itinerary, passport, and credit cards in case the whole kit 'n' kaboodle gets stolen by persons unknown. Also sent a copy of everything to Mom (should probably ping Father, too, since he's more easily on-call).

I punted a few items to family to acquire, like shirts or travel clocks. My to-do list is down to:

• Buy a rain jacket/poncho
• Early/double-pay utilities
• Buy bar soap/container
• Buy lock for the backpack
• Buy an additional power cord adapter for the Kindle
• Replace my eyeglasses/get a spare
• Transfer spending money from savings to checking
• Call the bank and let them know I'll be out of town and to raise my per-day spending limit
• Put a hold on my mail

Not too bad.

Potpourri LXX

Busy day today. I'll try to keep this short so I can do some reading that doesn't require a CRT.

Ares I-X has started stacking onto the Mobile Launch Platform. Huzzah!

The American Institute of Physics' take on the confirmation hearings of Charles Bolden and Lori Garver.

The National Space Society has posted an alert (hmmmmm, wonder who wrote that!?) regarding the Augustine Panel.

What did the Apollo moon landing mean for you? Report in here.

I asked Rick Steves' Tour Department if it would be possible to make side trips to Strasbourg, France (home of the International Space University) or the CERN Large Hadron Collider in southwest Switzerland. Here's the response I got:

You could opt out of any time hiking in the Alps to visit CERN which is accessible from Geneva. This daytrip would require taking the train from Stechelberg to Geneva and then bus and tram to CERN. To visit Strasbourg you’d need to take a train from Paris so this day trip would have to happen after your tour. You can take a high speed TGV and arrive in 2.5 hrs.

Unfortunately, the day after my tour I'm going home. Matter of fact, I might be ditching one day of my Paris tour to go to Versailles, which holds a lot more interest for me than the Eiffel Tower. Still, the LHC would be fun, geekish side trip.

Breaking News: Looks like I won't be going to the LHC, either. Apparently one needs to request a visit/tour 3-4 months in advance. Serves me right for slacking off or not pushing hard enough on asking questions. Dagnabbit!

Potpourri LXIX

My friends have been productive with providing links, some useful, some moderately so. Let's just reach into the inbox grab bag and see what magic emerges, eh?

Stuff re: Europe from Melissa:

• http://www.exofficio.com/product_results.aspx?page=LIST&free_textdirect=underwear
• http://www.reidsguides.com/t_pa/t_pa_packing_list.html
• http://www.exofficio.com/default.aspx?cm_mmc=Google-_-Travel%20Terms-_-Travel%20Clothing-_-clothes%20for%20travel&gclid=CODittSIxJsCFRJexwodOkCj_w
• http://www.enjoy-europe.com/hte/chap06/packing.htm
• http://www.scottevest.com/v3_store/subindex_pants_shorts.shtml
• http://www.travelsmith.com/jump.jsp?itemType=CATEGORY&itemID=251&path=1%2C2%2C251
• http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/mens-travel-clothing.htm
• http://travelpete.com/lifestyle/bathrooms/
• http://www.irradiation.info/
• http://www.efsa.europa.eu/EFSA/efsa_locale-1178620753812_home.htm
• http://www.eufic.org/
• http://books.google.com/books?=id=J1uwezgwuFQC&pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=if+you+get+sick+in+europe&source=bl&ots=GMXVuesrsp&sig=4eKYIkp6NPLsWPHiYADwPA4_g0&hl=en&ei=ue9TSviNFaPKtgeTkZykCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2
• http://www.hthworldwide.com/corp_news/NYTimes_07_17_07.pdf

And this one's also from Melissa. It's both practical and frickin' hilarious, which is utterly appropriate if you know Melissa. Here's a link to tell you when there are good times in movies to go take a pee if you're afraid you might miss something. Especially helpful for folks who have a lot of beer before entering the theater.

From Yohon, an excellent example of a well-written complaint letter. Alas, most complaints during my tenure at Walt Disney World were not nearly so entertaining or coherent.

This comes by way of the mystic gnomes at NeedCoffee.com: A movie made by Walt Disney and Salvador Dalí? Yes! This is just beautiful...from around 1946. I'd heard about this when I worked for the Maus, but never seen it until now. It's just...wow. Imagine combining Dalí's paintings, putting them into motion with an almost Beauty and the Beast visual sensibility, and combining music from a sad Paris café and maybe the background music from The Wizard of Oz or Cinderella, and you'll have some idea of the visual and audio ingredients intermixed here. Watch this, before the Disney lawyers take it away.

From Lin:

• A congressman says unpleasant things about Michael Jackson and tries to put him and the media in their place. No doubt the celebrity-worshipping media and the public will turn against him, come the next election.
• "More from the O-bots on climate change." http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,529953,00.html
• "Third World health care here we come."
  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/ci.Obama%27s+5+Health+Care+Myths.opinionPrint

From my Google news feed, some more news about the alleged troubles facing the Constellation Program: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2009/07/constellation-top-risks-orion-loses-unmanned-capability/

New from Hu:

• Alabama Senator Shelby, concerned that support for the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program could hurt Ares jobs in Huntsville, is doing his best to divert funds from other centers. This is remarkably short-sighted, as there's still a chance SpaceX might get something up to the International Space Station before Constellation. And America needs redundant/backup capability to ISS. If you're an Alabama voter, call Shelby's office and 'splain it to him. Not that it'll change much, but it couldn't hurt.
• A report from India on why the next Moon walker will be Chinese.
• Obama seeks closer ties to Russia. You know: because they're so democratic and all.
• Huntsville is the fastest-growing city in Alabama.
• Would the Obama administration stop Israel from bombing Iran's nuclear facilities? VP Biden leaves the question open, but most likely any air strike would have to fly over Iraq, which still has a strong U.S. military presence. And Obama doesn't seem happy with Iran having nukes. Going to be an interesting term for Obama.
• Computers reading your thoughts? Maybe.

From Gwen, with the comment, "This man is bulletproof." Politically, at least, she might have a point. Marion Barry has been arrested again.

That's all for now. My Hotmail access appears to worsen as more neighbors use the internet. Stupid supply and demand...

Clothes Washing Experiment #1

Anyone who has left their swimsuit to hang over the shower curtain in Florida can quickly guess the problem with hand-washing your clothes in the sink: drying. If you're living in your swimsuit for a week, it's probably not a big deal. However, if you're sitting on buses and hiking around hotels and castles all day, another one-word problem comes to mind: chafing. Shirts might dry, socks will tend to get gamey, jeans take forever to dry. So fine, what next?

• Finding a laundromat seems to be the best option. A friend just came back from Germany and informs me that a lot of stuff closes down after 5 p.m. Great! After walking all day, I'll just find the laundromat and...psssst! What if the laundromat is closed, pal? Hm.
• Buy and pitch clothes along the way. Frees up more room in the bag, might help me look more "European," but also requires regular visits to clothing stores instead of playing tourist. Not a great idea, nor the most efficient/fun use of my time. Still, it's not outside the realm of possibility.
• There's the Rick Steves Pack Mate, which lets the air out of clothing, condensing the amount of space it takes up. It can also help to isolate wet/stinky clothing from whatever else is in my bag. Great! That doesn't solve the drying problem, though.
• Hair dryer?
• Tough it out and bring some sort of petroleum jelly to deal with the "chafing" issue. Ick.
• Febreeze to "freshen" clothing? Already bought a couple of those. After three weeks, I'll smell like sweaty lavender--or something. Rick Steves sells an unscented "clothes freshener" as well. Might as well stick with the Febreeze and save myself from the shipping charges. Or at least contemplate the Rick Steves stuff before it's too late.
• Disposable underwear--at least. Assuming I stay indoors and walk around a lot, my clothes will dry out eventually, though I'll probably feel cold and slimy all day.

Hm. This is why I practice these things in advance. There's still time for contingency planning. Recommendations welcome.

Europe Vacation Packing Experiment, Take 1

Theoretically I have everything I need to go to Europe. Still need a foldable rain jacket or poncho, and my water bottle went missing, but these are easily remedied in the next two months. This is actually less stuff than I bring for a week in Florida, so I might be in okay shape when it comes to carrying things long distances. After I get some fresh air and exercise, I'll try to pack everything up, weigh it, and take it for a test hike. I rarely see my neighbors anyway, so they're not likely to comment. T-minus 63 days and counting.

Bad News if You're an Airbus Fan...

Could Airbus Industrie be asked to ground all of its long-range jets? I find it unlikely, but stranger things have happened. This would not bode well for my Europe trip, which has A330s both ways across the pond. The DUDE (Down Under Defense Expert) forwarded me some emails that indicated the sensor issue is a smoke screen for other, more fundamental issues with the airframe, but the DUDE mostly dismissed such scare-mongering. Still, one can't help but pay attention when one's own hide will be confined in a couple of Airbus pressurized tubes for 16+ hours. Not stressing out, "just showing concern," as my buddy Gwen might say. Stay tuned. More to come, no doubt.

Slight Change in Plans

Got a brusque but interesting call from the travel agent who booked my airline ticket today. My layover in Memphis before heading off to Amsterdam has stretched from three or four hours to seven hours. Good thing I got a free pass for the Northwest World Club. Just have to make sure I don't enjoy myself TOO much...

European Vacation Planning, Continued

Some progress since this morning...

I'm about two months out now (amazing!). With the trip paid off, I've got a few things still left on the to-do list, with number one being to save up enough spending money for the trip. After a slightly hectic late May/early June, I'm back on track with that. Other items include:

To Do

• Practice packing
• Practice hand-washing clothes
• Replace/get a backup pair of eyeglasses
• Call credit card companies, let them know I'll be overseas
• Transfer money from savings to checking to cover the trip expenses
• Pre-pay some bills so I won't be late with anything in September
• Work on my frickin' languages (bad Bart! Bad!!)

To Buy

• Rain jacket
• Neck rest (a fellow business traveler told me that I'd need a "stiff" one--otherwise there really wasn't much point)
• Shout/stain remover Bought 6/28
• Lock for backpack
• Bar soap/container
• Folding umbrella Bought 6/28
• Packmate (i.e., something to collapse/condense my clothing)
• Clothes freshener (for those days when I can't quite manage to wash anything) Bought 6/28

Hard to believe the trip is nearly here. I've been at this for nearly two years now. Wild. The goals are to have fun, relax, see beautiful things, learn stuff, have decent food/beverages, buy stuff for myself, family, find stuff to write about, and/or friends--not necessarily in that order. Anyhow--woo hoo! Should be quite a 40th birthday present to myself.

Potpourri LIX

Getting close to a two-month countdown on the European vacation. Woo hoo! My buddy R2D2 sent a packing checklist. I'll add it to the pile. Gosh knows I need all the help I can get.

New from Hu:

• Gizmodo update on the Constellation Program.
• A couple editorials from Buzz Aldrin on Constellation, one in Discover, on on CNN.com.

From Blake, a couple episodes of Robot Chicken's version of Star Wars, here and here. NOT for kids.

And from Jeff, a new reader, a new site. He describes it as follows:

My blog deals with current news on NASA Space Missions,International Space News, Shuttle & Station,Moon & Mars,Solar System,Earth,Universe,Aeronautics,Science & Technology International Space Station, NASA, Shuttle & Station, Moon & Mars, Solar System, Universe.

Thanks for reading!

Tip o' the fedora to Rick Moore for finding this: my single concession to the recent news on the passing of Michael Jackson, the complete video of Captain EO, a Francis Ford Coppola/George Lucas 3D film that appeared at Epcot's Journey Into Imagination in the '80s.
Part I
Part II

Here's a hangover we'll regret in the morning: the House passed the carbon cap and trade (e.g. energy tax) bill 219-212 this evening. Say goodbye to cheap everything, if the Senate passes this. If the Senate does not pass it, that will be through the concerted efforts of motivated private citizens willing to get involved and make their voices heard. My letters and emails will be in the mail tomorrow.

Potpourri LI

I'll see how much I can post before crashing tonight. Serves me right for starting late.

Using psychology to save you from yourself--example: paying a teenager $1 a day for each day she's not pregnant.

Rick Steves has received my final payment, so the trip is locked. Now I just need to keep setting aside spending money. No sweat.

Virgin Galactic aims to fly 50,000 passengers in its first decade of travel. Swell. Let's see them fly one first.

NASA scientist and environmental doomsayer James Hansen is discussed in the most recent Weekly Standard.

This little girl has reputedly tested out as having a 160 I.Q. How the heck do you educate kids like this? Not under No Child Left Behind, that's for sure.

The Human Spaceflight Review panel is now on Twitter. Still time to provide your input on NASA's human spaceflight program.

This is a more politely worded response to the "Mars will be as big as the Moon" hoax than I would have provided.

My NSS/writing buddy Marianne Dyson was on Great Day Houston show.

Will the private sector provide the big breakthroughs in space? Maybe. Another article on The Space Review talks about the issues affecting civil space.

Tip o' the fedora to South of the Equator Scott for this one: Mitsubishi has an amusing web ad in New Zealand. Should be visible at the lower-right of the page.

The Last Minutes of Flight 447

It's not like I'm an utter pessimist or afraid of flying--I rather like it, actually, TSA shenanigans and all. But perhaps because my family worked at Eastern Airlines and I flew a lot, I pay a lot of attention to commercial airliner crashes. I also used to knock on the side of the airplane for luck before boarding. What the heck, it never hurt, right? Now I just pray. Anyhow, on a related note, the New York Post today reports than a Brazilian news paper posted the last transmissions from Air France Flight 447, which went down in the South Atlantic. I feel only slightly better that the authorities are saying it was likely not terrorism-related because they found oil/fuel on the surface--otherwise, I presume, the fuel would have burned if it were an explosion. Maybe. Some airplanes and ships in the area reported some sort of flash, I believe. Also, JP-8 has a pretty high flash point, so there could still have been some sort of fire without all of the fuel getting caught up in it. Just sayin'.

I pay attention to these things a little more when I've got to travel by air. Just collating data, as they say. And yeah, in addition to the prayer, I might start knocking on the side of the airplanes for luck. Couldn't hoit.

Europe Trip Becoming a Reality

So today I broke down and wrote THE CHECK to pay off my Rick Steves European vacation. Yeep! The itinerary can be found here, for those interested in the answer to "Where are you going?"

I still have some things that need doing before I go, such as:

• Work on my languages! Started out with the best of intentions earlier in the year, and that has gone by the wayside as my time has been taken up by writing, blogging, gadgets, and expanding my multimedia "empire." I'll cover the for-dummies basics, anyway. When in doubt, I can always speak louder and more slowly, right? Kidding...
• Practice hand-washing clothes.
• Practice packing--what goes in which bag (it's bad TSA juju putting the full-size shampoo in the carry-on, for instance, but also bad baggage-handling juju to put my camera in the checked bag). A personal checklist would probably be good.
• Replace my eyeglasses, which have taken a great deal of wearin', tearin', and scratchin' in just one year. Haven't even done anything that exciting.
• I have a note on my task log to hang out with at least one person I've "met" on Facebook. It was pointed out to me during ISDC that perhaps I'm spending too much time in front of the computer. What the heck, at least I'm being "social," right? Still, leaving the apartment occasionally would probably be good for me.

And, of course, I still have stuff to buy, including:

• An easily foldable rain jacket/poncho.
• Neck rest for the airplane. I might skip this. As I proved to myself during several segments of my flight to/from Orlando this weekend, I can sleep pretty much anywhere, even on a regional jet. And the seats in business class are a LOT more comfortable.
• Another travel lock, this one for the carry-on.
• Oh yeah, the carry-on backpack. A coworker recommended the Targus brand. They're built to carry laptops, which means they would probably keep a camera safe. Here's a-hopin', but the camera has its own case anyway.
• Non-aerosol Deep Woods Off!
• Sunblock. Come to think of it, I need that for home use, too.
• Shout/stain remover.
• Hand soap w/container.
• Folding umbrella.
• Clothes freshener spray.
• Extra data cards for the camera--or just a very high-volume one. The card I have on the camera right now is about 4GB.
• Extra batteries for said camera.

No sweat, right?

Chris and David, whom I did dinner with last night, just got back from a tour of Central Europe, and they offered me a few bits of advice, the primary ones included:

• Don't bother with traveler's checks.
• Get the bank to raise my limit on ATM withdrawals.
• Avoid the packs of "Gypsies" (pickpockets), which can be 3-4 youths or a herd of kids trying to get you to buy some of their "artwork."
• Keep my wallet in my front-right pocket, along with my hand. I'm still going with the money belt, just as a CYA, though David thought I should stick with the Visa card as much as possible so I'm not carrying a lot of cash around. Can't see the harm there, until I hit a tourist attraction that only takes Euros.
• They passed on a tip from Karen, who has offered me a lot of great advice--go with the disposable underwear and just pitch it as I go.

I'm less than 100 days out now, so I'd best get cracking on some of the small stuff. And I finally got some travel orders to go down to KSC to see and work on the Ares I-X stuff. That'll eat into things like exercise (unless I run around a great deal--always a possibility) and the other stuff on the list. The fun continues!