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.

Life Returning to Normal at MSFC

Some progress in Northern Alabama.

Marshall Center to resume normal business operations beginning Monday, May 4.

The Marshall Space Flight Center will resume normal business operations beginning Monday, May 4. This includes the Marshall Child Development Center, which will reopen. A liberal leave policy had been put into effect May 1, as a preventive measure against the H1N1 virus (swine flu). Employees should contact their supervisors if they have circumstances that may require them to be on leave.

Marshall Center management is continuing to take appropriate precautions to ensure the safety and well being of all Marshall employees and their families in the wake of the identification of the virus, and will provide updates as necessary.

For H1N1 virus (swine flu) information visit, http://inside.msfc.nasa.gov/er/swine_flu_info.html

To follow NASA on Facebook, specifically NASA Marshall, and Twitter, visit http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate/index.html.

Potpourri XXXI

Digging into the inbox to see what magic emerges...

The Rocket City Brewfest will be the Depot Roundhouse in Huntsville May 8-9. It's sponsored by Free the Hops, an organization that's trying to get the State of Alabama to have looser laws on alcohol content and container sizes on specialty beers. They should push for the right to ship wine into the state, while they're at it...

A plug for another friend's business: Dalton Hooper is a former manager of mine from the Disney Information Technology Department. He one of those laid-back Southern gents who managed to stay unruffled no matter what crisis or state of mind I brought to his cube. He belongs to the Fred Thompson School of the Long Yarn. He's now a lecturer and paid(!) humorist. His business is called Words & Wit, and it's based in Deltona, about 20-30 minutes NE of Orlando.

More goodness from NASA's Office of Occupational Safety & Health on the H1N1 virus:

Message from the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer: H1N1
Influenza (Swine Flu)
Update, May 1, 2009

The number of cases of swine influenza (H1N1) continues to rise around the globe at a modest rate. On April 29, 2009, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the pandemic threat to Level 5 indicating an increased likelihood of a pandemic. The number of confirmed cases in the United States as reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of May 1, 2009, is 141 in 19 states with one death in Texas. The WHO reported 331 confirmed cases in 11 countries as of today.

As the outbreak progresses, the following facts and features have become evident:

1. The outbreak continues to cause relatively mild illness for the most part in the United States, and appears to be very much like a seasonal flu outbreak with regard to severity and spread.

2. The U.S. government has mobilized numerous resources not previously available to respond to flu outbreaks. This should limit the overall impact, compared to past experience.

3. The Department of State and the Department of Health and Human Services recommend avoiding non-essential travel to Mexico. There are no other travel related recommendations at this time. There are no recommendations to restrict or avoid public transportation, including airline travel.

4. The World Health Organization has characterized the outbreak based on spread, not severity. Currently, the WHO Pandemic Alert level remains at 5; however, this
may change if person-to-person spread is confirmed outside of North America.
Again, this does not relate to the severity of the illness caused by the epidemic.

5. The Department of Health and Human Services, which has the lead for U.S. government pandemic response, has not issued any policies to drive any additional NASA activities.

6. There have been multiple deaths in Mexico related to H1N1 infection, and there have been many more hospitalizations there as well. The number of infected
individuals in Mexico is unknown. As the number of hospitalizations increases
worldwide, the expected number of deaths can be expected to increase, as would be seen in any outbreak of influenza.

7. Personal protective measures remain the best prevention for this illness. Strict attention to hand washing, avoiding contact with those who are ill (staying 3 to 6 feet away should be adequate), remaining home if ill, keeping your hands away from your nose and mouth, covering coughs and sneezes and disposing of contaminated tissues are all useful measures.

8. If you believe you are sick with flu, contact your personal medical care provider.

NASA’s facilities continue to follow the recommendations of federal, state and local health officials in dealing with this flu emergency. Not every state with a NASA facility has been affected by the flu outbreak, so actions to reduce public exposure vary from community to community. As of this writing, only one NASA sponsored event has been canceled, and only one field center closed its day care center and permitted liberal leave on April 30 and May 1:

The Glenn Research Center canceled a star gazing party planned for this weekend at
the request of the sponsoring planetarium, and the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) decided to allow its employees liberal leave and closed its day care center, when the local school system decided to close its schools for two days. MSFC will re-evaluate the situation on Sunday.

The following events are still planned: The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's open house this weekend, and Wallops Flight Facility's launch of the TacSat-3 mission on Tuesday night, May 5. The flu epidemic has not affected the upcoming launch of STS-125. The crew will begin their standard pre-launch quarantine, which is a precaution against infectious disease, on Monday, May 4.

The health and welfare of our government and contractor employees and their families remain our major concern and highest priority. Please feel free to call your NASA Occupational Health Clinic or the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer at NASA Headquarters at 202-358-2390 with any questions related to the H1N1 outbreak. The following Web sites can also be consulted for more information:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu

The World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/en

NASA Occupational Health Web site: http://ohp.nasa.gov

Speaking of that, the Star Trek premiere was postponed in Mexico due to H1N1.

Some Star Wars humor: http://www.starwars.com/fans/events/news20090427.html

A good article on website usability. Usability was always a big concern for my thesis director, Dr. Kitalong. After all, you could have the most brilliant content in the world, but if people can't find it, what's the darned point?

Tip o' the fedora to Tina for this one: What has NASA done for you lately? Check out the Tech Transfer site.

Potpourri XXX

For those of you new to this site, this is NOT a porn site, so get that "XXX" idea out of your head. If you want to stick around and get educated and entertained a little bit, by all means, stick around. For the rest of you, I offer another set of odd links and bits that struck my fancy. Read on!

NASA's Mercury MESSENGER planetary orbiter has found signs that the planet Mercury had an active, volcanic past and a highly variable magnetosphere.

AvWeb posted a PDF of a document that looks like an FAA notice to air traffic controllers in the New York City area. Never seen one of these before, but it looks plausible. Still not expecting an apology from the president.

A notice from Robin Henderson, Associate Director at Marshall Space Flight Center, regarding the H1N1 flu:

Message from Robin Henderson, Associate Director
In light of last evening’s Madison County Emergency Management Agency’s (EMA) announcements, I am writing to assure you that we are following Marshall’s Emergency Management Plan concerning Pandemic Disease Events. We are taking all appropriate precautions to ensure the safety and well being of all Marshall employees and their families.
We want everyone to know that there is no medical emergency at this time. Thus far, no H1N1 virus (swine) flu cases have been identified on Redstone Arsenal.
As a precautionary measure, to protect the health of all those under the age of 18, all youth activities and operations on the Arsenal will be suspended through Sunday, May 3. This suspension includes the Marshall Child Development Center. Redstone Arsenal has suspended all Redstone related School Age Services, Youth Services and associated youth sporting events, as well as Chapel Youth events and worship services involving children.
Additionally, the Saturday, May 2, Morale Welfare and Recreation Block Party has also been postponed. As has been announced, Marshall Space Flight Center has issued a liberal leave policy, except for emergency essential personnel, effective today and tomorrow, for those employees who need to care for their children or feel the need to stay away from a public environment. A decision will be made if continuation of the liberal leave policy is necessary beyond Sunday, May 3.

If you and/or a family member have flu-like symptoms – fever, body aches, runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting or diarrhea – contact your health care provider. Your health care provider will determine whether influenza testing or treatment is needed. If you are sick, you should stay home and avoid all contact with other people to keep from spreading your illness to others. We are asking that you not go to the medical center with these symptoms as this is contrary to Center for Disease Control
recommendations.

If you and/or a family member becomes ill and experiences any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care:

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include: fast breathing or trouble breathing, bluish skin color, not drinking enough fluids, not waking up or not interacting, being so irritable that the child does not want to be held, flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough, fever with a rash.

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include: difficulty breathing or shortness of breath, pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen,
sudden dizziness, confusion.

For information about precautions, follow this link to the CDC’s Swine Flu Website: http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

Recommendations on any further actions the Center or Agency may take will be released through Marshall communications vehicles. Please be advised that we will utilize multiple communication vehicles to ensure that you are informed and updated as further information or decisions become available. Latest information also is available by phone, call (256)544-HELP, Option 5.

On my end of things, I turned in my emergency contact information to the powers that be so they know who to contact if I get a sniffle. Sigh...I know it's serious. I just shake my head in dismay at the near-overreaction to things.

NASAWatch's snark drives me up the wall, but they do link to some interesting news sites. I suggest reading the news stories connected with layoffs at Kennedy Space Center and possible changes to the Constellation Program's ends and architecture.

An adult beverage recommendation from long-lost-high-school-buddy Joanna: Evan Williams whiskey, just in time for the Kentucky Derby on Saturday.

New internet nomenclature from Doc:

astroturfing, v. An internet practice whereby companies have employees create artificial “grassroots” movements to gin up support for their products.

Media Coverage of the H1N1 Virus

The U.S. national media is covering the H1N1 virus (swine flu) story like the Orlando media cover a hurricane. There are always two subtexts in such stories:

1. There is no need to panic.
2. We are all going to die.

It makes life interesting. In any case, with two reported/possible cases in a Madison County school, all Madison County schools have been closed today, and some for as much as a week. I expect a quiet day at work today.