2011 in Review

You have your retrospective perspective, I have mine. It's been a busy year, and this review is more for my reference than yours. If you find the thoughts worthwhile, great.

So, one year ago...

While not part of my official day-job duties, I served as Chairman of the National Space Society’s 2011International Space Development Conference May 17-22. This event required coordinating, marketing, and planning the event, from the web site to the programming. It also involved working with the National Space Society in Washington, DC, NASA Headquarters, Marshall Space Flight Center's Office of Strategic Analysis & Communication, Huntsville Space Professionals, and other organizations and sponsors. The five-day event included a Space Investment Summit; a job fair; a gala dinner at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center; a trade show hosting over 20 companies and other organizations; bus tours of MSFC and local attractions; a luncheon for over 150 students from around the world; a charity auction to benefit the Madison County Red Cross; and over 100 speakers from across the aerospace industry and space advocacy community at the Von Braun Center and Embassy Suites Hotel. I juggled multiple responsibilities in the midst of budget and program uncertainties at NASA as well as a massive tornado outbreak a month before the conference (and one tornado during the conference itself!). The conference itself brought in 857 attendees and earned me an “Above & Beyond” Award from OSAC...all without casualties, unless one counts a temporary loss of sanity. :-)

In addition to the ISDC, I wrote agendas for half a dozen Science Cheerleader events and organized the paperwork of (now) over 100 Science Cheerleaders.

I wrote the first draft of a 59,000-word novel in November as part of National Novel Writing Month.

I survived months of job uncertainty and am currently in a stable berth in NASA's SERVIR program.

I started a second blog.

Oh yeah, and I bought a new car after the previous Bartmobile got a wee bit damaged.

***

So much for business. Am I a happier, better person now, than I was a year ago? Yes. Happier to be free of my ISDC responsibilities. Proud of what the group accomplished. And yes, happy that I can add a very large, successful event to ye olde resume. I learned a lot about myself over the course of the conference process, not all of it pretty.

The primary thing I learned is that I dislike being the guy in charge. I've learned how to better expend my social energies, as I frequently had to do my day job, then go off and do more stuff with other people after work. I learned that it is entirely possible to run a smooth operation so long as I surround myself with people who are able to do things on their own. I lead by allowing others to do their own thing with a minimum of supervision. I learned that I operate best in environments where information is shared openly, and that I get more than a little temperamental when I sense that is not the case.

And after a year of working with a large group on an intense project, my inner introvert has made himself clearly felt. I am learning to restructure my life and my pursuits to ensure that I have the space and time I need to recharge. I'm uncertain how, exactly, introverts find and keep partners in life. I find myself getting crustier about enforcing my personal quiet time and am getting set in my ways. This year marked 20 years since I graduated with my B.A. in English Literature; next year will be 20 years since I started working at Disney's Dixie Landings Resort (now Port Orleans Riverside). Time marches on, and I'm facing the realities of middle age: the need for ongoing exercise, more sensible eating, and political solicitude in the workplace. I'm not quite as brash, loud, or rude as I once was. All to the good.

But as always, I wonder where I go from here. I'm at the point where I've achieved my childhood dreams (including writing a novel!) but have yet to identify the dreams that will carry me forward for the next 40 years. Well, maybe I'll come up with some answers this year. Here's hoping. Farewell, 2011. Let's see what 2012 has to bring.

Anybody Can Write a Novel, Can’t They?

I find it amusing how many people have said to me at some point, “I should/can write a novel some day.” To which I’ve usually responded, “Why don’t you?” After all, the average person has been taught how to write and has read at least one novel in school. That, or they think that their life “would make a good story.” The conversation could go further, but it rarely does. Perhaps for the reasons I’ll illustrate below.

“So do you have a plot in mind?”

“Well, no, but the story basically tells itself.”

“So are you going to write from your point of view, one of the participants’, or from an omniscient point of view?”

“I don’t know. I never really gave the matter much thought.”

“Okay, we can skip that for now. Who’s your protagonist?”

“Me, of course.”

“Ah! Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. Are you writing autobiography or autobiographical fiction?”

“The latter one, I guess.”

“Okay, then you’ll need an antagonist, maybe a mentor character, a love interest…”

“Hey, wait! My life doesn’t have any of that.”

“Ah. So you’ve lived a conflict-free, guidance free life with no romance?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that…”

“Which part is incorrect.”

“Well, I’ve had conflict, and I’ve had romance in my life.”

“Excellent! Is it more a man-versus-man conflict, man-vs.-society, or some sort of existential, man-vs.-self thing?”

“Look, I don’t know about all that; I just want to tell my story.”

“Okay. What do you consider the beginning—when your parents first met, when you were born, when you first became conscious, when you had your first conflict?”

“Jeez, I dunno. I suppose I’d focus on my time in high school.”

“Ah! Now we’re getting somewhere. You’re not telling your life story, you want to tell about your youth.”

“Right.”

“Is this story to be a tragedy or comedy?”

“Uh, somewhere in the middle?”

“Do you expect to have a happy ending or a sad one?”

“Happy, of course.”

“Comedy, then. Going back to a previous question, then: what’s your instigating action?”

“Huh?”

“Where do you want your story to begin?”

“My first day of freshman year, I guess.”

“What happened that day?”

“Well, you know: met people, got registered and stuff.”

“What set off the conflict?”

“What? There wasn’t any.”

“It’s best to start by shifting from equilibrium to a state of disequilibrium. You need something to start off the action.”

“Are you sure all this is necessary?”

“Do you want people to read your story?”

“Of course.”

“Then you need to make it interesting. Conflict is interesting. It builds drama, excitement, an emotional hook. Let’s try this: what’s the first interesting thing that happened to you freshman year? Also, do you know an editor you can hire?”

“Don’t publishers have those?”

“Yeah, but you need to at least start out with a polished product.”

“Uh, look, I’ve have second thoughts. You’ve made this all sound like work. It’s supposed to be fun.”

“It is. But it’s also supposed to be fun for your reader. That takes work.”

“You know, I think I’ll skip the novel idea.”

“Good call.”

Also calls to mind a story I’ve heard, probably apocryphal, but worth repeating. A writer and a surgeon meet at a party, and one of them says, “Oh, you’re a writer? Funny you should mention that. I’ve often thought about trying to write a novel.”

“Good for you,” says the writer. “What do you do?”

“I’m a thoracic surgeon.”

“Really! Funny you should mention that. I’ve always thought about trying thoracic surgery.”

The point being that you should never underestimate your own professionalism or unique craft. Anyone who says they can write at the drop of a hat because they got educated in reading and writing in elementary and secondary school does not truly understand what a professional writer does. If “anyone” could do it, you wouldn’t be getting paid, would you?

Potpourri CXXI

To follow up on my comments re: the NASA budget, I really am sick of talking about this issue. "Burned out" would be putting it mildly, and we're only on Day 6 of the President's budget proposal being on the street. Part of my problem is that I used to do space stuff for fun in my free time, then I got a day job in the space business; so now it's space 24/7, and if things are not going well on that front, it's like a week-long session of watching CNN International--you come out of it thinking that the world is going to heck in a handcart, it's all your fault, and there's nothing that can be done about it. So anyway, here are the most common questions I've gotten and answers I've given:

• "Do you know what's going to happen with the NASA budget?" No.
• "Are you worried about your job/is your job affected?" Yes.
• "When would that take effect?" I don't know.
• "What are you going to do if they kill the Constellation Program?" I'm working on it.

You'll know more when I know more. Thanks for tuning in.

*

Back to clearing out the inbox...lots of diverse items, plus I specifically asked for referrals to sites that would help me understand where technology and the web are going...this is to help with the novel, not out of any particular desire to participate. I was perfectly happy being a 19th century man until my career ruled otherwise. :-) Here are some of those sites:

• http://johnohab.com/
• http://singularityhub.com/ (specific articles referred by Jason on Facebook: http://singularityhub.com/2010/02/04/hand-gesture-controls-trying-for-mainstream-in-2010-video/ and http://singularityhub.com/2009/03/04/the-next-generation-in-human-computer-interfaces-awesome-videos/)
• http://www.engadget.com/
• http://lifehacker.com/
• http://www.motherboard.tv/
• http://www.pluggd.in/siri-artificial-intelligence-based-mobile-personal-assistant.-297/
• http://pubs.acs.org/cen/email/html/8806news4.html
• http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/robonaut.html 

Next up, from Father Dan, a really cool card trick for you mathematicians out there.

This is the only blog I'll add regarding the Constellation Program's problems because I respect Dr. Spudis and because he usually has smart things to say.

From Martin, a site featuring fan art of spacecraft. Pretty cool, but it takes a minute to load...very graphics-intensive.

From Lesly, a request to support her "Polar Plunge." The idea being, Lesly wades into a freezing pond somewhere in Illinois, and you make a charitable contribution to Special Olympics. There's got to be a less painful way of doing things, but I commend her climatic courage. Note that I moved south to get AWAY from the cold, but I'm nutty that way...

From the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE), a suggestion on where I could emigrate if I can't find productive work here. Great in theory, but New Zealand doesn't have a space program...

From Jerry Pournelle:

• An interesting chart on trends in global temperatures.
• It's not just in America...Canada's students are failing spelling and grammar because of the chaotic nature of writing on Twitter and other 140-character writing environments.
• Ever heard of a "cyber geneticist?" The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is looking for technologists who can think like scientists to develop and use the cyber equivalent of fingerprints or DNA to pinpoint the origins of a cyberattack.

Last item: This week HAL5 had as our guest speaker a recent graduate student, Audra Herriges, who presented her paper on a proposed lunar city. She has also self-published the paper as a book, which I have purchased. Also good research for the novel!

Potpourri CXX

Blogger's cut and paste function is working again. Huzzah!

Some of you might notice that Amazon.com purchase windows now appear on this blog. The reason for that is simple: I have been deemed suitable to become an Amazon Affiliate, and thus can start making some modest money from this site after 3 years. The way the system works is that I post my reviews along with the Amazon app. If my review so moves you, click on the purchase button on the Amazon app, and I get some (not a LOT of) money for your purchase. Buy early! Buy often! I have vacations to take! :-)

NASA adds Israeli technical expertise to lunar science research at Ames…

Still doing research for the novel. One tool that would be supremely useful for any long-term settlement on Mars (or the Moon, for that matter) is a rapid prototyping machine, which allows you to build a part--assuming you have a complete 3D computer model of it--and build it up layer by layer by some once-classified process. There are a couple of different rapid prototyping techniques, including selective laser sintering and stereolithography.

Here's a book a customer referred me to: How NASA Builds Teams. I've only just started it, so a review is awhile away yet, but one thing the book itself promotes pretty heavily--and which is interfering with my enjoyment of the reading, quite frankly--is the heavy-handed and relentless marketing of the author's online consulting resources. For example, even something simple like a personality test (which I don't really need--I recognize their take on things from Disney and know myself well enough to know where I fit on their 2X2 grid) requires that you submit the names of five other people to get the results so he can start peddling his wares to even more people. Annoying.

The new toy from Apple is finally out there. Here's Apple's site and a Fox News article on the iPad.

Speaking of NASA, Hu forwarded a blog from CNN, which in turn quoted an Orlando Sentinel article stating that the Constellation Program budget will be slashed. And along those same lines, my libertarian pals at the Space Frontier Foundation posted a news release praising the "death sentence for Ares." Sorry, guys. This ain't over.

On a happier space note, the Huntsville Alabama L5 Society is getting started on this year's Yuri's Night event. More details coming soon, to the YN site and this blog, as appropriate!

Need to make a choice between multiple alternatives, not sure how to prioritize them? Consider this site, sent to me by the amazing Dr. OZMG.

Speaking of OZMG, I sent her this little moment of funny from John Cleese (via Joanne Manaster) on how the brain works. Kinda reminds me of how some of my science classes have gone.

And lastly, from Father Dan, a Virtual Wall--an electronic version of the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial--that lets you locate and link to names of people you know.

And that will do for now. I might, with a little luck, get 8 hours or more of sleep tonight, which is brilliant.

Potpourri CXV

Nick Skytland posted this link, and I rather liked it. It's about communicating your passion--why you do what you do--and how you communicate that to others. It works for space advocates or anyone else, I believe. I passed it along to the amazing Dr. OZMG. I'll be interested to see what she makes of it.

And from the damned-if-we-do-damned-if-we-don't files, the Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE) forwards this story from the UK Telegraph reporting that France is accusing the U.S. of "occupying" Haiti as part of our efforts to feed and stabilize the country. Gad.

*

Otherwise, this evening I'm trying to sort out my morning notes for the novel I've been writing at 0545 most mornings. I skipped this weekend because I needed a break. I figure as long as I devote time to getting work done, I can safely say I'm writing.

I don't know if it's smart or giving it away or whatever to talk about what I'm writing about, but it's a new era, and the internet has done strange things to the act of constructing communication products. We'll see how I do. I'm not going to give away plot details, but I will share what sorts of things I'm investigating and what progress I'm making. Someone else could take the same elements and create something completely different. That's why multiple people can make money writing the same type of fiction.

I'm looking at a story of the near future (25-50 years from now), focused primarily on the planet Mars, though other locations could be brought into the mix as well. I can draw upon the knowledge I've gained writing public papers, presentations, and pronouncements for Ares, but also extrapolate from the action going on in the private sector. I like to have at least a fiction writer's knowledge of what I'm talking about, so I've got some research to do on a variety of topics, even if it's just for that "telling detail" that lets SF fans know that I've done my homework. These topics include:

• Mars chemistry/dust
• Lunar chemistry/dust
• Mars geography
• Astronaut psychology
• Mars exploration and landing vehicles, as well as outpost habitats and other structures
• Spacesuits
• Space physiology
• Web 2.0/3.0
• Mission control operations

So those are just some of the topics I've got to be smart on, never mind all the other little fiddly bits that will flesh out my characters and my "world." There are other things I want to investigate over the course of this story:

• Changing/overcoming the typical NASA model of crew makeup from the "two engineers and two scientists in a tin can."
• I'm interested in electronic media and how it affects how people socialize. I've noticed behaviors and changes in myself that have come about only through electronic media, and others that have been improved or made worse through text/data alone. How would such media affect astronauts 45 million miles from home?
• In addition to the concepts I mentioned in my first entry, I am curious about the philosophical, cultural, and even spiritual aspects of human beings living on other worlds. How would the world's leading civilizations react to its citizens being "out there?" I'm actually writing about Americans, but I can at least touch on some of the international aspects of things.

I know, it's a lot to cover. I might end up doing this as a series of short stories. Fun to experiment, anyway.

Novel Writing

To refresh my creativity and fulfill one of the items on my "bucket list," I've started work on a science fiction novel. To date, I've written one novel-length work and one book-length nonfiction book, both unpublishable for matters dealing with trademark violations or employment agreements rather than quality (I'd like to think). In any case, my primary fiction outlet has been short science fiction, with "short" getting up to as high as 60,000 words, but a novel is something else. That's usually 120,000 words or longer these days.

A science fiction novel requires a lot more work. As I noted in my previous entry, the SF author must be technically accurate (but innovative) as well as interesting and readable. Oh yeah, and entertaining. And all this technical background must feed into believable characters that the reader cares about, solving realistic problems or engaging in plausible relationships...at least that's what the good stuff does. I have set myself quite a task.

My ESL tutoring student wanted to know how I was approaching this work, since novel writing is quite a bit different from short story writing. In truth, I've never written a novel before, so this is new to me. I have different things that need to be done to make this story work.

Characters and plotlines I can work out without a lot of research. There are characters I have in mind, experiences I want them to have, and outcomes I want them to achieve. That means sitting down before the keyboard or wandering the street or staring into the void while I imagine the details of these imaginary people's lives and how they will unfold.

The science and technology will take more research. I am now blessed to work at NASA and to be more familiar with space technologies and how they work. Which ones do I use? Which ones seem most plausible? How will my characters interact with them? Another blessing in my current line of work is that I'm surrounded by smart people who know the hardware and can correct me if my descriptions or speculations go off the reservation.

Additional research will be needed to consider future history. What's going on today? What do I think is likely to happen with politics, culture, and behavior in the next 25 years? Do I project my preferred vision for the future or just what I think is most likely? What lessons do I teach (without beating people over the head)? What warnings do I give? What trends do I think are important?

This is all part of what SF writers call "world building." As with historical fiction, detective stories, or any other type of fiction, your characters need to behave realistically within the constraints--philosophical, technical, cultural--imposed by the genre and milieu you're creating. If I've done my job right, at the end, my readers will have some feeling for that other world, its people, and the lessons to be learned from both.

So what kind of story do I want to tell? Without getting into specifics, I'll try this: I am interested in the psychological and social effects of human beings living on other worlds. The "new frontier" and other analogies are used to sell space to the public, but the reality is quite different. It's not just the environment that must be contended with, but the personalities of the people in the tuna cans, the mission they must perform, the conditions inside those tuna cans, and the time the crew has been given to achieve the mission. And as Kim Stanley Robinson demonstrated so ably in Red Mars and its sequels, there is two-way feedback to consider between the explorers and the people back home. So I want to understand what it will mean for people in the 21st century to live and work in space.

On the character level, there are several stories I want to tell, most of which revolve around the theme of learning to get along with the people around you. It's a paradox that happy people don't want or need to explore. Dissatisfied, restless people are the ones who feel the wild urge to explore other worlds far disconnected from most others. And yet if you fill a spacecraft or space colony with restless, cranky individualists, what sort of social dynamic does that set up? Ten years of working in and observing the space advocacy community has convinced me that achieving peace and cohesiveness would be neither easy nor necessarily achievable. And then you throw on top of that the high-powered drive required to be accomplished enough to be a NASA astronaut, and you can see why it's surprising that the Lisa Nowak situation wasn't the first.

And then there's this: nearly 15 years ago, when I was feeling useless and put-upon by my career, I said, "Hold on, pal. Quit your b!tch!ng. If this isn't the life you want, what the heck DO you want?" And I answered myself, "I wanna go into space." The answer to that question probably marked my transition to adulthood because nearly every professional development action I took after that fed that particular goal in one way or another. After a lot of hard work, shazaam! I finally got the space job I wanted. Not going into space, obviously, but working for the space business, anyway, so that much was right with the world.

But the more I've read and watched this business, the more I understand what's involved in being an astronaut or even a space tourist, the more I realize that I don't think I want to go into space. Falling sensations, confined spaces, isolation from others...really? You wanna do that forever? Now I'm not so sure. So there are practical considerations here. Since I first decided I wanted to go into space, my life has made a quantum leap in improvement. I am not that same restless, cranky 25-year-old who wanted to get the heck away from people and explore for the sake of exploring on my own. I have more connections here on Earth now, more happiness, less angst. And then there are all the psychological issues listed above. Plus the simple physical risks that one must endure: acceleration, low to no gravity, radiation, little to no atmosphere, dust and finer particles that create havoc with one's breathing, or just flat-out poisons in the atmosphere that we don't know about yet.

Am I saying that no one could or should try to live in space? No. I'm just not sure I should be the one to go. But you never know. Until the story is finished, I'm not sure where I'll end up. So there are lots of things to consider in this exercise. It's work, but it's fun work, because I'm daydreaming on paper and sharing my ideas on paper. I just need to do a little writing every day. No sweat.

Potpourri CXIII

LOTS of stuff to clear out of the inbox. A visit with Dr. OZMG looks like it is going to be snowed out, so I might as well write.

Regarding my previous post on coping with burnout, D2 sent this article. One of the ways I personally am trying to work on burnout is to start writing a science fiction novel. As usual, it's ambitious, complex, and quirky, and will cover several issues. I might use the blog here as a way to track my progress as well, but writers are notoriously shy (and rightly so) about sharing rough drafts, so the most I might say is what I've been up to or what sorts of sources I'm using to educate myself. One thing I'm also using to keep myself honest is a "small, attainable goal" support group on Facebook recommended by Dr. OZMG. A novel is a difficult thing to do, and SF brings an additional layer of complexity, in that the author must be a) technically/scientifically correct, b) innovative in pushing the envelope of future technology, and c) interesting and readable in his descriptions. I love a good challenge. :-)

Also from D2: an online lecture by a quantum physicist on why quantum physics violate comon-sense logic. God's universe is a very strange, marvelous place.

Looking to live in another country? The Down Under Defense Expert (DUDE) sent this link on International Living listing the best countries to live in and some more detailed explanations of their choices.

Also from the DUDE: an article on the "Israelification" of airport security.

NASA has an open opportunity for academic institutions to pursue grants for developing science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education opportunities in connection with the Summer of Innovation event in 2010. Along similar lines, the Obama administration is ponying up more money for STEM education. This year, when the government is spending in ways that make drunken sailors blush, that might be great. Sustained funding will be a bigger problem once the President and Congress become Born Again Budget Cutters.

The internet is spawning some interesting ideas in philanthropy. For example, instead of spending a ton of money on Super Bowl commercials, Pepsi plans to participate in the Refresh Project, asking readers to suggest how they should spend the money on worthy causes instead. Also, a group called Syntiant4G has created a YouTube video to promote a mentorship program that combines for-profit and nonprofit ethos. Interesting!

From Tracy, an article on the "secrets" of innovation.

From my NASA Public Affairs Office (PAO) feed, the Fermi telescope investigators think they can use pulsars as a "galactic GPS" system, given their precise rotations. Speaking of telescopes, the Kepler telescope has located its first five "exoplanets" (that'd be planets circling other stars, not our own). Kepler was designed specifically to locate Earth-like planets in other solar systems. It's a marvelous, heady time to be alive--so many wonders to discover!--stay tuned.

Also from the NASA PAO, a notice that a moon rock collected by Apollo 11 will be taken up to a new, permanent home on the International Space Station. This same piece of rock was carried to the top of Mount Everest by former NASA astronaut Scott Parazynski. You might ask, "So what?" Well, jeez. Consider the number of adventures involved in moving that little rock around. If being the first man on the Moon, a person who has scaled the tallest mountain on Earth, or someone who has been to the International Space Station won't inspire you, then I can't help you. The short, Bartish answer is that "Greatness matters. Achievement matters. As long as individuals are willing to try to do great things that NO ONE else could do, what might they inspire other individuals to do that they had never considered possible?"

My fellow tech blogger Darlene Cavalier the Science Cheerleader is starting a new web site soon called ScienceforCitizens.net, which will promote opportunities for private citizens to get involved in conducting science at home and (probably) also encourage them to get involved in the science decision-making process. I like the way Dar puts it: "A whole lot more goes into setting science policies than the pure science: economics, values, and other societal implications that come into play in a big way. Scientists themselves ought to have more access to Congress, for example, but there needs to be put in place a deliberate mechanism to inform--and then solicit--input from the public." The Science for Citizens site is still a work in progress, but you can sign up for update emails now. I believe Dar is looking for partners to promote this cause, so if your organization is interested in supporting her work, by all means email her, either through SfC or her primary page, ScienceCheerleader.com.

On one of my random New Year's Eve weekend Facebook posts, I suggested that it was long past time for someone to develop wine pairings for junk food, as some of us don't always do high-quality snacks at home. Jennifer the PAO Maven pointed me to this article on Food & Wine.com. Awesome.

More from the world of space...the Mars Spirit rover is starting its seventh year exploring Mars. It might be common knowledge, but bears repeating: Spirit and Opportunity were both designed to operate for 90 days. That is some outstanding engineering. I'd want these people designing and building my car, but then they and I would miss out on the other cool stuff they might achieve. If you wonder why I have no problem working for NASA, it's stuff like this.

I haven't discussed politics in awhile here, mostly because it's been boring me and I've got more important things to concentrate on. However, this link from the Heritage Foundation is worth checking out...in case you're interested in how federal government spending is trending. The graphs are not good. One thing not discussed by Heritage is the increase in science and science-related education under Obama, which I consider a good thing, if sustained over the long haul. I've been told that the last time the U.S. went in big for science and research and development spending was under Ronald Reagan (note to my friends who think Republicans are anti-science). Our nation's leadership now depends on large and sustained investments in science and technology. And students aren't stupid. If they see that there's money to be made in STEM, they will return to those fields.

That's about now for this dose of Potpourri. Sorry it's so long, but I got a little behind in my postings. Happy 2010! Let your year be filled with happiness and marvels.