cc: file, Andrea, Tony Hafen, Sara and Des Penny, Pauline Nelson via mail, & Maxine Shirts
"The front page headline for today's Houston Chronicle read:
I hope each of you know what an ardent supporter of NASA and the space exploration program I have always been. I've talked a little about this support in the Thoughtlet `October Sky' (../9908.html). Other times I have referenced NASA include: ../9830.html, ../9840.html, ../9907.html, ../9911.html, ../9930.html, ../9931.html, ../0009.html, ../ 0045.html, ../0138.html, and ../0249.html. Nobody, even someone who writes as ten times as much as I do, can start to capture all of the thoughts and feelings of their mind and their heart with the written word. I certainly have never found the words to share my excitement surrounding space exploration. You see it with my intense interest in Star Wars, Star Trek, and the like. Guess my efforts reflected in these Thoughtlets reflects my desire for you to each get to know me better, and my desire to get to know each of you better. I believe getting to know those we love is an important part of the process of becoming perfect (0303.html). I realize we are all always changing, and so the process of staying acquainted does not stop. And one way to start that process is by sharing things about ourselves. Being vulnerable. For it is through our vulnerability we become invulnerable.
I hate to be the skeptic, and yet I do not think terrorism should be ruled out of this tragedy. After all, the first Israeli astronaut was onboard Columbia. The folks who attacked the U.S. on 911 took down the two biggest buildings in New York City and made a big hole in the Pentagon, the military headquarters of the most powerful nation on earth. These folks have plenty of brains and plenty of ambition. They certainly know, since I know, that it only takes a few key tiles to be improperly glued and the shuttle will burn up. Ascension does not create the heat descent does, and so there would be no way to know if someone tampered with some of the tiles, slashed a tire so the intense nitrogen pressure would cause it to explode, or any one of thousands of other acts of treason, prior to take-off. Maybe I'm giving these folks more credit than they deserve. I do figure they do not have the self-discipline not to brag about it, if they did do it, and so within five years, if anything in this paragraph has any validity, it will most likely turn up. I certainly hope I am not right in these thoughts about Columbia's last mission.
I wrote the above words Sunday evening, before I knew the Israeli astronaut was the same pilot who blew up the Nuclear Reactor in Iraq. Typically I am quite critical of those who think everything is a conspiracy. And yet .... I've watched some of the news programs since Saturday, and have made notes on points I found interesting. One commentator said Congress bears responsibility. Another that Clinton merged shuttle and Russian space station funds to hide expenditures. Others talk about how everything the manned space program does can be done better with robots. Others talk about a new generation single stage orbiter. It is 35 year old technology and has been used for 22 years. None of this conversation is conspiriterial in nature.
Just think, it was 22 years ago Kevin Kinsella started the conversation with me which became Landmark Graphics. I was touched by Dr. Michael Debakey's comments about microgravity research on the space station uncovering new medical procedures and understandings of the immune system. Whether it was a freak accident, one of those 2% of high risk complicated projects which are guaranteed to fail, or whether it was somehow the result of terrorism, Columbia's last mission is very sad.
I remember distinctly when I heard about the Challenger explosion. I was walking down a Knightsbridge Street in London. We had just flown into London from meetings with PEDCO in Oman. I was really sick. I thought I was going to die on the flight to London my ears hurt so bad. Then the news of Challenger and all of the images. I went to bed and didn't get out for two days, except when Ray McConnell, a friend from my missionary days who still lives in the Hyde Park Ward, came over with a friend to give me a blessing. Maybe it was because there was not a NASA liftoff I didn't get up and watch on TV when I was growing up. Maybe it was because of the rockets Ray and I made. Maybe it was because Sputnik created the funding which allowed me to go to New Mexico State University's JESSI program and Oregon State University's summer science program. Maybe it was because I wasn't home to grieve with my family. The Challenger explosion was much more emotional for me than Columbia's last mission.
I listened to the memorial service at lunch today. I cried. One astronaut told his brother, `If something happens, don't worry about me, I'm just going on to greater heights.' Another family member said `She always wanted to go to the stars. She went there and beyond.' President Bush's comments about striving to leave gravity were nice. I will quote his speech writer's words in `An Open Mind': `We are that part of creation that seeks to understand all creation.' When the Navy man rang the bell 7 times, and this was immediately followed by jets sweeping in and flying up into the sky, it instantly symbolized the angel getting wings in `It's a Wonderful Life,' and the whisking of the spirit from a lifeless body to the presence of God. I hope you each took a moment to reflect on your individual lives as you heard the news or followed some of the events which have surrounded Columbia's last mission.
In terms of my first full week back from China, it seemed to go by very fast. Most of the week was spent working on the Joint Venture with Geo in China, specifically adding to the web pages to support this opportunity: http://www.walden3d.com/geo. There are many pages not linked in yet, and that will happen as the agreements are finalized and put together. I watched some TV in the evenings. I did go running each morning except Wednesday. Made it most of the way around the big block. My ankle is finally getting better after a year. On Thursday I was asked to meet a landman from West Texas at the George Brown Convention Center. NAPE, The North American Prospect Expo, was going on. Had to pay full price for one day. Made several very good contacts, which I hope to shortly turn into contracts. Ended up spending most of Friday writing an abstract for a presentation to give at The Hedburg Conference in June. Only to learn they might move it from London to Vienna. Not sure what that is going to mean regarding the tickets for Sara and Audrey, which were delivered on Saturday. Hopefully I'll get all of this tied down in the next week or so.
I'm pleased to report there has not been one spam e-mail addressed from one of you kids since I sent out copies of titles of some of the garbage I have been getting. I am sorry to report someone has put andrea@walden3d.com on some lists and there are dozens of nasty e-mails coming to that account each day. The profile posted must be something else, based on the number of e-mails that account receives offering to increase the size of male reproductive organs, etc. The whole sick thing reminds me of the story about a young child being taught about gossip. The adult took them out to the center of town with a feather pillow, cut open the pillow, spreading the feathers in the bedlam of horse carts and people, and said, to take back the hurt tied to your gossip is like finding every feather and putting it back in the pillow. The difference with the modern world is I am capturing every feather that comes into my e-mail, and given money and time (both of which will will be available over the next few years) and the fact the totality of web activity is being recorded, I will be able to trace these feathers back to where the pillow was cut open, and the instigator(s) will learn how illegal what has been done is, and will wish they had `stuck an exacto knife in their wrist' (0302.html) rather than to have attacked me or my family with this type of abuse. That is, unless there is a very open and a sincere effort to undo the damage done and pick up every feather on every web site that has copies.
Sunday was nice. I had the ward calendar to do for Fast Sunday, and I spent quite a bit of time writing on the two Thoughtlets. Ward and Fern Abbott joined us for Sacrament Meeting. They have finished their mission, sold their condo in Salt Lake, and he is doing a regional depositional system study for Shell for about 6 weeks. It was sure nice to see them again. Hopefully we will be able to get together with them again before they leave a week from Friday.
Speaking of folks I would like to see, I got a note my Aunt Mary May Nelson saying she is having her 80th birthday celebration this next Sunday, February 9th. It is at her home at 3451 North Highway 91 from 2:00 to 6:00 PM. I'd love to go, but we have not been paid by IBM China yet. Even if we had, there is no way to do an extra trip right now. My Mom was pleased to hear, and asked me to pass on my best wishes. It would be nice if Grandma Shirts, Heather, Audrey, Rachel, Aunt Sara, Uncle Des, or Brian (or all of you together) could go out and say hi, eat some of her wonderful candy, and tell her how much Mom and I wish we were there.
Matt spent Friday night at a friend's house over in Windsor Park. Riley was in town for an interview with UNOCAL, and stayed with us Friday night. He helped me edit the Hedberg Abstract. Saturday morning Andrea and I moved some plants in the front yard. In the evening we went to see the new movie `The Recruit,' and Matt went to Jillian's. The movie reminds me of the movie `Frequency' and the `Alias' TV show I watched once with Ben and Sarah in Dallas. Good thriller, with the unnecessary sex and violence. Matt didn't come home until about 4:00. He said he was worried about coming home because he was afraid some of the material from Columbia's last mission would fall on him. Cute, and we need to teach some basic laws of gravitation to this boy."