November 2nd, 2009 by Kevin A. Barnes
It’s going to be an interesting (and busy) November and December.
I recently reviewed a list of all of the non-work projects I currently have underway, with the hope of dropping (or at the very least deferring) some of them. After that exercise, I was still left with an overly ambitious set of goals I hope to accomplish before the end of 2009, all on top of the usual background noise of my day job and my on-again-off-again health.
The challenge is that there are too many important things that must get done. Things whose time has come. Things that I’m not willing to give up on, and can no longer delay.
Major Project #1: Raise funds to cure Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis
October 19 was recommitment for the Las Vegas Half Marathon for Team Challenge. What that means is that I’m now committed to run 13.1 miles on December 6 and raise at least $4,000 to help fund research and other vital programs to beat Crohn’s and colitis. This is my third half marathon for this cause, and although progress is being made by the researchers and medical experts, there still is no cure. So I keep running. And despite what my body (and my own Crohn’s disease) tells me, I’ll continue running until we beat this thing. If you’d like to help this effort, please visit my Team Challenge donation page.
Read the rest of this entry »
Categories: Crohn's Disease, Personal, Science Fiction, The Future | Tags: accomplishment, CCFA, Crohn's Disease, goals, NaNoWriMo, Science Fiction, Team Challenge, ulcerative colitis, writing
Comments: No Comments »
February 21st, 2009 by Kevin A. Barnes
Earlier this week I learned from the NASA website that Konrad Dannenberg died on Monday at the age of 96. Dannenberg was a key member of Wernher von Braun’s original engineering team that developed the hardware and processes which enabled humans to reach the moon.
 |
Kevin meets rocket pioneer
Konrad Dannenberg on December 31, 2002. |
While attending the adult version of Space Camp in Huntsville in late 2002 and early 2003, I had the pleasure of meeting Dannenberg and talking with him about his experiences. We spoke at length about his work on various launch systems for NASA, including the Redstone — which lifted the first American astronauts into space — and the Saturn V which carried the first humans to the moon. Dannenberg told me how, at the request of Wernher von Braun, he started and managed the development of the Saturn V (which still holds the title of “largest rocket ever built”). Read the rest of this entry »
Categories: Science, Space Exploration, Technology, The Future | Tags: aviation history, Foo Fighters, Konrad Dannenberg, NASA, Operation Paperclip, Redstone, Saturn V, UFOs
Comments: No Comments »
January 20th, 2009 by Kevin A. Barnes
Google announced today that it is ending it’s Print Ads program which packaged and sold advertising space in over 800 U.S. newspapers. Apparently the program, which started in 2006, hasn’t lived up to expectations for generating revenue. Read the rest of this entry »
Categories: Business, Marketing, The Future | Tags: advertising, Google, journalism, The New York Times
Comments: No Comments »
January 11th, 2009 by Kevin
This past week, Mike Griffin announced he is stepping down on January 20 as NASA chief administrator, the politically appointed post that runs America’s space agency. As the Obama transition team accelerates its search for Griffin’s successor, here’s my modest proposal for the next head of NASA: Kevin A. Barnes (yes, me!).
Control your laughter for just a minute. I may have statistically about 0.00% chance of being appointed, but this is a good opportunity to examine the skills, experience and personality that NASA needs right now in its chief administrator in order to succeed: Read the rest of this entry »
Categories: Science, Space Exploration, The Future | Tags: Alan Stern, Barack Obama, Charles Kennel, NASA, Sally Ride, Scott Hubbard, transition team, Wesley Huntress
Comments: No Comments »
December 28th, 2008 by Kevin A. Barnes
This New Year’s Eve is one of those times when a Leap Second is added to the world’s approximately 200 official clocks. So between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, we all will receive one extra second to use and spend however we wish.
An extra second? What is Kevin babbling about this time? Here’s the deal. Leap Seconds operate on the same principle as adding an extra day (February 29) every Leap Year. It is done to keep human clocks and calendars aligned with Earth’s true position. If we didn’t make such corrections, we’d eventually end up celebrating July 4 in Winter and observing midnight after the sun had risen. Read the rest of this entry »
Categories: Science, The Future | Tags: leap second, leap year, time, timekeeping
Comments: No Comments »
