THIS:
Now that’s a view. Here’s the story at Slate.
Put Your Eye Out, You Will
Whether or not you’re a fan of Star Wars, I think we can all agree that lightsabers are just about the coolest sci-fi invention evah. In which case, be prepared to shriek like a little girl and soil your britches:
…I can’t decide if it’s more important researchers at MIT and Harvard have just managed to create a previously unobserved form of matter by getting photons to bind together into molecules, or the fact that the result is basically a real-life lightsaber.
It goes on to talk about how it could also lead to a breakthrough in quantum computing or solid crystals made of actual light. Blah blah blah, yeah yeah yeah…get on with it because I WANT A FREAKING LIGHTSABER.
“It’s not an in-apt analogy to compare this to lightsabers,” said Harvard Professor of Physics Mikhail Lukin in a news release. “When these photons interact with each other, they’re pushing against and deflect each other. The physics of what’s happening in these molecules is similar to what we see in the movies.”
WANT. Though I predict a corresponding surge in prosthetic limbs.
I’m Famous!
…at least within my immediate circle of friends. After pitching this to them four years ago, Smithsonian’s Air & Space magazine finally ran my article about a rather challenging trip with a Boeing Business Jet (a VIP 737) into a little place in the Himalayas called Paro.
From where I sat, it looked nuts: The crew would immediately have to bank right, pointing the nose at an imposing mountain, then honk it through a 270-degree climbing turn inside a box canyon to come out above the ridge and head back over the runway.
Would they make it in (or out)? More importantly, would I be able to keep my job? Read the whole thing and find out!
UPDATE: Almost lost in the noise of me blowing my own horn, this issue also has a couple of great features on subjects near and dear to my heart.
First up, a look at XCOR’s Lynx spaceplane, which ya’ll may recall is my personal favorite in the tourist-spaceflight sweepstakes.
Finally, a story on the numerous ways engineering nerds (a term of endearment, trust me) saved the day when spacecraft didn’t exactly work as expected.
Another Giant Leap
So this happened over the weekend:
Yep. That’s a frog. As my kids say, “it sucks to suck.”
If you’re looking for more of an artsy-fartsy take on last weekend’s launch, there’s always this:
Meh. We now return you to this evening’s previously-scheduled jocularity…
Missing the Good Old Days
OK, so I’m not that old to remember when people treated air travel like it was a big deal. But doesn’t it all look cool now?
Like so many other things, I sometimes feel like I was born too late. It would’ve been awesome to work for Pan Am back in the glory days.
(Hat tip: Instapundit)
Long Way Home
In case you missed it, last weekend we were all in a position for a rare family portrait from Saturn:
‘Merica.
Quick Hits and Random Bits
Jaeger Bombs
Sorry to disappoint, but this isn’t a drinking thread. Via io9, the Pacific Rim website has a design-your-own-big-@$$-robot app that kills. And it didn’t take long for people to start bringing the funny:
It’s easy to do, and fun for the whole family (if you’re twisted like mine, that is). Here’s my first crack at it:
Want to make your own? Here’s the website, plus an epic collection on tumblr.
Ahh, Civilization
So I’m on the first grocery run with Better Half in a couple of weeks and run into this on our way out:
Pretty sure that Laughing Wimpy next to him already knew how my attempts to use the magic claw to apprehend Khan would turn out.
Back in the Saddle
Wow. Just…wow.
In nearly two weeks at the Philmont scout ranch, I hiked over 90 miles (most of it uphill – even the downhill parts felt uphill) with a gaggle of grabasstic teenagers and managed to not strangle any of them in their sleep.
But really, the kids were great. Mostly. Funny as you-know-what. And man, what a trek. Truth be told it was probably at the ragged edge of our collective abilities, which I suppose is kind of the point. Anything less would’ve been boring, and the important thing is 100% of our crew toughed it out to march triumphantly into base camp last Friday.
There was so much to do and so much to tell that I don’t even know where to start, but the important thing about Philmont is that it’s a lot more than just hiking. Each day has a purpose, some program or other where the boys (and dads) can do things they may not have ever done before: panning for gold (hint: no early retirements in our future), trap shooting, burro racing, pole climbing, rock climbing, and rappelling. So it’s kind of like Scout boot camp.
The feeling at the end was in fact reminiscent of marching in from the field at Parris Island, knowing the end was in sight and laughing at the noobs getting ready to head out for their own adventures. We found their obnoxious cleanliness amusing – conveniently forgetting that we were exactly the same just last week – because 10 days on the trail leaves one kind of filthy. While we waited to check in, an outbound crew was prepping their tents and getting chewed out by one of the moms for getting that nice clean tent in the dirt. Boy, was someone about to get schooled.
I’ll be writing about it in more detail over the next few days, in between getting reacquatined with civilization and selectively ignoring the news. Let’s just say my mind is clear and I’d like to keep it that way. If nothing else, this experience reminded me of how much BS we allow ourselves to become burdened with. We suffer collective ADD from the onslaught of meaningless crap blared at us every day until we are left numb to it all. Right now, I view current events as meaningful only to the extent that they affect decisions I need to make in my own life.
What matters is that my son and I climbed a freaking mountain last weekend. After a full day of continuously hiking uphill, we finally made it to the saddle in the afternoon, barely in time to make the final climb up the summit. My late uncle was an avid climber, and for the first time in my life I truly understood why he did it. Hours (or days) of pushing yourself to the limits of your own endurance, each step up made that much harder by the thinning air, to finally reach the top in a combination of exhaustion and euphoria that I’m still having trouble putting into words.
On a side note, I have to say that e-readers may be the single most unappreciated technological advance for backpackers. A lot of ‘packers traditionally would just get a paperback and maybe tear it in half, taking only the sections they figured on reading to save weight. When every single ounce counts, being able to carry a whole library in something that weighs less than a paperback is a Godsend. We didn’t have much down time, but when we did it was sure nice to be able to pull out the Kindle. And the book that kept me company was simply fantastic: Leviathan Wakes, a bit-beyond-near-future space adventure that is as close to pitch perfect as anything I’ve read. Fittingly, I finished it on the flight home from Denver.
More on all of this later. For now, it’s just great to be back.
The Chiles Files 