Fascinating Space Center News. Mr. Williamson and Others

Hello Troops,
Just another Saturday at the Space Center. Our Overnight Camp ends in a little more than thirty minutes. I'm at my desk in the semi darkness typing this post while landing parties sulk and creep around me on their way to alien worlds and derelict ships (all magically housed on our simple school stage, propped with chairs and PE equipment. We really do rely on our camper's imaginations. Somehow it all comes together to work).

I'd like to discuss a few honors awarded during last week's post overnight camp meeting.

Here you see me in true form with an enthusiastic smile. This is a miracle in itself considering my serious lack of sleep on any given overnight camp. You'll also notice the well groomed hair, dusted with a perfect combination of black and gray to deliver a properly distinguished look.
Oh, and I'm giving Nicole her 5 year service pin. Good work Nicole.


In this picture you see me acting as if I was caught off guard by the snapping of the photograph. All done in jest to illicit laughter from the staff and volunteers. Of course my attention to the camera instead of the sharp end of the pin and the tightening of the lanyard, may have resulted in a small puncture wound and rash around the subject's neck - but again, all done in good fun for the camera.
Oh, that's Brittney also receiving her 5 year service pin. Good Job.


Here I am standing in the background looking over the results from the surveys taken at the end of the Overnight Camp. My time on stage is always cut short by these honors which, at times, results in a shortage of patience on my part. Not to worry though because isn't it all about the staff and campers? Who am I anyway? I'm just someone that is modest to a fault, always thinking of others.
By the way, that's Dave awarding Mason his Phoenix pin. Good Job Mason

That's my elbow seen edging into the picture on the left. Notice how I stay out of the picture, again always seeking to draw attention away from myself and onto my awesome volunteers and staff. Some ask how I've been able to achieve so much, yet remain such a humble man who shuns attention. It hasn't been easy, considering the sheer volume of my awesomeness. I have to constantly force charisma into the recesses of my being, but I do it day in and day out. "I'm a natural emotional wonder," I like to say to myself.
Oh, that's Emily awarding Mason his Odyssey Pin. Good Job Mason.

I won't say another word. Modesty insists.

Mr.W.

P.S. All kidding aside, Congratulations to Brittney and Nicole for reaching the 5 year mark at the Space Center. What outstanding young ladies and valuable members of our flight teams. We really have the best employees and volunteers in Utah County. They are a privilege to work with because their awesomeness makes my life as director much easier.
Excelling work Mason for two ship passes. An example to all the volunteers.

Could Extraterrestrials Invade Earth, and How?

By Karen Rowan,
Life's Little Mysteries Managing Editor

The human race could be devastated if aliens were to learn of our existence and venture to Earth, warned British scientist Stephen Hawking on Sunday. Aliens have already viciously attacked our spacecraft, savagely kidnapped us, heartlessly conducted experiments on us, and mercilessly aimed their death-rays at us, but of course, all of these crimes have been committed only in novels and movies.

Other experts who, like Hawking, have devoted their careers to thoughtful exploration of the possibilities of alien contact say that we don't have anything to fear.

"In movies, aliens only come here for two reasons," Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) told Life's Little Mysteries. "They either come here to find some resource they don't have on their own planet, or they want to use us for some unauthorized breeding experiment." These scenarios play on our most primal human fears of losing the resources we need to survive or not being able to reproduce, Shostak said.

In reality, it isn't logical to think that aliens would want to do either of those things, Shostak said. Space travel is expensive and requires an enormous investment, he said.

"Anything that we have here, they could find where they live," Shostak said. If there was a resource found on Earth that did not exist on the aliens' home planet, there would certainly be easier ways to get or make the resource than coming here.

And if an alien civilization was advanced enough to engage in interstellar travel, they would also probably have very advanced robotic machines, Shostak said. If they wanted to research our planet, they would be more likely to send those machines here than to come here themselves.

"It's not like, the hatch will open and we'll see a strange, alien paw coming out," he said. "It's more likely to be a robotic arm."

Contact with aliens is extremely unlikely, agrees David Morrison, Director of Space at NASA-Ames Research Center. Any communication that may occur would likely be in the form of radio waves sent from one civilization to another, he said.

"We’re listening for radio signals," Morrison said, "And we can assume that any civilization that we receive a signal from is more advanced than we are."

We have only had the technology to listen and send radio waves for the last century, so if an alien radio signal reaches us from a distant planet hundreds or thousands of light-years away, that civilization would have to be more advanced than ours, Morrison said.

Morrison doubts that an advanced alien civilization would come here to harm us.

"Someone once suggested that if a civilization can last for hundreds of thousands of years, it almost surely has solved the problems we have. I would hope so," Morrison said.

Even if aliens existed, knew about us, and could travel here, they wouldn't be likely to send an army or the equipment needed to launch an attack on the Earth, said science fiction writer Jack McDevitt.

"Imagine putting together an invasion force, only to stick them in containers to travel here for years," McDevitt said.

Although contact between humans and aliens has been a key part of many of McDevitt's books, he doesn't think that it's likely to actually happen. It would take a great amount of time for aliens to reach Earth, and any civilization capable of this feat would not want to delegate its fighting force to the task, he said.

We have bigger problems to worry about, McDevitt said.

Openings for This Weekend's Overnight Camp

Hello Troops,
Anyone in the mood for an Overnight Camp? We have a few openings this weekend.
The camp starts Friday at 7:00 P.M. and ends Saturday morning at 10:00 A.M. The cost is $43.00 per person. You will be joining students from Lindon Elementary School and other Utah schools. All participants must be between 10 and 14 years old.

If you are interested in attending, please call the Space Center at 801.785.8713. Leave your name and phone number and someone will return your call.

Best Wishes,
Mr. Williamson