The Outcasts and the Dreamers (From the Space Center's Archives)

Hello Troops,
John Martellaro wrote this article. It discusses Macs and PCs (a modern debate with a flavor of the Crusades) and introduces us to revolutionizing the mainstream by pushing the envelope - thus moving the establishment forward. Our work at the Center does just that. I enjoyed the article and encourage you to read it. Share your thoughts by commenting.

Mr. W.
P.S. Thanks Bill for bringing it to my attention.

Utopia Planitia
I recall the proposition by the science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) that the first starship will never be built by Earthlings. Heinlein maintained that only the children of the Lunar colonists or Martian colonists, having been born in space or Earth colonies, would have the vision to reach for the stars. Earthlings, on the other hand, would remain steadfastly mired in the mud of Earth politics - war, poverty, and taxes.

Heinlein doubted that the governments of Earth, having only an Earthly focus and
orientation will ever have the vision, courage, and money to build starships. Today, 37 years after the Apollo missions, we remain unprepared to make the commitment to building a space- faring infrastructure. Our first space station, the International Space Station (ISS), is not designed for the fabrication of additional space vessels in space. The Shuttle conducts routine tasks in low Earth orbit, but cannot even travel to the Moon and service a colony there. So how does this apply to computers?

The point here is that one can seldom make a quantum leap by being absorbed into the mainstream. Innovation, by definition, means something out of the ordinary. Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times, January 21, 1998, "Actually, Microsoft has been a force for greed in the economy, more brilliant at marketing and purloining and crushing than it has been at innovating." (Note: I will, generally, in this column, follow the company line set by Steve Jobs: Apple must succeed by building brilliant products, not by insisting that Microsoft is the enemy and must lose for Apple to win.) But I quote Ms.Dowd to make the point that if the general culture is moving in one direction, then it is almost surely due to human nature and human foibles. On the other hand, the people who have made the most impact on our culture, for the good of mankind, have almost always been courageous outcasts and renegades. Albert Schweitzer, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Madam Currie, George Patton, Amelia Earhart, Harry Truman, just to name a few at random.

So if you are part of the mainstream, then you have been absorbed into what every one else is doing. (The whole point on Apple's 1984 commercial.) By default, you will always see things their way. You can never make a contribution to the group as a whole by giving up your individuality and going along with the group. You wear the blinders of the group. You care only for the passions of the group. But to step outside is to see the group in perspective.

Robert Heinlein saw the same effect in the governments of the world attitude towards space travel. (In his day, a slide rule and space travel were the absorbing interest of young scientists. Today, computers seem to have taken over that preoccupation.) He predicted that only those pioneers who left the Earth would be tough enough and
courageous enough to build a space-faring infrastructure.

To all those people who say, "Microsoft has won the war. Give in and go with the flow," we say, "You should go about your business. Those of us who work with the MacOS (and BeOS, Unix, and Linux) are the outcasts and the dreamers. We will pave the way with a different way of thinking and a different agenda. We want our freedom to create, and we enjoy the excellence of our systems. We will remain steadfastly on the outside while we invent the future."

If the time ever does come when technology enables us to leave the planet and build
a homestead on the Moon, Titan or Mars, you can bet that it will also be the renegades and outcasts that will be first in line to leave. The rest of mankind will remain, dwelling on the Green Hills of Earth, content to stay at home and be satisfied with what everyone else is doing.

Space Center Stories from the Past. November 5, 2006

Space Center Journal
November 5, 2006

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Kids Comments

Every morning I stand at the top of the spiral staircase waiting for crews to make their climb to the bridge. Every morning I get the same response. Overwhelmed and unbridled joy is the only way I can describe it.

"Wow, this is Star Trek," a boy said this week as he stopped two steps from me and dissected every part of the bridge with his eyes. He was holding up the line. I stepped forward, pulled him toward me and asked for his Boarding Pass. I got the glazed
look.

"Your Boarding Pass," I asked again. It was produced and taken. I showed him where to sit. He moved one step and stopped, "Chad, this is sooo cool. It's Star Trek," he
exclaimed. I'm not sure who Chad was for no one responded, perhaps Chad was at the bottom of the steps unable to move because of the blockage caused by this young admirer.

Later in the week we had another crew overcome by the experience. During the 'Cry
From the Dark' asteroid sequence a boy at Left Wing Power jumped out of his chair as the Captain was shouting "Thrusters! Use the Thrusters!" and the alarms rang.

"My heart is beating so fast I can't stand it. It is going to pop out of my chest! THIS IS THE COOLEST THING EVER!" he shouted so all could here. That young man gave this old teacher a moment of pure satisfaction. Stacy and I looked at each other in the Control Room and grinned.

"Now that is what I'm talking about," I said as I prepared to take the crew deeper and
deeper into my web. At the end of the mission the Engineer stopped and looked at the bridge one last time. You could see he was reluctant to leave.

"Are you coming," the teacher asked.

"This is the best field trip in the whole world," he pronounced. "It was so exciting my
heart still won't stop beating."

Friends, this is what is being said about what we do. We tell stories that will never be forgotten. These children will take this experience with them to the grave. It will be a story they will tell and retell for years to come. It will be their story of courage and bravery against overwhelming odds.

Before their visit to the Center, courage and bravery are things they've only read about in books and seen in movies. Now, they experienced it first hand and are alive to tell the tale to unsuspecting parents waiting at home. Friends, It Is Magic. Don't you fell awesome to be a part of this?

Is It Chocolate?

Last week I was on the bridge doing what I do - calming the excited and showing them where to sit. Halfway through placing the morning class I noticed a young man standing beside me. It was someone I'd met at the beginning of the line and instructed to sit at the Record's Station. He had the hood of his hoodie up and had his hands cupped in front of his mouth.

"Sir," he said quietly. I usually don't allow interruptions during the seating of a class. If I do I'm bombarded with questions about the set, the decor, and how one's job is to be performed. I felt him getting closer to me. "Sir," he said again. His voice was urgent. I stopped the line and turned to help him. I saw two large eyes looking up at me from the shadows of hood. The boy had his hands to his face. I noticed his mouth was covered with something brown.

"Chocolate?" I wondered. "Doesn't this boy know how to eat? He spread chocolate all over his face. What a mess." I looked into his cupped hands. Brown also. "I'm throwing up," he said spitting onto his palms. There is nothing that gets a big guy like me moving faster then those words. I sprang into action reaching for the trash can at the First Officer's Station. I set him down on the Security platform with the can between his legs. A box of kleenex was luckily available. A quick examination of the carpet and his uniform gave relief. We caught the eruption in time.

For many of our campers walking up to the bridge is overwhelming. To us - nothing.
To them this is something quite frightening. It is one thing to play a video game but to be completely immersed into a game is something different. The two most spoken
responses to seeing the Voyager's Bridge for the first time are, "This is so cool," and
"This is so scary."

Metta's Workout

Last week we had our share of surprises. On Thursday the visiting school arrived with
35 in each class. Teachers are instructed to notify me if their class size is larger than 32 so we can have the Galileo ready to accommodate the large numbers. This teacher
neglected to do so and was apologetic. The apology was welcome but we still faced the same problem. Would there be enough staff. Stacy was needed to fly the Phoenix. With Aleta home, recovering from surgery, that left Metta and I in the Voyager. The
working schedule showed it was an A day for our high school interns. Casey was due in so the catastrophe was avoided.

Training and briefing was finished. I gave my `blast off' speech and left the bridge at
10:35 A.M. I walked into the Control Room expecting to see Metta and Casey . I
walked into the Control Room finding Metta alone at the helm. I sent Metta to
Discovery to ask Lorraine to come in and help us as soon as she had the morning class to lunch. Lorraine's help would save us for the last ten minutes of the mission but what about the other fifty?

Metta understood what was being asked of her. We sprang into action. I did everything I could as Tex to verbally help kids struggling at their stations. Metta
ran back and forth between the Bridge and the Control Room doing both jobs. Luckily she knew the mission well enough to know when she was free for a minute or two to help the kids. I also used the Captain and First Officers as Bridge helpers. The
Captain moved around the bridge solving problems as they arose with me talking him through them in his ear.

Near the end of the mission Casey arrived. He was late due to illness. He ran up to the
bridge. With him in place I was able to speed up the mission. The students finished the flight.

Metta was fantastic and earned her title of `Miracle Worker'.

We Survived. And Now, the Weekend.

Hello Troops,
What an awesome staff!
Earlier this week I wrote about the perfect storm due to hit the Center on Wednesday and Thursday. It came, we stood firm and it blew through without so much as a single sail ripped from the Voyager's masts.

The wind started picking up around 2:00 P.M. Wednesday, quickly followed by sheets of nearly vertical rain. The boiling gray ocean threw itself against the Center's hull. We felt the deck give way beneath our feet, tossing us like rag dolls port side and nearly over the banister into certain death. The ship pulled itself from the brink, straighted out long enough for us to get our footing and bunker down for 48 hours of unrelenting turbulence. The alert was sounded and it was all hands on deck.
My thanks to everyone for their efforts, especially Lorraine and Sheila in the classroom and everyone in the simulators. Our work was appreciated by our visitors.
We gave them near perfect performances (near perfect because I wasn't running every mission ;)

So, as a reward for two days of going above and beyond, I present a bit of fun to help us unwind and relax for the overnight camp tonight and a full slate of missions and classes tomorrow.

Enjoy,

Mr. W.

Horror flicks on Planet Zlob. Bleck finds the sight of humans so disgusting he hides behind the Concession Stand to avoid looking at them.

Moss is the poster child for all IT nerds. I know many of the Space Center staff love the British comedy "The IT Crowd". If you haven't seen it, I suggest you give it a try.

The Empire is looking for a few good Clones! Join Today and Save the Empire from the Rebel Alliance. (We sound do a poster like this for the Orion Pirates with Bill as Mad Dog in the place of Darth Vader).

A quiet moment as dad leaves for work.

They are out there, many lurking in the nation's graveyards waiting and watching for the unsuspecting teenagers out looking for a good time in what they think is a deserted place (for you Dr. Who fans).

And finally, a quick stop on the way home from work for a coffee and a warm sticky bun. Join us the next time you're in town.

And finally a 'steam driven' retro computer. Wouldn't you like one of these sitting on your desk at work or home?