The other day an intelligent person wrote something along these lines: caring about space exploration is dumb. I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t know why—maybe because I feel something off-kilter inside myself when intelligent people opt out of weighing what they write (because I am often guilty of doing that myself, maybe it’s a vicarious embarrassment).

Anyhow, the thought she expressed is probably a pretty common one—that we shouldn’t be looking at space because we should be looking here. She didn’t lay out an argument—I’m presuming she meant we could do more useful things with our time, money, energy, intelligence, and other resources.

I’m originally from south Mississippi, so I sort of keep track of the Tropics, and today I encountered a concrete example of the false choice embodied in the outlook characterized above.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/679970main_20120823-Isaac-GOES-FULL.jpg

This image represents just one aspect of one application of satellite technology, and satellite technology is just one of many space-related technologies. I’m not going to write a long post about the good of space programs—the agricultural, ecological and other environmental applications, the direct impacts on communications, materials, electronics, medical applications, the paradigmatics, etc. That’s already been done better by other people, including NASA itself, which is bound to offer justification for the tax dollars it is begrudged—do your own googling and thinking. That’s what I did, and it was fun.

I do recognize that knocks against space programs have merit—some of the intelligence aspects, the nationalistic competitive roots, the dollar figures (not as high as most people think), the human costs, and so on, but space exploration is Science. It is engineering. It is biology. It is a bunch of stuff I don’t feel like listing and probably couldn’t. It is a miracle of organization, management, and a real human triumph that pays real dividends.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/pathfinders/spinoff.htm#websites —>the internet resources at the bottom of these NASA library pages are great places to start (like the space technology hall of fame, second from bottom)

It has been a while since I’ve given the space programs much thought. Oh cool pictures, really neat landing procedure—that’s about it.  It’s probable the person whose comment got me thinking about it again was just trolling her Facebook followers, or (more likely) was having a negative reaction to a slew of Curiosity rover comments, tweets, updates, but whatever.  I’m glad she made the comment—it sent me off reading and thinking. Reminding myself of stuff and learning other stuff about the history of space exploration has made me feel better about people and even about Organizations.

(and it is extremely good to know when hurricanes are coming)

Dear Adriana,

I’m really looking forward to meeting you and hopefully your three cousins when you get to Seoul, South Korea. Good luck with the move, and let me know if you need someone to meet you at the Incheon International Airport. I would never intentionally delete you, I hope you will forgive me—I must have mis-clicked something.  Send me a friend request and I will re-confirm you immediately.

Warmly,

Greg

original message:

BABE… i guess your not getting any of my email huh? ive been tryign to email u so many times but this dam laptop is such a piece of garbage and keeps freezing.. anyways how u been?

In case u dont know who this is its ME Adriana.. we used to chat a bit on facebook and then I think u deleted me :( haha.. anyways guess what…

I got 2 things to tell u.. both good news.. 1) im single now.. yup me and my bf broke up about 3 months ago… and 2) guess where im moving? RIGHT EFFING NEAR U.. lol… ur actually the only person im gonna know there.. well 3 cousins too but i cant chill with them lol..

I remember when we chatted u told me u thought i was cute and u wanted to chill so now we finally can HAHA! im kinda scared to move.. im hoping this email addy is still the one you use and u can chat with me ebfore i get there.. maybe even help me move my shit in…are u still on facebook?

I coudnt find ui was soo confused…anyways im gonna need someone to show me the town and take me out so u better be around bebe…

i  wanted to get ot know u better when i was single..and i thoguth u were cute too but cudnt tell u cause i wasnt single lol…ok so more info about me.. well im 23.. virgo.. love the outdoors and love to socialize, go out for drinks, restaurants, movies etc.. travel.. i have a lil kitty named BOO and i luv her to death… uhhh oh im a super horny gurl too but every gurl is they just wont admit it. so ilove watching p0rn and all that.. love sex etc blah blah blah…who doesnt..

I really hope we get a chance to chat for a bit either online or on the fone before i get there enxt week.. i hope u remmeber me and still wanna chill and arent married yet lol.. OH YA also.. i need to find a job when i get there..

id LOVE to work in a bar or osmehting like that…really anythgin cause my current job is fun and all.. and technically i CUD keep doign it but i want a change.. i currently work from home and well thats cool but i need ot be out meeting people.. oh wait. i dont think i ever actually told u what i did? hmm shud i……???? ok WELLLL… and dont get all weirded out on me.. i work on a webcam chat community site and i get paid to chat with people and get naked HHAHA… BOMB right :)? I KNOW.. like i
figure iim horny anyways why not get paid to chat with people and play
with myself heheh…anyways i hope u dont look down on that and NO
THATS NOT WHY IM CONTACTING U RELAX URSELF lol… i actually need 
help once i move and i remembered u live there so im reaching out….like i said before this computer is a complete piece of CRAP and freezes NON
STOP.. ive tried ot send this email to u maybe 3 times already and im
hopign this time i can hit SEND before i run into trouble lol..

ANYWAYS.. heres the deal….every month natalie (my boss) gives each
of us 3 VIP codes to give out to whoever we want.. so with this code u can lgoin to watch me at work for free and dont have to pay like everyone else… the only way i can give u one of the codes (so we can chat) is if you absolutey DO NOT give it out to anyone else and u ONLY USE IT FOR URSELF… i only get 3 a month and she gets pissed if more
than 3 people use them so DONT SHARE IT MISTER… i figured u cud
always email me back instead but my email account doesnt even let me
login half the time.. so the bets palce ot chat me is my chat room…

if theres anyone else logged in when u sign in ill boot them out.. but
remember DONT SHARE THIS PASSWORD PLEASE BABE IM BEGGING U.. 

I TRUST U… im online most of the day now to try and save money for my move..

also since im in such a huge debt already form my student loan :( I
really thingk we need to chat before i get there and make sure u evern
remember me hahha.. anyways ive rambled on and on now and ur probably soooo annnoyed with me so ill stop now.. im gonna go start work.. i really hope u come chat me. it wud make my day and releive a lot of my stress about the move… REALLY i mean that….anyways once i see u in insdie ill shoot u myc ell number and u can gimme yours.. if u dont wanna come chat i understand but its really the only palce to find me now days.. if u email me abck ill probably get it once i get there
after my internet is setup so about 2-3 weeks fomr now.. but im hopign
to see u in my chat room.. rmemeber its 100% free with this code im
gonna give u.. just DONT GIVE IT OUT OR ILL KICK U IN THE BALLS
INSTEAD OF LICK U IN THE BALLS WHEN IS EE U hahahahha…k babe im out for now… chat ya soon.. kisses xoxo Adriana

Peering down into the water where the morning sun fashioned wheels of light, coronets fanwise in which lay trapped each twig, each grain of sediment, long flakes and blades of light in the dusty water sliding away like optic strobes where motes sifted and spun.

Sentence fragment. Unattached. This is a participial phrase. It wants to modify something. Wanting the participial phrase to modify something that isn’t present, the reader stands in temporarily, perhaps trusting that something soon on page will claim ownership of the phrase. The reader must briefly wear the phrase. Establishment of POV is delayed, and the presentation enjoys second-person immediacy without the offensive you of second-person narration.

I often think of the reader as a stranger on a bus who is not interested in being disturbed. A stranger on his guard. Tactics are required to get him to lower his guard. Jonathan Safran Foer begins Exremely Loud and Incredibly Close with “What about a teakettle?” That’s kind of interesting, the reader’s ears perk up and he’s in. Marie Calloway’s “Adrien Brody” begins “hello. / i’m marie calloway.” A bold and direct self-introduction. It probably helps that the name is feminine (i.e. ‘non-threatening’) but it works for masculine names too (her formatting also has its impact, I imagine). Anyhow, she’s in. Someone could probably make an exhaustive (tedious and depressing) list of opening approaches, but:

The opening of Suttree sort of trickles into the brain of this reader staring out the bus window in a sort of semi-conscious but active daydream state. Since the point of view is unestablished, we find ourselves sinking into the prose, gazing into the sunlit water, surrendering almost as if to memory.

What? Well, let me compare it to another descriptive opening, the opening of Tender is the Night. When I look closely at McCarthy’s participial phrase, I count only five descriptive adjectives. Fitzgerald packs twice as many into roughly the same number of words (two complete sentences and most of an independent clause).

On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel. Deferential palms cool its flushed façade, and before it stretches a short dazzling beach. Lately it has become a summer resort of notable and fashionable people;

to be continued…

Peering down into the water where the morning sun fashioned wheels of light, coronets fanwise in which lay trapped each twig, each grain of sediment, long flakes and blades of light in the dusty water sliding away like optic strobes where motes sifted and spun. A hand trails over the gunwale and he lies athwart the skiff, the toe of one sneaker plucking periodic dimples in the river with the boat’s slight cradling, drifting down beneath the bridge and slowly past the mudstained stanchions. Under the high cool arches and dark keeps of the span’s undercarriage where pigeons babble and the hollow flap of their wings echoes in stark applause. Glancing up at these cathedraled vaultings with their fossil woodknots and pseudomorphic nailheads in gray concrete, drifting, the bridge’s slant shadow leaning the width of the river with that headlong illusion postulate in old cupracers frozen on photoplates, their wheels elliptic with speed.  These shadows form over the skiff, accommodate his prone figure and pass on.

I like a lot of Cormac McCarthy. It is often difficult for me to read his prose without moving my lips. I read it with my in-head voice cause my real voice kind of sucks.

I’m going to think about the opening of Suttree for a while. I’m going to start from the perspective of grammar. I am not a grammar god. This will be good for me and interesting. After that I’ll say some other stuff. Hopefully it will get more detailed as it goes along. This may take a few weeks.