All posts by Chris

Loretta Whitesides is just plain cool

May 23, 2008Geekdad, SpaceChris

[I'm going to start posting some of my GeekDad articles over here, so you'll know when new ones are available. Let me know if this is unnecessary duplication.]

I had the pleasure of meeting Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides at a SEDS UCSD talk the other day. It quickly became obvious that she’s one of Our People, and a successful one at that. From the GeekDad interview article (my first ever):

Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides sees the future of space in the eyes of students. Not as the “coveted 18-24 demographic”, but as leaders of the new space industry. To her, space-interested science and engineering students in high school and college right now are “one in a million,” and she wants them to train to be the next Buzz Aldrin, Sally Ride, Burt Rutan, or Elon Musk.

She should know. As an astrobiologist, Virgin Galactic advisor, Wired blogger, and Zero G flight director, she’s seen her share of the Right Stuff. She’s followed James Cameron to the bottom of the ocean and led 70,000 people to a party at NASA. Space is personal for her, too: she and her husband, National Space Society director George T. Whitesides, will honeymoon on one of the first Virgin Galactic suborbital flights.

Check out the rest of the interview and let me know if I should hang up my press hat. ;)

TED Talks you should watch

May 23, 2008Food, ReligionChris

You must watch Karen Armstrong’s TED talk on religion, compassion, the active side of belief, and the Golden Rule. Now. No really, go watch it right now. It’s not that long. In fact, watch it right here:

Once you’re done with that, watch Mark Bittman’s talk on what’s wrong with what we eat. It’s not as negative as the title would lead you to believe, and it provides good rules of thumb when considering “healthy” food.

Jonathan Coulton in San Diego tomorrow night

May 16, 2008Events, Fun, MusicChris

He’s here, so I’m there! Jonathan Coulton will be performing with Paul and Storm on Saturday, May 17th at Lestat’s in Normal Heights. Details (as per usual) are at Eventful.

The show’s at 9pm, and tickets are being sold at the door for an undisclosed sum somewhere around $10. I’ll probably get there around 8:30, or earlier if I find out that Jonathan is sitting at the bar by himself like the last time. (grumble grumble House of Blues grumble.)

gettin’ hitched (again) in California

May 15, 2008Law, NewsChris

It might just be a temporary victory, but today the California Supreme Court overturned a ban on gay marriage that was voted into law (as Proposition 22) back in 2000.

Domestic partnerships are not a good enough substitute for marriage, the justices ruled 4-3 in an opinion.

The cases were brought by the city of San Francisco, two dozen gay and lesbian couples, Equality California and another gay rights group in March 2004 after the court halted San Francisco’s monthlong same-sex wedding march that took place at Mayor Gavin Newsom’s direction.

“Today the California Supreme Court took a giant leap to ensure that everybody – not just in the state of California, but throughout the country – will have equal treatment under the law,” said City Attorney Dennis Herrera, who argued the case for San Francisco.

Let’s hope so. Even the Governator understands that continuing to fight progress isn’t doing anyone any good:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has twice vetoed legislation that would’ve granted marriage rights to same-sex couples, said in a statement that he respected the court’s decision and “will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this state Supreme Court ruling.”

Indeed. Now, let’s see some weddings!