Month: May 2015

Ted Cruz vs. Charles Bolden

On By Norbert HauptIn Science1 Comment

Ted Cruz is trying to stop NASA from researching climate change.

The fact that Ted Cruz is Chair of the Commerce, Science and Transportation subcommittee in Congress is a travesty. He puts up a bogus chart, showing percentage increases or decreases of the budget of NASA with respect to four different parts of the mission of NASA. He disregards completely that percentages are meaningless without actual dollar values associated with them.

If I gave you an allowance of one dollar last year, and I take that dollar away, I cut your budget by 100%. If I gave your brother an allowance of $5 and I gave him the dollar I took away from you, I increased his budget by 20%. Talking only about percentages in this context is deceptive. That’s what Ted Cruz did with this chart.

This is not science, this is not finance, this is trying to dumb down the American public.

I have met Charles Bolden, when he was a mere NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander. Bolden is a remarkable man, and a brilliant technologist. He is the right man for the job of NASA administrator. He belongs in his position.

And Ted Cruz is a doofus.

Movie Review: Mad Max: Fury Road

On By Norbert HauptIn Movies, Zero Stars3 Comments

Mad Max

It’s been a long time that we had been out for a movie. Checking the Tomatometer, we found that Mad Max had a rating of 99. One of the highest we’d seen in a long time. Can’t go wrong with that!

Or can you?

In all the reviews I have done, I have never been that far apart from the Tomatometer. I am giving this zero stars. I am sorry we paid for that movie. If you paid me twenty dollars to spend two hours watching this again, knowing what I know now, I’d decline.

Apparently this is the fourth post-apocalyptic action adventure in this sorry franchise, and now I know why I never bothered to watch the first three. Charlize Theron stars as a one-armed tough broad on a mission to do – well, I am not sure what she is doing. There is no story that makes any sense. It drags on for 120 minutes, and it looks like they recorded one minute of trucks, hot rods and motorcycles chasing each other in the desert, and ran that recording 120 times. How long can a story be interesting when vehicles chase each other in the desert with the occupants shooting at each other and blowing each other up in spectacular fireballs, on and on and on.

The entire film is an excuse for grotesque makeup, hot rod racing, and senseless shooting, and lots of crazy stunts, all while driving in the desert – somewhere.

I just wonder how the critics all could give this positive ratings with a straight face? They just stole our twelve dollars per ticket.

Stole.

Zero Stars.

Rating - Zero Stars

The Subjective Perception of “My Bed”

On By Norbert HauptIn Travels, WisdomLeave a comment

It seems like every time I come home from an overseas trip, I complain about the beds I was subjected to. Here is a post about a previous trip.

We just got back from a week in Germany, and again we constantly complained about the uncomfortable beds. When we got home and lay down in our own bed, it felt like heaven.

That got me thinking: It can’t be that 80 million Germans go to bed every night and think their beds are uncomfortable. They probably think they are like heaven.

What about the billions of people in developing nations whose beds are bags of straw and a blanket? If they are their beds, their own beds, they are probably heaven, nightly refuge from the bustle and the stresses of life.

Hikers look forward to their sleeping bags every night, laid down on a thin pad on the dirt in the woods, and they think of them as refuge and heaven.

The human body and mind create this cocoon of comfort called bed, no matter where it is, no matter how it is constructed.

When it is “mine” it is heaven.

My Daughter and My Timeline

On By Norbert HauptIn Feelings2 Comments

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Today is the day…

…when my daughter is exactly as old as I was the day she was born.

Today is the day…

…when I am exactly twice as old as my daughter.

Today is a special day.

Book Review: Adam – by J.L. Smith

On By Norbert HauptIn Books, One and a Half Stars, Science FictionLeave a comment

AdamA husband and wife astronomer team searching for asteroids find a new object beyond the orbit of Saturn which they name Adam. Upon further study, they discover that the object is huge, about a quarter the mass of the moon, and it is on a hyperbolic trajectory, which means it is not orbiting the sun, but came from another star system and will leave ours after its visit. Unfortunately, they calculate that it will come within 81,000 miles of Earth. An object that size so close to earth would have very serious consequences to the present and future earth. And those consequences is what the book Adam is all about.

I read the book quickly and I kept turning the pages, because I am interested in the subject matter. However, I found the writing simple and the story so simplistic, it read like a fairy tale. Every technical concept was oversimplified to the point where it just didn’t ring true. Ok, if this had played in the year 2150, I might have bought into the plot. But it was supposed to be in 2028. No way – it just didn’t seem real.

The writing seemed clumsy. Every teacher of writing conveys that as a writer you should not tell the reader what’s happening, but show the reader. Smith constantly tells. It’s like he is writing a superficial physics book where shallow characters are observed doing stuff. He tries to round out the character by making them loving, warm, intelligent, hardworking, but it just doesn’t work.

So while I kept reading because I was curious about how the plot would develop, in the end it was way too predictable, and it just never seemed real – like a fairy tale.

Rating - One and a Half Stars

Insight by David Brin

On By Norbert HauptIn ScienceLeave a comment

David Brin provides a rambling (in a good way) journey into all the neat stuff we’re into these days, and how Ted Cruz, who is an outspoken denier of anthropogenic climate change, is the chairman of the Senate’s Space and Science Committee. Enjoy David Brin’s musings at this link.

Mars-bound astronauts face mind-numbing risks

On By Norbert HauptIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Does space travel make you dumb? New research by NASA scientists seems to indicate so. As a science fiction enthusiast, I have to admit that I never gave this too much thought. This might be the reason why there are no aliens visiting us.

Book Review: How to Win at the Sport of Business – by Mark Cuban

On By Norbert HauptIn Books, Business, Four Stars1 Comment

How to Win

Anyone in business should read Mark Cuban’s book How to Win at the Sport of Business. Anyone in college should read it. Anyone who wants to be successful.

Anyone should read this book.

It’s a quick read, it’s a very short book. A good solid hour, or maybe two, gets the job done.

How did a young guy in Texas who lived in a friend’s three-bedroom apartment with six people with no education become worth 3 billion dollars?

Here is a rags to riches story that will inspire anyone. The book is a collection of blog posts, edited together into a coherent motivational shot in the arm.

You cannot afford not to read this little book full of nuggets of invaluable advice about business, life and passion. What more can I say than to give you a little excerpt:

When I was growing up I was told over and over again, if you can sell, you can always get a job. Of course, I was told that after a friend of my mom’s told me when I was in high school, that I should also have a trade to fall back on. He tried to teach me how to lay carpet. My first, last and only experience was working for him and watching him shake his head and rip out what I had done…. But I digress. I don’t remember who told me that selling was a job for a lifetime, but they were right. If you can sell, you can find a job in sports. I will take a high school dropout who is caring, involved and can sell over an MBA in sports management almost every time. What makes a good salesperson? Let me be clear that it’s not the person who can talk someone into anything. It’s not the hustler who is a smooth talker. The best salespeople are the ones who put themselves in their customer’s shoes and provide a solution that makes the customer happy.

Do not hesitate another second, go to Amazon and put down $2.99 and start reading and learning.

Rating - Four Stars