Interesting Elsewhere

My occasional roundup of fun, thought-provoking, educational or otherwise interesting things I’ve come across in recent weeks…

What Is NASA For? | Slate

NASA was formed in 1958, in response to Sputnik’s Russian-accented beep-beep-beep circling over our heads, to challenge the Soviet juggernaut, the Communist machine that was thumbing its nose at us from orbit. A little more than a decade later, in July 1969, NASA astronauts left their boot prints on the lunar regolith. Mission accomplished. The space race was over. America had won.

Except today we are 100% dependent on Russia to get to our own space station. Is it really fair to say “America won” anymore? Maybe instead of trotting out 40+ year old “wins,” we could figure out what’s ahread. And maybe instead of writing ridiculous articles that make it apparent the author didn’t really do any research, we could get actual journalists writing about space exploration.

Sochi Winter Olympics launch with space-flown torch, cosmonaut flag-bearers | Collectspace.com

On a related note, the Opening Ceremonies on Friday night were full of space references, from a half dozen cosmonauts to a space-flown torch. But the NBC broadcast we got here in the US ignored them all. At least Russia is proud of THEIR space program… I just wish I could say the same for the U.S.

You should read the article above, and then you should watch these videos from Roscosmos and NASA about the torch that traveled to space and back.

[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/7gQRhi1dsCI” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

[iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/QKMJVRDtcDM” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

SPACE IS COOL.

Cosmos | FOX

[iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/xb5tdqplTqQ” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen]

Neil deGrasse Tyson will be hosting a revamped version of Carl Sagan’s classic Cosmos series in March. I really really hope this is good and that people watch it!

What you didn’t see in Sochi | CNN

In Russia, forgetting has won. These Olympics opened with a pageant of Russian history that excised the crimes of Soviet Communism. No Red Terror. No Gulag. No Ukrainian famine. No Katyn.

So I get what this guy (and others like him) are trying to say, but come on — do you WANT to see a dance about any of those things in the Opening Ceremonies? I don’t. Every country has dark spots in their history. NOT featuring them at the Olympics is totally ok with me.

Personal Trainer, Worn on a Wrist – Review: The Fitbit Force Activity Tracker | NY Times

I have been using a Fitbit One (different model than the one discussed above but same idea) since last May and I’d be hard-pressed to say that it has made any real difference in my habits. I do like seeing the information about how many steps I go in a day, and it does occasionally motivate me to climb a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator, but overall it’s been a gee-whiz data-gathering tool for me and that’s about it. The most interesting part to me is actually the sleep-tracking feature that tells me how much sleep I’m really getting.