What I Learnt Today

I love my Fisher Space Pen.

The West Wing, Series 3, Episode 21 “We Killed Yamamoto”, (2002) :

Josh and Toby come in with Leo.

JOSH

Hey.

LEO

We spent millions of dollars developing a pen for the astronauts that would work in zero gravity. Know what the Russians did?

TOBY

Used a pencil?

LEO

They used a pencil.

It makes a good story – rich American’s over-reliance on expensive technology, vs the enforced practicality of poor Russian. However, like many good stories, it ain’t actually so.

The ‘zero gravity’ or ‘space pen’ was invented in 1965 by Paul C Fisher, and they are still made by his company in Boulder City, Nevada. They were developed privately, without funding from the US space program.

Initially, both the Russian and US space program used pencils for writing in zero gravity  But there were problems with broken bits of lead floating around the capsule. and graphite dust, and concerns about flammability.

Pen manufacture Paul Fisher invested about a million dollars in perfecting the ballpoint pen. In 1965, he saw a marketing opportunity, and sent the pressurised pen he had developed to the Houston Space Centre for assessment. He also began to advertise his ‘space pen’ – but the advertisements were blocked by NASA who considered it misleading to claim their endorsement.

However, the pens were good, and, eventually, NASA did place a large order for Fisher’s ‘space pens’, as did the Russian Space Agency soon afterwards. Since 1968, they have been the only pen used in space travel, by cosmonauts or astronauts. 

The full story is told at the space review.

The space pen’s cartridge is pressurised. There is a small sliding float between pressurised gas at one end and the special ‘thixotropic’ ink at the other.  Due to the pressure of the gas, the pen does not rely on gravity to write as other pens do. It can be used in zero gravity, upside down, underwater, over wet and greasy paper, at any angle, and in extreme temperature ranges.

There are two models, the AG7 Astronaut pen, and my preferred model – the compact Bullet Pen. The bullet pen is half the length of a normal biro, but becomes full length when you place the ‘cap’ on the rear end for writing. (Make sure you get the model with the clip – they come in different colours but I like the 400CL)

Closed Bullet Pen

Opened, with the cap on the end

The Bullet Space Pen is a perfect match for my wallet – the Levenger ‘Pocket Briefcase’. I take them both everywhere.

 

Space Pens and refill cartridges are available at Myers and other pen shops, and can be bought online through many eBay dealers and from Peter’s at Kensington. The Bullet Pen with clip costs between $35 and $55 depending on the deal on the day you buy them. Refills are about $10.

You never know when I may find myself in outer space.

If I am, I’m sure it would be handy to be able to write down someone’s number.

 

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Since 1984, TED has hosted some of the world’s most inspiring thinkers, with the aim of “leveraging the power of ideas to change the world“.

Initially a one off event, the TED lecture series has been held annually since 1990, firstly in Monterey, then Long Beach and Palm Springs, and now internationally. Initially the focus was largely on technology and design, and more recently they deal with a wide range of topics within the research and practice of science and culture.

No matter who famous you are, you are allotted only 18 minutes to present your ideas. What a great concept – clearly designed to perfectly match the attention span of a GP! 

Past presenters include Bill Clinton, Jane Goodall, Malcolm Gladwell, Al Gore, Gordon Brown, Richard Dawkins, Bill Gates, educator Salman Khan, Presentation Zen Guru Garr Reynolds, Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and many Nobel Prize winners.

TED is now hosted by Chris Anderson and his not-for-profit Sapling Foundation. For an annual fee of $6000, you can join the TED network and attend any TED conference.

However, if an idea is worth spreading, TED believes it should be set free. All TED talks are available free – either via live streaming of through a complete online archive – which now hosts more than 700 talks!

“We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So we’re building here a clearinghouse that offers free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.”

In addition to allowing access through your normal web browser, iPhone and iPad apps make it easy to track TED talks.

TEDxSydney 2011 takes place this Saturday at CarriageWorks, Sydney.

Tickets to the theatre itself were free, but all have been allocated. You can attend the live simulcast next door in the CarriageWorks, or watch it live on YouTube. You can also listen to a special Radio National ‘Big Ideas’ broadcast from 1pm – 7pm.

Speakers are listed on the TedxSydney web site.

Here is a selection of interesting TED talks from over the years:

• Shai Agassi’s Bold Plans for Electric Cars
• Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling
• Sir Ken Robinson and Creativity
• Deb Roy – The Birth of a Word
• Cynthea Breazeal – The Rise of Personal Robots
• Nigel Marsh: How to make work-life balance work

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What do these baddies have in common?

They are all disciples of Rube Goldberg.

“Reuben Goldberg was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer and inventor. He is best known for his cartoon depicting complex gadgets that perform simple tasks in indirect, convoluted ways. 

These devices are now known as Rube Goldberg machines.” (Wikipedia)

Each year since 1949 Purdue University have staged the Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. This year the task was to water a plant in at least 20 steps. The machine featured in the video below ran into a problem during the contest and was disqualified, but (as is the nature of such things), worked immediately afterwards.

The young designers are waiting to hear if they are accepted by the Guinness Book of Records as the creators of the World’s Most Complicated Goldberg machine.

The machine traces out the history of the world from Big Bang to Apocalypse (and then waters a plant)

At full speed it is hard to follow:

Broken down into steps:

 

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I KEEP six honest serving-men
 (They taught me all I knew);
Their names are What and Why and When 
 And How and Where and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
 I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
 I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five,
 For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
 For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views; 
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!

She sends’em abroad on her own affairs,
 From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

From The Elephant’s Child, one of the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling

Thanks to Charles for the lead.

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“Dad, have you got any money?”

Do you sometimes feel like a walking ATM?

When I was a fresher at college, I shared ‘goober corridor’ with Mick and Matt. (named after those two, not me, obviously). Mick  found it very convenient to use Matt’s toothpaste, and after a few weeks became very skilled at milking the last little bit out of the tube. As this became harder and harder, he complained bitterly about Goober Matt’s slackness in not buying more.

Little did he know that while the empty ‘Goober toothpaste’ sat prominently on the sink, Matt had a fresh tube hidden behind the textbook “Introduction to Agricultural Science”, where there was no chance Mick would ever look.

Perhaps, in the delivery suite, all new dad’s should be supplied with a special ‘Goober wallet’ that they can demonstrate is empty of cash, and a second real wallet, full of money, that always remains a secret.

Alternatively, they could be supplied with the iPhone App ‘The Bank of Dad’, which makes it simple to keep track of the ‘loans’ we provide to our children. It also has the facility to enter repayments or even deposits in advance, although I think the developers have wasted screen real estate in providing this.

     Bank of Dad is a free app.Bank Of Dad – App Store Link

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Life as a pilgrim in Spain is not all cerveza and skittles. Our friend Michelle is embarking on the Camino de Santiago de Campostela tomorrow to find out.

The ‘Way of St James’ is a collection of old pilgrim routes that have the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela in North West Spain as their final destination.

According to legend, St James the apostle travelled to Spain to preach the gospel. When he returned to Jerusalem, he was beheaded by Herod himself. His body was taken back to Spain by angels in a rudderless boat, and buried in Compostella. St James is to Spain, as St Patrick is to Ireland. Santiago is the Spanish word for ‘St James’. Santiago de Campostela ( ‘St James burial place’) is the city that was built around the relics, and is now the capital of Galicia, an ‘autonomous community’ of Spain.

Since the middle ages, the Camino de Santiago de Campostella (‘Way of St James’) has been one of the top three Christian pilrimages, or holy journeys – up there with Jerusalem and Rome. Pilgrims are rewarded with Plenary Indulgences, which are like ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards to reduce the time spent in purgatory after death (being married to Brendan, Michelle will have no need for extra plenary indulgences). By visiting sites associated with saints, some of their good deeds are credited to you – you benefit from the ‘Communion of Saints’ and receive a share of their deposit in the Treasury of Merit.

The Camino was very popular from about 1000 to the 1500s, but had been in some decline since. If this whole business has slipped under your radar, it would be because in the early 1980s only a handful of pilgrims arrived in Santiago each day (there were 690 pilgrims in 1985). However, since then there has been a resurgence of interest. The route was declared the first European Cultural Route by the Council of Europe in October 1987; it was also named one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites. Last year was a Holy Year (when the feast of St James falls on a Sunday) and more than 270,000 made it to Santiago (700 a day!). Some undertake the journey as a religious pilgrimage, some do it for a  good long walk, and ‘many consider the experience a spiritual adventure to remove themselves from the bustle of modern life. It acts as a retreat for many modern “pilgrims”.’ (Wikipedia) At 700 people a day, it may soon be more peaceful to stay at home.

There are a number of different starting points that pilgrims may choose for the Camino. Many of these are in Southern France. The most popular route is the Camino Francés, starting from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. The Northern Route (along the coastline from San Sebastian) and the Portuguese route (approaching Santiago from the South) are also popular.

 

Pilgrims travel with a document called the credencial, or pilgrim’s passport. As an official pilgrim, you can stay iinexpensively in hostels (known as a refugio or albergue). Each day you need to get your credencial stamped in one your albergue or in the local church.

The alberque are simple shared accomodation. Word on the street is that the two most unpopular fellow pilgrims are ‘bag rustlers’ who think it is a good idea to make a 4:30 am start, and ‘snorers’, who are likely to be the last out at 7am.

Start the day with a walk to the closest bar, to join fellow pilgrims in a coffee.

Then walk, and walk, and walk. Michelle plans to do about 35km each day, on the Northern Route.

Tortilla de patatas – egg and potatoes – on a bagette for lunch, perhaps.

In the evening, every town has a bar which serves the Pilgrim’s menu. Three course with wine for 7- 10 Euro. Soup or salad as entree. Fish or chicken or meat, desert of ice cream or fruit.

How long it takes depends on were you start, how fast you walk, how long you choose to walk each day, and how long you’ve got. The full Northern Route is 960 km and takes about 6 weeks. Many spend 8-9 weeks on the longer routes. You can, of course, start or stop wherever you like.

When you arrive in Santiago, if your credencial proves that you have travelled at least 100km, you can be awarded a compostela, a certficate of accomplishment. If, unlike Michelle, you are in desperate need for Plenary Indulgences as quickly as possible, you should start from the Spanish city of Sarria, which is just over the 100km mark.

A special mass is held in the Cathedral each day at noon, where the names and countries of origin of pilgrims who have gained a compstella the day before are announced. They also have penance in a number of different languages – I think it would be a good idea to go to the Portuguese speaking priest to confess.

Have fun, Michelle, and let us know how you go.

 

Some travel sites:

• http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/
• http://www.spain.info/en/conoce/grandes-rutas/caminodesantiago/
• http://kellycrull.com/podcasts/el_camino_de_santiag/

 

 

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