Back from Europe

Photo: Vesna, me, Mario and Milan at IDAS

I am back from Europe this week after a Thanksgiving class break trip to Slovenia and the 5th International Debate Academy, where I was honored to once again be the director of training.

Here are some thoughts I had about the experience and this trip.

• I am feeling more and more at home in Europe and Slovenia. The language is still a mystery to me, but I know my way around and feel comfortable there. It is a very nice place, and now I can even suggest restaurants and things to do.
• It was great to be at the IDAS with so many great instructors. They all did a great job, and I really learned a lot from them. Rhydian Morgan and Neill Harvey-Smith from the UK were great additions and I enjoyed learning what they teach and especially how they teach it. Their relaxed style was interesting and engaging. Loke Wing Fatt and Sam Nelson are rapidly becoming two of the best debate trainers in the world, and the evaluations showed that. It is also great to see the two of them growing such a fine friendship, a guy from Merced, California and a guy from Singapore have found that they have so much in common.
• It was really nice to have two students and a coach from my program who were there to learn how to do British Parliamentary debate not just as sideline and an experience but who will seriously engage in it back home. I was very proud of them.
• Now that I have done a lot of European training it is great to see the people I have previously worked with do so well and grow so much. Huge props to Vesna, Mario and the FON-Belgrade posse for their showing. Filip, Maja and Anna have grown so much and gotten to good. I am excited that Filip and Maja will be doing a brief USA tour in February and that I will be hosting them in Vermont.
• Slovenian food is good and hearty, and it is hard to knock the coffee, which is awesome. They take it quite seriously.
• It was, of course, great to be with Bojana again.
• The president-elect of the country and the mayor of Ljubljana both showed up at the tournament to give short speeches. Wow. Debate in this country has got some pull.
• New plots were hatched and planned. Rhydian and Neill are open to an instructional trip to the USA co-sponsored by Cornell and St. Johns. Plans move ahead for teacher training in Singapore. Students are very interested in attending WDI here in Vermont. Filip is going to check out the Eastman School of Music with some help from Sam. Zlata is starting a debate club in Maribor. It's all good.
• European underwear doesn't really work for me. Our bags were lost on the way over and we had two days without them. I'll stick to USA utrou for now.
• My inability to watch television seems international. The hotel room had a nice flat panel set, but all I did was check the channel line up once.

There is a lot more travel in my immediate future. I go to Mexico for a few days a week from Friday, then it is on to Malaysia and then Thailand before coming back in January for the start of the spring semester. Southeast Asia is going to be very hot.

But, I also realize how much I love where I live here in Burlington, Vermont. It feels like home and it is quite homey. Sure, there is snow and the wind is blowing outside right now, but there is more to the climate of a place than the temperature. The climate here is just fine.

Insect Eyes+Brain+Robot Body=Reality

From http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/buggy-bot/robo+moth-hooks-up-insects-brain-to-a-robot-319962.php

Robo-Moth Hooks Up Insect's Brain to a Robot

Reminding us of a tiny paper airplane with flies superglued to its wings, here's another melding of insect and machine, the Robo-Moth. This six-inch robot uses a moth's brain and eyes to get around, and wherever the moth's eyes look, that's where the robot goes. Sure, moths are plenty stupid, with brains scarcely larger than a couple of commas like this, but they can still detect motion better than anything scientists can build.

Researchers hope to use the technology to help paralysis victims to regain the ability to move. Team this buggy robot up with that thought-controlled wheelchair, and now we're getting somewhere. But we're thinking some precautions might need to be taken if they're using moths—don't turn on any bright lights, or the robot will go nuts. [LA Times]

Secrets from the Moon

U.S. scientists say that Apollo astronauts found ancient ruins on the Moon (enterprisemission.com)

Interesting stories about NASA hiding what they found on the moon long ago. Now, a NASA scientist is bringing forward the photos he has been hiding for 40 years to show what NASA wants to hide.

And there is more. You had to know that.

From http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/31-10-2007/99895-moon-0

The former manager of the Data and Photo Control Department at NASA’s Lunar Receiving Laboratory during the manned Apollo Lunar Program, Ken Johnston, has released quite a number of sensational statements recently in the USA. The specialist said that U.S. astronauts found ancient ruins of artificial origin and a previously unknown technology to control gravitation when then landed on the Moon. Astronauts took pictures of the objects that they found, but NASA ordered Johnston to destroy the images. Johnston did not follow the order. He said that the U.S. government had been keeping this information a secret for 40 years.






Johnston's startling Apollo allegations have recently appeared in a new book, "Dark Mission: the Secret History of NASA," co-authored by former NASA consultant and CBS Science Advisor, Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara, an aerospace engineering consultant. According to Kay Ferrari, JPL Director of the SSA Program (in a phone call to Johnston last week), it was Johnston "being quoted [as] criticizing NASA in Hoagland's new book, 'Dark Mission,'" that prompted her to ask for Johnston's resignation from the SSA Program. When Johnston refused, citing First Amendment protections of free speech afforded all NASA employees, even those at JPL, Ferrari apparently decided to remove him arbitrarily from the SSA Program this week without cause.

The low quality pictures included in the book depict ruins of buildings, huge dome-like objects made of glass, stone towers and castled hanging in the air.

“I have nothing to lose. I have quarreled with NASA and I got fired,” Ken Johnston said.

Indeed, NASA believes that allegations of the ancient civilization found on the Moon are not serious. The authors of the controversial book also say that President John F. Kennedy, who launched the lunar race with the Soviet Union, actually intended to share extraterrestrial technologies with Moscow. Making a speech at the United Nations Organizations in September of 1963, Kennedy supposedly offered the USSR to organize a joint mission to the Moon.

Richard Hoagland believes that Washington’s interest in the Moon exploration that suddenly appeared after 30 years of silence is based on the lunar findings that the U.S. government has been keeping a secret for 40 years. Russia, China, Japan and even India have publicly announced their plans to work on the exploration of the Moon. The USA, Hoagland said, wants to be the first at this point.

More at http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/99895-1/

A very interesting website is up by the "Enterprise Mission" group that is involved in the "Dark Mission" book that is hot on Amazon.com right now. See it at:
http://www.enterprisemission.com/

NASA Cover-Ups Continue…

NASA Dismisses Former Apollo Photo and Data Manager from JPL Educational Program

Missing Apollo Data to be Shown at National Press Club Briefing Today, Oct. 30, 2007



Dr. Ken Johnston, former Manager of the Data and Photo Control Department at NASA’s Lunar Receiving Laboratory during NASA’s manned Apollo Lunar Program, was abruptly terminated Tuesday morning, October 23rd, from JPL’s prestigious “Solar System Ambassador” (SSA) Program.

All evidence of Dr. Johnston’s exemplary 4-year participation in the NASA outreach effort to “communicate the importance of NASA aerospace programs to the public around the world” has been scrubbed from the official JPL SSA website, without formal notification of Dr. Johnston as to cause.

Johnston is a key participant in today's Enterprise Mission press briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, DC (Zenger Room, 9:00 AM). At that time, Johnston will reveal how NASA ordered him to destroy key Apollo lunar images and data more than 40 years ago, rather than allow them to be preserved for academic and public study.

Johnston will testify how he disobeyed these NASA orders, secretly preserving the critical Apollo images—and the never-officially-published lunar discoveries recorded on them. According to AP, NASA is currently embroiled in a similar controversy with Congress because of the agency’s planned destruction of supporting data from a recent aviation safety study.

Johnston’s startling Apollo allegations have recently appeared in a new book, “Dark Mission: the Secret History of NASA,” co-authored by former NASA consultant and CBS Science Advisor, Richard C. Hoagland and Mike Bara, an aerospace engineering consultant.

According to Kay Ferrari, JPL Director of the SSA Program (in a phone call to Johnston last week), it was Johnston “being quoted [as] criticizing NASA in Hoagland’s new book, ‘Dark Mission,’” that prompted her to ask for Johnston’s resignation from the SSA Program.

When Johnston refused, citing First Amendment protections of free speech afforded all NASA employees, even those at JPL, Ferrari apparently decided to remove him arbitrarily from the SSA Program this week -- without cause.

JPL’s ultimate decision to fire Dr. Johnston was initiated, according to Ferrari’s phone call, “by an initial inquiry to JPL from James Oberg, of NBC News.” Oberg is a former NASA contractor and a colleague of Johnston’s at NASA’s Manned Spacecraft Center during the Apollo Program in the 1970’s. According to Ferrari, Oberg, in his e-mails, raised “serious issues regarding Johnston’s credentials” and his “crackpot accusations” against the agency.

Oberg’s NASA contractor history begs ethical questions regarding his efforts to get Johnston terminated, based on Johnston’s testimony in “Dark Mission” and intention to present further “missing” Apollo images and data at the National Press Club.

Dr. Johnston will present documentation of his claims, credentials and key role at NASA in today's briefing.

The really wild page is at
http://www.enterprisemission.com/NPC-Russia.htm