2011-06-24

Moon Dust is recovered.... Americans can sigh with relief


Stolen Apollo 11 moon dust recovered
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, shown on the surface of the moon  
The dust was brought back by the Apollo 11 astronauts in July 1969


The US has recovered a scattering of moon dust stolen from Nasa after the 1969 Apollo 11 mission, just as it was about to be sold at auction.


The dust was smuggled out of NASA by a staff photographer who gathered it from a camera the astronauts used on the lunar surface, officials said.
NASA investigators discovered the dust - affixed to a scrap of tape - at a St Louis auction house this month.
It is illegal in the US to possess moon rocks or moon dust.
"It wasn't much to look at, but I will never be that close to the moon again," US attorney for eastern Missouri Richard Callahan said in a statement.
 (snip )


Forget the fact that moon dust returns to the possession of a group of elitists... a oligarchy.   Instead, focus on whether it is a big deal that someone took some moon dust they had found inside a camera.  The dust would have been thrown away if the "civilian" had not collected it.  Perhaps the IOA just missed a plague from the moon !!!!  ... f so, we have been saved by government experts once again.  And the USG has provided employment of redundant humans.
99guspuppet

Entrepreneurial meeting at Regis College

Sorry about the mis-spelling of "entrepreneurial".  I used to be a better speller.
I want to help out budding entrepreneurs ..............................
How about meeting next Thursday ( June 30 ) at Billy's Bar ( Lowell and 44th Ave )  at 1900 hrs to kick some ideas around ?
720 222 1309
http://www.meetup.com/Regis-Entrepreneur-Club/

Two videos are at vimeo.com     search for ==> REGIS2011EC


Meeting warm-up ........   NREL   National Renewable Energy Lab
I did not record the presenters name. The  NREL power-point presentation was very ordinary.  I don't find NREL ( a division of the US Energy Department ) to be entrepreneurial or innovative.  The gestalt is more like some USG employees trying to hang onto their jobs in these uncertain times.   Some of the comments and data were mis-leading.   Some of the presenters "definitions" were not as I know them.
I would guess the hydrogen car cost more than 1 million dollars.  I would guess the gas station for this one car cost many millions of dollars.  When asked about the cost of fuel, the presenter tossed out a cost of 40 cents per kilogram.  It appeared he said you could drive a mile for 4 cents in fuel costs.  That sounded good since my partner pays about 34 cents per mile in fuel costs.  Then the presenter amended his earlier statement and said something that appeared to indicate actual fuel costs would be more like 50 cents per mile.  I was not really clear on what he was saying.   The hydrogen car was touted as carbon free...... that is true only if you ignore some inconvenient facts.   Like where did the car come from ?  Where did the hydrogen come from ?  How was the hydrogen delivered ?
NREL's yearly budget is around $300 million .......

Main Meeting

Karl Dakin ( the host ) said some rebellious things with zero passion.  He took some shots at government regulations ..... but I could not tell if he was serious.  His was also a new high/low in power-points.  I have to congratulate Karl on that.  People often joke about powerpoints.  Karl did not have to read from the power-point slides.  The slides had repeating animation that had little do with what he was saying.  The repeating animation on his slides totally invoked my ADD.  

#1 This meeting was not a discussion...... Karl said how it is going to be.
#2 Intellectually I am on the fence about how "fun" this group is going to be.....
#3 Emotionally I think this group is no fun.

Karl wants people to invite people until the meetings must be held at Invesco field.  I reminded me of MLM  .... although Karl talked about money flowing to the students in the club.   His focus was on benefiting Regis students.

I have never experienced more rational dissonance than at this meeting.  I went home and had an allergic reaction.  I am unable at this time to dissect exactly what happened at this meeting.  A lot of people seemed to already know each other.  A community activist pro showed up and wants to be involved.  I saw no one flying the freak flag.  The group reeks of conventionality. Underneath the various facades ....... who knows ?

I don't.....  

I had offered to provide ( gratis ) streaming video of this meeting.  Karl did not get back to me on that.  I offered to talk about some emerging opportunities in high tech.  This is an area that I avidly track.  Karl emailed me that " it is not that kind of meeting".

What kind of club is this ??????    I am clueless at this point.

I will be posting some images and audio of this meeting.  Look on vimeo.com  for tag ==>  REGIS2011EC

I will be pondering how I and others of my ilk can assist budding entrepreneurs and inventors.

99guspuppet