Comments on: ‘We Choose to Go…’ http://tucsoncitizen.com/blogbits/2009/07/20/%e2%80%98we-choose-to-go%e2%80%a6%e2%80%99/ Just another Tucson Citizen weblog Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:12:55 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: blogbits http://tucsoncitizen.com/blogbits/2009/07/20/%e2%80%98we-choose-to-go%e2%80%a6%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-437 blogbits Tue, 21 Jul 2009 15:27:08 +0000 http://tucsoncitizen.com/blogbits/?p=39#comment-437 Greetings, I am not sure what happened to the about page, but here it is: About the Author “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell (1903–1950) Greetings and welcome to my blog. My name is Steven Smith. I retired from the U.S. Army after more than 20 years. While in the service, my primary job was working as a military police investigator. That is where I discovered the power of writing — when the reports reflecting the results of my investigations could have a direct effect on the life of someone else. Since then, I have always tried to choose my words carefully, with varying degrees of success. After getting out of the Army, I went back to college briefly in pursuit of a degree in journalism; however, after my instructor told me that there were no “real” journalism jobs to be had in Tucson, and that print media was going away, I had to reevaluate my plans. During a break from college, I lucked out and fell into a job with a local business, where I work as a technical writer and editor. The work is challenging, educational and allows me to hone my writing skills. This job has also provided the opportunity for me to see that the Dilbert cartoons are actually an illustrated documentary about real corporate life, or as they say in Hollywood, “You can’t make this stuff up.” I do not claim to know everything about everything, but I do have opinions about a lot of things discussed in these online forums. I enjoy these virtual conversations and frequently find the point of view of others’ enlightening, unsettling and entertaining. Thank you “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” — F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) As for the future exploration of space, I think it is more important for mankind to seek new methods and technologies to achieve what others consider to be impossible than to focus only on what we can do now. If we used that model we probably would not have gotten mucg further than the industrial age and our endangered environment would be worse off than it is now. Perhaps the exploration of space would help people realize that we are all together on planetship Earth and that our survival as a species is tied directly to the stewardship of our world. Greetings,

I am not sure what happened to the about page, but here it is:
About the Author

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

— George Orwell (1903–1950)

Greetings and welcome to my blog.

My name is Steven Smith. I retired from the U.S. Army after more than 20 years. While in the service, my primary job was working as a military police investigator. That is where I discovered the power of writing — when the reports reflecting the results of my investigations could have a direct effect on the life of someone else. Since then, I have always tried to choose my words carefully, with varying degrees of success.

After getting out of the Army, I went back to college briefly in pursuit of a degree in journalism; however, after my instructor told me that there were no “real” journalism jobs to be had in Tucson, and that print media was going away, I had to reevaluate my plans.

During a break from college, I lucked out and fell into a job with a local business, where I work as a technical writer and editor. The work is challenging, educational and allows me to hone my writing skills. This job has also provided the opportunity for me to see that the Dilbert cartoons are actually an illustrated documentary about real corporate life, or as they say in Hollywood, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

I do not claim to know everything about everything, but I do have opinions about a lot of things discussed in these online forums. I enjoy these virtual conversations and frequently find the point of view of others’ enlightening, unsettling and entertaining.

Thank you

“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”

— F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)

As for the future exploration of space, I think it is more important for mankind to seek new methods and technologies to achieve what others consider to be impossible than to focus only on what we can do now.

If we used that model we probably would not have gotten mucg further than the industrial age and our endangered environment would be worse off than it is now.

Perhaps the exploration of space would help people realize that we are all together on planetship Earth and that our survival as a species is tied directly to the stewardship of our world.

]]> By: Ben McNitt http://tucsoncitizen.com/blogbits/2009/07/20/%e2%80%98we-choose-to-go%e2%80%a6%e2%80%99/comment-page-1/#comment-436 Ben McNitt Mon, 20 Jul 2009 22:18:30 +0000 http://tucsoncitizen.com/blogbits/?p=39#comment-436 I don't see an About tab on your blog - can you tell us swho you are? A few thoughts on your post. Besides the moon and Mars, I'm not sure it would even be possible for manned expeditions to other planets - too hot or too gaseous. Travel beyond our own solar system, where distances are measured in light years, is out of the question for many decades, at the very least. We've had numerous shuttle missions and an internationa space station up for years, but few can point to much we learned from them. Non-manned exploration of the solar system and next generation Hubble telescopes are far more likely to expand our knowledge. Instead of space exploration for the sake of national prestige, it would be better to share the costs and pool the brains of the whole planet by joint work. Finally, why alievating human suffering, overcoming fatal diseases, etc. aren't seen as ambitious adventures and inspirations for future generations is beyond me. I don’t see an About tab on your blog – can you tell us swho you are?
A few thoughts on your post. Besides the moon and Mars, I’m not sure it would even be possible for manned expeditions to other planets – too hot or too gaseous. Travel beyond our own solar system, where distances are measured in light years, is out of the question for many decades, at the very least. We’ve had numerous shuttle missions and an internationa space station up for years, but few can point to much we learned from them. Non-manned exploration of the solar system and next generation Hubble telescopes are far more likely to expand our knowledge. Instead of space exploration for the sake of national prestige, it would be better to share the costs and pool the brains of the whole planet by joint work. Finally, why alievating human suffering, overcoming fatal diseases, etc. aren’t seen as ambitious adventures and inspirations for future generations is beyond me.

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