Rocket Man

Last weekend I took my boys to Hiller Aviation Museum, which hosted a demonstration of an actual jetpack at work. I had thought this was the stuff of science fiction, but this dude actually lifted off , flew down the runway a bit, hovered, returned, and landed. Cool!

Before taking off, he did have to get clearance for his flight plan. As you can see from the vantage of my photo to the left, we stood right near the liftoff point--I was surprised that there was no smoky plume from the rocket fuel, but the noise at ignition was painfully impressive. The operator has to be quite strong to carry the device on his back, and even so he's limited to 30 seconds of rocket fuel.

They wouldn't let me fly the thing, but the museum did bring in a jetpack simulator for the day. Balancing the side-by-side rockets is trickier than I thought, and so my virtual flights all ended in explosive, head-first crashes.

Neverthleless, as the central theme of her energy plan Sarah Palin is now pushing the jetpack as a replacement for automobiles, which "burn all that smelly gasoline." Fortunately, the jetpack I saw burns hydrogen peroxide, which she seems to have in good supply.

Meanwhile, the trip to Hiller inspired my 6 year old to become a pilot himself.

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McCain: Creationist Chameleon

Why did McCain select a VP candidate from the state with the fewest electoral votes? Because Sarah Palin is just the religious fanatic he needs to mobilize the Republican vote. Palin, potentially one step away from the Presidency, rejects science at every turn. She would teach creationism in schools, appoint judges who federally outlaw abortion ("even if my own daughter was raped" [sic]), and reject policies that "assume" pollution causes global warming. McCain found the one governor even more Christian than George Bush! Oh, and she won a beauty pageant.

Palin reminds us that despite some hostile court rulings, the intelligent design movement continues to thrive and (ironically) evolve. Louisiana and Texas are currently debating legislation to join the states that teach ID in public schools. If this trend worries you, mark your calendar for Sept 20 from 11am to noon. Cal State science professor Larry Lerner will lecture on "The Creationist Chameleon: Past, Present, and Maybe a Bit of the Future" at the Lucie Stern Community Center, 1305 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto.

I believe there is some kind of supervised children's activity during the lecture, but you can direct questions to Paul Gilbert at 650-906-6704. This event is co-sponsored by the Humanist Community in Silicon Valley and Americans United for the Separation of Church & State.

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