Richard Branson dedicates Virgin Galactic spaceport
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15344836

When I was a little girl, I didn’t waste my time with the standard little girl dreams. Ballerinas were boring (was over it by the time I was 6 and wanted to do karate instead; mom shot me down), princesses were passive, and being a doctor only appealed because they supposedly were paid well (which, even then, I conceded was a stupid-ass reason to pick a job). No, I wanted to be an astronaut for many years, which only was superseded by computer programming//making games (though I didn’t actually think the market would go as huge as it has and wrote that off as silly). I even got to go to the NASA center in Huntsville where they have space camp for a field trip, and I supposedly told someone there to pick me because I was ‘economically packaged’ (my mother claims I said this. I still maintain a second grader wouldn’t know those words).

As I got older, I let the dream of space die a bit. I’m too anxious, I’ve got bad issues with vertigo and heights, and my ability with physics is sub-par. I naturally get reflection and refraction and thing it all makes sense, mind – if I can fall over crossing a room in sneakers, how am I supposed to balance made-up numbers on both sides of equations?! I might try to see if I can figure out all those scary Xs and Ys in the near future, but that doesn’t fix my other problems that make me a bit unsuitable for space. Maybe some day I’ll have the hundreds of thousands of dollars to go up for a few seconds on the tax payer funded plaything that Branson has just opened, but I have my reservations. Maybe the commercialization of space will enable us to travel beyond the stars, maybe it won’t… but for now, there goes a lot of money to a rich man for a toy that could’ve been spent better by a government that just seems to love hemorrhaging cash that isn’t theirs.

Otherwise, the Occupy movement continues apace, with opinions a-plenty:

Something’s Happening Here
www.nytimes.com/2011/10/12/opinion/theres-something-happening-here.html

Yes, the Emperor does need to put some pants on… on his dime. And change does need  to happen globally for the sake of all.

Occupy London: St Paul’s Cathedral faces closure threat
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-15380205

This makes me nine kinds of sad if it’s true, ’cause the protesters shouldn’t be forced to be there anyways. I’m pretty sure they intended to occupy a different park, but that they’re not allowed to get closer to the Stock Exchange or the park in question? I’m having a hard time finding concise answers to these things, but that’s what I seem to recall. The generosity of St. Paul’s Cathedral in letting the protesters set up shop on their yard is inspiring, and it would make me terribly sad if they had to choose between losing business/operational capability and evicting the protesters. I don’t think I have any contacts down there… should try to find one.

Ah well, might as well wrap up on something I deem light-hearted:

Is the US Declaration of Independence illegal?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15345511

I deem this light-hearted because the relative legality of the document is, to me, moot. Stuff happened, America exists, and it defaulting back to the United Kingdom would only happen in a movie (anyone want to watch King Ralph again? No? Probably for the best). I am charmed that they keep mentioning Texas though, as most Texans are convinced that we still have the right to secede (I’m not sure that’s so, but it can still split into five states). But is that likely to happen? No. As stupid as Rick Perry is (and he is incredibly stupid), I think it would quickly belie his claims that the Texan economy can survive on its own just fine. Which is why, of course, why Perry needed nearly a billion dollars from the Federal government for the education system.

Anyhoos, enough for now. Have a nice day!

<3