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Sunday, June 11, 2006

Challenger Memorial

For my 27th birthday on June 8th, I went to visit the memorial of the space shuttle Challenger at Arlington Cemetery. By doing so, I kept to my tradition of celebrating my day of birth by not opening gifts, but doing something commemorative that keeps me on my path towards destiny. Two years ago, I, on a whim, bought a cheap plane ticket to London and saw the Transit of Venus. I also visited the Westminster Abbey and visited Isaac Newton's tomb. Here's what I said about it in my "about me" page:

I visited his tomb at the Westminster Abbey last summer, one of the most spiritual experiences I ever had. Traveling to London to celebrate my 25th birthday, which coincided with the June 8, 2004 transit of Venus, barely visible from America. Westminster Abbey is very strict with their no-picture policy, but knowing that I was there to specifically pay my respects to Sir Isaac Newton, they led me into a cordoned-off area, off limits to the general public, where his tomb was at. The priest then told me to take as many pictures and videos as I wanted. I couldn't believe it, I was able to lay my hands against his sarcophagus, and kneel on his grave, literally inches away from his body (if it is still there). Ever since then, I have striven to emulate him. Click for pictures

This year, I had no idea what I would do on my birthday, up to the day of reckoning. I don't think I ever had a birthday party ever since I was in grade school. That happens when your birthday falls on a date where everybody's out of town! As you can see, I have lately focused on space. It is a fire in me that has burned ever since I can remember. That is what led me to impulsively decide to visit the Challenger memorial in order to remember Astronaut Judith Resnik, who had a deaf family member and cared very deeply about the deaf. She was known for always wearing a ILY necklace. Forty days after the Challenger tragedy, the destroyed remains of the shuttle cabin was found in the Atlantic Ocean. Almost no remains were found. What WAS found were only a few strands of Judy's hair and her ILY necklace.

That fact was like pouring gasoline over my burning desire to travel to space. I am absolutely sure that if Judy Resnik was still alive today, she would strive to help us work with NASA to change their rules about deaf people traveling to space. I was very curious whether if I could find pictures of her wearing the ILY necklace, and after some research at the library, I sure did! Below are some pictures of Judy's ILY necklace with enhanced closeups of the "I Love You" hand, both on Earth and in space. It is a bit blurry, but there is no question that she was wearing something that meant a lot to her- a love for the deaf. How come no one ever knew about this?!







click for full-size version

posted by Jason at 6/11/2006 11:24:00 PM 2 comments   

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

NASA: Deaf, Dumb and Blind

NASA has been changing for a long time and will continue to change till it is dead. Then it will see brighter days as a reorganized entity. I am very curious to see what will happen to NASA down the years. Will they continue to be the strong force that brought glory to America during the moon-landing Apollo years? Will they enable American technology to take us to Mars by 2025, as President Bush promised? Or will they keep on struggling to survive in this American utopia of budget cuts and stifled development due to malformed beliefs?

Many people no longer believe that it is important to go to space anymore nowadays. So we spend hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer (our) money to occupy a couple countries in the name of self-defense. Remember that $4,000 worth of taxes you paid? Since our federal budget is maybe 10 trillion dollars, 500 billion dollars is maybe a good number to represent the cost of our military needs ever since 9-11. That's 5% of your taxes, which translates to 200 dollars, worth maybe 1-3 days of wages. That'll buy the Army a lot of bullets.

That's all you are worth to the government a couple boxes of ammunition, because the Navy can't really buy much with $200. To finance a rifle, the government has to tax maybe three of you. Even much more for those F-35 jets, while we are fighting like dogs in Iraq? When the time comes to fight Iran, even more of your money will go to pay for the new bunker-busting nukes currently under development. By then, more than a trillion dollars would have been spent. $1,000,000,000,000. On conquest.

Conquering Space sounds a helluva lot better! If NASA had a trillion dollars, we would very much be on our way to Mars! I would LOVE to see a Martian return on my $200 investment! Instead, we'll probably eat some radioactive dirt in a return of our $200 investment if we continue our Middle Eastern adventures of violence.

Wow, we humans are powerful, ain't we? We got the power to both cure our ailing space program, which's deathly deaf, dumb and blind, and the Earth of its cancers with nuclear weapons tonight (but not deafness) ! In that process will fruit a lot of revolutionary contributions to anti-aging, communications, metallurgy, energy, the list goes on and on. A battle with China to see who reaches Mars first sounds a lot more fun than watching mushroom clouds rise over Tel Aviv and Tehran. The Chinese are already on their way to the moon! Taikonauts will be walking around on the lunar surface in the next decade. Where will we Americans be? Nuked roast? I most certainly hope not!

By the way, I just realized that the cure for deafness the hearing people have been looking for all along has been right under their eyes! It's sign language. It cures us of our disability and makes us normal. It gives us the power to smash out of the glass ceiling, er, fortress that we're stuck in! Knowing how to sign for hearing people can be very useful. Astronaut Mike Mullane says that the military has a hand-signal system in the case of radio communications blackouts. Army snipers most certainly use gestures to stay in stealth mode while on the hot trail. Since there are sometimes failures in radio communications, an astronaut would be served very well if he or she knew sign language while doing a spacewalk. In an emergency, communications can be established via sign language. Spacewalking astronauts are at the mercy of computers, if they fail, they are closed in their own claustrophic universe, unable to communicate to the outer world, er, space. Sign language gives them (us) that transcendental ability.

Why don't we encourage Iran to convert their Shahab-3 missiles to launch satellites? Israel would most certainly help them. The Israelis are one of the best when it comes to rockets, I bet they could build a shuttle and go to space if they weren't so afraid of all the Muslims threatening their very existence. All that money spent to protect their 400 nuclear bombs could finance a united Israeli-Palestinian space program. I bet that Dr. Ahmadinejad would most certainly agree to scrap his nuke program and sign up for that program! He is a civil engineer, so the scientist in him could help lead him to peace, rather than his religious side, which calls for the Apocalypse to commence.

I tell you, the day NASA allows deaf astronauts, I'll rejoice like it's the second coming of Christ! That'll a sign of a healthy NASA (and world)!

Where has all the excitement gone? It used to be sooo exciting whenever a space shuttle would lift off. Does anybody know that there's gonna be a shuttle launch next month? Or even that the Russians has a shuttle of their own that flew only one unmanned mission? If this was the 1960's, our astronauts would be more famous than the American Idol contestants! How about a new reality show, an astronaut corps show? That would be so cool!

How sad that Buran, the Russian shuttle, flew only once. I think it was a beautiful clone of our shuttle!




source of photo

posted by Jason at 6/06/2006 11:41:00 PM 1 comments   

Monday, June 05, 2006

Deaf Love Survives Challenger Disaster Intact!

When the space shuttle Challenger blew up, it seared a permanent brand on my cerebral cortex. It was 1986 and I was only in the first grade. I will never forget the shocked face of my six-year-old deaf classmate (I was voluntarily mainstreamed till the 7th grade) who told me that a rocket just exploded. I will never forget the TV images in the first-grade classroom: billowing white twin arcs of smoke straddling the bright orange fireball that used to be the space shuttle Challenger. And get this. It is literally the only thing I remember from first grade apart from Ronald Reagan (I thought he had horns- the sign for President mainfested by Mom- I was curious who that was on the TIME magazine cover, that rugged guy with the cowboy hat). I remember pre-school and kindergarten. I even remember the names of the teachers- Mrs. S. for preschool and Mrs. O'Bryan for kindergarten, and Mrs Miller for second grade. Mrs. First Grade has a blank face. I remember images from the regular school year from all these grades, except for First. The only thing I can remember is the space shuttle disaster! I must have used up my whole quota of forty freshly-grown brain cells on that single day of January 28, 1986. Wow. That's 20 years ago!

I even remember the faces and names of each crew member- I will never forget them. I know Christa McAuliffe is probably the most well-known of all seven- because she was supposed to be the first schoolteacher in space. But, I never forgot the other woman, Judy Resnik. There was always this something about her. I finally know why.

I am now reading this really (read: REALLY) good book called Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, a NASA astronaut. Before this becomes a book review betraying the title of this post, I highly recommend this book. (Thanks, Jules!)

Mullane gives intimate details of the NASA astronaut program- stuff I never expected to learn- such as having to wear via velcro a bladdered condom (which comes in three sizes) in the case of dire bladder emergencies during shuttle takeoff/landings. How embarrassing that must be, to have every part of your anatomy, especially the nether regions, scrunitized and measured! But that won't stop *moi* from going to space! I just hope I don't get measured in an air conditioned room on a cold morning! I would sure hate to receive a rubber some sizes too small. That would be one catastrophic O-ring failure (pun intended)!

I felt as if I grew some kind of attachment to Judy Resnik as the pages flipped by. Mike Mullane was obviously very fond of her, flying a mission with her before STS-51L. That meant months and years of training together. If he wasn't married, he would have fell for her. They would be an astronaut couple (like Sally Ride- she had an astronaut husband, I never knew that!) It must have been a very difficult time for NASA when Challenger blew up. Yet again with Columbia. We're talking about the cream of the crop here, the best of the best, all dead. Then the bombshell. Judy Resnik had a deaf family member. She was very passionate for the rights of the "disabled and hearing-impaired." She always wore a ILY necklace.

Almost nothing was found from the wreckage. From the book, page 230:

"I saw a few strands of Judy's hair in the wreckage... and I found her necklace." He didn't have to say any more. I knew the necklace. Judy always wore it... a gold chain with a charm displaying the two-finger-and-thumb sign language symbol for "I Love You." She had a hearing-impaired family member and the necklace was her display of support for those with similar handicaps... Like the flash of a camera, I continued to see it no matter where I looked- the crushed cockpit, Judy's hair, her necklace.

A ILY handshape necklace being one of the only things to survive the crash intact. Very interesting and poignant! Reading this book is like a steroided-up rollercoaster ride for the soul.

The book plays with my emotions as if I was a woman.The prospect of being one of the the first Deaf in space excites me to the point of bursting (I got higher SATs than the author, hehe), but reality swiftly administers a dose of depression because I know it's gonna be a long, hard struggle to de-disable myself in the eyes (and ears) of NASA and especially global society-at-large. It is really them that's deaf, dumb and blind, not us! We are the light of the world.

NASA looks upon deafness with patronizing puckered noses, hiring a couple deaf workers here and there to appease the multiculturalists and political correctors. They outrightly ban Deaf people from becoming astronauts. If NASA had offered me an astronaut job, I would have accepted rather than rejecting them the first time around. I refuse to work under glass ceilings, because if I do, chaos ensue. Instead of pleasing my bosses, I become invisible and go to work smashing the glass ceiling to smithereens. If NASA ever wants to make another unsolicited job offer to me (without me ever applying), they had better let me destroy that darned glass cathedral first! (I need helppppp!)

NASA has this awesome program called Microgravity University- they welcome submissions from universities to conduct experiments on Vomit Comets, aircraft that goes through parabolic swings to achieve virtual weightlessness in 30-second intervals. A dream project! I got plenty of ideas, some of them feasible, that would quickly sell the NASA bureaucrats. I am very confident on this. I read some of the proposals, it would be easy to do a better job than many of them. It wouldn't be hard to get selected- there are many proposals that are accepted ever year. The historically Black Morehouse college has a project this year. It makes absolutely no sense to discriminate against the deaf. If Gallaudet submitted a Nobel Prize-caliber project, we would get rejected no matter what, because they don't allow deaf people to participate in this very educational and innovative program. To be rejected would be treacherously discriminiative. If all fails, I might feel compelled to hijack the Vomit Comet! (hey you NSA spies, lower the red flags. I was just kidding).

Seriously, NASA could be hurting their cause. It was AGB who came up with the telephone, and he was trying to invent a hearing aid in the first place. Suppose it is discovered that persons who are born deaf have a natural genetic inclination to be not space-sick? Mike Mullane says in the book that 50% of astronauts suffer miserably from space-sickness (Acronymically called SAS- Space Adaptation Syndrome, in Nasaese). They don't know why. Perhaps our dead cochleae would make us better astronauts? We would be much more efficient. Deaf people are already known for their ability to do work that requires high levels of concentration. Frankly, hearing people stink in many aspects!

I wish I had a weapon to make the entire world deaf. A ear-splitting ultrasonic weapon that disintegrates the cochelae of humankind. Then, everyone would finally love the Deaf based on necessity. I know the military already has this type of weapon. C'mon, Rummy, use it! Bring on paradise! Much better than a nuclear holocaust, no? Let the clash of civilizations be a war of acoustical weapons, not bullets, bombs nor fissioned atoms.

I just woke up. I was dreaming. Back to reality. Now I am confused.... To be deaf or to be hearing? That's a tough choice - for them, not me. To live in blissful silence amid the chaotic cacophony of modern civilization is a genuine blessing from God. The Deaf is the ONLY group of people in this world that has members in EVERY country, EVERYWHERE in the world, even The Democratic People's Republic of Korea- DPRK (which's the north one - the south one calls itself ROK- Republic of Korea. It's OK to scoff and/or laugh).

It is becoming more and more evident that we are the world's only hope. I deeply care about the deaf folks in Pyongyang and beyond. If we nuke Kim Jong Il, there would certainly be plenty collaterally dead deaf Pyongyangese. So would there be dead deaf Persians in Iran if we nuke them (when and after there are countless dead deaf Israelis after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lives up to his promise). So far, the alternative is to spend billions in space missions to bring foreigners peacably together in one capsule, 240 miles up there in the International Space Station. Alternative? The UN, where everyone's ready to wipe each other off the face of the earth. The only type of unity seen these days is when they unite to condemn - on paper - the on-going genocide in Darfur. Either that or to condemn Israel in another 185-3 vote for building a wall while giving Hamas a free license to launch their Arafat (new generation of the Qassam) rockets towards Israeli schools. That after knowingly turning a blind eye to the Rwandan machete de la genocide a couple years ago.

This world is a farce. Does sovereignty mean anything these days? The most important thing is to remember, never surrender your own personal sovereignty or God's to someone else. That might be a church, country, team, group, boss, job, school, possessive lover, or anything that really prevents you from realizing your role and true purpose in this grand cosmic opera.

We have much more at stake than the normal hearing person. War affects the Deaf everywhere. We are all intimately connected. What does an average hearing American have in common with the average North Korean? Nothing, save this earth and its air. But its a whole different story if the American and North Korean in question are deaf. They would be like brothers, exchanging life stories in an instant. Only if the hearing could open their blind eyes to that fact!!! At Gallaudet, we have deaf Africans - Hutu and Tutsi, living as brothers. Deaf Middle Easterners and Jews best friends, oblivious and invisible to the usurped religion-cults that perpetuate the enemies' unquenchable thirst of blood for each other. Only if the hearing people in Rwanda and the Sudan could open their eyes to that fact. *sigh* So much bloodshed in this world. It has to stop, or we the deaf will be next. We are like wild beasts to most hearing people. Only if they realized the truth: that they ARE the beasts themselves.

*Judy Resnik photo credit*

posted by Jason at 6/05/2006 11:35:00 PM 0 comments   

Friday, June 02, 2006

08/01/2004 - 09/01/2004 09/01/2004 - 10/01/2004 10/01/2004 - 11/01/2004 11/01/2004 - 12/01/2004 12/01/2004 - 01/01/2005 01/01/2005 - 02/01/2005 02/01/2005 - 03/01/2005 03/01/2005 - 04/01/2005 04/01/2005 - 05/01/2005 06/01/2005 - 07/01/2005 07/01/2005 - 08/01/2005 08/01/2005 - 09/01/2005 09/01/2005 - 10/01/2005 10/01/2005 - 11/01/2005 11/01/2005 - 12/01/2005 01/01/2006 - 02/01/2006 03/01/2006 - 04/01/2006 05/01/2006 - 06/01/2006 06/01/2006 - 07/01/2006 07/01/2006 - 08/01/2006 11/01/2006 - 12/01/2006 04/01/2007 - 05/01/2007

THE LAMBERTON REPORT