DanShaw.com Modern Alchemy

2009-08-05T18:47:00.000-07:00

Laurence (Larry) Shaw, my older brother, has had tremendous success with his toy invention, Astrojax. He's in NY at the International Yoyo Open 2009...

The Future of the Yo-Yo Debuts at IYYO 2009

Astrojax(R) will be making its first official appearance at a major yo-yo event in the United States this weekend at the International Yo-Yo Open at South Street Seaport, New York City, on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009. The IYYO attracts top yo-yo talent from across the nation. Four of the continent's most creative Astrojax players will be demonstrating Astrojax from 12:40 pm to 12:55 pm on the main stage.

Astrojax consists of three centrally-weighted balls on a string and play involves creating a variety of orbits. While yo-yo play is generally limited to two dimensions because of the spinning of the disk, the possibilities produced by a three-ball geometry takes play into the third dimension. Astrojax has won a number of toy awards and was the first modern toy taken into outer space by NASA.

As the featured performers show, Astrojax play is as much about creativity as technical virtuosity. * Chris Marshall uses Astrojax as a means of musical self-expression. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxnothwtgoQ) * Jason Simard plays in a flowing, meditative, improvisational style. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uxISJtBWqU) * Will Kerzic is the world's most inventive "jaxer". ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lluV9vs9VbI) * Claudia Yvette brings fun, humor and a rock-and-roll energy to her play. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv_PRrVlzfc) The players will be introduced by Larry Shaw, the inventor of Astrojax.

For more information contact Jim Marielli/USAstrojax.com at wdhome@insight.rr.com, 614-778-2785.

-- Laurence J. Shaw, Ph.D. INTEGRAL PATENT ASSOCIATES 3627 Sacramento Street San Francisco, CA 94118 Cell: 415-812-6203 Office: 415-673-6203 Fax: 415-673-6330 integralpatent@gmail.com

2009-04-24T19:36:00.001-07:00

The Corner of Street and Avenue

Seattle city streets slick and shiny
Faces of every shape
Some shapely some misshapen
Thin mist thickens into gray rain
Signals change
Heels in her hand, flats on her feet
She crosses to glassy offices
Blue buses rumble shudder hiss and disgorge
Pedestrian lives wait for a signal 3, 2, 1
A mute parade
An occasional bright umbrella
Backpacks, bundles and bags of every description
Above in the overcast crows pigeons gulls
Shoes stroll stride and limp
Standing sitting moving straight
Between busy square blocks and blurred crosswalks
Waiting for the signal to change
Signals change.

===================

DanShaw.com

2009-04-20T01:20:00.000-07:00

Choosing a website name
By DanShaw.com

Your website, or domain name, is vital to the success of your business. How do you choose the most effective name possible? Here are the rules I go by. You must weigh and balance all the rules, since there are always exceptions and trade-offs.

Your website name becomes your business name.
Never write or say your business name without adding the “.com”. Reinforce the website address at every opportunity. If you have a storefront, your .com address should be on the sign outside the shop.

Your web address is your own .com.
“.com” is the default type of domain name. If you get a “.biz” or “.info” or some other type of extension, people will forget and go to the .com first, and you will lose traffic. Even if you get a .org or .net, you will still need to get the “.com”, too.

Get your legal name as your domain name.
For example, DanShaw.com. If your name has already been taken, get it now even if you are not planning on using it right now. Better yet, put up a page with your contact information. Many people use the web instead of opening up a phonebook, and many people don’t even a have land-line listed in a local phone directory. Make it easy for people to contact you. You legal-name-as-domain name may be too broad for any single business, but works great if you have numerous divergent businesses and interests.

Choose a name you don’t have to spell
You (and hopefully many other people!) will be repeating your domain name many thousands of times. Choose one you don’t have to spell out.

Bad: Auctions4u.com
Bad: ClairesTyes
Bad: Gonzalos (“What did you say?” Gonsales? Gonzales?”)
Good: Auctionsforyou.com
Good: BobsTies

Choose a short name
Choose a name which is about 15 characters or less. Some people will type your name directly into their browser address bar (not to mention how many times you’ll type and write your name). Shorter names are not only easier to say and spell, they’re less subject to typos.

Choose a name without any dashes or underscores.
People are likely to forget dashes or underscores.

Bad: Collectible-Coins.com
Good: CollectibleCoins.com

Choose a name that is memorable.
You don’t want people forgetting it!

Bad: TheGoodPlumber.com (“the” is forgettable)
Good: BestDamnPlumber.com (humor is memorable)

Choose a name that describes what you do.
In most cases, choose the most descriptive name you can. Consider that your website address can be all you need. If you need more, you’ll need more room to print it, you’ll have to print it smaller, and people will need more time to read and understand it. Choose a name that doesn’t need a tag line.

Bad: PinkPanda.com: Exotic Pets
Good: exoticpets.com

Choose a new that will make people want to look you up.
For example, if you saw the name JohnDoe.com on the back of a bus, would you go seek it out? No.

Bad: JohnDoe.com (Unless your name is a household word.)
Good: DonaldTrump.com (Redirects to Trump.com.)
Good: VideosForDancers.com (“I’m a dancer who wants video, I’ll look that up.”)

Differentiate your business.
Choose a name that describes your unique offering, your ‘radical monopoly’.

Bad: RalphsAutoParts.com
Good: AntiqueFordAutoParts.com

Choose a name that is broad enough.

Bad: ValleyAvenueHaircuts.com (what if you move to another location? What if you want to sell some other product or service besides?)
Good: VelvetSalon.com

Choose a name that is narrow enough to help your search engine standings.
The more narrow your market, the easier it will be to differentiate yourself, promote just a few keywords, get ranked highly in the search engines, and identify and reach your target audience.

Bad: RalphsAutoParts.com
Good: AntiqueFordAutoParts.com

Choose a name that people will search for.
Will people type your company name into Google? Only if they already know about your company. If you expect to get business from people through search results, do your best to put keywords into your domain name.

Bad: VelvetCloud.com
Good: VelvetShoes.com

Always Use Intercaps
Intercaps make your name more readable. Intercaps help avoid conflation of terms.

Bad: danshaw.com
Good: DanShaw.com

Avoid word conflation.
Since there are no spaces in domain name, choose words that won’t be mis-read.

Bad: whorepresents.com
Bad: whoistheiragent.com (tendency to be read, “who is the iragent?”)
Good: talktomyagent.com

“www.” is not part of your domain name.
All websites are “www.”, It’s the default, there’s no need to type it into the browser address bar. It’s hard to say. It unnecessarily takes up space in print.

Brainstorming tips.
Write down all the possible relevant words and phrases you can think of and recombine them. For example, if you’re in the auction business, high bid, higher, highest, bid, winning, auction, block, gavel, lot, going once, highbid, bidhigh, winningauction, winning bidder, etc.

Should you get the singular or the plural, or both?
For example, should you get videosfordancers.com, or videofordancers.com? That depends of meaning, but also on how the name sounds, and how people will remember it. You don’t want to have to re-emphasize, to try to get people to remember, for example, “that’s ‘shows’ with an ‘S’.” You may want or need to get both if they’re both available.

Bad: spotpetfoods.com
Good: spotpetfood.com

Check to see if a domain name is available only through internic.net!
You can check to see if a domain name is currently hosted simply by typing in to the address bar in your browser.

However, to see if a domain names is already registered, check your domain name only at:
http://www.internic.net/whois.html
Do not check for domains at any other site! Checking for names at unknown sites may mean someone is watching.

Domain names registration is cheap.
Domain names are registered by the year through many resellers. One of the largest registrars is godaddy.com, though they have had some involvement in promoting porn. As of this writing, domains are about $10 per year. So if you think of a better name, you can always switch.

Take the time to find just the perfect domain name.
When you’re figured it out, you’ll know it’s perfect. You won’t have to call me to ask me what I think of the name.

Register the name for at least two years.
It’s likely that domain names that are registered for just one year are deprecated by the search leader, Google.com.

Parking domain names.
You may get any number of domain names and have them all point to the same website. This is called parking. For example, if you qualify for a .org, you will still want to get the .com name, and redirect the .com to point to the .org address.

If you’d like further advice and support, I invite you to contact me, DanShaw.com. Telephone 541-951-3394.

2009-04-11T14:03:00.001-07:00

Where I may have another chance

I wish I felt a greater sense of calm finality
As I lay across the railroad train tracks of truth
Chilled by the swift steady wind blowing in across the sound
I am a trespasser
I press my ear against the cold steel rail
Listening but not hearing the resonance
Of the impending rush of locomotive
The unbreakable single steel rail stretching straight to infinity
Has given me some comfort
The single steely truth
I have bent and stretched and weakened
And yet to it I fiercely cling
At every opportunity I have stepped off the road more traveled
To the less
Braving brambles risking poison oak and loss
Suffering yet reveling in the lonely
Soaking in the silence
Oh yes so often have I turned to look back
Weighing the heavy innumerable choices
Mentally unraveling the twisted thread
Did I go wrong where
In the narrow crevasse
It seemed the choice was just one or none
I know now I was not right
On the flat infinite plain
At every step a choice
I could have meandered differently and resolved to a different conclusion
Where else might I be at a happier time and place
And again and again I am forced to choose
To live with my splitting result to the limit
The horizon the sunset
Only hoping for the gift of another sunrise
And the blessing to choose anew
To pursue improvised possibility where
Perhaps anyway
The path I missed joins back again
Where I may have another chance

==========

DanShaw.com

2009-03-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

Making your writing easy for your editor, publisher, or webmaster

Please follow these suggested guidelines for making your article easy for an editor or publisher to work with. Instructions for correcting these mistakes are provided.

Avoid all capitals
Do not use all capitals.
If you need to change text case, for example, from lower case to capitals, or from ALL CAPS to sentence case, or to “Headline” style, you can use a program such as NoteTab Light, available free from Fookes.com. Use MODIFY… TEXT CASE. Unfortunately, NoteTab’s “Capitalization” function actually capitalizes all words in the sentence, including words not usually capitalized in headlines, such as “a”, “the”, “of”, etc.

Avoid extra spaces
Do not add extra spaces, for example, double spacing between sentences.

Attach documents to emails, do not send in the email body
Send your editor the original document files as attachments; do not send them in the body of an email. Documents sent thru email often have extraneous characters, such as line breaks, that have to be removed.

Send images in their original format
Send your editor image files in their original “native” format. Do not send images in the body of a word document, or in a .pdf. Ask you editor or webmaster what format they need.

For the web, send compressed images
If you are sending images for the web, learn how to use a program such as photoshop to compress the images to 72 dots per inch (dpi). Don’t send uncompressed photos of several megabytes each unless they’re needed, they just waste storage space and download time. Photoshop has a SAVE… FOR WEB function.

Give your images (& other files) good names
You editor or webmaster will have a much easier job if you have named your images with human-friendly names. Name your images consistently; ask your editor or webmaster if they have a preference. Do not use spaces in your image names, use a dash “-“ or underscore “_” instead. Use all lower case.

Formatting paragraphs; using the REPLACE command
Format your paragraphs with the indent ruler at the top of MSWord, if at all. (You can also use FORMAT… PARAGRAPH… INDENTATION. Do not create paragraph indents using tabs, or using multiple spaces. Your editor may need to compile and make consistent materials from multiple sources. Indenting paragraphs using anything other than an indent will create additional work for your editor. If you need to replace extraneous spaces, use EDIT… REPLACE. You can use an actual “space” in the replace dialog box; it is useful to know the special characters: “^s” for space, and “^p” for paragraph (without the quote marks). If you need to see all the non-printing characters in a document, use TOOLS… OPTIONS… FORMATTING MARKS and put a check in the box for VIEW ALL. If you need to remove unneeded paragraph breaks at the ends of lines, save your document first, and work on a working version. If paragraphs are separated by two paragraph breaks, you may need to preserve these. Begin by using replace to replace “^p^p” with “###” or any other markers. Then, you can replace the single occurrences of “^p”. Finally, you’ll need to replace your markers “###” with the original “^p^p”.

Good email titles
Make sure your emails have good titles. Your editor needs to track hundreds of bits of documents. Make their job easier by titling your emails effectively. Do not send an email with a RE: some other, non-relevant subject! Title your email last, before you send it, copying and pasting the most relevant, identifying text into the title.

2009-03-22T23:05:00.001-07:00

Women Seeking Men

I am just so damn cute and pretty
Looking for some new friends
Can You keep up?
Are you a sports fan?
Wanting to have fun
tired of being alone
New to the area
Want to get married?
want to hang out?
My dating experiment
I have been lucky on Craigslist
wanted: soulmate
Sweet girlie looking for the one
Worth a shot...
Come on, I dare you!
Trying this again...
Please Be Serious
Beautiful Disaster Picking up the Pieces
Why does it seem so hard?
What’s Missing?
Fun Is the Name of the Game
I have everything except you
Click Here For An Awesome Girl

Men Seeking Women

using the net to catch a fish??
Seeking Girl Who Loves Lemonade and Whose Name is a Palindrome
Shared Wife Wanted
are you submissive
please be very serious
Mountains await us...
looking for friendship & love
More like a squire than a knight...
On dating scene again
What are you looking for?
Height is for women as boobs are for men...
Naughty-ish Fun!
it’s all good
I'm a Weirdo.. Just Not the Dangerous Type...
Girls check me OUT!
I will give 100 cows for cute virgin
what's up ladies!
I Need a First Kiss

Actual ads on seattle.craigslist.org 2009-03-22
Poemed by DanShaw.com

2009-02-22T12:06:00.000-08:00

Distributed Computing Projects in Aerospace

NASA Social Networking & Collaboration: http://www.nasa.gov/collaborate/

Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI)
“SETI@home searches for possible evidence of radio transmissions from extraterrestrial intelligence using observational data from the Arecibo radio telescope.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SETI@home
12/4/2008 10:07:39 AM

“SETI@home, which is focused on analyzing radio-telescope data to find evidence of intelligent signals from space, hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley”

Cosmology@Home — searches for the model that best describes our universe and finds the range of physical cosmology models that agree with the available data. (Beta)
Physics & Astronomy Departments, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
http://cosmologyathome.org/

Milkyway@home — creating a highly accurate three dimensional model of the Milky Way galaxy using data gathered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Uses the BOINC.
http://milkyway.cs.rpi.edu/milkyway/

Einstein@Home searches for gravitational waves from continuous wave sources, which may include pulsars. Einstein@Home is a distributed computing project hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and running on the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC) software platform.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein@home

Distributed Human Computing Projects in Aerospace

Clickworkers
NASA Mars Images:
Help identify landforms in these images from the HiRISE camera, one of the instruments on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and call attention to interesting features in images taken from a previous orbiter.
http://clickworkers.arc.nasa.gov/hirise

Galaxy Zoo -- Classification of galaxy types from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. “We need thousands of people to inspect galaxy images and to classify them as spiral or elliptical.”
http://www.galaxyzoo.org/

Orbit@home — DHC: monitoring the impact hazard posed by near-Earth objects. (Alpha)
orbit.psi.edu/

Stardust@home — DHC: Scans/Analyzes the collection grid from a recent NASA mission to capture particles from a comet.
http://stardustathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/

2009-02-03T18:32:00.000-08:00

Filming Conferences
DanShaw.com

Privacy
I film only the speaker; I don't film the audience without explicit instructions and permission. I request that at the beginning of the event, the Master of Ceremonies mentions that I am filming on behalf of the conference organizers (C.O.), and that I am filming the speaker not the audience. Of course, under certain circumstances, e.g., if there is a question and answer session, C.O. may request that I do film the audience. I recommend that the M.C. also request attendees turn off their cell phones each time they convene.

Unobtrusiveness
Filming will not interfere with the speaker.

Filming live events, limitations
Because the event is live, we will film as best we can under the circumstances, but, we do not get second takes, etc., so some imperfections are unavoidable due to background sounds, poor lighting, limitations on camera placement, etc. Plan a brief pause between speakers for a microphone change, and film change.

Location scouting
If at all possible, the C.O. and filmmaker should scout the location in advance, at the same time of day the shoot will take place. Where are the electrical outlets? How is the lighting? Are there windows? Is the sun shining on the speaker from behind? Are there curtains, and can they be shut? Do the lights make noise or flicker? Does the ventilation, or other equipment or activity make noise? Can doors be shut? Murphy’s Law applies here.

Giving your filmmaker good direction
Provide the filmmaker with the most detailed schedule possible, and be sure to notify the filmmaker of changes to the schedule. The filmmaker will use his best judgment to get the most useful footage possible. You can help tremendously by giving the filmmaker good direction.

If the speaker is exceeding one hour, I may ask the speaker if they want to pause briefly while I change tape.

At any time, the speaker or C.O. can request that the filming be stopped.

Arranging for special footage
If there is an opportunity to get additional footage, such as private interviews (as opposed to lectures) plan ahead and arrange for these.

“B Roll”
Think ahead to plan what kinds of additional footage you might want, such as shots of all the attendees at the banquet, brief interview with the C.O., exhibitors, etc.

Breakout sessions
If there are concurrent breakout sessions, choose which you most want to be filmed.

Still photos
Plan to have a volunteer or to hire a photographer to get still photos, for instance, of honorees.

Filming Powerpoint presentations
If a speaker is using powerpoint I may or may not film the powerpoint, depending on my judgment. Various factors include: whether or not the slides convey information not conveyed by the speaker, whether the text is sufficient size to be legible, and whether the room lighting is sufficient to see the speaker. Most often, video quality is much improved by inserting the powerpoint images in post-production, though this can be time consuming, i.e., expensive. Be sure to get the presentation on disk for future use.

Equipment
I will be using a Canon HV20 hi-definition format. I will be using available (ambient) light.

Audio
If you have arranged for a sound system, I may be able to plug directly in to your sound system, with your audio guys' permission, and background noises will be minimized.

If you don’t have a sound system, I will put a wireless microphone on the speaker.

In some urban settings, a wired microphone is preferable to wireless, since some devices may interfere with wireless transmission.

Post-production editing
Post-production, if you wish to engage me for that, will be negotiated separately.

Meals and Perks
If you will be serving meals, please arrange to feed the filmmaker, and to serve the filmmaker early, first, late, or to go, depending on circumstances. Often the filmmaker barely has time to enjoy a meal. Filming a conference is not attending and participating at a conference, so the conference itself is not a ‘perk’.

Conference Organizer retains all rights
DanShaw.com will not release any footage without express written permission of C.O.

Delivery of Master DVD’s
I will deliver a set of "raw" (unedited) master DVD's about a week after the event, for your archives, and future use. Check these DVD’s immediately for completeness and report any deficiency promptly. I retain the original master cassettes for safety.

Permission to release short segments
I would appreciate permission to release a few short film segments on my youtube.com channel, etc. I may do so at my own expense. If permission is given, we must be sure to agree in advance to specific wording of on-screen credits.

Expenses, materials
Additional expenses include cassette tape and DVD’s. Plan for about $50 per 8 hours of filming.

Expenses, Travel; & housing
Especially if you are paying the minimum, plan to cover my air and / or ground travel expenses, and housing. I will make every effort to minimize these expenses. For instance, in most cases I am perfectly happy to stay with a host in a private home, or at a Motel 6.

Payment
I will make every effort to make filming affordable for you. I generally require an absolute minimum of $200 per day, but I have a sliding scale. Since I am happy to film 8 hours (or more!) per day, you can see that these rates are very reasonable.

I require payment of half in advance, and I ask you to have the second half for me when I arrive.

Make checks payable to Dan Shaw.

Thank you
Thank you very much for considering hiring me to film your conference.

2008-12-27T11:58:00.000-08:00

MIT Open Courseware available at:
http://ocw.mit.edu/

Aeronautics and Astronautics
Updated within the past 180 days

MIT Course # Course Title Term
16.01-04 Unified Engineering I, II, III, & IV Fall 2003
16.100 Aerodynamics Fall 2002
16.21 Techniques of Structural Analysis and Design Spring 2003
16.355J Advanced Software Engineering Fall 2002
16.358J System Safety Spring 2003
16.410 Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making Fall 2003
16.412J Cognitive Robotics Spring 2004
16.413 Principles of Autonomy and Decision Making Fall 2003
16.423J Space Biomedical Engineering & Life Support Fall 2002
16.652 Inventions and Patents Fall 2003
16.653 Management in Engineering Fall 2002
16.76J Logistical and Transportation Planning Methods Fall 2001
16.810 Engineering Design and Rapid Prototyping January (IAP) 2004
16.852J Integrating The Lean Enterprise Fall 2002
16.885J Aircraft Systems Engineering Fall 2003
16.901 Computational Methods in Aerospace Engineering Spring 2003
16.985J Proseminar in Manufacturing Fall 2002

2008-11-21T13:05:00.000-08:00

work with 3 of Irina’s Russian classes at Kamiak High School

Today, thanks to my Ph.D. adviser Dr. Richard Kirby, I had the chance to work with 3 of Irina’s Russian classes at Kamiak High School in Mukilteo. The students are organizing a Russo-American cultural festival which will include producing a play. The third period class is in charge of producing the play. I mentioned that I have some small experience in play production, since my 19-year old daughter, Rosetta, is in Ashland, where, thanks in part to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the High School has a fantastic theater program. I pointed to the spot of paint on the left knee of my jeans, I said, “and this is the color we painted the stage for “Little Mary Sunshine”. After small group discussions, they nominated candidates for which play to produce. Then after some debate, they voted to write an original play for the festival. Irina agreed that I could, with the principal’s permission, observe her classes on Mondays, as a way to begin to immerse myself in Russian language and culture; and I offered to help her grade quizzes, etc. She offered to loan me some Russian movies, textbooks, etc.

2008-11-20T21:02:00.000-08:00

Designing Websites: Web Browsers’ compatibility and incompatibility

You should be aware that the question of how things look in various browsers is a real minefield. One must make certain choices which have certain consequences, there is no 'standard'. The strength of the web is that it's like wine that takes the shape of whatever 'glass' (platform: mac/pc & browser) into which it's poured. Always trade-offs. Certainly no point in trying to get them to look the same. Nobody really is looking at them both / all.
Not only that, but Internet Explorer by Microsoft doesn't really work quite right with the Microsoft Word 'save as html' function. AND, different versions of each browser behave differently.
So, aside from tearing out their hair, web designers generally shoot for a compromise between cost and 'agap' (as good as possible).
Chet is telling me that he's going to base his work on the version of Internet Explorer he's using, which is version 6. This is why you often will see websites that specify "Best viewed in xyz browser version #z".
May I suggest that either you keep using IE6, if that's what you're using, or, make sure you've updated your browser(s) to the latest version, AND please tell me-us:
? What browser versions are you using?
(Check your browser version under HELP...ABOUT.)

2008-10-19T20:54:00.001-07:00

2008-07-18T22:53:00.000-07:00

Museum Mission Statements Analysis
DanShaw.com

What is the ideal mission statement of a museum? To begin to answer this question, I examined websites of nearly 100 air and space museums.
http://www.beyondearth.org/earth-space-stations.php
By definition, a museum is a place where objects of value are kept and displayed. Some mission statements are about that simple. Others mission statements include other details explored below.

What:
Artifacts, aircraft, memorabilia. Often of a certain type, in a certain domain, time or place, or service branch. Examples, air traffic control, airliners. Acquire, collect, preserve, restore, maintain, administer, house, safeguard, catalog, chronicle, display, exhibit, share.

Who:
Who forms the organization? Volunteers? Veterans? The public? Some more narrowly defined group? Non-profit?
Who does the museum commemorate? Other words: honor, eternalize.
Who does the museum benefit? Students, schools, future generations, youth, community, outreach, “of all ages”.

Where:
Some museum mission statements specify a geographic area: city, region, state, country (10% +/-). Some museums exist in or because of a historic building.

When:
Some collections are organized around a specific war or time period (5% +/-). Some mission statements specify when the collection began, which helps explain the context and answer the question, “Why?” (5% +/-).

Why:
Preserve, educate, dream, inspire, honor, motivate, challenge, pride, prestige, encourage, enjoy, excitement, love, spirit.

Of the 90+ websites surveyed, only a handful had a page titled “Mission.” Some mission statements explicitly use the term mission. Other words: purpose, dedicated.
Some put their mission statement on their home page, some on their “about us” page. In cases where the mission statement was on a page other than the home page, I linked to it. Little metadata about the mission statement is available. It would be useful to know when it was written and by whom, and when updated and how.

Length:
Some mission statements were just one sentence, others had a bullet list or enumerated list. A few were of greater length. I used some discretion about what part of a page I excerpted as a mission statement if it was not explicitly titled. If it is explicitly titled, I included the title.

An ideal mission statement is a thorough one that includes all these elements. Some useful comparisons may be drawn from the Periodic Chart of Organizations.
http://danshaw.com/pdfs/Periodic-Table-of-Organizations.pdf

2008-07-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

SpaceLinks

NASA Informal Education Officers for your region

http://education.nasa.gov/about/contacts/informal_page.html

++++++++++++

Aero Museums, Alphabetical by State:
http://www.aero.com/museums/museums.htm

+++++++++++++

2008-06-30T21:58:00.000-07:00

++Assorted Space News++

NASA Fellowships
http://education.nasa.gov/edprograms/fellowgrants/index.html
++++++++++++++

San Diego Air & Space Museum
1.4. Museum purpose
The purpose of the Museum is to:
• Function as a non-profit, educational institution. The Museum's exhibits and collections,
and its protection and restoration of historical aviation and space articles, shall preserve
and chronicle humanity's conquest of air and space.
• Develop exhibits and acquire collections and library and archival materials which will
support the above objectives to better serve the cultural, educational, and research
community.
• Maintain a physical plan and a professional staff of such size and composition necessary
to operate the Museum efficiently and effectively.
http://www.aerospacemuseum.org/library/pdf/sdasmcollection.pdf

+++++++++++++++++++
spacesettlement.org/
Alan Wasser is a former broadcast journalist at ABC News and CBS News, who then owned and operated a successful international business, which he sold. He was the Chairman of the Executive Committee (CEO) of the National Space Society and is now a member of its Board of Directors. He was a member of the Board of Directors of ProSpace, and is an Advocate of the Space Frontier Foundation.

He was the first to propose that the first human settlement on the Moon might use a permanently sun-lit mountain top at the moon's south pole, the existence of which was only later confirmed by the Clementine mission. Much of Ben Bova's novel Moonrise takes place on that lunar mountain, which Bova named "Mt. Wasser".

He is the originator of the idea of using land claim recognition to make privately funded space settlements potentially profitable, and therefore possible in our lifetime. He is the author of numerous articles on the subject of space property rights, most recently in The Explorers Journal, the official magazine of the Explorers Club, Space News, Ad Astra, Space Governance, Space Times and Space Front among others. Space Governance published a rough draft of the proposed legislation.
http://www.spacesettlement.org/

++++++++++++
Space Studies Institute
Opening the energy and material resources of space for human benefit
http://www.ssi.org/
+++++++++

Space Island Group: Solar Power Satellites & Links
http://www.spaceislandgroup.com/solarsat.html

http://www.spaceislandgroup.com/home.html

++++++++++

For all involved at the beginning, and for all who have followed, the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation represents an endless opportunity to enhance Sir Arthur Clarke’s legacy, and to share that opportunity with like-minded institutions. With that principal in mind, the Foundation has formed alliances with respected groups in many nations. Among them are,

* The Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Modern Technologies, affiliated with the University of Moratua, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Established by an Act of Parliament in 1984 to accelerate the process of introduction and development of Communications, Computers, Energy, Space Technologies and Robotics in the nation. Many of the Foundation’s Arthur C. Clarke Lectures were delivered at the Institute in Moratua. http://www.accimt.ac.lk/about.html
* The Arthur C. Clarke Foundation of Great Britain, was formed to promote the work and life of Sir Arthur in the country of his birth and childhood. Located at Dene’s Court, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, it is also the home of the “Clarkives” – the family’s large collection of Clarke manuscripts, books and media. In 2004, this U.K. foundation dissolved to become part of the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation represented by this website.
* University of Surrey Space Technology Centre, Guildford, Surrey, U.K., a leading resource for design, manufacture and training in small satellites for a variety of communications and earth sensing objectives.
* Rocket Publishing Company, Taunton, Somerset, U.K., organized to administer publications of Arthur C. Clarke, also a supporter of the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Science Fiction. At first supervised by Sir Arthur’s brother, Fred Clarke, it is now directed by Sir Arthur’s niece, Angela (“Angie”) Edwards.
* Japan International Cooperation Agency (“JICA”), established in 1974, now transformed to the National Institute for Information and Communication Technology under the nation’s new framework for “Independent Administrative Institutions.”
* And, Communications Research Centre of Canada Communications Research Lab of Japan Japan-US Telecommunications Research Institute International Communications Center, San Diego State University Japan U.S. Science, Technology and Space Applications Program

http://www.clarkefoundation.org/

his niece Angie Edwards, is a director.
+++++++++
SpaceRef Interactive Inc. ( http://www.spaceref.com ) is an international Internet content and database firm incorporated in the United States, specializing in scientific and technical websites with offices in Reston, Virginia USA, and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Among SpaceRef's products are SpaceRef.com, SpaceRef.ca, MarsToday.com, and Astrobiology.com which provide a daily collection of news stories, press releases and status reports housed in the world's largest online searchable database of space news items; a directory of space-related websites; and a series of dedicated search engines for both broad and specialized areas of space research and exploration. SpaceRef also believes in giving something back to the audience and community that utilize its resources and has made a practice since its founding in 1999 of providing monetary, hardware, and personnel support to research efforts such as the Haughton-Mars Project.
+++++++++++
Haughton-Mars Project

http://www.marsonearth.org/
+++++++++++
Arthur C. Clarke Tribute Site

http://www.geocities.com/jcsherwood/ACClinks2.htm
++++++++++++
NASA podcasts
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/podcasting/index.html

+++++++++++++
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Aviation / Aerospace > Aerospace links
http://fusion.erau.edu/er/library/websites/rw/display.cfm?cat=30
++++++++++
Using Second Life to Teach Chem
http://drexel-coas-talks-mp3-podcast.blogspot.com/

+++++++++
MIT Open Courseware
Aeronautics and Astronautics > The Aerospace Industry
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Aeronautics-and-Astronautics/16-812Spring2004/Syllabus/
+++++++++++
Headquartered in New York, Loral Space & Communications (NASDAQ: LORL) is a satellite communications company with activities in two primary areas: satellite manufacturing and satellite services.
Loral's manufacturing business, Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), is one of the world's largest designers and manufacturers of satellites and satellite systems for commercial and government users.
Space Systems/Loral • 3825 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA 94303 U.S.A. • 650.852.4000 • 800.332.6490
http://www.loral.com/company/
+++++++++++++++++++

Orbital's space launch vehicles
Combined, our space launch vehicles have launched over 115 satellites into orbit in the last 15 years
http://www.orbital.com/SpaceLaunch/
+++++++++++++
Integral to OAI’s core mission to build Ohio’s aerospace economy is the ability to secure a fair share of available funding to support research and technology development in our state.
http://www.oai.org/research/procurement/index.html
+++++++++++++++
the Coalition for Security and Competitiveness formed in
late 2006. It came to include no less than 18 organizations representing a
broad cross-section of high-technology manufacturing. Members ranged
4
from the American Electronics Association to the Industrial Fasteners
Institute to the Information Technology Industry Council to the Satellite
Industries Association.
As many of you know, the administration adopted most of the
coalition’s recommendations, releasing presidential directives on the matter
on Jan. 22.
http://www.aia-aerospace.org/aianews/speeches/2008/speech_csis_051508.pdf

Aerospace Industries Association
identified 10 proposals relating to each major sector of the aerospace industry -- national security, civil aviation and space -- that the association is urging each candidate in the 2008 election to endorse, and, ultimately, implement.
http://www.aia-aerospace.org/

+++++++++++===
Aerospace States Association studies
http://aerostates.org/studies
presentations:
http://aerostates.org/presentations
List of participants:
http://ltgov.vermont.gov/press_releases/dubie_will_chair_aerospace_states_association_for_second_term_11_other_lt_governors_elected_to_key_posts

+++++++++++
THE WASHINGTON AEROSPACE INDUSTRY
http://afa-wa.com/Aerospace_Industry.pdf

+++++++++
Legislative Priorities for Colorado’s Aerospace Industry
The Colorado Space Coalition is a partnership between the State of Colorado, the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce/Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation, several economic-development agencies, the Colorado Space Business Roundtable, members of the private sector, higher education institutions and other stakeholders.
http://www.spacecolorado.org/files/colorado-space/legislative-advocacy/LegislativePriorities.pdf

+++++++++++++====
Space Leaders Urge Next U.S. President and Congress to Make Space Policy a Priority
By Stew
Magnuson
And Jeremy Singer
Spacenews.com Staff Writers
posted: 01:17 pm ET
13 December 2000
WASHINGTON – A number of American government and industry officials are seeking basic changes in the way Congress, the Pentagon and the White House oversee U.S. space activity. And they want these changes to be a high priority when the new American president and Congress take office in January.
http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/business/aerospace_urges_changes_001213.html
+++++++++++++++++++

Space Professional Oversight Board
http://www.acq.osd.mil/nsso/SpaceCadre/spob/SPOB%20Charter%20Final%20.pdf

+++++++++++++
UNCLASSIFIED
U.S. National Space Policy
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/whitehouse/ostp_space_policy06.pdf

Space‐Based Solar Power
As an Opportunity for Strategic Security
internet collaboration included Feng Hsu of ATWG and Hubert P. Davis
Vice President, Engineering & Development
Starcraft Boosters, Inc.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/nsso/solar/SBSPInterimAssesment0.1.pdf

+++++++++++++++++++++

Plan for Operationally Responsive Space: Chain-of-Command / Organizational Structure
The organizational structure, shown in Figure 4, will enable the type of innovative operational
and acquisition strategies required to rapidly respond to warfighter needs and will include the
following:
Executive Committee: The ORS Executive Committee (EXCOM) will provide senior-level
recommendations for the ORS Director concerning personnel and resources from across the
National Security Space agencies, while providing strategic guidance and the senior level
commitment required for success. The Commander USSTRATCOM and the DoD EA for
Space will convene the ORS Executive Committee (ORS EXCOM) consisting of the following
core members: USSTRATCOM, DoD EA for Space, DNI, ASD(NII), USD(I), USD(P), AT&L,
PA&E, AF Space Command, DDR&E, Joint Staff, each Service, and key stakeholder agencies
(including NGA, NSA, DIA, DISA, NRO, DARPA, NASA, …(see Appendix A, Figure A-1)).
Others will be invited as required by the agenda. The ORS EXCOM will be a key means for
stakeholder involvement and guidance. The EXCOM will establish ORS priorities for DoD
efforts in collaboration with other agencies. The EXCOM’s charter will define the appropriate
roles and responsibilities to provide oversight of the ORS authorities and practices. The ORS
organizational structure and chain of command does not override existing policy, strategy,
programs, oversight and guidance responsibilities of any OSD office or agency (for example,
USD(I) has oversight responsibility of space-borne ISR initiatives).
DoD Executive Agent for Space: The DoD EA for Space will provide direct oversight of the
ORS Office and serve as the Service Acquisition Executive for the Office’s efforts. The DoD
EA for Space will also convene the ORS EXCOM in coordination with CDRUSSTRATCOM.
Commander USSTRATCOM: The CDRUSSTRATCOM will provide operational oversight for
all ORS activities consistent with the UCP and other applicable authorities. This includes
collecting, prioritizing and managing identified warfighter needs and operating ORS systems to
meet those needs. CDRUSSTRATCOM will coordinate with the DoD EA for Space in
establishing the agenda and convening the ORS EXCOM.
ORS Core Office: The ORS Office will be a joint organization with 10-20 government (military
and civilian) positions (provided by the various Services and Agencies) and will execute the
functions described in the previous section. To obtain the depth and breadth of expertise in
both space systems and joint warfighting, with reach-back to the entire NSS community, the
positions will be staffed with trained personnel from all services, agencies, and the Intelligence
Community and the Reserve Components. Joint Duty Assignments (JDA) status will be
requested for Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps billets in the ORS Office. Small
integrated teams of experienced and diverse backgrounds consisting of warfighters, operators,
scientists, engineers, and acquisition specialists are needed for ORS. To enable a quick stand
up and to maximize synergy with on-going Air Force efforts in small satellites, launches, and
ranges, the ORS Office will be located at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/nsso/ors/Plan%20for%20Operationally%20Responsive%20Space%20-%20A%20Report%20to%20Congressional%20Defense%20Committees%20-%20April%2017%202007.pdf

++++++++++++++++++++
MR. JOSEPH D. ROUGE, SES
DIRECTOR
NATIONAL SECURITY SPACE OFFICE (NSSO)
http://www.acq.osd.mil/nsso/leadership/rouge.htm

+++++++++++++++++
SpaceX Launch site
Omelek Island is part of the Kwajalein Atoll in the Republic of the Marshall Islands:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omelek_Island
+++++++++++++++++++==
Odyssey Moon is the first team to complete registration for the $30M Google Lunar X PRIZE competition.
Team Member Bios:
http://www.googlelunarxprize.org/lunar/teams/odyssey-moon/about

++++++++++++

Space Solar Power:
http://www.nss.org/legislative/positions/NSS-SSP-PositionPaper.pdf
++++++++++++
Master Index of National Space Society Chapters
http://chapters.nss.org/a/lists/
++++++++++++
Barriers to Space Settlement

Technological
Barriers

Political
Barriers

Economic
Barriers

Social
Barriers
http://www.nss.org/settlement/roadmap/barriers.html

++++++++++++++++
"If you are interested in a college education that will help prepare you for space colonization work, consider the following universities."
http://www.nss.org/settlement/nasa/college.html
++++++++++++++++

MP3s
# Donald M. Kerr, Ph.D, Director, National Reconnaissance Office

# Gen James E. Cartwright, USMC, Commander, United States Strategic Command

# Gen Kevin P. Chilton, USAF, Commander, Air Force Space Command

# Gen T. Michael Mosley, USAF, Chief of Staff, United States Air Force

# Mr. Kaoru Mamiya, Vice President, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

# Mr. Robert J. Stevens, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer, Lockheed Martin Corporation
http://www.spacefoundation.org/resources/index.php

to enable National Security Space decision-making.
The National Security Space Office (NSSO) was established in May 2004. We were formed by combining the National Security Space Architect (NSSA), the National Security Space Integration (NSSI) office, and the Transformational Communications Office (TCO). The NSSO facilitates the integration and coordination of defense, intelligence, civil, and commercial space activities. We are the only office specifically focused on cross-space enterprise issues and we provide direct support to the Air Force, National Reconnaissance Office, other Services and Agencies, Joint Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, White House, and Congress, as well as other national security space stakeholders.
http://www.acq.osd.mil/nsso/
++++++++++++++++

On May 21, the Space Foundation and the National Defense Industrial Association hosted the second Congressional Space Power Caucus Breakfast of 2008 in Washington, D.C. The breakfast featured a panel discussion about a national security space strategy. The panel was moderated by Dr. Michael O’Hanlon, senior fellow, foreign policy, The Brookings Institute. Panelists were Ms. Davi D’Agostino, director, defense capabilities and management, Government Accountability Office, Mr. Joseph Rouge, director, National Security Space Office, and Mr. David Svetz, associate deputy director of national intelligence, technical collection, Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

The Congressional Space Power Caucus is a bi-partisan, bi-cameral caucus, which works to promote a greater awareness and understanding about national security space issues. Participants in the breakfast included members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and both houses of Congress, senior national security space military and civilian leaders, key congressional staff, and senior industry representatives.

Pictured: D'Agostino and Svetz

Contact:
Kendra Horn
Director, Communications
kendra@spacefoundation.org
p: 719.576.8000
f: 719.576.8801
http://www.spacefoundation.org/news/story.php?id=513

2008-06-21T11:47:00.000-07:00

Tom's of Maine Saving Rivers video contest

2008-06-21T11:31:00.000-07:00

Website Development Strategy Before Marketing

by DanShaw.com

Before you market your products and services through your website in any really substantive way there are a number of preliminary steps that when followed will help assure you of a good return on your investment. This brief article gives the broadest overview of the process of website strategy development so that you can see the steps in a way that allows you to prioritize before you begin, and to continually re-evaluate.

Website development strategy is unique for every client. Some initial guidelines can be given to further initial strategy planning. Key to planning website strategy is integration of the web into the existing business plan. What part of the plan is based on internet? What part on services and/ or products? What part of your target market is local and what part is national? Your web master needs to know a good deal about what direction and how you want to grow your business.

To choose among the infinite universe of website marketing possibilities, one must do a thorough self-evaluation, and also an evaluation of potential profitability of various products or services. I have written several simple, brief articles for my websites clients, including "A Self-Evaluation Questionnaire" and "Comparing Potential Profitability" which you can read at:

http://danshaw.com/websites/

and fill in the blanks. These articles are designed to help you make better decisions about your website business. I am a New Paradigm business, so I am giving you the tools to do it yourself to any degree you choose.

Having a clear idea of the many possible items for sale and markets, then one can prioritize where to begin. A thorough evaluation of the existing website, if any, is called for before marketing. See "Website Analysis". If you do not already have a website, also read "Getting a website built for cheap". Search engines are just one obvious avenue of website marketing which must be seen in the context of a wholistic approach, as elaborated below.

Before marketing a website to the world, we need to be sure our design meets certain basic standards, including; that the html code is current and validates, the structure does not impede the search engines, the order form is secure and professional, the file names and images are handled properly, and that your site hosting bandwidth is sufficient, to name a few. We must also be confident that the content and structure move toward the sale and not away. Traffic reports should be reviewed to see the pattern of traffic, entry page, exit page, number of pages viewed, etc.

As an example, I’ve just remodeled punkfolkbanjo.com, a music website for Jack Chernos. Is the main purpose of the website to sell CD’s or gigs? Only the musician can decide. In this case, the answer is both, although currently the main thrust is to help increase the visibility and prominence of the artist. Before marketing his site, we restructured the page navigation; renamed pages, images and sound files to rank better in the search engines; improved his ordering page; added metatags; added more keywords to the content; and added a links page. His traffic reports show that his essays act as entry pages for many search results so we improved those. Since this was an existing site, it’s already indexed by Google and it will automatically get re-indexed. If it were built from scratch with the search engines in mind, that might be even better. Jack added his site to a folk music WebRing to increase cross-linking traffic.

Think that now you’re ready to begin marketing your website on the world wide web? Not yet. First you would be well advised to “pick the low hanging fruit”, and do the obvious, cheap, quick and simple ideas in “How to make more money on the web”, like having your domain name on stickers, rubber stamp, window signs, bumper stickers, products, receipts, brochures and everything that goes out your door. Since I’m a New Paradigm business, I don’t stop at websites. I’ll suggest anything I think will support your business. Jack Chernos took my advice to better market himself at his gigs, and redesigned his business card and put his domain name on his guitar case.

At least one more step is vital to successful website development strategy, and it must also be set in place before you begin marketing. That vital step is the procedure for ongoing and rapid feedback and evaluation of your strategy. The minute you implement a new marketing campaign, you have just begun. You’ve got to watch the response carefully in as close to real-time as you can, to take full advantage of the web, to test and adjust, until you find the most effective strategy for you.

For the purposes of a small business with a modest internet marketing budget, search engine submission is a matter of basic “due diligence” of about 3 - 5 hours of submitting to the handful of major search engines.

To see how it’s done, read “Submitting to Search Engines”. Beware of anyone with a piece of software who’ll charge you a bundle to submit your name to thousands of search engines; these are of course thousands that nobody has ever heard of, or worse yet, “link farms” blackballed by Google and other search engines.

Submitting to search engines is one part of an internet marketing strategy, but by no means is it the only part, or even the most important part. Other elements that are at least equally important to consider are also touched upon in the “Search Engines” article, including reciprocal links, dmoz.org, blogs, etc.

Again, the most important part of the strategy is your business plan. The tactics must develop from your mission statement and respond impromptu to the environment dynamically.

So, you’ve got a well-designed website, commerce-ready, and you’ve done all the preliminary steps outlined above, now what? Now it’s time to look at marketing campaigns. Go back to the “Comparing Potential Profitability” chart. Have you listed every possible stream of income, broken out each individual target market, and figured the potential costs and profits of each? Even if you only have one product to sell, this chart will help you choose where to begin marketing. Marketing Warfare by Ries, and Lao Tzu say, choose a narrow enough “campaign” to have “penetration” in your “field”. In search engine terms, this means “Organic Pet Vitamins” is a much more powerful choice than “Vitamins” because you‘ll have a better chance of reaching more buyers who are looking for your product specifically, since there are an overwhelming number of vitamin buyers and suppliers.

The main part of this article deals with website development for marketing, but there are other profits to be reaped from your website in the form of reduced costs. Here are a few questions worth considering: Are you printing and mailing costly newsletters or catalogs? Do you require patients or clients to fill out paperwork that could be completed online before they arrive? Could you use your website server as a way to backup and share data securely among staff and between home and office? Would a “Frequently Asked Questions” page (such as with driving map) save you time? These are just a few of the ways beyond sales and marketing that a closer integration of your business plan and your website plan can increase your profits and better support your business mission.

It bears saying that a marketing strategy must not be solely an internet marketing strategy. The internet strategy must be integrated into the overall marketing strategy. Often in-person marketing at workshops, gigs, tradeshows, etc., are the most powerful drivers of traffic to a website and the site must fully support follow-through for these purposes. The website must meet many diverse goals, including not only various target markets, but also humans v. search engines, open area and members only area, etc.

Given that the steps above are followed, then your investment in website marketing will be well spent. The evaluation and prioritization of your many, many tasks, and the ability to manage many details and parallel projects are essential parts of the developing your comprehensive website strategy. I hope this article has been helpful to that end, and that you will contact me if I can be of service to you in the future.

2008-06-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

Mapping Your Watershed: Mapping Like a Fish
Images for the map at: http://danshaw.com/bear-creek.html

Mapping Like a Fish
By Dan Shaw

If you were a salmon, what kind of map would you make? You might make a map that looks very much like the new map of the Bear Creek watershed, a tributary to the Rogue River in southern Oregon. The map would emphasize the streams, showing different fish species, and the extent of their habitat range. The "fish map" would show the sources of the water in the basin, and also where the waters leave the system, whether at the mouth of the river, or at an irrigation ditch. A salmon's map would show barriers to fish movement, such as dams and other obstacles. Although the Bear Creek Watershed Map wasn't made by a fish, in many ways it is the first of its kind.

The Bear Creek Watershed Map ("the Map") was conceived by Stuart Allan of Raven Maps fame, and Kerry Kencairn, who now sits on the City of Ashland Planning Commission. They wanted to produce a map of the local watershed, which could serve as a common starting point for discussion among citizens, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. A watershed is defined as "the area from which all surface water drains (sheds) to a common outlet". Stuart would donate his considerable skills as a cartographer, and Kerry would recruit a student intern from Southern Oregon University, Dan Shaw, the author of this article. The map would show the little towns in our area at the grand scale of one inch on the map representing one mile on the ground. People could locate their houses, and students could see their schools in relation to the nearest stream, and to the whole scheme of the stream network in their area. The final size of the map would be an enormous three feet high by four feet wide. The Map could only be produced by a coordinated effort between all the overlapping government agencies, non-profit organizations, and individual stakeholders. Donations would be needed to cover production expenses, so that the Maps could be distributed freely to schools, agencies, and environmental organizations. Our poor little mapping fish would learn that producing a thematic map such as this watershed map requires many, many crucial choices in the design.

Streams are not all alike. Some run all year, others, (called "ephemeral" or "intermittent") run only during the winter or only during wet years. The Map required us to show larger streams and smaller streams as well. So we began with colored highlighter pens, ranking streams according to their "order". Intermittent streams, first order streams, would eventually be shown as dotted lines. Where two intermittent streams joined, the stream becomes a second order stream. Where two of these join, it becomes a third order stream, on down to Bear Creek, and then to the Rogue River, where it heads to its mouth at Brookings (?) on the Pacific Coast. Our method was somewhat undermined, when, later in the project, we found more detailed data on the ephemeral streams. Our area of interest included the valley bounded by Mount Ashland and Pilot Rock to the southeast, and Lower and Upper Table Rocks to the northwest. This ring of peaks, from which all water flows down to Bear Creek, we highlighted with a thick dotted line. The adjoining basins include the Klamath and the Applegate. Even among government agencies, there is much disagreement about the designation of basins and sub-basins. The Klamath is of a greater order than the Applegate, since, like the Bear Creek, the Applegate drains into the Rogue River. The Klamath River, like the Rogue, drains into the Pacific. Two neighboring basins, the ?? and ?? are often overlooked because they are smaller than the other Rogue tributaries. Thus we chose to include them prominently.

A cardinal rule of mapmaking is to always start by clipping a much wider area than you think you're going to need. A good ways along we decided that we actually needed to show a greater portion of the Klamath basin, since some of the Bear Creek supply is stored in reservoirs across the ridge and then piped into our basin. Our final map size increased again when we added room for our legend, and for a stripe of our sponsor's logos along the right side of the Map.

We obtained the most recent species data we could from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and as with each new layer of data, we returned to our sources for fact checking. Different species of fish use different parts of the stream systems, just as different birds prefer different places in the trees. We would show two types of fish, resident fish (trout), and anadromous fish, those that migrate to the ocean and return to spawn. Of the latter, there are several different species of salmon. Eventually, we depicted four species of fish, each in a different color. No sooner had our map been published, than a student discovered a salmon in the creek behind his school, and ODFW came out to verify. Our map was instantly outdated, as it was confirmed that the salmon have an extra four or so stream miles of habitat, despite a number of obstacles.

ODFW also provided us with data on fish barriers, such as dams and other obstacles. Obstacles were of several types, some impassable to fish and some passable. On one stream, ODFW had a thorough survey which had been done by a volunteer, unfortunately, we could not use this more complete data because it skewed the appearance of the rest of the Map.

Before the settlement of the Rogue Valley, Bear Creek dried up in the summer. Now that water is retained during the winter and released in summer, Bear Creek runs year round. In effect, the water flow regime has been turned upside-down. Unfortunately, it was not possible for us to depict this issue fully on our Map. At best we could only show the irrigation system in the valley, and how it interacts with the streams; removing water in some places, replacing water in some places, and at some points, crossing streams without intermingling. Our local Irrigation Districts had just hired a mapping specialist, and so the data we needed only became available during our production process.

In our area, as elsewhere, urban growth encroaches on farm land. Our little valley is filled with pear orchards. These consume a significant portion of our water. We depicted them with a subtle pattern of green dots. Medford is the major city, but our area also includes the smaller towns of Ashland, Phoenix, Talent, Central Point, and Eagle Point. We showed both their current extent and the Urban Growth Boundaries. Cities and farms unfortunately contribute pollutants to our streams, in the form of agricultural chemical runoff, livestock waste, and the water from sewage treatment plants, to name a few. In some cases, water returning to the stream is too warm to support healthy fish. The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) provided us with the data for holders of Discharge Permits. The DEQ only permits controlled discharges, and so these permittees should not be considered polluters. Our little area has two federal toxic SuperFund sites, one a defunct transformer manufacturer, and the other a defunct railyard. However, we chose not to include these.

We began building the Map with a digital elevation model of the area, which would be printed in a false-color scheme called "hypsometric tints", with higher elevations appearing white, and lower appearing green. As we brought in data from other sources, the data often had to be reprojected, from one of the many different projects to our projection, which is "NAD73" (??). Another cartographer's maxim goes, "There is no such thing as the perfect data." We wanted to show every possible stream name in our area, but we discovered that we didn't have consensus! Some streams had two names, elsewhere there were two streams with the same name. Stream name type had to be reset to match our finished size, and according to stream order. We showed not only stream names within our watershed, but had to name some of the major streams "outside" our area of interest as well.

The enormity of the project began to dawn on our student intern, and Paul Kay stepped up to the plate to help manage the project, production, fund-raising, and distribution. The Bear Creek Watershed Education Partners provided some seed money, and other funds came from (??). We are grateful to all the people who contributed their time and money to see this project through.

At the eleventh hour, better digital elevation model data became available. We had been using data with a 30-meter resolution, and now threw that out to use the more precise 10-meter data (??). This was a mixed blessing, since it required that many of the stream segments needed to be slightly adjusted to fit.

Map-making is a curious art, because one must continually adjust all the elements until they all balance just right. Every detail involved myriad design decisions. What weight of type? What kind of symbol? What color? How many kinds? When you see a map a print, it is easy to accept it on face value, as representing "the truth", but making a map proves that every element represents some sort of editorial decision.

Finally, the map film went to the printer. When it came back, volunteers spent several days rolling the maps, putting them into their plastic sleeves, and delivering them free to the local schools, just in time for National Geography Week. Maps are also available for sale the general public at a few locations, with the entire sale price being donated to the Bear Creek Watershed Education Partners. School children throughout the valley, residents, and policy makers point to the same map, spotting where they live, and telling stories about the places they love around their homes. The measure of a well-made map is that people looking at it respond, "It's beautiful". That may be one of the most important impacts of the Map. People see the beauty of their home-land. The Bear Creek Watershed Map is doing its magic, helping people to conceive of their place in a more integrated, systemic way, and to feel more connected to their place. The watershed map is special because of its emphasis on natural boundaries that connect ecosystems, instead of the artificial, man-made boundaries that divide political jurisdictions. When people can envision their region ("bioregion") as an integrated whole system, they feel empowered to take responsibility, and to affect positive changes. On this subject, I recommend the book, Boundaries of Home, Mapping for Local Empowerment, edited by Doug Aberly. Stuart Allan, the Bear Creek Watershed Map cartographer, contributed one of the chapters.

The world needs more maps like the Bear Creek Watershed Map. If we all looked at the world from a fish-eye point of view, we would exercise more care and stewardship for our water, the resource on which we all depend, and which connects us all, human and animal alike.

About the Author:
Dan Shaw graduated from Southern Oregon University in June 2001 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography. He has published two unusual maps, showing the geometric relationships between sacred places. Dan is currently looking for employment mapping plants, animals, or archaeologic sites. His websites: DanShaw.com & VortexMaps.com.

2008-06-21T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hiring a filmmaker

"I'm thinking of having a film made. What should I know about hiring a filmmaker? How much will a film cost and what should I expect from my filmmaker?"

Despite the continually dropping prices of electronic gear, and the seeming ubiquitousness of video cameras, making quality films requires a lot of expensive equipment and thousands of hours, even years and decades of professional experience. It is true that anyone with a web cam or even a cell phone can make short videos for youtube.com, but making effective or even watchable films is an art and a science.

Buying your own camera
If you are considering buying a video camera, the first thing you need to know is that consumer level cameras can cost under $500, but professional cameras are likely to cost nearer $1,000. The main feature that distinguishes a pro level camera from a consumer-grade camera is that the pro cameras will have an input for an external microphone. If you are at all serious about doing videos you will need an external mic jack. Shooting in all different situations requires that you will sometimes have to put your camera in a less-than-optimal position, for example, at the back of the room so you are not blocking an audience (or the bride's family!), or far enough from your subject to take in a wide area, such as an entire stage. Since the volume of sound drops off exponentially, if you move your mic twice as far away, you will get one quarter of the volume you would have at the nearer placement. You will want to place your mic up close, or use a wireless mic, or plug directly into a sound system.

All the accessories you'll need
By the time you buy all the accessories you need for your camera, such as various microphones, tripod, batteries, chargers, wide angle lens, etc., you can easily spend $3,000. Then you will still want a lighting kit, which can cost another $1,000. Tripods deserve special mention. Video tripods must have a level bubble, so that you can pan the horizon if needed… they do not have a central post, if a tripod has a central post, it’s a camera tripod, not for video. The smoothness of the pan is critical, especially for distant subjects; Libec brand is the industry standard. That does not include the computer and the software you will need to edit your film. Your Mac comes with I-Movie installed, and to burn DVD's you can download (from download.com, for example) a program such as Toast. If you are using a PC you could get a program such as Adobe Premiere Elements for as little as $200 (bundled with Photoshop Elements). "Elements" is the bare-bones version of the program that should be plenty for most novices. High-end editing suites such as Avid or VT Edit can cost thousands of dollars and require top-of-the-line computers. The exact type of camera and accessories you’ll need will depend on what you want to do. Get some expert advice. I highly recommend zotzdigital.com. Brian at ZotzDigital will find out what you want to do, and recommend what you will need. For instance, there are two kinds of video tape; oil-lubricated transport, and powder-lubricated. Oil lubricated is the most common, powder lubricated is less widely available, but that is the one you want. You don’t want to put oil into your camera, since that will attract dust, and other junk, and you’ll end up paying a couple hundred bucks to get your camera cleaned. Use only powder transport, Panasonic AY-DVM63PQ and do not mix the two!

Anticipating your costs
If you decide to hire a filmmaker, keep in mind that they have made a substantial investment of money and time to buy and learn how to use their equipment. It is reasonable for a professional filmmaker to bill their time at $150 an hour or more, and to also bill for machine time. Some professional shops estimate that a job will cost $1,000 per finished minute of film: 15 minutes = $15,000. Obviously, if you are paying this kind of money you can expect completely professional results, professional customer service, and a detailed contract before you begin; expect to pay a deposit, and to make partial payments at benchmarks along the way so the you are not expecting the film studio to expose themselves to the risk of non-payment on a major job. Fortunately, if you do not have the kind of major budget needed to hire a high-end studio, you can likely find an independent filmmaker who can do the job for less, perhaps because they have a lower overhead, for example by working out of their home instead of an office. If you are working with an independent filmmaker, read on.

A fully professional film requires an entire production crew
If you must have a professional film, it can not be produced by an individual. You will need to hire an entire crew; two or three cameras and camerapeople, a director, an audio engineer, at minimum, perhaps a lighting specialist, other technicians, very likely all earning union wages. If you hire an individual, you can expect a high-quality end product, but you can't expect the kind of result you would from a crew.

Making the most of your money: pre-production
Your finished product will be only as good as the footage you film. The more time you spend planning your production, the less time and money it will take to film, and in post-production. Spend as much time as you possibly can in planning, story-boarding, even shooting non-actors or stand-ins, so that you have a crystal-clear idea of what shots are needed. Scout your locations with your filmmaker, and an audio engineer, if at all possible. Visit your locations at the time of day you plan to shoot. You will need to know what the lighting and sound conditions are going to be when you arrive with your cast and crew. As with any complex project, the more precisely you can specify exactly the end-product you want, the more likely you are to get it.

Shooting in the field and in the studio
Expect to pay somewhat more if your filmmaker has to haul all his equipment to a field location; it can take several people hours to pack up, move, set up, break down, and reset their equipment in the studio. Shoot as many takes as you reasonably can, since it is nearly always more expensive or even impossible to return to re-shoot. Do not rely on the camera's view screen; bring along a larger monitor if at all possible. An otherwise perfect shoot can be ruined by a piece of lint or a stray hair that is impossible to see through the camera.

Should I film an event, or stage something for the camera?
In general, you will get much better results by staging something for the camera. In a live event, you aren't able to do second takes, impose on a paying audience by blocking sight-lines, hold up the event while you adjust the camera, lighting, sound system, etc. When the final product REALLY matters, you may need to review each shot on the monitor before you go on to the next.

Post-production
I find that it is vital to deliver the raw (unedited) footage to the client as soon as possible. The client may save time and money if they discover some imperfection that the filmmaker may not notice or find objectionable (people are their own worst critics!) There is no sense editing and refining a video if the client decides they're not happy with their make-up, or their ums and uhs.

Editing back in the studio is a matter of micro-seconds. You may need to make a cut between words, after a blink, after your subject takes a breath, etc. You and / or your filmmaker should be taking extremely detailed notes on exactly what was shot and the time-codes. Good notes can mean hours of time and hundreds, even thousands of dollars saved in the editing studio. It can be extremely time-consuming and tedious if you or your editor have to watch and rewatch your video to find where the edits need to be made.

Before your filmmaker goes through the time and trouble to render your video and upload it to the web, make sure that they have clear instructions about any titling and credits on the video. Make sure that they know how to spell people's names, and how people want their website address, etc. to appear. Don't waste resources having your filmmaker redo a film because you failed to mention that so-and-so's credit should have said "Dr." instead of "Mr.", for example.

Lastly, you will want to have the film rendered into several formats, a high-resolution format for viewing on TV from a DVD, and a lower-resolution format for the web such as Apple Quicktime .mov, or Windows .wmv.

Some additional resources can be found at my website, DanShaw.com. Good luck, and have fun! If you have further questions, or would like to hire me for your project, I invite you to contact me.

DanShaw.com
tel. 541-951-3394

2008-06-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

http://thevisionproject.org/Visionaries.html
gathering of the visions of people from many walks of life, nations and races, some well-known and some not.
Kofi Annan, Bono, Alex Grey, Vacalav Havel, Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Richard Kirby (my PhD advisor), and others!

2008-06-19T13:06:00.000-07:00

Creating a Freshwater Splashdown for Spacecraft
Using proven technology, turning the great garbage patch into a resource. Sequester the debris in artificial reefs, creating a fresh body of water.

Vast areas of the ocean collect plastic debris:
http://www.greatgarbagepatch.org/
http://www.algalita.org/

Spaceships need to splash down into freshwater. Saltwater is too corrosive; water landing may be safer than landing on land.

Small electrical currents precipitate calcium from seawater cost-effectively creating artificial reefs.
http://www.arcoscielos.com/

http://beyondearth.org/: a book sponsored by the Aerospace Technology Working Group; also a project to create "1,000 Earth-based Space Stations" to inspire and educate, and to catalyze the political and financial will to commercialize and settle space.

2008-06-19T06:32:00.000-07:00

Nestle Privatizing Water Across the US: Wells, Maine, Attempt: Bad Track Record

The meeting on Sunday is the 22 of June at the UU Church in Kennebunk at 6:00PM. The hearing is on Wednesday June 25th at 3:00 at the Kennebunk and Wells Water District, where PBS will be having a press conference there at 2:00PM before the hearing.
+++++++++++++++
selectman's meeting voted 3 to 2 to request water district delay

Joe Hardy of Wells went to the selectman's meeting and
> they voted 3 to 2 to send a letter to the water district requesting
> a delay of signing the contract. The well head is located in Wells.
> Hope to see you all this Sunday. Does anyone has a projector screen
> that they could loan to us?
> Many thanks for your support! Please read the York County Coast
> Star tomorrow (Thursday) as they are doing an big article about the issue. The
> reporter seemed to be supportive.

++++++++++++++++++++

The PBS McNeill News Hour is doing an expose on bottled water and they will be attending a press conference Wednesday June 25 at 2:00 next to the Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Wells Water District. Then the "public" meeting is at 3:00pm at the Water District office on Main street in Kennebunk. After the meeting the Water Board is expected to vote for the contract between Nestle and the water district.
Since PBS and local media will be there it would be great to have water activists from all over the REGION to attend so they can see just how passionate people feel about this issue.
Here is my cell if you want to talk. 603.969.8426 Jamilla
PLEASE PASS THE WORD to get people to next Wednesday's meeting as well as the meeting on Sunday.
+++++++++++++++++++
Below is a message from Peter Thompson who is a geologist from UNH and who is active both in SOG and the Neighborhood Guardians (NG).
The important message that I would convey is this: The town needs to
Know what kind of aquifer is being tapped. If it's a sand-and-gravel
Aquifer, then the adverse impact may be less, and the effects will be
Easier to predict and monitor than for a bedrock aquifer.
Peter
+++++++++++++++++++
Here are a few of the first results from a google search with the keywords, "nestle water town lawsuit whistleblower court":

2004: Nestlé is named as the worst of the baby food companies once again...It is not yet over...
http://www.babymilkaction.org/pages/history.html

Chocolate and Confectionery Industry Antitrust and Class Action Lawsuit Investigation
http://www.audetlaw.com/chocolate-antitrust-lawsuit/index.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/consumerproducts-SP/idUKN2145315620080421?feedType=RSS&feedName=consumerproducts-SP
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A U.S. federal court revived a lawsuit on Monday against Gerber Products which alleges the company deceptively marketed its Fruit Juice Snacks for toddlers.

Most Environmental News Not Good in 2007
by: Eartha Jane Melzer
Monday (12/31) at 13:04 PM
"In a citizen lawsuit that challenged the Nestle corporation for the damaging effects of its water bottling operation on the watershed, the Michigan Supreme Court overturned a key provision of the Michigan Environmental Protection Act, the law that gives citizens standing to sue when a company does environmental damage."
http://michiganmessenger.com/tag.do;jsessionid=B7399FC48878EEC050CDB0902960C57A?tag=2007+Roundup

Crocodyl is a collaboration sponsored by CorpWatch, the Center for Corporate Policy and the Corporate Research Project.
Nestlé is a multinational packaged food company founded and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland. It results from a merger in 1905 between the Anglo-Swiss Milk Company for milk products established by the Page Brothers in Cham, Switzerland, in 1866 and the Farine Lactée Henri Nestlé Company set up in 1867 by Henri Nestlé to provide an infant food product. Several of Nestlé's brands are globally renowned, which made the company a global market leader in many product lines, including milk, chocolate, confectionery, bottled water, coffee, creamer, food seasoning and pet foods. The company stock is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. Some of Nestlé's business practices have been considered unethical, especially the manner in which infant formula has been marketed in developing countries, which led to the Nestlé boycott from 1977.
http://www.crocodyl.org/wiki/nestle

Nestle, Danone accused on baby milk substitutes
A study in the British Medical Journal has alleged that manufacturers of powdered baby milk substitutes - including Nestle and Danone - are violating international codes on baby milk promotion in Africa.
http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/nl/48.html#anchor797

“Given that 80% of the PET produced in the United States ends up in a Coca-Cola, Pepsi or Nestlé beverage container, we thought that it would be useful to highlight the direct links these bottled water producers have with the largest oil, chemical and plastic corporations on the planet. This analysis will help complete a picture of who is profiting from supplying oil based plastic to the bottled water industry and that the players in this supply chain are some of the worst environmental polluters of our time.”
http://hope2012.wordpress.com/2008/06/06/old-news-on-going-and-under-reported-corporate-crimes-and-misdemeanors/

NESTLÉ USA

CEO: Joe Weller
Contact the Corporation: Nestlé USA
800 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
Phone: 818-549-6000
Fax: 818-549-6952

Human Rights Violations: Abusive child labor, repression of worker rights, aggressive marketing of harmful products, violation of national health and environmental laws
http://www.globalexchange.org/getInvolved/corporateHRviolators.html

Hershey and Nestle Chocolate Factories Want to Sell you "chocolate" containing NO chocolate
http://www.wearemichigan.com/legal/AboveTheLaw.htm

Nestle's Poland Spring bottled water...does not come from a spring and is not completely safe."
http://www.overlawyered.com/2003/09/

Drinking Water for Sale
Monday, May 7th, 2007
[spacer]

Bottled drinking water is an $11 Billion per year US industry, and the withdrawal of water has been referred to as a “Blue gold rush.”
http://csr-news.net/main/2007/05/07/drinking-water-for-sale/

How Corporations Drain Our Aquifers for Profit (Part 1)
Natural News, June 11, 2008
A modern water war is raging in the tiny town of McCloud, California, snuggled at the base of Mt. Shasta. The enormous conglomerate, Nestlé, managed to extort a contract with the financially strapped town's board members. They were so broke that they couldn't afford an attorney to help guide them through the process.
http://mccloudwatershedcouncil.org/

+++++++++++++++++++++++

http://environmentmaine.org/

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Plastics, health impacts, hormone mimics and endocrine disruptors

Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ)
http://www.ccaej.org/projects/endocrine.htm

Exposures can also result from consuming drinking water contaminated with endocrine disrupting substances, and from plastic containers leaching these chemicals into our food.
(also lists endocrine disrupting substances)

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Aquifer Types and Terminology
http://www.kgs.ku.edu/HighPlains/atlas/aptyp.htm

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Nestlé_boycott

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_boycott

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Contact Nestle Waters North America
nestle-watersna.com

If you have a question or comment about Nestlé Waters North America Inc., please feel free to send us a note at:

Nestlé Waters North America
Attention: Corporate Website
777 West Putnam Avenue
P.O. Box 2313
Greenwich, CT 06830

or call:

203-531-4100

Weekdays from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Eastern Time.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

2008-06-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

YouTube Video Download Tool
If you find a youtube.com video you like, you can bookmark it using your browser; you can link to it from a webpage; and if the owner has permitted, youtube provides an 'embed code' so that you can paste a code snippet into a webpage and embed the video in a context other than youtube. There are advantages to having people view a video in the youtube interface, such as the ability to make comments, but of course there are also disadvantages, such as the ability to make comments! (sic)
If you want to actually download a video from youtube, you will need a third party program, of which there are several, here is one:

http://www.techcrunch.com/get-youtube-movie/"To download a video to your computer, enter the YouTube URL for the video in the box above (example). It will be downloaded in flv format - use VLC or another compatible player to view it."
VLC is VideoLAN - VLC media player:
http://www.videolan.org/

2008-06-16T15:13:00.000-07:00

Resources for Gifted Children

MENSA:
http://www.us.mensa.org/Content/AML/NavigationMenu/Programs/GiftedChildren/Gifted_Children.htm
worldwide Mensa program that pairs cities or Local Groups around the world with "sister" cities or Local Groups:

mensaworldconnect@us.mensa.org
http://www.us.mensa.org/Content/AML/NavigationMenu/Programs/MensaWorldConnect/Mensa_WorldConnect.htm

An example of "Brain Bowl" from Dan's (former) home town of Ashland at Southern Oregon U.
http://www.sou.edu/youth/competitions/brain_bowl_hs.html

National Assn. for Gifted Children
Grants Made Under the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Act
http://www.nagc.org/index.aspx?id=1061

Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented
http://txgifted.org/

Junior Achievement: a partnership between the business community, educators and volunteers
http://ja.org/

Calif. Baptist Univ., MARY CRIST, ED.D. Professor of Education
http://www.calbaptist.edu/studentlife/faculty/default2.aspx?id=278

2008-06-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

Periodic Table of Venture Capital

One of the maxims-tenets-principles of Social Quantum Theory, (a theory proposed and developed by the Dodd-Spady-Kirby-Shaw lineage, see:
stuartcdoddinstitute.org)
is that by applying the lessons of math-physics-quantum mechanics we can learn useful lessons in the social sciences. Our hypothesis in this article is that periodicity occurs in the phenomena of venture capital, and more specifically, that venture capital firms exhibit characteristics that can be better understood by organizing them (or perhaps more accurately, by their self-organization) in a table comparable to the Periodic Chart of Elements.
In wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_chart
we find this explanation of the Periodic Chart:
"generally credited to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Mendeleev intended the table to illustrate recurring ("periodic") trends in the properties of the elements...an extremely useful framework to classify, systematize and compare all the many different forms of chemical behavior."

Below is a compilation from the google news clipping service, keywords "Venture capital" from the previous few weeks. Shortly I will evaluate this compilation from the standpoint of the "Periodic Chart of Venture Capital" suggested by Dr. Kirby.

++++++++

Venture Capital google clipping service selections:

Venture capital funds in for a tough slog CanadaIT.com Sat, 07 Jun 2008 5:46 AM PDT The venture capital scene in Canada might have to shrink before it can grow and churn out profitable companies, industry insiders say. This means pooling the money and people of myriad small funds and putting more money into fewer deals.

continues at:
http://beyondearth.org/venture-capital.html