Many travelers prefer a single king size bed in their hotel room when traveling. However I believe that getting two beds has cut my chance of having a bad mattress in half. While that phrase is a little misleading I have learned a few things that cut down my chances of getting a bad mattress.

The first one that is quite apparent is that if bed #1 does not meet your standards, you can change to bed #2. This could be something as simple as the airflow in the room. Typically it is something more serious, a mattress that is not consistent as it has a phone butt spot.

A phone butt spot is the location where the typical guest will sit while using the phone. If there is a night table between the two beds, the phone is typically closer to one bed. That bed is often sit on while the person is on the phone. Yes, I realize that many people will avoid using the phone all together, but arranging a wake-up call still occurs quite a bit. That is typically where the guest will sit while making that call or arranging for pizza delivery.

In addition having two beds gives you the benefit of having extra pillows for building a fort. One also can have dinner watching TV on one bed and have the other one be clean for sleeping. The list can continue but I think you get the idea.

My faithful reader, yes I am talking to you, knows I travel quite a bit for work. I want to pass along some of my travel tips for your benefit. This one does not make sense at first but some day you will thank me.

When I travel with a laptop that I want to use in a public space. I always try to find a corner location to sit in with no one behind your back. This is helpful for the unexpected moment when you open an e-mail and it is nice and spam filled with pictures of people in various states of undress and comfort. It is also helpful when you open a Tumblr link and all the sudden the web page explodes with phalluses.

Not that either of those of happened to me, since I am sitting the corner of the airline lounge with a plant behind me and a window to my right.

More travel tips to come in the future…
( I am actually home [okay my local Starbucks] now, another travel tip is to make sure you press publish before boarding the plane… it also still applies at Starbucks)

As some of you might know in my previous life, I was an audio technician touring with various groups – some known and unknown. I also happen to have eclectic musical tastes. In the past few years I have stumbled upon some musicians through the Interwebs. I have supported some through Kickstarter, Bandcamp, buying direct, and most recently Patreon. I also have had some interesting conversations with artists on Twitter.

The most recent interaction I had got me thinking and created this post. But first the recap of the conversation with Marian Call (@mariancall http://mariancall.com) and Kim Boekbinder [Impossible Girl] (@KimBoekbiner http://theimpossiblegirl.com). There were branches in the conversation so I tried to make it as understandable as a Twitter stream from an iPhone can be.

Me: @KimBoekbinder @mariancall i am curious why go to cities where sales are strong and not go to uncharted areas to increase audience base?

Marian: @BradfordBenn @KimBoekbinder I try to alternate. You can’t eat if you play too many uncharted areas. Strong strong weak, strong strong weak.

Kim: 
@BradfordBenn @mariancall Oh yeah – that’s what labels pay for. Those of us without labels can only afford to go where we are wanted.

Marian: 
@BradfordBenn @KimBoekbinder Touring is incredibly expensive, on the order of hundreds per day. If you don’t recover that you sink.

Marian: 
@KimBoekbinder @BradfordBenn My exception was the 50 states tour. I carefully planned strong and weak cities for months.

Marian: 
@KimBoekbinder @BradfordBenn It was a great experience and made lots of new fans, but after 9 months I wound up with $0 in the bank.

Kim: 
@BradfordBenn What @mariancall said. Only I have so few strong cities I can’t get far enough to increase my presence.

Kim: 
@mariancall @BradfordBenn Not only is tour expensive – it is exhausting. So you can’t just work another job to make ends meet.

Me: @mariancall @KimBoekbinder understand the costs of touring. Thanks for clarifications, new world since i was touring as an audio tech. Marian:
@BradfordBenn @KimBoekbinder Audio techs rule. Me:

@KimBoekbinder @mariancall still support both of you & your work and would like to see you both play live. How can i help?

Kim:
@BradfordBenn @mariancall So cool. I love touring, wish I could just go and go and go.

Kim:
@BradfordBenn @mariancall Where is Wonderment?

Marian: 
@BradfordBenn @KimBoekbinder Where are you, first of all?

Me: Wonderment is a state of mind, learning and seeing things that are interesting. I travel quite a lot for work, my home is South Bend, IN but have spent time in So Cal the past 3 months. Yes, i listen to you on planes

Marian: Sometimes it takes a couple years but we get there!
@BradfordBenn Folks who get really excited about planning a concert near them, and who can bring 30-50 people, mostly get their way.

Marian:
@bradfordbenn Not to pile on you! It’s a good question. It’s a funny business, far less profit and far more risk than most folks think.

Me: @mariancall didn’t think piling on. Thanks for concern. Think having good conversation. Might even become a blog post.

Marian: @BradfordBenn Being on my email list is the first best step: http://mariancall.fanbridge.com  this year I won’t tour much, but I will a little.

Me:
 @mariancall yup am on the list and have already bought Sketchbook. Will get CD also cause i prefer WAV to FLAC and MP3

I know much of the things that they were talking about from my past experiences, but the scale was very different. Understanding this different economy and music sales process in this century is interesting and different from other businesses. When I travel for work and make sales calls, I often ask to go see the potential customers that are not familiar with my company. When I travel on sales calls, I can interweave existing customers with new customers because there are multiples of each in one city. For a musician that is not always possible, as there are only so many customers (fans) in each city. However the costs remain high for each city, hotel, transport, equipment rental, venue costs… etc.

You may ask, why am I sharing this post and conversation. There are a couple of reasons.

The first was that I found it interesting so I thought my reader would also. As someone involved in the professional audio industry it is very good to hear from other people involved in the process.

It reminds me why it is important to purchase music and not just stream it or download. Pay or support someone for their effort. I am not saying you have to support everyone, but support the artists that you like.

Go out and try new music, search the interwebs, branch out, you might find something you like. Go to concerts that friends have recommended. I think you get the idea.

There are more music outlets than iTunes, Amazon, and Google.

A few suggestions of some of the artists I have been supporting:

As my faithful readers know, I had a less than stellar production experience while attending the Supernatural Convention. For those of you who are not familiar, Supernatural is a television series on the CW network. The lovely wife was lucky enough to win free admission to the convention. I went along to take pictures, they can be found at http://photos.bradfordbenn.com/Events/Supernatural-Convention-Nov-2013. (At the moment the images are very raw and still need some adjustments, so do not be surprised if there are some changes

The first thing I want to clearly indicate is that the volunteers, the people who barter their services as facilitators in exchange for tickets to various events, were great. They were all very helpful. They provided information as best they had it. Much of the disappointment is about the choices made for the audio, video and lighting equipment. I am not singling out an equipment manufacturer or brand, it is a result of using equipment incorrectly. Let me stay that again, I am not saying that any of the equipment used was inferior, I am saying that the use of the equipment was not appropriate.

First lets talk about the room to get an idea of the room. The ballroom that was used is over 15,000 square feet, it can seat up to 1,900 people for theater style use. It is 105 feet long x143 feet wide x18 feet tall, it is a large room. I do not think that the room was full to 1,900 but more likely to 1,700 based on the need for video and back stage areas.

At the front of the room was a stage about 18 inches off the floor and probably 24 feet by 12 feet. Each side was flanked by a 12 foot wide by 9 foot tall rear projection video screen. Next to each screen was a powered speaker. 1/3rd of the way back against each of these wall was another speaker. Notice that the picture I took is in focus…

Wideshot

I did not get backstage to see the video system but I can tell you it was standard definition at best. It was not very bright or sharp.  There was also a constant ground loop bar scrolling on the video screen. Since the speakers were out front I will say they are a 12 inch 2 way powered speaker rated at 131 dB peak with a 75 degree conical coverage pattern. The brand does not matter as it was a quality product just being asked to perform a task it was not designed for. There was also a powered 300W floor monitor on the stage for the talent and a duplicate on the front of the stage as a “fill” speaker.

There were two Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlights against the wall on each side for fill lighting. They were basically even with the heads of the talent and were not very bright. It was low enough that they were simply plugged into a standard 15A outlet. They were not very effective at all, to the point that most times it was simply the house lights being on all the time to see the stage.

I did not see a front of house position, so I did not see how the lights, audio, and video were controlled. However I would not be surprised to see the system used in a set and forget mode as there were often problems.

The production problems started from the beginning, the video was out of focus from the beginning. It was definitely Standard Definition and then was not clear on top of that. It was just from a camera from the back of the room. I do know that there was some video processing as a few times there was text overlaid on the video image. The best way I can describe it is saying it was like 1990’s high school video. Also about once a session someone could be seen walking through the projection cone, so the backstage area did not have any clear indication of the cone.

The audio problems started very soon after the event itself. I figured the system was just having some teething pains as the show had just started. The first problem with the audio system was the entire system sounding boomy and not as clear as the equipment could provide. Much of it I think due to system trying to cover a space that is too large.

Two and a half hours in to the event and my first questioning of the system approach started. There were wireless drop outs, a dead microphone, and audience/question microphones at the edge of the room. The problem with the audience microphones being were three items in my opinion. The first was they were not loud enough in the talent foldback monitor, they were wireless when they could have been wired, and they were located so that the talent was always looking away from the main audience.

Let me explain the looking offstage comment. By placing the audience microphones at the front of the seating area and at the outer edges of the room, the talent was often looking off stage not at the main audience. The reason for the talent looking off stage was that they were being polite and having conversation and making eye contact with the question asker. The talent was doing the proper thing. The problem is that the single camera in the back of the room simply had them in profile. It kept the audience from getting to see the complete interaction.

Four hours in, the system was not sounding any better in fact it was getting more pronounced with deficiencies. I believe that part of it is the pile-on effect. The first flaw had been found so it was easier to find other ones. The use of a compressor and/or de-esser would have greatly helped the sonic performance for the guests. The audience would have had an easier time listening and there would not have been as many plosive sounds.

Fifteen minutes later the talent was literally walking off stage to listen to the guests directly as the monitor was not reinforcing the comments to the main stage. The audience comments were audible in the house system but not in the monitors. Of course there were also times that the audience microphones were not working at all.

The last presenter of the day had some audio sources with him. Now I am not going to say that I understand all of the voodoo that the talent was using with his ghost hunting audio devices. The approach was to literally have the talent hold the handheld battery powered speaker up to the microphone for the audience to hear.

One of the things I did not mention was how often there was a ground hum, it was not constant it would come and go throughout the day. It got worse during the 2nd day when the entire house left audio system was replaced by a ground hum. Yes, no audio for the left side of the house.

That night there was a Karaoke event. It was a lot of fun, but it could have easily been much better with better equipment. The same system was being used to reinforce the Karaoke event. There was no low end, the system was in full clip throughout the evening. I am not sure where the clip was occurring, it could have been the sub feed from the Karaoke system they brought in. Either way it was audibly distorted. I am very glad I had ear plugs in. Especially when the feedback started. It was not momentary feedback.

The second day started with the wireless microphone failing and needing to be replaced 10 minutes into the first session. Yes, ten minutes. Then came more feedback. It got to to the point where the presenters were making fun of the audio quality. Yes, from the stage talent was making comments about the system performance. It obviously was not the first time these problems have occurred.

The same issues occurred on the 2nd day of the event. So rather than hash through all of the issues, you can read the tweet stream at the previous blog post (Tweets against the audio machinery).

That night there was a concert with Louden Swain. There was no music audio system, it was the same system as the rest of the convention. Many times the stage volume overwhelmed the public address system. The talent was actually adjusting the aiming of the speakers to improve the sound and I think they did a decent job.

After the concert there was a limited attendance event, with a separate PA system that I believe was brought in by the DJ for the event. This system was able to keep up much better, not only was the room smaller the equipment was more suited to the use. The system was two Self powered 15, two-way system with a maximum output of 132 dB. It was much better not just for voice but for music as well.

The third day was much the same in terms of performance. However the issues with the monitors and feedback got to be so bad it was comical. One panelist asked if they were going deaf as they could not hear a single question, the audience started relaying the questions for them. During a two person panel, the talent heard so much feedback they started doing synchronized microphone movements “ringing out” the monitors to try to fix the issue. At one point during a break in the panels, feedback rang out with no talent or microphone on stage. It was so loud and painful that guests were screaming from fear and pain.

The reason I bring these up is that the audio and video system actually impacted the guest experience. No one there other than the wife knew what I do, and yet there were still conversations going on around me about the problems with the audio and video. People were talking about how bad it was, why were there so many problems, this convention happens multiple times…etc. The event became a caricature of poor audio and cheap conventions.

Many of the problems could have been avoided simply by selecting different equipment. The equipment was reputable just not the right selections for the room and use. This convention is a key example where renting a good system for the space would have greatly improved the experience. I am not naive and realize that this event is for profit and realize that by reducing the equipment costs means more profits. The fact that tickets ranged from US$650 to US$150 for all three days plus additional fees for the autographs and picture opportunities makes me feel like the frugality is unwarranted.

As some of you who follow my Twitter feed, I went to a fan convention with the wife last week. I am still gathering my thoughts and writing a blog post about the experience. However I wanted to gather all of the Tweets together in one location for those that might has missed some of the experience. So presented in chronological order and unedited are my Tweets about the event. Dates and times are Pacific Standard.

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21 November 2013 20:12

For those of you who think my twitter stream is eclectic, brace yourself.

@GentlyMad is taking me to a fan convention for Supernatural…

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21 November 2013 20:15

For those of you following along the link is http://t.co/r9p51GywY3 i am looking forward to meeting @feliciaday the rest is unknown.

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21 November 2013 20:24

1st tweet of #BURCON, waited in line to register and @GentlyMad’s not available yet. Could have still been drinking, watching hockey.

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22 November 2013 12:27

Instead of listening to @AVNationTV live podcast @GentlyMad has taken me to #BURCON and the video is out of focus

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22 November 2013 14:39

Must resist urge to go tweak audio  at this #BURCON event. I think @GentlyMad would kick me if i did. Must restrain myself….

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22 November 2013 14:59

#AVtweeps how often do you change batteries at panel event? Wireless drop outs, understandable but thinking wired for question mics

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22 November 2013 16:20

So at #BURCON with @GentlyMad watching video mistakes and listening to drop outs. Feel bad to be making light of other people’s problems…

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22 November 2013 16:30

So this session is being brought to you  without a compressor or de-esser. Must resist the urge to go fix the mix… Hope not someone i know

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22 November 2013 16:48

More guest audio in the stage monitor and perhaps less level in the house to make people talk louder #BURCON

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22 November 2013 16:54

Current play back method is presenter holding speaker to microphone from  MP3 player. presenter had it, was planning to use. Line in please.

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22 November 2013 19:29

#BurCon Day 1 is almost done, a karaoke dance party to go. I really hope they bring in an audio music system and not use the voice system.

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22 November 2013 21:53

@cabbey yes #BURCON is using speech system for music/karaoke system. No subwoofer and no punch.

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22 November 2013 22:01

Earplugs firmly in place. Much needed. Audio system: All CLIP all the time at #BURCON

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22 November 2013 22:25

I really enjoy the 60Hz waterfall on the video as well. Man av at its finest

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22 November 2013 23:09

If you can’t ride a fader to prevent feedback in the house system at #BURCON i can recommend some feedback suppressors.

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22 November 2013 23:10

Hey #BURCON why have the stage lights so low? Photography is allowed why not allow the patrons to get good shots?

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22 November 2013 23:11

Yes Snarky Mode is activated. @GentlyMad said it was allowed as long as i take pictures.

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22 November 2013 23:20

Well clipping for hours has got to be good for drivers

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22 November 2013 23:43

I know the purpose of reverb and autotune, it should be used on karaoke, unfortunately it is not being used at #BURCON. Ah ear plugs.

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23 November 2013 10:27

Realy #BurCon the wireless mic died 10 minutes into the first session. Then feedback. Now people making fun of audio.

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23 November 2013 10:39

You know the audio is a problem when @GentlyMad is looking at me knowing i want to fix it…..

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23 November 2013 12:36

#AVtweeps just a friendly reminder, don’t skimp on audio monitors. Difficult to watch #BURCON talent comment on audio on stage.

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23 November 2013 13:14

#BurCon audio hits continue. 60Hz hum is louder than talent. It just started…. Hmmmmmmmmmm @GentlyMad is amazed i haven’t clawed ears off.

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23 November 2013 13:21

Now #BurCon talent needs to walk off stage to hand mic to audience questions. SPL keeps going up to point of ringing and slapback is louder.

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23 November 2013 14:05

@brockmcginnis nope it is a live fan convention so it is the production staff. When talent makes fun of audio & video…. Well ……..

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23 November 2013 14:27

@brockmcginnis yes i agree i should not slag people but the system they are using is showing its wrinkles and uncut rough edges.

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23 November 2013 15:52

Best line at #burcon so far, something i swear @GentlyMad would say. “I just threw my microphone cozy at him.” By @dicksp8jr  (windscreen)

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23 November 2013 16:42

there are these things called mute buttons on audio consoles. the team at #BURCON should use them as @GentlyMad is asking me questions…

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23 November 2013 17:07

Literally the house left of the PA @ #burcon was no content just ground hum. Now feedback and ringing….  Sigh

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23 November 2013 17:51

More audience in the monitors please #BurCon the talent can’t hear the questions. Sigh

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23 November 2013 22:29

Tonight’s #BurCon question. Will @loudonswain have a PA or just the voice system. Any guesses

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23 November 2013 22:49

For those of you scoring at home, and those that are alone, there is no Music PA. Just feedback, stage volume and voice PA for vocals.

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23 November 2013 22:49

But i have @GentlyMad and a camera plus some cool @BorrowLenses glass so it is still all good.

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23 November 2013 22:53

@mattcohen4real is doing a good job tweaking the speakers at #BurCon @GentlyMad says i can’t help. Really on both counts

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24 November 2013 00:25

PA at #BurCon after party is much better than the main system. Amazing what happens when system matches  use. There is low end and headroom!

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24 November 2013 14:37

No @feliciaday you are not deaf, the audio system @ #BurCon is not keeping up. I know it can be better….. Sigh

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24 November 2013 19:53

#burcon really could use a high pass filter on the microphone. It is so boomy i am putting in ear plugs…. Things i do for @GentlyMad

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24 November 2013 20:28

Appropriatte way to end #BurCon, dead microphone…. 2 minutes into panel

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25 November 2013 18:57

@brockmcginnis @rAVeBlogSquad @stillbeingmolly i will be writing up a blog post about production at #BurCon & how it impacted event for all

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I started wearing a tie to work in late February of 2013 and people are commenting, but not asking. So far only one person has asked me why I was wearing the tie. What is interesting is who asked me. The General Manager of my business unit, in other terms basically the brand president. Given how often he and I are in the office at the same time, he at first thought it was just that I had a client meeting.

I had just changed roles in the company, but he knew that wasn’t a reason for the change as the division has the same basic dress code. So the question was “Dude, why are you wearing a tie?”

The answer can be fairly simple of “Dress for the job you want.” I thought showing up as The Dark Knight Batman could be a little awkward. The better answer is multifaceted and has personal and professional overtones but figure you as my loyal reader would want to know the story.

Over the past year I have put on weight as my exercise fell in to oblivion. I got squishy and my clothes became unflattering. That kind of becomes a circle of feed back. So I finally decided to stop the loop and purchased more flattering clothes. I liked the idea of a tie to allow some expression and style.

I had a day at the office that I knew was going to require heightened focus, so I figured follow the cliche of dress for success. It worked better than I thought. I was pleasantly surprised when I found I had time for my usual Starbucks break midday and still left on time. I tried it a few more times and it worked very well.

So my answer to the GM, “it helps me get more done and people treat me more seriously. I also want to continue growing.” He was supportive and chuckled about the Batman comment.

A friend of mine has an aphorism of “Assume the virtue”. I think that sums it up. I assume the virtue of valuable employee by putting on the work costume, the more formal clothes. It allows me to both focus on work and also allow me to leave work more easily. Not just physically, but mentally as well. When I loosen the tie, I loosen up as well and work is done.

I did not realize how much the change had happened until about a week ago. I had to do remote support for an audio installation on the weekend. I could have done it at home, but I decided to go into the office. I still dressed for work, not the full work costume but still casual Friday level. After the session I was able to go home and change clothes and leave work behind for the short weekend.

Assume the virtue my friends. Give it a try, I think you will be pleasantly surprised.

My faithful reader might remember that in August of 2009 I posted my Three Rules. These rules apply all the time, of course tempered by common sense. At the time I alluded to there being a fourth rule being considered. I am pleased to announce that after much testing and verifying that there is now a fourth rule.

The Four Rules are:

  1. I am not prejudiced, I hate everyone equally.
  2. Do not ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t do.
  3. If you are not sleeping with me, I don’t care who you are sleeping with.
  4. Don’t see anyone you work with, without their pants on.

Many people think I am being flippant with these Four Rules, but I can say that they have gotten me through life this far. I wish I could say I have followed these rules my whole life, but I did not crystallize them until I was in my 30’s. Now in my continuing effort to leave things (the World) better than I found it I am sharing my rules with you.

It seems like these don’t really make sense until you start thinking about them as they actually apply in daily life. Let’s take a look at each rule.

I am not prejudiced, I hate everyone equally.

This is my flippant or sarcastic approach to equality. I believe in treating people equally however as I have found from traveling, I dislike People. People are different than a Person. It does not matter their background, race, religion, creed, or gender they all annoy me. I see the Person for their behaviors and actions; that is what one should be judged on. People are all the same in my eyes, a Person might be different.

Do not ask anyone to do something you wouldn’t do.

This one applies in many situations and is very closely related to the “Golden Rule” of treating people like you would like to be treated. An easy example is the borrowing of money, do not ask someone to lend you an amount of money you would not be comfortable lending out. It can also apply to the work place, such as asking someone to work extra hours, if you wouldn’t do it why would you expect someone else to?

If you are not sleeping with me, I don’t care who you are sleeping with.

This one is not as straight forward as some of the other rules. However it still applies. It started with people gossiping about who was going out with whom. Relationships are hard enough why make it harder by gossiping about it. The additional application of this rule is toward LGBT couples. As long as things are between two consenting adults, why should it bother me. It is just the same to me as whether someone likes chocolate or vanilla ice cream. It is personnel preference and as long as you are not pushing your opinion on anyone why should I care?

 Don’t see anyone you work with, without their pants on

This rule also requires a lot of common sense. I think everyone understands this one, don’t bring personal relationships into the office. It makes things harder, there are always calls of nepotism as well. Also I use this rule to explain to people why I won’t share hotel rooms. In my opinion when traveling everyone needs a little privacy and sharing hotel rooms can prevent that from happening. If you and your partner are starting a business together, that would be excluded. It is key to remember that the word with is in there, couples can work for the same company just I would avoid being in the same project.

It is important for each person to find their own code and rules to live by. These Four Rules are my guideposts. They have gotten me this far, however remember to temper all things with thought.

I was watching the Mars Science Laboratory Lander (@MarsCuriosity) land and I thought about some of the discussions that had occurred during the NASA Social meeting to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Cape Canaveral. We had people from the launch teams join us for some discussions. One of the comments that @NASA_Caley made resonated with me, “There are 7 minutes of terror for landing. For launch, we had 44 minutes of terror.” She then went on to explain all the things that were thought of in the process of planning the route for Curiosity.

I am sure that my post will gloss over some things, but I am still reeling at how many things had to be accounted for.

Let’s say you want to send a projectile (Curiosity) from a source object (Earth) to a destination object (Mars), what do you need to consider. Well first you need to think about the location of the objects relative to each other so that you can point the projectile in the proper direction. But what is the right direction?

If the two objects are stationary it is pretty easy, just aim from one toward the other. If the objects are rotating at different speeds, it gets more challenging. The Earth revolves around the Sun in basically 365.25 days, Mars since it is farther away makes the same revolution in approximately 688 days. As a result the relative position of the two objects changes constantly. The knee-jerk reaction is to say to send the projectile when the two objects are closest to each other. So let’s declare two basic variables, location of source, location of destination.

Oh wait, that is really a more complex variable than those simple statements of source location and destination location would indicate. These objects are not just spinning around the star at the center of our solar system, they are also spinning around their own axis. Their axis and orbital paths are also not perpendicular or parallel to each other. So these locations are not in one plane with just X & Y coordinates but actually in three axises.

Seems to make sense, the locations relative to each other will be the shortest distance and the shortest travel time. Yes, travel time, a new variable. The travel time has to be accounted for as the objects will move relative to each other as the projectile travels from the source to the destination. The easiest way to think about it, is leading a target, many of us do it while playing video games, or shooting rubber bands at people. So you have to account for the amount of time to get from Point A to Point B while both points are moving. You definitely need to know the speed of the projectile to know the travel time.

The speed of the projectile is not a simple value, it is also another variable of the equation that needs to be considered. The obvious answer is to make things travel as fast as possible. However there is always a trade off. To make things move quickly requires lots of thrust. So you need to have more fuel to allow for more thrust. Fuel has mass which means that you need more fuel to get that mass in motion. The designers need to determine the proper balance between speed, launch weight, and time to travel to destination. Don’t forget to include the mass of the projectile in there. Hopefully the mass has been determined but it might still be in flux. Is that one variable or four variables? I would say it is three interrelated variables, as the designers will work within a mass budget. What about the time it takes to get up to speed? I guess we can just use average speed… that 44 minutes of launch is not that significant compared to the approximately 253 days and 14 hours of cruise. It is just 0.012002182215% of the total time. That is tongue in check.

While leaving Earth there are some other things to consider. Such as not hitting the International Space Station or other satellites. Plus one also has to consider the biggest satellite out there along the way, the Moon. We have to steer clear of that, and its gradational pull. Wait we can use its gravitational pull to speed us up some more or to adjust the course.

So as you can see just a little math.

This math was done and allowed for landing within 1.5 miles of the desired landing site after a journey of approximately 350,000,000 miles. Yes, they can do some adjustments in flight, but those have to be calculated as well. To put this in perspective  to get the same resolution you would need to land on a single human hair (0.04mm) from 14km (8.7 miles) and not hit anything, seen or unseen, during the flight.

Did you remember to compensate for the satellites going around Mars?

Pretty impressive. It isn’t rocket science, it is math and physics.

Faithful followers may have noticed that recently there has been a large amount of NASA and space related content from me. Some people think that this is new, in reality it has been an interest of mine for most of my life. One of the earliest experiences I can recall is watching the launch of the American half of Apollo-Soyuz in July of 1975. It is so clear to me, I even remember the room I was in at home down to the orange carpet.

My grandfather worked as a civilian  at Fort Monmouth as part of the U.S. Army Electronics Command (CECOM), my understanding was in the Electronics Technology Laboratory. I remember us building models of TIROS satellites and talking about how relay communication worked when I was younger. He would share all sorts of stories and technology with me. I even had a jumpsuit like an astronaut that either my mother of grandmother made me. I even remember taking my first plane trip when I was six years old to visit my aunt, uncle, and cousin in the Washington DC area to go to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. From that same summer I remember the MacNeil/Lehrer Report about the Viking landings in 1976. One of the few toys/game I miss from my youth was a puzzle I got at the Smithsonian Air and Space that showed all sorts of facts about flight and space. I used to put that puzzle together all the time. It was not just to put the puzzle together and see the pictures, it had text on it so I could read about the X-15, the Wright brothers, and things in between.

In the early 1980’s I was fanatically following the Space Shuttle Project. I clipped articles and read magazines and covered my walls in articles and pictures. One of the cool things was I once again went and visited my family in the Washington DC area. My aunt worked in the Department of Education and luckily for me happened to be in a shared building with NASA. So that day not only did I get to go to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum again, I also literally got to walk the halls of NASA. How cool was that. I remember looking at the pictures on the wall and being awe struck. The coolest thing was that my aunt found some posters for me of the Space Shuttle. I mean original when the external tank was white. I also did all the typical space fan things such as building model rockets purchasing telescopes and sky gazing. My grandfather coached me through some math puzzlement so I could learn more.

Then came high school, I can remember sitting in biology class when the Challenger explosion occurred. Literally down to which seat. It was a sad day.

Once NASA got flying again, college and girls started to fill my attention. I was still interested in technology I just did not have as much time. Unfortunately at that point space flight got to be “common place” and I was not following it as much day to day or project to project. Through my job as an audio integrator I got to work on projects at the KSC Visitor’s Center, including the Saturn V Experience. Since I was living in Florida I went to a few launches.

I still watched and read quite a bit about space and space flight, but more of history than current. I read and watched The Right Stuff, From the Earth to the Moon, Lost Moon … etc. So I never lost the interest, I just was not as actively studying it and following. Then a friend of mine got selected to take part in a NASA Tweetup Event for a launch. I started following space more and more. I subscribed to the NASA twitter streams. I started getting the daily news letter. I would stream NASA TV when hockey wasn’t on. It started creeping back in. Heck the last three books I have read are about space.

I kept entering for chances to take part in NASA Socials (the new name for tweetups as it is not just twitter). I kept on not getting selected, however I kept entering as hope spring eternal. Then came the one that I finally got picked for,”Celebrate Kennedy Space Center’s 50 Years of Human Spaceflight“. I would get to see the cool stuff you don’t get to see during the normal tours. I would get to go to the place where the program got off the ground. There was not a moment of hesitation I would be going, the hesitation was how would I pull it off.

The Lovely and Talented Wife (a.k.a. @GentlyMad) said she would help with the driving. Flying was cost prohibitive and driving approximately 20 hours each way on my own did not seem like a good idea.  But it was on, I told the boss I was taking three days off and off we went.

Now comes the back half, digging out from the 1,000+ pictures I took and trying to capture as much of the experience as I can in words. So in the new few days and weeks expect to see heavy amount of space content coming. I expect the trend to continue for a while. Actually to quote the L&T Wife, “I hope the space bug continues”. So if you will excuse me, I have to go pack for another business trip, upload some photos, review some photos, and watch Mars Curiosity landing coverage.


Originally posted: August 5, 2012

I recently was asked by one of my Twitter followers why I tweet once a day the date and to be nice to one another and to be polite. There are three reasons that I will share and the rest are conversations for later.

The first reason started during the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 events. I remembered how the world changed that day, but not just in the innocence and lives lost but for a brief period of time when everyone was nice to each other. I was not just the local community, it was wide spread to the country, and most of the world. I experienced it myself at Los Angeles Airport, LAX, the morning of Sept 14. I was on one of the first flights out of LAX. I arrived at the airport four hours before my flight. The place was packed. Security was tight, there were lines everywhere. However everyone was polite and nice. People in the line were sharing their food with strangers. There was no pushing and shoving or frustration at the security check point. Other than the huge time amount and long lines it was actually pleasant. People were nice to each other and for a few days, weeks, or months, the world was a better place in my not so humble opinion.

The second reason is that the Interwebs can easily become a repository of just negative things. I am guilty of it as well. Often people broadcast when bad things are happening and their dislike of a situation, person, or company. I am guilty of it with my rants about the NHL. However I tried to be polite about and nice to the person who was helping me, when I got help which was only once. See, I did it again. I try to be aware of it, it is part of the reason when I encounter problems I try to communicate directly with the parties involved. It is too easy for the dogpile effect to happen online, one person says something bad and then lots of other people chime in. It is nicer to allow the people a chance to fix the problem before broadcasting the issue. At times broadcasting the issue is a tool to try to get the issue fixed, but one should still be polite.

The third reason is that with how much I travel I see people behaving badly quite often. As an example I will use my most recent case of delayed baggage. When I arrived at my home airport, my luggage did not. This situation also happened to other people. What was interesting was watching a passenger yell at the gate agent about their luggage being delayed. The gate agent had nothing to do with the luggage being delayed. The luggage was delayed at O’Hare Airport in Chicago. The passenger was berating the person who could help them. Not the wisest thing ever. I got my bag a few hours later, I wonder if the “gentlemen” ever did…

Being nice to each other is just a way to make the world a better place for everyone.