While I think that the research at Ames itself is very worthwhile, I recently learned yet two more delicious examples of why the research being under the direct purview of big government is silly:  It turns out that if, in the course of a government project, you invent something that... [Read More]

Another “my day has been consumed by Ames so that is all I have to write about” post: Here’s a thought to chew on – is one of NASA’s problems that it’s actually doing too many awesome things? I might be wrong, but the perception of many Americans seems to... [Read More]

Some first-day-at-Ames related observations:  It’s really a testament to the productivity of the actual engineers and scientists at NASA that despite the ever-increasing amount of government imposed slogging, they have managed to keep turning out awesome things (did you know there was a plane with a telescope coming out of... [Read More]

A tale of incentives and innovation generated by post-travel-pre-Ames rushing:  Today I got a bike from a startup that rents out bikes that need a home over the summer. It’s inefficiency destroying and thus full of win:  I win because I get a nice bike for the summer with all... [Read More]

I passed my A exam (yay!) and made it to California (yay!) and am utterly exhausted (boo!) The reason I’m out here is to work at the NASA Ames Research Center. Few people realize there’s a NASA facility right next to Google. The Google culture seems to be infectious, from... [Read More]