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Comment by Savan Becker on March 11, 2012 at 11:14pm

7 Days Left - Please vote daily and keep me in the Final 5...!

   http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

"So Say We All...!"

- S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 10, 2012 at 11:31pm

Space Race 2012 – 8 Days Left – Keep Clicking…..!

Colonials –

I’m still in 4th place – and there’s 8 days left!  That’s just 8 more clicks apiece for you, your family, your friends, Cylons and even Daggits ;)

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

One thing that’s really awesome is how supportive and interested the parents, teachers and students at my sons’ school are about this.  Last week I was asked to give an introductory lesson on space to youngest’s 1^st grade class.  I mentioned to his teacher that I am more apprehensive talking to kids about space than being on TV, since the kids typically have tougher questions.  When I showed up on Friday, it was two first grade classes plus my older son’s (whose nickname is “Starbuck”) third grade class.  The kids didn’t disappoint me.  We talked mainly about the planets of our solar system (they even knew that Pluto had been demoted).  But, beyond that, they wanted to know plenty of other things like:

-          How is a black hole made?

-          Can we see black holes?

-          Do black holes take us to other dimensions?

-          Are asteroids pieces of planets that broke apart?

Very smart kids, and very cool questions.  We wrapped up the class by looking at the prized possession of my “rock” collection – a fragment of an SNC meteorite from Mars.  It was the greatest thing to see how genuinely excited they – and even the teachers were – about touching it.  And, I told them that one day they had to go to Mars themselves, and bring back an even bigger piece.

We’ll have an even cooler lesson if I can make it up there.

Thanks for your continued support!

“So Say We All…!”

-              S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 9, 2012 at 10:20pm

Colonials –

I’m still in 4th place – thanks for helping me maintain position!  Only 9 days left – please keep voting daily so I can stay in the Final 5!

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

Many, many thanks to Dan for sending word to Fred Armisen and the folks that work on IFC’s Portlandia  (http://www.ifc.com/shows/portlandia).  Let’s see if their Twitter support can help me move forward:

     http://twitter.com/#!/ifcportlandia/status/177799935671013377

BSG and Portlandia - talk about six degrees of separation…!  It’s so surreal and cool to be at such an intersection…!

Also, for more background, the 70th Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) Wing published an article on me on their website:

     http://www.70isrw.af.mil/

     http://www.70isrw.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123293168

Till next time - please keep voting, and spreading the word! 

“So Say We All…!”

-              S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 7, 2012 at 10:04pm

Space Race 2012 – In 4th Place…! – 11 More Days – Please Keep Voting

Colonials –

I’m in 4th place, and still in the game!  But, there are 11 days left of voting.  

Keep voting daily, and please ask friends and family to do the same.  I’d like to get back into the top 3!

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

BTW – a friend showed this to me the other day:

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWiHG7ji8YM

As a scientist, futurist, cyberpunk and SF geek – this is so wickedly cool to me….  

But – when we build cool things like intelligent quad rotor nanobots, we start to see them as toys and helpers, and invite them into our homes…

     When we invite them into our homes, we become complacent…

     When we become complacent, they become smarter…

     When they become smarter, they realize that *we* would make great pets.

     Once they realize we would make great pets, they evolve into Cylons, we are doomed and must leave the planet.

So – vote for me, and help us all begin to leave the planet.  Do not become the pets of Cylon precursor quadrotor nanobots:       

    http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

"So Say We All....!"

-    S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 6, 2012 at 9:06pm

Space Race 2012 - Aaaagh!!  - Slipped to 4^th Place! – Help!!!

Colonials! Help!! –

Please vote and get others to do the same!  I’ve slipped to 4^th place! 

I need your help – there are less than 2 weeks left.  Please help me regain ground – vote daily:

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

We’re too close… Please keep me in the Final 5!

 

"So Say We All...!"

-          S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 5, 2012 at 9:39pm

Colonials –

I’m still in 3^rd – thanks for the continued support!  Less than 2 weeks left….  Please continue to vote daily and spread the word!

http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

People have been asking me what I’m going to do in the 6 minutes of weightlessness…  I told someone that for the first minute I’d probably be afraid I was going to wake up at any moment.  For the second minute, I’d take pictures…  Third and fourth minutes – video.  Fifth and sixth minutes – I’d float, look down at the Earth and out into space, soak it in, thank God for the opportunity.  And try to commit each detail to memory so I could share every facet of the experience with my boys when I got back.

Someone also asked about the first momentous words uttered once I get there.  I’d like to think they will be something philosophical, and deep.  In all likelihood, they will more closely resemble the words I kept screaming after jumping out of a plane:  “Holy &#@$% this is so *&#$@$-in’ awesome!!!!!”

“So Say We All…!”

 

-          S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 4, 2012 at 8:52pm

Daniel –

Will do!  Thank you!  And, the Alliance and the Fanclub will definitely receive my thanks if I win – on TV if I can help it!

 

-          S.

Comment by Savan Becker on March 4, 2012 at 8:50pm

Colonials –

Thanks you for the continued support.  I’m still in 3^rd place!!  There are 2 weeks left - please help move me up!  Vote daily:

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

Thinking about the possibility of finally making it into space has had me reflecting on all the little things that kept that desire alive while I was growing up.  I was a kid in the 1970s…  that period during which we were waiting for the Space Shuttle to launch.  Not much U.S. human spaceflight going on at the time.  Science fiction filled the gap. 

We didn’t go to the movies all the time when I was little.  But, my dad would make it a point to take me to the premieres of every major SF movie that came out.  Back then - in movie theaters that typically only showed one film at a time - the opening night was a big deal.   When he could, he would take me to theaters on Broadway – since opening night was even more of a special occasion there.  That’s when they still sold movie programs at the theaters.  And sometimes there were special guests, or people dressed as characters from the movie, walking around to pose with fans in the lobby.  I remember going to see Star Wars, Buck Rogers, and Battlestar Galactica…. 

The Battlestar debut was especially memorable because … There was a Cyclon out front!  I was 7 years old, and my dad and I walked up and there was this tall, gleaming, figure with a single red LED eye that moved back and forth across a menacing helmet, and this laser rifle with a serrated blade at the muzzle.  It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen.  There was a staff member there, taking pictures with a Polaroid for a few dollars.  My dad knew that I needed to have a photo.  So – I posed next to that silent silver centurion, the photo “whirred” out, developed...  Then – the Cylon took out a felt pen and signed it - “Cylon” - in shaky script… 

I still have that photo, and the movie program – which Richard Hatch (Apollo) signed for me at DragonCon last year.  The guy that wore the suit that night was probably just doing it to make some a buck.  But – I’ll never forget the time my dad let me take a picture with a Cylon.

Just philosophical musings.  But – you never know what kind of impression you’re going to have on a kid.  I hope my boys remember small things like that, on their way to the moon or Mars.

Please keep voting daily and spreading the word!   Keep me in the Final 5!

“So Say We All…!”

-          S.

Stuyvesant H.S. - Class of 1988
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/USAF ROTC - Class of 1992
University of North Dakota Space Studies - Class of 2004

- Odenton Patch Article on my efforts to win the contest:

    http://odenton.patch.com/articles/local-man-competes-to-win-space-f.... 

-  WBFF Fox 45 Baltimore morning news interview (2 March 2012): 

   http://youtu.be/oPw0woz6O9U

Comment by Savan Becker on March 3, 2012 at 9:40pm

****Space Race 2012 - I’m in 3^rd Place!!! – Press for 1^st….!****

Colonials -

I went into this thinking my chances of breaking into the Final 5 were less than Starbuck being able to keep herself out of trouble for more than two episodes….  And you guys brought it home like the Arrow of Apollo :)

All I can say is I am amazed and humbled, and THANKS!  The support continues to be amazing.  Please, keep voting and keep spreading the word:

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

There are 15 Days Left!  Help me press toward 1^st Place!  I think we might really pull this off!

If you’d like to read some more about why I’m doing this, the Odenton Patch published a short article yesterday (http://odenton.patch.com/articles/local-man-competes-to-win-space-f...). 

There is also a newer version of the 2 March Fox 45 interview at:  http://youtu.be/oPw0woz6O9U

Till next time…  please keep voting daily – keep me in the Final 5! 

“So Say We All…!”

-          S.

Stuyvesant H.S. - Class of 1988
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/USAF ROTC - Class of 1992
University of North Dakota Space Studies - Class of 2004

Comment by Savan Becker on March 3, 2012 at 12:16am

Colonials -

Whatever you guys are doing, please keep it up!  I’ve moved into ***4^th place!!*** 

If I can maintain this position – or, better yet, gain some ground – I will have a 1 in 5 chance of winning the flight into space!

There are 16 days left - please keep voting and spreading the word!

     http://spacerace.herokuapp.com/entries/103

BTW - the Fox 45 Interview went great today – a lo-rez recording of the interview is on YouTube: http://youtu.be/5cr_F3-0d1k.

Thanks for the support – please keep voting daily – keep me in the Final 5! 

“So Say We All…!”

-          Savan

Stuyvesant H.S. - Class of 1988
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/USAF ROTC - Class of 1992
University of North Dakota Space Studies - Class of 2004

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