I'm Nerdier Than You Are

[daedalus1]

I kept minor differences as one, the spacecraft is by name. So one for Soyuz and also not one for voskhod because it was just a stripped down vostok.
Also no Starliner because it didn't bring the crew home.
Next one is probably SLS in February.

[Nomadd]

Cool, thanks. I remember there was one of the earlier launches done completely obscured by fog (SN11, maybe?). All you could do hear was the Starship roaring up into the sky, and then the sound of an explosion, shortly followed by the sound of parts raining down. The next day they showed people collecting parts out of the wetlands. I guess you're not allowed to drive through those wetlands, but you can walk through them? In which case, I guess that'd limit the size and quantity of stuff you could bring back.

@ Nomadd -- what's the most interesting thing you ever made out of the re-purposed materials?

The big stuff was from SN8. About 400 pounds of pressure tanks recovered from the dunes at 0200. SpaceX borrowed the beer cooler for a block party later and forgot what the term "borrow" meant. I had to contact someone in authority to get it back.  NSF still has a chunk of Cat6 from SN10 somewhere that I used to wire up some of their early cameras.
 I don't remember where this screen grab is from, mine or somebody else's, but that's the tanks headed to the beach back then.
 I showed it all to the company and gave them a chance to object, but they said it was was all cool.
 SpaceX security, the Sheriff's dept. and Fish & Wildlife always left me alone for some reason. I think they were intimidated by my self assurance and rugged American good looks. That, and the collecting stuff at 0200 thing. I waited a month for them to pick up their junk before I started cleaning up.

[JAFO]

15 years ago I was writing for a RC airplane magazine, and just for the heck of it I looked up the requirements to be in the press pool for the last Shuttle missions. Even though it was a model airplane magazine I met the requirements (published track history with distributed print media), sent in an application expecting to get a TBNT letter, and was stunned to be accepted into the press pool for the STS-134 launch. I ended up going to the STS-134 launch and STS-135 landing. (BTW, RC airplanes did have a tie-in with the shuttle program  https://amablog.modelaircraft.org/amamuseum/2012/09/17/radio-controlled-747-and-space-shuttle-models/)

https://sts134launch.blogspot.com/






The day after the STS-134 launch while at the rollover of Atlantis I got to spend some time talking to Craig Couvault, the editor of AW&ST, which I used to ride my bike all the way across town every week to read in the '70s.

[sanman]

15 years ago I was writing for a model airplane magazine, and just for the heck of it I looked up the requirements to be in the press pool for the last Shuttle missions. Even though it was a model airplane magazine I met them (published track history with distributed print media). I sent in an application expecting to get a TBNT letter, and was stunned to be accepted into the press pool for the STS-134 launch, ended up going to the STS-134 launch and STS-135 landing.


The day after the STS-134 launch while at the rollover of Atlantis I got to spend some time talking to Craig Couvault, the editor of AW&ST, which I used to ride my bike all the way across town every week to read in the '70s.

Great story.

I used to read AW&ST all the time as a kid, since my dad would toss them to me, bringing them home from work. He wa a finance manager at a major airline, and they always subscribed to these publications. Just relating this to your autograph anecdote -- one of my father's favorite mementos was a photo taken of him at an industry conference. The photo was of him with the then chairman of Eastern Airlines (former Apollo 8 commander, Frank Borman). Dad told me that when the Apollo 11 moonlanding event coverage was going on, he'd stayed up for 2 days straight watching it.

[Eric Hedman]

15 years ago I was writing for a model airplane magazine, and just for the heck of it I looked up the requirements to be in the press pool for the last Shuttle missions. Even though it was a model airplane magazine I met them (published track history with distributed print media). I sent in an application expecting to get a TBNT letter, and was stunned to be accepted into the press pool for the STS-134 launch, ended up going to the STS-134 launch and STS-135 landing.


The day after the STS-134 launch while at the rollover of Atlantis I got to spend some time talking to Craig Couvault, the editor of AW&ST, which I used to ride my bike all the way across town every week to read in the '70s.

Great story.

I used to read AW&ST all the time as a kid, since my dad would toss them to me, bringing them home from work. He wa a finance manager at a major airline, and they always subscribed to these publications. Just relating this to your autograph anecdote -- one of my father's favorite mementos was a photo taken of him at an industry conference. The photo was of him with the then chairman of Eastern Airlines (former Apollo 8 commander, Frank Borman). Dad told me that when the Apollo 11 moonlanding event coverage was going on, he'd stayed up for 2 days straight watching it.

I got addicted to AW&ST in high school.  My school library had a subscription that usually arrived on a Monday or Tuesday and I was usually the first person to read it.  I always looked for the space articles first.  Craig Couvault was my favorite writer.  The school librarian was a pilot so I suspect he was the one that picked that magazine to subscribe to.  When I got to college, the engineering library had a subscription for me to catch up.

In grade school I was addicted to nerding out on space stuff.  I was making rockets from Estes kits and building models out of wood including a very rough copy of the spaceship from Lost in Space.  When the Milwaukee public museum had been loaned a Mercury capsule for display, I got to see it before it was shown to the public.  The assistant curator was a friend of my mom and I got to see it when they were preparing it for display in the back work room.  I got to stick me head inside of it.

I tried to keep one foot in the nerd camp and one in the non-nerd camp.  Both are fun.  In college after reading AW&ST, I would often go to the gym where I would play pickup basketball games often against guys on the football and basketball teams.  I used concepts of leverage to figure out how to box out 315 pound linemen.  It could be done.  A few of the guys I played in games with ended up in the NBA and the NFL.  I always liked the balance.

[Oersted]

Quiz time, fellow nerds!

I saw these stickers in a bar yesterday:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ylerggvfx2q66wex23vor/AJFR4PPyTqp8K0AOV_2ehIE?rlkey=jo4w35tx8uqajp0nrgdwfna1v&st=ma69zcug&dl=0

- Where is the bar?

[sanman]

Quiz time, fellow nerds!

I saw these stickers in a bar yesterday:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ylerggvfx2q66wex23vor/AJFR4PPyTqp8K0AOV_2ehIE?rlkey=jo4w35tx8uqajp0nrgdwfna1v&st=ma69zcug&dl=0

- Where is the bar?

No idea. I see what look to be some mission patches, as well as national flags, etc. But I can't see anything I can use as a clue to answer the question.

That being said, I then cheated and used Google's AI (coz that's a nerd thing to do), which gave the following answer:

[spoiler]
AI Overview

The image shows a collection of stickers, some of which appear to be related to aviation and military units, displayed on a surface, possibly a door or panel, within a bar setting. Several stickers feature logos and insignias, including those of the Canadian Armed Forces, NATO, and various air force units. Some notable stickers include:
Canadian Armed Forces:
Stickers with the Canadian flag and maple leaf symbol, indicating Canadian military involvement.
NATO:
Stickers featuring the NATO star, representing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Air Force Units:
Various stickers with insignias and emblems of different air force squadrons and units.
Aviation-related:
Stickers depicting aircraft, wings, and aviation terminology, suggesting a connection to flight and air operations.
"Get Loaded" Sticker:
This sticker is an emblem of the 421 Tactical Fighter Squadron, a unit of the Canadian Forces.
"Gasolina" Sticker:
This sticker may be associated with the gasoline brand of the same name, or it could be related to aviation fuel.
"Magmod" Sticker:
The meaning of this sticker is unclear without further context, but it could refer to a specific project, operation, or unit.
"AJMN" Sticker:
This sticker is an emblem of the Air Command, which is the operational element of the Canadian Air Force.
"Hellwach" Sticker:
The term "hellwach" is German for "wide awake" or "alert." This sticker might be associated with a unit or operation that required vigilance or alertness.
"Ops" Sticker:
This sticker likely refers to "operations," indicating involvement in military or aviation operations.
The presence of these stickers in a bar setting could suggest that the establishment is frequented by individuals with connections to aviation or the military, or it could be a themed bar with decor related to these fields. The stickers serve as mementos, unit identifiers, or expressions of affiliation, adding a unique character to the bar's ambiance.

[/spoiler]

Still didn't come up with a definitive name or location.

Is the location perhaps somewhere in Europe? Or else in Canada?
(Sorry, I don't know where Canadian forces are stationed in Europe)

[sanman]

I got addicted to AW&ST in high school.  My school library had a subscription that usually arrived on a Monday or Tuesday and I was usually the first person to read it.  I always looked for the space articles first.  Craig Couvault was my favorite writer.  The school librarian was a pilot so I suspect he was the one that picked that magazine to subscribe to.  When I got to college, the engineering library had a subscription for me to catch up.

In grade school I was addicted to nerding out on space stuff.  I was making rockets from Estes kits and building models out of wood including a very rough copy of the spaceship from Lost in Space.  When the Milwaukee public museum had been loaned a Mercury capsule for display, I got to see it before it was shown to the public.  The assistant curator was a friend of my mom and I got to see it when they were preparing it for display in the back work room.  I got to stick me head inside of it.

I too used to launch those Estes rockets, buying the motors from the local hobby shop, and ignition-battery from the local hardware store. The stupid model I had, used the battery as the launch pedestal, with this thin blast plate sitting on top of the battery, as a supposed shield to keep the rocket motor flame exhaust from penetrating the battery and its casing.
Product liability lawyers must have been salivating over this.

I'd go over to the schoolyard after hours or on weekends, when it was empty, to launch rocket from a clear space. One time I had to pester the school superintendant to retrieve it off the roof when it got stuck up there. Who can really account for wind drift when wind conditions can be different higher up?

I tried to keep one foot in the nerd camp and one in the non-nerd camp.  Both are fun.  In college after reading AW&ST, I would often go to the gym where I would play pickup basketball games often against guys on the football and basketball teams.  I used concepts of leverage to figure out how to box out 315 pound linemen.  It could be done.  A few of the guys I played in games with ended up in the NBA and the NFL.  I always liked the balance.

My brother was more like that, because he had a more athletic build like my father, whereas I had a more slight build like my mother. I was more of a bookworm, so that my father would occasionally _(frequently) express concern to me over not being an "all rounder" like my brother, who could do math, music, and sports, and was outperforming me while being a few years younger. Dad bought us the Weider weight set when I was 10, but while my brother was able to use it to good effect, it didn't seem to have all that much effect on me. Perhaps it was because my brother also played highschool football and all kinds of other sports which I didn't. _{(it was genetics)}

I still have to agree that the "all-rounder" is best, especially for the early period of space exploration & colonization where things will be more uncertain. Apollo astronauts were tested for their physical as well as mental characteristics. Society likes 'all-rounders" because they are more resliient in a greater variety of situations, and space is an unforgiving environment - especially if you're a long way from home.

[LittleBird]

Candidates for my (many) nerdiest moments would include:

1. Ordering the first USGS/JPL Mariner 9 Map of Mars, aged about 10, sending off from UK after seeing it mentioned in Telegraph ... and then ruining it by drawing landing sites for Viking etc on it, later on. So I recently got a fresh one ... https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2568057149/view

2. Joining the BIS in late 73, when  11 1/2 ish. First issue of Spaceflight I saw was Oct 73 ... most impressed by this guy Baker, who was evidently an insider of some sort .. though not by that Michaud bloke ... what did he know [*] ;-) ... no internet fact checking in those days ...

3. Seeing the Apollo 17 preliminary science report reviewed in Spaceflight i  iirc early 74 [Edit: Jan 75, p.36 in fact, reviewer thought it had been designed "to make its scientific content digestible at all levels"  ..., well, there's no harm in being stretched ;-)] .. writing off with another IMO or similar ... and then receiving a few months later a rather weightier tome than I'd anticipated. Probably the first actual scientific papers I'd ever seen. Treasured possession nowadays ... pics were nice ...

4. Buying a NASA patch from HJP Arnold's Space Frontiers ... and sewing it to my jeans ...

5. Trying to work out how far light travelled in a year with a hand cranked calculator in school ...

6. Watching ASTP lift offs on my Gran's colour TV with the press kit cadged from a friendly NASA PA office.

7. Reading in Brooke Bond cards circa 1971 that a manned Mars landing would occur in 1986 and asking a school friend if I could come and see it at his house if we hadn't yet got a colour TV ...

8. Reading 2001 aged about 10 ... for a few hours I *was* David Bowman ...

Etc etc etc.

(* http://michaelagmichaud.com/index.html   

Author of over one hundred published works, Michael Michaud was a U.S. Foreign Service officer for 32 years before turning full time to writing.  During his diplomatic career, he served as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Science and Technology, Director of the State Department’s Office of Advanced Technology, Minister-Counselor for Environment, Science, and Technology at the American Embassy in Tokyo, and as Counselor for Environment, Science, and Technology at the American Embassy in Paris.  His earlier overseas assignments were Consul-General in Belfast, Information Officer in Bombay, Political and later Economic Officer in Tehran, and Vice-Consul in Dacca.  In Washington, he served as country officer for Iran, Australia and Papua New Guinea, and the United Kingdom.  He also worked in the Bureaus of Political-Military Affairs, Intelligence and Research, and Personnel.

            Michaud led the successful negotiation of a new science and technology agreement between the United States and Poland, and of a new transportation science and technology agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.  He played a major role in the negotiation of a new space cooperation agreement between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.  He was one of the initiators of U.S.-Soviet anti-satellite arms control negotiations and served on the U.S. delegation.  He represented the Department of State many times in interagency space policy forums and testified before Congressional committees four times on space-related issues.

 )

[Old Newtonian]

Quiz time, fellow nerds!

I saw these stickers in a bar yesterday:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ylerggvfx2q66wex23vor/AJFR4PPyTqp8K0AOV_2ehIE?rlkey=jo4w35tx8uqajp0nrgdwfna1v&st=ma69zcug&dl=0

- Where is the bar?

Looks to be Central Pub, Vila do Porto, Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal.

Nerds are lucky to be able to focus on the swag; non-nerds probably get occasional troubling flashbacks to the anthropomorphic bar stools.

[Oersted]

Quiz time, fellow nerds!

I saw these stickers in a bar yesterday:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ylerggvfx2q66wex23vor/AJFR4PPyTqp8K0AOV_2ehIE?rlkey=jo4w35tx8uqajp0nrgdwfna1v&st=ma69zcug&dl=0

- Where is the bar?

Looks to be Central Pub, Vila do Porto, Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal.

Nerds are lucky to be able to focus on the swag; non-nerds probably get occasional troubling flashbacks to the anthropomorphic bar stools.

Indeed it is. I was there this Friday.

Lovely little island. Did you go there?

Yeah, those bar stools are quite weird!

[sanman]

When the Canadian Space Agency was created the government put an ad in the Careers section of one of Canada’s newspapers looking for a Director to head the agency….i applied, knowing full well I had zero minus infinity chance of getting the job…I was hoping for a rejection letter I could frame…didn’t get it but at least I tried.

No worries - more countries are going to space, and so the maple leaf will be on the Moon in due time. It'll be orbiting it on the robot arm for the Lunar Orbital Gateway, barring a major change of plans.

Oh hell, I jinxed that one, didn't I? 

Oh well, onward and upward.

[Eric Hedman]

When the Canadian Space Agency was created the government put an ad in the Careers section of one of Canada’s newspapers looking for a Director to head the agency….i applied, knowing full well I had zero minus infinity chance of getting the job…I was hoping for a rejection letter I could frame…didn’t get it but at least I tried.

No worries - more countries are going to space, and so the maple leaf will be on the Moon in due time. It'll be orbiting it on the robot arm for the Lunar Orbital Gateway, barring a major change of plans.

Oh hell, I jinxed that one, didn't I? 

Oh well, onward and upward.

Yes you did jinx that one.

[laszlo]

Looks to be Central Pub, Vila do Porto, Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal.

Nerds are lucky to be able to focus on the swag; non-nerds probably get occasional troubling flashbacks to the anthropomorphic bar stools.

Indeed it is. I was there this Friday.

Lovely little island. Did you go there?

Yeah, those bar stools are quite weird!

Looks like jean-splicing technology gone wrong

[AmigaClone]

Looks to be Central Pub, Vila do Porto, Santa Maria, Azores, Portugal.

Nerds are lucky to be able to focus on the swag; non-nerds probably get occasional troubling flashbacks to the anthropomorphic bar stools.

Indeed it is. I was there this Friday.

Lovely little island. Did you go there?

Yeah, those bar stools are quite weird!

Looks like jean-splicing technology gone wrong

I have seen similarly themed bar stools on the internet,

[Lee Jay]

I learned to solder at the age of four building a Heathkit alarm clock with my Dad.
I won an award in preschool for being able to identify any plane that flew over.
I built my first model rocket at age 7 and my first R/C airplane at age 16.  I was all-electric in R/C starting in 1986 when it was hard.
I've spent 3 decades doing science at a national lab.
I've never had a cup of coffee or alcoholic beverage.  My beverage splurge is a root beer float on my birthday.

[sanman]

I learned to solder at the age of four building a Heathkit alarm clock with my Dad.
I won an award in preschool for being able to identify any plane that flew over.
I built my first model rocket at age 7 and my first R/C airplane at age 16.  I was all-electric in R/C starting in 1986 when it was hard.

I was already past balsa wood and rubber bands by then, but only dreaming about R/C without doing it.
The PC craze was well underway, and that sucked in a lot of creative attentions.
Did you have a PC growing up as a kid? I started with the Commodore VIC-20, then quickly upgraded to the Commodore64, and by 1986 to the IBM PC AT.

I've spent 3 decades doing science at a national lab.

That's marvelous - may I ask which one? I had an uncle who worked at Argonne, and then later Los Alamos.
(Or, if that's too private, then which field?)

I've never had a cup of coffee or alcoholic beverage.  My beverage splurge is a root beer float on my birthday.

Interesting you should mention that. I too strictly stay away from drinking coffee, and on the rare occasions that I do have a cup, it has a strong effect on me, giving me heightened awareness and making me chatty and precocious like a kid. (I literally feel a "high" coming on after drinking it. "High on coffee" sounds pretty nerdy, I must admit.) 
I'll also admit that some sample lady at the local supermarket recently handed me a jar of the stuff, which I don't normally purchase, but won't throw away or waste - and that may be the reason behind the existence of this thread and some other posts I've recently made.

(Sure, I do occasionally drink alcohol - in more social settings or social occasions, where it does have a similar effect minus the awareness - but I don't just sit around drinking it at home around the house on my own.)

[rpapo]

I fell in love with computers with my very first college level course (a one-credit introduction to FORTRAN and punch-cards), and wound up buying time on the university system the next term in order to play around.  Later that year (1977), I got a job at Radio Shack, and was there when they announced the TRS-80.  I wound up being my store's fourth customer for one.  I must have spent half what I earned at that store on things they sold.  I had to sneak the computer into the house since I knew my parents would not approve of me spending so much money on what they would think of as a toy.  They were quite "frugal", having grown up during the Great Depression and WW2.

In any case, I was the only guy in my school of engineering with a PC of any sort, and took full advantage of the fact.  Even if it was only an 8-bit Z-80 running at less than 2MHz with 48K of RAM.  But I bought a small flatbed plotter and wrote a driver to intercept the printer output and convert it to plotter commands.  The result was some pretty nice multicolor plots for my term projects.  I wound up turning one project in composed entirely of computer output (printouts and plots).  The next year I asked the professor if I could have it back for my portfolio, but he said that wasn't possible.  It was against school policy, and besides, they were up for accreditation, and he kept it to show off as an example of a "typical student's work".

[Lee Jay]

I learned to solder at the age of four building a Heathkit alarm clock with my Dad.
I won an award in preschool for being able to identify any plane that flew over.
I built my first model rocket at age 7 and my first R/C airplane at age 16.  I was all-electric in R/C starting in 1986 when it was hard.

I was already past balsa wood and rubber bands by then, but only dreaming about R/C without doing it.
The PC craze was well underway, and that sucked in a lot of creative attentions.
Did you have a PC growing up as a kid? I started with the Commodore VIC-20, then quickly upgraded to the Commodore64, and by 1986 to the IBM PC AT.

Atari 400 - Atari 800 XL - PC 286/10 - PC 486DX-50 - etc...

I've spent 3 decades doing science at a national lab.

That's marvelous - may I ask which one? I had an uncle who worked at Argonne, and then later Los Alamos.
(Or, if that's too private, then which field?)

NREL.

I've never had a cup of coffee or alcoholic beverage.  My beverage splurge is a root beer float on my birthday.

Interesting you should mention that. I too strictly stay away from drinking coffee, and on the rare occasions that I do have a cup, it has a strong effect on me, giving me heightened awareness and making me chatty and precocious like a kid. (I literally feel a "high" coming on after drinking it. "High on coffee" sounds pretty nerdy, I must admit.) 

Coffee literally smells like dirty diapers to me - and I have two kids so I know what that smells like.

I once accidentally had a cup of non-decaffeinated tea and I thought I was going to die.  I lied in bed for 12 hours with head-to-toe body shakes and a racing heart.

I'll also admit that some sample lady at the local supermarket recently handed me a jar of the stuff, which I don't normally purchase, but won't throw away or waste - and that may be the reason behind the existence of this thread and some other posts I've recently made.

(Sure, I do occasionally drink alcohol - in more social settings or social occasions, where it does have a similar effect minus the awareness - but I don't just sit around drinking it at home around the house on my own.)

I've sampled some alcoholic beverages.  They smell like gasoline and taste worse to me.  It's probably the same condition that makes coffee smell that way to me (Parosmia).

[ChrisC]

I had the Commodore 1541 calibration kit and used it many times.  Click, click, click ...

At a temp assignment one college summer where my job was basically just supporting the lead accountant, doing things like sorting RMA slips, I ingratiated myself with the greybeard who ran the IBM mainframe (System/370 maybe?), and he let me do some mindless data entry.  Some of it was truly mindless, like sequential numbers or something, so when he wasn't looking I dug into the binders (a whole wall of them), found the registers that the DB was using, and automated it.  As is typical with most such efforts, automating it absolutely took WAY more time than if I had just mindlessly typed it in, and absolutely ran the risk of corrupting the entire database.  But where's the fun in that?

At another such job I worked in the tape library adjacent to the mainframe room.  The greatest thrill was when they let me in on the console to type in the commands that reprioritized up some VIP's batch job.

I spent a ridiculous amount of money on a 12 MHz "zero wait state" PC/AT clone.

At the time, teenaged me already knew that computers would take over ALL technical fields, and thus I did NOT want to major in Comp Sci, rather some other engineering sector, since I knew I'd work with them plenty.