Archive for August, 2012

Dynamos

by JJW on 08/28/2012 in Photography with No comments

The United Space School went out to a Houston Dynamos game. It was a lot of fun. Continue reading →

UTMB and Space Politics

by JJW on 08/28/2012 in Public Service Announcements with No comments

Here are the USS students at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston where we went for a field trip. We learnt a lot about biology, what is life, psychology, and other human-related topics concerned with going to Mars. Continue reading →

HMNS

by JJW on 08/27/2012 in Photography with No comments

While at United Space School we went on a field trip to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. There was a lot of space stuff and a lot of oil industry stuff. But the real attraction for me was the Hall of Paleontology. It was simply amazing. Continue reading →

Update

by JJW on 08/22/2012 in Public Service Announcements with No comments

I am alive.

San Francisco was amazing.

Back at work and really busy.

Been re-acclimatising to Wellington weather. Gross.

Will be posting photos and tales shortly. In the meantime I am gearing up for Bird of the Year.

USS on NZ radio

by JJW on 08/05/2012 in Coverage with No comments

Last week the lovely people from Community Radio Hamilton interviewed me about United Space School. Here is the MP3.

Flying over Houston

by JJW on 08/04/2012 in Photography with No comments

One of the board members for the Foundation for International Space Education, Jeevan Perera, took Ben, Sinead, two of the students who he is hosting Alex Carney and Montse Cordero, and I night flying over Houston.

One word: absolutely-mind-blowingly-crazy-amazing-awesome-times-a-million. Continue reading →

Jackson and Ben go shooting

by JJW on 08/04/2012 in Photography with No comments

Guns are an integral part of the American psyche. Try explaining to a Texan how hard to obtain a handgun in New Zealand (or Europe) and they’ll look at you blankly and say “That’s so weird”. Then again, they can walk into Walmart buy their groceries, booze prescription meds, and pick up a rifle all in the same place.

Guns are horrible things. Don’t get me wrong. I would never own a gun and I will probably never shoot one again. However, when in Texas it is part of the cultural experience to shoot a gun.

So Ben and I went shooting at an indoor firing range close to where we are staying in League City. We hired a 40 calibre Glock semi-automatic handgun with a clip that holds 12 rounds.


Continue reading →