I have mastered a Wed site on plans for low-stress computer desks since 1995. We about 7 different plans for stand-up versions (search: WoodwareDesigns Standup). These plans are free to anyone with a physical challenge.

Standup desks are normally used by people with lower back problems that makes it painful to sit for long periods of time. They let the person easily move around every few minutes. Several of our designs are cheap and easy to build in one weekend. These let you test whether or not a standup is good for you.

We are currently working on a version for long-duration space flight (read: trip to Mars). This is a new approach that has just recently been made necessary by the new radiation data from LRO. If anyone is interested in this design concept, they can reach me through WoodwareDesigns.

Enjoy

Techies are not completely out of the Occupy Movement. Robonaut 1 is occupying the International Space Station in a effort to obtain personhood for his kind. He is currently camped out in a storage area on the ISS but without power or communication links Robonaut has been completely ignored by the media.

It has been suggested that we techies start a movement to incorporate Robonaut 1 and thereby make it a person in the same sense that all corporations are persons. The present situation where corporations are persons but robots and AI are not is clearly unfair.

The Personhood for Robnaut movement farther wished to nominate Watson as Robanaut's CEO.

The next logical destination after the Moon is an Near Earth Object (NEO). They offer a real threat to Earth that people can appreciate (the dinosaurs did not at their peril); they are fairly easy to get to; they probably have valuable resources for future space missions; and they had something to do with the start of life on Earth.

A believable mission would assemble in space, perhaps sling shot around the Moon, and travel for a few weeks. It would then orbit around the NEO for most of a year with space walks to the surface and then return again in a few weeks. The return ship would end with a very dramatic reentry at very high speed.

The orbits of a NEO and Earth are nearly the same, so they move close together and then apart, typically on a yearly cycle. This means that the trip there and back would be short compared to Mars but the stay is locked in at about one year. Out out when they are closest. Come back the next time they are close again.

Unfortunately, typical NEO's are unattractive assemblies of rocks and dust in the shape of a potato and the size of Manhattan. They also tumble slowly and are covered with fine dust that is bad for your high-tech equipment.

The problem is making the story dramatic when enormous effort and expense will be put out to make it as boring and risk free as possible. (Apollo 13 made a great movie but a lousy Moon trip!)

Unfortunately recent bad news about the radiation hazard in Space from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has made the outlook for Space settlement very bleak right now. Every space short story I have ever written is now rubbish. Bummer!

The problem is that there two types of radiation hazard: (1) Galactic cosmic rays (GCR), and (2) Coronal Mass Ejections (CME). The first, GCR, is 24/7 and present low-level, but penetrating. The second, CME, is 0 to 5 times a year and deadly intense, but not penetrating. Up until last year, in our stories we assumed that the CME was the biggest danger, but the LRO reversed that understanding. You could shield from CME as the incidents are rare and one meter of lunar regolith is plenty of shielding. But GCR would require 5 meters of lunar regolith for shielding and are a constant threat.

The problem then is that space travel as normally depicted, people running around with little shielding for most of the time and then only having an occasional emergency to respond too, is impossible. The people in our hard science fiction stories now must the fact that they are paying for their adventure with substantial lost of life expectancy and likely later ill heath. Bummer!

There are solutions to this problem but they call for very advanced technologies and concepts. This will take a lot of work. Maybe the place to start is with science fiction stories.

I have mastered a Web site with plans for low-stress desks since 1995:

Woodware Designs
http://woodwaredesigns.com/woodware.html

We have more than 50 desk designs available and regularly work up new designs. I would be happy to work through your desk problems with you as an Open Design exercise.

The key is to always use your computer with your body in a neutral position. We have an exercise on the first page called "Air Typing" to help you work out what that means for you.

Let me hear from you.

I have this problem where I work. Last spring they upped the requirement to 12 characters, which must include numbers and special characters. They do not yet require squirrel noises, but that is certainly next.

I did a study of memory aids and came up with a system that has worked fairly well for me.

Here are the tricks:

1. I remember pictures but not words. I can remember the first three letters of the name of many animals that I can picture in my mind.
2. Silly stories are much easier to remember than reasonable ones, so string animal pictures and action verbs together into a foolish story.
3. The special characters can be used to make simple picture or represent action verbs: ^ jump over, and || wall becomes ^|| jumped over the wall.
4. I know a few strong visual nouns that come with numbers attached: ME109, P38, 56Chev, V8, 03Flyer, 707, 747.

Putting this all together you get:

The elephant jumped over the wall and landed on the flea. The elephant had four legs; the wall had no legs, and the flea had six legs. Ele^||Fle+406

The Frog in his ME109 shot the shield of the Walrus: FroME109()Wal

It is also easy to leave yourself an effective hint: Kermit in his WWII fighter did what?

You can also progress the story a little every time you need a new password: Then the Whale in his P38 caught the Frog hiding behind the wall with his six shooter: WhaP38||Fog6

Of course, if too many people start using this scheme it will not remain secure very long.

NASA is inherently conservative. It thinks itself politically neutral which it most definitely is not. As a result, the transition to the new progressive Administration has been a roller coaster ride starting with a low (Dr. Griffin talking himself out of his job), and rising to a high (billions in stimulus money promised), and back to a low (the Augustine Committee putting everything manned on the block). Surprisingly a science-based technical analysis (Frames) is available that could smooth these waters. Not surprisingly, my efforts to discuss this with my management at a NASA center have been stonewalled. This mess was avoidable. Now we must contain the damage before is spills over into the sciences where it could delay our getting the space data we need to address problems like global warming.

I have a design for a large solar concentrator called: The Solar Forge http://www.charm.net/~jriley/energy/solarforge.html It is easy to build (particularly in small sizes) and very popular with students as it has great potential for use in developing countries. Tests are needed to compare various cheap reflecting surfaces to calculate the best cost to heat delivered ratio. Get back to me for details.