Celebrating Science Day and Air Force Week

Last week, Jay celebrated Air Force week by attending several events around the state, including the Governor's proclamation in Concord and the Air Show at Pease. He was invited to give the keynote speech for Science Day, which took place at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium on Tuesday.

It was a very exciting day complete with the landing of a Black Hawk helicopter, robots made by enterprising high school students, rescue and survival gear, and a F-16 jet. The children - and adults - who lined up after Jay's speech were enthusiastic, asking him what it was really like in space. On our way out, I heard someone thank Jay for coming. "Your speech was really inspiring," he said. "I wish my kids had been able to hear it!"

And so, here it is...

Dr. Jay Buckey offered the following remarks on Science Day, part of the region-wide, week-long celebration of the Air Force.

Back in high school, I got the chance to take advanced placement math. The thing I remember most about that class is that I had this great seat by the window. I spent a fair amount of time looking outside instead of at the blackboard. Right now, I can’t remember what I was daydreaming about as I looked out the window, but I can remember the difficulty I had when I arrived at college as an engineering major. I didn’t place out of calculus, and I had a pretty hard time my first semester when I really started learning math.

The good news is that, eventually, I came to enjoy math. In college, I finally saw that what math did was provide a way to describe how the physical world around us works. Math sure came in handy in all sorts of engineering problems. We used it to describe how electrical circuits would work, how planes would fly, and how engines would run.

But in high school I hadn’t seen that connection. Math was not what got me interested in engineering. Also, although I did well in science classes, it wasn’t physics or chemistry that got me wanting to study engineering.

I decided to study engineering because I just thought that things like radios and cars and planes were cool. In high school, I got really interested in cars and wanted to work on them. Since I was young and I didn’t have much money, I looked around for something to work with. And there was my Mom’s 1966 Oldsmobile Delta 88.

I managed to convince my parents that what the car really needed was a carburetor rebuild. They went along with this and pretty soon I became expert on the Rochester two-barrel carburetor. I was so expert that one day, when we were visiting the house of some friends and our car wouldn’t start, I was able to pull out my toolbox, disassemble the carburetor, adjust things, and get the car going again. Naturally, it couldn’t have been the case that the reason the car wouldn’t start was because I had been fooling with the carburetor in the first place -- but we will let that go.

The bottom line is that my interest in science and math didn’t grow out of class work, it grew out of actual experience. And fortunately, my parents were willing to put their car at risk for me to get that experience. They put up with salvaged TVs in my room, blown circuit breakers, and the disassembly of items that probably didn’t need to be disassembled. But from that experience, I wanted to learn more about science and engineering because I could see how it would help me do more interesting things -- and get better at my experimenting.

Today, we’re here to celebrate Air Force Week. Our Air Force has the unparalleled ability to meet threats to this country. The Air Force manages many of the assets that detect threats to the country, and the Air Force can deploy rapidly worldwide to meet any threat. But behind all this technology and capability are people who got interested in math and science and made a career from it. Our Air Force has such amazing capabilities because we have people with the experience, talents, and drive to create and use the world’s finest aircraft, satellites, and rockets.

These people probably started out not knowing the first thing about advanced algebra or the second law of thermodynamics. But many of them probably built a crystal radio, or played with a 20-in-1 electronics experimenter’s kit, or worked on the family car. They began learning through hands-on experience -- and that got them started.

And that’s what the Planetarium and this Science Day is all about. When you see that Black Hawk helicopter out there, don’t you wonder how it hovers? And that F-16. Don’t you want to know how it can come off the runway and climb straight up? How about that fly-by-wire system—isn’t that something? Or the GPS—how does that work? These hands-on and up-close experiences show what is possible. And from that starting point you can start imagining. And as you imagine more, you want to know more. And then school doesn’t seem like a place to daydream, but as a gateway to more interesting things.

So as you experience Science Day here today, remember that the people who designed these amazing things like the Blackhawk probably just started out by asking questions and wondering what if……. Our country always needs new inventors, new designers, and new engineers -- and maybe you could be the person to take the next leap for technology in the future. So go out, ask questions, explore and enjoy! Thank you!

The Launch

We were lucky enough to be in Cocoa Beach, Florida on August 8 to see Space Shuttle Endeavor launch into orbit. One of Dad’s crew members from his space mission, Dave Williams, is flying in space for the second time and we flew out to see the launch and support him. Endeavour’s current mission is being spent at the International Space Station, and Dave is scheduled for three spacewalks during his time in orbit– an incredible opportunity. The launch went off without a hitch – on time and in beautiful (if oppressively hot) weather. At our outdoor viewing site, there was a huge digital clock out on the lawn counting down the hours, minutes and seconds until launch time.

At a few minutes to launch, all the guests stood up and sang the National Anthem together. Then, everyone counted the final ten seconds out loud, in true shuttle-launch fashion, and cheered the liftoff until Endeavour’s trail of smoke led to a point too small to be seen.



We were only at the launch viewing site for a couple hours, but Dad got to catch up with old friends and colleagues from NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (Dave William’s employers). It was an exhilarating experience, and a reminder for us of how inspiring it can be to be involved in the space program.

Air Force Week

This week is Air Force Week, and as a retired Major from Air Force Reserves, Jay will be taking part. Right now Jay is on his way back from an address by Governor Lynch to kick it off. Tomorrow at 10 AM he'll be at the Lebanon Airport's "Airport Awareness Day," and on Tuesday he'll be delivering the opening remarks for the Air Force Week Science Day, at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium. I've put the poster for the Tuesday event above.

Jay at the YearlyKos Convention

Yes, I know it's a been a few days, but I have photos and an irresistable urge to share.
(note: crossposted at dailykos)

I was the lucky member of the Buckey team who got to go to the second and final YearlyKos (the new name is probably a good choice). I had a real blast, from the panel on science that somehow had three hilarious speakers, to the chance to see most of our presidential candidates in person, to simply walking around the ballroom and meeting people when the speakers couldn't make it on Saturday morning. Okay, okay, less pontificating, more photos.

Here's one from the Celebration of Netroots Candidates. Thanks to NYBri and the vshift crew for organizing such a great event. Here's Jay chatting with an unknown blogger. If anyone knows who it is, speak up! Maybe it's you?



Also at the Candidates event: Here you can see that Jay and DFA All-Star Charlie Brown have a similar look, to the point that Jay was mistaken for Charlie more than once. That's NYBri on the right and Ron Shepston (aka CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream) in the back.



We went to the “WesPac Bash” at O'Malleys, where Eric Massa gave what I have to call a real barnburner of a speech. Jay was a draft Clark guy, so we had a good time chatting with all of the Clarkies at O'Malley's. That's Eric Massa standing on the chair, to the right.



On Saturday morning Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuch Schumer, and Rahm Emanuel couldn't make “Ask The Leaders” forum, but we took the opportunity to walk around and let folks meet Jay. I figure that at least they got a leader, if not the expected one.



Here's the scene at the Presidential Forum. The rise filled with cameras on the right were about 30 cameras positioned right behind our table. I hope the back of my ended up head in a few shots. The forum was very fun. They made a point at the start of saying that we were not asked to be quiet, and the audience let the candidates know when they did or didn't approve, often within the frame of a single response going from hisses to applause and cheers. It was basically the world's biggest focus group, and it reminded many of the house of commons in Britain where there's none of the "my respected colleague from Wyoming," and they make their feelings undeniably clear.


We also ran into Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain[link]. We saw his presentation standing behind the overflow outside, and he was also signing copies of his book. I'd been reading his book on the plane there, so it was a thrill to run into the author. He told us that the most important indicator of voting patterns was party affiliation, and the second most important indicator was the “gut level feeling” about a candidate – and he said that he could tell Jay had it “within 30 seconds of meeting” him.

We met so many different people and saw so many great presentations that it would be too much to mention, let alone to document in stunning two dimensional color. This is just the stuff that I was able to snap a good photo of, and only some of that. We met a bunch of knockout candidates, and I'm optimistic that most of those who barely fell short last time will win it this time.

A big vote of thanks goes out to all the volunteers and sponsors that made YearlyKos possible. We'll see you all next year, when the convention will be held in my hometown of Etna, New Hampshire! Well, most likely not, but a guy can always hope, right?

Jay's First DailyKos Post

It's big, it's orange, it's a bit crazy, it's DailyKos.

Today Jay posted his first diary on DailyKos. He also stayed around for an hour and chatted with a number of visitors. The diary discusses the role of the internet and politics, here's the text:

I'm Jay Buckey, and I'm running for US Senate in New Hampshire. Since this weekend is YearlyKos, I’d like to talk about what sites like DailyKos mean to our political system. Thomas Jefferson noted that democracy depends upon an informed and educated populace. Recent history has shown us how skillful marketing and advertising can misinform us and lead our political system off track. But the past few years have also shown how political blogs can correct errors, highlight important information, and expose deceptions.

Sites like DailyKos, MyDD, and others present a vibrant discussion, reminding us of the days when most American cities had multiple newspapers that offered a variety of different viewpoints. Youtube provides a net-based soapbox from which anyone can speak, just like the real soapboxes of days gone by. Perhaps we are getting back something we have lost.

To keep this going, however, we have to maintain freedom of speech on the internet, and keep the internet democratic. Not every blog or internet-based company that gets started is going to be successful. But they all deserve an equal shot. The internet has been a great leveler in both political discourse and economic development. It can hold companies and politicians responsible for their actions. It gives Americans access to a wide range of information and products. We must preserve net neutrality, so that success on the internet isn’t based just on who has the most money, but on who can be the most creative, innovative, and dynamic. Also, we need to ensure that everyone in the country can get access to broadband internet. Internet access is becoming essential for economic development just like telephone service or electricity or good roads. Areas that don’t have broadband internet access risk becoming economic backwaters. In the 1930s we had a program for rural electrification that brought the economic benefits of electricity to isolated farmers. In the 1950s and 1960s we built the interstate highway system. We need similar programs for some rural areas today to ensure nationwide broadband access.

Broadband access and net neutrality are going to be key for our economic growth. Also, they will help to fight the disproportionate power of wealth in our political system. The net has fueled the campaigns of political newcomers across the country, including a number who took office in 2006. We will use the internet extensively in our campaign--we're starting with a blog and videos incorporated directly into our website to discuss the issues.

I'll be online for the next hour or so to talk, so if you have questions or comments post them here. I'm looking forward to meeting many of you at YearlyKos and the Netroots Candidates Celebration.