Friday, October 19, 2018

Young people... can be so damn stupid. Wanna read how stupid? How about the NASA intern that was given the job, and lost it before finishing the celebration tweet?

the college student who just got the news of winning the internship with NASA tweeted "Everyone shut the fuck up.............I got accepted for a NASA internship"


and out of no where someone replied with a recommendation to not use swear words about this.

That wasn't in line with the (I just won the lotto of career beginning) happy exuberance, so, Naomi responded harshly to the stranger who was on her own page, and not on NASAs.


well... if you were at sea, in the engine room, and you were surrounded by friends who are just as young and wild as you are... that's an acceptable response.

But... when you are on the internet, Twitter specifically, anyone at all can join the conversation. You really can step in the deep shit fast. It's even a good idea to find out who you are talking to. But... Naomi didn't. Not quite. Homer Hickam was gracious though, and volunteered this info:


Which still isn't exactly conveying the info that really is meaningful, after all, there are people on the National Space Council who probably don't matter very much (Tim Ellis, Dean Cheng, Tory Bruno, and Newt Gingrich for example https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/vice-president-pence-announces-national-space-council-users-advisory-group/). Homer isn't one of them.

He's a highly admired and decorated Vietnam Vet, who then became an engineer at NASA. (and a famous book writer, and one book was made into the 1999 movie October Sky with Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Cooper, and Laura Dern, it's his biography - basically)

Homer H. Hickam, was raised in Coalwood, West Virginia where his father thought his fascination with rockery was foolish, and fought him ceaselessly about it, but Homer kept at it and learned everything about rocketry.

 He graduated from Big Creek High School in 1960 and from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute (Virginia Tech) in 1964 with a BS degree in Industrial Engineering.

Mr. Hickam served as a First Lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry Division in Vietnam in 1967-1968 where he won the Army Commendation and Bronze Star medals. He served six years on active duty, leaving the service with the rank of Captain.

Mr. Hickam was employed as an engineer for the U.S. Army Missile Command from 1971 to 1981 assigned to Huntsville, Alabama, and Germany. He began employment with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Marshall Space Flight Center in 1981 as an aerospace engineer.

During his NASA career, Mr. Hickam worked in spacecraft design and crew training. His specialties at NASA included training astronauts on science payloads, and extravehicular activities (EVA). He also trained astronaut crews for many Spacelab and Space Shuttle missions, including the Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission, the first two Hubble repair missions, Spacelab-J (the first Japanese astronauts), and the Solar Max repair mission.

Prior to his retirement in 1998, Mr. Hickam was the Payload Training Manager for the International Space Station Program.

In 1984, Mr. Hickam was presented with Alabama's Distinguished Service Award for heroism shown during a rescue effort of the crew and passengers of a sunken paddleboat in the Tennessee River. Because of this award, Mr. Hickam was honored in 1996 by the United States Olympic Committee to carry the Olympic Torch through Huntsville, Alabama, on its way to Atlanta.

 Mr. Hickam has received many awards and honors. Among them are the prestigious University of Alabama's Clarence Cason Award and the Appalachian Heritage Writer's Award for his memoirs and fiction. He also received an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Marshall University.

NASA managers who are paying attention to what Homer does on twitter noticed the #NASA that one of her friends used in the tweet storm, and fired her. She hadn't even had a party since getting the good news, but had already insulted a guy who tells NASA what to do, so, effectively their boss... and a very admired retired NASA engineer, and Army vet.

But, he kept his cool, as you'd expect, and replied:


https://twitter.com/SubDeliveryZone/status/1032241230384713729
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/08/22/nasa-internship-reportedly-lost-after-twitter-spat-homer-hickam/1066538002/

Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad with power. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/charles_a_beard_276638

2 comments:

  1. Hickam have a good heart. But I would cancel that internship with a "wolf ticket". NASA should be cradle of the brightest persons, including high standards of personal culture. Suck my dick and balls? Well suck your internship cancelation pumpkin.

    Interesting, I did check if wolf ticket have the same meaning in US slang. Apparently no, so may I explain "wolf ticket" is old Tsarists times reference. To get one mean that you are expelled from work and you will not be hired in the same type of work anywhere. You are literally persona non grata in that line of work.

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    1. Wow, yes, I've never heard of a wolf ticket... but "you'll never work in this town again" is a common Hollywood phrase, and persona non grata of course is universal

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