This is Vince Needham's personal page.
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Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!

Darwin Day

Sunday, 12 February, is the anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth (and, incidentally, of that other luminary, Abraham Lincoln). As inconceivable as it ought to be, wing-nut political forces are still trying to prevent Kansas students from learning about evolution, and about science in general. This is unforgivable in a pluralistic society whose future depends on our scientific and technological achievement.

Please join with me in memorializing Charles Darwin's accomplishments by supporting both Darwin Day and quality education. Learn more at the International Darwin Day Foundation, the KSU Origins program or at Kansas Citizens for Science.

Cricket Still Jacobs Tubbs

Genealogy

The Needham genealogy was updated on 20 January 2007. There are quite a lot of changes, which are outlined on the introductory page of the site. Besides updating the lineage, there are three new photo galleries and a variety of other added documents.

The Simmons family tree has finally received its long-promised update as of 20 June 2007. The big news here is the discovery that Daniel Boone is my sixth-great-uncle. The Boone line is a well-researched one, so many new families have been added to the database.

I've discovered that I'm an eighth cousin of the new President of the United States, Barack Obama. His mother, from Kansas, was a Dunham and descended of Jonathan Singletary/Dunham (1639-1724). I've also learned of a similar relationships to the Bushes, by way of John Prescott (1604-1681), and to Richard Nixon on both sides of the family through Henry Howland (father of Pilgrim John Howland) and Martha Strode (a grandparent of Daniel Boone). I'll get all the details posted to the family sites soon.

Buzz Aldrin on the Moon

Space Exploration

Every April Kansas State University hosts a Boy Scout merit badge conference, where local experts counsel Scouts concerning a variety of topics. I've counseled the Space Exploration merit badge for several years now. The first half of the class includes a PowerPoint presentation focusing on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station. After that, we go out and launch model rockets (usually into the teeth of a strong Kansas spring breeze!).

Several of my presentations are archived here. The requirements were recently updated, but neither science, technology, nor politics sit still very long. First the Vision for Space Exploration, and now the Flexible Path, have changed our approach to space travel, I'll be rather freely interpreting things to stay current.

Other Stuff, Rants & Raves

  • How do I find the time? Either I do without or I keep my eyes fixed on a screen that has the time in the upper-right corner. It's gotten so that I resent that reality doesn't dispay the time in the upper-right corner.
    -Dave Winer, on elegance
  • That girl on the left, she ordered Gummi Bears and a knife a couple of hours ago. They only gave her the Gummi Bears. I wish they'd only given me the Gummi Bears...
    -Lady Gaga, prologue to the "Marry The Night" video

What I'm Reading

  • Look to Windward, Iain Banks, 2000
  • Matter, Iain Banks, 2008

Twitter & Facebook

  • RT DougMasson:Meteorology schools should have to teach alternate, groundhog-based theories of seasonal temperature change. Let student ...
    Twitter: Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:16:31 GMT (8 day 13 hr ago)

Last updated on Friday, 10-Feb-2012