I am upgrading Wordpress to v. 2.5.1 tonight, hopefully fixing my sidebar widgets problem - so if you experience site weirdness, please let me know! Thanks much for your testing help.

Update: version upgrade is done and tests fine, but sidebar widgets are still a problem. I don’t know if it’s a theme issue or a WP issue. It’s going to be a crazy week at work, first and foremost, so I won’t have a lot of time for other technical stuff.

Last night we watched, tape-delayed, Discovery Channel’s When We Left The Earth: The NASA Space Missions. My reaction? Amazing!

The show was the first in a series of six, each two hours long. It included a tremendous amount of original footage, as well as interviews with those original astronauts now. This first show very much gave the sense of how incredibly brave and risky these men and these pioneering space missions actually were. I sure wouldn’t have gone up in Gemini III after only two successful Titan rocket launches! I will definitely tape and watch each one.

One thought came to mind while watching this show. These missions and those that came after polarized the nation, igniting a debate about our spending priorities.

There were those that were space-mad, supportive of the space program and dreaming of mankind boldly entering this new era. (I’m preaching to the choir, here!) As a daughter of a scientist/engineer, weaned on Heinlein and Lucas, I’m an early convert to the cause. Not surprisingly, I believe that the space program singlehandledly drove the technological revolution that we now enjoy - from electronics to computers to communication - the notebook computers we carry, the smartphones we use, the satellites that beam our color television to us, the Internet I’m posting on, all courtesy of the space program. I believe in the long view, that we aren’t here simply for the next meal or the next paycheck but for the next millenium and beyond.

Opponents, though, believe that investment would be better spent alleviating our ills here on earth. We have so many desperate problems - famine, poverty and lack of basic medical care in many areas, homelessness, illiteracy, human rights violations, economic development in the third world, even cancer research. Some of these issues are ones where money correctly invested can go a long way toward alleviating human suffering.

I understand the conflict. What will it be? Pour money into the tremendously expensive dream of a few? Or into relieving the suffering of countless multitudes? The fact that the side benefits - all the technological growth, the scientific discoveries, the spread of resources - may trickle down to those third world countries in the long term is cold comfort to those whose children are starving today. I can’t respond to that.

I can say that I think finding real solutions to our problems requires more than just pouring money into temporary fixes because those are bottomless pits. Programs that provide impoverished families with the means to support themselves and, shocking thought, curtail population growth are the ones that really have merit.

On the other hand, I think part of the dream of space is the lure of the new frontier. We hope that we can discover new resources, new technologies, new miracles, that something we find can be the next San Francisco gold strike or Prudhoe Bay oil field. As a species we need hope! The US has slowed down its space program disappointingly in the last 25 years, but still, we continue to look for treasure over the next horizon.

ANCHORAGE – GCI announced today that it successfully transitioned all of its rural telecommunication services last night to the Galaxy 18 satellite. This satellite will provide long-distance, Internet, distance education and telehealth services throughout rural Alaska for the next 14 years.

“The success of last night means rural Alaskans will stay connected to the most advanced network in Alaska,” said Ron Duncan, GCI president and CEO. “It also provides major businesses in Alaska and carriers in the lower 48 states the ability to directly touch customers virtually anywhere in Alaska.”

GCI owns nine transponders on Galaxy 18 and will take possession of a tenth transponder in approximately two weeks. Galaxy 18 was manufactured by Lockheed Martin for Intelsat using its flight proven SS/L-1300 spacecraft. It replaces Galaxy 10R. The satellite is equipped with 24 C-band and 24-Ku band transponders. The satellite was successfully lifted to geosynchronous orbit on May 21, 2008. The spacecraft is located at 123 West Longitude.

GCI will lease the transponder capacity from Intelsat.

GCI (NASDAQ:GNCMA) is the largest telecommunications company in Alaska. GCI operates Alaska’s most extensive terrestrial/subsea fiber optic network. The fiber network extends from the North Slope oil production facilities through Fairbanks, Juneau and Anchorage. The company’s satellite network provides communications services to small towns throughout rural Alaska. The company is in the process of constructing Alaska’s first, truly statewide mobile wireless network which will seamlessly link urban and rural Alaska for the first time. GCI is also the leading provider of communications services to enterprise customers, particularly large business customers with complex data networking needs. More information about the company can be found at www.gci.com.

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My company is so cool… it launches satellites! Now there’s a project I’d love to manage.

In my family, we are a multi-computer household.

• Me: MacBook Pro notebook running both OS 10.4 and Parallels/WinXP
• Bryan: Dell Inspiron notebook running WinXP
• Ben: Powerbook G4 running OS 10.5
• Zach: Powerbook G4 running OS 10.4 AND a newly built monster gaming desktop running WinXP

As you might have noticed, our family does not DO Vista. And we may never…

Anyway, we no longer have a community computer, everyone has notebooks. Those can become nearly as personal as a toothbrush! Some of us have external hard drives for backups or external storage. We’re all networked via secure wireless to a network-enabled multi-function printer, scanner, fax, copier.

Well, in all this, Ben’s computer has gone down. It refused to boot from Linux to Mac – although finally spontaneously self-healed. (Don’t you love that?) But now, it has a glitchy video driver and can’t detect its own Airport card. I don’t have OS 10.5 CDs, we bought it that way, so he had to take it into the shop on Wednesday.

Since then I’ve been sharing my computer with him so he can meet the demands of finals week – he has papers or computer-based worksheets due in many of his classes. They have computer labs at school, but that’s 20 miles away and the buses stop running early evening. He’s not a speedy writer, so this means he gets my computer most of the time outside of my work hours.

Am I crazy about him using my work computer? Uh, no! But I don’t have the parallels image on when I hand it over to him, so he’s only using the Mac functionality.

I miss having recreational time – keeping up with others’ blogs, writing, researching, online shopping, etc. I think I’m going to call the computer shop tomorrow.

Earlier this week, Emily Gould wrote a thought-provoking article in NY Times Magazine about blogging and over-sharing – and Beast Mom wrote a great follow up.

The question is how much personal information should you share on a blog? How much is too much? There is a fine line between having a warm, personal voice and oversharing.

There are all sorts of blogs out there. Some are are topic focused, on politics, technology, business, celebrity, even on blogging itself. Others are more personally focused, diarist blogs on home, family, lifestyle and personal observations. I would consider mine to be fairly eclectic – with some posts on travel, business, tech and writing and others on what’s happening in my family.

I have always been very conscious that anything I write on the Internet is completely public, and have refrained from blogging about work frustrations, family issues and sensitive subjects like religion and politics. I would never want anyone that I’m having a problem with to read about it online!

Beast Mom’s point is that in today’s environment of online oversharing, we may be hurting our childrens’ futures. Today those seeking political office have their past examined in minute detail; tomorrow that may apply to the average job as well. The more information there is online, the easier it is to dig into that background detail.

In my opinion, most parents who blog about their children do so respectfully and positively. I never complain about my kids’ problems online, but I’m quick to rave about their successes! I also ask their permission and give them an opportunity to review when I post about them. The oldest likes being written about online; the younger would prefer not to have that attention.

Kids, however, don’t blog about themselves and their peers quite so respectfully. When they hit young adulthood, college, and beyond, they set up MySpace and Facebook pages. Some use less-than-stellar judgement and fill those pages with raunchy screen names, racy pictures and trashy commentary.

I repeatedly caution my teens about their online presence – I want them to create an image they’d be proud of if an employer, pastor or future spouse were to find their web pages. I also caution them to not divulge their last name or detailed contact information, for safety and searchability reasons. I check their pages occasionally, more because I’m fascinated with their online voice.

So, does my blogging about my kids hurt them? I don’t think so – although they are probably embarrassed from time to time that their ancient, dumb mother is even online and can code rings around them.

Can their own online presence hurt themselves? Probably, but we work on encouraging them away from making that happen. Who knows, maybe 20 years in the future having Myspace indiscretions cached in the Wayback machine will be de rigueur – like inhaling seems to have become today.