As part of a series of talks regarding science fiction literature, I will be giving today, Sunday 28th, at 6pm GMT -5, a one hour talk at the “Estacion de Desamparados”, in Lima, Peru.
The title of the talk is “From the literature of science fiction to reality: The Space Elevator”.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
I want to welcome Nubia Villacis, of Guayaquil, Ecuador. She is studying her Master in Communications and Development at the University of Guayaquil and wishes to make her thesis on Liftport Group and the Space Elevator.
She is planning to make a trip to Bremerton in May and interview the local team. Great, isn’t it? If you are a student anywhere in the world and wish to make your undergraduate or postgraduate thesis on something that really challenges you, then the Space Elevator is the answer
Believe me; you could make hundreds of thesis regarding the project, from technology and business to religion and philosophy.
So, come on! Go for it. We at Liftport are here to help you.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Well, the interview in www.jabatonet.com was published and there has been several reactions to it. Unfortunately, most of the comments are negative ones: it’s impossible, they don’t have the money, how is it going to be supported, what about tornados, they don’t have the technology, and the list goes on.
There is even one guy who says that we are a bunch of scammers! Alas, I expected it since in the Hispanic world, the Space Elevator is as new as it was in the US in 2002.
But, I am happy. All this activity means that a lot of people are reading about us and discussing the viability of the project. And that’s good. Even if they don’t like us.
Now, let’s answer some comments.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Long time without blogging. Well, at least you know that if we don’t do it is because we are extremely busy. Which we shouldn’t, since it is part of our responsibilities.
A couple of weeks ago I had the last meeting with Daniel regarding the Space Elevator chapter for his book. After that, Daniel asked me for any news on the Space Industry that could help him. Although I have been doing a lot of research about it, haven’t found something that could be considered unexpected.
It’s a pity, though, that I couldn’t go to the ISDC of this year. Maybe there I would have been able to find something new. Well, if everything goes well, it will be next year.
On the other hand, had an email interview with Daniel Arenas, of www.jabatonet.com. He had pretty interesting questions regarding the project, specially those regarding the technical aspects of the Elevator. He will publish it in the following weeks so stay tuned to his website (sorry, it is only available in Spanish).
Now, back to work.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Yesterday JL and I had the first of three interviews with Daniel Titinger. What? You don’t remember him? In case you don’t, he was the journalist who wrote a great Space Elevator (SE) article in Etiqueta Negra magazine last year.
He is now writing a book with the most acclaimed articles and the story of the SE is one of them. The interview took almost two hours and was, basically, an update on the things that have happened in LPG in the last six months.
On other news, LPG wants to publicly thank Tomoaki Nishimura for his help in translating our web in Japanese. Great work Tomoaki!
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Ok, what the heck I am doing a Saturday night, at home, writing a blog entry?
Well, I’ve been at a meeting until 8pm and I am too tired to drive 100km to the beach. Additionally, I have a lot of work to do tomorrow, so I am going to fall down asleep over my keyboard and hope to awake early.
Anyway, I just spent two hours looking at web sites in spanish which had information or news regarding the Space Elevator. It’s just incredible the amount of misinformation that you may find out there. So, I’ve been responding misconceptions and false ideas regarding the project, telling people to visit our webpage, suscribe to our newsletter, read our blog and to write me if they have any doubt or comment.
I will be happy to answer them.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Lot of stuff to mention. First of all, today the newspapers announced that the HSBC is going to enter the Peruvian financial market. According to Yahoo Finance, this bank had a revenue of 70 860 billion in 2004 and is considered the third bank in the world.
These are great news for Peru. It is another proof that our economy is leaving behind decades of stagnation and economic models from the 19th century.
Now, back to LPG and some announcements. We are working on the development of two books (by different entities) who wish to have a Space Elevator chapter. Unfortunately we can’t tell who they are but I can say that they will help us promote the project.
Like the Etiqueta Negra article, they will take between 9 and 11 months to develop.
On the other side, we will retake the Talk at Schools project. Last year it was impossible for me to do it, but my new day job gives me complete control of my schedule.
Finally, I want to thank Tomoaki Nishimura for helping us with the Japanese version of the site.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Today I woke up at 7am after sleeping 4 hours, courtesy of the heat and mosquitos. I had a conference regarding the soon to be signed USA – Peru Free Trade Agreement at the Peruvian Export Association. It started at 8.30am so I had to arrive early if I wanted to find a parking space.
Well, the Conference started one hour later (thank god for Ipaq’s and ebooks) and the main speaker (the vice minister) didn’t come. But at least they sent a “high banana”. He was the Coordinator of the negotiation and he gave a great talk.
But, what does this have to do with the Space Elevator? A lot. The SE is going to be built at the backyard of South America, and, specifically, Peru & Ecuador. That means that if Brazil, with a population of 170’000,000, wants to send cargo to the Elevator, they will have to use the InterOceanic Highway that goes from the Atlantic Ocean (in Brazil) to the Pacific Ocean (in Peru).
Of course, they won’t send an advanced GEO lab through Peru if we are as politically unstable as other parts of the region. The Free Trade Treaty is an extraordinary opportunity for preparing a country as poor as Peru, for the challenges of the new economy that the SE will create.
On other news, I want to welcome Sam Rios, who is going to help us on the web translation to spanish. Thank you Sam for your support!
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
I’ve decided to copy Mike’s post and tell the world one of my days. So, here it is
7.30am
Woke up, updated myself on national and international news and turned on both computers. Grabbed my breakfast and sat for one hour checking email, reading space related news and planning the rest of my day.
8.30am
Water, soap and clothes.
9.00am
Drove to the city center. I had to pick up a couple of seals and order some invoices for La Vicca (my family chocolate company). While waiting for my invoice, talked to a publishing company. I asked them if they were interested in publishing JL’s and my SF stories. The salesman wasn’t very sure about it. Finally he accorded to talk to someone who had the authority to decide. I left them my cel phone number.
11.00am
Went home, picked up my debit card and went to the Jockey Plaza Mall (you can find all the banks there). Payed two bills and returned home to leave my debit card (I don’t want to be kidnapped with my debit card. As you can see, you have to think about those things when you live in the third world)
12.00pm
Went into Indecopi’s webpage to grab some information (http://www.indecopi.gob.pe/). If you want to register your brand inPeru, that’s the place to go. Printed the required form and filled all the spaces. Unfortunately I still needed the original logo of La Vicca, so I sent an email to Elizabeth asking for it.
12.30pm
Wrote an email to the X-Book project members. I can’t go into the details about the X-Book, but I can say that we have formed a group of 8 Peruvian writers for publishing a SF book with one of the biggest editorial houses in Spain. We are still in the evaluation process so we have a lot of work to do.
12.45pm
Started proof writing one of the X-Book stories, but left it unfinished, had to eat.
1.15pm
Food: Chicken & potato, with lots of aji (the real aji, not that tasteless stuff that you find in US Supermarkets)
2.00pm
Went to ADEX (http://www.adexperu.org.pe/), the foreign trade association of Peru. Finished my subscription process and went to talk to the office of the Swiss Import Promotion Program. Alas, I don’t qualify since I don’t have the machines installed yet. Pity.
3.30pm
Came back, chatted with Elizabeth about the logo and received a call from a friend regarding the weekend plans. Hey, even I need to have a break!
4.00pm
Grabbed an orange juice, a packet of cookies and a big glass of water, damn it’s so hot down here! I am decided to finish writing my story for the X-Book. After one hour, I wrote like 1000 words and left it there.
5.00pm
Two hour physical training while hearing ‘03 programs of The Space Show.
7.00pm
Soap, water & clothes
7.30pm
Food: Peruvian tuna with chopped aji, and a big salad.
8.00pm
More writing. Sent one email to Seth regarding the web translation and continued with my story (named “Programming Copernicus”). After one hour I concluded that I didn’t like the direction that the story was taking, so I erased like 1000 words and started again.
9.30pm
I took two dozen chocolates and went to German’s house to make a previously accorded delivery. His conclusion: exquisite!
11.00pm
Arrived home and posted this entry while hearing Astor Piazzolla.
11.15pm
Zzzzzz…..
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.
Well, finished with the Spanish translation of the webpage. Now we only have to wait for Seth to post it online and see if we have done a good job.
I must add that we have translated only the main parts of the LPG site. We haven’t included the forum, the blogs or other webpage news since we would never finish translating them.
I hope that we soon find translators for French, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Russian, well, you got the point. After listening to Elon Musk’s opinion about the SE (see Mike’s link in his February 8th post), the conclusion is that we have a lot of work to do regarding the popularization of this project.
BTW, thank god that I don’t receive spam in my LPG email account. Although I have already been receiving spam in my gmail account, argh. And speaking of accounts, I plan to reduce the number of them. Last week I had like 8 of them but I have whacked two already. I think that the next one will be my hotmail account.
*This entry was originally posted in Liftport’s blog.