How To Make Me Regret Not Paying Attention in Physics

When I saw "Space Camp" starring Leah Thompson as a plucky but arrogant amateur pilot and Kelly Preston as a flighty genius, I knew what I was meant to be: an astronaut.

Sadly, I found math and science terribly boring. Gertrude Stein, upon being encouraged to stay in med school -- think of the women! she was told, being a pioneer for her gender in the field -- said to those making the entreaty: "You've no idea what it is to be bored." I did, Gertrude, I did. So I shelved my dreams of space flight.

Unlike Gertrude, I did not become a famous lesbian writer in Paris. Instead, I became a non-famous hetero writer in DC. But I did once play violin in a lesbian rock band so she and I share that, at least. That and a low tolerance for boredom.

This is all getting to a point.

Imagine my envy/delight at this incredible project: father and son send an I-Phone up to space in a weather balloon, and get a recording of the whole adventure (plus their I-Phone back). Brilliant, clever, inspiring, well-executed, and it opens the mind to all sorts of possibilities. I coulda done that had I only paid attention in physics. Dammit. check it out - perhaps the most wonderful thing you'll see all day:

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/10/brooklyn_dad_and_kid_send_ipho.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+nymag/intel+%28Daily+Intelligencer+-+New+York+Magazine%29

(and here's the embarrassing admission part, which I only just realized. Space Camp, the quintessential kids' movie -- it included a sentient robot, a motley mix of multi-talented kids Who Ovecome Adversity and Steven Spielberg's wife -- didn't come out till 1986. I was a freshman in COLLEGE and I saw it in the MOVIE THEATER. That is what kind of a nerd I am.)