Al's Morning Meeting

Folks have been living up in space for nearly six years now (nonstop since 2000) and few in the public seem to know it or care. Here's a quick test: Can you name even one person who has been living on the space station in the past six years?

Supporters say the space station may be the long-term key to assembling deep-space rockets that would be too heavy to launch from earth. NASA says important science is going on in the space station:

To date, 89 scientific investigations have been conducted on space station and more breakthroughs are to come. New results from early space station research, from basic science to exploration research, are being published each month.

For instance, there have been great strides made in understanding the significant rate of bone loss by crew members while in orbit, and where in the bones the loss is occurring. Also, a complete characterization study of the radiation environment in the space station has been done, with evaluation of models of radiation shielding by the station's structure.

Everything from eating habits and nutritional deficiencies has been looked into to see how it all relates to the physiological effects of being in microgravity. New use of medical ultrasound equipment as a diagnostic tool and in-space soldering to repair potential hardware damage has also been tested on space station. And that's only a tiny fraction of the studies conducted so far.

What else have they been doing up there? Here is a long list of science projects.

Late last year, Space.com said:

It has taken 18 shuttle flights, a series of unmanned Russian supply ships and 62 spacewalks to build and maintain the ISS so far. ...

NASA spokesperson Melissa Matthews told SPACE.com Tuesday that, to date, the ISS has cost the U.S. space agency about $23.5 billion -- research costs excluded -- though ESA projections state the station's total cost could exceed $100 billion spread across the participating nations.

There is a lot of work to do to finish the space station. Construction on the station resumes with the next shuttle flight, which NASA hopes will be August 28.

The Christian Science Monitor explains that the projected August flight will begin "a series of 17 missions that will add trusses, solar panels, additional crew quarters, the European- and Japanese-built labs and other hardware."

Here is the schedule. (And here is NASA's overall mission schedule.) As you can see, it is largely tentative. The current plan calls for at least 18 more space shuttle flights to complete the space station by 2010, when the shuttles will be mothballed.

Meal-Assembly Business Booming

You know what it is like to go by a restaurant and buy tonight's dinner -- now expand your thinking to buying several meals in one stop.

Customers actually assemble the ingredients needed for their meals at a meal-assembly kitchen. It is easier than going to a grocery store, because the ingredients are already prepared for your use and you only buy what you need to prepare that specific meal. Newsweek called it the "new frozen dinner." Think of it as being something between a grocery store and a restaurant.

"Meal-assembly" restaurants are springing up across the country, according to The Washington Times:

Nearly 300 companies -- all with quirky monikers playing off the words "dinner," "supper" or "thyme" -- have opened 775 meal-assembly stores throughout the country since Dream Dinners opened the first in Washington state in 2002, according to the Easy Meal Prep Association, a Cheyenne, Wyo., trade group.

Nationwide, meal-assembly stores are expected to open at a rate of more than one per day, and revenue is expected to more than double to $270 million this year, according to the trade group. The industry is expected to pull in $1.1 billion by 2010.

Some parents say dinner -- because it's after a long day of children's activities -- is one of the biggest obstacles of the day.

"I've been in the car (driving to Tae kwon do and swimming lessons) since 4, and now it's 7, and I've got nothing for dinner," Beth Collins of Gaithersburg said of why she assembled meals at Thyme Out in Gaithersburg earlier this month.

That night, she heated up frozen spaghetti for her family before going to Thyme Out, where she and a group of friends assembled meals such as nacho chicken crunch with tomato black bean rice during a private party.

At Thyme Out, like at the other meal-assembly stores, customers assemble the meals' ingredients in the store and put them in the freezer at home. When they're ready to cook the meals, they defrost the ingredients and bake, boil or broil them.

All of the stores say their clientele ranges from busy parents to cooking-fatigued empty nesters to cooking-averse singles, but all cater to families with a pricing system of six servings of eight or 12 different meals for about $160 or $210, respectively.

Advertising Age explains (registration required to view the article):

Here's how it works: For each dish, the customer measures and scoops pre-cut, pre-cooked ingredients into a resealable bag or aluminum pan and labels each entree to take home. Meals run the gamut from lasagna to a sausage, chicken and white-bean cassoulet, and cost anywhere from $80 for six dishes to $312 for a dozen high-end entrees and desserts to feed a family of four to six. The average 'class,' or meal-prep session, costs about $200 for 72 servings.

Food isn't the only draw. Naperville, Ill.-based Dinners Together heavily reinforces the social factor with parties around Bunco dice-game nights, baby showers and book clubs. Customers get "two guilt-free hours out with girlfriends, yet it's very productive for your family," said Deb Scheckel, owner of the independent store, which has a "living room" area where women can chat and drink wine as a break from the assembly line.

The South Bend (Ind.) Tribune also has a story on the process, and The Washington Post ran a similar story last year. Here's one that ran in The New York Times in March.

Foul-Ball Injuries

The last time I sat at a Devil Rays game (no jokes, please, about the Rays) I started thinking about how many times everybody ducked for foul balls. I am surprised, really, that in these litigious days, Major League Baseball has not put up more netting to "protect" fans, despite several court rulings around the country that have deemed being beaned by a baseball an acceptable hazard that people should understand. But baseball owners do not always win these cases. What is it about a three-dollar baseball that sends fans into a tizzy trying to catch them at the risk of personal safety?

The Virginian-Pilot actually mapped one night's foul balls for a Norfolk Tides game. In this one night, 34 balls landed in 21 bleacher sections.

The story says:

With balls hit that hard, sometimes it's better to just be more defensive as the Tides, or any other professional baseball team, cannot be held responsible for an injury caused by a foul ball. It says so right on the admission ticket: "The holder of this ticket assumes all risk and danger arising from the action of players on the field."

While fans are occasionally hit by foul balls, some significant injuries are self-inflicted.

"A few years ago, this one man went over the rail in front of his seat trying to get a foul ball and landed on his head,"' said Sue Rawls, who has worked as an usher for 13 years at Harbor Park, along with her husband, Al. "You should have heard the sound it made. I thought the poor guy was dead."

The man fell 5 feet over a railing that separates the Section 202 seats from the crosswalk at the park. Though battered, his injuries weren't life-threatening.

Al Rawls remembered another time when a fan went over a row of seats in a mad chase for a ball. "Banged his arm up pretty good," Rawls said. "I'm telling ya, it wasn't worth it."

What's the ball worth? Just over $3, according to International League administrator Chris Sprague. And if it were fouled over the fence at a Little League game, it would be returned to the umpires. But since it has the International League stamp on it, the moment it goes into the stands, it seemingly becomes a treasure.

While there are no steadfast rules of etiquette when it comes to competing for a foul ball, there is one hard-and-fast law: If the ball hits the ground and an adult fights over the ball with a little kid, the adult better give the ball to the kid.

"The heartiest, heaviest boos are saved for the guy who won't give the ball to a child," Sue Rawls said. "You're a mean old man if you keep it. You're a nice guy if you give it away."

I started reading accounts of baseball (and softball) assaults like this one in Kodiak, Alaska.

The City of San Mateo, Calif. has a whole set of rules for foul balls to prevent damage to cars and homes near the ballparks.

Occasionally, balls make their way into parking lots and windshields, and the car owner is left to pay. I suspect a windshield-repair company could turn you on to the most prolific ball fields to find broken windshields this time of year.

High Definition Radio: Why So Slow?

You would think that if you were hanging your future on a new technology (see this May 2005 article), and if your business was broadcasting, that it would be a no-brainer to use some of your airwaves to educate listeners about your new technology. But nope -- most people are still clueless about what HD radio is and why they should buy into it. (Click here to get background on HD radio.)

HD radio promises CD-quality sound on FM radio and FM-quality sound for AM radio. It promises side channels, essentially mini radio stations, for stations to broadcast specialized programs. Click here to hear a simulation of what it sounds like. The Boston Herald reports that, besides education, other problems remain:

The second hurdle is getting people to buy an HD radio receiver -- your everyday clock or car radio isn't able to pick up the improved reception or side channels. HD radios, manufactured by such companies as Boston Acoustics and Yamaha, have price tags in the $300 range. The only cars that come equipped with HD radios are high-end BMWs.

Not surprisingly, the cost has stunted HD radio's growth. A recent Arbitron/Edison Media Research study found that more than one-third of Americans are interested in HD radio, but nearly half said they would only purchase an HD radio if it cost $100 or less.

Click here to find HD radio stations in your state or city.