I grew up in a staunchly religious family; a Southern Baptist family to be exact. When I was about ten-years-old I was told that Satan was working through rock and roll bands and that rock and roll was filled with subliminal messaging. Subliminal messaging would turn our nation’s youth into devil-worshiping hooligans and imperil the very souls of those who listened to it. Among the worst...
I’m extremely fortunate to be friends with a NASA engineer who works on the Shuttle engines. My buddy Eric is more of a NASA nut than I am. Eric understood the historic and significant nature of the last two space shuttle launches, and he was in a position to create very rare and very impressive memorabilia for me and my kids. Eric wrote a letter. He hand-wrote to me and all three of my...
As I type this, Atlantis is travelling over 15,000 miles an hour at the 8-minute mark of the historic last flight of the Space Shuttle program. The space shuttle engine just cut off – and will never fire again. I view this launch with mixed feelings, as I am sure most of America and the world does as well. I grew up with the space shuttle program and it was the NASA I knew and understood. I...
This isn’t going to be a long blog; more of a mild rant, actually. Readers of my blog know I blog about anything and everything that captures my attention but mostly my blog is filled with thoughts, stories, and insights that I gather while dealing with my cancer. Recently, I also blogged about The Skinny On Astrology, why I feel there is still, even in today’s world, a persistent...
You’re probably read all about it by now. The White House has slashed the Ares/Constellation program from the budget. Is this the end of our dream to return to the Moon? What does this mean for the future of manned space flight? I live in Orlando, a scant 35 miles from the Kennedy Space Center. I can tell you this – the repercussions of this budget and program cut are a massive...
I was born on March 26th. That make me an Aries according to Western Sun Astrology. I was also born in the Year of the Dog, according to the Chinese Zodiac. Accordingly, because of the positions of the stars and planets at the time of my birth, I have certain characteristics. For example, according to the Chinese Zodiac, a person born in the Year of the Dog displays the following characteristics:...
I was raised in a pretty religious household. We went to church every Sunday morning. I was active in Sunday school. I often went to the less formal Wednesday services. I was a geek even then; I looked forward to “Find the Verse” contests where the person who could find a verse in the Bible the fastest won a prize. I was the “youth preacher” from time-to-time; I was the...
Two weeks ago, a local 18-year-old athlete died from MRSA. MRSA is a bad-ass form of staph that is resistant to most antibiotics. This kid – young and strong – was brought down by this bacteria. Now, at least one other student at his school has been diagnosed with the same infection (but it looks like he’ll survive). As most of you know, I am currently recovering from major...
Ron Sparks is a technology professional, science fiction and fantasy author and poet living in Zurich, Switzerland. His latest book "ONI: Satellite Earth Series Book 1" is available on Amazon.com.