Video: 6.5 million gallons of water at 25,000 ft. – NASA NBL Training
NASA training from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo.
NASA training from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo.
Vomit Comet- some clips from in flight from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo.
My hop finally came today after reporting to Ellington Airfeild at 7am. I was suited up, attached to my electrodes and sat down for a solid half hour of three seperate breifings (think pre-flight safety briefing on a commercial aircraft but in an acrobatic jumbo jet). The Vomit Comet du jour was a 727 operated by Zero G corp, a contractor NASA ocasionally uses to supplement their own C-9.
Once on board and airborne, I was tended by the sonographer, hooked into my ICG (impedance cardiogram) equipment. We headed skyward in the hot Houston morning as thunder heads kept at bay to the north. Our flight path would take us south over the Gulf, with a quick 180 degree turn just before Mexican airspace.
My heart (as reported by 2 different measurements) was already racing as we leveled off and pulled into our first 30-second, 10,000 ft climb. What catches the novice off guard about beginning a 10,000ft dive in a 200 foot long aircraft is how very fast you flip from 2 Gs (making my body over 300lbs) into a low or 0 Gravity state. it is literally as fast as closing a door.
Rereading the last paragraph, its obvious I’ve made the mistake of reducing this experience to amazing numbers. Conveying the feeling, especially the all consuming motion sickness that enveloped me a half hour in, is not at all easy. It is physically exhausting and totally unnatural. Maybe imagine running on a treadmill at high speed while its rotating horizontally, in the back of a windowless van driving at high speed through the Alps. Maybe thats close. When it was over I took an involuntary nap on a concrete floor in an airplane hangar.
The real good footage on board (including a little narrative of the flight) will be posted soon. I need to edit the video a little, but stay tuned (it features a section where the camera got away and floated freely in front of me… way cool). For now, here is the gallery of the whole trip. there are a bunch of new pictures at the bottom.

Ames Breifing Visitor Badge
My 8 year old self is shooting temporally displaced spit wads at the back of my 25 year old head today. Jealousy, thy name is NASA.
These are some iphone shots from this mornings briefing at NASA Ames. I guess this is post is the first of many about my experience as a test subject for NASA.
I’ve always wanted to go into space, and someday I may. But for now, I’m livin’ the (penultimate) dream, and will get to experience extended Zero-G the good old old fashioned way- aboard a padding-clad commercial airliner come roller coaster.

Building 262- The Human Develoment Lab
The real point of the exercise is to help NASA develop a sophisticated computer model for a new type of remote cardiography. Armed with the ability to take EKG-like readings with almost no dedicated equipment or technician, scientists will be one step closer to modernizing the extended duration human space flight experience.
The short term gain will be aboard the ISS, but long term the advance will be invaluable to any manned Mars exploration.
Also, I’m certain to vomit, live via twitter if possible.
Twitter for iPhone 101 Turn your device sideways if it helps you see the images. Next, go to my ‘Twitter 101 for Journalists’ Cheat Sheet Then, take it to the next level. Wan’t to post a picture, share a link, add your location or look up recent #hashtags you’ve used? It’s all easy. Click the [...]
Tweeting Guidelines 1. Confirm you are tweeting from the correct account. 2. Keep it to < 120 characters 3. Get others’ @usernames to mention in tweets. Ask for their “twitter name” or “twitter handle.” 4. Lead with the important info. 5. Finish with only one correct #hashtag 6. When tweeting from a shared account, finish [...]
Cause you gotta start ‘em early. Also, if you want the hex codes for the whole Crayola family, webdesign community ColourLovers.com has them.
A few weeks back, The Newy York Times City room blog decided to give the crowd-sourcing business a try and build a photo montage of the NYC waterfront. New York has a working waterfront, and lots of it. Manhattan, after all, is an island. I went out to Brooklyn Bridge Park around dusk and looked [...]
The weekend of July 31, The New York Times’ City Room blog is asking you to help them cover New York’s waterfront, in a crowd-sourced storytelling adventure.
Below you’ll find all the info needed to submit some images and descriptions. Some of the best will be featured at nytimes.com and likley in the print edition of the paper.
They don’t have a post with instructions about it up yet, so I’ve pasted most of the email sent out about the project here so everyone can join in the fun.
Planned, shot, edited and filed all from the iPhone 4- this is my report from the gulf coast early in the week most experts predict the oil from the BP spill will begin to come ashore.
I’m currently on a road trip on my way to become an intern at The New York Times somewhere between the tech reporting and social media desks. Predictably, I picked up a new iPhone 4 on release day, with the hopes that the new camera and editing tools would make it a formidable news gathering device.
While my comrades and I didn’t see any oil on the beaches yet, we came across some very interesting preparations underway by the local population, as well as plenty of orange BP sponsored oil protection booms.
2000 iMac Operating System – Mac OS 9.0.4 Processor – 500 MHz PowerPC G3 CPU, 128MB Memory Graphics – ATI Rage 128 Pro, 8MB of memory (8 million triangles) Screen – 786K pixels Data Transfer Speeds – 1.3-12.5 MB/s (DVD-ROM-1/100 Ethernet) Storage – 30GB Hard Drive Dimensions – 15.0 x 15.0 x 17.1 inches Weight [...]
Facebook is beta testing a product in the same space that so many giants have attacked and fallen short. The curated question-answer service has stumped the biggest of bigs. Has it been about social scale all along?
Lick Observatory has been doing science since the late 1880s, when the first telescope was installed there. These photos were part of research for a forthcoming article. UC Lick Observatory
This past weekend, a little crowd of journalists, app developers and designers got together under the watchful eye of one Burt Herman to engage in an act of positive rebellion. They were there to wake up the old grey lady, drag her out of her bed, and teach her to dance like lady Gaga instead of like Grace Kelley.
It’s a lovley song by a classmate of mine and a member of the Bluegrass band Nimbleweed. The Idealized Science Diitty
There has been much hubub about Amazon peeking over the shoulder of its Kindle users, possibly without their asking. How are they justifying it? They may be treating your highlights as “communication” as defined by their web terms of use agreement. Highlighting = content creation = contribution. That’s a new one.
It’s an homage to my favorite pulp movie, shot on my favorite line of cameras. Bonus points if you can figure out who is playing the tambourine in the video. It took me a couple times.
This Sunday, 8am California time (15:00 U.T.C.), Lens, the New York Times photo blog will attempt to realize a web 1.0 dream- synchronization of a worldwide action. The blog staff, led by NY Times Sr. Staff Photographer James Estrin, has planned and publicized an event to document a single moment in human history on a global scale.
Would you stake your reputation on statements of someone who will keep their job even if they are dead wrong?
My Digital Media Entrepreneurship group from used a Stanford d.school technique to brainstorm 100 possible names for our product, organize them by theme and then cut them down to the final four, all in under 10 minutes. Here are two quick photos of the process
We all need to find insights about how to make our projects more relevant to users, but have only a finite amount of time to gather user data. If we were bigger and funded, we could to focus groups and A/B testing out the wazoo. Instead, I suggest you take a page from the Stanford design school (d.school) playbook.
This is a short sampling of some of my video work. All videos here were produced for D:AllThingsDigital, and featured both there at at WSJ.com. In all cases the writing, production and editing are my work. In cases where I’m in front of the camera it is following me, I had some videographer help. Hey, [...]
I’ll periodically be live streaming from in front of the University Avenue Apple store in Palo Alto, CA. I’m covering the fanboy mayhem for AllThingsD, but I figured we could have a little live video too. I’m tweeting the action from @withdrake. Scoble is here, Ben Parr stopped by, and as soon as my intrepid [...]
How I converted a standard Timbuk2 backpack into an iPhone-charging, laptop-toting, enviro-hipster envy making, solar power machine. Plus all the instructions for you to make your own.
ice folks at the MOTO development group have released this video detailing the performance characteristics of various touch screens on the market. It gets ugly for the Droid.
This is just one performance test, but frustration runs high when you touch it here and it opens something there. Click through to see the video.
Almost Famous: Chris Messina from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo. A minute with Chris Messina of Google. We talk Buzz, Facebook and the future of openness at Google.
In late 2009, San Francisco Chronicle Staff writer and fellow Stanford grad student Kathryn Roethel and I followed the Coughlin family through several weeks of treatment and preparation leading up to Little Chase’s Make-a-Wish trip to Disneyland.
Early last week, Stanford’s graduate journalism Students used phones, email, text messages and twitter to reenact the earliest moments of reporting after the recent catastrophic earthquake in Chile. Did they do irreparable harm to the information landscape? To those who lost loved ones in the actual quake? To the reputations of their own brands?
“History of the Internet” is an animated documentary explaining the inventions from time-sharing to filesharing, from Arpanet to Internet.
The Nutshell: You head over to chatroulette.com, hit start, and your webcam and microphone are activated. You are immediately connected to another live human being, selected at random from the users online at the time. If a person doesn’t look interesting for whatever reason, you just hit next and you are shuffled over to the next random person. Sounds Harmless, right?
E-Mag designers are paid by magazine companies, not readers. It shows.
No one seems to remember the quiet, indelible, human truths that have driven magazine consumption for a hundred years. It’s not too late.
Maybe it isn’t dymanic like the map I made of flickr pictures in my most recent mashup post, but this one is infinitely cooler.
In August 2009, I had the pleasure of documenting the Braille Institute’s 2009 Cycling for Sight charity ride. The map is a set of 133 geolocated photos pulled from my flickr page.
If you are interested in how the the news is presented and why its broken, I say this. Watch this, laugh, ponder, foment rebellion, repeat.
Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Ning, email, digg, delicious….. Today the personal sharing options are endless. Using enough of thes services in concert most certainly connects you with more people than many “broadcasters” who have to be licensed by the FCC. That is it say, its powerful stuff.
I know we don’t need another CES postmortem, so I’ll keep this short.
I’ve grabbed some images and statistics that give a sense of CES’ modern largesse as compared to twenty years ago.
Many of us followed the twitter griping surrounding Facebook’s recent privacy settings changes. Today’s release of Facebook 3.1 for iPhone is maybe the most frightening yet. For the first time, everyone’s favorite drunk-picture dissemination platform is reaching directly into your pocket for other people’s info.
For Redwood City parents coping with 5-year-old’s chronic disease, normal life is the greatest gift.
My colleague Kathryn Roethel produced an amazing magazine length story that I was lucky enough to photograph. Please read this amazing story of a remarkable little boy.
This is the final project video from Stanford’s design school. We were tasked with solving urban malnutrition and poverty. We had three weeks.
Today’s NewTeeVee Live conference at S.F.’s Mission Bay Center is aimed at foretelling, and maybe saving, the future of TV.
Canadian geese have come to dominate the lawns of the city’s beloved Memorial Park. In their Thursday, Oct. 1 meeting, the Cupertino Parks and Recreation Commission took up the unusual problem and discussed goose abatement strategies.
A new feature wherein All Things Digital looks at up-and-coming and innovative start-ups you should know about.
This week: A video visit with, some questions for and a few pertinent stats about Chris Wetherell and his creation, Brizzly, a Web-based social media reader.
Please also have a look at some of my multimedia work.
Reinventing the retirement experience for the rebellious baby boomer. A project deliverable for Stanford’s design boot camp.
The NYT Doesn’t Cost a Dime Anymore. I Don’t Know Why We Expect it to Turn on One.
In front of an audience of roughly 100, some of whom appeared to have arrived from the myriad alumni events happening on campus this homecoming weekend, Professor and Pulitzer winner Joel Brinkley moderated a combo lecture and discussion between some of Journalism’s giants-left-standing.
The room is filled with the collective anticipation of dozens of public media’s brightest, geekiest minds.
This is a test of Apture. If I were to write about Ghana, this is what Apture can do. I can also look at Stanford. And Miran Pavic. If I were to add a link to Make-a-Wish, it would be here. Damn.
Our original conversation with Mr. Bai was over an hour. We’ve selected a few highlights to give a sense of the experience had by those at the forum, and of Mr. Bai’s place in journalism.
This week we covered the basics of audio recording equipment and then delved into Wordpress Extend and Firefox developer tools.
On Sunday the 20th, the Graduate Program in Journalism Cohort at Stanford held the first installment of our “BlogLuck”. The goal of the program is to leverage the various expertises in the group into informative lessons and conversations to share amongst the group.
Background: In 2004, I was starting work at a radio station and playing the harmonica a lot. I would carry my harp case and practice amp to friends’ houses and jams various places. The gear setup wasnt bad, but I thought it could be better. the Jamcase was my first more involved build. It entailed [...]
So I’m almost finished with a fun little project to turn my SF style bike helmet into something a little more useful thanks to some clever tail light integration. That post will be up in the “Projects” page in the next day or two. However, while photographing the light I’m using, something very strange happened. [...]
All of these communications technologies: Twitter, Google Voice, skype, Flickr, etc are, lets face it and call a duck a duck, just data handling and interface engines. It’s all streams of digital information, that is, ones and zeros at the most basic level.
We are witnessing the slow death of telephony.
This week I officially started my employ as intern at allthingsD, WSJ affiliated tech sector news site. I attended my first staff meeting at their headquarters in the Noe Valley in SF, and hopped right in the saddle to write my first “Weekend Update”. Its a weekly wrap-up of some highlights from the previous week [...]
Hi Guys, I recently reupped my all access pass for the first time in about a year. I had just created a video and the combo of you $3-$25 pricing strategy and the quality of the new video effects sealed the deal for me. My only concern is that like MOST purchasers, I may have [...]
We’ve all seen singing cards. We’ve recieved evites. I think this is WAY better. Happy birthday Trenton. I’ll never be as old as you.
Day 1- The Team Arrives Day 2- Braille Santa Barbara to Pepperdine Day 3-Pepperdine to UC Irvine Final Stage- UCI to Braille Institute San Diego
Below are a few audio pieces I put together surrounding the Cycling for Sight 2009 ride. [podcast]http://www.withdrake.com/newsite/wp-content/Podcasts/CFSGenesisStory.mp3[/podcast] The Genesis Story This is the genesis story of the ride, featuring ride co-founders Dave, Johnathan and Andy. They talk adventure cycling, crazy ideas and the line between genius and insanity. Give a listen. Its about 10mins. long. [...]
The following is an excerpt from a June 18th issue of the NYT online edition. I posed a question about growth of visual media in the online environment and the role of it’s producers. Assistant Managing editor Michele McNally had this to say. Talk to the Newsroom: Assistant Managing Editor Michele McNally The Changing Role [...]
NASA training from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo.
Here is a little video mashup from my ride aboard the vomit comet. You can see more pics HERE, but please enjoy the video. I’ve addd a little video from inside the NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Lab) where I did my physiological training VIDEO. Its also where they have the 6.5 million gallon pool with the [...]
My hop finally came today after reporting to Ellington Airfeild at 7am. I was suited up, attached to my electrodes and sat down for a solid half hour of three seperate breifings (think pre-flight safety briefing on a commercial aircraft but in an acrobatic jumbo jet). The Vomit Comet du jour was a 727 operated [...]
The first NASA photos are up. Have a look. I’ll be writing a little story/recap about my NASA zero G experience probably from my flight out tomorrow. it feels about 500% more awesome than the pictures look. Also, look for some cool videos soon.
Greetings to all the return viewers, as well as first timers. The link below will take you to a very special video unlike anything we’ve produced so far. Its a combination of photos and sounds that gets to the heart of why CFS is so very special. Please come back to withdrake.com in the coming [...]
Just the beginning. Come back tomorrow night for lots more multi-media from the ride. Greetings again all. We gathered so much great multi-media material over the last couple days that its still being processed, chewed on, sorted and arrangted for your consuming pleasure. I plan on spending my day tomorrow finalizing some awesome features that [...]
Today our car route took us a little away from our bikers, so the media crew decided to roll out something we’ve been thinking about all along. There are a few pictures below, but the highlight of the post tonight is a very special kind of slide show. Throw on some headphones and hit the [...]
Check out today’s photos! We had a great ride from UC Santa Barbara to Pepperdine U, on our way to raising $75,000 for the Braille Institutes. A photo montage is below, or feel free to check out the gallery below that. Cycling for Sight 2009- Ride Day 1 from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo.
Just a few photos from day one of the ride. High spirits and fresh legs all around. CFS09 has almost met their goal of $75,000, and you can log on to donate. Just click the banner at the bottom of the photo gallery for details.
Beginning tomorrow, withdrake.com will be home to all the latest updates from the 2009 San Deigo Braille Institute “Cycling for Sight” Ride. Dozens of both sighted and vidualy impaired riders will be braving the byways between Santa Barbara and San Diego in a three day race for funds, awareness and community. I’ll be documenting the [...]
The photography section of the site has finally been fleshed out. Have a look, tell em what you think, leave your comments. Just head over to “Photofolio” in the “projects” section.
Here are a few videos from my 2008 Sustainable Peoples project. Sustainable Peoples Webisode 1- You Already Changed the World. from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo. Sustainable Peoples Webisode 2- Faith, Medecine and a New Way Forward from E. Drake Martinet on Vimeo. Sustainable Peoples Webisode 3- Micro Agriculture and a Lifetime of Activism from [...]
My 8 year old self is shooting temporally displaced spit wads at the back of my 25 year old head today. Jealousy, thy name is NASA. These are some iphone shots from this mornings briefing at NASA Ames. I guess this is post is the first of many about my experience as a test subject [...]