It’s surprisingly difficult to play guitar in space

It’s surprisingly difficult to play guitar in space
by Mike Murphy

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There are so many simple activities we take for granted thanks to gravity. Things like going to the bathroom, eating dinner, and getting some sleep don't require an undue amount of strategic planning. But in space, even the most basic activities are a challenge.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who lived aboard the International Space Station from 2012 to 2013, recently explained to CBC Music how difficult it was to play guitar in space, along with some pointers for future space musicians.
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Hadfield, whose tweets and photos amassed a large social media following during his time aboard the ISS, brought his guitar with him to orbit. Before he left the space station, he filmed a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity" (with the blessing of the recently deceased rock star) that the internet loved.
Playing in space is particularly difficult, Hadfield said, because you have to press the guitar against you so that it doesn't float away, while also trying to move your hand up and down the fretboard.

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In the video, Hadfield said that his Earth-based producer told him his guitar playing sounded a little messy on the tracks he was sending down. Hadfield responded: "You come up here and play guitar—it's all over the place."
Hadfield also said that weightlessness interfered with the muscle memory of where his hands belonged to play a certain chord. If you want to recreate the feeling of playing guitar in space, stand on your head for a few hours and then try to play upside down. "You kind of have to learn how to be a space musician," Hadfield said.
Bowie passed away on Sunday (Jan. 10); he spent much of his musical career obsessed with space.
Here's Hadfield performing one of Bowie's biggest hits while in .

Toughen up—it will be worth it

Toughen up—it will be worth it

In cycling culture, there is a thing called ‘Rule V’ that states, "HTFU" (Harden The F-word-of-your-choice Up). It means that even though the hill is steep, it is cold and raining and you are tired, you toughen up and ride hard. If you want to be fast, that is what it takes. The hard work you put in that day makes you stronger for next time.

That rule very much defines my approach to life.
Living in a studio apartment with one or two babies was a constant challenge to HTFU. As I stated above, living in a small space was tough—there were days I wanted to give up. The space was too small, the noise was too much, there was nowhere to go to be alone. But fighting through those days is how I would get stronger for the next day.

Why is that important?

We humans have a strong ability to adapt, sometimes that actually works against us. If we live with a certain amount of luxury, we will become accustomed to it. The trouble with getting used to an easy or expensive way of living is that none of us know what is next.

In the startup world, we talk about something called "runway." It basically means how much time you could keep operating if the money stopped coming in. For many companies, that time is very short. For many families, it is even shorter. That is an extremely vulnerable place to be.

The reason I think it is so important to always keep expenses down is that it has the dual effect of decreasing your burn rate and increasing your savings. The two of those combine to allow you more freedom.
When you have a lot of financial runway, it allows you to make decisions based on reasons other than money.

There is some sum of money that, under the right conditions, you could live the rest of your life on. At that point you would never need to work again, but certainly could. That is true freedom.
Not everyone has a chance at freedom. Some people have to work long and hard just to scrape by. But many people repeatedly sign away their freedom by choice.
And don’t forget about the importance of compound interest. I will remind you that $2,000 per month saved on rent for one year is $24,000. Invested for 50 years averaging 6% interest comes to roughly $450,000. Freedom. HTFU.

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Home is more than a place to keep “stuff”

                                 Home is more than a place to keep “stuff”

The second limit of a living space is the need for storage of stuff (see: George Carlin). Consider that, by volume, your stuff occupies probably 50-200 times as much space as you do in your house.

 You would be able to get by fine with a smaller house if you either:

 increased the density of your storage space
 decreased the amount you needed to store

I already discussed the former point, but I’ll take a moment to reflect on the latter.
Our family had the constraint of an apartment that didn’t change size, even as we grew. Our adjustment into a small living space was gradual enough that we became accidental minimalists.

For three years, we donated at least one grocery bag per month to thrift stores, slowly paring down what we owned. As the space became tighter, the bar an object had to be above in order to earn a place in our house kept getting higher.
I started to really think about what I owned and why I owned it. I became a more conscientious owner of things. The possessions I own
now are such a reduced and fine-tuned representation of my current needs that it is hard for me to find want for anything else.

As things got harder, I also found ways to hack the system. I now use craigslist as something between a rental shop & storage facility. Buying things for a season of life and selling them when I won’t need them for a while. I have often even turned a small profit doing so.
I also found ways to hack myself. A lot of the things I owned were in my house with the purpose of "I might need this someday." I had to work hard to convince myself that I didn’t. In the end the compromise came down to this—"If you get rid of this and need it again, you have permission to buy it from Amazon with same day delivery"—so far that hasn’t happened.
Consider that you are paying rent for your stuff. That closet space, or worse yet, storage unit, is costing you money every month. Eventually you will spend more in storage than the contents ever cost you.

Real-Style --------Today.