Today’s post is part of Indie Life, a blog hop for independent authors hosted by the Indelibles.  Click here to see a list of participating blogs.

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For my Indie Life post from February of last year, I listed several reasons why being an indie writer is like running the space program.

• Much like NASA scientists, most indie writers have unrealistic concepts about money, making it impossible to write a budget or manage the financial side of the writing business.
• Indie authors set deadlines that sound reasonable, provide plenty of time to check and double check our work, and ensure our story/spaceship is at peak performance, but somehow we always end up behind schedule.  Maybe it’s due to the weather, maybe it’s due to technological snafus, or maybe it’s because we spend too much time “working” on Angry Birds: Space and lose track of the other stuff we’re supposed to be doing.
• Just as getting accurate data about the hydrocarbon content of Martian soil may not sound exciting to the general public, some people may not realize how important one book sale, one new contact, one re-tweet, or one positive review on Amazon can be.  Sure, it’s not the same as landing on the Moon, but every small achievement gets us just a little tiny bit closer to our ultimate goal, and those small achievement are always worth celebrating.
• There will always be someone who thinks this (the space program or the life of an indie writer) is a waste of time and money.  Those people are frustrating, but we have to try to ignore them.  If they don’t understand the value of such bold and ambitious endeavors, they probably never will.

One year later, I can say that I’m happy with the progress of my personal “space program.”  I’m probably better funded than NASA, given how much Congress has slashed NASA’s budget.  I also have the good fortune of having many supportive friends who understand the importance of what I’m doing.  Even the one or two critics in my extended family have decided to keep their mouths shut.

But I still have one ongoing problem: deadlines.  No matter how much time I allot for any given project, it always seems to take twice that long.  This very blog post wasn’t finished until Wednesday afternoon (I’d scheduled it to be complete Tuesday night).  The issue may be that I’m nitpicking small things when I should be moving forward with my writing.

I’m not sure how to overcome this obstacle.  Any suggestions would be welcome, and I’d love to hear how you’re doing with your own personal “space program.”

Today, I’d like to share a few science and science fiction related links.

• NASA asks the public for help searching for extrasolar planets.  Click here to read “NASA’s Crowdsourced Search for Planetary Habitats” from Science in My Fiction.
• How do you feel about inter-species romance in science fiction?  Are you comfortable with graphic depictions of inter-species sex?  Click here to read “Will Relaxed Sex Standards Help SF on TV?” from A Futurist’s Observations.
• It’s been twenty years since Babylon 5 first appeared on TV.  In an interview with Zap 2 It, J. Michael Straczynski reflects on how his show changed television.  Click here to read the interview.
• Lastly, here’s some newly released video of Felix Baumgartner’s freefall jump from low Earth orbit.

The BBC recently reported that China has opened the world’s first cloning factory.  It’s unclear how long this factory has been in operation, but according to the BBC report, it produces 500 cloned pigs per year for use in medical testing, and the company that owns the factory has ambitious plans for more cloning and more genetic research.  Some people have described this cloning factory as “shocking” or “creepy.”  We should be alarmed by these advances in Chinese science, or so we’re told.

The Chinese company behind this cloning factory, the Beijing Genomics Institute (or BGI), was the first to sequence the genome of rice, a staple food for much of the world.  They also sequenced the genome of the SARS virus and developed a kit to help detect and treat that disease.  Both of these research projects have surely served the greater good.  Wang Jun, BGI’s chief executive, has been quoted saying, “If it tastes good, you should sequence it.  You should know what’s in the genes of that species.”

I can’t argue with that.  As we, the human race, plan to colonize other worlds and face the dangers of climate change here on Earth, shouldn’t we study those plants and animals we depend upon for food?  Shouldn’t we be prepared to clone them if the need arises?  Wang Jun’s other criteria for genetic sequencing include animals used for industrial purposes, especially in medical research, and also animals that look cute, such as penguins.  Although some commentators have mocked these criteria, I don’t think Mr. Jun is being totally unreasonable.  I like penguins.  If sequencing penguin DNA will ensure that the species doesn’t go extinct, then I wholeheartedly support BGI’s efforts.

It should be noted that, according to the BBC article, this cloning factory is not exactly hygienic.  Gene sequencing is being done essentially by hand with minimal computer support, and flies buzz about in the “laboratory” where cloned pig embryos are implanted into the uteruses of female pigs.  Animal rights activists have cause for concern, but genetic research and cloning are not in and of themselves shocking or creepy.  I suspect this cloning factory has alarmed people not so much because it exists but because it exists in China, a country that many in the West already consider a military and economic threat.

But what do you think?  Should we worry, or is the alarm over this clone factory more about geo-political issues and less about the science itself?

P.S.: Click here to read the original article from the BBC by David Shukman.