Happy Moon Day!
Rand Simberg
and another planet. For anyone who wants to commemorate this
momentous event, we've developed a ceremony at
http://www.evoloterra.com .
Use it as an excuse to get together with family or friends. Many who
have read it aloud found it a profound experience. And if you do, let
me know how it went.
--
simberg.interglobal.org * 310 372-7963 (CA) 307 739-1296 (Jackson Hole)
interglobal space lines * 307 733-1715 (Fax) http://www.interglobal.org
"Extraordinary launch vehicles require extraordinary markets..."
Replace first . with @ and throw out the "@trash." to email me.
Here's my email address for autospammers: postm...@fbi.gov
Stuf4
> Thirty three years ago today, men from earth first walked on its moon
> and another planet. For anyone who wants to commemorate this
> momentous event, we've developed a ceremony at
> http://www.evoloterra.com .
I'm all for celebrating July 20th! But passing this off as the story
of when humans first left Earth is nothing short of engaging in
revisionist history.
With one major correction, I can totally support this. And I could go
either way. I'm fine with keeping the subtitle as is and celebrating
December 21st instead. It could be a global holiday that we call
"Earth Departure Day". (I have some reservations about the common
term "escape" as I've mentioned on a recent post regarding "escape
velocity".) Here's an idea...
Since there is already so much celebration in significant parts of the
world during that time of year, we can make this a REALLY big holiday
(a word derived from holy-day) and combine Earth Departure Day with
the pagan ritual of Solstice Day. That could be huge!
(This strategy comes straight out of the papal playbook.)
Alternatively, instead of celebrating any single day of Apollo, we can
strive for a complete understanding of *why* we went and then
celebrate every single day as a holi-day and be glad that we didn't
blow ourselves up (yet).
By the way, I'm still waiting to celebrate the day humanity sets foot
on another _planet_. I'm hopeful that this accomplishment will happen
as a result of not war, but cooperation.
-Ad astra per less aspera-
~ CT
Rand Simberg
tdad...@yahoo.com (Stuf4) made the phosphor on my monitor glow in
such a way as to indicate that:
>>From Rand Simberg:
>> Thirty three years ago today, men from earth first walked on its moon
>> and another planet. For anyone who wants to commemorate this
>> momentous event, we've developed a ceremony at
>> http://www.evoloterra.com .
>
>I'm all for celebrating July 20th! But passing this off as the story
>of when humans first left Earth is nothing short of engaging in
>revisionist history.
>
>With one major correction, I can totally support this. And I could go
>either way. I'm fine with keeping the subtitle as is and celebrating
>December 21st instead. It could be a global holiday that we call
>"Earth Departure Day". (I have some reservations about the common
>term "escape" as I've mentioned on a recent post regarding "escape
>velocity".) Here's an idea...
The idea was to describe the first time that life went to another
world.
John Williams
>
> The idea was to describe the first time that life went to another
> world.
When Apollo 12 returned with the camera and other goodies hacked off an
earlier Surveyor craft, didn't they find dormant but still living
bacteria from when someone had sneezed in the clean-room? :)
Fact or urban myth, anybody?
Justin Wigg
news:3D3CDBAB...@qut.edu.au...
> When Apollo 12 returned with the camera and other goodies hacked off an
> earlier Surveyor craft, didn't they find dormant but still living
> bacteria from when someone had sneezed in the clean-room? :)
The bacteria weren't so much in a "living" state, but more one of stasis.
Once the environmental surroundings became favourable again, the bacteria
simply reactivated.
> Fact or urban myth, anybody?
As I understand it, it has never been confirmed either way. There is the
*possibility* that the bacteria had been deposited on the camera mechanism
prior to the flight, but just as possible that they were deposited during
the disassembly process. The only way to be sure was if a technician
actually witnessed the bacteria reactivating, and I don't believe that this
claim has ever been made. (It has been claimed that the bacteria were more
than likely deposited prior to the flight due to the inaccessibility of the
area where they were found.)
--
"Managing senior programmers is | Justin Wigg - Hobart, AUSTRALIA
like herding cats." - Dave Platt | Reply: jus...@icsmultimedia.com.au
Stuf4
> The idea was to describe the first time that life went to another
> world.
I understand the desire to pin down one day and say that this was
*the* singular event. But let's not sacrifice accuracy in our
celebrations.
(Consider the American celebration of the 4th of July. I made a point
recently that the vast majority think that George Washington was the
first president of the United States of America!)
Perpetuation of the Apollo myth is one thing. But I find it
exceptionally sad to think that future generations will be taught that
Apollo 11 was the first space mission where humans "First Left Earth".
My reason for reacting so strongly is because the ramifications of
revisionist history can be dreadful. History gets distorted into what
we want to believe and then these erroneous ideas get entrenched into
unmoveable positions.
Consider the millions who think that Jesus of Nazareth was born on
December 25th, without ever hearing the story of how this date
originated as a pagan celebration of the rebirth of the Sun following
the solstice. In ancient times Greeks celebrated the birth of the Sun
god Apollo and in modern times millions celebrate the birth of a
different son god.
The original meanings get lost into what we want to believe. Today
Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Jews are busy killing each other.
They seem to have forgotten that their leaders, once upon a time,
taught peace and harmony.
Yes, 33 years ago Neil and Buzz made a great accomplishment. But it
is not accurate to say that Apollo 11 was the first to leave the
Earth. Let's keep our facts straight. And let's remember the full
meaning of the space race. Let's remember the Cold War that fueled
it. And let's not turn NASA's Apollo into another form of Sun
worship.
~ CT
Rand Simberg
>Yes, 33 years ago Neil and Buzz made a great accomplishment. But it
>is not accurate to say that Apollo 11 was the first to leave the
>Earth. Let's keep our facts straight. And let's remember the full
>meaning of the space race. Let's remember the Cold War that fueled
>it. And let's not turn NASA's Apollo into another form of Sun
>worship.
The ceremony describes the flight of Apollo Eight, and the other
precursor flights. No one who actually reads and performs it will be
confused about the history, only people like you who only read titles.