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| | | :: Saturday, May 31, 2003 :: |
Got Those Six Days Before I Go See The Blues Blues
Dr. Lanny Prichard of Indianola sent me this (I think he was just passing it on, but it may be his, I don't know). Since I, and a decent part of the blog audience will be going to see the King of the Blues, B.B. King himself, in Indianola Friday, thought this would help start setting the mood.
If you're new to Blues music, or like it but never really understood the whys and wherefores, here are some very fundamental rules:
1. Most Blues begin with: "Woke up this morning ... "
2. "I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3. The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes--sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher and she weigh 500 pound."
4. The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch ... ain't no way out.
5. Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don’t travel in Volvos, BMWs, or sport utility vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and state-sponsored motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the Blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6. Teenagers can't sing the Blues; they ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7. Blues can take place in New York City, but not in Hawaii or anywhere in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Clarksdale, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, and N'awlins are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the Blues in any place that don't get rain.
8. A man with male pattern baldness ain't the Blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg 'cause you were skiing is not the Blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin' on it is.
9. You can't have no Blues in an office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10. Good places for the Blues:
a. highway
b. jailhouse
c. empty bed
d. bottom of a whiskey glass
11. Bad places for the Blues:
a. Nordstrom's
b. gallery openings
c. Ivy League institutions
d. golf courses
12. No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, unless you happen to be an old person, and you slept in it.
13. Do you have the right to sing the Blues? Yes, if:
a. you're older than dirt
b. you're blind
c. you shot a man in Memphis
d. you can't be satisfied
No, if:
a. you have all your teeth
b. you were once blind but now can see
c. the man in Memphis lived
d. you have a 401K or trust fund
14. Blues is not a matter of color, it's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the Blues. Sonny Liston could have. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the Blues.
15. If you ask for water and your darlin' gives you gasoline, it's the Blues. Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
a. cheap wine
b. whiskey or bourbon
c. black coffee
d. muddy water
The following are NOT Blues beverages:
a. Perrier
b. chardonnay
c. Snapple
d. Slim Fast
16. If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So are the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broken-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or during liposuction.
17. Some Blues names for women:
a. Sadie
b. Big Mama
c. Bessie
d. Hot Dumpling
18. Some Blues names for men:
a. Joe
b. Willie
c. Little Willie
d. Big Willie
19. Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Jennifer, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
20. Blues Name Starter Kit
a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.)
b. first name plus name of fruit (Lemon Lime, Peach, etc.)
c. last name of a president, for example: Blind Lemon Jefferson, Pegleg Lime Johnson or Cripple Peach Filmore, etc.
21. I don't care how tragic your life is: if you own a computer, you cannot sing the blues, period. Sorry.
New York, New York
This blog wouldn't be living up to its name if it neglected to link to this story.
For The Mississippi Literati Out There...
Turns out this story about the Detroit Pistons hiring Larry Brown as coach is not as cool as one might hope.
Daily Hatbag
Yesterday, by the way, was the seventh anniversary of the Hatbag revival.
| | | :: Friday, May 30, 2003 :: |
This Message Brought To You By One Of The Most-Hated Men At NASA
The NASA Kids Club is now closed.
The Very Meaning Of Our Lives
To me, it's not quite as funny as the version with the lightsaber effects, but the "Star Wars Kid" has been Reloaded (the link is about a third of the way down the page currently).
Two Of My Favorite Tech Companies
Thank goodness for Safari.
Somehow, I just don't see the new Microsoft/AOL settlement as a good thing--I can't help but fear this is the beginning of the end for Netscape (or more likely, the end of the end). The only way this could possibly be good is if AOL continues withdrawing $750 million from Microsoft's account each month without telling them.
Daily Hatbag
It's Friday.
Enterprise Under Fire
Foam impact tests were succesful in damaging a wing leading edge section taken from Enterprise.
BTW, I would be more impressed with ABC News if they knew the difference between Enterprise and "Endeavor" (sic).
| | | :: Thursday, May 29, 2003 :: |
Today In History
In case you've missed it, the top of Mt. Everest was first reached 50 years ago today.
Sorry, Mr. Gorsky
JoCasta sent me this site about some common space-related urban myths.
Boss Gates
Sadly, this Linux/Dukes of Hazzard analogy, while very cool, is still too confusing for me.
Thundercats, Ho!
OK, I won't actually get a chance to really check this out myself until later, but this site with TV commercials from the '80s looks pretty cool. Unfortunately, in crappy Windows Media Player format.
This Week At NE
Two cool new stories at NASAexplores this week (and I'm not just saying that 'cause I wrote them both).
One is about the Orbital Space Plane, NASA's next manned spacecraft which is currently in the early stages of development, and which, when finished, will be the agency's first new manned launch vehicle in 30 years.
The other is about the strange phenomenon of taste in space, one of the great unsolved mysteries of spaceflight.
Check 'em out.
Updating!
Ah, Microsoft.
Daily Hatbag
BTW, four days ago was the 26 anniversary of the release of Star Wars.
If You Believe...
This is one of the best articles I've read about China's efforts to put a man on the Moon. To some extent, it's somewhat low on details and high on speculation, but it does an excellent job of bringing the big picture together and explaining the significance.
And on a small related side note: Russia may help China create a space station. Not entirely sure what that means. Could be really, really big, could not. More as it develops.
CAIB Update
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board expects to issue its final report before the end of July. This article gives a very broard preview of where exactly the report is heading.
| | | :: Wednesday, May 28, 2003 :: |
What Is The DaveMatrix
Thanks to other bloggers ending up there, there's some new comments on my Matrix discussion page,
"What The @%# Is The Matrix?". If you haven't been there recently, go check the new stuff out.
Return To Flight
 I had the amazing experience today to get to interview Eileen Collins, NASA's first female Shuttle pilot and first and currently only female Shuttle commander, and the commander of the upcoming STS-114 Return to Flight mission. She was very friendly and wonderful to talk to, and gave us a lot of great material for our summer special edition about her (She even told me when the next mission is currently scheduled for, but that would be ruining the surprise, wouldn't it?). She had a lot of great stuff to say, particularly about the importance of the Shuttle, and about her interest in space tourism (basically, she hopes to be a space tourist someday so that she'll actually have some free time to enjoy being in space... unlike her very-busy experiences on the Shuttle). It was just an incredible opportunity to meet someone who has already played a historic role in the space program, and has another historic role to play coming up.
I also got to meet Dr. John Houbolt, another great hero of the space program. On NASA Kids, I get a lot of people of asking if we went to the Moon, why nobody else did. And the answer is, 'cause nobody else could figure out what Houbolt did. Essentially, he pushed for the Lunar Orbit Rendezvous technique that made the lunar landing possible.
Aim High
Wanna be an astronaut? NASA is now accepting applications for the 2004 Astronaut Candidate Class. Submit your application by July 1, and you could be on your way to space. Some restrictions may apply.
Great Trek!
My advice: If you haven't seen Nemesis, but plan to, just get the DVD, and watch the special features. Not the movie, just the special features. You'll come away excited about the fact that they're making great Trek movies again listening to the cast and crew talk about how wonderful this movie was, and how it truly captured the spirit of great Trek. Heck, the story even sounds good if you're not watching it. The deleted scenes aren't that bad, and when they say they cut them so that they didn't take away from even better scenes, you'll just know that must have been some fantastic stuff that was actually in the movie.
Daily Hatbag
I'm not even sure that Hippie was still in school at this point, but I guess so...
Earthquakes, birds and snakes
Oddly, considering that yesterday was the end of the world as we know it, I feel fine.
Mercury 13
This book sounds kind of interesting, and I'll likely get it if I ever work through the huge stack of stuff I've got to read.
Also, it kind of ties in with something cool I'm doing today, which I'll get to later.
Mooo!
Fling The Cow!
| | | :: Tuesday, May 27, 2003 :: |
Oh, By The Way
Um... by the way... um... life as we know it ends today. Hope this won't be too big an inconvenience for anybody, and sorry for not giving you more notice.
You see... um... there's this brown dwarf star, Nibiru a.k.a. Planet X, and... um... it's been getting closer to the Earth... but... um... you probably haven't seen it, even though it's like really close and really big... but, um... it's going to make the Earth stop rotating today... you've probably noticed that the Earth's spinning has been slowing for the last six days... or, um... maybe not... so then the Earth's magnetic poles will shift, so you if you're working on your computer, you may want to save often.
The really annoying part is, I had some cool plans for tomorrow. Hopefully, the end of the world as we know it won't affect the B.B. King concert, but you'll need to remember that Indianola is now SOUTH of Jackson and EAST of Huntsville.
The Govinator
This is exactly the sort of sentiment I would want to hear from a man who wants to be governor:
"'I'm not thinking about it (now), but I might start thinking about after "Terminator 3" is released,' said Schwarzenegger, a Republican. He says the movie is his top priority for now."
Power To The People
I stole this comic strip from Deedee's blog... if you've seen the Matrix Powerade commercials, the strip's kinda funny.
One Last Call Home
Should doomed astronauts have one last call home? And the larger issue--should they be told they're not going to make it back? This article has some interesting discussion of the subject.
Beyond Shuttle
The Planetary Society came to these conclusions about the direction of future space exploration at a recent workshop. Interesting reading.
Big Brother In Space
Ever wonder what Jackson's "Russ Bennett" reservoir looks like from space? Or who "Russ Bennett" is? Oh well. Not even NASA can be perfect.
Anyway, this is kind of a cool photo, and using the high-resolution photo linked to at the below the first pic, I could almost figure out where Prep is (those of you with dial-up connections should note the file size, though).
Daily Hatbag
Today, I'm in a mean mood, so I'm linking to this Hatbag strip about Tatus, but I'm accidentally mispelling that word in hopes of getting people searching for the hot Russian teenage girl band to come here accidentally. Whoops, that description probably didn't help matters either. Well, I should just say at the outside that there are no nude chicks if you follow that link. Oh, that probably didn't help either.
| | | :: Monday, May 26, 2003 :: |
Down Quark
Jim Abbott sent me the following info:
"Quark has long tried to reduce software piracy. After years of complaints, Quark finally stopped requiring a hardware dongle for versions of XPress 5 sold outside of the United States. With XPress 6.0, the company introduces a new protection system. After you install the software, you have five days to activate it via a telephone call or the Web; if you don't, it turns into a demo version that doesn't save documents and prints pages with a watermark."
"Activation is not registration, and activating the software does not send any personal or identifiable information about you or your computer to Quark. However, it does associate your software's serial number to a unique code based on your particular hardware configuration. If you change your hardware (install RAM or buy a new computer), you have to reactivate the software."
Interesting idea. I'll be interested to see how it works.
In Case You Missed It...
If you have not read the "Astronauts' Dirty Laundry" story that's been posted now at NASAexplores, Liftoff, and NASA Kids, I just got e-mail through the Liftoff site declaring, "I believe that to be the wosrt (sic) column ever written on space travel."
It's always nice to be spoken off in superlatives.
The Architect
This site has a transcript of the Architect scene from Matrix Reloaded, in case you didn't catch any of it.
Technology's Bounty
Not sure what to do with all those old 3 1/2-inch floppies you don't need anymore? Turn them into Klingon Bird of Preys.
Bowling For Oscars
Been wondering where you could go to express your support for revoking Michael Moore's Oscar?
Well, look no more.
Originality 2003
Microsoft is internally calling their new bundle of applications "iWave." Sheesh, it's like they're not even trying anymore.
Today In History
Skylab was manned for the first time 30 years ago today.
Greetings, Earthlings!
Keeping the new tradition alive, ISS Science Officer Ed Lu has written his first letter from the International Space Station. I'm glad to seeing him carrying on after Peggy Whitson and Don Pettit, hopefully this will become regular practice for ISS crews (in fact, it's now been done by every one of the Station's science officers, so maybe it will become an informal duty of the job).
In this first letter, Lu talks about his experience flying to ISS on board the Soyuz TMA-2, perhaps the first time the public has had access to such a description from an American astronaut. So far, it seems Lu's letters will be more like Whitson's than Pettit's, though it's too early too judge, of course. While Don's were wonderful for advancing the perception of ISS as a science facility, I think Peggy's were a little more accessible to the general public (which, in this case, includes me).
Coup d'Space
The link to the main story at Space.com today is kind of amusing, particularly if one weren't familar with United Space Alliance.
Y'all Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry
Somehow, I really doubt this album lives up to the potential its artist and title demand.
Daily Hatbag
It's apropos of nothing, but this is another one of my favorites.
Play It Again, Sam
Two days before my birthday, Warner is releasing a new special edition of Casablanca, complete with 10 minutes of deleted scenes and outtakes.
| | | :: Sunday, May 25, 2003 :: |
Daily Hatbag
Man, do I ever regret putting all my wombat money in tech stocks.
Fear My Superhuman ... Whoops
An excerpt from a story about "Club Kryptonite" in Myrtle Beach from the magazine where my brother-in-law works:
"The name may be straight out of the pages of Marvel Comics, but don't go looking for Club Kryptonite in the fictional city of Metropolis."
I mean, I can almost understand the ignorance, but have a hard time forgiving not doing the 30 seconds of research.
To be fair, though, with the closing of the Waldenbooks, there's not a whole lot of places in Oxford you can buy comics anymore (alas, Fat Boy and Pizza Man). Still, a think Kroger does have a few, and even though it's not a wide selection, I would have a hard time imagining that Superman wouldn't be one of them.
(And, of course, the kids nowadays have this thing called the internet...)
| | | :: Saturday, May 24, 2003 :: |
Mr. Supersonic
I had the good fortune today of getting Chuck Yeager to sign a copy of his autobiography for me.
As I mentioned, he was in the area, receiving an award at the Alabama Jubilee Hot Air Balloon show.
It was amazingly cool getting to see him in person and hear him speak... He gave basically a 15-minute or so biography of himself, and it was kind of interesting what he talked about... for example, he talked quite a bit about the X-1 test flights leading up to his historic flight, and then basically said that after that, he flew again, the plane was hard to fly, then it got easier, and that was the first time we broke the sound barrier, and then moved on, with just a tiny bit more detail that I've written here. Tons and tons of interesting info, but then almost nothing about the most interesting stuff. I guess he figures everybody already knows those stories (though it still would have been cool hearing them from him).
Still, an awesome experience indeed. Another bit of history I never thought I'd get a first hand run-in with.
Since my wife grew up knowing almost nothing about aviation or spaceflight, I've been trying to give her a remedial course in the last year or so. Several months back, I got her to watch "The Right Stuff," and it's really paid off. Since then, we've met both Yeager and Schirra, and I've been able to say, "Remember in that movie we watched..." So now she at least has some sense of how cool this is...
Daily Hatbag
For some reason, each month, this strip bring people into the Hatbag site because they have run a search for "Da Pits" or "Da'Pits." I'm not even sure what they're really looking for.
| | | :: Friday, May 23, 2003 :: |
Changing Of The Guard
I got to meet NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today while he was in Huntsville to announce the new center director for Marshall. Dave King, who has been serving as Deputy Director, will be stepping into the top job. King came to MSFC about six months ago Kennedy, where he had also served as deputy director.
After the announcement, I got to go shake hands with O'Keefe and speak with him very briefly, telling him what I wonderful job I think he is doing.
Daily Hatbag
But could a computer truly appreciate this?
Pedagogal Obsolescence
Thought the (former) teachers out there might be interested in this.
Down To Earth
According to NASA's planetary protection officer, SARS is not from space.
(I didn't even know we had a planetary protection officer. How cool is that? That's what I want to do when I grow up!)
Space Hoka
Alright--this one's for the former Oxonians out there:
The NASA News Summary site I frequently visit had a headline today, "Barton Says Shuttles Should Only Be Used In An 'Unmanned Capacity'" Unfortunately, buried way down in the story, it turns out its Rep. Joe Barton, which kind of disappointed me.
BTW, Barton also says return to flight may be delayed by health inspectors, that even though they say it could be about a year before the Shuttles fly again, he thinks it will be exactly a year and that when Shuttles do resume flying, Jesse won't be allowed on them.
"There's A Demon That Lives In The Sky"
It's kind of short notice, but if anybody wants to come to N. Alabama this weekend, Gen. Chuck Yeager will be receiving an award in Decatur Sat. around 5 p.m.
History Of The Future
Here's what NASA's got in store for the next year or so in unmanned space exploration. There's some pretty cool stuff coming up.
| | | :: Thursday, May 22, 2003 :: |
Space Modulator
Ever wonder what Marvin the Martian saw through his telescope when he was preparing to blow up the Earth?
It probably looked something like this.
Um... Next Week In History
I'm afraid if I don't put this in here now, I'll forget in a week:
On May, 28, 1959, monkeynauts Able and Baker were launched in the nosecone of a Jupiter rocket. After their 15 minute flight, the monkeys were successfully recovered. They withstood forces 38 times the force of Earth's gravity and were weightless for 9 minutes. They were the first animals to be recovered alive after a spaceflight.
As I recall, Able died not long afterwards from complications in surgery to remove monitoring equipment, but Baker lived for many years afterwards, and her memorial is in front of the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. Bananas are frequently left atop the memorial.
On a side now, one of my favorite parts in the Billy Joel song "We Didn't Start The Fire" is the part about the "Space Monkey Mafia." That's just cool. Also cool is the bit about "Ole Miss John Glenn." Similar to regular John Glenn, but with more heritage, I'm sure (To say nothing of "Alabama Kruschev"--presumably George Wallace)..
This Week At NE
Articles this week at NASAexplores are about a new parachute that can bring an entire plane down safely, and about reflex research being done that may aid in interplanetary flight.
205 Represent!
Even though I didn't watch but like a minute of the show, and that accidentally, I'm still glad to hear that Ruben Studdard won American Idol. And Huntsville's not even in the 205 anymore.
Expedition 8
According to Pravda, ISS Expedition 8 will consist of Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri and Commander Michael Foale (a British national who became a U.S. citizen in order to become an astronaut). Foale is no stranger to Space Stations, having served as a member of the Mir 23 crew, spending 145 days in space in 1997. (Which is interesting, given NASA's apparent reluctance regarding long-term space exposure during a career--Six months on ISS would put at somewhere pretty close to a total of a year in space, which has to be pretty close to a NASA record, if not well beyond it.)
According to the Pravda article, Expedition 8 will launch to ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-3 on October 18. The two members of Exp. 8 will be joined on their launch by ESA Astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain, who will then return to Earth with the Expedition 7 crew about 7-10 days later aboard TMA-2.
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine
There still a little over a week left to buy $5 advance tickets to the annual B.B. King Homecoming Festival in Indianola on Friday, June 6. Nicole and I are currently planning to attend.
Daily Hatbag
What is the significance of this strip? It's the first one I came across today that I haven't linked to here yet.
Come To Me, Son of Jor-El
Finally got around to watching the Smallville season finale last night.
Got anything to say about it? Do it here.
It'll Never Be The Same
Likewise the Enterprise finale.
| | | :: Wednesday, May 21, 2003 :: |
Space Profiles
A while back, I talked about astronaut candidate Leland Melvin in the blog, and said that I was going to occasionally profile some of today's astronauts that the public probably don't know anything about. As you've noticed, I've been rather lax in doing so.
I just got of the phone with astronaut Rex Walheim. A veteran of one spaceflight, Walheim was a member of the STS-110 crew last April. For someone who has only flown once, however, he got the full experience. Not only did Walheim get to visit the International Space Station, but he also got to perform two spacewalks, totalling over 14 hours. On his EVAs, Walheim worked on installing the S-Zero Truss, which was essentially the foundation for the Station construction that has been performed since. It was really cool to get to talk to him; he's a really nice guy. While most of the crews have already been picked for the first year after return to flight, he said that he hopes to be up again within a year or so after those crews fly.
Today In History
On this date in 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first solo nonstop transAtlantic flight.
Colonel Panic
More talk about doing away with Colonel Reb.
A phenomenally bad idea, if you ask me.
Monkey's Uncle
It's apropos of nothing, but it amuses me that a scientist calls chimpanzees "Homos".
Brits In Space
Reuters has an article about Starchaser's efforts to build a private manned launch vehicle. The article states, however, that the company hopes to win the X Prize with an "early 2005" launch. According to the X Prize Web site, though, the prize is only funded through Jan. 1, 2005.
Daily Hatbag
Objection Overruled!
Aaaarrrggghhh
Less than four months to go until Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Hey, Joe
As I recall, you've long wanted a good live-action giant-robot movie.
Well, this may be it.
| | | :: Tuesday, May 20, 2003 :: |
What Hath Science Wrought?
Mmmmm... beef-fruit.
Discussion Area Open
What Is The DaveMatrix?
Addendum: I really enjoyed this article about the Matrix.
Um...
Marshall Director Art Stephenson is stepping down from that position.
Addendum: More details are here.
Weighty Matters
Alright, using up bandwidth for another personal note...sorry. One of the DJs on the morning show I listen to recently tried to lose weight through "motivation by humiliation" (which culminated in pictures of him in a thong on the internet today). I'm not going to take it quite that far, but I am mentioning on here that I'm starting the Atkins diet today, so that when you see me and can tell I'm not losing weight, everyone will have final proof that I have no willpower whatsoever.
Daily Hatbag
Yep, in my new healthy lifestyle, moderation will be my watchword.
Gleaming the Cube
Lain was kind enough to point out to me the rumors of an upcoming special anniversary Mac, apparently for people who wanted a G4 cube, but didn't want to get a good price on them when they were on clearance after having failed miserably.
Almost Lost Moon
Here's a photo of last week's lunar eclipse, taken from space.
| | | :: Monday, May 19, 2003 :: |
Clone War
Lest you forget, Nemesis comes out on DVD Tuesday. so I know you'll want to rush out and buy your copy.
Lost Moon
In the mail today was my copy of Lost Moon (the Apollo 13 story), now inscribed and signed by Jim Lovell.
Also arriving today was this item I won on eBay. My great-aunt, who also worked at Marshall, have given me hers not long after she received it in '81, and I probably had it stolen when I took it to school for show and tell. Ever since, the sheet it was attached to has remained part of my collection, the text on the back of the coin still legible in the glue that had once held it affixed. Now, finally, after 20 years, I can finally put the coin back where it belongs.
How Deep Is The Rabbit Hole?
For Lain, here's a critical review of Matrix Reloaded.
I'm considering setting up a seperate area for the discussion of Matrix (stuff like why things work the way they do in the Matrix, not stuff like, boy, that dancing part was horrible), but wanted to know first if anyone would be interested. If so, let me know.
Moonwalkers
The AP has a good story about the symposium I attended a couple of weeks ago.
Destination Unknown
From The Washington Times:
"NASA's real challenge is determining in which direction the manned program shall go, whether a voyage to Mars, a permanent manned base on the moon, or even an intermediate step, such as a series of manned missions to potentially earth-threatening asteroids. ... That decision, and the resolution to see it though, can only come from the top. Several months ago, we called for Mr. Bush to give the space program a tangible target in his next State of the Union address. Now that the fighting in Iraq has finished and the tax cut has passed, Mr. Bush must make the direction of the manned space program a priority."
"...Get on with the job"
I'm often kind of dubious when many astronauts from the '60s claim to be experts on spaceflight today, but I think this piece by Apollo 7 astronauts Walter Cunningham hits pretty close to the mark.
(Small plug: As I mentioned a few days ago, Cunningham, a member of the crew of the first manned Apollo flight, has a book coming out next month)
Don't Worry, Be Happy
So what do all of you people who doubt the validity of the supposed face on Mars have to say for yourselves now? Huh?
Daily Hatbag
To this day, this remains one of my favorite strips.
| | | :: Sunday, May 18, 2003 :: |
Daily Hatbag
Speaking of long laundry lists ...
(OK, now that's reaching for a connection)
CAIB Update
A little bit of good news from Admiral Gehmen.
My personal prediction--NASA gets a long laundry list from the CAIB when this is all done, at least a year's worth of work and possibly a good bit more, but few enough of them will have to be finished BEFORE return to flight that the Shuttles will be flying again within a year, likely within roughly a year of the accident, and possibly before the end of 2003.
Again, this is just based on following the news, not any inside info, 'cause I have none.
| | | :: Saturday, May 17, 2003 :: |
Free Blog
For Jason, I'm putting up a Free Blog feature today.
Got something you wanna talk about, post it here.
Daily Hatbag
Why is the whole word "IT" capatilized in Hippies' second-panel speech balloon? Is he referring to Information Technology? The Stephen King book?
Buy Now And Save!
Now through May 31, you can save $5 on any purchase of $40 or more at the Hatbag store by using the secret code word "DADGRADS".
| | | :: Friday, May 16, 2003 :: |
Quote of the Day
"I'm making a conscious decision to take this whole Judaism thing seriously. I think the Jews need me right now."
--Geraldo Rivera
Star Wars Kid follow-up
The Web site that I linked to a while back with the video of the lightsaber-fighting kid did the research to find that guy, track him down, and interview him, learning absolutely nothing interesting at all.
Logical Additions
Did you used to rely on paper-rock-scissors for your decision making, but now it just seems inadequate?
Then you need to broaden your horizons!
Try Paper-Scissors-Rock-Lizard-Spock.
Remember lizard poisons Spock, Spock crushes scissors!
Daily Hatbag
Since, as best as I can tell, no one is even reading right now, I'm just picking one at random.
AstroBooks
If anyone is interested, signed copies of books by Apollo and Skylab astronauts Walt Cunningham and Bill Pogue are available for pre-order through Countdown Creations.
There Is No "Spoooooooooon!"...Yet
Coming soon to DVD are the first season of the Dilbert TV show, as well as "Tick: The Complete Series." The announcement does not indicate whether this is the animated Tick, which would be cool, or the live-action one, which would be less so.
| | | :: Thursday, May 15, 2003 :: |
Happy Anniversary
Since I'll probably forget it if I don't go ahead and write it, Saturday is the 12th anniversary of the World Wide Web.
Plus, the advance notice means you can start planning the party.
On a side note, that means that there has been a Hatbag site for over half of the entire life of the Web, and that Lain has had some form of Web presence for about 75 percent of its existance.
Today In History
Gordon Cooper's Faith 7 launched 40 years ago today for the final of the six manned Mercury missions.
Mother, the Core is here
A planetary scientist has made an interesting proposal to send a probe to the core of the Earth.
I'm generally pretty open-minded about such things, but this one kind of concerns me.
Reminder
Don't forget--Lunar eclipse tonight.
Daily Hatbag
Even in the nighttime strips, sometimes you can pretty well guess who's saying what.
This Week At NE
 Articles at NASAexplores | |
