Words of Advice:
"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne
“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *
"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown
“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie
"Thou Shalt Get Sidetracked by Bullshit, Every Goddamned Time." -- The Ghoul
"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad
"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown
"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers
"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown
"Eck!" -- George the Cat
* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck,
"FOFF" = Felonious Old Fat Fuck,
"COFF" = Convicted Old Felonious Fool,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset,
A/K/A P01135809, A/K/A Dementia Donnie, A/K/A Felon^34,
A/K/A Dolt-45, A/K/A Don Snoreleone
3 comments:
Dear Miss Fit:
It's a bit startling as I realize that I recall the event quite well across a half-century. I was in 7th grade in NJ. It was a Friday and the school Principal set up a black & white TV on a table in the small auditorium and the older kids were marched in to watch the launch.
The picture was a bit grainy and hard to see from our seats, but we could not mistake the sight of Cdr. Shepard's "roman candle" soaring sky-ward for anything else.
It was memorable for a confirmed airplane geek like me...and, who would have predicted that just over eight years later another black & white video camera would show us Neil Armstrong stepping onto the Moon? Heady times, indeed.
History, yes heady times.
I was younger but remember it well. We dragged the TV into the kitchen so we could eat before off to school and not miss much of the preparation.
Looking back we went from computers being roomful and almost all transistor and black and white TV using vacuum tubes to computers being desk drawer sized using integrated circuits and color TV using solid state components being common by the moon landing. A lot of technology happened on less than 10 years. Even the computers in the CM and LM were out of date by time they flew the technology was moving that fast.
Exciting times.
Eck!
Thanks to this anniversary, I just shook Neil Armstrong's hand, and met Jim Lovell (Apollo 13) and Gene Cernan (Apollo 17).
I was attending a history symposium this morning at the Naval Aviation Museum here in Pensacola, in honor of 100 years of US Naval Aviation. They were just about to start the panel on the Battle of Midway when the speaker said, "By the way, someone just mentioned to me what today is." After discussing Shepard's mission briefly, he mentioned that those three astronauts were in attendance. I almost fell out of my chair.
After the panel I walked up to Mr. Armstrong, shook his hand, and thanked him for his service. I also greeted Mr. Lowell and Mr. Cernan. Talk about bookends - the first man on the moon, the last man on the moon, and the man in the middle of the space race's most harrowing drama.
If not for today being the anniversary of Shepard's flight, I would never have known I was in the presence of such historical giants. And, I would never have this memory.
Now, if only someone would blow up a Soviet N1 rocket on the house of a certain woman to whom I handed my camera to take a shot of me with Mr. Armstrong... and who proceeded to take a shot of the fucking floor.
Twice.
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