One Small Step for Thursday's ONT

On July 20th, 1969, the lunar module Eagle touched down on the moon, and mankind took their first steps off planet Earth. This is, in fact, my earliest memory. I was 2 ½ at the time, and I remember my mother sitting me down in front of the big old RCA console TV to watch grainy footage of Neil Armstrong descending the ladder. A half a billion other humans watched with me as the world held its collective breath.

Indeed.

M O O N, That Spells Moon

Here's a recap of that day from NASA

When it comes time to set Eagle down in the Sea of Tranquility, Armstrong improvises, manually piloting the ship past an area littered with boulders. During the final seconds of descent, Eagle's computer is sounding alarms.

It turns out to be a simple case of the computer trying to do too many things at once, but as Aldrin will later point out, "unfortunately it came up when we did not want to be trying to solve these particular problems."

When the lunar module lands at 4:18 p.m EDT, only 30 seconds of fuel remain. Armstrong radios "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Mission control erupts in celebration as the tension breaks, and a controller tells the crew "You got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again." (› Play Audio)

Armstrong will later confirm that landing was his biggest concern, saying "the unknowns were rampant," and "there were just a thousand things to worry about."

The flag they left is bleached white now, but, with apologies to General John J. Pershing, time will not dim the glory of their deeds. Because of these men, and all of the people standing behind them on the ground, my youthful eyes looked to the stars and saw not the unreachable firmament that had tantalized earlier generations, but a universe of possibility.

Unconscionable

If Apollo 11 gave us dreams of the sky, down here on Earth we still have to deal with all of the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. This story incensed me. IQ costs Oregon parents their kids, but is that fair?

Seems the state has taken their kids away from this couple on the grounds that they are too stupid to raise kids. Note that there is no indication that they are incapable of caring for them, no accusation of harm to the children, nothing except the overreaching and crushing power of the state. This is why our Forefathers were determined that we would be citizens, not subjects. The state exists at our pleasure, to serve us. Bad things are going to happen if it keeps insisting that we exist to serve it. Very bad things.

Poetry

Do you like Kipling? I dunno, I've never kippled, but for some reason, the last story brings this poem to mind.

Not sure why that came to mind. No idea, really. It's a mystery.

ETA Special thanks to Moron pst314, who pointed out that I had originally posted this poem wrong. Not just wrong, but disastrously wrong. I remembered the poem, but when I Googled it up to get the full thing, I somehow got to a Stormfront-type site that had adjusted the words to fit their racist agenda, and I wasn't on the ball enough to realize this before I posted it. Apologies to the Horde and especially to Rudyard Kipling.

Musical Interlude

In honor of the opening story:

Round Up the Usual Suspects

Novelty Store Heist Suspect Remains At Large

Seems a tattooed man grabbed a couple of plastic dicks and ran off. He was last seen, according to the manager, “running north toward the grocery store with the two biggest dongs I sell.” Let's hope that when this miscreant is caught, he faces a stiff sentence. One hesitates to imagine the depths he intends to plumb with his ill-gotten merchandise, but we can be sure that they will cause some friction in his household. Even though his defense will undoubtedly be that he was just screwing around, police should be careful that justice doesn't get shafted and that he does hard time.

Wit

Know what I miss about President W Bush? His class, of course, but also his wit.

Neat

These 30 GIFs PERFECTLY Explain Life’s Little Mysteries

Addendum

Remember last week when I referred to soccer players taking a dive? I've never seen a more perfect example than this:

Should Have Stayed in Gotham City

America's Healthiest Grocery Store

When Whole Foods adopted the motto “Whole People Whole Planet”, I didn't realize they were talking about their supply chain.

I know that's a little light on content, but it's all I have for you tonight. The Ont is brought to you by a ship-shipping ship, shipping shipping ships:

The Yahoo Group is wondering if sex shops generally have video surveillance cameras.

posted by WeirdDave at 09:55 PM

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