Cassini was launched 10-15-97

Blog it. B-log it.

The European Space Agency, Italian Space Agency, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration run Cassini. It's fabulous science.

Cassini was launched on 10-15-97 from Cape Kennedy. On November 27, 2004, the Hyugens Titan probe landed on Titan and confirmed lakes of methane.

You should read about it. (Sooner rather than later. New York Times style. No verb needed.)

Just Be.

The Gift of Men

Excerpt from The Congressional Record, July 11, 1969.

THE APOLLO PROJECT
Mr. McINTYRE. Mr. President, I asked to have placed in the RECORD the copy of a most thoughtful and moving advertisement.
I refer to North American Rockwell's full-page message in the Washington Evening Star of Thursday, July 10, a message that begins:
America is about to put men on the moon. Please read this before they go.
Mr. President, I hope millions of Americans have an opportunity to read this message. Our unbroken string of space project successes have, I fear, left us all a little sanguine. We have come to expect success in the difficult. We are scarcely impressed with success in the seemingly impossible.
With man's first football on the moon only days away, it is time we became impressed and deeply appreciative of the wise, resourceful, and eminently courageous men who will make this awesome conquest history.
The men of Apollo epitomize Sherman's definition of true courage -- "a perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental willingness to endure it."
North American Rockwell's message is an eloquent appeal to the American public to come to a "perfect sensibility" of the magnificent dimensions of the Apollo project.
There being no objection, the statement was ordered to be printed in the RECORD as follows:

AMERICA IS ABOUT TO PUT MEN ON THE MOON -- PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE THEY GO
Perhaps the best way for anyone to try to understand the size of such an undertaking is not for us to list the thousands of problems that had to be overcome, but for you to simply go out into your backyard some night, look up, and try to imagine how you'd begin, if it were up to you.
But our reason here is not to talk about the technicalities of the Apollo project. Rather, it is simply to ask you to think, for at least one brief moment, about the men and women who have applied their heads and their hearts and their hands -- and a good many years of their lives -- to putting a man on the moon.
Many of these people have worked for less money than they could have made in other places, and it is safe to say they have worked through more nights and weekends and lunch and dinner hours than they would have anywhere else.
And the astronauts, the brave men who will fly again down that long, dark and dustless corridor of space, this time to set foot -- to walk upon the surface of the moon -- they know the price that's often paid in setting out for lands unchartered. They know the price their fathers' grandfathers paid just to walk across the wilderness of America for the first fifty years.
For a long time now, we have been involved with the people who are the thinkers and the builders and the pilots of America's man-to-the-moon dream, of America's man-to-the-moon determination. We have worked with them, eaten with them, lived with them.
Yet our appreciation and admiration for them continues to grow each day -- for their energy, for their imagination, their confidence, for their patience, their resourcefulness, for their courage.
We ask you, in the days ahead as we wait for the big one to begin, to understand this fantastic feat for what it is and to put it in proper perspective, a triumph of man, of individuals, of truly great human beings. For our touchdown on the moon will not be the product of magic, but the gift of men.
In James A. Michener's novel, "The Bridges at Toko-Ri," an American admiral stands on the deck of his carrier early one morning and ponders the subject of his brave men. And thinking to himself, he asks a question of the wind which we believe all of us should ask as we think of the men who will finally make it to the moon and of the men who got them there: "Why is America lucky enough to have such men? ... Where did we get such men?"
NORTH AMERICAN ROCKWELL
[North American Rockwell is a prime contractor for the Apollo project.]

HAM CHASES DOWN FACTS

Wade: Ham, need your help on this one.
Ham: Sorry, kid. I happen to be sucking on a pina colada right now. Enjoying the breeze. Living the life.
Wade: Ham I could really use some help.
Ham: Spare me. I've had three or four. I'm not much help to anybody.
Wade: Ham it's only 11am.
Ham: Okay, what do you need?
Wade: Can you check this fact for me? Was Isaac Newton born on December 25th?
Ham: Call a journalist.
Wade: When I need a journalist... Ham PLEASE!! You can do it. I desperately need your help.
Ham: Kid, I dabble in writing, sure, but a journalist? It's not me dude. Get somebody else.
Wade: H-A-M ! ! ! ! !
Ham: You need a license to be a journalist, don't you?
Wade: Yes. I mean no. To tell you the truth, I don't really don't know. Ham please just check the fact.
Ham: Got it. I'm on it kid. AP. UPI. All over it. Big time... Hey, I need a pencil.
Wade: YOU DON'T NEED A PENCIL. JUST RUN CHECK THE FACT WILL YOU PLEASE.
HAM: What do I look like, King Checkfact? The things I do for God and country. First I lead the country into space. Then I learn to talk. But that's not enough. No, they want more. Well this chimp's had it. Enough is enough. I work my ...
Wade: WILL YOU PLEASE HURRY UP!
Ham: LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. I WORK MY ...
Wade: Look, if you don't like it go work for the New York Times!
Ham: How would I know when Isaac Newton was born? Why would I care?
Wade: Ham will you please cooperate?
Ham: Dude I'm on it. Plane flight to Washington, you got me covered right? Congressional Library. Send the bill to somebody. Don't send it to me because I certainly don't have it. Of course, if you want to send it to me go ahead. But you'll be terribly disappointed.
Wade: Ham I don't have time for this.
Ham: Get time. What about working conditions? Yeah, that's right. First you put me on top of enough rocket fuel to fry me a thousand times over. Then I spend years learning to talk... or at least, I do my best. Now you want a journalist. Better working conditions, dude, or I'm off this gig...
Wade: Ham --
Ham: No I'm serious.
Wade: Ham --
Ham: Where were YOU when they were launching Sputnik? Huh? Tell me that!
Wade: You're a chimp.
Ham: Drop dead.
Wade: You don't have to go that far.
Ham: You don't have class.

NEWTON

Conversational tone. Check it out.

I was thinking of blogging about Newton. Think Gravity. Think, five-year olds can figure this out. Drop ball. Ball falls to ground.

I would have written about Newton's birthday but I couldn't confirm it. Was he really born on December 25th? Obviously, the guy could think. Invented Calculus, he did. Even Ham's impressed. But I'm really not sure he was born on December 25th.

I was going to write one of those "On This Day" blurbs. But I don't want to get it wrong...

So maybe I should just blog about B-logging. Just be. Just Be! Just B-logging... slow news day.

VANGUARD

On March 17, 1958, the United States launched Vanguard and it's still in space. Vanguard. A name you can count on.

Chasing Ham

Ham, I didn't mean anything by the "chimp" remark.
Ham?
Ham what is it with you today?
Ham. Hello. Ham.

Ham?




Ham, perhaps we should sing a duet together. Ham, are you still in this house?

Ham: Kid, you don't have it.
Wade: You must be joking... Look, Ham, this is chimp-o-centric humor at its best. I know you didn't take it personally. HAM PLEASE DON'T THROW THAT! Ham, this is not the type of debate I intend to engage in with you. PLEASE!

Ham and the car keys

Ham, I'm looking for my car keys. Ham?

Ham, have you seen my car keys?

Ham where is the car? You're not authorized to drive the car. You have no right to drive the car so please don't drive it.

Ham have you been driving the car again?
Ham have you been driving the car again?

Ham, I don't know how they do it in your part of the country, but here you're not allowed to drive. It's simple. No driving, Ham. Ham?

Ham.

Ham?

HAM WHERE ARE YOU?

HAM!! Have you seen my car keys?

Ham when I get my hands on you...

H A M ! ! ! ! !

Ham

Ham.
Ham?
Ham, where are you?